Welcome
Where is our snow? It never snows when they say it is going to snow. When the weatherman says that there is ninety percent chance of snow, we know that there is ten percent chance that he is right.
First of all, thank you all for coming. We appreciate you taking the time to come once again. It is certainly a big boost for all of us, especially for Portland, as well as the work of the Lord as a whole. The benefit for coming may not be in what you will learn or that you will hear something new, but it is in the cultivating of our unity of purpose by getting together, having fellowship, and rubbing elbows with each other.
Agenda and Binder Inserts
Today, our theme is “Sharing God’s Love.” If you look in your binder, you will notice that I will be doing the first session. Brother Rene Cassell will take the next one, which is the first part of two. Part two will be presented at camp meeting. Lunch, which is the highlight of the day, will take place after Brother Rene’s session. Sister Melissa Zetter puts a lot of energy into these dinners, so you need to notice all the decorations, and that will make her feel good. Brother Dick Taylor’s session will take an hour after lunch, as will Brother Tom Prisckett’s after that.
The last part of your binder has the continuation of the Scripture study program that Brother Joe Bishop has instigated. This covers Fundamentals of the Faith and Brother Charles R. Rodman’s Hebrews studies. If you got last year’s book, you have part one and two. If you did not get last year’s book, make sure to ask for it. We will not cover this today. Brother Joe will lead us in part four of these Scripture studies at camp meeting.
You probably have noticed the suggestion page. Make sure you fill that out and then put it in a tray that has been provided on the back table.
The next page lets you know of the upcoming events that you need to mark on your calendar. There will be a pastors’ meeting on Friday, June 28. Brother Earl Phillips has been scheduled to give us a session on conducting funerals. The ministers’ meeting has been scheduled for Saturday, July 6. Brother Rene and Brother Joe will each lead us in a session that day. On Thursday, July 4, there will be a writers’ seminar and more information will be sent to you about that. In addition, on the morning of Friday, June 28, I would like to have an opportunity to speak to the wives of the current pastors. This will be designed for a husband-wife team. More information will be sent to you regarding this. So if some of you notice something going on that Friday morning and think that you have forgotten or missed something, you will know that you have not. You might be wondering what I am going to talk to them about. The answer is “I don’t know yet.” However, if it is scheduled, I will have to think of something.
The top of the next page says: “Make sure you cover this…” That is space for the things some of you tell me when I am somewhere where I cannot take notes. So now you can write it down and then turn your form in on the back table. Make sure you sign it. If you are too embarrassed to take credit for it, I am too embarrassed to cover it.
If you do not own Fundamentals of the Faith, there is a notice on the back table that tells you where to get it. We do have a couple on hand. However, when these are gone, we suggest that you order your copy online from the address provided.
These same binders will be used at camp meeting, so please bring yours back. There will be binders available for those who are not here today. Also, pastors please see Brother Rick Olson to pick up your copies of Higher Way from the mailing room.
“That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us” (2 Timothy 1:14).
Introduction
In my session, “Love this Gospel Enough to Share It,” I am going to look at 2 Timothy 1. When we think of the Gospel preached in the Apostolic Faith Church, it is okay to say, “this Gospel,” “our Gospel.” Paul said, “my Gospel.” We can also say, “our ministry.” Paul repeatedly used these terms to distinguish it from other gospels that were being preached in that day, so we think of the Apostolic Faith Gospel as “this Gospel.” Paul was happy with his Gospel. We are happy with our Gospel as well.
Exhorted to Love and Loyalty
Chapter l of 2 Timothy is an exhortation to loyalty or to love. If you break down the text in context of our theme about sharing God’s love, you see that Paul loved Timothy. Paul, the older man, in writing to Timothy, the younger man, said, “My dearly beloved son.” This great deal of affection is penned in 1 and 2 Timothy. Paul’s desire was that Timothy would carry on the Gospel, or Paul’s Gospel. I dare say, as you heard the young people testify last night, there is a great deal of love that flows from those here that are older toward those young people who stood up to give a shout for the battle. There is nothing more thrilling than hearing young people say, “Count me in!” Even in this room, the older ministers have a great deal of love toward those who are younger and have the same desire that Paul had for Timothy to carry on this Gospel.
Loving Our Heritage
In verse 5 we see that Paul encouraged Timothy to love his heritage when he mentioned both his mother and grandmother. Loyalty is allegiance, devotion, and faithfulness. We can be loyal and faithful to this Gospel, and do not need to apologize for it. We can love the Apostolic Faith Gospel! We need to be sold on it in our own hearts! The message that we have to project to the world is God’s message for our Gospel. When we are sold on it, there is no debating because we feel like God has commissioned us with this Gospel and we want to be loyal to one another, and faithful to those who have gone on before us to uphold it.
The heritage and the tradition of the Apostolic Faith work are rich. Those of us who came in from the outside felt that way as we observed our first meetings. Brother Dick mentioned the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though I have never been on that ship, I have seen it; and I have similar memories of this Gospel that was preached in my first meeting. Our heritage is rich in this organization and those of you who have had parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and maybe great-great-grandparents in it, can thank the Lord that they passed on to you what we have here today. Heritage is valuable in any church. It unites families to a common denominator. When that heritage is lacking, it is notable. When it is there, it is notable. We thank God for our good heritage.
As you think about our heritage, you cannot separate where we are going from where we have been. Our vision, our mission, is rooted in our heritage. Paul was encouraging Timothy to love the heritage of his mother and grandmother. Paul then encouraged Timothy to love his calling. Verse 6 says, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.” In remembrance of what? In remembrance of the unfeigned faith that is described in verse 5 that dwelled in his grandmother first, and then in his mother. He was to hearken back and stir himself to not slack in his pace. He was to hasten his pace to uphold what was passed on to him.
Verse 7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” If you only had the power, it could be destructive. He did not say of power only, but of love also. So love counterbalances the power. I suppose if you had love and power, but had an undisciplined mind, you would still be in trouble—so you need all three. It is possible to have the power and the courage that Paul was admonishing Timothy to have.
Loving This Gospel
Paul encouraged Timothy to love his Gospel. Verse 8 says, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.” Perhaps Timothy was a naturally timid man. That is what many of the commentators suggest. Think of what Timothy’s heritage was and whom he was following. He was following a crucified Savior. Of course, Paul knew that He was a risen Savior, and so did Timothy. However, from the perspective of the world looking on, their leader Jesus was crucified, and where was Paul when he wrote? He was in prison. Furthermore, this is thought to be his last epistle before he faced the death penalty. So if someone were to ask Timothy, “Who are you following?” He could say, “I am following Jesus,” to which they could reply, “He is dead.” Or maybe he would say, “I am following Paul,” to which they could respond, “He is in prison.” What kind of a Gospel is this? But Paul wrote to him and said, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner.” Paul’s success was not very evident back then. In hindsight, we can see how the Gospel exploded from Pentecost forward, but if you read the epistles and the Book of Acts, Paul did not think he left much of a mark on this world. However, in writing to Timothy he encouraged him to keep plugging away, because his Gospel was God’s Gospel.
Hold Fast
In fact, in Corinthians, it mentions that others characterized Paul as weakened in his bodily presence and contemptible in his speech. He was in prison and about to be executed, and this was the one Timothy was following. “Ashamed” is used two more times in the same chapter. Verse 12 says, “I also suffer these things: nevertheless, I am not ashamed.” Verse 16 speaks of Onesiphorus, “Who oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain.” We are to be partakers of Paul’s Gospel, which may include a certain amount of reproach. Everyone is not going to speak favorably of you or me, but that is all right. The Gospel is not intended to make us comfortable in this life. It is intended to give us a hope of the life to come. So we want to share in the reproach that God would have us share in. We are not asking for it to come. However, it certainly will come, and when it does, we are not going to hang our heads about it. This Gospel has the power to deliver one from sin and get one into Heaven.
The same thought continues in verses 13 and 14, where Paul emphasized to “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou has heard of me.” Verse 14 speaks of keeping that which the Holy Ghost has committed to us. In the last part of the chapter, in verses 15 through 18, Paul found encouragement from those who shared his love for his Gospel. He also mentioned those who turned away from him. Disappointments happen. Paul, in this instance, felt let down in his time of need. Even so, there were plenty of reasons for him to be encouraged and he chose to focus on those reasons. When we look around at the saints of God we must remember that they are the most beautiful people on earth! Yet, they are people. They, in turn, can look at their pastors and think that they are the most beautiful people on earth. However, we are only people also. Together, we have a common purpose and a common goal, and that is to hold up the Gospel that has been delivered to us.
I would like to address a couple of issues that continue to come up on the subject of loving our Gospel.
Praying Before Meetings
First, some think it is odd that we kneel and pray to begin our meetings. To me it is odd if we don’t. When I first came into the Gospel, I had never seen anybody pray. My parents were not praying people; my mom might have been, but I never saw her pray. She was not saved. So my first impression when I stepped into that Roseburg church service on March 17, 1974, at age twenty-one, and saw them kneel on the platform, was to think, They pray. I did not think of that as odd, at all. It was the house of prayer! It ought to be odd if people do not pray. The church sanctuary has been sanctified, it has been hollowed, and it has been consecrated to inhabit the presence of God. In the Old Testament, the Shikinah Glory of God dwelt in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. When they had to move the portable Tabernacle outside the camp, the glory of God would still reside there. We want the glory of God to reside in our meetings. It is good for the musicians when they enter into the sanctuary to kneel and pray for God’s presence to be in the meeting. As far as that goes, it is good for everyone. It has been said that since we just prayed in the prayer room, we ought not to pray again. If we use that line of thought, since we just prayed in the prayer room one hour earlier, we ought not to pray at the altars either, right?
Some have said that praying before the service is just a formality. It may be a formality to them, but it is not to me. I need God’s help! I want God to be in that holy place. Others have said that no other churches do it. Other churches do not have tithing boxes, or symphony orchestras, and other churches do not preach entire sanctification. What other churches do or do not do is irrelevant.
Another issue raised is that some kneel in a sloppy or undignified manner. If that is the case, you may take that up with that individual. During an altar service when the Spirit of the Lord is moving, sometimes someone gets carried away and digresses to some fanaticism that distracts those who are praying. Though that may happen, you do not cancel the whole altar service. You go to that one person and, in essence, let him know that he needs to calm down. I have had to do that in Dallas when somebody came in who was used to praying in a very loud manner. In our small church in Dallas, where instead of a couple of hundred people praying, we had fifty people praying, I went to that individual and talked to him about it and he received what I had to say. It is a little bit different if somebody cannot pray due to physical reasons. Nonetheless, any matter of that nature should be taken up with that individual. As an organization, we kneel and pray when we enter the sanctuary to begin a meeting. In fact, we do it around the world. They do it in Korea, in Japan, in the Philippines, and in Africa. They do it everywhere, so why would we not do it in one spot here and there in America? That would be odd.
Some have asked if it is okay to ask everyone to pray before a meeting. That is fine. It is a house of prayer. However, it is not necessary to explain why you are doing it. They would get tired of you doing it real soon. They know what we are doing. Some of them may have done it probably before you ever came along. It is interesting to me that the first element of our mission statement is “Pray. We make prayer the basis of every ministry and encourage communion with God as the way to grow to spiritual maturity in Him.” It is no surprise that the devil wants to strike right to the root of the whole vision of this organization. This organization sprang from a prayer meeting where the power of the Holy Ghost fell, and from then until now we have made prayer the emphasis of every service and encouraged the saints of God to pray. However, it is not necessary to pray before special occasions such as weddings, funerals, etc.
Preaching Doctrine
With regard to doctrine, some object to preaching doctrine or even using that term. I think we need to exploit our doctrine. It is our strength, not our weakness. Some in Brother Loyce Carver’s days left the church because, they said, all he ever did was preach doctrine. However, if you examined their reasons closer, it was not about that at all. The truth was that they did not like Brother Carver, the leadership, or the vision of the organization. Few really leave for doctrinal reasons. Rather, they leave for some of these other leadership or personality type reasons, which incidentally are not the right reasons to leave. The right reason for leaving should be a doctrinal reason. If you were convinced in your heart that salvation did not deliver from sin, it would not make sense for you to attend the Apostolic Faith Church. Not getting along with people or not agreeing with the leaders is not the right reason to leave because you are going to have people and leaders wherever you go. During those years when people left, it was fascinating that some of the reasons they were leaving were the same reasons I was coming. The things that they were resisting were the same things that appealed to me and others like me.
How many here were saved from the 1970s forward? Please raise your hand. It looks like perhaps over one third of you. We came and we stayed because this Gospel appealed to us. It still appeals to me today. I think it is the greatest Gospel in the world. We should hold our heads high and should not be embarrassed or ashamed of any aspect of it. This Gospel has power to deliver, to keep, and to empower to evangelize the world, so we have every reason to be encouraged in it.
Our doctrine is what distinguishes us from others. Doctrine ought to be the first aspect of any church that one looks at. Doctrine is what holds a person to an organization when people problems come up—and they will. That is why the second part of our mission emphasizes the preaching of the original Pentecostal Bible doctrine. It is our heritage. Go back to Azusa Street and read those first papers, and you see that they repeatedly preached salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Today, some use the same terms but they do not mean the same thing. Salvation brings deliverance from sin and empowers one to live without sin. These days even the question of whether sin separates from God comes up. How about one sin? Will that separate from God? Ask Eve. Eve was created with a holy nature. She did not have a carnal nature. Her bias was not a propensity to evil but a propensity to good, but God allowed humanity to retain the freedom of choice. So though she had a propensity to do good, she chose to do evil. She sinned once and that sin separated her and Adam from God. That is a Bible doctrine and our theology.
With regard to the doctrine of sanctification, it is entire sanctification, which is complete, and instantaneous; one knows when he gets it. These days they say that you grow into it. It is true that you grow, but you grow after you get it. Your growth is not linked to your sanctification. It is linked to when you got saved. At that time you began growing and maturing and you will not stop growing until you leave this world.
It pays to know the theology of the Latter Rain Gospel and understand it because different winds of doctrine blow here and there and corrupt the original teachings with regard to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That is why we need to exploit our doctrine. As a Pentecostal group, we have retained the Pentecostal teaching because we understand it to be a right and true Bible doctrine. This doctrine that I went through is relevant because it applies to today. When we preach it, we must make it practical and achievable. You cannot preach anything more relevant than what we have heard so far in these special meetings.
As a church, we do get pressured to be like other churches. A lot of that is because some have an idealistic view of other churches. In fact, that other church that we think is so progressive, because they have big crowds, probably has a different view from the inside. They are people like you and me. Where there are people, there will be people problems. We are not called to be like other churches. We are called to be the Apostolic Faith Church. Our calling is rooted in our heritage and, knowing that, we are going forward.
Often as people get business educated, they think that a church can operate like a business. However, businesses are motivated by the bottom line and by getting customers. Our focus remains to preach this Latter Rain Gospel. If a business is in a slump, they change their message or change something to draw in more people, because that is their motivation. Sometimes, they will compromise quality to achieve their goal. Our mandate came from Heaven! We cannot change our message! Noah didn’t, and he didn’t exactly set the world on fire; in fact, he caused a flood, you could say. Jeremiah did not alter his message, and it seemed like nobody listened to him; nevertheless it came from Heaven. We believe that the Latter Rain message that God has commissioned this church to proclaim came from Heaven, and we are going to keep preaching it. And it is being preached with success, by the way. You will hear more about that later on.
For harmony and loyalty to exist, communication is key. Everyone here has probably been accused of being a poor communicator at some time. When somebody comes to you and says that so and so does not communicate (maybe he is referring to a pastor) the first thing you ought to ask is, “Have you communicated your feelings to that person?” It is inevitable; the one who accuses others of not communicating has not communicated himself. Most of these problems can be resolved if the accuser simply communicates his or her feelings directly to the individual concerned.
Even though we are very loyal to the Apostolic Faith and are sold on the Apostolic Faith, it is not really necessary to preach the Apostolic Faith. I am doing it today intentionally to promote loyalty. However, from the pulpit it should not be done. We just preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been commissioned to us. The Apostolic Faith Church is just the vehicle, but the Gospel is the message. For the sake of loyalty, unity, and standing together we do need to know that we are all in the same program.
The World Wants to Hear It
My title was “Love this Gospel Enough to Share It.” The message is to love this Apostolic Faith Gospel enough to be persuaded that the world wants to hear it. They do want to hear it. If you turn your page, for the next few minutes we are going to span the world, or a good part of it. The maps provided for you, which we will cover one at a time, are intended to be somewhat of a geography lesson and also to let you know how many churches exist in any given country. For instance, on the Africa map you will notice the countries where we have churches on the map are shaded. Also, under each country you will notice a number, which represents how many churches we have in that country.
If you look at my reasons to love this Gospel, you will notice I have listed nine locations. I could have listed more, but I was afraid we would run out of time. Some of our brothers and one sister will come up here and take two to three minutes to give us a reason why we should be encouraged in this Gospel. We will start with Brother Sam Ajayi. Then each person will come up in turn without being prompted. At the end, I will talk about North America.
Kenya and Namibia Reports by Sam Ajayi
In l968 Brother Carver, Brother Reuel Green, and Sister Ruth Ashwell visited what was then Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and Kenya. At that time we had a small church group in Kenya. However, in the early 1970s, they left our organization. After that, we had no church in Kenya until some students came to the United States and then went back and formed a group. In the year 2000, we were privileged to go to Kenya and meet with five pastors who were sold out for the Gospel. They were very excited about the Gospel of the Apostolic Faith Church as it is currently preached and wanted to join our organization. Thank God that today they are doing very well. They have been traveling to Zambia and Tanzania to find out more about the Gospel. This is just an example of the trend of how the Apostolic Faith teachings are expanding in Africa.
Until three years ago, there were no Apostolic Faith Churches in Namibia. It was really barren as far as the Gospel is concerned. However, around that time, some students from Nigeria started to gather together. With encouragement from headquarters, and by God’s grace, we have three churches there now. Their first church building is near completion and we hope that by God’s grace, that church will be dedicated this year.
In addition, the appetite of the people in Africa for Gospel literature cannot currently be satisfied. They just want more. As a result, we are working on creating a distribution center in South Africa. This would mean that instead of sending out individual pieces of literature, we would send bulk shipments which would then be distributed from there to about eighteen countries from South Africa to Egypt. What the Lord is doing in Africa is exciting!
Nigeria Report by Jack Chasteen
First of all, I would like to quote Luke 12:15, which says, “For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” I have always known this to be true, yet seeing it on a large scale in Nigeria really brought the truth of God’s Word to light. I was able to see both ends of the spectrum in comparing the saints in Nigeria to those of us here in America. We have access to so much. Most of us have so few needs, yet there are so many distractions. In contrast, they have many needs and few distractions. However, I found out that we have one common denominator, and that is the encouragement of the Gospel, which makes the difference. In the Old Testament teachings, the blood of the sacrifice was for the altar and for the atonement of the soul. The Bible says that the life of the flesh is in the blood. I found out firsthand that life is not in what you have or in what you possess, but it is in the Blood. No matter what we have or do not have, we find that if we have Christ, we have everything we need. That was certainly the case in Nigeria. They were in want for sure, but they had everything they needed; they had the Lord. What an encouragement it was. We live in a society where it seems sometimes that we have a lot of distractions. I was talking to a friend of mine, Brother Philip Ojo, who lives in Eugene and attends our church in Roseburg, about the affect the different cultures have on young people. His view was that it is thrilling that our young people are serving the Lord in the measure that they do with all the distractions around them. It is encouraging to me also to see the young people serve the Lord. We have a wonderful Gospel, and life is not in our possessions. Life is in the Blood of Christ, and what a hope that gives us.
Romania Report by John Musgrave
In 1929 a family in Romania, who lived in the area that we are currently working in, received a package of cookies, which was wrapped in a Czechoslovakian Apostolic Faith paper. It just so happened that somebody in that town could read Czechoslovakian. They interpreted the paper, and the people in that area started praying for the Holy Spirit. That started the Latter Rain Gospel in that area of Romania. As we know, some fifty years later, many families emigrated from Romania to Portland and came to our church. Why did they do that? Well, they had seen pictures in those papers of the “Jesus the Light of the World” sign. In fact, now in those churches in Romania, they have “Jesus the Light of the World” on their pulpits. So really the work in Romania has come full circle. It is interesting to note that even during our last trip, the twelve-acre site that we acquired was purchased from the son of the man who had received that first paper in l929.
Three years ago, it was a real privilege for us to go to Romania just for a visit. The Lord opened some doors there as we started working with a small church. We worked with them individually. One year ago at this time, Brother Dwight Baltzell made a trip with us. We met with eight other church leaders and were able to give them a recently published edition of Sacred Stories for Children in Romanian. Here you get to see the power of the publication ministry. Within a few months, eight Apostolic Faith Sunday schools sprang up in different locations. They love our doctrine. They see the power that is in it. I am thankful for that power.
We are going to be going again in May to visit these locations where the work is currently going forward: Beius, Bulgarus, Carpinis, Comlosu-Mare, Jimbolia, Gotlob, Lovrin, and Pesac. We will also visit Timisoara, where they are very interested in our literature. Another location, Argatoia, which is a very lowly populated area as far as Christianity, has expressed an interest in our work and has looked to us for well over one year. We are going to make a trip there. In addition, an exciting new event has come up recently. We are going to start our own stand-alone church and Sunday school in a small town called Sampetru-German. This is all because of the Gospel that we have here at the Apostolic Faith Church. Through the printed literature, the Word reaches many souls. We can go as individuals and try to do something, but it is just amazing what the Lord does through our printed work, which comes out of headquarters. If you are familiar with what goes on at headquarters, you have an idea of how many hearts are touched through our literature.
London and Scandinavia Reports by Dwight Baltzell
Our church in London began with Nigerian college students who immigrated there over twenty-five years ago. There are many Nigerians in America who have come for schooling. However, it is actually easier for them to get to England. These students completed their education. Then many of them acquired jobs, got married, and raised families. The children born to them are now in their mid-twenties. They are Londoners and are part of the church there. The congregation size is about 350. It has been thrilling to see the work explode after being spiritually watered and nurtured.
Is that the case everywhere? No, Scandinavia, for example, in more recent years has grown very cold spiritually. At one time in their history they knew what revival fires were. Now they have become self-sufficient, educated, satisfied, complacent, and formal in religion and church going. On my first trip to Scandinavia, I was thrilled to hear that many businesses shut down on the weekends. However, then I heard that they were doing it to head to the mountains, not for spiritual reasons, so plowing the spiritual fields in Scandinavia is difficult.
About four or five years ago, Brother LeRoy Tonning called to say that the little church in Norway wanted to reach out to London. Interestingly enough, at that time London needed to take some major steps in acquiring their own building, but they were having some difficulties. Norway was instrumental in helping London acquire their church building. Now Brother Isaac Adigun is the new pastor. He has been pastoring there for close to two years, and the work is just growing by leaps and bounds. Currently, there is a tremendous relationship flowing both ways, between the Scandinavian work and the London church. When I went to the first official London camp meeting last August, a number of saints came there from Norway. Likewise, the younger generation in London enjoy going to Norway. It is amusing to see the difference in cultures just blend and complement each other in the Gospel. Brother LeRoy recently told me that thirty-five young people from London are scheduled to attend their camp meeting around Easter time. The Gospel does work, and when a portion of ground is drying up, the Lord is faithful to lead us to the good ground.
Philippines Report by Bill McKibben
The Philippines is just one of the countries in Asia where we have churches. When I first came into the Gospel, I always heard about Korea. That was where the mission field was then. We certainly have some established churches in Korea, and we thank the Lord for that. God is still working, and I could not help but think as Brother John was talking about Romania, that his description of Romania reminded me of the Philippines. Currently, in the Philippines we have eleven churches. The work was established originally back in the 1960s. Some people wanted to affiliate with us and there were some rocky times. People who wanted to affiliate with us then, wanted to unaffiliate later. Brother Carver took the humble approach and pretty much gave those folks all the property other than just a humble little hut out in a little town called Bagong Sikat. There was just a small family there that loved this doctrine and the Apostolic Faith. When I had the privilege to accompany Brother Harold Barrett in l994, we had a chance to go by both of those locations. The one that Brother Carver had given away was mostly a hollow building; nothing had come of it. The Quonset hut that we kept is gone now, and in its place is a beautiful church. And there are ten others besides. God has honored the people that love the Gospel and love this doctrine. When we went that first time, we had the chance to be in several wonderful prayer meetings. On the third meeting there, four people received their baptism, and a husband and wife got saved. In the eight years since 1994, the eight churches that we had have now become eleven. We have three brand new congregations, and all have their own pastors, not just buildings. In fact, in the latest church that Brother Dwight had the privilege to dedicate, the people were so proud because the day before we got there they painted the new logo of “Jesus the Light of the World” on the top.
During that eight-year time, they also purchased three parsonages. That may not seem like much to you, but the economy of the Philippines is such that there is forty percent unemployment. The people make sacrifices to make the Gospel go forward. There are wives who work so that their husbands can pastor instead of leaving the country to support the family. When a man makes the choice to stay and pastor, his family goes without. I see couples that are working and struggling, and yet, like Brother Jack said, they have everything. No one complains. In fact, when Brother Dwight and I were there recently, we tried to help a little bit with something, and they would not have it. I actually got a letter from a pastor’s daughter once saying that they do not eat like that all the time, only when we are there. I am sure that her mom and dad would not have liked that she wrote me that letter. The fact is that when our churches incorporated in the Philippines they incorporated as the “Apostolic Faith Mission of Portland, Oregon, Philippines, Inc.” They do not want to be confused with everyone else. They want everybody to know that they are the Apostolic Faith.
Besides churches, parsonages, and buildings, of course, there are people. We have a lot of young people who are embracing the Gospel. It is not a dying work at all. In fact, we have educated young folks—some with a master’s degrees, some with PhDs—who are foregoing jobs in Europe and in the United States to stay in the Philippines so they can spread the Gospel. One in particular whom I know of could make thousands, possibly even into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if he left the country. He has been recruited, but he is the choir director. I do not know what that does for you, but besides making me want to go back, it makes me want to pray. It encourages me that the Gospel is still working and changing lives. This particular group has between ten and fifteen “out stations.” Those are potential places for a new work to start. They are currently endeavoring to train enough workers.
This last visit, one couple made the one-and-a-half-hour trip across Manila (a city of twelve million), arriving at the hotel at midnight, so they could see somebody from the Apostolic Faith because they had been holding Bible studies in their home in Manila. I was tired and ready to go to bed since I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, but this couple wanted to hear the Gospel. Well, they wrung every last drop out of me, and when I got on the plane, I decided that sharing the Gospel was quite a way to go. I am encouraged about the work in the Philippines.
Haiti Report by Dick Taylor
If you look at your little map, you will see that Haiti shares an island with the Dominican Republic. There is a difference between the two countries. Haiti is the poorest country in the Caribbean. Those people are what you would call “really poor.” The Dominican Republic has most of the land and they have the best of the land. I went to Haiti a couple of times with Brother Forrest Damron, so you know that was a long time ago. One day while there, we were going by a market and I saw where they were selling a double handful of charcoal. I asked why they were selling little piles of charcoal like that. Brother Damron said it was because they bought what they needed for that day. Tomorrow would have to take care of itself. They were that poor then, and I do not think it has improved much.
We did have some contacts back then, including a man by the name of Cherubin, but he eventually moved to the United States, so we lost that part of the work. Then we had another gentleman by the name of Bernard, but he passed away. However, something has happened in the last year or so that has been a real encouragement to us. In fact, we were absolutely thrilled! One year ago, we were on the island of St. Maarten, which is an unusual island. It is not a big island and it is divided into two countries. We have three churches there: two on the Haitian side and one on the Dutch side. There was such progress there in a matter of a year or two that we were amazed. The choirs they had and the things they were doing were really inspiring. Also, we encountered a man who had been a minister in one of those churches for ten years before moving back to Haiti. The people of St. Maarten wanted to build a church in Haiti. In fact, there was already a congregation in Haiti of 250 people. Not only that, some satellite groups had started up. So there was a call for some help. The main leader of the two Haitian churches on St. Maarten is Brother Rolland Deler. He is a well-educated man and is a surveyor by trade. He has been given Dutch citizenship and can stay on the island. He has a real burden for the people back in Haiti, and he has been traveling there to help the group that has started up.
When we got back from our trip, Brother Dwight and I were happy and rejoicing to think about what an opportunity this was. Then one of the brothers came to us and said that he’d had a little extra money come in and he wanted to do something with it. He donated $5,000—quite a bit of money—to the work in Haiti. We told him that we knew right where it could be used. By the way, we do not operate on some big surplus of funds at headquarters. There is no big pot that I know of, where you can just dip in and get a handful out. So you feel like the Lord is leading when something like this takes place. They are in the process now of building that church, and Brother Rolland goes over there and helps direct it, and we have somebody there who has been preaching the Gospel under Apostolic Faith leadership for ten years. We feel like we are on very good ground and have a real opportunity to see the work take off there in Haiti and grow.
Dominican Republic and St. Lucia Reports by Randy Baltzell
To understand the work in the West Indies, you have to understand that the islands are very isolated from each other. Although they are not far apart in miles, most of the people on several of the islands have never been off of their island. If they have left, they perhaps have been to only one other island. They are not able to see our churches on the other islands, and so many times they are subject to the leaders that they have. We heard about the good things in Haiti, how things are really opening up there. Trinidad has opened up, and in the Dominican Republic things are going well. Brother Hugo Sams was overseer of those areas. He kept things going straight, down the road, and we see the benefit of that today. In the Dominican Republic, seventy-five percent of the congregation is young people, and they are excited about the Gospel.
St. Lucia has had some challenges. There are a lot of good people there, but the former leadership was not what it ought to have been. However, there is new leadership there now. When we left for St. Lucia, we were concerned as to what we would find. Would there be anything to work with? When we arrived, we did find things to be encouraged about. In the midst of everything that is happening there, some individuals are standing true. At the ministers’ meeting that was held in the little church that seats approximately sixty people, we had quite a cross section of ideas and thoughts. However, in the middle of all that, we found a few who held true.
There is one man, Brother Lambert Vitalis, a pastor of a small church of maybe thirty people, who is doing everything he can. He is not a loud individual; he is not out front, but he is a good man. He tried to express how appreciative he was of what he heard at the ministers’ meeting, but he never finished his thought because his eyes filled with tears. He looked up towards Heaven and he just stood there and wept because he was so thankful for what he had heard. As I talked to him a little bit, he said that he wanted to encourage the young people and to bring music back into the churches. He asked if I knew where he could get some woodwind instruments. He wanted to teach the young people himself. This man does not get off the island, and one would suppose that his situation of being so much of a minority might cause him to wonder at times if he is right or wrong. I wondered, What am I going to tell this man? I tried to encourage him the best I could by telling him that even if there are just two of them standing true, the Lord is going to help them. The Lord knows right where they are. Headquarters knows where they are, but more importantly, the Lord knows where they are. This made me think of Romans 12:2, which says, “Be not conformed to this world.” Another way you could say that is, “Be not conformed to the spirit and influence of this age.” God is looking for just the handful of individuals who are willing to not compromise or be intimidated because they are in the minority, a handful who understand that the convictions that they feel in their hearts are true.
Leaving the island, I felt encouraged by the individuals we had talked to and the heart they have. They want the Gospel and I was struck by huge groups of people that just seemed to say: “Show us what to do and we will do it. Show us what direction to go and we will go.” So there are things to be encouraged about in St. Lucia. Those special individuals who are there, God knows right where they are.
Headquarters Report by Karen Barrett
I am excited and enthused—and if I wasn’t before I came here today, I sure am now. This has been just wonderful! In fact, I think I am just going to make a suggestion right now that we get to hear this all again. What I am going to talk about revolves around the mission statement that we introduced last year: “Pray, Preach, and Publish.”
Pray. I don’t need to tell any of you that we have seen wonderful answers to prayer in the last year, especially among the young people. Wow! What a thrill to see so many of them receiving experiences and catching a vision of the Gospel. It is so exciting! Without prayer, we would have none of that, but how thankful we are that they are learning to pray and they are seeing the results of it.
Preach. I have a renewed and growing appreciation for the solid doctrine that we have here in our organization. Just in a recent service, we heard one testify that he had gone to church all his life, but never really understanding that he needed to be born again. If we were not preaching that message in our services, he would not have heard it and we would not have had his testimony that has encouraged all of us through the years. In that same service, one of our older saints testified about how she had received some experiences from the Lord, but she really did not understand what had happened to her until she came to the Apostolic Faith Church and heard of sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Then the light dawned that these were the experiences the Lord had blessed her with. I thought, Amen. Thank you, gentlemen, for holding up the doctrine of this organization and of the Word of God, and for preaching it fiercely and faithfully, because it is making a difference.
Publish. This, of course, is a little more where I am at headquarters. There are just lots and lots of places to go with what we have seen the Lord doing in the publishing ministry over this last year. But I would specifically like to mention the “Through the Bible Project” that we undertook. I know many of you are familiar with that and have heard some presentations on it. Some of you are actually writing for it. What an encouragement this has been for me. I have worked at the headquarters office for thirty-four years, and for probably at least thirty of those years, I have worked in the editorial department. I want to tell you that the response to this project is absolutely unprecedented in my thirty years of experience. I have never seen anything like it. We have always struggled for writers. We have looked, we have asked, we have hoped, we have prayed. And we have had some write a little here and a little there. But currently we have more than eighty writers involved in this project from more than twenty of our branch churches. They range in age from about twenty-five to probably eighty-five. What is so neat is that we are seeing such enthusiasm as they have started to work on their assignments. What the steering committee has heard from the writers has just thrilled our hearts. Earlier this week, I had a call from one of the people who is writing in the Midwest. She had a question about her assignment. After we covered her question, she said, “I just have to take this opportunity to share with you what a great and wonderful privilege this is. It is just opening up the Word to me and I am so excited about it and so thrilled to have a part. I feel like I am really contributing something.” I was thinking to myself, I wish I had a tape recorder to put to the telephone, so I could play it for all of you today, because you would have caught the feeling in her heart.
Our most recent general devotional writer is Brother Darrel’s mother. Right after Brother Darrel came back from Africa, I told her, “Sister Maxine, I know you have done some writing; you need to be involved in this project.” Her eyes got big and she said, “I don’t know if I can do that.” That is how most people respond initially. However, I encouraged her a little bit and asked her to let me send a packet of information for her to look over. Let me tell you, this woman is a flood of information that has been rolling in our direction ever since, and she is so delighted. She wrote me a little letter and I am going to read you an excerpt. This is reflective of many of the different people who have been involved in this project.
She said, “I have to tell you how much this has done for me. It seems the thoughts just pour out to be shared. The Word is pure gold and the thoughts come so readily that I can’t get them down fast enough. I keep thinking, I must slow down or I will run dry, but it is so thrilling to me. Even if none of these are ever used, they have encouraged me and given me a new plateau to debut the heavenly vision. Again, I thank you for giving me this window.” Across the board, that is the way they feel. All of them do not express it quite so eloquently or as directly as Sister Maxine but we are hearing good things about it, and it is moving forward well.
To give you a quick update, just a couple of lessons are outstanding on the first three books of Genesis, Exodus, and Job, which comprise the first quarter. We have writers working in both Leviticus and Numbers. This last batch of lessons we received was great. The whole steering committee just said, “Yes, they are really getting it now.” It is so exciting! All of you have a part, directly or indirectly, because I know you are supporting it in your prayers. Please keep that up.
North America Report by Darrel Lee
I will talk briefly, since we’re out of time, on the United States and Canada. Brother Rene can talk to you about Kitchener and how God has blessed there. More recently, a work has sprung up in Fort McMurray, primarily from those who have moved from Newfoundland. Just a month ago, Brother Chet King dedicated a church in Langley. In a miraculous way, God took the burden of no church and nothing on the horizon, and in a matter of 90 to 120 days, something sprang up. Now it has been remodeled and dedicated. It was just an impossibility, but God did it.
Looking across America, Debbie and I witnessed the power fall while in the Century camp meeting, especially that last Sunday night. Of course, we know what happened at Portland camp meeting last year. We also did dedications in Houston and in Chicago in the past year. We find that Spirit wherever we go throughout the world. Our perspective in the United States may be that it is a challenge, because so many are in a branch church where we lack big numbers. However, these are people who love the Lord and this Gospel. The world still needs this Gospel. We hold our heads high and know that we have the greatest Gospel in all the world. So going forward, we want to ask God to help us.
I was thinking that we need God to help us do the impossible. That is really what we have prayed in undertaking this Bible curriculum study that Karen was talking about. When we first talked about it, it was too big. We felt that we were too short staffed, and it could not be done. That is why it is thrilling to see what God has done. We have not actually published any of it, so I am not being presumptuous. We depend upon God to go forward, and unless God continues to help us, it will never be published. The idea behind it was that we have been in existence for ninety-five years and do not yet have a textually oriented study. We have wonderful topical programs, but we need a textual one. If it takes us ninety-five more years to get it, then let’s get started. It is God’s business, not ours, but it is all rooted in the publishing of this Gospel. The world wants it, the world needs it, and we are going to keep on doing it. Let’s pray that God will help us to produce more of it and reach more people with it. We have reasons to love this Gospel and reasons to keep preaching it and publishing it. If you are in a branch church, keep plugging away. That is what God has called you to do, and those who will love it will come to it and thank you for it.
Performing Wedding Ceremonies
The following is a list of wedding matters to remember:
We do not perform second marriages when there is a living partner. As everyone knows, we do not perform ceremonies where one is marrying into adultery. However, we also do not perform second marriages, even in cases where the second marriage is deemed a valid marriage in God’s eyes, if there is a living partner.
Our church sanctuaries are reserved for the weddings of our church members.
We do not marry an unsaved individual to a saved individual.
We do not marry a couple unless we have opportunity to meet with them for counseling a number of times over a period of many weeks. Our purpose is to present them the counsel of the Lord with regard to marriage.
We do not perform ring ceremonies, nor are ring ceremonies performed in our churches.
For the wedding vow portion of the ceremony, we use what is provided in our Minister’s Manual. We do not do custom ceremonies where the bride and groom write their own wedding vows. However, we do not object to making the ceremony more personal by including comments that specifically pertain to that couple.
When questions about these matters arise, call headquarters. Your safety is in calling headquarters.
Welcome
Welcome to all of you! It is nice to have you here and we look forward to a good time this morning. Your job was to get here, and our job here in Portland was to prepare to host you. I am sure that all efforts will pay off with a great camp meeting.
On your schedule of events, you will notice that we will begin with a light buffet. Now be sure to notice the theme and the decorations and let Sister Melissa know how much you enjoyed and appreciated them. She certainly enjoys doing it. This is an open buffet, which means you can go back for seconds. Let’s stand and Brother Nolan Roby will ask the blessing.
A Couples Assignment
We are all looking to be a perfect pastor, a perfect pastor’s wife, to have perfect children, and have a perfect congregation. That is perfectly impossible to achieve, isn’t it?
In the booklet that you have in front of you, there are questions that you and your wife need to work on together to answer. This is an assignment. You have thirty seconds per question. We will go over each of the questions and answers together in five minutes. There will be a point to be made with each one of these as we go along.
You Made Consecrations
In the late 1970s or early 1980s when I used to prepare income tax returns, one could use what was called “accelerated depreciation.” This meant that when you bought a business property, you had the option of writing that piece of property off over a very short period of time, and this yielded tax benefits. The philosophy back then was to get as many write-offs as possible, as soon as possible, knowing all along that when that property was sold, you would have to pay it back. The transaction of paying back was called “depreciation recapture.” The prevailing thought was to live for today and deal with tomorrow when it got there. Well, tomorrow always came, and I was glad to be out of the tax business when tomorrow arrived for those people who had chosen to take the accelerated depreciation.
This reminds me of where all of us were in our late teens and early twenties. We were consecrating and we were praying around the altars of prayer. We were telling God that we would go to China, Korea, or anywhere. We gave all to God, didn’t we? For the most part, we have not been to China or Korea; we probably stayed close to the same state where we made those consecrations. Nevertheless, time has come to pay back, and we cannot get out of the business! We are stuck! That is amusing perhaps, but as we look back, we might think, Why did we ever make those consecrations?
We made them and we do not regret making them. Here we are in life, and God has called us on those consecrations. We may try to say, “Not this,” or, “Not that, Lord,” or, “How can this be?” but we are where we are and we do not regret that. Certain elements have been imposed upon us by life, more specifically by God, so we endeavor to do the best that we can to serve the Lord. As the result of what life has dealt us, we are in the role of pastor and wife, and we find ourselves dealing with things that back then we did not know we would have to deal with.
Now let’s go over the questions and talk about each one as we go.
Cultivate Your Marriage
1: You have an unexpected day to spend together as a couple. Of the following, which way best describes the way you would spend it?
· Go shopping at the mall together.
· Go out to breakfast together while you discuss how to spend the rest of the day.
· Look for projects to complete around the church.
· He goes fishing while you work on organizing your photo albums.
One question that comes to mind is,” Why did you have to wait for an unexpected day?” We should make a day. In fact, it is vitally important that we plan to spend time together, because if we wait for a convenient time, it will never come. Having said that, in terms of an answer it really does not matter how you choose to spend that day, as long as the two of you agree. Whether we have been married twenty years or forty years, we need to continually make an effort to strengthen and cultivate our relationship. If our relationship fails to survive, we fail to survive in the role that God has called us to fill.
2: Company is coming for dinner, and you sent your husband to the store to get an ingredient you are missing to complete your meal. The husband will:
· Buy the exact item you requested.
· Buy something resembling what you requested.
· Advise you to revise the recipe.
· Offer to take over while you go to the store.
The only comment I have here is that if the husband is the one who invited the dinner guest, then he better do whatever the wife says.
3: On your wife’s birthday, she can expect the following:
· A card.
· Flowers and a card.
· An item of clothing.
· A tablecloth for all the company the husband invites to dinner.
· Computer equipment for the church work.
In buying a gift for your wife, practicality can be more expensive than being extravagant! Since your personal lives are very important, you need to do whatever it takes to cultivate your life together. If the two of you agree that you want to buy a computer for the church for your wife’s birthday, then Praise the Lord! I wouldn’t even go there myself! Actually, what I usually give my wife for her birthday is what she bought a month ago and told me that I could give her on her birthday.
Cultivating your relationship provides an example for the entire church. The whole church is observing you as a couple. So do not sacrifice your relationship and the work of the Lord.
4: Which song best describes your marriage?
· There Is a Quiet Understanding.
· Revive Us Again.
· In Times Like These.
· Sweeter as the Days Go By.
There needs to be an understanding even if life isn’t always quiet. We must always look for ways to have our relationship revived. When I counsel young couples that are contemplating marriage, I always tell the husband to remember to date his wife. Debbie loves it when I do marriage counseling because I remember that I should date my wife. So when I ask her on a date, she asks me, “Have you been counseling again?” Of course, we always need a Savior and an independent close relationship with Him.
The song “Sweeter as the Days Go By,” certainly describes everyone here. It is a privilege to serve the Lord in any capacity. You became a pastor because you enjoyed the Gospel and you are going to succeed in the Gospel because you continue to enjoy it.
In the different literature that crosses my desk, it has been interesting to see pastors described as a segment of culture that is victimized. Because you are a pastor you are a victim and somehow you are to be pitied. May the Lord help us! It is a privilege to serve God. It is a privilege to be a pastor because you work for the most beautiful people on earth, the saints of God. We should count it a privilege. We will probably encounter a certain amount of sacrifices along the way that we perhaps would not have had if we were not a pastor or a pastor’s wife. However, there are a lot of privileges that we would not have enjoyed, had we not been called. We must focus on the privileges, and not let the devil cause us to focus on the other.
Wherever you are serving God, make an effort to make good memories. There are some advantages to relocating from time to time. There are also some disadvantages. A lot of people that live in the same place for a long time wish they could have a fresh start somewhere else. So there are benefits and we want to take advantage of those blessings that the Lord has provided.
5: The pastor is serving the ordinance bread you prepared and you suddenly hear it fall to the carpet between parishioners. Which of the following describes what you will do?
· Go deeper on your knees before the Lord.
· Go deeper still.
· Be glad you made extra.
The pastor who serves the ordinance bread that his wife prepared, most likely will not solve the problem. He is going to come to his wife and say, “Honey, please help.” The solution is easy if there is extra in the church kitchen.
6: One of the beloved saints of the Lord rings your doorbell at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday. Which of the following best describes what you would do:
· Yell: “Nobody’s home!”
· Answer the door with morning hair and breath.
· Be very still.
Really, it does not make any difference if it is seven o’clock or noon. The point is that we are guardians of one another’s solitude. Our home is our personal place of refuge, and it is not necessary to post an open house sign on the front lawn. If you like to do that, and both of you can stay sane, then go for it. But most people are not built that way.
7: You finally have opportunity to spend a night alone at the beach. At the last moment, one of your peers at church joyfully makes a request to join you. The proper response is:
· That would be fun if my spouse wasn’t recovering from a very contagious strain of mad cow disease.
· Be honest and say that you need time alone.
Everyone is different. Some may want to make that happen and others will not. If you are going to cultivate your relationship as a couple, having another couple may not be conducive.
8: On the way to a beach getaway, the topic of choice in conversation should be:
· How to effectively expand the evangelistic work into neighborhoods around the church.
· Discuss those who are compromising the standard of the Gospel.
· Zero in on the lesser qualities of the spiritually lean in the congregation.
· Talk about your plans for next Christmas.
I guess the question is, “What state of mind do you want for your getaway?” It is important to have a personal life, and the Bible teaches us that there is little gain in discussing some subjects. Some will have to be discussed, but the more that you can limit it the better off you are.
Cultivate Your Church Relations
9: You are on a road trip with your children in the back seat. Your best avenues of discussing a frustrating church matter are:
· Discuss them in the same manner you would if your children were not present.
· Whisper softly.
· Consider changing the subject.
I am sure that none of you would do that to your children. If they grow up knowing all the challenges that exist within the church, they will go to a different church, if any church at all. You can count on that. Debbie and I used to sometimes whisper softly. Randy was usually in his own little world and did not pay much attention to what was going on. Alicia was a reader, so her face was in a book whenever we traveled. So when we leaned toward the middle and talked about something, the quieter we got, the more you could feel that radar screen going up. After Alicia was old enough, she knew that we did not talk about things like that normally. We really should not have discussed it in front of them at all, because even if it is not done in a frustrating-type manner, your children live with you and observe you for many years, and they are perceptive. If they detect that you are going through life frustrated because of the work of the Lord, what kind of picture are you painting for them regarding the work of the Lord? We want our children to love and respect the church and the saints and the ministry, though they will observe through life that everyone is quite human and has a certain number of strengths as well as weaknesses. Because we have observed their weaknesses is no reason not to love them and appreciate their strengths.
10: One of the mothers complains to you that your child has stuck bubblegum in her child’s violin case. Which of the following is your best way to respond:
· “Your child isn’t exactly an angel.”
· Laugh hysterically.
· Cry hysterically.
· Remember Proverbs 26:20, “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out.”
There is a good chance that the initial thought that comes to your mind is the first option, but you are not going to say that. The reason that you are not going to say that is because you are going to live there for a long time to come, with that same mother and those same children.
You can laugh or cry hysterically when you get home or remember Proverbs 26:20. I think the key is to remember that you are going to live in a certain location for a while. Do not burn bridges and destroy relationships! Hold back; that small issue is going to pass. After a while the bubblegum will harden and snap right off. Another thing to remember is that it really does not pay to fight your children’s battles. Let them figure it out among themselves. Believe me, they will work it out and will have forgotten the whole thing by nightfall. However, when the parents get involved and interfere, the problem will linger with you for the rest of your stay at that location. In addition, you are an example for the congregation. It does not pay to fight your children’s battles.
It also never pays to react publicly to anything that your children tell you privately. If your children tell you something about somebody in the church, do not prepare your Sunday morning sermon around that. Your children are not the spiritual barometers of the saints in the congregation. You ought to run from that information, and if it did come to your mind when you were at the pulpit, you should not go there by any means.
11: A lovely church family (mom, dad, and four lively children) from another branch location shows up unannounced at your door on Saturday evening expecting dinner and accommodations. The husband’s best response to them would be:
· “You can’t be serious.”
· “I wish the children could conquer the vomiting and diarrhea they have had all week.”
· “There is a Motel 6 right next to Denny’s just a mile from here.”
On this one, I am going for the last option. I would, and my wife knows that I would. She is not running a bed and breakfast, and never has. Now, if you as a couple decide that you want to run a bed and breakfast, more power to you. You are both different than I am, but that is okay. It is a good thing that we are not all made the same. The key is not allowing a certain expectation to be built. You are in this for the long haul, and we hope that you are somewhat sane twenty years from now, if the Lord tarries. The irony of it all was how badly this very policy was violated when Debbie and I put together these questions. We went to the beach and actually worked on this while sitting next to each other on the sand. However, I had asked Debbie if we could work on this while there, and she said yes.
We Are in This Together
How did you do? Did you pass, or did you fail? You are all still here so you must have passed. On the last page, there is a verse that Barak spoke to Deborah. He said, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go” (Judges 4:8). This was Barak’s appeal to one woman. This was not a husband-and-wife situation, though it could certainly apply to that relationship. The conclusion I derive from it is that we are in this together.
When I prepared for this time together, I had two things in mind. The first was to say thank you to all of you for hanging in there and serving the Lord, and for doing your part at the location that God has placed you. Thank you also for coming to camp meeting. This camp meeting would not run as smoothly as it does without everyone doing his or her part. You are terrific people and I appreciate you all very much. The above Bible verse came to me regarding all of you. If you are not going with me, I am not going. But I know that you are going with me, and I know that you value God’s work.
Spouses Consecrated Also
Secondly, I did put some thought into what I would say to a group of ladies. Ladies are made differently than us men. I learned that early on when Debbie was pregnant with Alicia. Before Alicia was born, we went to classes so I would learn to breathe properly while Debbie was in labor. During one of those classes they talked about the fact that a woman has a nesting instinct. I had observed that and had been told that we needed a bassinet along with all those things that you need when you have a baby. To me, we didn’t need anything. The baby could use my towel, and we could pull out a dresser drawer and put a blanket in it and the baby could sleep there! But I learned about the nesting instinct, and about the fact that a woman needs a home and that is so vital to her. And here I am today talking to a group of women who have to re-locate throughout life. Worst yet, I am the guy that sits across from them telling them, “It is time to re-locate!”
That is why I say that if you are not going with me, I am not going. Without all of you, I am not up to this, but I know that you are willing. As I mentioned earlier, we made consecrations and most of you pastor’s wives were drafted. But you also made the consecrations, so we have a little leverage on you. I did tell Debbie before she married me that I felt called to preach. We got married in 1976 and I preached my first sermon in 1978, a little less than two years later. So she had some negotiating power on that one, though I did not tell her that I was called to be a pastor because I did not even think about that part or even consider it. Since then, I have teased some. Two years ago I told her that if I had known twenty-five years ago that she was called to be the leader’s wife, I would not have married her. However, there is a call, and though none of us signed up, we are happy to serve the Lord in whatever capacity He has placed us.
When we ask a young man to be a pastor, what do we tell his wife? Her first question is, “Now that I am a pastor’s wife, what do I do?” The answer is you do what you have done before you became a pastor’s wife. That is what you do. You keep doing what you have been doing. What were you doing? You were a good wife or else your husband would not have been asked to be a pastor. Most of you here today are good mothers because your children are perfect children. So you keep on being a mother and doing what you were doing. Who knows, it might be because of you that he is where he is. I apologize to Karen and Eddy Storey because their roles are reversed, but they did give me permission to do that. There is no new huge assignment endowed upon you since you are a pastor’s wife. You do have certain strengths, and you need to use those strengths. You do not have to suddenly become someone you are not. God did not call what you weren’t. He called what you were, so just keep on being that. That is the best pastor’s wife that there is, and that is what people want. You may think there are certain expectations that exist, and you may try to measure up. However, you are most effective when you can be who you are.
Sometimes there are challenges that come along. You can be lonely, exhausted, and perhaps lean towards being so discouraged that you are depressed. When we lived in Eureka, Debbie told me that she was lonely. So I dated her to try to solve that. The important thing to remember through those down times is that Satan will come along and tell you that you are feeling that way because you are a pastor’s wife. However, these are human emotions that we experience through life. If you were to talk to anyone your age in your congregation, you would probably find out that they are going through some of the same things. So don’t let the devil tell you that you are experiencing those things because you are a deprived individual due to the role you have inherited. Focus on the privileges of being a pastor’s wife. Most of the issues that come up are real life issues rather than pastor’s wife issues, though there are times when other things do come up, so I am not totally discounting that.
Challenges in Relocating
Thinking about the nesting instinct again, women also want stability and security. If a woman’s husband is a pastor, she wants to know what happens if he dies. I don’t know, but God does. These are valid questions and real thoughts that come to a wife’s mind. There are challenges, but God will take us through and give us the victory. In 1992, we moved to Eureka when Alicia was fifteen. Prior to that we had lived in Dallas, and that last year before we moved, Alicia had started to connect with the Portland young people, so her life was full of promise and excitement. She had friends, and the drive from Dallas to Portland was only one hour and fifteen minutes. So when we were asked to move to Eureka, she had to look at it as an adventure. That year, she was going to be a junior in high school. The Eureka church had no other girls her age. She was fifteen and the closest girl to her age was Missy Jones, Mark and Bonnie Jones’ daughter, who was seven or eight at that time. The next ones older were some young ladies a bit younger than her mother. So in our minds, probably more than hers, we saw that as a challenge, and she did have some challenges. Eureka High School was three times the size of her school in Dallas and we discovered Humboldt County has similarities to Berkeley. There are people in Humboldt County who do not know the hippie age ended. So I dropped her off that first day and she went in like a trooper. The second day she did not go in like a trooper. She was scared and she did not like it. She ate her sack lunch in the stall of the ladies’ restroom. So there were challenges that were encountered. She did get over that finally, and some girls befriended her. Within a week she was on top. Today she would tell you that living in Eureka was a rich experience. She loved Eureka.
While there, she wondered whom she was going to marry. There were some guys there, but they were much older. So she was in isolation, behind the Redwood curtain, as we called it. During that time, after Sunday night church when Randy would go off with his friends, Debbie and I would take Alicia up to Arcadia and the three of us would sit down at the Mad River Saloon (it was a restaurant, not a saloon). What I am getting to is that we became her best friends, and I think we are still friends today. We are Randy’s friends too. There were blessings and there was character development in all of this. As we see character development in our children, there is also development in us as we let the Lord choose our paths, and He does.
Debbie ran up against having certain things expected of her when I became pastor. However, I have never struggled with what others viewed as expected of her. She has understood from day one that I expected her to be exactly what she was before. She did that well, and has continued to do so. So pressure to be something we are not does exist from time to time, but as husbands we can help stabilize that by being thankful and content for the strengths that our wives have. That is why we married them!
Privileges in Relocating
God’s people are a privileged people and we are privileged to be able to serve the Lord. So if you won’t go with me, I won’t go. But if you will go with me, I will go, and you have proven that you will. To give you another illustration, at camp meeting two years ago, I spoke with four couples who were content to be where they were. Their congregations were content to have them where they were. Yet as things were evaluated, certain personalities seemed to fit in certain locations. Usually there are not a lot of options, and that is helpful. However, it is not just chance. God’s way of directing is a way of clarity. Typically, there is a certain amount of probing and exploring, but God allows the pieces to fall together. What was a real blessing to us was their response. Who was I that I should sit down and ask them to move? I was expecting more of, “I am happy where I am, thank you” attitude. But they had a heart, every one of them, to want to do what God wanted them to do. That is thrilling! This does not mean that there is always a ringing endorsement like, “You sure picked that one right!” But we all want God’s will and we all want the Lord to help and to guide, and I am confident that He does.
God Will Lead
When I am contemplating moving someone, I am aware of the children involved, what their ages are, and what grades they are in school. Certainly, we would not ask someone to move who has a child that is entering their senior year of high school, or would we? If there is no other option, then it must be that God is calling, because we sure do not like to do that. We did it to Howard and Gale Wilson and they showed up today! They have a daughter who is going to be a senior this year, but she is a trooper. I think that we have to remember and be confident that God is the one prevailing. God will overrule man. Man may think one way, but in the end all we ever want is for God’s will to be done. So it will never be an easy thing to have that nesting stage disrupted, but do not get concerned; I do not have any intentions of doing so for any of you this camp meeting.
The Lord knows what He is doing and we thank Him for that. We are in this together. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to say what I have said. Let’s continue to ask God to help us to do our part in prayer along with all the other responsibilities that we have this camp meeting. The most important part is to pray, to encourage people at the altars, and to see souls pray through. Thank you for coming.
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