Meeting Transcripts

Opening Remarks

Welcome

Thank you all for coming. We appreciate all of you arranging your schedules to be here, not only for this ministers’ meeting, but to attend camp meeting as well. We thank the Lord for the victories that were won last night around the altars and we hope to hear testimonies in the days to come from those who have received their deeper experiences.

Agenda

There are two inserts for today’s meeting. The first is for my session and the second is for Brother Bob Downey’s session. On page three of the insert for my session, you will find today’s schedule. We expect to be done by 11:30 a.m. Some other dates are listed as well. Also included are the transcribed comments from the pastors’ meeting that took place right before camp, the Portland May ordinance, and the March ministers’ meeting. If you were not here in March and your pastor did not bring you a binder, be sure to take one before you leave today. If you have a binder, but left it at home, you only need to take the two inserts from today’s meeting.          

Preach Clearly and Concisely

I like the story I read about the preacher who was going to preach his first sermon and worked for weeks to prepare for it. He showed up at the church to preach and there was only one person in the audience. After the music played, he went to that person and asked, “I am new at this, do you think I should go forward with my sermon seeing that you are the only one in the audience?” “Well,” said the man, “I do not know much about these things, I am just an old country farmer, but I do know that if I loaded up a truck full of hay and went out to pasture to feed the cows and only one showed up, I would still feed her.” So the young preacher went back to the pulpit and preached his sermon. Ninety minutes later, he concluded and went back to the man in the audience and asked, “What did you think about the sermon?” “Well,” said the man, “I don’t know too much about these things, I am just a farmer, but I do know that if I loaded the truck full of hay and went out to the pasture and only one cow showed up, I wouldn’t feed her the whole load.” So that is the danger—trying to cover too much whether it is in a session like this or in a sermon.

I would like to read just a portion of an article that I shared with our Portland ministers a couple of years ago. It was written by a man named Andy Stanley and is titled, Power in the Punch Line—How Distilling Your Messages Makes Them More Potent. He writes:

“Some preachers preach beyond the point. Length does not equal depth or impact. The question was asked, What could most preachers do to make their sermons more powerful? The answer is to teach less material at greater depth. Less is more. Instead of leaving listeners with a list of five things to remember, which they won’t, plant one powerful thought. Most communicators make the same mistake. They have too much stuff. They miss their moment.

“When I listen to someone preach I often think, If you had just spent fewer minutes talking about that one thing, it would have been a great sermon. I listened to a man preach on marriage one time. His second point was brilliant. I was ready to go out to the car with my wife, go home and try it, but he had two more points after that. By the time he ended, nobody remembered point two. It was irritating because he had something to say but he got lost in all the other stuff he had to say.

“Why do preachers miss their moment? Preachers prepare with this fear, ‘Am I going to be able to fill the time?’ The audience never worries about that.

“When you’re preaching, how do you recognize that punch line? I look for it. As I study, I ask myself, So what’s the point, what’s the takeaway? I ask the guys I am training, ‘What’s your burden? What are the things you’ve got to tell them?’

“The train is leaving. It’s the last thing, is there anything that elicits the emotion that says: you’ve got to know this. That’s what you build around, because that is your passion. When I build a sermon, I clear away everything, no matter how good it is, that adds or distracts from that one point. Then I crescendo to it. Preparation isn’t about finding a way to divulge everything I know, but about asking myself, What’s the main thing? Just say the one thing and then stop your mouth from moving.”       

Our audience needs to know what we have preached on after we have preached. It is interesting to me to read Recent Happenings on our website and see what I have preached on the previous Sunday morning. Sometimes I smile and think, That is different than what I intended. But where is the problem? Is it with the one that gives the review of the sermon or is it with the preacher who delivered it? My favorite preachers over the last thirty years have always been the ones where I knew what they had preached about when they were done. It was one thing. More is not always better. The clock becomes our friend, if we are aware of it, because it forces us to be more concise. It does not matter whether we have twenty minutes or forty-five minutes. The reality is that whatever we said, we could have probably said it in less time and been more effective. So that is the thought that came to me as I looked at trying to cover too much. At the end of the day, you will know that I tried to provide an overview of the last part of Matthew 9.

Missionaries to America

“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38).

Introduction

I would like to hit some highlights from Matthew 9:35 through chapter 10, beginning with compassion.  

Compassion

Verse 36 could also be translated as “he was gripped with compassion.” We know what the feeling of compassion is. Most people felt it after 9/11 when they saw the tragedy that had hit so many lives. When the tsunami hit after Christmas this past year, immediately there was compassion that went out from our hearts. Jesus was moved with compassion and that is what we want to have as well. If we are to be missionaries to America, which God has called us to be, we want to feel that compassion for souls. We need to feel this even when we go to the supermarket or when we encounter people whom we never intended to encounter.

Brother Harold Barrett is probably the best example of a man who had that. I am told that he was often found on the jobsite off to the side somewhere, witnessing to someone he had encountered. He would not have known he was going to encounter them, but when he did, he was gripped with compassion for them. He loved the souls of men. He is current in our minds because we just held his funeral not very long ago. At his funeral, I related an experience that I had with him years ago when he was home resting in between his trips to Korea. My dad had invited his brother, my uncle Allen, to come to camp meeting. He came for one Sunday and Brother Harold met him. My uncle was conspicuous because he was wheeling around an oxygen tank; he was dying from emphysema. Brother Harold took an interest in him immediately. A few weeks after camp meeting, my dad communicated with my Uncle Allen and arranged for me to go over to his house in Keizer, Oregon, to see him. Keizer is south of Portland and north of Salem. I cannot recall the surrounding circumstances, but I must have called Brother Harold and asked him if he could meet us at my Uncle Allen’s house. So Brother Harold had come home to rest, but when he was home, he did not rest. He was a missionary at home before he ever went to Korea. He met us in Keizer and we had a nice time of chatting together. Then he led my uncle in prayer and prayed him right on through to salvation. After I related that story at the funeral, Brother Del Barrett, Brother Harold’s son, came to me and said that there were a lot of stories that he had heard where his dad reached out to someone and prayed them through to salvation. Brother Harold was indeed gripped with compassion for the souls of men. And that is what it is going to take for you and me if we are going to be missionaries to America. We cannot get sidetracked. We must feel an urgency, because the time is short. If we knew that the trumpet was going to sound before the day was out, we would leave this ministers’ meeting and go talk to someone about their soul.  

Last Sunday, my son Randy, who is twenty-six years old, told me that his wife’s uncle attended a meeting. After church Randy asked him, “Have you ever thought about praying?” The man thought for a minute and said that he prayed at home. Then he said he wanted to find Nolan Roby. When I lived in Dallas, I noticed that Brother Nolan Roby was very effective at reaching out to others. Apparently he had reached out to this man while living in Seattle. He was a barber and Brother Nolan got a haircut from him. It is a positive thing when someone reaches out to someone else. We all want to have a reputation for having a love for the souls of men and the ability to reach out to them and be “gripped” with compassion for them.

Called

Verse 1 of chapter 10 says, “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples.” In different Gospels this incident is worded differently. The Lord called these individuals to be apostles. The word apostle means “one sent.” Jesus said previously that the fields were white unto harvest and that the laborers were few. So the Lord sent them forth. The Lord has sent us forth also. We wonder what it was about these twelve men that made them the ones that the Lord chose. Incidentally, one of the other Gospels refers to the same commission being given to the seventy, so this commission was not unique to the apostles. The disciples were not more educated, more capable, or more gifted than others. The Bible says that many are called, but few are chosen. What distinguished them was that they were simply willing to go. That is the common denominator with all of us here today. God has called many, but He has chosen those who have answered that call and said, “I am willing to do it.” We cannot think that we are in a different class than the rest of the congregation. We are simply, in a sense, representatives of the congregation. We know that those who were called were fishermen, tax collectors, and in this room, painters, carpenters, bankers, and more. We come from a variety of different backgrounds. God called us and we answered. We were willing. May we never lose that spirit of willingness to answer God’s call.

We have been commissioned. Each disciple became identified as one of the twelve. They are often referred to as “the twelve.” In our case, we want to be identified as Apostolic Faith ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Have you ever noticed how people are identified by their family? When there is a distinctive trait that runs in a family, we might say, “He’s a Downey,” or “He’s a McKibben.” I have always hoped that I would be identified with my family members on one of their better days. We do have the common traits of our family members, and we cannot get away from that. Do not think that you can. If there is something about one of our family members that we do not like, we better be aware—we have it too! It is better to just accept that. That is one of those things we take by faith. We want to be identified as an Apostolic Faith minister. We are Apostolic and happy to be so. God has called us to be that. The Lord could have called us to be in some other denomination or organization, but He has very clearly called us to be in the Apostolic Faith. Furthermore, He has called us to be ministers in the Apostolic Faith. When we answered that call, we assumed the privileges and responsibilities of being Apostolic, so there is no turning back now. There is no taking a second look. We have answered; we are in it; and we are going forward. Never lose that. As an Apostolic, we work side by side, and shoulder to shoulder. If we ever sense that we are becoming isolated from our peers, we must know that the Spirit of the Lord is being faithful to trigger that sense in us. We cannot be isolated. We cannot survive without one another. We work with our peers. 1 Corinthians 14:32 states, “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets,” so we cannot become independent of one another. We are identified as Apostolic Faith ministers. 

Commissioned

If we were to break down chapter 10, the word I would key in on is “Go.” In verses 6-8, we read that we are to go, preach, and heal. The passage gives us the sense that we have to keep moving. If we are not received in one place, then we must go to another place. The points is that we are to go. That is our commission. In one sense, we are ministering in a country where there does not seem to be a great hunger and response to the truth of God’s Word. People are content not to be committed. It is easy for a person to attend church without being committed, especially in a big church. It happens in Portland. If you are from a branch church, you might not have enough hands to do the work. We have a big church and still do not have enough hands to do the work. We have a greater problem of people coming, sitting, and going home. We are thankful that they come, and we want them to come. We do not chastise them. We pray that one day, the Gospel call will be grasped by them and they will respond. But that is a challenge. However, that does not change the commission. It does not change the instructions we were given to go preach, teach, and to go to the next place. Fishermen do not stand at one hole all day long when there is no action. They keep moving. They may come back to that hole later, because they know that there are fish there, but they do not linger. They remain on the move. That is what God has commissioned us to do. Those are the instructions.

I would like to ask the question, “When is the last time you and I told the Gospel story outside of church?” This question should challenge us. We are consumed with church—and we ought to be, we make no apologies for that. But we want to be inspired ourselves to tell our story away from church and we want to inspire everyone in our congregation to do the same. We have to remind ourselves and the people of God of this commission, this instruction to witness to the souls of men outside of church.

Opposed

Matthew 10:25 says, “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” This is a warning that we will be opposed. We cannot be everyone’s best friend. In fact, we will not be. We would like to be. We really would. We would feel better about life if we could do that. This is not a popularity contest, though. If we were in a popularity contest, we would have to be careful, but we have not entered such a contest. God has commissioned us and placed a call on our lives to be Apostolic Faith ministers and we cannot compromise that call.

Everyone will not be delighted with us. I get shredded every once in a while. I made the mistake once of reading a letter—a very short one—signed, “Anonymous.” It was baited so that I did not know what was coming. I learned my lesson. I just received another anonymous note this week, and after glancing at it, I asked my secretary, “Is this anonymous?” When she answered, “Yes,” I told her to file it. I did not read it. If someone is too cowardly to sign their name, then I do not even want to know what they have to say. We do not try to make enemies. We try to be kind and gentle. For instance, I do not tell the whole congregation that I shred their anonymous letters, because it does not apply to the congregation as a whole. It might apply to only one person in that setting, so why burden the whole congregation with it? We are not going to be popular all the time. If we wanted to avoid hostility, then we would have been better off not answering the call. When we answered the call, though, we did not know about the hostility part. So, it is too late now. We just have to keep going.

Shortly after we moved to Portland, I visited a man in the hospital who was in pretty bad shape. After I introduced myself, I let him know of our concern for him. Before I left, I asked him if I could pray with him. He said, “No, I do not want you to.” So I didn’t. I learned my lesson the first time concerning this. I thought, I am a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so I am expected to pray. I went back and visited with him again. This time, before I left, I said, “Shall we pray?” and I bowed my head and quickly started praying. I visited him again and he was altogether friendly, and we prayed again. Even if the story had ended differently—if he had been mad at me for praying with him, it was still the right thing to do.

We will be opposed by those that we do not know, and we will be opposed by those we do know, even in our own family. It will happen. It happens to everyone, and it is heartrending, but we gain nothing by compromising. We can be kind, but we cannot back out on the call that God has given us or the commission that He has called us to. Eventually, some members of some families who have left upset, will return if we continue to be kind to them. We always have that hope, so we do not want to burn any bridges. We should not chastise or rebuke those who leave if we can avoid it. Maybe they will come back twenty years from now. When they do come back, do you know what their expectation will be? That the Apostolic Faith would be just like it was twenty years ago when they left. That is our commission, and we are challenged by it. If we are opposed, we need to remember that we may be hearing from one or two who oppose us, but not from the many who support and love what we preach.

Encouraged

In Matthew 10:29-31 an assurance is offered, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Where do we usually read these verses to someone? We read them at retirement homes, care centers, and maybe hospitals. The framework for delivering these words was not a care center. It was told to the apostles, so it applies very much to you and to me. There will be times when we need assurance. We may feel abandoned or lonely, but the Lord has let us know that He will stand with us. We must remember that we are never really alone. We pray one for another. When someone is going through a difficult time, even in our ranks, it does not escape notice. One cannot possibly back up from their privilege and responsibility, or encounter a challenge in life, and have it go unnoticed. We pray that God will buoy up those who encounter such difficulties. We all encounter them at times. We are not standing alone. We have a great support group around us, praying for us, and encouraging us along the way.

Challenged

Matthew 10:39 says, “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” I am not necessarily one that remembers the texts to the sermons that I have preached, however, I do remember this one. This is the text that I used the first time I preached in 1978 to a small congregation in Dallas. Again, this text was delivered to Jesus’ disciples and to those He had called to evangelize the world. The text is a paradox. If we are willing to lose our lives for the sake of the Gospel, we will find our lives. It is just that simple, which is the way the Gospel is. If we get sidetracked and think that we are missing something in life, we end up losing what we could have had, and are probably not getting what we wanted to get. If we will abandon ourselves to the Lord and to the cross, then we gain our lives.

Discipleship comes with a cross. It comes with a crown later, but with a cross for now. We should not misunderstand that. We will experience blessings in the ministry. We will also experience hardships along the way. We will experience both. The underlying issue at hand is that God called us. He called us by name. He knew us. He knew where we were. I mentioned that when I first got saved, I did not know anything about the Gospel, and I certainly did not know anything about the Apostolic Faith. There was a two-month period between the day I got saved after attending a meeting in Roseburg and when I started attending church regularly in Dallas. During that two-month period, a spiritual war went on inside me. I was very much aware of the power of the darkness trying to grab my soul. I did not know what it was all about, and it was very frightening. I was driven to my knees. Nobody told me that I had to pray to keep my salvation; it was instinctive. I did not have a church to turn to or a minister. I did not know what to do, so on my knees, by the hour, I went to God and said, “You have got to help me.” I looked in the mirror one day, and thought, I am going to lose my mind. I do not know what is going on.

Also during this time, I had a very strong impression of, “Will you preach the Gospel?” That may be hard for some of you to relate to because you know how that call can come about—you go to church, testify, pray around the altars, until one day your pastor comes and asks you, “Do you feel called to preach?” I did not know any of that. My thoughts did not even extend to how it would ever happen. If I had thought ahead, I would have thought that I would need to go to a seminary. All I knew was that the impression was very strong, “Will you preach the Gospel?” I did not want to preach the Gospel, but I can still remember the moment when I told the Lord, “I will even preach the Gospel.” I was not Apostolic, but from that moment forward, the war was over and things began to fall into place. Preaching was never an issue after that. I began to attend the Apostolic Faith Church and when people, other than the pastor, began asking me if I was called to preach, I told them that when the time came, the Lord would have to tell somebody else, because I was not going to volunteer. It is okay if you volunteered, but I was not going to, because if something went wrong down the line, it was not going to be because I had said, “I want to do it.” If something went wrong, I could just say, “It wasn’t my idea, Lord.”      

He who finds his life will lose it. We lost our lives for the sake of the Gospel. Do not go back and pick it up again. Don’t do it. There is no retreating. We move forward. Jesus said in John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” God has called us to have an impact on America. I have told you before about Vacation Bible School, but rarely have I mentioned the name of the teacher that I had. Her name was Alice Kruse. She was my friend’s grandmother. I worked at the Kruse Farms in Roseburg. The grandmother, a very kind, sweet lady, wanted us to be in Vacation Bible School. I did not want to go, but it was important to my mother, so I went. That year, I was the only one in the class that could not memorize the memory verse, so she had me come to her house and she worked with me until I got it. When we were back in class the next day, I fumbled my way through, but she gave me that pencil anyway. Alice Kruse has never heard me tell my story. I have told it many times, but she never got to see the impact that she had. We may never see the results or the impact that we have.

The year that I worked at the plywood mill in Roseburg, another man had an impact on me. He was a very quiet man that would leave tracts and religious literature laying around. One day, he saw me pick one up and read it. It did not connect with me since I did not really understand what I was reading. Afterwards, he came up to me and asked if I had enjoyed the tract. It wasn’t until after I got saved that I realized what that tract was about.            

Conclusion

Alice Kruse and the man at the plywood mill were missionaries to America. We cannot whine that this is a tough field and that we do not have many souls. We have a call, we have a commission, and our job is to inspire everyone in our congregation to sense and understand that. We cannot presume that people do not want the Gospel. We must presume that everyone wants it, because everyone really does want it. They are floundering through life, drifting aimlessly. They are empty and aching. They want what we have to tell them, so we must use the Holy Ghost that God has given us to fulfill our call as missionaries to America. 

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