Archive for the 'Knowing Christ' Category

The Apostle Paul expected nothing but difficulty.  He only anticipated “chains and tribulations.”  Every step brought him nearer to trouble and hardship.  Yet, in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, he made clear that nothing would stop him from fulfilling his God-given ministry.  He tells them,

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.  (Acts 20:24)

No fearful prospect swayed Paul from his course.  Paul knew that he found joy, not in hanging on to his life but in letting it go in service to the King.  He kept focused on only one thing-fulfilling his God-given ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God.

God has given us, Village Missionaries and Village Missions as a whole, the ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God to rural and once rural communities throughout the United States and Canada.  As I reflect on our history, I have no doubt that we have received this ministry from the Lord.  As I reflect on how God is at work on our fields, I have no doubt that He would have us continue testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. 

For example, I think of the rodeo cowboy and town drunk, Sam (I’m changing his name and the missionary’s name for obvious reasons) that came to Christ recently on one of our fields.  People were afraid of Sam when he went on one of his drinking binges.  Dennis, the Village Missionary, prayed with him when he was in the shoot, ready to ride the bucking bronc.  He won grand prize that day!  The next Sunday Sam was in church and he continued to show up most Sundays.  A few months later, in a drunken stupor, he was somehow shot in the leg.  He decided to dig the bullet out himself rather than go to the hospital.  Sam spent the long hours of the next days recuperating and thinking about his life.  He finally realized that he could have a different life and he went forward the next Sunday in church, loudly proclaiming that he had trusted Christ!

On the road into this cowboy’s ranch is a sign warning, “Trespassers Will Be Shot.”  But the newly saved rodeo cowboy carved “Except for Dennis” underneath “Trespassers Will Be Shot.”  

In some ways, it seems like our society has a big sign warning, “Trespassers Will Be Shot!”  Village Missions faces one of our most difficult time in our sixty-year history.  The loss of so much income from Stonecroft is a major challenge, but we also face many other obstacles to ministry in our post-Christian world.  Al Mohler discussed the recently released American Religious Identification Survey in his March 2009 blog (http://www.albertmohler.com/blog).  He considered the survey’s finding that now 27% of Americans expect a secular funeral.  He wrote:

The researchers are surely right to see this trend as related to a decline in “personal concerns about salvation.”  If anyone needed proof that many Americans now operate out of a secular worldview, this single data point should suffice.  There can be little doubt that when 27% of Americans “do not expect a religious funeral at their death,” this does indicate an absence of religious concern at the point of death.  Millions of Americans expect to die without God.

In a previous blog, commenting about this study Mohler concludes:

In any event, the ARIS report draws our attention to one great and undeniable fact — we are living in the midst of a vast mission field for the Gospel.  Of course, we should have known that all along.

For sixty years we have known that our two countries are a “vast mission field for the Gospel.”  No matter what obstacle or difficulty, mission wide or on an individual field, we simply must persevere, like the Apostle Paul, in our God-given ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God.  People like Sam, who used to be the town drunk, but is now a new babe in Christ, impel us to continue.  It will be our joy!

One responsibility I have as Executive Director is talking to donors to Village Missions.  I am especially busy doing this toward the end of the year and at the beginning of the year.  Normally talking on the phone is not my favorite activity.  I would much rather visit in person, but I have enjoyed these year-end and year-beginning phone calls.  I have enjoyed them because I have met person after person (over the phone) who fulfill 2 Corinthians 9:7.  It has been so encouraging to me to meet so many cheerful givers.

For example, I talked to one individual who gave a generous gift to Village Missions and to a Village Missionary.  Years ago, he had heard this missionary present the project at a Christian Women’s Club meeting.  God touched his heart about this couple and about our ministry and he has given to both over the years.  He couldn’t say enough about this couple and about our Mission.  He said to me, “I love what you do in going to little communities.  You are a “five-star” mission!”  Boy, that comment made my day!  What a cheerful giver!

In my calling, I sometimes have the privilege of witnessing “God-incidences.”  I called one first time donor from Dallas, Texas.  I learned that David L. was the son of Village Missionaries Roy and Amanda L.  David spoke highly of his time growing up as a Village Missionary kid.  He expressed to me how thankful he was that he could now give to our mission.  He mentioned that he was a boyhood friend of David Duff, president of Ecola Bible School and son of our founder, Rev. Walter Duff, and asked about him as well as other Village Missionaries.  I was able to give him some contact information so that he could renew ties with missionaries he had known.

The next morning I was going through my Inbox, which always has a mysterious way of filling to overflowing.  I found a wonderful card from a couple thanking me for the ministry Village Missions has had in their life.  I could hardly believe it as I read:

 We loved the card VM sent out to us this year.  So reminds us of Camp Creek Church.  We first attended in 1974 after just building a home here on Camp Creek that year.  We wanted to be a part of community here and what better place to begin at church.  My husband, came to accept Jesus into his heart as his personal savior under Ray and Amanda L’s pastoring-we shared so many wonderful times with them, especially thru a Bible study in our home.

How about that!  Just after talking with the their son, I read a note about the impact of his parents!  What a privilege I have of glimpsing how God has used Village Missions in people’s lives!

Webb returned my call after I called him to thank him for a note he had written with his gift.  I wrote about his note in a previous blog.

You can tell by his note and by talking to him on the phone that Webb truly loves the Lord.  He knew Rev. Duff and was so appreciative of the ministry of Village Missions.  He thanked me for sending Richard and Ellen Hayes to Foothills Community Church, where he attends.  As we talked, I learned that he was a rock hound.  I discovered that he had dug for “star garnets” in Fernwood, ID where Carole and I lived and attended the Fernwood Community Bible Church, which is still served by Village Missions.  He even knew my next-door neighbor, Shorty Sextant, who had a tourist garnet digging enterprise on No-Name Creek.  Shorty was quite a character and we had fun reminiscing about him.  Another reminder of the small world we live in made much brighter by godly men like Webb.

Well, as I write this, the economic news is not improving.  I am sure Village Missions will continue to face financial challenges.  However, I am just as sure, as I talk with these “cheerful givers” that God is gathering a mighty band who will pray for and support this ministry in the coming year.

I received this note with what most would consider a small gift of $10 to Village Missions:

Dear Brian,

This little mite is truly all this 90 yr. old man can give, but it is given with love and appreciation for VM.  I became a member almost 40 yrs ago, and have supported in the past.  But now I really have no past, just a very bright future with my Lord.

In His Wonderful Love,

Webb

May we all have such an attitude of trust!

Morning Star Community Church

Sunday we visited Morning Star Community Church in Red Feather Lakes, CO, our former field. Ten years ago, almost to the day, the new church we had built burned to the ground. Being at the church brought back memories of that challenging time, some painful and some wonderful.

The charred cross that survived the fire still hangs in the entryway. It was a beautiful mahogany cross, built by one of our members. Our construction manager, Dean, found it in the ashes. The fire had been unbelievably hot, so hot that water from a 2 ½-inch hose vaporized before it reached the flames. Yet the cross survived, with all four ends charred but still in the shape of a cross. I wrote a tract about how the charred cross was a much better picture of our salvation than an ornate one. Someone at the church mentioned Sunday that God is still using that tract.

Every year Carole’s brother and family would come up to Red Feather Lakes for Thanksgiving. One of the church members would give us a homegrown turkey, usually over forty pounds. I think the turkey that year was forty-four pounds! Stressed out in the aftermath of the fire, I threw out my back lifting the turkey into the oven! The aftermath of the fire and my back made for an interesting Thanksgiving!

But many heart-warming memories survive! Earl, an electrician in his eighties, who did most of the wiring, came to me and said, “Well, I guess we just have to build it again!” Employees at the Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch put on a fundraiser for the church, with employees themselves giving to help us rebuild. Later, other businesses in the town also raised money for the church. The church was rebuilt in less than a year. The congregation came out of the fire stronger and more unified than before the fire.

Then and even now, ten years later, the Morning Star Community Church fire is a reminder that God often does His most meaningful work out of ashes. The charred cross hangs as a reminder for all of us that what seems to be the worst may actually be God’s best.

I received the following e-mail from a Village Missionary.  I changed some details to protect anonymity.

I want to share a story with you that few people know.  I shared this with my District Representative (DR) while it was happening as a DR and a friend in confidence.  When we joined VM, it was with some hesitation.  I believe there was close to two years between the formal and informal applications.  I grew with the ministry at the VM church I was attending while finishing my education, earning a Masters in Theology and one in Christian counseling.  When we arrived on this field, it is as if God pushed us here.  He left us a little choice at the time…it was that obvious.  We are here our first Sunday and come to the realization that there are only eight people.  The congregation consists of older women with one man who immediately made it known to me that he was neither a leader nor a mature believer.  There was a cloud of legalism that hung over this church.  The first few months I was confused and felt that I was wasting resources, both VM and mine’s on this particular church.  I prayed to God and said, “If there aren’t 50 people in two years, I am out of here.”
 
Two years, almost to the date of that prayer, and only at about 18 people, I get a call from a church I had preached at a few years back.  They asked me if I would be interested in candidating.  I thought about my situation and my prayer and told them that I would not have pursued anything else but that I would not close the doors since God may have a plan.  For about three months, I go through a number of phone meetings, all the while praying that God would close the door or make it obvious.  After the VM conference, my family went there and was treated extremely well.  We were looking for a reason to turn this offer down but could not find it.  The church and the huge parsonage was on the water.  Our salary would have at least been four times as much as what we are at now (throughout the process I told them not to mention the salary to me), and it was a church of about 160 poised for growth. 
 
My family comes back.  I go one last time to preach and teach.  They fly me out there and I am energized at the evening time of teaching.  There were about 80 people and they loved to reason through Scripture.  What a difference!  Yet at no time did I feel like God was saying, “Yes, go ahead.”  My wife had that same sense.  The week I was supposed to give them my answer I told them that clearly God was not allowing me to leave this ministry.  That “no” meant that I was going to stay in a “not so ideal” parsonage.  That no meant that my family would continue to financially struggle.  My kids would not have nice things or vacations.  That “no” meant that I am in a church that could care far less about my education as opposed to how much grass I can cut in a day. 
 
After the hardest decision I ever had to make, I came back, still not knowing if I had done the will of God for my family.  A call goes off and I find myself in the red glow of the back of a fire truck looking at faces.  Knowing that none of these people would ever step foot in a church or have a relationship with someone that knew Jesus Christ personally.  This helped bring me back to reality.  I rode back home with my neighbor who asked me out of the blue if I was leaving soon (I know he knew nothing because no one did, it was kind of creepy), of which I could absolutely and honestly tell him, “not for a long time.”  That Sunday the church gave us a gift of encouragement.  That same Sunday, following the service, we had a potluck.  My youngest daughter, who is two, began to choke and we could not get it out.  I called 9-1-1 and though my wife finally got it out after what seemed like an eternity, people came from the woodwork because they knew who put that call in.  And there that first Sunday after making the decision were the two biggest groups I minister to…the church and the community…in particular the fire department.  And that “no” meant that God had given me the wonderful privilege of being right here for Him.  Right here where He had always meant for me to be, serving with VM.  I am confident of this more then ever. 
 
I share this because, first, I appreciate the expedience of the video so that we missionaries can be informed, and secondly, I know that you have had to make some very difficult decisions.  I think you have done a great job with this.  But I have to tell you, more then any business savvy you may have, more then any fiscal plans the mission comes up with, more then anything…..I appreciate your heart.  This ministry is tough and life is short and God will provide.  He already is.  The temporal sacrifices we will have to make in the upcoming years is nothing compared to the eternal benefits.  I for one am just glad that I am a part of a mission where I believe the “men” have separated from the boys and we do things a little different with much faith.  And I am thankful that we have an executive director who has the wisdom to perceive that God will do things, in spite of us at times, as we strive to obediently serve Him.  I am praying for you and those that make decisions and I hope that you are encouraged, because though the mountaintop is always the best view and where we like to be the fruit is grown in the valley and I look forward to that day of harvest.  Thanks Brian.

Jennings, MI was once a thriving community in the early 1900′s with several plants and mills related to the lumber industry.  When the lumber ran out all the plants closed and the lumber company moved over 75 homes to nearby Cadillac.  Jennings began to morph into a forgotten community known for poverty, crimes, and drugs.  A small church tried to shine the light of Jesus Christ, but when their pastor retired, the church was ready to close.  Jennings was sinking into further despair and darkness but God had different plans!

After the church asked Village Missions to provide leadership, we sent Larry and Kathy Shetenhelm to Jennings in January 2006.  Jennings was the first church served under our Sliding Scale program, where we not only provide salary support but also cover the health plan.  The church moves forward first in contributing toward the health plan and then the salary according to a scale that adjusts for various ministry costs.

The turnaround in Jennings in two short years is nothing but a miracle.  Sunday morning, April 20, I spoke to a church full of people excited about Jesus Christ and what He was doing in their midst.  I met John, who Larry led to Christ and baptized last summer along with his wife Dorothy.  Neither John nor Dorothy had any spiritual background whatsoever.  Neither he, nor his parents, nor his grandparents ever attended a church but now John is a new creature in Christ and hungry to study the Bible.  You can see pictures of my visit to Jennings and some of the people I write about in this blog by following this link.

Larry led Jeff to Christ through his jail ministry.  When Larry first met Jeff in jail, he was arrogant, proud, and disruptive.  Coming under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, Jeff trusted Christ and became humble and hungry for the Word of God.  Pray for Jeff and his family as he serves his sentence in a federal jail in Chicago.

I’ve never been in a church where so many had recently come to Christ.  The entire back row was filled with teens who have a reputation for being part of the wild crowd but were hungry for love and something different in their lives.  Bob wore a neck collar because of a botched operation on his neck.  He had battled with workmen’s compensation for years, which left him extremely angry and bitter.  Larry and new Christian John cut, split, and hauled wood for Bob.  Bob started attending church after they did that.  Larry visited him in the home and Bob trusted Christ.  He now is also a changed man-in just a short time he has read the Bible through three times and Larry is going through the Pal Plan with he and his wife.  He bought 200 copies of the Daily Bread, put a label on them with Jennings Church information, and distributed them throughout the area.

Jennings is one of our pilot churches for the Awana club program.  This winter they averaged 22-25 children every meeting.  We will have to work with Awana to make some modifications-none of the kids knew the slightest thing about the Bible.  Teenagers especially, who wanted somewhere to go, came to Awana, but had no background knowledge.

God has led Larry and Kathy to help the community in other ways.  Interested parties contributed to a project to haul away trash and tires from Jennings.  They rented the largest dumpster they could rent and men volunteered to go around the community picking up trash from homes.  This is how they met and befriended John, who has very bad knees and couldn’t clean up his property.  They cleaned up his property on Saturday and Sunday he and his wife were in church.  Very few other people in the town wanted any help but within two nights, townspeople filled the dumpster to overflowing.  They borrowed a front-end loader to pack down the garbage and shortly they filled it again.  They also took away 110 tires!

Already the congregation is covering the Benefit Plan and sometimes contributes to salary.  The mission statement of what is now the Jennings Community Church is “Proclaiming and demonstrating hope in Jesus Christ.”  Hope has come to Jennings through a dedicated Village Missionary couple and the ministry of Village Missions.

We are facing extremely difficult financial and recruiting challenges in our sixtieth year as a mission.  We have invested over $51,000 in Jennings since January 2006.  What has happened in Jennings as well as in many other places we serve reminds me that God is still very much at work in and through us.  Together, as we look to God in prayer and jointly seek ways to move forward, may He enable us to continue to serve places like Jennings! 

In Ephesians 6:18-20 Paul closes his commands to stand firm and to put on the armor of God with a call to prayer.  Much of what Paul includes in this call to prayer is surprising.  It is causing me to rethink some of my ideas about prayer, especially as it relates to ministry.

We, first, would not expect Paul to call on us to pray as the way to advance in the spiritual battle.  Prayer is important, of course.  We would expect, however, for Paul to write something more about using the shield of faith or the sword of the Spirit.  Instead, clothed with the full armor of God, we engage the battle by prayer.  We often engage in activities other than prayer but for Paul, prayer is the activity.

We also do not expect Paul to have such a concern about praying for others.  We must “be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”  We might expect Paul to command us to pray for ourselves, especially given that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (v. 12).  Although he does not rule out prayer for ourselves in the spiritual battle, the main thrust of our praying must be for our fellow soldiers who are also engaged in the battle.  As much as the spiritual armor is individually applied, we never fight the battle alone.  We stand in the evil day only as our brothers and sisters in the faith stand and they stand through our prayers.

Paul is not finished challenging our expectations.  If I were in jail as Paul was, I would pray that God might secure my release.  I would want my freedom most of all.  Also on the top of my prayer list would be safety and comfort while I was in jail.  I would want the guard I was chained to be extremely generous and kind.  “Please, Lord, if you would, provide adequate meals and a warm bed.  Oh-and help me to be strong spiritually in this ordeal!”

Instead, Paul asks that when he proclaims the mystery of the Gospel (not if), that he would have the words to speak (utterance) and that he would do so boldly (used in verses 19 and 20).  His priority, even in chains, is to proclaim the Gospel and to do so without intimidation.  He had prayed for the Ephesians that they would understand and appropriate the Gospel.  See Ephesians 1:15-23 and Ephesians 3:14-19.  As one who has understood and appropriated the Gospel, he asks them to pray that he might make its wonders known without fear.

Why would Paul make such a request for speech rather than for release?  I think it is because he knows that he is an ambassador of the King of Kings.  An ambassador must represent his king in the way the king sees fit.  Paul’s king, Jesus, told him to proclaim the Gospel (Mat 28:18-20; Acts 9:1-19).  Commitment to his job description as ambassador requires him to proclaim the Gospel.  Prayer from others on his behalf will enable him to do so with clarity and conviction.

Are we ambassadors?  2 Corinthians 5:17-21 indicates we are.  Will we be so convinced of our ambassadorship that our main prayer request will be courage and clarity in proclaiming the Gospel?

“I’ll pray for you!”  I sometimes make this promise more to assure a person of my concern than actually to pray.  Sometimes I forget in my busyness or sometimes I just forget.  I do not want to pretend to be a prayer warrior when I am not.  I do not think I am alone in feeling that my prayer life is much less than it should be.

We are emphasizing prayer during our 60^th anniversary, with the theme, “Celebrating Sixty Years: Advancing on Our Knees.”  Our theme verse is Ephesians 6:18.  As I continue to meditate on this verse, it challenges me by what it says about prayer. 

Our advancement on the spiritual battlefield requires prayer.  We are engaged in a spiritual struggle and our times can certainly be characterized as evil days.  We must make sure that we are equipped head to toe with the full armor of God.  But what do we do as a soldier of Christ?  With the full armor, with the shield of faith, and with the sword of the Spirit, we are to pray.

Verse 18 is an unexpected verse.  We might expect further instruction about raising the shield of faith or about wielding the sword of the Spirit.  Our advancement in the battle, however, is by prayer.  Writes Vincent:

In all that precedes we get no intimation of the personal contact of the Christian warrior with his Divine Leader.  This is given us in prayer.  We have the Word of God to the soldier; but in prayer we have the soldier’s word with God, the contact and communion of soldier and general; and it is not without a purpose that the Word of God and prayer are brought together here.  The Word of God gathers up into itself, expounds and interprets Christian truth, hope, faith, righteousness, readiness; but the Word of God becomes a living power, something to strike and to slay with, only through the living contact of the Christian with Christ, and this contact is afforded by prayer only.  (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)

I confess that I have been more concerned about having my armor on than by joining the battle with prayer.  Prayer is not one of many things I should be doing but is the thing I should be doing.

This verse has more surprises in store.  The thrust of prayer in the evil day, in the day when we face the spiritual battle, is for others.  Looking to direction and wisdom from the indwelling Holy Spirit (in the Spirit), we are to offer petitions for all the saints.  We do so in a spirit of watchfulness and alertness which, given the context, would speak to our awareness of how others are doing in the battle.  We do so with “all perseverance,” continuing faithfully to bring fellow believers before the throne of grace.

How often I have imagined the scene described in Ephesians 6:10-17 as a soldier (me) standing alone on the battlefield.  That is not the right view at all!  It is a scene of myriads of Christian soldiers all joined together in battle by prayer.  My victory depends upon the victory of others and their victory depends upon my prayers.  I must faithfully pray for others and others must pray for me if I wish to stand in the evil day.  The UBS New Testament Handbook Series quotes Beare:

The unsleeping alertness is to be shown especially in persevering intercession on behalf of all his comrades in the fight.  We are not engaged in single combat with the powers of evil, but are members of an army; and we must be concerned with the welfare of all who fight alongside us.  (from the UBS New Testament Handbook Series.  Copyright © 1961-1997, by United Bible Societies.)

The Navy ingrained this concept of battle into our son Caleb.  After his graduation from boot camp, Carole and I took Caleb out to dinner.  When we returned to base, a group of graduates gathered at the dropping off point.  They were checking each other’s uniforms, especially each other’s backs, to make sure everything was exactly in place.  If one had something misplaced in his uniform, they would all suffer.  I don’t know whether the phrase, “I’ve got your back” comes from this practice but they had each other’s backs and were happy to do so.  They will carry the same watchfulness for each other into battle.

Unfortunately, sometimes it seems that Christians are less apt to have this attitude.  Some are more likely to criticize a pastor than pray for a pastor.  Some pastors are more apt to criticize a church member than pray for a church member.  Do you think our current spiritual battle would progress any differently if we all took our responsibility to pray for one another more seriously?   Based on this verse, R.W. Dale comments on the importance of prayer for the pastor:

You come to listen to me on Sunday, and I have nothing to say that adds vigour to faith, or fervour to love, or that enlarges your knowledge of duty or of God.  It is plain that during the week I have had no clear vision of spiritual truth, or that, if I have, the vision has faded away.  You are naturally disappointed, perhaps discontented.  It is partly my fault.  But is it not possible that the fault is as much yours as mine?  If you had prayed for me with earnestness and faith, might not the vision of God bare come to me, and the revelation of spiritual truth and the baptism of fire?  In the absence of your intercessions, God may have given me truth for myself, but not for you.  (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)

The dynamic of a local church would change considerably if every member took this verse seriously.

On a wider scale, this verse has implications for Village Missions as we minister in the country places of North America.  The battle is raging-raging in the country places we serve, raging in finding couples and singles willing to go to country places, raging in finding the financial support necessary to send them, raging in ministry in general.  Clothed in the full armor of God, we must engage the battle with prayer.  And we simply must watch each other’s backs.

Aaron Knapp, a student at Moody Bible Institute and a summer intern on our fields in Watersmeet and Bruce Crossing, MI first made me aware of D.A. Carson’s book about his father, titled “Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor.”  He provided a link to “Thoughts, Unleashed!“  Here are some of the quotes from the book on that web page that caused me to buy it and start reading it:

Some pastors, mightily endowed by God, are a remarkable gift to the church.  They love their people, they handle Scripture well, they see many conversions, their ministries span generations, they understand their culture yet refuse to be domesticated by it, they are theologically robust and personally disciplined.  … Most of us, however, serve in more modest patches.  Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands.  They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth.  They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching.  Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins.  They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situation or to their own shortcomings.  Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on “successful” ministries.  Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters, and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement, and, on the other, jealousy, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.

Most of us-let us be frank-are ordinary pastors.

Dad was one of them.  This little book is a modest attempt to let the voice and ministry of one ordinary pastor be heard, for such servants have much to teach us.

Here is another one:

Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people … testify how much he loved them.  He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book.  He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday’s grace was never enough.  He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity.  He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators.” 

Are there such ordinary pastors today?  Faithful men and their wives who love the Book and love the flock?  Who serve without desire for recognition or reward other than from the Savior they serve?  Who “plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitation, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching?”

Many such faithful “ordinary” pastors exist in this country.  I am thoroughly blessed to serve just such a company of men and women.  Dr. John Koessler, head of the pastoral department at Moody Bible Institute, called them the “Green Berets” of home missions, going to the most challenging of settings.  They are Village Missionaries, serving in the country communities of the United States and Canada.

One such couple, a young couple, is Phil and Valorie Rownd, who have served in Pickstown, SD for seven years.  Read what Phil and Valorie wrote on their seventh anniversary in Pickstown:

Why God Kept Us in Pickstown for Seven Years

On February 18, we completed our seventh year shepherding this little South Dakota town.  I humbly admit that we don’t have a whole lot to show for our work.  Most of the people we have led to Christ have gone to be with Him in Heaven, or else they’ve moved to another community.  Seven years ago, there were 22 of us.  Today there are 42.  We haven’t even doubled.  After seven years, I expected more, and I have asked God about that.  But the Lord has been more faithful than we realize.  He has been faithful to the small number of folks who have lived here since the dam was built fifty plus years ago.  There aren’t many of them, but their heavenly Father loves them and He has given them a church and a pastor.  Then there are all those other 150 people who occupy the houses around here.  Pickstown really isn’t a tight-knit community like some small towns.  Most people come here for a while and then they die or their work takes them down the road.  Either way, most folks don’t stay here for more than 5 years or so.  Pickstown is just a brief stop on the greater course of their life.  But in God’s great wisdom and love for sinners, He makes sure this is a stop that counts.  He gives them an opportunity to believe the gospel and be built up in the faith before they leave Pickstown, either for Heaven, or for some other community where lost people need to hear about the Savior.  I am humbled by the phone calls and letters from former Pickstowners who have moved to other South Dakota villages, across our nation, and even to the other side of the world-and God is using them to lead lost people to Jesus!  WHO BUT GOD can measure the impact of your prayers for this town?

Listen also to what they have to say on this video.

Please pray for Phil and Valorie that they might continue to persevere faithfully.  Halfway through Carson’s book, I am learning that his dad battled with discouragement and despair.  Pray that our couples would know just how much God appreciates their faithfulness and they would be encouraged.  After all, Jesus went to a little place!  Pray that God would call many more couples like the Rownds to go to places no one else will go.

To prepare for Village Missions’ celebration of sixty years at staff conferences, Lisa West has been digging through the archives.  She found the first issue of a publication called “Village Missionary,” the forerunner, I believe, of what became Tempo Magazine and now is Country Matters.  This first issue was dated January 1956, only eight years after the beginning of our Mission.

Helen D. Baugh and Mary E. Clark, founders of Stonecroft Ministries and co-founders with Rev. Walter Duff of Village Missions, wrote the lead article, called “A New Year’s Message.”  They began:

Traveling as we do, from coast to coast, we are appalled and alarmed at the complacency and utter unconcern on the part of so many Christians for those who know not the Way of Life.  So general is this attitude, even among spiritually minded people, that it has become a burden on our hearts.

What is their solution to the terrible complacency they have observed across the country?  They call on members of the Stonecroft and Village Missions’ family to pray:

Prayer has always been the most essential part of this ministry.  In this new year of 1956 we are asking the Lord to give us thousands more Christians, both men and women, who are willing to keep a “daily appointment” with the Lord, to join us in this mighty movement of prayer.  Pray is power and “…the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits” (Dan 11:32).

Now in this 60^th anniversary year we are issuing this same call to pray.  We are asking the entire Village Missionary family, Stonecroft Ministries, Village Missionaries, the church congregations we serve, and partners, to pray earnestly for the spiritual needs of this country and Canada and for Village Missions and Stonecroft Ministries to be more effective in meeting those needs.  The theme of this year’s staff conference will be “Celebrating 60 Years: Advancing on our Knees.”  I am convinced that the only way any Christian organization can advance is on its knees.

Helen D. Baugh and Mary E. Clark knew that times of difficulty and crisis call for times of prayer.  Our theme verse for staff conference, Ephesians 6:18, teaches this.  Paul writes this verse after calling on the Ephesian believers to be “strong in the Lord” (Eph 6:10).  They are to “put on the full armor of God” in order that they might “stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph 6:11).  Paul then describes the true nature of our struggle.  We face a struggle whether as individuals or as a Mission that is not against the things we observe.  Instead, it is a spiritual struggle against a host of spiritual forces arrayed in battle against us (Eph 6:12).  We will experience an “evil day” in which we must have on the “full armor of God” in order to “resist” and “stand firm” (Eph 6:13). 

Paul then describes all that is involved in wearing the full armor of God.  The picture is of a Roman soldier, fully clothed in armor and with his shield (the shield of faith-Eph 6:16) and his sword (the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God-Eph 6:17).  He is ready for battle and ready to stand firm in the evil day.

But what is this soldier to do?  He is to drop to his knees (my picture of prayer) and pray!  Having all our armor on, we join the battle with prayer.  We will not be strong, we will not stand firm, we will not resist in the evil day without the ongoing prayer that Paul describes in Ephesians 6:18.  It will be prayer that includes all forms of communication with God as well as earnest requests (prayer and petition).  It will be prayer that is part of the warp and woof of daily life (at all times).  It will be prayer that recognizes what it means to be a new creature in Christ (in the Spirit).  It will be prayer that is perceptive (be on the alert with all perseverance and petition).  It will be prayer that extends beyond the boundaries of personal concern (for all the saints).  With the full armor of God, such is the type of praying we must do in the evil day.

Do you have any doubt that we are in an evil day?  I recently read an article in World Magazine titled “Spirits of the age” (Feb. 8).  In this article, Joel Belz describes a conference that considered how spirituality other than Biblical Christianity is replacing secular humanism.  He mentions that the fastest growing religions today in China are Buddhism and Taoism, not Christianity.  He writes:

From Islam came frightening themes.  That religion’s emphasis on “subjugating the enemy”-whether a foreign power or your own wife-seems strangely to be attracting the interest even of non-Muslims around the world.  From Africa comes word of reversion to witchcraft and darkly pagan practices.  If these packages come wrapped with superstition and even violence, so be it.  Conferees heard from a former practicing astrologer who described some of the inroads that field is making even into evangelical churches.  And they heard how pagan spirituality has wormed its way into both modern feminism and the ecological movement.

If we are to advance against the spiritual forces of wickedness in this evil day, we must pray.  Will you pray with us?  You can subscribe to prayer updates from us on our home page.