Posted by David on November 21, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
Sunday was a wonderful day! The singing was superb. Will Ed Warren’s class and Larry Henderson’s lesson were excellent. Jim Wilson and Roy Dunavin’s report was encouraging and insightful. Over $100,000 was given or pledged to help fund our missions outreach in 2000.
The “whip cream and cherry” topping was our first fellowship meal in the Family Life Center. Though not completed, we were permitted to use the floor area. The visiting was wonderful! Many talked about the obvious needs our new facilities would meet.
One of our special guests was Stephan Phoumasone. Stephan speaks eight languages. His wife, Anne, a citizen of France, was arrested with Jerry and Meg Canfield in Laos. Together, Stephan and Anne decided that he would enroll in the Sunset School of Preaching. He would prepare to teach and preach in Southeast Asia. We support Stephan as he studies at Sunset.
A class requirement for Stephan is preparation of a relevant lesson for West-Ark. Given opportunity, he will share that lesson with us next year. He asked me, “What can I share that will be relevant to West Ark?” We discussed a basic difference between a lesson that provides information and a lesson the increases understanding of information.
I suggested that he share with us the reasons for his decision. It had to be a difficult decision that required him to (a) live in a foreign culture; (b) do in-depth study in a foreign language; (c) live away from his wife; and (d) commit himself (and his wife) to a dangerous, difficult work. Why would established, successful adults do that?
His eyes and his mouth smiled as ideas flooded into his awareness. Then he shared with me a difference he saw in Southeast Asia. “There it is difficult and dangerous. Here it is so convenient. But Christians here do not understand what they have.” He was in no way critical or judgmental. He is much too appreciative. That difference bewildered him. How could Christians here have such great opportunity and not realize what they had?
We do not realize what we have. We do not understand how desperately we need it. As (a) society promotes self-centered existence, (b) culture embraces values that attack moral responsibility, and (c) marriage and family relationships crumble, we are mystified. We thought it was enough to have correct information, to declare correct information, and to defend correct information. It is not. If you doubt the inadequacy of correct information, look at what is happening in our families and the families of our Christian friends.
In this society, Christ will change lives when Christians demonstrate the relevance of God. If God is not making an obvious difference in our lives and families, why should others think God will make a difference in their lives and families?
Posted by David on November 14, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
Joyce and I spent four years on a mission field in West Africa. Love for God, Jesus, and people took us there.
When it began, the work did not comply with an unwritten government ordinance. This requirement was essential. Upon learning of the ordinance, we earnestly tried to comply. Because of our ignorance and some influential opponents, our work was completely stopped. For six months we could not visit the Christians, and congregations were not to meet. Those were painful times.
When God resolved this matter, we immediately began a preacher/teacher training school. Administration, writing materials, teaching, and problems consumed my time.
Late in our stay, our house was robbed. Mission funds were stolen. The authorities commandeered me and my car. I drove authorities to the homes of friends and watched from the car as they interrogated them. That experience devastated me!
I left that mission field exhausted and overwhelmed by my mistakes. I wondered if God could use anything I did for a lasting blessing. I felt a deep sense of failure.
In the early years after returning, we heard that major changes occurred within the church. Four years after leaving, a friend (a fellow missionary) and I returned for a three-week visit. We searched for and visited with congregations that we had known.
After spending most of a day visiting with congregations, we arrived in a village just before dark. A few days prior we sent word that we would come for a visit. We arrived to find a bar standing where the church building had been. Disappointment grew!
A man we did not know approached our car, identified himself as a Christian, and asked us to follow him to the building. We walked among small farms along a path lined with palm fronds and white washed stones. The path ended at a small building filled with Christians. They had waited for more than an hour for us to arrive.
At the end of a joyful assembly, a converted “witch doctor” told about the things he renounced to be a Christian. He lost his prestige, his friends, his influence, his money, and his wife. He asked, “Please take this message to the people who sent you. If you had not come, the people you taught could not have taught me. I would not be a Christian. Please, please thank them for sending you.”
Posted by David on November 7, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
We enjoy helping people. Hearts that belong to Jesus enjoy helping people. On a hot afternoon in a hospital parking lot I saw a nurse standing by her car. She just had finished her shift, and her car’s battery was dead. No problem. I enjoyed helping her start her car.
Last Friday morning my truck started grudgingly. That afternoon it almost did not start. In the hospital parking lot, it started quickly. When I left a store, it started quickly. Then it would not leave the gas station. Suddenly, I needed help. Helping is no problem. Asking for help is a problem. When you need the help of strangers, an incredible sense of loneliness surfaces.
In Jesus, God provided us the practical. Is that surprising? The God who made us in His image does not understand our needs? Have we forgotten that God addressed our needs in Jesus? Consider just one practical thing God did for us in Jesus. He destroyed the loneliness of need. You need forgiveness? understanding? compassion? mercy? grace? kindness? Are you overwhelmed by guilt? by the need to redirect life? Such needs produce a special loneliness.
We cannot remove theology from Christianity. Theology is the study about God. We cannot remove doctrine from Christianity. Biblically, doctrine is sound or healthy teaching. We cannot remove ritual and tradition from Christianity. Attempts to do so create new rituals and traditions. In time, new practices become different rituals and traditions. Religiously, the problem is not seen in the things we remove from Christianity. The problem is seen in our attempt to reduce Christianity to abstract theology, impersonal doctrines, rigid rituals, and legalistic traditions. Stated in simple terms: we take what God made incredibly practical and change it into the astoundingly impractical.
God addressed that loneliness in powerful, practical ways. His practical answer is based on His promises. His promises are empowered by Jesus’ death, blood, and resurrection. Forgiveness and newness of life is real. Sin is destroyed. In these God creates a daily existence enveloped in His compassion, mercy, and grace. God perfectly cares for all the needs that we cannot.
Then God gave us “one another.” Remember the New Testament’s “one another” statements? God’s practical solution for destroying the loneliness of need: He gave us His love to heal us. He gave us His son to save us. He gave us each other to sustain “one another.”
Many Christians fear the church’s rejection. Many Christians live in the loneliness of need. When Christians struggle with that fear and loneliness, the divine “practical” has become the human “impractical.” In Jesus, with one another, we must address fear and loneliness.
Posted by David on October 31, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
This congregation’s conscious goal is to be caring and supportive. How caring? How supportive? Our goal is the level of caring and support seen in Jesus Christ. Jesus did not say that he was the great rejecter. He said he was the great doctor. He healed the sick and the diseased. He restored healthy bodies to the lame, the blind, and the paralyzed. He threw the demons out of people whose bodies, actions, and minds were demon controlled. (See Matthew 4:23,24.) He offered living water to a divorcee living with a man (John 4). He told a known prostitute, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). He invited himself into the home of a dishonest tax collector by declaring, “Today, salvation has come to this house …” (Luke 19:9). He associated and ate with Jews who collected taxes for the Romans (Luke 5:29-32).
He invited the struggling and burdened to come to him for rest (Matthew 11:28-30). He declared that he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He said that He came to call sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). In his genuine concern for such people, he revealed that all heaven celebrated when one sinner repented (Luke 15:7).
We seek to be Christ’s church. That is more than a determination to keep words on a sign or a building. We want to follow Jesus Christ doing the things he did, caring about all people as he cared, showing his concern and compassion.
Our desire to be Christ’s church involves two basic commitments. The first is to bring people to Christ anywhere we can. The second is to help those in Christ spiritually grow and mature.
A part of this commitment is seen in our understanding that Jesus is the world’s Savior. Each year in November we have “Missions Sunday.” We collect a special contribution to help fund our mission efforts in such places as Laos, Thailand, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Guyana, Romania, and New Zealand. These funds support evangelistic teaching, medical missions, missionary training, the training of indigenous teachers/missionaries in their own country, and supplies. Our mission committee takes excellent initiative in its constant activity.
Remember Sunday, November 14: “Missions Sunday.” Remember the special contribution. In recent years, the contribution for missions exceeded a hundred thousand dollars on that Sunday.
Posted by David on October 17, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
Commonly, people are wishers. Wishing thinks, “It would be wonderful if this happened. I hope it does!” Wishing has no specific plan to make a desire a reality. If the desire becomes reality, it just happens.
Some make goals. A goal is specific and can be defined. It proceeds to occurrence in planned steps. “I want this to happen. I will work to make the goal a reality. I will do these specific things to help it happen. I intend for it to become reality by this time.”
God does not wish. He sets goals. Our eternal salvation was a goal. For salvation to become reality, a specific means for human atonement, redemption, sanctification, and forgiveness had to exist. To liberate His grace and mercy, God had to satisfy justice.
(1) God selected a people. His objective: develop a people who trusted Him and understood His actions. (2) Through this people, He would send His Son. (3) Justice would be satisfied when He sacrificed His Son. (4) Through that sacrifice, God would atone and redeem. (5) Those who accepted His sacrifice would be forgiven and sanctified. (6) By resurrection Jesus would become Lord. These would accept God’s sacrifice and Jesus’ Lordship. God’s goal became our reality.
We have congregational goals. We plan to become what God wants us to be. We plan to reach those who have not accepted Christ. We want them to be a part of this congregation. We plan to encourage and sustain those in this congregation. We want to promote the spiritual growth and spiritual maturing of every Christian.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, October 22-24, two men from the White’s Ferry Road congregation in West Monroe, Louisiana, will spend quality time with us as we learn about the small group ministry. Bill Smith is an experienced elder. Alan Robertson is their director of small groups. Their congregation is about our size.
This is an informational visit. It is the time to ask questions, to learn purposes, to examine problems, and to evaluate possibilities. The purpose: to equip us to make an informed decision.
If we add this ministry, it will replace nothing. It will be an addition to meet specific needs, not a substitution. It would be a specific step taken to move us toward our goal.
This congregation needs your ears, your mind, and your heart Saturday and Sunday, October 23 and 24. Help us be goal driven, not wish oriented.
Posted by David on October 10, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
We have an expression to describe the person (a) who is in serious danger and (b) has zero chance of escaping that danger. The expression is “sitting duck.” The sitting duck has no chance of escaping the hunter. Ducks fly with agility and speed. Ducks swim gracefully, but not with speed. Ducks run ugly and slow. A duck sitting in the water or on land has zero chance of escaping the undetected hunter.
The uncommitted Christian who is not actively serving God is a “sitting duck.” Satan is the hunter. When we choose an existence that spiritually “sits” rather than “serves,” 100% of the advantage is given to Satan. The “sitting” Christian will be wounded. “Sitting” certainly will result in great pain, and it can result in death.
Serving God is not merely a spiritual responsibility. Committed service to God in Christ gives God 100% advantage. God delivers us from evil in Jesus Christ for specific reasons. (1) It allows God to express and fulfill His love for us. (2) It allows us to express and fulfill our love for God. (3) It allows us to receive forgiveness. (4) It gives us the privilege of being members of God’s family and citizens of God’s kingdom. (5) It permits God to use us and our physical existence to achieve His purposes. We must never forget Christians exist to serve God’s purposes.
Nothing will transform you or your life as will serving God. Congregations filled with servants grow. Christian individuals who are servants grow. Christian servants advance the purposes and objectives of our loving God and forgiving Savior. Every achievement God has accomplished in this evil world used human servants. Every achievement God will accomplish in this evil world will use human servants.
In the year 2000 we wish to dedicate Sunday Bible classes to a study of Christian service. We want to encourage each Christian to be God’s servant. This is a clear, stressed, major theme in the Bible. God’s Son, our example, was a servant. As God’s sons and daughters, we are to be servants. To be God’s servants, we must (a) surrender to God and (b) become “whole life” stewards. Beginning in January, these four themes will be the basis of our adult Sunday morning Bible classes.
Next Sunday, there will be a special meeting of all men who teach or are interested in teaching in the Sunday adult Bible class program in 2000. Adult teachers, Ted and I encourage you to meet with us. Please come. Consider the objectives. Consider the resources. Examine our materials and the plan. Help us begin preparation for our adult classes now.
Posted by David on October 3, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
This congregation has many special things. One of the many is found in our staff. It should never be taken for granted. The staff works together well as a team. We genuinely like and enjoy each other. We never “tiptoe” around each other. We never “put up” with each other. We share a marvelous spirit of openness and cooperation. It is a joy and privilege to work with Brad, Ted, Roy, Debbie, and Myra.
I hope that you feel a deep sense of gratitude for the events this weekend. Crosswalk is a major happening. Brad began serious work and planning for Crosswalk before his surgery. It is truly an area event. Area youth ministers work together to make Crosswalk a successful reality. Youth groups from three states attend. Our facilities and location make West-Ark ideally suited to host the event.
On Saturday, 625 teens and adults assembled for classes, for challenges, for direction, for worship, and for repentance. Encouragement was given. Hearts were touched. Commitment and resolve were renewed. Faith was strengthened. Two were baptized into Christ.
Besides caring for his own responsibilities, Ted provides excellent help and support. In all the preparation, Ted helped Brad in every way that he could. On Friday, his day off, he came to help with the countless last minute things demanding attention. Ted was here all day Saturday. Of his own accord and thoughtfulness, he video taped the events of Saturday and early worship Sunday morning.
Debbie or Myra never ask, “Is this in our job description?” They never hesitate to offer assistance. Their normal (for them, normal does not exist!) workload is often overwhelming. Yet, they always are willing to make the time to help.
Each staff member would confess quickly that we receive wonderful help and support. So many of you are willingly “there for us” with real assistance and support. Thanks! To all of you who housed young people in your homes Saturday night, thanks! To all of you who took responsibilities and gave assistance, thanks!
Take joy in the good Crosswalk accomplished. Lives were focused on Jesus Christ. Minds were challenged to battle evil. Hearts were touched for eternal purposes.
Posted by David on September 26, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
To be appreciative we must be grateful. We cannot be appreciative if we are incapable of gratitude. Gratitude is more than being polite. After receiving a kindness, it is polite to say words of gratitude. However, selfish people can be trained to respond appropriately to kindness.
Gracious acts and words of thanks appropriately expressed in a timely manner may prove only that a person is well trained. They may reveal gratitude. They may not.
Gratitude is a state of heart produced by an appreciative mind. Politeness is responsive behavior expressed through gracious manners and an appropriate vocabulary. While the heart is essential to gratitude, it is not essential to politeness.
This past week Joyce and I were richly blessed by a week of vacation. While we “had fun,” the real joy was experienced in time together, rest, and escape from stress. The week freed my mind “to see” and “to feel” in ways that heightened awareness. Frequently I found myself quietly praying prayers of gratitude.
Through opportunities and experiences, God gave me “eyes” that “look at life” from more than the American perspective. The greater majority of the world’s population suffers from a poverty that exceeds our ability to grasp. In their wildest imagination these people could not mentally picture our vacation world.
For many their government decrees how many children they can have. This decree is enforced through abortion when necessary. For many others, half of their children die before reaching five years of age. Because of poverty and overpopulation, children either (a) are not wanted [by the government] or (b) have a fifty percent chance of survival. The parents are powerless to change either reality.
From birth to adult death, many will never have enough to eat. Many adults die rarely having eaten all they wanted any day of their lives. The majority could not buy enough food for their families if they spent everything they earned just on food.
In the early 1990s Joyce and I worked in Poland. Economic recovery had just begun.
We heard of a Russian who dreamed of visiting America. He could not believe the stories he heard about America’s prosperity. Then, he had a chance to visit Poland. As he prepared to return to Russia he said, “I no longer want to visit America. Nothing could be as prosperous as Poland!”
“God, may we turn from a mere vocabulary of politeness. Give us hearts of gratitude.”
Posted by David on September 19, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
On the Saturday evening of Labor Day weekend, Fort Smith experienced an electrical storm with some much needed rain. When we opened the church office the following Tuesday for “work as usual,” there was no work as usual. The thunderstorm had sent us an electrical surge. The surge burned out a card in the telephone central control panel.
The result: our phone system was dead. Incoming calls could not “come in,” and we had no dial tone.
“Big deal! So you were without phones! Phones are not that necessary!”
The fax machine works through the phone system. Crosswalk, a major youth gathering, occurs here September 25, 26. Some youth groups needed to fax information to Brad. It could not be done.
Our website depends on our phone system. Over a hundred thousand “hits” (contacts) a month visit our website. One reason: weekly we post sermons and new information. The sermons could not be sent to Michael Cole to post on our website.
Our internet contact relies on our phone system. It is a valuable resource in several things we do. That resource was unavailable.
E-mail messages play a key role in our daily work. One example: we send updates about our sick to members with e-mail addresses. Without phone access, there is no e-mail.
It was amazing to note the things that we commonly do that could not be done on that Tuesday. Why? No dial tone. What if a person did not understand that fax machines, websites, the internet, and e-mail depend on phone lines with a dial tone? When trouble occurred, what if that person did not know to check the dial tone first?
The popular, common view of life is the compartmentalized existence. According to this view, each of these are an independent compartment in a person’s life: social life, business life, career life, family life, public relations life, recreational life, church life, etc. Compartments are not interconnected or interrelated. In fact, “success” depends on keeping compartments separated, independent, and unrelated.
We watch people all around us whose lives are falling apart. Our lives are falling apart. Why? We have not learned that every aspect of a person’s life is interrelated. We have not learned that God is the dial tone. Life falls apart when we lose our dial tone.
Posted by David on September 12, 1999 under Bulletin Articles
The unscheduled (?) time of summer school vacation is over. In May, parents and students yearned for school cycle schedules to end. In August, parents and many students yearned for those schedules to return. The truth: school year “hectic” and summer “hectic” are each truly hectic. Each is quite different. But in spite of their differences, each deserves the designation of “hectic.”
Is it not amazing that the school year cycle has a primary influence on all our lives? That cycle affects all of us. That cycle even affects those of us whose children are grown. Does any grandparent wish to affirm that the happenings in the lives of your grandchildren has zero impact on your life?
The cycle of the school year powerfully influences the activities of the congregation. Some things cannot be done well in the summer because of realities created by summer vacation. Other things can occur only in the summer because summer provides the necessary opportunity.
Summer is commonly a “helter skelter, spur of the moment” period for most people. It is the time of family vacations, weekends at the lake, ball teams, spur-of-the-moment “just-for-fun” trips, and family reunions. Summer months are more flexible for many people. There are fewer scheduling conflicts.
However, scheduling conflicts and over commitment reign supreme from September through May. Prioritizing is essential. With priorities, life is difficult. Without priorities, life is impossible.
A critical essential: make certain that you use a mature, wise perspective before you establish priorities. Priorities established without perspective live to mock us by bringing grief and regret. The death of someone we love, our own serious illness, the consequences of poor choices, children who reject responsibility, defiant teens, the pregnancy of an unmarried daughter, the addiction of a son, the “lovers” affair of a husband or wife, divorce, or that economic reversal that totally alters life are just a few of the things that make a mockery of our priorities. These are just some of the things that transform the “essential” into the “ridiculously insignificant.”
As the school year begins, prioritize with a godly, mature perspective. As you set each priority, consider that priority’s message to your spouse and your children. Consider that priority’s heart message to God. In your priorities, is the eternal supreme?
