December 2008 #1

WONDERING & TRYING TO UNDERSTAND – Remembering back to my early adult Christian experience I wanted to learn and know all I could about my faith and what Baptists believed. Hiscox gave detailed doctrinal beliefs and practices of Baptists and how their churches were conducted and I read it through, checking time and again to verify belief and practice. When I learned about the Baptist Bulletin I read it through, keeping track of our fellowship and continuing to learn and understand our fellowship of churches, the function, belief and practices. Further, most Baptists I knew had Scofield Bibles that had footnotes that clearly taught dispensationalism which afforded a clear church means for interpreting Biblical truth in a clear understandable manner. I was thus enabled to read, study and interpret the Bible for myself and found myself in the company of other Christians who could do the same and find themselves in accord with one another. I wonder about today’s church members. How many know anything about these biblical tools? How many concern themselves about personal Biblical study and interpretation? How many really know what their church believes or even care, satisfying themselves with fellowship, music or whatever else may grab their attention to bind themselves to a particular church? Perhaps their occasional attendance is enough, never questioning these things.

THE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER BAPTISTS BULLETIN – This issue has several interesting issues, “Rightly Dividing” – A report from the Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics. Another article on “Church Discipline A Delicate Operation” is worth reading. In the Q & A section Norman A. Olson answers the question, “When People Say Christmas Is Pagan” is a worthwhile read. Though I have mentioned it before, I will repeat myself, for years as a missionary pastor, I always found a way to see that all our people received a copy of this magazine. I believed it helped them understand the faith and our fellowship, being a helpful tool to get information to them I might not have time to do on the brief occasions of Sunday and Wednesday services. I have now personal interest in promoting the Baptist Bulletin, but I do believe you will find it helpful to you and yours.

TEACHING WITH OR WITHOUT HELPS – I have had repeated discussions with my son Gary about teaching God’s Word to children & adults. He started teaching when he was seventeen as the result of a junior boys class that others (male or female) had not been able to teach. He successfully taught them and he has been doing so now for about forty years. I suggested he write an article on his philosophy of teaching God’s Word that can be shared with others. I don’t know if he will find time to do so or not but I will give you the gist of it to think about. He sees God in everything whether it is a little baby, a tree or any other aspect of nature or creation. The observation of God’s creative work gives us ample illustrations for our teaching opportunities. Whether you have materials provided to teach or have an occasion when you are caught needing to teach with out them. Recognition of, and an expansion of everything that surrounds us can provide a lesson. If you recall the teachings of Christ or that of the Apostle James, you will find that they used this means of teaching. They drew their illustrations from the surrounding nature (creation). Think about it if you are a teacher or are called upon to teach sometime.

MEGAR BEGINNINGS – The little church that gave me a start in ministry you would hardly believe. I don’t know exactly what the initial beginning was like. Pastor Baker worked for the State of Oregon and had a family of two girls still at home when we came on the scene. His wife and the girls would work harvesting cherries etc. during the summer. The building we met in was horrible. It had been some type of store and they had started to tear the building down. Before the task was accomplished they rented it to people who used the space to hull nuts such as walnuts and hazelnuts. Some way the little church started renting it and we came on the scene in time to help clear out the shells left behind. I remember the strips of supposed tarpaper like material with a floral print of some sort supposedly make the place look a little better. Whether it was there previously or added when the little church took the place over. The cracks in the outside walls would allow wind to blow in and move that strange wallpaper around during services behind the pastor as he preached. There was the larger room in which we held services and several smaller rooms used for classrooms, a real classy meeting place, sic. I preached my first sermon in that building when the pastor took a vacation. It lasted a whole ten minutes and I had tried to prepare it two whole weeks before delivering it. It is obvious I didn’t know what I was doing. Aside from my crude effort we did have a good preacher under whom I learned much. The fellowship was sweet and the people were very gracious, trying to make me believe my effort was good. They all wrapped their arms around us, encouraged us, taught us and gave us an opportunity to begin serving our Lord. Most people would never enter such humble surroundings to worship, and few did but those were precious days. Eventually we were able to purchase an old four-room schoolhouse to fix up for our place of worship. Two large rooms downstairs and two large rooms upstairs were kept warm by an old coal furnace in the basement. We had to come early to fire it up and keep stoking as the day went by. Though many would not go to such a church, that church spawned this home missionary, and I am sure that little handful of people will reap a huge reward at the day of award giving. Not because of any great accomplishments on my part but rather due to their faithfulness to the Lord in dire circumstances and by their support of missions and their encouragement of so many others. This is the church that saw something in me that I didn’t see and gave me my first license to preach and put up with my many blunders. Great loving people, most of whom are now with the Lord.

A LITTLE SIDE NOTE – Today’s churches that are looking for perfection and failing to give opportunities to the weak and inexperienced are missing the purpose of the local church to build people up in their faith and to prepare them to future ministry. So a young pianist hits a wrong key or note, so a substitute teacher misses the point of a lesson, so a young man is lacking in biblical knowledge, the local church is to train and bring those people along, giving them opportunity to grow in the Lord. Even deacons are grown by experience gained by observing and ministering with others. Think about it.