Happy springtime!
This
morning I noticed a cardinal building a nest in a tree outside my front window.
A few days ago a robin built one on the back porch drainpipe and now is nesting
in it. I’m amazed watching spring unfold in western Maryland, with flowers
everywhere including on the trees and shrubs. Coming from a drier climate, this
is quite a feast for the senses. It reminds me of the hymn, “This is my
Father’s world, the birds their carols raise. The morning light, the lily bright, declare their Maker's praise.”
Since
I last posted, we held two evangelism training sessions. It was exciting to
have eight people from Friendship Haven Church and four from our church for the
January crash course in Way of the Master witnessing. There were many thoughtful questions as
people considered how to reach those they knew who aren’t yet saved. Everyone
participated and tried out the dialog on each other.
In
early March there were six students from both churches for the afternoon
course. I covered answers to common objections to the Christian faith, as well
as ideas for how to reach people from the major world religions. Roseanna and
David White (from our church) covered how to handle questions about evolution. I
had not done this training before and am glad to have it ready for the next
time, after many hours spent developing the curriculum.  |
| Evangelism training - role playing |
One of the best websites I recommended for
apologetics (meaning, defense of the faith) is by Greg Koukl of Stand to
Reason, http://www.str.org/. Check it out for
tips as you dialog with people wherever you live work and play.
In
the area of continuing education, I completed a course called “Bible
Interpretation”, Module 4 of the CALLED program (SDB Board of Christian Ed).
Pastor Steve Osborn of my home church in Boulder, CO, is my mentor for the
mostly self-study courses. It is probably the most important class I’ve taken
for mission work to help me with “accurately handling the word of truth” (2
Tim. 2:15) as I lead Sabbath School, Bible Study and people to Christ. I will
continue to meet with Pastor Steve monthly for accountability, then start the
next CALLED class in the fall.
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| Making chains - one loop for each book of the Bible. |
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| We made and colored our own Bible Bookcase. |
In
the children’s Sabbath School we’ve been studying lessons from the Book of
Genesis beginning with Creation and up to the life of Joseph so far. We act out
the stories using stick puppets or doing the parts ourselves, reading right
from the Bible. Life sure gets messy in Genesis and we find much that is
similar to life today in families and following God wherever He leads. Since we
don’t have much budget for curriculum I’m using free online resources.
It’s
been fun to teach them songs related to the Bible stories (Dem Bones, Father
Abraham, Jacob’s Ladder). The children sang “Easter Song” by 2nd
Chapter of Acts for Resurrection Sabbath and the sunrise service on Easter
morning. They enjoyed ringing little bells for that too.
I’ve
been leading our mid-week Bible Study since December, going verse by verse
through the book of Acts. There is so much to learn from that book! The
followers of Jesus in the early days “went about preaching the word” and making
disciples (Acts 8:4). They didn’t have church buildings or even a complete
Bible yet, but they were convinced Jesus was sending them into the world as His
ambassadors, just as God the Father had sent Him (John 20:21).
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| So grateful for hikes in the woods! |
If
I had a quarter for every time someone has told me, “I’m not comfortable doing
evangelism,” I’d be rich! I’ve concluded that none of us are truly comfortable,
but if God is prompting us to make His name known, He will also give us words
and compassion, because “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”
(Gal. 2:20). It’s not about my ability –
it’s about laying down my fears or lack of concern, so that someone else can
hear the gospel. It’s not easy, but being a Christian is not easy anywhere in
the world. For those who, like Moses, don’t speak well, there are terrific
gospel tracts, plus the Gospel of John, to hand out.
Speaking
of the Gospel of John, the Lord provided 23 copies of that for our table
ministry through the Red Brick SDB Church in Salemville, PA! They had extras from
some past event and offered them to me. Also, 25 copies of a small book by
Billy Graham, “Death and the Life After”. I was invited to Salemville to speak
to the children during their monthly kid’s program, “Your Big Back Yard.” They
were learning about missions and I shared about being a missionary within my
own country as I help churches get started and train them in evangelism. They
liked the million dollar bill gospel tracts that featured a Star Wars theme.
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| A Maryland mountain sunset (before the leaves returned) |
Your
prayers, as always, are very important. We may never know how often I am
protected from harm because of your prayers. I am so appreciative. Please pray for the outreaches we
have planned beginning in late May at concerts in downtown Cumberland, at the
Farmer’s Market on Thursdays all summer, and at the Heritage Days Festival in
June. Heritage Days is one of the
biggest events in Cumberland, a weekend of history, tours, arts and fun. I
wanted to have something special for our church booth like hand fans with a
gospel message on the back along with our church info. To get a good quantity
will cost between $300 and $500, way beyond our evangelism budget. God has
provided the funding through a donor who felt led to give extra last month and
I’m so excited to order the fans!
One
more news item. I’ve joined forces with a couple business ladies to grow our
home-based businesses and provide accountability (Monica Davis and Shellie
Ujcic). We are each in different network marketing companies and helping to
grow a networking group of all types of businesses. We started meeting in
December as a Monday morning Bible study at Monica’s office downtown.
In
February Shellie and I started volunteering in the office part-time for the
network group in exchange for using the space for our businesses. It has worked
well for all three of us, and helped me see what is needed for success in
direct selling. It’s more challenging than I expected, but I sense God is
wanting me to do this and will use it in ways I can’t imagine right now. For
example, after giving a short talk to our group on how food in America has
changed dramatically in the past 50 years, I got invited to speak to the staff
and workers of a local organization for folks with disabilities. The talk
will be called, “Sugar is not my friend."
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| Recent visit by SDB Conference President Bill Probasco and his wife, Valerie. |
God bless you as you seek
to bless others!
