Meeting Transcripts

Opening Remarks

Minister’s Manual

I have just a few announcements. We have three-hole punched and packaged the Minister’s Manual. It is in loose-leaf form presently, and will be for the short-term, which means a year or two or even beyond. The pages are numbered and dated, which will allow for inserting or replacing a page as the need arises. When this happens, we will notify you by email to “replace page 228 with this new page 228,” for example. That way we can all keep current. These packages are available at the church office. We put together three hundred of them. If you are going to need a whole lot, let us know so we can make more copies before you leave camp meeting. Otherwise, feel free to take what you need. The Minister’s Manual is also available online and can be downloaded and printed at your location.

Platform seating

The platform seating charts have been put together. I’m sure some names have been omitted unintentionally or simply because we do not have the information we need to know exactly where to put you. We may have put some of you in the wrong order, so please forgive us if we have either slighted or unduly promoted you. If you have not filled out a minister information form lately, or if you think we lack current email or cell phone information, it would be helpful if you would fill out a new form. It is only one page. The forms are available at the camp office or from Sister Rodica Musgrave. Everyone should have registered for camp meeting by now, whether you live close by or far away, because that form also provides information we need. If you are not registered for camp meeting, please do so.

Available Overstock

One week from next Monday, in the annex of the church across the street, we will put out some material that we have no need of but is good Sunday school material. The annex will be open in the morning and also in the evening before the India presentation. This announcement will be made again when we get closer to the date.

Website and App

Also, thanks for your patience regarding the website and the app; we know they are not working appropriately. The new website and app continue to be under construction, and it is much easier on our limited staff to concentrate on developing the new rather than fixing the old. This transition has to do with the multi-channel or continuous publishing that we are moving toward. I will read a description rather than adlib it: “Multi-channel publishing is about streamlining and maximizing our content creation and publishing process. It changes our approach from print-to-web to web-to-print. It is also about making our production and distribution costs more efficient by automating our processes and optimizing our production flow.” Once this is fully integrated, which we think will be October 1, we will create and publish to the new website and the new app. The means that delivering content to mobile devices, tablets, social media, print, and other channels will be much easier. It is no small task. We are taking advantage of the technology as it becomes available, and some of that technology industry-wide is still under development. We do believe we will be on the cutting edge and will be able to evangelize the world more effectively through electronic means, as well as through print. On October 1, we expect you to see the evidence of what we have been working on for several months with respect to the app and the website. Then on January 1 with respect to the publishing of our flagship publication. I will address that a little bit more a week from tomorrow when we meet with the ministers and spouses across the street in the church.

This year after we have our continental breakfast, we will meet in the sanctuary rather than in the chapel in order to view a PowerPoint presentation.

Glad Tidings of Good Things

“There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written [in Isaiah], How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:12-15)

Introduction

As I often note at camp meeting, we have more preachers than meetings, so if you do not preach, do not feel like you are less valued or less needed. We need all of you. It is a tremendous boost to have you here, not only to us in Portland, but to each other. We do appreciate the fact that you make the sacrifice and investment to come.

When we do preach, whether here or back home, we want to focus on bringing the glad tidings of good things that Paul speaks of here. We want to be messengers of the Gospel of peace, and of course we know that “gospel” means “good news.” The “glad tidings” of Paul’s day was what I just read. It was the message that he had been commissioned to deliver. There was no difference between the Jews, who looked upon the Greeks in a condescending fashion, and the Greeks. Also, whoever called on the Name of the Lord would be saved. Although the Jews may have received that news in a mixed fashion, to the Greeks, it was glad tidings of good things. It was exciting.

In these verses we have three things that are applicable in our day too. We have the message of the good news of the Gospel. This is that Jesus saves, sanctifies, empowers, heals, and enables one to live a victorious life every day, whether at home or at school or in the workplace. That is good news, and it is news that the world does not hear from every corner. We have glad tidings to share, so that is the message. The second component is the messengers. We are the messengers charged to deliver that message. The third component is “they,” and that is what we want to look at today.

Who is Our Audience?

Who are “they?” That word is used five times in what I just read. “How shall they call upon them whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” “They” refers to the audience. On the way here this morning, it struck me that though I did not intend this, a week from tomorrow, Lord willing, we will talk about the message we are commissioned to deliver, while today, we are focusing on the audience.

We do not compromise our message to accommodate the audience. We are commission driven, but we do not ignore the audience. So we want to recognize that we have an audience. It stood out to me in The Heart of Yale Lectures by Baxter, which we reviewed together in 2007, that one lecturer noted that preaching is like shooting quail. He said, “If you aim for all the birds, you hit none, but if you aim for one you are likely to get several.” (Incidentally, I would not use this quote in a public meeting at church due to the reference to shooting.)

Who are we aiming for when we speak of the audience? I think that’s very important. We are aiming primarily at the faithful saints of God and to their children, whether saved or unsaved. I think in terms of Portland because that’s primarily the audience we have here. Our Portland audience is comprised of very savvy, common-sense people. When you think of our audience, think of those who served us this morning. That is our audience. They expect to hear what they have always heard. They are really not impressed with the messenger. They are impressed with the message. “Impressed” might not be the right term, but they appreciate the message. Since they are not impressed with the messenger, it really will not pay for us to be impressed with ourselves. With that thought in mind, if you happen to get complimented for a message, do not attach more weight to the compliment than what it deserves. These are good people. They are very polite. The preaching may not have been that great, but they love you. I am serious about this, because once in a while you will see those who have an elevated view of their success. We benefit far more from critiques than from compliments. We learn much more. What do you learn from being complimented? It really suggests you do not need to learn anything, because you did so well. However, if you hear something contrary, apart from the risk that you could be offended (though you can’t be offended because you died with Christ), you learn from that critique.

Our audiences appreciate it when a message is on target, and they notice when it is not. They notice when the messenger leans toward having been inspired, and they notice when it appears the messenger is frustrated and taking out his or her frustration on . . . who? On the audience! On the people pulling for us! Why would we beat them up? Why would we verbally abuse them? We wouldn’t, of course. We do not want to do that. And in fact, if you are frustrated about something that relates to the church, that is one subject or situation that you should steer far from in your preaching, because to go there, even subconsciously, would not accomplish the desired result. We want to bring good tidings, the good news of the Gospel. If we are successful, everyone in the audience will leave inspired, encouraged, or motivated to dig deeper. If we fail, the saved wander off wondering what was wrong, and the unsaved or somewhat disinterested think, Why come back if I’m just going to get beat up? So we do want to be careful.

Do not preach against those who are not in church or those who no longer attend our church. They are not here! Why would we do that? And that is demoralizing to those who are here. They came! They are here. So that is our audience.

Length of Sermon

I have not addressed sermon length for a few years. Since last camp meeting we talked in Portland with the ministers and reminded them that on Sunday nights during the year, they should preach for twenty to twenty-five minutes. For Tuesday and Friday nights, I requested that they try to speak between fifteen and twenty minutes—on the shorter side of that range for Tuesdays, and on the longer side for Fridays. I expressed the fact that we want the audience to come back. Remember, these are faithful saints. They are our audience. They are not quail that we are shooting at; these are God’s people that we are trying to minister to and to encourage. We want them to return. Many of them work long hours, and with commuting perhaps are gone ten to twelve hours in the day. They made the effort to come. We are very sensitive to the fact of how we want to send them away. Remember, we have a savvy audience; they know what they ought to be hearing, and they get it very quickly.

Just before that ministers’ meeting, Tom Pricskett preached in Portland. I don’t recall if it was a Tuesday or Friday night, but he spoke on the “Fountain of Living Water” and somehow worked in the illustration of a sandbox. He preached for sixteen minutes. By the time he was done, we were all inspired to seek to draw from that Fountain. He could have doubled the sermon length, but he made the point, and we went to prayer. That’s the goal. The highlight of the meeting is the prayer service. Everything is targeted toward that, not toward the sermon. It is nice to set the sermon up, but that is not the end result. The end result is the prayer meeting, so we want to keep that in mind. If we wear the saints down to where they are glazed over and nodding off when we invite them to pray, they will be too exhausted. It is just common sense. So for camp meeting, if you happen to be called on to preach, think of every meeting as a Sunday night. If it is a Tuesday night, pretend for camp meeting that it is a Sunday night and preach for twenty to twenty-five minutes. The clock is our friend. I believe that with all my heart. If we speak in a succinct and efficient manner, the saints of God will appreciate it; they will respond to it. If you are done sooner, they will know it, so quit before they do. Twenty to twenty-five minutes is plenty of time to read a text, provide some context, and tell the story. And don’t tell us, “You know the story.” We don’t know the story the way you will tell it. Tell us the story in your words. Illustrate it. Tell us what to do with what you just told us, and we will be ready to pray.

For Bible teachings, I have requested that the teachers end by 11:30 a.m. because it precedes a whole chain of events. We try to give preachers forty minutes for the Bible teaching. It is far better to leave an audience wishing we would keep going than to leave the audience wishing we would have quit ten or fifteen minutes earlier.

Avoid Politics

Let’s avoid political news. I do not really want to hear the names of presidential candidates or about illegal immigrants or building a wall, or about church shootings, mall shootings, or workplace shootings. We do not want to hear about television programs that some of us know nothing about, because we don’t want to know about them. We do not want to hear the names of movie stars, professional athletes, or ball teams. Our audience needs to hear the glad tidings of good news. They are bombarded with all the other stuff daily and are weary of it. In private conversation, other topics are okay, of course. I’ve already teased two of my British friends about Brexit, but that was in private conversations. We wouldn’t want to hear about that from the pulpit. It is not the Gospel. We want to hear that Jesus saves.

Do not preach against the LGBT people, community agitators, or events in the news. Instead of preaching against something, preach for Jesus. That is the good news. That is the glad tidings we bring. Let’s preach Him. We want our sermons to elevate and inspire, rather than discourage. These are faithful saints, remember, and no one, even unfaithful individuals, benefits from a verbal lashing out. They benefit by the good news of the Gospel.

Out-of-place intensity, frustration, appearing to be angry, or resorting to thrashing about when you lack content is inappropriate. Do not compensate for a lack of content. We have a wonderful message to deliver and our people deserve to hear it, so let’s be faithful to that.

The congregation is not our enemy. Remember that. They are our friends. So we never want to leave them feeling like they’ve been scolded. They need to be encouraged and inspired. Every church has those who are disinterested, disengaged, or lukewarm, but we are not focused on them. We are focused on the message God has given us to deliver and on those faithful saints of God. They are sitting there too, so we want to be careful. Every message is evangelistic in the sense that it is the good news for everyone. If the sinner is under conviction, they might leave mad at the preacher, but let that be the product of Holy Ghost conviction rather than the product of mistreating a captive audience. We want to appreciate those who are engaged rather than focus on the ones who we think should be.

The Message is the Focus

When we are done, we want our audience to remember the good news, rather than the one who brought the good news. I think it is also in Baxter’s book where it is stated that we do not want the audience to say, “Wow, what a preacher!” We want them to say, “Wow, what a God!” This is not about my text, my message, or my ministry. It seems that among churches, it is promoted that we need a ministry. Well, this is not our ministry or our message; it is God’s ministry. We are not self-serving. It seems that in churches where the idea of “my ministry” is emphasized, it is more out of the neediness of the one who is trying to create a ministry than out of satisfying the needs of those they are purporting to serve. So let’s just stick to God’s ministry. Let’s be evangelistic in the evening meetings, whether at camp meeting or at home. Certainly, a pastor on Sunday morning has the responsibility to present the theology and sound doctrine of the Latter Rain Gospel, but that is not a responsibility that falls upon those who are charged to preach evangelistic evening messages. It is not the time on a Sunday evening or even at camp meeting on a Tuesday or Thursday or Friday evening, to give a Bible teaching on tithes and offerings or the Lord’s Day. Preach Jesus! Preach, “Just as Jesus sought for Zacchaeus, He has come to seek and to save that which was lost. If you are lost, Jesus has been looking for you. You need to be looking for Him.” Or, “Just as the Lord answered prayer for Paul and Silas in the prison, He will answer your prayer.” I could go on, but I will rely upon you who are called to preach over the next two weeks to go on. Try to be evangelistic, inspiring people to want to pray.

Bring Good Tidings

I will close with Isaiah 52, which Paul was quoting. Nahum also uses the same words, but in a different context. Isaiah was speaking of the watchman who looks to the hills for a messenger who will come bearing the good news that the Children of Israel have finally been delivered from captivity and will return to Zion and serve where the Lord reigns. Paul, in Romans 10, borrowed from Isaiah 52:7-9, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.” That is the spirit we are trying to convey in our preaching, and in our meetings, whether here in Portland or back home.  

That is good news to the audience, and it is not manufactured or modified to please them. It’s the message that God gave, so it is appealing and hopeful to the audience. We pray that during this camp meeting, our audiences will leave the church services with that similar spirit of refreshing, feeling that they have heard good news and want to act upon it.

Closing Remarks

Thanks again for coming. We do appreciate it. We cannot overstate that. We need one another. We need you here and we realize you need our support and prayers where you serve. We wish we could go everywhere that is represented by those who come here, but that it is not practical. That does not mean we do not appreciate you and do not feel our need of your support. Nor does it indicate a lack of desire to be supportive of you. We will be led in a song and then have a closing prayer.