Fall 2009
In my devotions this morning I read a passage that is probably the testimony of many Christians in 2009. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. . .Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." With a socialist President of the United States who has turned his back on Israel to woo hard core Muslims and who seems bent on destroying our economy along with our ability to continue in the ways of our forefathers, it would be easy to become discouraged. I got angry when Barack Obama told radical Muslims that we are not a Christian nation. Yes, our country as a whole does not practice what the Bible teaches, but he meant it as opposed to Islam.
With all this turmoil and our beloved country crumbling around us, it would be easy to quit striving for God and just "go through the motions." However, now is the time to truly live out what we say we believe. The Bible still teaches, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Our congregation has had our share of men either losing their jobs or having their income curtailed severely. Fairhaven Baptist College's enrollment is down just as every other fundamental institution in America. People are colder than ever towards us in Chesterton and Porter County, but that doesn't change the Great Commission, among other charges to us from God.
We as a church have determined to fight back and have revival. We are having special prayer meetings and canvassing. I plan to preach more on revival, not stopping until we see substantial results. Our people have recently promised to raise our offerings considerably to offset those with lost jobs and the smaller college income. Last Sunday after a lot of hard work, we saw 2,164 ride our buses. There were 2,026 the week before, and 1,741 the week before that. Numbers of souls have been saved and baptized each of those weeks.
Three years ago Phil Shuler preached for our Anniversary Sunday and wept when describing the number of souls that walked the aisle. He said it was like the "old days" and that he hadn't seen anything like it for many years. How did it happen? A church full of people beat their brains out to get everyone and anyone into the service. You can't see someone saved if there are only Christians in the audience. Yes, even with strong precautions, I'm sure we have some false professions of faith at times. But, as a whole, we Baptists have accepted too many of the devil's lies and excuses for not seeing results. I hate this "easy believism" that is all around us, but that shouldn't stop us from being true Bible soulwinners and soldiers for Him. God knows I am not bragging, but there used to be a dozen buses from other churches in each of the towns we minister to, but they are gone now. Most of my friends across America had bus ministries that have now shriveled up also. Why? My challenge to you is not to give up, but believe God when He tells us that we will reap if we sow. Get going and keep going. Don't get mad at me for saying this, but stop treating God's church as a business and do God's work by faith.
It is important for God's people to get together and encourage one another. We have two events a year to try to implement this without much cost to the participants. The first is a special time for teenagers. November 9-12 we have our Empowered Youth program. Kids love it because of the combination of hard preaching and fun. Then, April 26-29 we will conduct our 32nd annual Preaching Conference. This is a great time of fellowship for Christians of all ages-preachers, laymen, men, women, and teens. It is a week of activity and relaxation with great music, but most of all preaching. Our guest speakers will be Don Green, Rodger Bottrell, Don Strange, R. B. Ouellette, Wilbert Unger, and some of our staff. Put these dates aside.