Sister Karen Barrett has oversight of compiling the information that is submitted that relates to the Minister’s Manual project, and she also has oversight of the editorial process. We have appreciated the participation we have had from many of you and depend upon it. Let’s let Sister Karen give you an update as to the status of the Minister’s Manual project.
Road Map
Most of you know that my husband, Rich, and I have five children. When our kids were young and we would take a family outing of any sort, there was a certain phrase that would always be part of the road trip: Are we almost there? Any of you who are parents are probably familiar with that question. Sometimes it seemed like we were hardly to the outskirts of Portland before it would be asked. It was pretty hopeless to say, “Well, we have five more hours of driving” or “There are three hundred and fifty-six more miles to go, so settle down now; get comfortable.” That just didn’t seem to cut it. When the kids got a little older, we discovered something that really helped in terms of making the trip go by in a reasonable progression, and that was a road map.
We found out that if our kids could tick off the landmarks as we went along, that would just settle things right down, because they would kind of know how much farther we had to go. Today we are hoping that as we tick off some landmarks in our process of producing a new Minister’s Manual that will put the remainder of this project into perspective for you.
To continue the trip analogy, we know that every journey has a starting point. You don’t get anywhere without a starting point, do you? Our starting point began with a review of the current Minister’s Manual. I know that all of you would agree this has been a really wonderful resource, but it was written more than sixty years ago. Last year, Brother Darrel Lee mentioned here that the world has changed a lot in sixty years, and actually, the Apostolic Faith organization has changed a lot in sixty years. For that reason, a decision was made to update the existing manual.
Along with a starting point, every trip also has a destination or a goal. Our goal is to produce a Minister’s Manual that will equip those who participate in the ministry of the Apostolic Faith Church to fulfill their duties as a servant of God, first and foremost, but secondly, as a good representative of this organization. We also want it to provide instruction for the ministers who are going to follow all of you if the Lord tarries.
Here’s a five-point overview of the new manual. It will cover much of the same material as the old manual. Our doctrines and the guiding principles of the Apostolic Faith organization haven’t changed, but they will be covered with more up-to-date verbiage, as the English language and styles of writing have changed a lot in sixty years. The manual will add new material reflecting contemporary society. For example, there’s going to be a unit on Biblical perspectives, and that will cover topics like gambling, substance abuse, pornography, homosexuality, the sanctity of life, and some things that weren’t covered in the original manual. It will also address changing technology and how technology impacts how we share the Gospel. Content will have more of an international perspective. We are recognizing that we have Apostolic Faith ministers serving on six of the world’s seven continents, so that needs to be reflected in the updated manual. There will also be a focus on current methods of outreach. For example, the new manual will cover Vacation Bible School instead of cottage meetings, digital media outreach instead of street meetings, and it will address legal considerations that were not a big concern in society sixty years ago. This will include topics such as avoiding litigation, copyright concerns, digital media, insurance issues, and so on.
Process
We have made progress toward our goal of an updated manual. The first phase was a pastoral evaluation. About a dozen of our senior pastors were each assigned a quarter of the existing manual, which they very thoroughly reviewed. Then they came back to headquarters with suggestions regarding what should be updated, deleted, or amplified. An initial outline was made of the topics we felt should be covered. This was primarily based upon the Table of Contents of the original Minister’s Manual, but it was adapted according to the suggestions made by the pastor reviewers.
During camp meeting 2010, a group of pastors met to discuss and make some basic decisions related to the manual. These covered proposed writing style, the voice to be used, and the physical format of the completed product. Since then, all the initial drafts have been written other than a couple of topics that are still under consideration. These drafts include the ideas that you generated in last year’s ministers’ meeting. Remember, you separated into groups and were assigned a topic, and then you came up with five or six main points that you thought needed to be covered. Well, those were fed into the process and were a good source of information for us.
When the review process began, we posted a Table of Contents on our website in the Bookshelf section on the Minister Resources Page as a starting point. Along the way certain topics were combined, and in some cases added. For instance, just recently one pastor got in touch with us and suggested that we include a section on conflict resolution, so that topic is now under consideration. In some cases, sections were deleted. For example, we made the decision to take out the forms, such as the Marriage Certificate and Baptismal Card forms. These were at the end of the old manual but will now be posted on the Minister Resources Page of the website. That way, they can be added to, adjusted, or modified easily. Once something is in a hard-bound book it’s not quite so easy to update.
I suspect that we are going to continue to modify the Table of Contents as we go along, because we are still not quite through this review. For the next couple of months, we are still open to content suggestions, so you might want to take time to look through that Table of Contents. You have one in your handouts today, and it will also be posted on our website. We updated it in February, and that is the version that you have in your folders.
We are now in the ministerial review phase. Last year in the March ministers’ meeting you were invited to participate in this review process, and we would like to encourage you again to do so. Many of you have taken part and we really do appreciate what you have sent in, but it’s not too late to have a say in what’s being produced. I think most or all of the documents are still available online, so you can catch up if you need to.
By way of reminder and for those who were not here last year, I am going to quickly review how and where to access the documents online. First, go to our website and log into the Minister Resources Page, and you will click on the category “Memos.” I am assuming you’ve all signed up to have access to the Minister Resources Page, but if by any chance you haven’t, you can see Sister Rodica Musgrave at the end of today’s session, and she will give you the instructions.
Clicking on that “Memos” icon will take you to a list of memos, and the latest post is at the top of the list. Select the topic you wish to review, and then click on the words at the end of the paragraph that say, “Read More.” That will take you to the full article. You will find instructions for editing at the top of each one of these articles. At the bottom of the article, you will find a box where you can put in your name, email address, and then your comments. Notice that each paragraph is numbered. That is for your convenience in editing. Obviously, that will not appear in the print version. For instance, you might type in the comment box, “Paragraph 4: Would it be helpful to add examples to amplify this thought?” When you are done, click on the box that says, “Submit,” and your suggestions will fly through cyberspace to the headquarters office. Even if you don’t have suggestions on a particular document, it will be very helpful for us to know that you have reviewed the documents. You can do that by checking the box that says, “I have read the memo, and I have no suggestions,” and then clicking the “Submit” button.
Looking again at the Memo Page, you can sign up to receive the weekly post or posts as an RSS feed. You click on that little icon to initiate that setup. If you are uncertain about how to do this, it was covered in last year’s ministers’ meeting, and Sister Rodica has some extra copies of the instructions.
Next, I will show you how these forms come to us and what we do with your suggestions. When you review a document and check the box that says, “I have no suggestions,” the form that we receive looks like this. This is a submission from Brother Mark Worthington. The check mark on the top of the page indicates to us that we have noted on our records that Brother Mark reviewed the document and has responded. When you do have some suggestions to make, we’ll receive a form that looks like this. This is one from Brother Bill McKibben. Again, the check marks along the side mean that we looked over Brother Bill’s suggestions, they have been reviewed, and a decision has been made. When all the ministerial comments have come in, we incorporate the whole list of suggestions into a copy of the document. Then we make the corrections on the electronic file, and a new printout is produced. The reason for putting them all in a file like this is that sometimes two or three of you may identify a weak spot in a certain paragraph and propose different ways to adjust it. We have to make the decision as to which direction we will go. This is the process.
Current Status
You are probably interested in knowing how far along we are in this process. Well, here is the update: thirty-seven documents have been gone through and reviewed. We have one hundred and twenty-nine to go. So, we clearly still have some ground to cover. With the thought of expediting this step, this memo was posted on the website in mid-February. It let you know that going forward we have two documents to review per week and the reality is, there may be more than two. In some cases we have determined that we will maybe even group three or four if the documents themselves are fairly short or related.
In addition, we are probably going to ask some specific groups of pastors to review certain sections. For instance, we have made a tentative determination to ask the members of the Board to review the documents on Church Structure, which includes Duties of the Superintendent General, Duties of a Board Member, and so on.
We are targeting late fall to finish the ministerial review phase. I’m not positive we will make that goal, but it’s good to have a target. When this part of the project is completed, the documents will go through an in-house editorial staff review. Our editors are really great at picking up things like wrong verb tense, poor punctuation, missing words, spelling errors, and things like that. Once those corrections are made, the documents will be placed into a book template and then there will be another round of proofing before the book is printed.
You ministers come from a wide range of backgrounds, having differences in your initial familiarity with the Apostolic Faith work and in knowledge of our organization. Some of you were born into second or third generation Apostolic Faith families and others of you came into the Gospel later in life. Some of you serve in churches in the United States, and others of you are from around the world. The next generation of ministers, if the Lord tarries, is going to have that same range. You might think that you don’t have anything different to say than anybody else, but your perspective and your background is unique to you. For that reason, we really want to hear from all of you. We strongly encourage all of you to participate.
We did a little tallying to come up with how many years of ministerial experience is represented in this room, and we came up with one thousand two hundred and ninety-eight, give or take a few months. So you gentlemen and ladies reflect a lot of experience, and we want the coming generation of ministers to be able to benefit from the lessons you have learned. For that reason, we really encourage you to submit your input. We look forward to hearing from you in the months ahead. And please continue to pray that God will bless this project as it goes forward. Thank you!
How many of you are going to be working on this in the coming weeks by a show of hands? We have to determine whether or not Sister Karen’s presentation was successful. Well, it was, and we appreciated the information. In the editorial process you need not be concerned as ministers about punctuation and grammar; we have people in-house who address those issues. If you see something, you can make a note, but we are more concerned about content, about the thinking in presenting this material. Remember, it is designed for new works around the world who have very little grasp in the beginning of what the Apostolic Faith is all about, except for a few ministers’ meetings that are conducted when we go to these different places. We need to put in writing for them what we stand for and how we conduct ourselves. The manual is of great value to those who haven’t had the blessing of living in the United States and attending our different camp meetings.
The Minister’s Manual serves as a reminder to all of us of the doctrines, and it is a source for us to refer to when we encounter a challenge. One of the purposes of the manual is to address whatever challenges you may come up against as a minister. You could refer to it, hopefully, and find some initial guidance at least. If you were to go to the manual and find that what you are dealing with isn’t covered, that’s when you would send in an editorial comment saying, “Hey, I am faced with this challenge. Could this be addressed in the Minister’s Manual?” We would try to address it, so your help is very much needed.
When I began to preach, Brother Nolan Roby gave me a Minister’s Manual and told me I should read it once a year. In the first few years, I probably did, but now I am immersed in this project, and so obviously, I am reading it, but I wonder how many read it with the frequency that it ought to be read. Here is your opportunity. It is in process. You can help create for the next generation what they will be referring to.
The purpose of the Minister’s Manual is to instruct and to remind; to instruct new ones and to remind those who have been around for awhile. I don’t know how you face a project, but when our children were small, Debbie would oftentimes buy a Christmas or birthday gift for them that required assembly. It would be given to me to put together. I would take all the parts out of the packaging and begin to put it together, and become frustrated saying, “How do you do this?” Debbie would say, “Read the instructions!” Well, I didn’t want to read the instructions; I had other things to do. But she would take out the instructions, and we would separate the components according to the list provided, and she would walk me through it. Together we would assemble it. That’s the purpose of the Minister’s Manual. It’s an instruction manual. I never had trouble, by the way, reading that instruction manual. I have referred to it over the years many, many times. The original manual will be set aside in time, but it won’t be demolished. We will preserve it and keep it and no doubt refer to it, though we hope to have the same material in the updated version. But it is an instruction manual.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
The Value of Instruction
In the Book of Proverbs, we are given instruction. The purpose and general overview of the book is provided in the first few verses of Proverbs 1. It’s a book of wisdom that relates to instruction. Notice a theme in verses 2, 3, 7 and 8. Verse 2 includes, “To know wisdom and instruction,” verse 3 includes, “To receive the instruction,” verse 7 speaks of “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction,” and verse 8 says, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father.” So, it is a book of instruction. Notice how verses 2, 3, and 4 begin: “To know,” “To receive,” and “To give.” Instruction! We must know it. The instructions are in the packaging. We know that the instructions are there, but we must receive them; we must open them, read them, and embrace them. If we do that, then we can give.
We shouldn’t talk about instruction without providing some, and a great deal of instruction has been provided today already. As I contemplated the few minutes I would have, it came to me that I should give Ten Commandments of Instruction that would apply to us today.
One of them, the fourth one, is to be studious. We like to study and we like to read, so we like bookmarks. How many of you are reading more than one book at a time? Quite a few of you. I do also, so I like bookmarks to keep track of where I am. Here is a bookmark for each of you with some reminders as to instruction.
1: Be Open to Instruction
Instruction comes, obviously, from the Bible. Paul wrote to the new ministers, Timothy and Titus, but most of the New Testament, most of the Epistles, relate to providing instruction to the churches. We receive instruction from our peers, from senior ministers; we actually have many instructors, don’t we? We get tips all along the way; some we want, and some we don’t want. It even comes in forms of criticism. What happens when you’re criticized? It usually elicits a response such as, “Bring it on,” but we can reject it or step back and consider, “It probably has some merit.” Whether it was warranted or not is another issue, but it no doubt had some merit, and we can learn from it. That’s a basis of instruction. Proverbs 27:5 says, “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” We most often hear from those who love us and flatter us, and we could be misguided in believing that everything they say is true. We don’t hear from those who feel differently, so be aware of that. Be open to instruction.
2: Be Prayerful
Again, in Proverbs we read in 15:29 that “He heareth the prayer of the righteous.” We want to be men and women of prayer. It starts at home. We have opportunities at church such as the prayer room and the altar services, but it is important to remember that prayer really starts at home. We want our private time.
I like the way Brother William McClary in Kingstree, South Carolina says it. He’s the pastor there. His wife passed away several months ago, so I have talked to him a few times along the way. He always says that when he goes to his spot in his house to pray that he prays for us here in Portland and for the work around the world, but he said something more the last time I spoke to him. He said, “The Lord looks for me there.” Isn’t that profound to think that the Lord is watching that spot and says, “Here comes Brother McClary.” Well, we want to have a place where the Lord looks for us, and I’ve thought of that ever since. I want the Lord to look for me there in my spot. So it starts at home.
We must be prayerful, and we will be noted as praying ministers, not ministers who rarely pray. When we were asked to preach, we were praying ministers. Let’s continue to be praying ministers. It’s important to conduct business and have fellowship. We don’t minimize that, but those things are not to be done at the expense of being known to be praying ministers. So be prayerful.
3: Be Consistent
We are examples, and we are being followed. So we must ask ourselves, “What kind of an example are we? Are we good examples?” We want to be good examples; we want to show to our congregations that we value, certainly, the Gospel meetings and the activities of the church. We have a variety of activities in Portland, so many different things going on, and we try to stress along the way, not to be interested in just your own activity. One is no more important than the other. Support with the same enthusiasm the activities you have nothing to do with as you would the ones you are trying to recruit help for. The congregation notes us and attaches value to these different things by the response they see out of us, so we want to be consistent.
We appreciate the attendance we had in these special meetings, but we certainly want to show to our congregations that the God of March and the God of camp meeting, is the God of April, May, August, and September. We want to be consistently in the meetings and show to the people around us that we have sincere interests, because we do. Recently, I’ve encouraged the Portland ministers who work at the office, to attend the funerals. This is to support the one who is conducting the funeral, but moreover, to support the family of the bereaved. Also, the other saints there will see by our interest in someone else’s funeral what kind of interest we’ll have in theirs. We know we’ll all attend our own funeral, but if at all possible, let’s try to support the others as well.
When we think of consistency, we remember that the life of the messenger must be consistent with the message. When we stand at the pulpit, everything we say is filtered by what they know about us away from the pulpit. So we must be consistent.
4: Be Studious
We know 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Study the Bible. To comply with 2 Timothy 2:15, the Bible will need to be our primary textbook. We read other books that help give us a better understanding of the Bible. If we are going to study to show ourselves approved, properly distributing what we have read, not attaching excessive weight on one thing at the expense of what should be attached to others, we want to be consistent and well rounded. And again, the Minister’s Manual, the one we currently have, says if we have no taste for reading, we must cultivate it. If we are not naturally studious, we must compel ourselves to study. We must be well-read men and women. It is revealed when we get up to preach, whether we have studied or whether we have not. It comes through. We are not studying to be viewed as well-read, we are studying to rightly divide the Word of Truth. It is revealed when one is well-prepared, and when one is ill-prepared. So study! Be studious!
5: Be Available
Let no assignment be beneath you. It’s a great privilege as well as a responsibility to have any part in the work of the Lord. We want to demonstrate that to God’s people. If we are not interested, how can we expect the people of God to be interested? If we are not willing to do it, why should anyone else be willing to do it? So we certainly must show our availability and demonstrate our priorities to the people of God. If we want them to prioritize serving the Lord, what type of priority do we put on being in the House of the Lord or being at the altar or in the prayer room, or participating in other activities that perhaps are out of the limelight?
Let’s be available, and with respect to the ministry, show our availability by the decisions we make, the life choices that we make. Do we exclude ourselves from being used of God by life’s decisions and choices? God has called us. We want to be available. Early on, before I knew very much at all, I had a strong sense that I wanted to be available to be used by God. Part of that was to learn a trade that I felt could be used anywhere that I might be needed. I wanted to be what God wanted me to be; I had no aspirations. However, I noticed that some were painters, some were gutter installers, and some were different tradesman, so initially as a new convert, I looked into becoming a plumber, thinking plumbers can go anywhere and find work. They can’t right now, but they could then, at least to a degree. I went in and talked to a plumber there in Dallas, Oregon, and he said, “Well, you need to be licensed with the state in order for me to hire you. I can’t hire you unless you are already licensed.” I went to the state and was told, “You can’t be licensed unless you are working for a plumber.” Well, that didn’t go well, so I looked into becoming an electrician and got the same story. They had it all locked up, and then I thought to myself, I can go into accounting. So I pursued the accounting field and income tax preparation and was able to support myself through my first two pastorates, to a large degree, in Dallas and Eureka. Those two churches are at the low end of those twenty-two branch churches in terms of tithes and offerings. So I know what it is to pastor in a church that cannot afford to support a pastor beyond providing for a parsonage, which was a tremendous benefit. I always viewed myself as being overpaid to have that provided. I wanted to develop something where I could go here and there. It’s not so easy to do, and I recognize that. God has to open the doors, and we pray that the Lord will help us all. But our motivation is to be available.
6: Be Communicative
Don’t wait for your ship to sink before you send out an SOS. You can’t send it out after your ship sinks, because you are at the bottom of the ocean. If you run into challenges, ask for help. We have many who are here to help, and we’ll go beyond ourselves to help, and have done so quietly over the years. When you do communicate, make sure you communicate productively rather than destructively. It doesn’t pay to lash out and use a slash-and-burn approach. You all know this if you’ve ever tried that technique with your wife. How did that go? Communicate productively rather than destructively. It’s okay to say, “I’m frustrated; I’m having trouble and things are not working.” That is alright, but to begin lashing out and assigning blame here and there, that doesn’t work. It makes it much more difficult to help, though we certainly will still try to help. In my case in particular, if my attention is needed, please take the initiative. When we come together in times like this, obviously there is a lot going on because so many come, and my priority will be according to who has taken the initiative to say, “Hey, we need to talk.” At camp meeting the same thing applies. I have lots of time and will prioritize according to what needs are made known to me, but if those needs are not made known to me, then in my mind, there is not a need. If I have something on my mind, I will say it, and if I have a question I’ll ask it, but I really depend upon everyone to take the initiative to get to me. So be communicative. I need you to do that.
7: Be Wise
Of course, Proverbs covers wisdom in depth, and in James the Bible says, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” I can’t help but notice the tremendous lack of common sense with respect to social networking. I have never watched a reality TV show, and I have never done social networking either, but I have had it brought to my attention by so many that I know more than I want to know about it. It just seems like some are prone to self-destructive behavior. They make themselves consistently look very foolish by trying to have their own reality-type TV show on the internet. Almost every life activity and thought is posted for those who are interested in such things and have time to spend. It backfires. I don’t sense that anyone here is doing it, nor do I sense that those who do it would be open to our suggestion that they not. Don’t get caught up in that situation. Social networking can be used productively as well as destructively, so there’s nothing wrong with the mechanism; it’s just a matter of how it is used. I have observed the same thing where people play word games, like Scrabble, in cyberspace with people from across the country. Has it bothered anyone else to think, and I haven’t done this, but that I might be playing Scrabble for instance with your wife, with one of the opposite gender, and develop a relationship in essence? That just seems so lacking in common sense to me, and I think that we should be alert to that. You wouldn’t want me to sit down in your house or in any other setting without you present and play some sort of a word game with your spouse. Yet this is happening in cyberspace. Be wise.
8: Be Loyal
Our loyalty is first to God, second to the organization, and third to one another. Loyalty used to be more common in society. Athletes would spend their entire career with the same team. Employees would spend decades with one company. My dad worked at Umpqua Dairy for his whole working career. My baseball heroes spent their whole time with one team. And even Christian would spend their lifetime with one church. Today, the lack of loyalty is very apparent in all areas of culture, including church life. Many, by the time they reach my age, have abandoned three or four churches along the way, simply because conflicts arise, injustices occur, or somebody gets mad.
Loyalty, in our case, is for the sound doctrine of the Latter Rain Gospel where God has called us to serve. But we want to and must believe the best of one another. We serve with one another over a period of decades. We’re going to learn one another’s strengths and weaknesses, and we will learn that we are not perfect—any one of us. We have the privilege of working shoulder-to-shoulder with imperfect brothers and sisters. That’s a beautiful thing to me. This is why the Bible was written; to give counsel and instruction on how to be unified as flawed human beings. We want to believe the best of each other. Not so long ago, an allegation came to me, by actually two or three different people against someone here in this room. When it came to me, I heard out the party because they had already tried somewhat to handle the situation in a Biblical way, though it wasn’t really done appropriately. I heard the allegation because it was an allegation against one in the ministry. I waited until they were done and said, “As far as that allegation goes, I don’t even have to ask the person that you are accusing. It isn’t true.” I would hope that we would live a life of character that if an allegation was made against us, we could say of one another, “It’s not true; It’s inconsistent with everything I have ever seen about that individual.” I was able to defend that person without knowing anything else. Of course, I gave the proper route for such things to be handled—remember our loyalty is to God first.
Another allegation was made in graphic detail with dates and with what we might call circumstantial evidence so that it was apparent that there might be a problem. I asked the party to verbalize it and then said, “You need to put this in writing so I can see, at a better time, what you are talking about, and I’ll respond to it.” It was put in writing and then after reading it, I said, “I would like to show this allegation (because it had been handled one-on-one to begin with) to the one you are alleging said some things and did some things inappropriately.” The response was, “Yes, go ahead,” which I probably would have done anyway. If someone wants me to resolve it, I’ve got to bring the accusation forward. I presented the accusation via email to the one and said simply, “Did you do what you are alleged here to have done, and did you say what you are alleged here to have said?” The response I got back was, “This minister who I don’t even know, is trying to undermine me.” And finally, “You are not standing by me.” I just calmly sent back another response saying, “You didn’t answer my two questions. Did you do what you were alleged here to have done and did you say what you are alleged here to have said?” Still, I got no response to those questions. In court, they attack the witness. They try to redirect away from where the real problem lies. My loyalty to you, and yours to me, should stop when the integrity of the work is brought into question. My loyalty is first to God, then to the organization, and then to those who serve in the organization. But for the most part we can be loyal and are loyal to one another.
9: Be Courageous
Being courageous is to face adversity. A coward flees from it, so I guess being cowardly is an antonym of being courageous.
In our instruction manual for today, the Book of Proverbs, says “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). Everyone will not speak well of you or of your church, but we are not going to be distracted. We never said we were perfect. We just said we are going to serve the Lord where God has called us to serve. So we must have courage and not wilt or be distracted by things that might come or be stated to us. We don’t want to dignify some things by even reacting to them. We carry on. We are not ashamed of the Gospel. We thank God for the power of it! We have served the Lord in the Apostolic Faith Church for many years and by the grace of God we’re sticking with it and have a resolve that requires some courage along the way.
10: Be Encouraged
Being encouraged is a “cousin” to being courageous. But in terms of family members, it is a good family to be a part of! So be encouraged. To be encouraged is to be heartened, to have our spirits raised, to be inspired by courage. We are reminded of what we have to be encouraged about when we come together, which is part of the value of doing so. Whether it be in a combined setting like this or whether it be next Sunday in your local church, look around. There are so many reasons to be encouraged! There are people of like mind who have a quiet resolve to just keep serving the Lord, showing up week in and week out, being faithful. What a reason to be encouraged! More than that, look up to God. We heard last night that faith is being encouraged when there is no reason to be encouraged or no evidence seen, because we walk by faith, not by feeling. And we really do have every reason to be encouraged. We thank God for the privilege we have to serve. We appreciated the good instruction we received the first two hours and each time we come together.
Welcome
We are happy to have you here. Thanks for coming. We appreciate all of you being here.
Introduction
Last Friday, a week ago yesterday, the pastors and spouses participated in a survey that I will quickly summarize. I showed two lists of synonyms—one describing stubbornness and the other describing resolve. Then I read one verse related to Nehemiah who faced ridicule, including from Sanballat, Tobiah, and others who wanted him to meet with them in the nearby village and discontinue the building of the wall of Jerusalem. The verse was Nehemiah 6:3, “I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” After reading, I posed the question, “Was he stubborn or did he have resolve?” To answer that question, one needs to determine if there is a fine line between stubbornness and resolve or if there is a wide gap.
I will put the test to all of you with the two lists of synonyms. Here is the first list: Stalwart, Determined, Persevering, and Immovable. The second list is Steadfast, Firm, and Dogged. The question to you is, Which list describes stubbornness, and which describes resolve? Those who think the list to my right describes stubbornness, raise your hands quickly. Don’t think or look around. Now, the ones who think the list on my left describes stubbornness raise your hands. Okay, of the 200 who voted it is about twenty to twenty. You are very non-committal.
The purpose of our survey was to prove that there is a fine line between being stubborn and having resolve. By the way, that list is for stubborn, and this one is for resolve, but you can hardly tell the difference. Perhaps the only difference is that one is holy and the other is carnal. Resolve might be holy stubbornness. (I did confess a week ago Friday that I was selective in which synonyms I chose for stubborn and did not apply the Biblical definition in that case.)
All of this was to bring us to the point where we can evaluate resolve. What is it? That is what we’ll quickly look at. Also, why do we need it, how do we get it, and how do we keep it?
What is Resolve?
Resolve, in the one sense is all eight of those synonyms. It is having certainty. Debbie provided me with the perfect object lesson this morning. She got ready and asked, “How do I look?” I thought, Terrific. Later she came out with a totally different outfit on and asked, “How is this?” I have learned to give an answer with certainty. I say, “That one. I like that one. That is the one.” So resolve is having certainty.
What else is resolve? It is a determination to respect our commission, our assignment. In our case, God has called us to serve Him in the Apostolic Faith, and we are resolved to do that. We are not wavering; we are not wondering; we do not doubt. In our case it is a resolve to provide an atmosphere and environment where the Latter Rain Gospel is preached and experienced. That is the purpose of our meetings. That has been the purpose for decades. Everything we do is a result of that resolve, that deep commitment to be true to what was passed along to us. We want the next generation to experience what we have and benefit the same way we have. So that is our resolve.
It does not fall on us to redefine the message, to repackage it, or to follow the methods of the world—even the methods of the evangelical world. If God has called them to do what they do, God bless them. We are not going to stand back and doubt them. We are focused on our own purpose, our own resolve that is deep and anchored. We are not bound by what critics call “old ideas.” These ideas are as old as the Bible. The Bible is old. Brother Nolan Roby said last night, and I am not sure if the audience caught it, that if the King James Version was good enough for Paul and Silas, it’s good enough for us. So, we hold Gospel meetings. We are resolved to do that. We don’t need to try to create something different. We don’t need to attempt too hard to make something happen. The Spirit of the Lord has a way of doing that without our aid. Just stick to holding meetings. It works! We are resolved to do that.
The opposite of having that deep resolve is to be restless, to be impetuous, to lack contentment, and to be frustrated. I’m not restless or frustrated; I’m delighted—not just at camp meeting time, but all year long. So that is what resolve is; a deep determination with respect to what God has called us to do. We didn’t call ourselves. Our calling is not of man. If we thought it was of man, we would lack that deep resolve. We believe it is of God. We believe our commission is to continue.
Why Do We Need Resolve?
Just as Nehemiah experienced challenges from the outside—those who mocked him, shook their heads at him—there will be those who will ridicule us. That is why we need that resolve. However, that doesn’t really impact us so much. Those who try to justify themselves reveal a whole lot about themselves without knowing it—they need to be justified. We just do what God has called us to do. We don’t need to make excuses for it. We don’t need to explain it. Oftentimes people resort to demonizing someone else to elevate themselves. We don’t need to dignify some comments with a response. We just remain resolved to what God has called us to do. So, we need resolve because we face challenges from without just as Nehemiah did.
If you look at chapter 5, you will see that Nehemiah also faced challenges from within. Not everyone will be delighted with us, even within our own organization. But even the most convincing or persuasive argument given to justify one’s contrary view only reveals that there is a contrary view. So, we have a resolve, and that’s what guides us.
Those who have resolve, have a certain contentment. Also, there is a certain appreciation for God’s people, for the heart they have to put themselves into the work of the Lord. There is a satisfaction as well. We thank the Lord for everyone who comes to camp meeting, and for those who help to make it an overwhelming success. Also, for those who plug along throughout the year when there is not a camp meeting environment. There is not a camp meeting environment all year long here, either. We heard in the testimony of one sister that she waited forty years to come to Portland. Well, Portland is not Heaven. If our sister lived in Portland, she would quickly conclude that this is not Heaven. We don’t claim that it is. We have people in our church, and where you have people, you have challenges. Don’t overstate the challenges, by the way. They actually help us. We don’t benefit by having the same personalities and the same views of life. We do, however, walk together in unity.
I had an experience, without disclosing the details, a few months ago following a special event in Portland. Someone emailed me who had taken exception to the way certain things were done, and they were very specific and really, very abrasive. They spun off into a number of areas unrelated to what supposedly was the real issue. I must say, it took me back a little bit. It was quickly discernible that the real issue wasn’t what was being brought up; it was all this other stuff. I pondered it for a while and finally replied to the one specific area that was supposedly the purpose of the email. I found something in there that I could agree with and said that with respect to thus and so, I agreed wholeheartedly. With regard to the other matters, I wrote that it was interesting how I would receive a variety of perspectives from faithful people on completely opposite ends of the spectrum—sometimes within the same hour. I wrote that because within that same hour I had received an email applauding what was done. The individual emailed back saying, “I knew you would understand,” which made me smile. Later, that same party motioned to me after a meeting and apologized for having written what they did—all those things that I didn’t address. The important thing to remember in this is that your voice and my voice are one voice. I won’t be guided by one voice unless it is obviously the Voice of the Lord coming through God’s people. Sometimes well-meaning people forget that we are one voice. Don’t forget that.
Getting back to our resolve, we need it because we will face challenges from without, and because we will face challenges from within. So, let’s make sure we have that resolve.
How Do We Get Resolve?
Resolve comes from God. We got saved and God called us into the Apostolic Faith, but that doesn’t mean resolve automatically came. If I am saved and understand what this great work is all about and how God has called us to it, I still need to study. Resolve does come from God, but secondarily, it comes from study. We study the Bible. Obviously, the Bible is our primary textbook, but we also study and learn about us, about the Apostolic Faith. We are not ashamed to declare that. However, we don’t worship our history or our predecessors. To be honest, I can’t call Sister Florence Crawford “Mother Crawford.” It is cultural, I think. I know in India they call Sister Deanna Moen “Mom.” Also, when Debbie and I travel, some groups call her “Mom.” I bring this up only to illustrate the point that we don’t deify our predecessors or those who we currently serve with. We are all human, and we serve with fellow humans. We don’t want our children to be disillusioned when they hear an unwise word or see an unkind action. It will happen, so don’t attach too much weight to any one event or person.
So how do we get resolve? It comes from Heaven, but we also study. We have a unique opportunity in our generation of ministers to not only study the Minister’s Manual, but to help develop it, and make it more expansive. We have been posting segments on the Minister Resources Page of our website for editorial comment. We are taking a break from that project right now, but in a couple more weeks, we will resume with weekly online postings. Study these, and you will learn about what you’re called to. By the way, when editorial comments come in, we review them at some point, and they are very, very helpful. Please take advantage of this opportunity. As ministers, we are self-starters. We would not have been called to preach the Gospel if we weren’t. Continue to devote yourselves to study, and God will bless you for it.
How Do We Keep Resolve?
Keep doing what you were doing when the call came to preach the Gospel. If you are married to a preacher, keep doing what you were doing when your spouse was called to preach the Gospel. Your spouse would not have been asked to preach the Gospel if he or she was not married to someone reasonably faithful and loyal. That is what we were. We were loyal to our pastor. No pastor would ask a disloyal worker to begin preaching the Gospel. The pastor saw something in you and in me and was willing to take the risk. Not everyone who starts keeps going. It is a fact of life. There have been collapses along the way. That may make us more cautious, but we continue to recognize a call from God. It is the responsibility of the new minister to be faithful to that call. It is not as much the responsibility of the one who acknowledged that call existed. So, keep doing what you were doing. You were consistent in meetings and showing interest in the work of God. You were a prayerful person. Keep doing that for the rest of your life whether in camp meeting time, times of revival, or the routine of the year. That is where the value is, in the person who plugs along all year and doesn’t need highs. They serve God because they have a resolve that this is of God.
Surround yourselves, as we tell newly married couples, with others who will encourage you. Do that in the ministry. If you bump up against someone who tends to drag you down, you must pray that God will help that one to rally, but you also can’t join them. You can’t even be a facilitator to their behavior. Do your best to encourage and inspire them, but don’t be like the mountain climbers who are roped together. That system is designed to be a safety net for someone who slips and falls—the rest in the line are to hold that one steady. In some cases, though, the one who falls drags the rest of them down. If you operate like that in life, the outcome won’t be good. Ask God to help you inspire others while not being dragged down; protect yourself.
How do you keep resolve? Remember that one victory doesn’t win the war. Nor does one setback have to end up in defeat. The victories will come, and the setbacks will come. We don’t put too much stock in the victories or in the setbacks. Those are highs and lows. Over a lifetime, we want to be in the middle somewhere, unaffected because we have resolve. We like the victories, and we dislike the setbacks, but neither should affect that resolve. We have a commission from God, and we are going to stick with it. That is how you keep it.
Maintain Resolve
Rhoda wouldn’t budge when they told her it couldn’t be Peter at the door. They said, “Thou art mad,” yet “she constantly affirmed.” She was resolved. Perhaps a better example was Paul’s resolve to Festus when he said, “Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning hath made thee mad.” Paul took a deep breath and said, “I’m not mad, most noble Festus. I speak forth the words of truth and soberness.” I believe we have, in this great work, the words of truth and soberness. We love the Gospel, we love camp meeting, and we love the rest of the year, too. It is great when there are hundreds around us, and also when there is a dozen or two around us. The number doesn’t impact us because we have resolve; God has called us.
We appreciate the fact that all of you are here today, and that in two weeks all of you will be back at your stations. Keep doing what you’ve been doing, and may the Lord give you many victories in the days ahead.
Determining Who Will Preach
I always have a certain amount of travail at camp meeting time because there are more preachers than meetings. I want every preacher to feel deeply appreciated because you are, but we don’t ask someone to preach just so they will feel deeply appreciated. We approach the question prayerfully, looking to God for an answer, and hope the one appointed is the person the Lord has chosen for the hour. Still, there are too many of us to have everyone preach. That doesn’t mean you are not appreciated. We appreciate your being here. In coming to camp meeting, we get to know each other better.
Inviting Guest Preachers
I was thinking as Brother Rolland Deler of Haiti and Brother Michael Anthony of the Eastern Caribbean preached that some of the pastors from the states might want to invite them to their branch churches. If you want to ask a pastor from outside your district to come to your branch church, please check with me first. I will probably say no. Brother Michael has plenty to do where he is, and Brother Rolland, who also pastors the church in St. Maarten, leaves on the 27th to resume construction on the newest church. These pastors need to be home. We all need to be home, or our people will think that we are not interested in them. The Portland congregation knows that when I am not home it is because duty calls. I have a different situation, so don’t apply my standard to your standard. I was partly teasing about saying no, but in all seriousness, don’t ask a pastor from outside your district to come to your branch church and hold meetings without checking with me first.
Traveling
In terms of within your district, I believe every pastor knows to be measured in how often they are gone. Obviously, we appreciate those who are here for camp meeting. We need you to be here. It’s the foundation of our worldwide work. As for attending the March special meetings in Portland, I will leave that up to the pastors. However, some know, because they have asked, that if they have been gone too much already, my advice is to stay in their home church. It is important to convey to your local congregation your burden for them. Debbie and I do travel a bit, and we write about it while we are gone, but I don’t say much about it when we get back home. The congregation doesn’t hear much about it. This is because my heart is at home; it is in Portland. I want the Portland saints to know that and to feel that, and I have no doubt that they do because it is the truth.
Closing Remarks
We thank you for coming today. We hope you are having a good camp meeting. We appreciate the Spirit of the Lord that has been in the meetings, around the altars, and in the testimonies. We have heard of great victories, and it certainly has been encouraging. Hopefully, it will sustain us until we meet again at camp meeting or in the azure above, whatever the case may be. Let’s stand and we will be dismissed.
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