Meeting Transcripts

Opening Remarks

Welcome and Agenda

Thanks so much for coming. We are happy to have some guests from far away and we will introduce them later. In front of you are the three inserts for your binders for each of today’s sessions. If you did not bring your binder with you, simply take the inserts home. For future reference, binders will be used for special meetings and during camp meeting.

Brother Bill McKibben has placed some books, previously owned by Brother Allen Crabtree, in the library at the headquarters office. If any of you are interested in looking through those books, feel free to do so, and you may claim them as your own.

In today’s session, I will make a few remarks to open, Brother Bob Downey will give a presentation on “Practical Money Management,” and Brother Nolan Roby will conduct the session on “How to Help our Marriages.” In addition, later this morning, Brother Paul Akazue will give a Power-Point presentation on the Crawford University project and the Igbesa campgrounds. We should conclude our sessions before noon, if the Lord wills. Before we proceed any further, let’s open with prayer. Perhaps, we could all stand for that.

A Learning Experience

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Introduction

We really appreciate all of you coming. What a boost it is for the worldwide work to have you here! We pray that it will be a boost for each one of you as an individual.

I realize that you did not come to camp meeting to get rested up physically, but hopefully, you will find rest for your souls. The phrase I would like to briefly focus on is the first part of verse 29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.” Learn of Me. We want camp meeting to be a learning experience and we want to be open to being taught. Many will give teachings and sermons that regard giving, but we never want to get beyond the point where we are learning. To paraphrase verse 29, Jesus said, “Team up with me and I will help you learn.”

Ask for Help

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke to Brother Dave Andersen, the President of Andersen construction, and told him that I needed help with a perspective. In response, he told me a story about attending a professional seminar. At that seminar, blindfolded men, in their forties, were led single file to an outdoor area that was partitioned off and had only one exit. They were told to find their way out while blindfolded. They were told that if they needed help at any time, they should stop and raise their hand, someone would come to their aid. As they were led into the area, Brother Dave heard, “It’s this way,” “Over here,” “I know the way.” Suddenly, it occurred to him to let others pass and then raise his hand. Someone came, removed his blindfold, and took him to an area where six others were standing and watching the remainder of the men stumble along. Before long, they were all told to stop and take off their blindfolds. The moral of the story was that sometimes, though in executive positions, we need to stop and ask for help.

All of us here today should not have any trouble stopping and asking for help along the way. That is part of the experience of camp meeting. In school, some people in class were always quick to raise their hands. Some of us never did raise our hands. The ones that did got help and the rest of us stumbled around aimlessly. We have some educators in here that can attest to that. We don’t want to do that this camp meeting. We want to be open in our hearts to receive the help of the Lord. We want to be yoked with Jesus, because He said to take His yoke upon us and to learn of Him. A yoke, as you know, is the wooden frame fitted around the necks of a pair of oxen that are teamed together. We are to be teamed up with Jesus so that we might learn of Him.

We have come to be helped. It is a great help just having all of you at camp meeting, because we are all part of a great team. Certainly, we have opportunity to be helped in these ministerial sessions, which is what they were designed for. When we think of camp meeting, though, we can be greatly helped by taking advantage of soaking in the sermons, the teachings, and the altar services. What a boost it can be to us and to those who have come from our locations.

Be of Help

We have come to be helped, but we have also come to be of some help. Again, the fact that you are here is a tremendous help to everyone else here, and to those also who have come to observe and see the unity that we enjoy. What a help that is to a worldwide organization, even though only a small percentage of the whole are able to be here physically. Apostolic Faith churches throughout the whole world focus their attention our way during camp meeting. Somehow, they glean strength from knowing that camp meeting is going on, though perhaps many of them wish that they could be here in person. We can also be of help by pitching in, and we do appreciate how everyone pitches in, participating in the different areas that need help. Some of you are overextended, no doubt about it, but we do appreciate all your help.

Our example at the altar is important. By praying faithfully at the altars, we are helping in more ways than are quickly evident. We are helping by showing that we put a priority on prayer. We don’t just tell people how to pray; we pray ourselves. If all fifty or sixty of us in this room were to earnestly pray throughout camp meeting, it would be infectious. Other people would pray, because they would see that we put a premium on it. There is a lot of fellowship to be obtained and a lot of work to be done, but we certainly want to focus on making prayer a priority.

Be a Lifelong Learner

Jesus was our example in terms of being helped in learning. When He was twelve, they found Him in the Temple both listening and asking questions. So there was Jesus, learning. We read in Hebrews 5:8, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” We all know that in the financial realm, the lessons of the greatest impact are those that cost us money. The concept is the same in our spiritual walk. We learn most effectively through the trials, hardships, and challenges that come our way. Jesus, though He was a son, learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

Luke 6:40 says, “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” If Jesus was a student, then we will ever be students. We are called “disciples.” The meaning of the Greek word for disciple is “a learner.” It would be just as accurate to call ourselves “learners” as it would be to call ourselves “disciples.”

In our early years as children, we developed and grew quickly. When we reached about age twenty, we stopped developing and growing in the physical sense—though we might have re-proportioned ourselves. We began a steady decline at roughly age twenty. Our minds also developed rapidly when we were younger. They didn’t start their decline as early as our physical bodies, but as we got older, it became harder for us to learn. That is why we must study and be more attentive. We must be ready to learn. I remember that when Brother Nolan came to Dallas, he said there are those who are pillars in the church—always in the way and never moved. May God help us not to be pillars in that sense. We won’t be, because we are ready to learn.

Closing

There is a verse that was mentioned twice by Paul to Timothy, where he said that the bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, and apt to teach. I always assumed that meant being able to be taught, but as I researched it, I found that it means being capable of teaching. We cannot be capable of teaching unless we are capable of learning. So we want the Lord to help us during this camp meeting. “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” Let’s ask the Lord to help us to be good students and examples by being just that.

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