Home! Do we appreciate our home?
At school last week, my youngest was asked what she wanted to do over the Thanksgiving break. She responded quickly by saying, "I want to stay home." There is much more behind that answer than I will share in this blog entry, but I think I can make my point.
Sometimes it is good just to be home - and I don't mean the four walls of a house! Home is where the heart is. Home is where love is shared. Home is where stability is offered. I like to be "home" also - "home" with my family.
It is also good to be home with the church. And again, I am not referring to the four walls of the building I am sitting in while I type this. Church is people! Church is where love is shared. Church is where your heart should be. Church is where stability is offered! Salvation, encouragement, discipline and many other things are offered through our church home.
And one day I will go to my home in heaven. Heaven will be a great place to be, not because of fluffy white clouds! It is because we will be at home with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Heaven will be people! Heaven will be where love is shared! Heaven is where our treasures are laid - "and where our treasure is, there our hearts are also". Heaven is where stability is offered . . . FOREVER!!! Heaven is where Salvation and encouragement and rest will be offered . . . FOREVER!!!
Come Lord Jesus, come! And if He continues to tarry, may we continue to offer "home" to our family and friends.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Excitement!
From December 2006 Side Lites . . . I am EXCITED!
Are you ready to hear about excitement? Get ready to get excited! Now I realize that I was taught in English class to use my thesaurus to find different words with similar meanings. Please pardon my use of the word “excitement” (or a form of this word).
When I think about excitement in the religious realm, I think of the Hillsboro Family Camp. Each year at Hillsboro Dan Schafer would lead the assembly in the chorus: “Get All Excited”. Dan really made use of the whole platform as he generated excitement in the preaching of the Gospel through songs. I would walk away from the evening sessions all excited to “tell everybody that Jesus Christ is Lord!” Dan would also lead us in the chorus, “I’m Excited, I’m Excited, I’m Excited in the Lord!”
Many things that have happened recently have excited me. Let me write in this column about a few of them.
First: I am excited that we have seen the Lord add to our number at South Side in the past couple of months. How could that not be exciting? South Side is a great assembly—a church strong in the Scriptures. It is very exciting to see additions to the assembly!
Second: I am excited about the growth on Sunday and Wednesday nights. As a teacher of the Gospel, I have seen, not only numerical growth, but the spiritual growth of those who attend. It is exciting to see people with an excitement for learning.
Third: I am excited about hosting two County Meetings next year. South Side will host the January meeting and I get to preach—now that really excites me! Then in May, we will host the County churches while we are in the middle of our revival.
Fourth: Which brings me to my fourth reason to be excited—our May Revival Meeting. I believe you are going to love Ray and Gyneth Bennett. Ray is not only a great evangelist, but he and his wife are wonderful Christians! I first heard Ray preach in 1988, and have loved hearing him every time. Each year he opens the Hillsboro Family Camp on Monday nights. We also had him preach every year at Lawshe when I preached there. Gyneth can really play the piano, also. And if we are really blessed, maybe Ray will pull out the harmonica! I am really excited about having an old fashioned, Heaven High! Hell Deep! World Wide! Shot Gun Barrel Straight Revival Meeting! We should have an exciting time!
Fifth: I am excited about being your evangelist. Over the past year I have grown to love preaching and teaching here at South Side. I am very excited about working with the eldership here. They are great men of God! I am blessed as the evangelist, and you are blessed as the congregation, to have these six men pasturing the flock. I hope you join me daily in praying for the eldership and thanking God that He has blessed us with them. It is exciting to work with these godly shepherds of the flock at South Side.
Sixth: I am excited about the assembly’s giving. We are blessed at South Side to have good givers. This giving is not limited to money. But our offerings for Sunday Bible School have been tremendous since we adopted the four children in Haiti. Our main giving has stayed steady throughout my first year. And enough cannot be said about the excitement that I have as I see people giving of their time and talents. So many things go on behind the scenes at South Side with unnamed servants of our Lord. This is one area where true growth is seen in the assembly.
Seventh: I could list many more things that excite me about South Side. As I look to the bottom of my computer screen, I realize that I am quickly running out of space. I did, though, want to mention the most important excitement here at South Side. I am really excited that South Side continues to be solid in the Scriptures. As I look around and see so many churches compromising in so many areas, I see South Side as standing firm on the foundations of Scriptures! We still believe that there is only “one body (one church) and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). I pray that we will always have strong leadership in the area of the teaching of Scripture. I pray our membership will always contend for the faith! We have the truth that leads to eternal life—that in and of itself, should be enough to make each of us excited! Don’t do anything to stop the excitement!
Excitedly in His service,
Kevin
Are you ready to hear about excitement? Get ready to get excited! Now I realize that I was taught in English class to use my thesaurus to find different words with similar meanings. Please pardon my use of the word “excitement” (or a form of this word).
When I think about excitement in the religious realm, I think of the Hillsboro Family Camp. Each year at Hillsboro Dan Schafer would lead the assembly in the chorus: “Get All Excited”. Dan really made use of the whole platform as he generated excitement in the preaching of the Gospel through songs. I would walk away from the evening sessions all excited to “tell everybody that Jesus Christ is Lord!” Dan would also lead us in the chorus, “I’m Excited, I’m Excited, I’m Excited in the Lord!”
Many things that have happened recently have excited me. Let me write in this column about a few of them.
First: I am excited that we have seen the Lord add to our number at South Side in the past couple of months. How could that not be exciting? South Side is a great assembly—a church strong in the Scriptures. It is very exciting to see additions to the assembly!
Second: I am excited about the growth on Sunday and Wednesday nights. As a teacher of the Gospel, I have seen, not only numerical growth, but the spiritual growth of those who attend. It is exciting to see people with an excitement for learning.
Third: I am excited about hosting two County Meetings next year. South Side will host the January meeting and I get to preach—now that really excites me! Then in May, we will host the County churches while we are in the middle of our revival.
Fourth: Which brings me to my fourth reason to be excited—our May Revival Meeting. I believe you are going to love Ray and Gyneth Bennett. Ray is not only a great evangelist, but he and his wife are wonderful Christians! I first heard Ray preach in 1988, and have loved hearing him every time. Each year he opens the Hillsboro Family Camp on Monday nights. We also had him preach every year at Lawshe when I preached there. Gyneth can really play the piano, also. And if we are really blessed, maybe Ray will pull out the harmonica! I am really excited about having an old fashioned, Heaven High! Hell Deep! World Wide! Shot Gun Barrel Straight Revival Meeting! We should have an exciting time!
Fifth: I am excited about being your evangelist. Over the past year I have grown to love preaching and teaching here at South Side. I am very excited about working with the eldership here. They are great men of God! I am blessed as the evangelist, and you are blessed as the congregation, to have these six men pasturing the flock. I hope you join me daily in praying for the eldership and thanking God that He has blessed us with them. It is exciting to work with these godly shepherds of the flock at South Side.
Sixth: I am excited about the assembly’s giving. We are blessed at South Side to have good givers. This giving is not limited to money. But our offerings for Sunday Bible School have been tremendous since we adopted the four children in Haiti. Our main giving has stayed steady throughout my first year. And enough cannot be said about the excitement that I have as I see people giving of their time and talents. So many things go on behind the scenes at South Side with unnamed servants of our Lord. This is one area where true growth is seen in the assembly.
Seventh: I could list many more things that excite me about South Side. As I look to the bottom of my computer screen, I realize that I am quickly running out of space. I did, though, want to mention the most important excitement here at South Side. I am really excited that South Side continues to be solid in the Scriptures. As I look around and see so many churches compromising in so many areas, I see South Side as standing firm on the foundations of Scriptures! We still believe that there is only “one body (one church) and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). I pray that we will always have strong leadership in the area of the teaching of Scripture. I pray our membership will always contend for the faith! We have the truth that leads to eternal life—that in and of itself, should be enough to make each of us excited! Don’t do anything to stop the excitement!
Excitedly in His service,
Kevin
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
"I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders". (Psalm 9:1)
My family and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. God has blessed us so much, and we really do have so much to be thankful for.
In His love,
Kevin & family
My family and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. God has blessed us so much, and we really do have so much to be thankful for.
In His love,
Kevin & family
Sunday, November 19, 2006
National Missionary Convention
My son and I attended the National Missionary Convention in Indianapolis, IN. He loved this view through the doors leading into the RCA Dome in Indy. That is not what we were there for, though. We both enjoyed the fellowship with many other Christians. That really, in my mind, is one of the best things about big conventions like the NMC. Here is just a small list of some of the people we were able to visit with (or see) while at the convention:
Dr. Richard Geringswald - Jamaica Christian Seminary - he wants me to bring a team down to Jamaica to do a VBS and revival
Harold Armstrong - President of Florida Christian College
Professor Glenn Borne - Retired from Florida Christian College, taught me all my practical ministry classes and Revelation and Ecclesiology (Doctrine of the Church)
Wyburn and Dee Osborn - went to Florida Christian with Wyburn; he and Dee minister with Haitian ministries
Darrell and Kathy Combs - Jamaica Christian Mission - Darrell and I went to school at Florida Christian; Darrell wants me to be a board member for JCM - which might mean I will need to go to Jamaica in the future
The Jamaica Christian Mission Board - It was great to meet with some of the people I get lots of emails from with JCM!
Jim Newman - Southern Cross Ministry; Australia
Russell and Mary Ruth Newman - Jim's parents; Russell is an elder at Countryside Church of Christ (formally Lawshe)
Carl and Carol Copas - Carl is an elder, along with Russell above
Professor Twila Sias - Florida Christian College, taught my education courses and English
George and Nedra Melton - still trying to get them to come and sing at South Side
Lee Mason - Editor of the Restoration Herald of the Christian Restoration Association
Victor Knowles - Director of POEM, son of Dale Knowles who was preacher at South Side in the 1940's
Larry Owens - Director of Northwest Haitian Christian Missions; He wants to come to South Side to speak and he wants me to make a trip to Haiti (also met another couple from Cayuga, IN representing the mission)
Rick Champ and Kent Dunn - Illini Christian Ministries
Tom and Kristie Anders - Church of Christ of St Joseph
Jeff Snell - Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Lincoln Christian Seminary
Many other missionaries and friends in the Exhibit area of the NMC
I also saw, but did not get the opportunity to talk with:
The Good Twins - singing twin brothers that I saw back in 1984 (don't think they would remember me)!
Ben Alexander - Exposing Satan's Power
We had a good time visiting - the fellowship was great!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Missionaries
You may be wondering why I have two grave stones in my blog.
Let me explain: My son and I are going to go to the National Missionary Convention and I was reminded of some of the early missionaries in the American Restoration Movement. Dr. James Barclay came out of denominationalism, as I did. He became convinced that a person needed to be immersed. He was soon baptized by R.L. Coleman in the James River at Scottsville. After the death of his mother he decided to go to Jerusalem as a missionary. One of his desires was to proclaim the New Testament faith from Mt. Zion, as it was preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). What an honor to go back and preach where the Gospel was first proclaimed!
Earlier this summer, my wife and I visited Bethany, WV. Bethany is where Alexander Campbell lived. He is also buried, along with his father Thomas, and many other family members, across the street in "God's Acres". While there, I snapped the picture above. Julia Ann Barclay is buried beside her husband James. Their grave stones are in the shape of Bibles - turned up on their sides.
I pray daily for our churches. I pray daily for our preachers. I pray daily for our missionaries. I pray daily that we would preserve and contend for the faith once delivered!
History notes above taken from the Churches of Christ by John T. Brown, Louisville: John P. Morton and Company, 1904, pp 440-441.
Dr. James T. Barclay
Sunday, November 05, 2006
A Preacher's Preacher (part 2)
Here is the full article from the South Side November 2006 Side Lites:
Sometimes it is hard to be an evangelist. Some would ask, “How can that be, seeing you only work on Sunday?” That would be a nice cushy job, wouldn’t it? Hopefully you realize that is not the case here at South Side. The ol’ saying that the “work is never done” is true when it comes to sharing the Gospel. And while it may be true that there are some lazy preachers out there, this evangelist is not one of them.
That being said, that is not what this column is about. I want to use this space to share about the hard work of a preacher to . . . Are you ready for this? . . . To listen to another preacher preach.
I can already read your thoughts. I have to listen to a preacher every Sunday! What is so tough about that? Maybe you would just have to be an evangelist to understand the point of this column, but probably not. All you really need to be is a good solid student of the Bible.
I have listened to many horrible sermons in my lifetime. Now again, before you begin to run all those bad sermons of mine through your mind, realize that I am not referring to the delivery of the message. I am not referring to whether the preacher is a “smooth” speaker or not. I am referring to content! In other words: Is the preacher being consistent with the Word of God? I, personally, would rather listen to a “dry” preacher who teaches strong biblical truth than to listen to someone who is “smooth” and wouldn’t know the basic principles of the faith if they came up and bit him. Now I know that is strong language, but I am much more interested in content than delivery.
That is one reason (not the only reason) I do not support denominational gatherings, or even interdenominational gatherings. In my mind, the most important thing is not the beautiful sound of hearing 10,000 men sing “How Great Thou Art”. I am sure it is beautiful. But more important in my mind is: How was the preaching and the teaching of the Word? What was taught from behind the pulpit or in the workshops?
Again, that being said, that is really not what this column is about. By now you are thinking that I have been reading this column and he hasn’t made his point yet! Let me illustrate my point by using a personal illustration.
I have preached twice in chapel at my alma mater, Florida Christian College. Can you imagine teaching something to the very people who taught you everything you know? Talk about pressure! But I remember Doc Smith coming up to me after I preached out of Haggai (Doc Smith taught me everything I know about the Old Testament!) and he told me I was faithful to the text and did a nice job. I was preaching to a group of preachers and professors! Wow!
I was honored and humbled this year to have Richard and Betty Marshall in our services one Sunday evening. Mr. Marshall used to be my preacher and also taught me how to preach while I was at Florida Christian College. It would be easy to get a big head, but in reality, it humbles me.
For most of this past year I had the honor and privilege to be a preacher’s preacher. Robert Hodshire, and his wife Ruth, have been attending South Side for some time now. When I first met Robert and Ruth, I was told they were “stanch” Church of Christ. I thought: that is all right, because I am “stanch” Church of Christ also. I believe in the restoration ideals and principles. I live by them! So when they begin attending the Bible School class I was teaching and morning services and Wednesday evening services, I was quite honored and humbled that out of all the preachers in the area, they would come and listen to me every week.
I was honored and humbled with Robert’s comments like:
* Kevin, I don’t know if I could have said it better.
* Kevin, it is scary, you sound just like me.
Now as I reflect on Robert’s life, and consider our continued ministry to Ruth, I am just reminded that we have a big task before us. I am reminded of preachers like Robert Hodshire, Ed Harris, Roger Chambers, Lewis Foster, RC Foster, Wilke Winter, Paul Bennett, Clarence Greenleaf, Don DeWelt, JW McGarvey, Alexander Campbell . . . . And the list goes on of men who have fought the good fight by preaching the Word! These preachers have contended for the faith once delivered and have now gone on to be with the Lord. They have left us big shoes to fill. I don’t think my foot can fill even half of any one of those men’s shoes. I just pray that I can do my part in fighting the good fight and preserving the sound doctrine that they worked so hard to contend for!
I am very honored and humble to be a preacher’s preacher! I am very honored and humbled to be your preacher!
Sometimes it is hard to be an evangelist. Some would ask, “How can that be, seeing you only work on Sunday?” That would be a nice cushy job, wouldn’t it? Hopefully you realize that is not the case here at South Side. The ol’ saying that the “work is never done” is true when it comes to sharing the Gospel. And while it may be true that there are some lazy preachers out there, this evangelist is not one of them.
That being said, that is not what this column is about. I want to use this space to share about the hard work of a preacher to . . . Are you ready for this? . . . To listen to another preacher preach.
I can already read your thoughts. I have to listen to a preacher every Sunday! What is so tough about that? Maybe you would just have to be an evangelist to understand the point of this column, but probably not. All you really need to be is a good solid student of the Bible.
I have listened to many horrible sermons in my lifetime. Now again, before you begin to run all those bad sermons of mine through your mind, realize that I am not referring to the delivery of the message. I am not referring to whether the preacher is a “smooth” speaker or not. I am referring to content! In other words: Is the preacher being consistent with the Word of God? I, personally, would rather listen to a “dry” preacher who teaches strong biblical truth than to listen to someone who is “smooth” and wouldn’t know the basic principles of the faith if they came up and bit him. Now I know that is strong language, but I am much more interested in content than delivery.
That is one reason (not the only reason) I do not support denominational gatherings, or even interdenominational gatherings. In my mind, the most important thing is not the beautiful sound of hearing 10,000 men sing “How Great Thou Art”. I am sure it is beautiful. But more important in my mind is: How was the preaching and the teaching of the Word? What was taught from behind the pulpit or in the workshops?
Again, that being said, that is really not what this column is about. By now you are thinking that I have been reading this column and he hasn’t made his point yet! Let me illustrate my point by using a personal illustration.
I have preached twice in chapel at my alma mater, Florida Christian College. Can you imagine teaching something to the very people who taught you everything you know? Talk about pressure! But I remember Doc Smith coming up to me after I preached out of Haggai (Doc Smith taught me everything I know about the Old Testament!) and he told me I was faithful to the text and did a nice job. I was preaching to a group of preachers and professors! Wow!
I was honored and humbled this year to have Richard and Betty Marshall in our services one Sunday evening. Mr. Marshall used to be my preacher and also taught me how to preach while I was at Florida Christian College. It would be easy to get a big head, but in reality, it humbles me.
For most of this past year I had the honor and privilege to be a preacher’s preacher. Robert Hodshire, and his wife Ruth, have been attending South Side for some time now. When I first met Robert and Ruth, I was told they were “stanch” Church of Christ. I thought: that is all right, because I am “stanch” Church of Christ also. I believe in the restoration ideals and principles. I live by them! So when they begin attending the Bible School class I was teaching and morning services and Wednesday evening services, I was quite honored and humbled that out of all the preachers in the area, they would come and listen to me every week.
I was honored and humbled with Robert’s comments like:
* Kevin, I don’t know if I could have said it better.
* Kevin, it is scary, you sound just like me.
Now as I reflect on Robert’s life, and consider our continued ministry to Ruth, I am just reminded that we have a big task before us. I am reminded of preachers like Robert Hodshire, Ed Harris, Roger Chambers, Lewis Foster, RC Foster, Wilke Winter, Paul Bennett, Clarence Greenleaf, Don DeWelt, JW McGarvey, Alexander Campbell . . . . And the list goes on of men who have fought the good fight by preaching the Word! These preachers have contended for the faith once delivered and have now gone on to be with the Lord. They have left us big shoes to fill. I don’t think my foot can fill even half of any one of those men’s shoes. I just pray that I can do my part in fighting the good fight and preserving the sound doctrine that they worked so hard to contend for!
I am very honored and humble to be a preacher’s preacher! I am very honored and humbled to be your preacher!
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