light & life magazine -- sep-oct 2010

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The Deeper Path and LifeNotes are now online at freemethodistchurch.org/ Magazine.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT & LIFE 1

Howard A. Snyder, author of “Populist Saints: B. T. and Ellen Roberts and the First Free Methodists,” teaches at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada.

Rachel Borwick Stotts worked as a writer and editor for 15 years. Her greatest joy is in caring for her family — Doug, Amelia and Owen.

Victor M. Parachin is an ordained minister as well as a freelance writer and author.

Mark S. Waterhouse is an FM pastor in Topeka, Kan., and serves as a district leader in the Great Plains Conference.

LifeNote: Sue Tornai is a freelance writer in Carmichael, Calif. She loves teaching Sunday school and camping and fishing with her husand, John.

AUTHORS

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Money Wise: Go FAFSA! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Check It Out: Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

LifeStyle: Spiritual Toxic Waste Disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

World View: FM Urban/Metro Ministry in Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Bishops Page: Don’t Anybody Panic. I Have a Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

The News Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Humor Me: The Story of My Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Editorial: Sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

6 The Good News of God’s Holiness | Howard A. Snyder Faith: Holiness meets our personal and collective needs. Perfectly.

10 Our Amelia, God’s Grace | Rachel Borwick Stotts Family: God places special people among us for His

special purposes.

12 The Perfect Pre-Nup | Victor M. Parachin Marriage: Premarital counseling helps couples go the distance.

14 Zing! … Just Kidding | Mark S. WaterhouseRelationships: Let’s speak the truth in love. Or just keep quiet.

LifeNotes WHO WOULDA GUESSED!

An FM family prayed for the future owners of the house across the street. An unsuspecting hippie family moved in. Before long, the kingdom had new

members, and later, some Christian musicians had an invaluable asset.

The Deeper Path HOLINESS AND CONFESSION

This issue’s 16-page, tuck-in-your-Bible study guide focuses on another aspect of holiness. Included: Bible study, application and action suggestions.

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C OV E R : A m i e H o l l m a n n

http://www.freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine/PDF%20Files/JA2010/LLM_SO2010_DP.pdf

http://www.freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine/PDF%20Files/JA2010/LLM_SO2010_LN.pdf

It’s back-to-school time for many American families. That spells r-e-l-i-e-f from summer heat and the “I’ve got nothing to do” blues parents have been hearing since summer vacation began.

A new school year calls for new school supplies. The shelves at major discount stores remain in some semblance of order for barely five minutes each day.

A new school year brings a time of separation. Picture this classic scene: A young mom stands at the curb with her first-grader, waiting together for the bus. She senses Billy’s anxiety, which makes her worry. Will he be OK? She pictures him sitting alone, helpless, behind a mammoth desk. Her mother’s heart breaks. A giant yellow bus rounds the corner. Billy sees it coming. He looks back at his mom. “Do I have to?” those sorrowful eyes ask.

Mom chokes back tears as she musters every last ounce of courage to crush his world, and says, “Yes, Billy. You have to. Gimme

your cell phone.”A new school year brings a time of review. What did the kids forget

over the summer? So the teachers spend the first couple of weeks reminding students of math formulas and cafeteria manners.

During 2010, Light & Life has been taking us all back to school on the topic of holiness. It’s as if our culture grants us vacation time from our calling as Christians. We forget the history of holiness, the science of pursuing purity, and the art of saying yes to God in all circumstances. We need review ... regularly.

In this issue, we offer more articles of review and practical application. Holiness is fundamentally the love of God in our hearts and active in our lives, as Howard Snyder points out. It involves grateful acceptance of the grace of our holy God, as Rachel Borwick Stotts tenderly shows. It involves entering into the covenant of marriage fully intending and equipped to keep our vows of holy matrimony, as Victor Parachin counsels. It involves guarding our speech habits from sarcasm, as Mark Waterhouse urges.

So sit up straight, get out your No. 2 pencils, take notes, and show the Great Teacher how eager you are to learn these lessons.

Coming Next Issue: Our senior editor will conclude our year-long theme on holiness, and his tenure as editor, with an article on his favorite topic: entire sanctification.

Senior EditorDoug Newton

2 LIGHT & LIFE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Won’t you sign in?Deeper Path and LifeNotes are now online

only — part of our digital magazine and linked

separately for downloading. Easy to read. Easy to

print and take along. Easier than ever to share.

Last issue we included a response card so you

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to the magazine. Hundreds of you have mailed

those cards; others have used our easy-click

online response form. We’ve posted a few of

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Join the crowd. Talk to us. We value your

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Who’s Abstaining from Abstinence?

I just transferred back to the FMC from the mainline “mother” church where I served my last pastorate before retiring. I was upset to read in the July/August issue that “Opinion today, in pews and even among Free Methodist clergy, is divided about whether abstinence is the right position for Christians” (pg. 8). In paragraph 3213 of the 2007 Book of Discipline, this statement appears in regard to alcohol: “As concerned Christians we advocate abstinence for the sake of health, family and neighbors.” How plainer can this be? I think B. T. Roberts would probably be ashamed of his church and would roll over in his grave!

Elton O. Smith Jr.North Chili, N.Y.

Get Beyond the ImagesI received Light & Life’s July/

August issue in the mail today and was disappointed to read some of the negative comments about the last issue. Here are my thoughts: Underneath the provocative graphics [“Starstruck,” May/Jun 2010] is a great article to help people focus on holiness living instead of following the stars. In contrast to a world filled with distractions, the article by Whitney Von Lake Hopler made great points about pursuing things that matter most and the joy that comes from knowing we’re making a difference in people’s lives whether we pray with someone in the hospital, tutor a child who finally succeeds in school or use

other ways of serving God by serving each other. I particularly appreciated the suggestion to close the tabloids, turn off the TV and go on dates with our spouses instead.

Sue TornaiCarmichael, Calif.

Proving a Bad PointI was fascinated by the letters to

the editor in the July/August issue. The first letter commended you on your editorial [“The Number of Dogs in Seattle,” May/Jun 2010] regarding the sometimes-public perception of Christians as narrow-minded and uninformed. The writer referenced Barna research indicating that 85 percent of survey respondents think evangelical Christians are judgmental. The writer said he felt sad that this perception seems to be true and is very unlike Christ. The irony is that this letter is followed by several other judgmental letters seeming to prove Barna’s point.

Dave SamuelsonChesterton, Ind.

Senior Editor Doug NewtonManaging Editor Cynthia SchneregerArt Director Andrea AnibalVisual Communications Erin NewtonCopy Editor Dawn McIlvain StahlManuscript Manager Margie NewtonOnline Spanish Section Anthony Owens

“Deeper Path” Guidebook:John H. Bunn Tim HuffKatherine Callahan-Howell David KendallRalph Clark Denny WaymanBruce N. G. Cromwell Jeanne ZornesDick Freed

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Light & Life (ISSN 0024-3299) was established in 1868 by the Free Methodist Church. Published bimonthly by Light & Life Com-munications. Copyright 2010 Free Methodist Church of North America, 770 N. High School Road, Indianapolis, IN 46214. Views expressed in articles and letters do not necessarily repre-sent the official position of the Free Methodist Church. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations, no portion of this maga-zine may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the editor. All Scripture quotations taken from the New Inter-national Version unless otherwise indicated.

Writers: Submissions invited; include self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of manuscript. Sample copy and guidelines: $4.00 postpaid. Guidelines also available online. Light & Life assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials.

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http://www.freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine/JA2010_index.html

AnnouncementThe Board of Bishops announces

with regret Doug Newton’s resignation as senior editor of Light & Life magazine, effective Dec. 31, 2010. After due consultation, Doug has determined that his best sense of the Lord’s direction for his ministry in the FMC brings him to this transition from his editorial responsibilities with the magazine. He will continue as senior pastor of Greenville FMC (Ill.), and — along with his wife, Margie — be able to devote more time to Mary’s Place, a ministry the Newtons created in direct response to the Lord’s calling on them to encourage the Free Methodist Church in becoming more prayer-saturated and prayer-centered. We are thankful for Doug’s 15 years of service in this important role with our denomination’s magazine.

Look for our senior editor’s farewell comments in the next issue of Light & Life.


Letters to the editor should be addressed to Light & Life Magazine using

the contact information on page 4 (or [email protected]). We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and length.

Due to the magazine’s production schedule, letters received after our final deadline may not appear in this issue.

The following are some of the hundreds of responses we’ve received from readers so far. We’d love to hear from you too! Share your

thoughts at freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine.I want to still receive your magazine by mail because

after I finish reading it, I put it in our waiting room at work. I know someone has to be reading it. —Lansing, Mich.

Please don’t assume everyone has Web

access at home. Several members of

our church, including a retired FM pastor, do not. We are called to preach and minister to the poor, the least, the lost — those too poor to own computers and pay for Internet. —Wichita, Kan.

I am a letter carrier

so I would hope that you

continue to use the postal service. —Boise, Idaho

Thank you for the free subscription while

I am incarcerated. I pray it will continue for a long time. So much of what we get in

here is shallow emotionalism with no call to biblical

holiness. Thank you for your generosity.

—Rosharon, Texas

We attend alarge FM church, and I

believe few even know about Light & Life. Please

encourage pastors to promote this truly life-giving publication.

I also think a huge percent of attendees know/care little

about this great denomination.Online info will hopefully

reach more.—Wenatchee, Wash.

My husband and I are both in our 90s. We are not computer savvy. We don’t want one. I hope you continue producing this lovely magazine for years! It is a real teaching tool. You have excellent writers, and I so appreciate the laughter of some of the articles. —Gaylord, Mich.

Although I realize we now live in the 21st century, I cannot express how severely disap-

pointed I am to lose access to such a valuable resource

as the Deeper Path. It was a portable tool to use in my

personal devotions (especially when traveling) and has been the

source of 1-3 Sunday school lessonsbimonthly. I mentor teens each Sunday

and the Internet is not available either at church or their homes. Please prayerfully reconsider this additional deprivation to their/my walk with His path! Thank you. —Gary, Ind.

My job requires computer usage, so I appreciate paper that frees me from the con-fines of a desk and travels easily. I love Deeper Path. Keep up good work despite cost — it equips. —San Bernardino, Calif.

If you are reaching today’s active generation, so be it! I am too old to appreciate some features. —Lansing, Mich.

I know you think Internet technology is greatand wonderful, but you just

walked away from 20 percent of the population and said they are not important to you. Not everyone

has high-speed Internet. —Pendleton, Ore.

We appreciate Light & Life and are excited that we might be able to receive it from a website.—Everett, Wash.

Continue Light & Life magazine and the ministryof holiness. Revive our future FMC in a changing culture. —Springfield, Ill.

I entrust the future of Light & Life to you.

I cannot imagine how difficult it is to

satisfy everyone! Younger people like

the e-mail version of things; some of us older people prefer words on

paper. Keep up God’s work! —Pasco, Wash.

I grew up Free Methodist. I want news of

people and churches to keep intouch. I enjoy writings by our people and enjoy seeing new

names and faces. It is my paper. You are doing a good job. Thank you! —Buffalo, N.Y.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGlkblZGTDFHbWs5aEp4aWdpRG1nZnc6MQ&theme=0AX42CRMsmRFbUy1iOGYwN2U2Mi1hNWU0LTRlNjEtYWMyOC1lZmU4ODg1ODc1ODI&ifq

holinesI L L U S T R A T I O N B Y A M I E H O L L M A N N


People may see God’s holiness as bad news. God is high and holy; I am weak and lowly. Not much hope. I am fated to live an everlasting disconnect between me and God — between who I am and who He is. Between what I ought to be, and who I really am.

If God is holy, I am hopeless. Oh well, I’ll just struggle on and trust Jesus to save me anyhow, somehow, hoping for heaven.

Even Better NewsThe gospel is better news than that! The good

news is not only that God loves us and sent his Son to die for us. The good news is that God is holy. How?

First, if God is holy, there is an absolute standard of right and wrong outside of ourselves and our world. That is good news because it means there is moral order to the universe. Ultimately the world is

not a confused mess — because the great I Am still is. And He has a plan.

Second, Holy God is Trinity. God is not a solitary dictator, nor a sovereign despot. God is three, and love is what makes the three One. This was a breakthrough insight for the church in the third and fourth centuries: The bond of the Trinity is love. Love is what joins Father and Son together in one, and that love has a name: Holy Spirit.

When we say God is love, we are saying that the Father really loves the Son, who really loves the Spirit, who really loves the Father — who also loves the Spirit, who loves the Son, and so on and on, an endless joyous dance of holy love. Holiness is shared self-giving love, for holiness is God and God is Trinity.

Third, since God is holy and holiness is love, we have hope. God’s holiness is not our hopelessness. It

B Y H O W A R D A . S N Y D E R

WWhat a strange world! Five hundred million people use Facebook, but families fall apart. We enjoy technology but don’t know how to protect the earth or the sanctity of life. We have material abundance with spiritual bankruptcy, yet few fly to Jesus for spiritual bankruptcy protection. Kids are smart but distracted by fashion and celebrity.

But here is really good news: God is holy. Not just great; not just powerful; not just eternal. Holy.

The Good News of God’s

http://amiehollmann.com/

http://www.wineskins.net/

holines


is our invitation to be filled with love; to be cleansed and healed.

This is the meaning of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to earth not to take us to heaven, but to fill us with holy Trinity love, right now. He knew that this love is so potent it will change the world, leaven the whole messy mass. In time it will renew heaven and earth.

Jesus sent the Spirit to do in us what He does in the Trinity: bind us together in pure love. Jesus breaks the chain of logic that says: Since God is holy, I am hopeless. Jesus gives us His very Spirit, the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9, Philippians 1:19). That’s His way of sharing God’s fiery holiness with us. He gives us the fire of love and says: Pass it on. Hold it to yourself and you’ll get burned; share it with the world and you’ll be blessed, and probably suffer.

What the World Needs NowWhat the world needs, and in fact can have, is holy

love, the love the Trinity gives us in Jesus Christ by the Spirit.

Society has four basic needs, and these are all met by holy love.

• The first and most basic need is to know God. A person without God is a child without a parent. A lover without her beloved. We are made for God even more than we are made for food or sex or security.

Without God we fail to thrive. Every man, woman and child is created in God’s perfect image, and God wants to restore that image through Jesus (Romans 8:29), healing the cancer of sin. This is holiness.

Knowing God is more than knowing about God, believing in Him, or even having sins forgiven. Knowing God is finding our spiritual soul mate,

The Good News of God’s

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our true home, the immense ocean of Triune love. This is holiness!

• The second great human need is friendship. We are who we are because of whom we relate to and are related to — by blood, marriage, friendship or antagonism. Beyond this lies the broader relational web of jobs, neighbors, clerks, the whole net of society.

But most basic is friendship, and nothing can replace it. Ideally such warm human touch begins with parents and siblings, then grandparents and cousins. But we do not live in an ideal world. Most of us suffer dysfunction because of impaired or broken or even toxic relationships.

So God created the church, Christ’s body, to be His healing community — the place of true servant relationships, something like the Trinity itself. When the church is faithful, it meets this deep human need and makes the church a friend-building firm in the world. When the church is unfaithful, filled with itself, it is an unhealing community, making things worse rather than better.

God wants to fill the church with His Spirit so that it walks and talks like Jesus, doing the work Jesus left for it. This is holiness. A Spirit-filled church draws the holy love of the Trinity into itself and spreads it all around, releasing an epidemic of healing.

Holiness is not only friendship with God. It is deep, nurturing, question-answering, heart-warming, soul-satisfying friendship with Jesus’ sisters and brothers on the pilgrim road to the kingdom, creation healed. “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50).

• The third great human need is healthy relationship with the earth. Our whole physical life

comes from the earth, beginning to end. “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7). “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1:29). “From the [ground] you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19).

Just as sin corrupts relationships with God and others, it hurts our tie to God’s good-but-damaged

earth. Our relationship with earth must be healed, just like our relationship with God and others. In the meantime, we depend on the earth for food, air, water, beauty — life itself.

Much of our illness reflects earth’s maladies. We are now learning how much human disease is environmentally based. If we would be well, our relationship with the earth needs attention. It is impossible to have fully healthy people on a sick planet.

We depend on the earth, and the earth depends on us. Food, water, jobs, poetry, music, our very breath all come from, or are fed by, the earth. Light, fragrance, warmth, sex — all these depend on the earth. This is why the Bible gives so much space to how we treat the earth. Holiness means paying attention to this revealed truth.

God gives us the good earth and tells us to use it

How can we be holy? We see now the deeper question: How can I know God fully? And in so knowing Him befriend others, tend the earth, and do good healing work?

It is not complicated. But it can be difficult, because holiness requires re-centering our whole life around God and His reign, not ourselves and our things.

These steps lead to the sweet taste of God’s holiness:

1. Ask God to give you a deep hunger and thirst for Him —

for the Trinity, Father, Son and intimate Spirit — more than for anything else.

2. Practice the disciplines normally required for that

prayer to be answered. John Wesley had a key insight: “All who desire the grace of God should wait for it in the means [God has provided], not in laying them aside.” Physical health requires good physical habits, and it’s no different here. People earnest about knowing God adopt disciplines of daily prayer and Bible reading, seek Christian fellowship more than once a week, look for ways to help others and share Jesus’ love, and reconcile with others. They order their lives wisely in daily habits, in diet,

holyHow to

Be

God’s holiness is not our hopelessness. It is our invitation to be filled with love; to be cleansed and healed.


finances, creation care and time use. When they fail, they repent and try again, now more conscious of how much they must have Jesus’ help.

3. Form close friendships with mature Christians. This is a key

means of grace. When John Wesley was seeking holiness, someone told him he wouldn’t succeed all by himself. “You cannot serve God alone,” he said. “You must find companions or make them; the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion.” Wesley never forgot. He learned that holiness is social — it is all about relationship not only with Christ, but with the body of Christ. The best way to lead a holy life is to form friendships with holy people — especially one or two, or a small group of companions who strategically assist on the journey.

4. Wait and rest in God. “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take

courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14 ESV). “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).

Holiness is a deep resting in the Triune God, fully trusting Him to do all in and through us that needs doing. It is “not my will, but Yours be done.” It is trusting in God’s faithfulness, His amazing promises, giving up our own frustrations and failures. Thus we find that God works in us (each, and as the body), “enabling [us] both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This is how we “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV).

Through the Spirit we “enter God’s rest”

according to His plan and purpose. Through Jesus’ life and resurrection we can do this. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49) — Jesus, who brought heaven and earth together everlastingly in His incarnation. The good news of God’s holiness is that the Spirit is now working to heal and restore — totally — our relationship with the earth.

• The fourth great human need is mission and purpose in life. This includes meaningful work and activity — something everyone needs in order to thrive. Happiness consists in finding something larger than ourselves to live for. When serving ourselves becomes our goal and mission, the result isn’t pretty, even when we succeed.

Working hard is good if the goal is worthy. Christians see work and rest as a rhythm — working heartily to and for God’s glory, resting in Him, and not worrying, for God is the one who brings the fruit and the kingdom, and “all our works [are] begun, continued, and ended” in Him (“Book of Common Prayer”).

Since God is holy, work and mission merge. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to

do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 TNIV). Doing or speaking or serving, we “do it with the strength God supplies, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).

Jesus gives us a mission: Nothing less than Christ’s kingdom. Strive first for the kingdom of God, He says, and everything will fall into proper place (Matthew 6:33). This means doing the work Jesus left us, the work He began. He said, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day” (John 9:4 ESV). Amazingly, Jesus said that “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these ... because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12, 15:26 ESV) — from whom He sends the Spirit.

Jesus lived a holy life and sent the Holy Spirit to produce Jesus-like fruit in us (Galatians 5:22-23). The good news of God’s holiness is that Jesus invites us to be “co-workers” with him in the great work of wholly restoring creation to holiness (1 Corinthians 3:9, Philippians 4:3).

God gives us a holy purpose beyond ourselves. Not a “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” holiness (Colossians 2:21), but a holiness grounded in our Spirit-given “fullness in Christ” (Colossians 2:10). To be fully “in Christ” is true holiness (1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; Ephesians 1:4).

Here is the timeliness of holiness today. Holiness meets society’s — and our own — greatest needs. By God’s grace we come to know God; we develop true soul friendships; we live in harmony with the earth; we have true mission and do good work, bearing “fruit that will last” (John 15:16).

God’s holiness is not our hopelessness. It is our invitation to be filled with love; to be cleansed and healed.

(continued on page 31)

B Y R A C H E L B O R W I C K S T O T T S

A mother’s transformational journey — from a devastating ultrasound to peace and joy.

P H O T O S B Y L A R R Y P E A C O C K

It played like a scene from a poorly scripted TV movie. My obstetrician entered the darkened room clutching a manila folder, followed by an ultrasound technician who didn’t look me in the eye.

The doctor explained that the baby inside of me, our first child, would be born with myelomeningocele (spina bifida or “open spine”), hydrocephalus (“water on the brain”), and bilateral clubbed feet (both severely turned in). Termination of the fetus or continuing the high-risk pregnancy were cited as our options. After we quickly dismissed the former option, my doctor offered several pamphlets so my husband, Doug, and I could read all about the terrible things wrong with our baby. Did I have any questions?

Ah, yes. How can I get out of this? All we wanted that bright sunny Thursday was to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. I didn’t ask for this. For the first time in my 28 years of living, suffering had come

home to roost. Certainly I had experienced disappointment and witnessed family and friends’ trials, but our baby’s prenatal diagnosis suddenly became the rug I had been waiting to have pulled out from under me.



Although I had known Christ most of my life, fear had invited itself to nearly every significant event. I rode the bus home from my first day of kindergarten, unconsciously chewing a hole through the center of a folded piece of my own artwork. What if I get on the wrong bus tomorrow? What if I don’t make the team? What if I don’t go to prom? What if I do go to prom? What if I don’t know whom I should marry? What if we can’t have children? What if my mom dies of cancer?

In that first week following the news, I found myself praying that our unborn baby girl, whom we now called Amelia Grace, would somehow not live if she would experience only misery and struggle. I conjured a brain-damaged child in a wheelchair and suddenly identified with women who chose abortion because they couldn’t face raising a child with severe problems. Although my own thoughts horrified me, I knew only to tell God every last one. Abortion was not an option, and I felt trapped inside my own body with this child I didn’t know and couldn’t protect.

The euphoria I had enjoyed the first 20 weeks of my pregnancy became despair. Doug and I continued to go about our lives and drew closer to each other, but I could feel myself slipping into depression. I cried in my office at work and at home, grieving the strong, healthy baby who no longer existed. I stopped shopping for baby things, feeling somehow different and set apart from every other pregnant woman.

One evening at my church Bible study, shortly after Amelia’s diagnosis, the group encircled and prayed for me. I had not described the depth of my heartache to them, but one woman asked the Lord to “restore the joy” of my pregnancy. At that moment, the light that had been snuffed out in the ultrasound room reignited in my heart.

God drenched the rest of my pregnancy in His peace. I rarely allowed myself to become overwhelmed by worry and prayed daily for His protection of Amelia’s mind. Almost secretly, I also pleaded with God to allow her to walk.

At 35 weeks, Amelia Grace Stotts was born — all 5 lbs. 5 oz. of her. The following day, she underwent surgery to close the opening in her back and to place a shunt (tube) in her brain to regulate the flow of her cerebral spinal fluid. When we took her home after her eight days in the neonatal intensive care unit, my world began to fall apart again.

Reality quickly manifested itself in Amelia’s first appointments with her neurosurgeon, urologist, physiatrist (rehab) and orthopedic surgeon.

I gradually began to see myself as the one keeping Amelia alive. In my mind, one misstep could harm her irrevocably. The weightof that responsibility resulted in a combination of situational and postpartum depression. I cried out to God to heal me so I could enjoy my daughter and care for her confidently.

In His sweet, tailor-made fashion, the Lord led me to a book by Elizabeth George, “Loving God with All Your Mind.” Instead of dwelling on my own worrisome thoughts and what ifs, she taught me over several months, through God’s Word, to meditate on His truth and His promises. He would empower me to take care of Amelia. I needed only to trust His words in Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

One morning, lying awake while Amelia slept, I could feel nothing other than peace. I was physically unable to be afraid. I tried. Nope. No worry. I knew that God, by His grace, had healed me and delivered me from fear for the final time.

My newfound freedom would be tested as Amelia had foot surgery at 5 months, a revision to her shunt at 11 months, and another foot surgery at age 2 1/2. (Peace that transcends understanding is eating a sandwich while

your toddler has brain surgery.) Several months after the last foot surgery, Amelia

started preschool. Soon her teacher asked me not to send her walker to school anymore. I had no idea Amelia had

abandoned it, maneuvering around the classroom on her own two surgically

corrected feet. God had answered my “secret” prayer in a miraculous way.

Today, Amelia doesn’t know a stranger. She is a walking, talking,

intelligent, joyful, fun-loving 7-year-old. She loves life and lets

everyone know it. Did I mention she talks a lot? I can’t wait for our

conversations to include how God used her to change my life. I pray that she

will use her disability to inspire others to trust in a God who can turn sorrow into pure joy. I believe she already has.

Abortion was not an option, and I

felt trapped inside my own body

with this child I didn’t know and couldn’t

protect.

B Y V I C T O R M . P A R A C H I N

riting to an advice columnist, a distraught new bride lamented:My husband is a football

fanatic. He watches football on Monday nights, Thursday nights and all day Sundays. He also belongs to two football leagues, one of which he runs. Leagues mean a draft party, weekly mailings, daily phone calls, faxes and computer entry time. Those activities along with a tri-monthly night out with the boys and miscellaneous sports events leave very little time for us. We are newlyweds, and this is not what I expected from a husband. He doesn’t see this as a problem and believes that it is I who makes this a problem.

One of the key objectives for premarital counseling is to help

couples identify potential problems before they escalate, producing anger and disillusionment. “In our society we tend to spend more time getting ready for the wedding than preparation for the marriage,” notes Gary R. Collins, a clinical psychologist, author and professor at Trinity

Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. “As a result many beautiful wedding days are followed by years of misery or, at best, minimal happiness.” uuu


Because of that reality, more clergy from all denominations are requiring premarital counseling. These sessions can be informal discussions of two or three meetings or more tightly structured classes that meet weekly for a longer period of time. Still, many couples are hesitant or resistant to participating in premarital counseling. If that includes you, here are seven benefits to consider:

Receiving biblical-theological foundations for marriage. Premarital counseling provides clergy and spiritual leaders with a unique opportunity to educate couples about the theological meaning of marriage and to establish a spiritual foundation for their bond. Such sessions stress the permanence of marriage, fidelity to vows and profound commitment to each other in good times as well as bad.

Closely examining expectations. Author of “Pre-Marital Counseling,” Aaron Rutledge, notes that couples have extremely high expectations for marriage. They often expect marriage to provide self-development and fulfillment, mutual expressions of affection, the satisfaction of sexual needs, sharing of child rearing, as well as shared interests in friends, recreation, worship and creative work. In the history of the human race, Rutledge writes, never have “so many expected so much from marriage and family life.” Thus, premarital sessions can help couples better examine and understand expectations.

Learning more about healthy communication styles. Premarital counseling classes inevitably emphasize the importance of communication between spouses. In such sessions, there is often a review of basic listening skills, appropriate ways of responding to what has been heard, and information provided about healthy ways of communicating. Lisa, who was married four years ago to Brian, says the premarital session on communication was extremely helpful:

One of the most useful tips we received from the minister was to set aside at least 20 minutes together for an “end-of-day review.” The minister advised us to do that no matter how busy we became. Those 20-minute sessions have proven to be clarifying and bonding in our relationship. We ask each other such very simple questions as: What was the best part of your day? Did anything funny, bad, joyful, etc., happen? Those few minutes allow each of us to better understand and feel what the other has experienced. It brings us much closer together.Clarifying roles and responsibilities.

In his “Premarital Counseling Handbook for Ministers,” Theodore K. Pitt notes:

Today both men and women are engaging in extensive role learning as they approach marriage. ... [Women] bring to marriage an accompanying expectation that their husbands will be full partners in the home, sharing housekeeping and child-rearing responsibilities. Men, on the other hand, are reevaluating their concepts of the roles that both men and women fill in the home.

Consequently, he advises clergy to aggressively discuss roles and responsibilities after marriage. That discussion should include household chores, income sources, children and parenting (discipline styles, values, etc.), relationships (with parents, relatives, friends, etc.) and social obligations.

Studying financial management. Clergy focus on issues of financial management because they know that money is a major cause of conflict for many couples. In fact, a survey of 2,000 men and women by Roper Starch Worldwide confirms that money — more than sex, children or in-laws — is the most common source of conflict for married couples.

Analyzing the compatibility quotient. In premarital counseling, couples are given an opportunity to determine if they are truly compatible. Clergy are on the lookout for red-flag situations that may need special scrutiny and discussion:

l drug or alcohol involvement l emotional problems or mental instability l lack of financial resources l contrasting cultural backgrounds or religious beliefs l wide gaps in education l short period of acquaintance

“Couples may not see these as obstacles to a good marriage, and for some these differences can and will be overcome,” notes psychologist Gary Collins. The counselor “needs to urge caution and thorough discussion of issues such as these before the couple moves ahead with marriage. In this way, a lot of potential misery may be avoided.”

Forming a stronger bond with the minister. Rather than simply preside over a rehearsal and wedding, many clergy feel it is important to establish a bond with the engaged couple — one that will endure beyond the wedding day. William H. Edwards, a Presbyterian minister in Smithtown, N.Y., says premarital counseling sessions allow him to establish a relationship with a couple “so they can feel comfortable enough to come back and talk with me if problems develop later.”

Clearly, the benefits of premarital counseling shouldn’t be overlooked by engaged couples committed to keeping their marriage vows “till death do us part.” Check with your pastor or the clergy you want to have marry you. See if premarital counseling is available, or if he or she can direct you to someone appropriately trained to walk you through these important topics. Premarital counseling just might turn out to be the perfect pre-nup to your enduring union.

One of the key objectives for premarital counseling is to help couples identify potential problems before they escalate, producing anger and disillusionment.


We might say to a slow person, “Could you move any slower?” Or to the person who arrives late, “Glad you could make it.” We might say to a person

we believe is lazy, “Don’t work too hard.” Or we might call someone a “genius” after he or she makes a foolish mistake. We see someone in church we haven’t seen for awhile, and we might greet him with, “Hi, stranger.” I’ve done that before. I meant my comment to be humorous, but the man took it as a confrontation, as if I had said, “Where have you been?” To be honest, I was disturbed that he hadn’t been to church for awhile, so I gave a subtle jibe in the form of humor — sarcasm. Had I been wiser, I would have greeted him with, “It is so good to see you this morning.”

What is sarcasm? The word comes from the Greek word sarkazo, which means “to tear flesh.” Wikipedia defines “sarcasm” as a form of humor marked by mocking with irony, and sometimes expressed with vocal overemphasis. It is saying something opposite from the intended meaning. Although disguised as humor, sarcasm may actually reveal a critical attitude.

Have you ever been hurt by a sarcastic comment someone made about you? Have you ever hurt someone by a sarcastic remark you made? As disciples of Jesus Christ, is that how we should speak to one another?

“Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives a neighbor and says, ‘I was only joking!’” (Proverbs 26:18-19 TNIV). When I was a boy, my brother shot me with my own BB gun. He thought it was funny ... laughing while he pulled the trigger. I didn’t laugh. The impact of the BB hurt. If he had said, “Sorry, Mark, I was just kidding,” that wouldn’t have made my shoulder feel any better. He intentionally shot me, so it wasn’t an accident. Just as we must be careful with weapons, we must be careful with our words: How we speak to one another can hurt or heal, beat down or build up, discourage or encourage. Proverbs 12:18 (TNIV) says, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords.” Sarcasm is often reckless: Careless comments and offhand remarks are more likely to hurt than humor another person.

Instead of using sarcasm, I suggest speaking the truth in love or saying nothing at all.

B Y M A R K S . W A T E R H O U S E


Speaking the truth in love means we think of the other person’s interests or needs. Our comments to each other should build up, not tear down. Also, not all truth needs to be shared. What we say to another person should be tempered by our love, even if everything we could say is true. All truth matters, but not all truth matters equally. For example, when I was a hospice chaplain, I ministered to several people who were dying of lung cancer. They had smoked heavily for most of their lives; their illness was probably the result of their smoking (research has proved that). In truth, I could have said, “Your suffering is the consequence of your choices.” But that would not have been the loving thing to say. We should be wise and discerning with what truths we choose to share.

And when we do share a difficult truth with someone, we share it carefully and sensitively. The delivery of truth is critical. I learned in restaurant management to praise people publicly — so they are built up in front of their peers; but to correct privately — so they are not publicly humiliated. I believe that is a wise rule to follow in all our relationships.

My second suggestion instead of sarcasm is saying nothing at all. Proverbs 17:28 (TNIV) says, “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.” Some things are best not said. As followers of Jesus Christ, any criticism we might want to share must be aimed at building up another

person, not tearing down. Often that means we wait, keep our feet on the floor instead of in our mouth, and pray for wisdom to share at the right time, in the right way, or not at all.

Am I saying we should always be serious? No! Life is full of humor. We don’t have to look very hard to find funny, humorous things. But proper humor is laughing with others, not at them.

Sarcasm can have a place; but all too often it’s used as a verbal knife. Sarcasm is appropriate when the humor is self-inflicted (laughing at ourselves), mutual (laughing with each other), and not intended to criticize or hurt someone. The use of sarcasm is also acceptable to emphasize an issue of which we are all aware but not facing (the elephant in the room).

As followers of Jesus Christ, we must be careful with our words. If you catch yourself speaking sarcastically, stop and examine yourself: Be governed by your love for others, speak the truth in love, or say nothing at all ... and then you will be keeping humor in its proper place.

Let’s keep humor in its proper place.

B Y M A R K S . W A T E R H O U S E

Instead of using sarcasm, I suggest speaking the truth in love or saying nothing at all.


BY LARRY SAYLER


Since it’s back-to-school season, let’s consider how a family can afford higher education — something that has become increasingly worrisome as costs have far outpaced inflation for several decades.

The cornerstone of college financial aid is the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The FAFSA is mandatory for federal and most state and school financial aid. It can be submitted by mail or online at fafsa.ed.gov, and must be completed each spring for the following academic year (often as early as March — check state and school guidelines). Because both students and parents must answer questions about their income and assets, before filling out the FAFSA, it is helpful to have completed prior-year income tax forms.

The first “F” in FAFSA is important. Completing and submitting FAFSA is “free,” but filing can be detailed and time-consuming. There are many organizations that complete and file the forms for a fee. Take care: Such “services” are often scams. For example, at fafsa.com (a site intentionally targeting people who do not know that the free government site is at .ed.gov) the fee is $79 or $99, depending on how much help is given. Some people may feel they need someone to walk them through the forms and instructions, but the government expects and encourages people to read and follow the included instructions without outside assistance (or expense).

Another important acronym is EFC (Expected Family Contribution). Each student is told his or her EFC, which is based on factors such as income, assets, and number of siblings in college. The EFC is the amount the government decides student and parents together should be able to pay for the student’s education. Students are expected to pay a much larger percentage of their income and assets than parents, but parents are expected to help. The good news is that home equity and retirement plan assets are not included when calculating EFC.

The difference between the total cost of attending college and the EFC is the financial aid need. The gap between the two can be closed through a combination of grants, loans and on-campus jobs.

GRANTS are outright gifts and do not need to be repaid. The most common federal grant is the Pell grant, for lower income families. Many states have grant programs and schools that also offer grants and scholarships.

LOANS, unlike grants, must be repaid. The two most common federal loans are Perkins and Stafford. As a result of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, all federal loans are now direct. The lender is the U.S. Department of Education rather than a bank. Loans may be subsidized or unsubsidized; subsidized loans offer lower interest rates. Most loans require no payments until six months after

the student leaves school; however, loans may accrue interest during this time. These interest charges are added to the loan balance and must be repaid. Some student loans are forgiven if the student enters certain occupations.

ON-CAMPUS JOBS canusually be obtained through a university’s financial aid office. Students with demonstrated financial need are often given priority in obtaining on-campus employment.

Some conservative financial consultants suggest borrowing no more than students can reasonably expect to earn their first year after college. Many students borrow much more than this, often to their detriment. Families should carefully count both the costs and benefits of higher education. If students drop out, or flunk out, of college, they end up without a degree but with a large loan to repay anyway. Or, if they finish college but fail to find gainful employment, they face a big challenge when it comes to loan repayment.

Although higher education can provide a wonderfully enriching experience and lead to meaningful, profitable jobs, it is costly and usually requires financial sacrifices. Understanding and filing a FAFSA can certainly help.

Larry Sayler ([email protected]) teaches at Greenville College (Ill.), has an MBA degree from Wharton and a

doctorate from Anderson University (Ind.).

http://www.fafsa.com

http://www.ed.gov/


Pars

ons’

Poi

nt

Meredith Andrews: A Heart for Honest WorshipBy Kelly Sheads

From singing along with her mom at a little church in North Carolina, to leading thousands in worship every Sunday at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, and releasing two CDs with Word Records, Meredith Andrews’ heart for honest worship has always been evident. With the desire to be genuine in her songwriting, Andrews knows honest worship has to start with her own heart. “I want to write songs that challenge people, impact their lives, and ultimately draw them closer to the Lord. I can’t do that unless I’m willing to go deeper with the Lord too ... I can’t take people where I haven’t been myself.” To learn more about Andrews and her heart for honest worship, visit freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine.

Sometimes, ya just gotta go through painful stuff in order to improve an unhealthy situation. A broken shoulder requires surgery and weeks of rehabilitation. Reading “The Tangible Kingdom”

was that kind of experience for me. I found it hard to read Hugh Halter and Matt Smay’s analysis of why the North American Evangelical Church is largely ineffective and perceived as increasingly irrelevant. Based on a growing body of evidence from un-churched and de-churched people, the book’s right on target. For those of us raised in the institutional, programmatic, attractional church, the idea that other models for following Christ are more effective can sound flat-out heretical. And I guarantee that if the analysis stings, the book’s approach to helping spiritually confused, searching “sojourners” discover the gospel will probably drive you right up the wall.

But here’s the thing. If you only read stuff you agree with, you’ll probably keep thinking and acting the same way. If what you’ve always done isn’t working, then you probably need to expose yourself to something that is. Halter and Smay lead a network of missional, incarnational communities of people who had written off Christianity and the church, but are now becoming more like Jesus as they bless the people around them and beyond in dozens of practical ways.

“The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community.” Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. © 2008 by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.

Published by Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Books Imprint.

What excites and/or scares you about

the possibility of a different way of following Jesus?

1 Can you think of a time when you wanted to “tap out” on God and the church?

What do you think about how the church is increasingly

considered irrelevant?

32

Tell Me If This Hurts

Review by Dick Freed

Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the way of Christ.” (p. 30)


JEANNE ZORNES


Toxic contamination: The term brings up images of the Gulf

oil spill, Exxon Valdez, or maybe Chernobyl. How about adding Yom Kippur — also called the Day of Atonement? About 3,400 years ago in the Sinai wilderness, God instructed the Jews to conduct an annual “toxic sin cleanup” by taking a somber, day-long pause to confess personal and national sins.

While the nation fasted and prayed, the high priest made his yearly trip into the Holy of Holies, the inner part of the Tabernacle where a golden chest (Ark of the Covenant) held the Ten Commandments. On its lid, he sprinkled animal blood to “cover” the law the people had broken.

Christ’s death did away with the Old Testament sacrificial system (see Hebrews 9:11-14). But the rich symbols of Yom Kippur (this year: Sept. 17-18, sundown to sundown) still hold messages about the sins that contaminate our relationship with a holy God.

The term “scapegoat,” designating a blame-bearer, comes out of instructions for the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16 details the plight of two goats in the day’s rituals.

GET HONEST The high priest killed the first goat and sprinkled its blood on the Ark for forgiveness of sin.

Imagine yourself as the slain goat. That’s the picture behind Romans 12:1: “Offer [yourselves] as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.” Christians become “living sacrifices” through the deep, honest confession of

sin that acknowledges their failures before a Holy God. Such heart searching was the intent of a famous sermon preached in 1835 by revivalist Charles Finney. He identified these sins:

• Ingratitude for God’s grace, protection and goodness• Love of one’s possessions or appearance more than God

• Neglect of the Bible, prayer, worship services• Unbelief in God’s promises and declarations

• Half-hearted spirituality; apathy about evangelism and missions; failure to help struggling Christians

or to lead one’s family• Aversion to self-denial; keeping back what

God could use• Envy, bitterness• Slander, gossip, lying, inappropriate humor, angry words • Hypocrisy, cheating, hindering others’

work or success• Waste of time and money on things, amusements or

addictionsChristian songwriter Keith Green (1953-1982), smitten of his own sins through

reading Finney’s sermon, decided to add another category: “idols and other religions,” including sexual sins, false peace from drugs and all occult involvement.

[Find the full text of Finney’s sermon, “Break Up Your Fallow Ground,” at www.gospeltruth.net/1868Lect_on_Rev_of_Rel/68revlec03.htm]

GET LOST The second goat was called the “scapegoat” (think: the escape-goat). The high priest put both hands on the goat’s head and confessed the nation’s sins. Then the goat, “bearing” those sins, was taken into the wilderness to die. Today, God sees believers through Christ’s death and considers confessed sin as sent away “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).

For your own symbolic “sending away,” consider:• Burning or shredding a list of confessed sins• Hurling rocks representing sins into a body of water

BLAME THE SCAPEGOAT

SPIRITUALDISPOSALTOXIC WASTE

http://www.gospeltruth.net/1868Lect_on_Rev_of_Rel/68revlec03.htm

““Remember the E. coli

ground beef recalls? Ditto for spinach, pistachios, tomatoes, and peanut butter?

Yom Kippur included a one-day “recall” of all foods — everyone fasted

(Leviticus 23:20-32). Nobody worked, either. The entire nation focused on confession.

Fasting has long helped believers focus on God. Some suggestions:

• Skip a meal.• Go without food for an entire

day or longer. (Keep hydrated with water or clear liquids.)

• Fast from a craving (chocolate, lattes, electronic devices), especially if you have a medical issue that fasting from food could aggravate.

During your fast, meditate on scriptures aiding confession: Psalm 51, Psalm 139:23-24, Matthew 5-7, Galatians 5:19-26, Ephesians 4:17-5:33 and Colossians 3.

Close your fast and confession with assurance of forgiveness: 1 John 1:9 and Psalm 32:1-2.

Classic resources: “God’s Chosen Fast” by Arthur Wallis and chapter 4 of “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster.

FOOD RECALL

OUR SENSE OF SIN IS IN PROPORTION TO OUR NEARNESS TO GOD.

— Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

The safety outfits worn by modern toxic contamination

workers look a bit like giant white marshmallows. White was also the color of choice for the high priest on the Day of Atonement.

On normal days, the high priest wore ornate, colorful attire that was probably cumbersome and hot! It included a basic tunic, a sleeveless sky-blue robe fringed with gold bells that jingled when he moved, a colorful “ephod” (like a two-sided apron), a fabric belt, and a “breastplate” bearing twelve precious stones (one for each of the nation’s tribes). A gold diadem embellished his miter headpiece.

For Yom Kippur, however, the high priest thoroughly bathed and wore only a simple white robe. One lesson for us in this: Come to God in simple humility.

CONTAMINATION SUIT

DISPOSALTOXIC WASTE


http://www.wphonline.com/product.asp?sku=2158_BKB550

http://www.wphonline.com/product.asp?sku=0875085555

• In 1900 only one in six people lived in cites. By 1950, it was one in three. Today, over half the world’s population lives in cities. God is there too!

• 41 percent of North American FMs live in major metropolitan areas.

• Most North American metropolitan areas include growing numbers of people of nearly every nationality and ethnicity. International mission has come to North America’s cities.

• Free Methodists are fostering communities of faith and engaging in creative outreach in urban neighborhoods and metropolitan areas across North America.

Why Should We Care? Why Are We There?

Free Methodist World Missions (800) 342-5531; fmwm.org

Free Methodist urban pastors and lay workers began collaborating for mutual support about 30 years ago when they met together for a spring conference, calling it the Continental Urban Exchange (CUE). In 1982, the Free Methodist Urban Fellowship (FMUF) was organized. Since that time, urban leaders in the denomination have continued to meet together to pray, celebrate and strategize efforts to reach North American cities for Christ. FMUF:• Builds awareness, fosters relationships,

encourages practitioners and develops leadership with FM urban and metropolitan congregations and ministries

• Hosts an annual CUE conference that focuses on leading, resourcing and connecting (next: April 27-29, 2011, at West Morris Street FMC/Comunidad Cristiana, Indianapolis)

• Sponsors summer urban ministry internships in FM churches.

FMUF Online

• FMUF website:fmuf.freemethodistchurch.org

• Facebook: search “Free Methodist Urban Fellowship”

• FMUF blog: fmurbanfellowship.blogspot.com

• Twitter: twitter.com/fmurban• Five videos from CUE 2010 in Long

Beach, Calif.: search “CUE” at ReelFM.tv

Free Methodist Urban Fellowship

1


http://fmuf.freemethodistchurch.org

http://fmurbanfellowship.blogspot.com

http://www.twitter.com/fmurban

http://reelfm.tv/?s=CUE

http://www.fmwm.org

• Will biblical faith be revived that is as hopeful of public redemption as of personal salvation? As hopeful of social justice as of peace of mind?

• Will churches order their priorities to meet the challenges of contemporary urban life?

• Will theological education meet the challenge that the crises of urban, national and international disparities reveal?

* From “Churches, Cities, and Human Community” by Clifford J. Green

LIGHT & LIFE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP (LLCF) in Long Beach, Calif. (llcf.org), was located in a densely populated,

demographically changing area facing many urban challenges. Was it time for this church to move? Pastor Larry Walkemeyer and his congregation said no and proceeded to deepen, broaden and diversify their mission in the community. LLCF chose to stay put and plant churches. With vibrant worship, teaching and discipleship at its core, LLCF has reached out with creativity, intentionally embracing ethnic diversity and specifically including the poor. Since 1999, this vibrant FM church has grown to 800 members and planted congregations locally, nationally and internationally.

INDIANAPOLIS

FIRST (indyfirstfmc.org), the city’s original FM church, is rooted in the core of a metropolitan area that today sprawls 30 miles in every direction.

Pastor Greg Coates leads a diverse congregation that is taking Jesus into very poor urban areas. The food ministry serves more than 100 neighbors weekly. Recovery groups help many achieve and maintain sobriety. Since 2009, LYN (Love Your Neighbor) House has been an active center for tutoring and community enrichment,

operating in cooperation with other Indianapolis congregations

and volunteers (www.lynhouse.org). In spite of many challenges, Indy First remains a vibrant beacon of hope, shining brightly in this city’s heart.

Three Questions for the Church* A Tale of Two City Churches

• Pursue partnerships between suburban and urban congregations or ministries.

• Partner to restart or renew churches in metropolitan communities.

• Explore cross-cultural and interdenominational partnerships.• Don’t reinvent the wheel: Celebrate and fuel what’s already

working.• Most important: Build trusting relationships first — strategies and

ministry outcomes will follow.

From “Addressing Poverty in the Power of the Spirit,” a collection of nine essays on urban ministry,

published in conjunction with FMUF, compiled by Milo Kauffmann.

Practical Strategies for Engaging in Metropolitan Ministry

Pictured:(1) CUE participants praying for a Latino pastor in his church in Cleveland in 2009; (2) The van that takes Good News stories, games and activities to children in parks in Long Beach, Calif.; (3) Bishop David Roller and Indianapolis LYN House Director Heidi Lyda with youth from Light & Life Christian Fellowship at CUE in Long Beach.

2

3


http://www.indyfirstfmc.org

http://www.lynhouse.org

http://www.llcf.org

We need a new plan. I’ve run the numbers, and there’s no way all Americans can fit in our churches. Even if we all switch to three services on Sunday morning and put chairs in the choir loft.

I figure we could only fit about half a million in all the FM churches, and there are about 310 million Americans. Uh, we’re gonna need bigger churches — 620 times bigger! So I want every church to immediately draw up plans for how to become 620 times bigger. Don’t even get me started on the parking lots!

Or, wait a minute, I just got another idea ... maybe they don’t all have to come to our church buildings. What if we considered every one of our living rooms to be a church annex? I’m not sure what an annex is, but this sure sounds like a good idea. There are about 80,000 Free Methodists in the U.S. — say 60,000 homes, with the average living room 250 square feet — but that still only gets us to 4.5 million people. That’s a long way from 310 million!

What are we going to do? First, don’t anybody panic. There must be a way; we know that. Jesus didn’t come to bring us complete well-being, by living, dying, and conquering death, only to be foiled because our living rooms are too small. So there must be a way. Hmmm, think, Roller, think ... I’ve got it! Let’s team up with other Christians. Maybe they could use their buildings and their living rooms too. Or, if that idea deeply offends our sense of identity, we could start using public spaces — like hotel conference rooms, coffee shops, theaters and school cafeterias. I think this could work. (Even now I can feel my panic subsiding.)

The one thing that’s clear is that Jesus didn’t send us on “mission impossible.” If He sent us to do a job, it’s because the job is doable. At the same time, I’m not so naive as to think that absolutely every American is going to become a sold-out Christ-follower. I’m sure there’ll be a few die-hard masochists who want lives of randomness and

dissolution, and there’ll be a few knuckle-headed holdouts who insist on inhabiting their self-destructive maelstroms of pain. But not most people. Once we get the hang of how to tell Americans about Jesus, we’d better have enough space to fit them all.

Right now, the main obstacle keeping Americans from submitting themselves to God is … “I.” I am the glum older brother

of the prodigal who doesn’t know how to be happy. I am the dim-witted apostle who doesn’t understand what it meant that we collected baskets of bread after feeding 4,000 and 5,000. I am the hometown critic who says, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” I am the early church who argued about whether those Gentiles were really Christians. I am Peter refusing to eat food God has declared clean. I am Felix, wanting to hear more but not wanting to hear too much. I am Ananias, holding back my resources. It is I. It might be you, too — but probably not. Probably it is just “I.”

So the plan is to work all the angles. Rebuild our churches 620 times larger, work with other Christians, have church in our living rooms, meet in public spaces, AND get me cheered up and continuing Jesus’ work in Jesus’ ways. Let’s figure out where to put all His friends. If He weren’t so friendly, we wouldn’t have this problem. Oops, there I go again!

Don’t Anybody Panic. I Have a Plan.

Bishop David Roller

BY DAVID ROLLER


FERNDALE, Mich. — Light & Life Arabic FMC held an evangelistic event May 7-9. Pastor John Beshai reported excellent attendance. He counted 224 adults and children the first night, 278 the second night, and a full sanctuary on the third and final night, when extra chairs had to be brought in to seat more than 300.

The featured speaker was Rashid, a Moroccan Muslim who accepted Christ at age 16 through a radio ministry. Today, he hosts his own Arabic TV show, “Daring Question,” and is a noted Christian/Islamic debater.

Rashid’s three sermons covered his personal testimony, a call to make evangelism a priority, and Christian “soldiership.” During the revival, 24 people gave their lives to Christ, and, Beshai reports, “For the first time in the Arabic church’s history in Detroit, a Catholic Chaldean priest attended a Protestant

church.”The Light & Life Arabic

congregation is praising God for a life-changing revival and

praying for the new believers to grow in their faith.

Light & Life Arabic FMC’s evangelistic events featured speaker, Rashid, drew a huge crowd, even a Catho-lic Chaldean priest.

Alabama/Georgia u COLUMBUS, Ga. — Oct. 2, Christ Community Church will host an all-conference rally day with Bishop Roller in their new facility (selected and created for increased ministry impact). The rally gives pastors, delegates and church leaders a chance to continue the equipping begun at the eastern region’s Overflow conference in April.

East Michigan u WEST BRANCH — Ogemaw Hills FMC celebrated its 100th anniversary with the grand opening of a new 11,600-square-foot addition that includes a gym/fellowship area, kitchen, food pantry, nursery and toddler rooms, conference room, six classrooms, restrooms and storage areas.

Gateway u VANDALIA, Ill. — This spring, Parkview FMC provided eight “chronically hungry” children with food for weekends and out-of-school times. Backpacks stocked with nutritious, child-friendly, easy-to-prepare food were inconspicuously distributed then restocked each Friday. The church hopes to expand the program this fall.

Genesis u ALBION, N.Y. — First FMC wanted to show God’s love in a practical way on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, so they gave a double stroller to a single mother and a high chair to a newly single father. Both recipients are regular attendees.


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Arabic revival meetings draw hundreds

AZUSA, Calif. — Steve Fitch , Southern California Conference Superintendent,* was shocked at the environmental destruction he saw in the Philippines in 1997 and 2001. Raised in that country as a missionary kid, Fitch hadn’t been back for 30 years. The forests were gone, the annual rainfall was markedly diminished and the coral reefs were smothered in topsoil runoff.

When starting a hospital, clinics, schools and churches in Ethiopia in the late ’90s, Fitch heard one of the country’s regional presidents say that Ethiopia’s greatest, and most ignored, need is reforestation. The man invited Fitch to take over an abandoned seed nursery, and a new ministry was born: Eden Reforestation Projects.

“Eden is one of the most cost-effective efforts on the planet, and we’re restoring both the environment and local economies,” says Fitch, who now runs the ministry full-time. Eden plants a million trees a month (that’s 17 a minute); each tree costs just 10 cents; and so far, they have hired more than 3,000 people (many of them impoverished single mothers and HIV widows) to raise, plant and guard the growing trees from grazing animals. A $10 donation pays for 100 trees and a day of labor.

Fitch is passionate about Eden’s work in Ethiopia, and now in Madagascar and Haiti (where 10,000 seedlings were destroyed when a key FM building in Port-au-Prince collapsed). “Christians need to stop thinking of creation care as a liberal vs. conservative issue,” Fitch says. “Half the world’s trees have been cut down in the last 100 years, most in Third World nations. The soil is depleted; water tables are lower; the natural food supply provided by forests (for both people and animals) has been destroyed; tens of millions of tribes have been displaced from forests to slums (“hunter-gatherers” have been forced to become “city-scum”).

“Whether there’s global warming or not, what we are doing is right,” says Fitch. “Churches should add the creation care component to their traditional focus on evangelism and medical work,” he adds. “Environmental stewardship and poverty reduction go hand-in-hand.”

FM churches and individuals are answering the call as they learn about Eden. A creative new way to help was launched in July, based on the idea that if one person can make a difference, he or she can form a group to make an even bigger difference. An online video at the Eden website

edenprojects.org) introduces the Eden League. Start a league and plant trees in honor of someone, to celebrate family, etc. Each league will have its own Web page, where the number of trees planted and people employed will be updated with every donation from league members.

Make a difference: Plant trees. Save lives. *Pastor Steve Fitch served the FMC for 13 years as a superintendent and 19 as a pastor, “retiring” earlier this year to run Eden Reforestation Projects full-time.


Let there be ... trees

Pictured (1) biodegradable planting tubes (typically planted in rows of 20 x 250); (2) first day of plant-

ing at Udo Escarpment (Ethiopia, July 2005); (3) Udo Escarpment, June 2009, five years from becoming a fully

restored forest; (4) Eden Gallo Argesi nursery (Ethiopia), where 1.5 million seedlings are being grown in 2010.

If you’re interested in learning more about creation care, Fitch recommends “Salvation Means Creation Healed: Creation, Cross, Kingdom and Mission” by FM historian Howard A. Snyder. Get it at freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine.

1

http://www.edenprojects.org

Great Plains u LINCOLN, Neb. — Living Faith FMC sent a team to the national quizzing finals this year and another group to IYC. They run a year-round day care and developed their own, wildly popular VBS program this summer, “CSI Judea.” Some VBS attendees came from the day care ministry.

Gulf Coast u SHREVEPORT, La. — Central FMC provided a prayer tent at the Takin’ It to the Streets rally in Shreveport earlier this year. Among the many who visited the tent seeking prayer, 28 made decisions for Christ.

Keystone u COUDERSPORT, Pa. — A baked goods auction at The Spot helped raise funds so the youth group from Coudersport FMC could travel to the Kingdom Bound gospel music festival Aug. 1-4 in western New York.

Mid-America u SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Conference ministerial candidate Bob Barratt runs Life’s Blueprint for Success (lifesblueprintforsuccess.com), an emerging ministry point that meets via a weekly conference call wherein Barratt helps callers apply biblical principles to life: Thursdays at 6:30 CST. Call (712) 451-6125 and enter access code 343039 to join in.

Mid-Atlantic u TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. — The annual picnic and corn roast at Bowman’s Creek FMC was held in a new pavilion behind the church. They regularly invite the community to family movie nights, and the women hold an annual baby shower for a local pregnancy center. In 2009, they paid for four new wells in India and plan to do more such projects.

New South u JACKSON, Ky. — Every Thursday, a group of retired women from Elkatawa FMC gathers to chat, study Scripture, pray, and visit nursing homes, hospitals and church shut-ins. Retired teacher Alma Robinson started the group after moving back “home” to Kentucky. The group is “a real blessing to the community.”

North Central u MOTLEY, Minn. — Intentionality in loving their neighbors is bearing fruit for Motley FMC, where 14 adults were baptized in July and a dozen more made decisions this spring. Just over 100 kids attended VBS, more than 50 come for AWANA, and a summer gospel bluegrass concert packed out the church.

North Michigan u RAVENNA — Newly appointed pastor Rick Ferris says the focus at Ravenna FMC continues to be sharing Christ with those who don’t know Him and caring for those who do. The church teams up with others in the area to provide a food pantry and the congregation has a vision and burden for souls.

Ohio u NEW MIDDLETOWN — Since Pastor Hal Haire called FM Community Church to prayer, unemployed members have found work; a Sunday offering divided among the unemployed was “replaced” by an anonymous donation; youth are confessing Christ; those in debt are registering for Financial Peace University; and healings have been reported.


cont’d.

A dime a treeCALAPOOIA, Ore. — As one of its compassion projects for the year, Calapooia FMC is collecting dimes for Eden Reforestation Projects. While other, somewhat similar, projects charge as much as $2 per tree, Eden is able to start a biodegradable plastic tube filled with soil, compost, and seeds for only 10 cents. Donations from Calapooia’s Eden coin drive will also be used to hire native workers to care for the new trees as they grow into life-giving, life-saving forests.

2

3 4

Alice Faye Ellis adds money

to the collection jar.

http://www.lifesblueprintforsuccess.com

ORANGE CITY, Fla. — A new book by Pastor Joy Mormur is aimed at unbelievers, but people of faith are enjoying it too. “The Joyride” chronicles Mormur’s eight-month, 19,000-mile motorcycle ride through 23 Western states in 1993 and 1994. The journey was more than just an adventure: It was a search for answers.

“God’s prevenient grace brought me to Him on that ride,” says M o r m u r . Also, just b e f o r e she hit the road, she met William “ M o n t a n a ” Mormur. He “went along for the ride,” so to speak, and somewhere along the way they both met God. The rest is history. Today they co-pastor Living Water FMC,planted in their backyard seven years ago, then merged with

another plant to give the growing congregation its own building.

According to Mormur, readers of “The

Joyride” will discover inspiration to follow their dreams, humor to lighten

their days, adventures beyond the ordinary, encouragement to be good to themselves and challenges to their current worldview.


The ultimate joyride

OKLAHOMA CITY — In July, while the Mormurs (pictured at right) were in Oklahoma visiting their son’s family and new grandson, Montana had difficulty breathing and had triple bypass surgery at the VA hospital in Oklahoma City, some distance from their son’s home.* During Montana’s long hospital stay, Joy connected with Community of Purpose FMC, pastored by Al and Gwendolyn Poteat. “I found them the first Sunday I was here,” says Mormur, “and the whole church has been fantastic. Retired former pastor Hugh and Betty Wayman had me over for dinner with all the goodies out of their garden and gave me a tour of Deaconess Hospital, where Betty volunteers and Al is a chaplain. They’ve literally offered me shelter in a storm: physically, spiritually and emotionally. God has taught me through this experience that I literally have family wherever I go. I’m glad to be a part of the Free Methodist connection!”

*Montana was released from the hospital, and the Mormurs headed home July 27.

Gimme shelter

Pastor Joy Mormur’s 19,000-mile motorcycle ride in 1994 led her to God and inspired her to share her journey in a new book, “The Joyride.”

SALEM, Ore. — First FMC will host a book launch and signing on Saturday, Oct. 9, with New York Times best-selling author Donald M. Goldstein, co-author Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon and DeShazer’s widow, Florence. The newly released book is “Return of the Raider: A Doolittle Raider’s Story of War and Forgiveness,” about the life and ministry of Jacob DeShazer, one of 80 participants in the famous Doolittle Raid over Japan shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. DeShazer and several others subsequently became Japanese POWs in China. While imprisoned, DeShazer rededicated his life to Jesus. After the war, he returned to his native Oregon, attended Seattle Pacific University and then served for years as an FM missionary to Japan. His most famous convert was the Japanese commander who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. The new book can be ordered at jacobdeshazer.com.

MADRAS, Ore. — When Madras FMCwas raising funds so they could build a house for Pastor Ricardo and Maria Flores, acting superintendent of the Baja North Conference (Mexico), they created a blueprint of the floor plan that covered an entire wall in the foyer. Donors colored in the square footage they wanted to “buy.” Their church secretary, Katherine Weaver, created a card for people to hand out when they purchased a square foot in someone else’s name. Each card folded out into an actual square foot. Fun!

Oregon u SALEM — To celebrate the release of a new book about Doolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer, First FMC will host a book signing Oct. 9. (See related story on this page.)

Pacific Northwest u SHORELINE, Wash. — Good news from Shoreline FMC: Lauren Card made the National Honor Society; Andrew Horton toured Wales and Scotland with the Seattle Children’s Chorus in July; and Michael Potter was selected to Washington Aerospace Scholars, a NASA-designed Web-based program for high school juniors.

Pittsburgh u ROCHESTER, Pa. — Jan. 24, Rochester FMCcelebrated 20 years in their current building. Former pastor Bob and Carol Singleton were the special guests. Youth Pastor Josh Avery reports that six youths have made decisions for Christ and five have enrolled in a discipling group, aiming to grow deeper in their faith.

River u MISSOULA, Mont. — After more than six years in a Christian high school’s cafeteria, Faith Harvest Fellowship has moved into the school’s newly remodeled multipurpose room. They welcomed a missions group from Opportunity FMC (Spokane, Wash.) in August, and enjoyed their annual Labor Day campout at Seeley Lake.

Sierra Pacific u ORANGEVALE, Calif. — Oak Avenue FMChas a well-established Stephen Ministry (a congregational care program) with 15+ active Stephen ministers in service, and is taking small groups of new believers through the Alpha course.

South Atlantic u ORLANDO, Fla. — Conference ministerial candidate Rhonda Stapleton heads up Samaritan Village, Inc. (samaritanvillage.net), a ministry that helps women transition from addiction to healing, wholeness and productivity. SVI runs Transitions (a resale boutique) and hopes to buy a residential home for women in the program.

Southern Michigan u DEERFIELD — Led by conference ministerial candidate Caleb DeLoria, teens at Deerfield FMC served a family hit hard by a tornado — cleaning, clearing and burning debris. “Hot, hard work,” says Senior Pastor Bob DeLoria, “but the teens did a great job.”

United Kingdom u BELFAST, N. Ireland — In May, Park Avenue FMC held a four-day evangelistic event featuring two strong gospel preachers, music by Simple Faith and short videos. Approximately 60 unbelievers attended. Pastor Norm Morrell and his congregation are celebrating the sowing of many seeds and the exaltation of Christ.

Wabash u COLUMBUS, Ind. — Rocky Ford FMC held its annual fish fry and silent auction for missions, completed 50 days of worship and praise, and held a Sunday service without music so everybody could focus on God instead of the “trappings” of musical performance. A new spiritual formation group meets every other Saturday morning.


cont’d.

Love by the foot ...

New DeShazer book released

A giant blueprint, and gift cards, encouraged Madras FMC and friends to fund a home-building project in Mexico.

http://www.samaritanvillage.net

http://www.jacobdeshazer.com

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Concrete, barbed wire, window bars, run-down apartments: Welcome to the inner city, where dinner comes from the frozen food section or a cheap box of mac-n-cheese. In the “hood,” wide-open green spaces and freshly harvested fruits and vegetables are virtual strangers.

“One of my dreams,” says associate pastor Deb Walkemeyer of Light & Life Christian Fellowship, “was to see an ugly strip of weed-riddled dirt on our property transformed into a community garden.” In March, her dream started coming true.

A mission team from Overcomers’ Christian Center in Auburn, Wash., built raised beds in the designated spot. The soil was prepared, and Walkemeyer — organizer turned dreamer — saw the garden as a golden opportunity to co-create with God.

Students from Micro-Enterprise Charter Academy (MECA), a public middle school that rents space in the church, began helping in the garden. “Destinee told me she loves getting her hands in the dirt,” says Walkemeyer. “Now she’s inspired to consider a career ‘growing things.’” Students joke and laugh while learning how to use raised beds, containers and pots to create edible landscaping in an urban setting. This fall, fresh produce, herbs and cut flowers from the garden are faci- litating micro-e n t e r p r i s e , leadership and t e c h n o l o g i c a l training for MECA students.

Others helping in the garden include Injoy Resources groups. Injoy uses volunteering to help adults with disabilities hone physical and social skills while enjoying helping others. Residents from the nursing home next door to the church

also help. They love g r o w i n g flowers.

T h e City of Long

Beach’s Vision 2020 plan calls

for community gardens in larger city

parks. Light & Life quickly applied

to manage one in Ramona Park, where they regularly do children’s ministry and “Church Without Walls” outreaches.

“A dream put to prayer and developed in partnership with fellow sojourners, has given Light & Life a new mission that perfectly fits our ministry context,” says Walkemeyer. “We’re changing lives … one plot at a time!”


An empty plot (below) was transformed into a lush community garden (above) and tended by willing hands, including students from MECA (inset).

Co-creating with God

Find out more about building your own raised garden boxes at freemethodistchurch.org/Magazine.

http://theweekendgarden.com/

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The 2010 International Youth Conference (IYC),“One Experience,” was held July 12-17 in San Diego. The five-day conference emphasized discipleship through venues for FM youth groups. The goal was to model for them — through programming — the core values of FM Youth Ministries’ leadership. Rather than choose from a traditional list of seminar options, each youth group cycled through a unified program daily: Grow, Learn, Build, Serve, Play). General director Brian Kono headed a crack team of directors: Tom Jacobs (director of the 2012 “Beloved Conference” for FM youth), Melanie Neilson, Doug Ranck and Mike Wilson.

Evening speakers included Miles McPherson and Bishops Thomas and Roller. The event culminated in a powerful night with Pastor Larry Walkemeyer (Long Beach, Calif.), who led a time of anointing with oil. Hearts were touched, and lives transformed.

IYC, a long-term denominational ministry for youth, has officially changed its name to FMYC (FM Youth Conference). Visit FMyouth.org to learn more about the denomination-wide ministry for youth and the 2012 conference.

Heavenly Treasures u CHINA — For 10 years, Heavenly Treasures has helped the women of Dorcas Design through product (quilting and sewing) and business development. Nearly 60 women have been assisted in finding work, securing housing and supporting their families. Most have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.

cont’d.

ttt uuu


What an experience!

(Above) Youth group members have fun on the obstacle course that was part of the Build portion of the 5-day event. (Below) Worship band Lovelite leads a time of praise.

Bible quizzing finals

2010 National Quizzing Grand Champions Timberview Christian Fellowship (Spokane, Wash.): (standing with trophy) Nathan McReynolds and Esther Hunt; (sitting in front) Emma Reid and Hannah Brekke

GREENVILLE, Ill. — This year’s national Bible quizzing finals were held at Greenville College June 28-July 2. For information and photos about winning teams, new Quizzing Hall of Fame inductees, and next year’s topic — the Gospel of John, visit fmquizzing.org.

“IYC was a great trip. One of my favorite parts was the small group discussion time. We had a pretty small group go so we were able to get to know each other and have good fellowship.”

DJ Phillips, youth pastorChrist Community Church, Columbus, Ga.

“A highlight for all of us would be our students coming to a deeper understanding of their faith. One of our students made a first-time decision to follow Christ.”

Mike Hagen, youth pastorLiving Hope FMC, Bothell, Wash.

http://www.fmquizzing.org

http://www.fmyouth.org

I began my autobiography with the following line: “I grew up in a small olive-growing community outside Florence, Italy.”

I read it to my wife, Dale, and she frowned.

“Italy? You were born and raised in Corning, California.”

“Well, all I wrote was that I grew up ‘outside’ Florence, Italy. Corning is outside of Italy, just waaaay outside. And since Corning has a lot of olive groves, the statement is technically true. Plus, the visual image adds to my mystique.”

Dale rolled her eyes, which was becoming the standard response to each of my attempts at starting my autobiography with something other than the boring, accurate version. Who wants to read a book that starts, “I grew up in a sleepy town surrounded by olive trees, but I never picked any. Life was pretty slow. ...”?

Hardly the gripping stuff of a best-selling memoir.

“How about this line?” I asked her after restarting my book again. “Pausing to rest from my toil as a child laborer in the vineyards of Northern California, I wiped the stinging sweat from my brow and hoped for a better life. But when the grape harvest was in, this stoic 10-year-old found himself in yet another agricultural task, stooping to gather in the ripened tomatoes, still warm from the blast of the sun. Would the grueling drudgery ever end?”

My wife did not show any compassion as she read the sad tale of my arduous childhood.

“And precisely when did you harvest grapes or work in the tomato fields?”

“Well, one day our family helped a neighbor pick some grapes in his backyard. It took way over an hour, so that meets the literary definition

of ‘toil.’ And one summer we had a few tomato plants on the patio, and my mom made me pick some when it was hot outside. So it was basically a violation of child labor laws. Should I add a line about how I am still recovering from the ordeals of my youth?”

By this time my wife was wandering down the hall, muttering something about “for better or for worse.”

OK, so Random House is never going to publish my autobiography. Odds are, the story of your life is not going to be made into a blockbuster book or movie either. But that does not mean your life — even if it is a fairly ordinary one — is not hugely significant. Indeed, realize it or not, your life has a compelling plotline that fascinates the angels.

Once a deceived member of the rebel force, you were overtaken on the field of battle by the heroic Son of the Most High God. Instead of slaying you, He showed you mercy. He bound up your wounds and offered you freedom. Once you saw Him for who He really was, you changed

your allegiance to serve under His flag. Not only were you accepted as a soldier in His army, but He made you a member of the royal family. You are now a prince or princess, deep behind enemy lines and engaged in an epic battle with the powers of evil. The temptations that assail you, the bitter defeats and the stunning victories are eagerly watched by the host of heaven — and they are cheering you on!

Although you are not yet safe in the castle of the King and you do not know what twists and turns await you as the days unfold, your ultimate victory is secure. The Captain of your faith struck a mortal blow to Satan, and the dark kingdom is crumbling before your very eyes as the enemy makes a last, desperate attempt to slay you.

The story of your life is truly gripping. No embellishment needed!

Dave Meurer is the author of “Mistake It Like a Man,” now available on Amazon’s Kindle.


The Story of My Life

http://www.amazon.com/Mistake-Like-Man-Motorcades-ebook/dp/B003PJ7G32/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1282088686&sr=8-2

To reserve space on this page, write: Advertising Manager, Light & Life Magazine, P.O. Box 535002, Indianapolis, IN 46253-5002; [email protected]. Eighty-five cents per word, 115-word maximum. Send payment with copy 60 days ahead of issue date. All items subject to editorial approval.

DeathsIRVING BALLSept. 5, 1920 to July 14, 2010Irving Ball was born to Owen and Mabel Ball in Glens Falls, N.Y.; he had five brothers and one sister. He graduated from South Glens Falls High School in 1939 and attended Chesbrough Seminary (now Roberts Wesleyan College) in North Chili, N.Y., where he sang with the Ambassador Quartet. He received his doctorate at the International Bible Institute of Orlando. He was married to his sweetheart, Luona, for 63 years, until her death in 2004.

Called to preach at age 16, Ball served Free Methodist churches from New York to California for 42 years. After retiring in 1993, he was chaplain at Copper Lake Manor in Edmond, Okla., where he resided until 2010.

He is survived by his sons Skip (and family in California), Marvin, (Barbara and family in Oklahoma), and Kevin (in Tulsa, Okla.), along with seven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, numerous nephews, nieces and cousins. Irving Ball’s legacy lives on in his family.

GeneralOakdale Christian Academy is accepting applications for students entering grades 7-12. A Free Methodist school since 1921, Oakdale is an affordable, Christ-centered boarding school for boys and girls who want to pursue a college preparatory education in an environment that encourages growing closer to God, improving relationship skills, and developing character. Oakdale’s 50-60 students, from the U.S. and abroad, represent a rich diversity in cultural, social, ethnic and family backgrounds. Visit oakdalechristian.org to apply or call (606) 666-5422 for more information.

TravelTraveling to Washington, D.C.? Mid-AtlanticConference has rooms and dorms available, 30 minutes to the White House, reasonable rates. Call: (301) 384-3305. Write: 15712 Peach Orchard Rd., Silver Spring, MD 20904. Visit: peachorchardretreat.com.


(Hebrews 4:10) in full hopeful expectation of final Sabbath, the new heaven and earth. As we expectantly wait in the Lord, He fills us more and more with His Spirit.

Sometimes this requires the struggle of full surrender. Fully resting in God means full submission to Him and His kingdom plan. The deeper life experiences of many Christians tell us that crossing this threshold, sometimes after struggle, leads to great joy and peace, and sometimes spiritual ecstasy. But the important point is resting fully in God.

5. Do the work of the kingdom. Often God meets us in the rhythm of rest and

work. In any case, we are to be faithful, for faithful

service is holiness — “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

Whatever we feel about our own spirituality, we are called to faithful service, obedient stewardship. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says, “but only the one who does the will of my Father” (Matthew 7:21 ESV). Obedience leads to holiness, and holiness leads to obedience.

The good news of God’s holiness is that through Jesus, by the Spirit, God shares the very love of the Trinity with us. We “become participants of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Nothing else is more ultimate or more satisfying.

“How to Be holy”by Howard A. Snyder(continued from page 9)

http://www.oakdalechristian.org

http://www.peachorchardretreat.com

http://www.deaconessadoption.org

In America perhaps only 20-25 percent of the population goes to church regularly, even though surveys say it’s in the 45-50 percent range. Most social scientists don’t believe the surveys. They argue that a so-called “social desirability bias” skews the facts, because people tend to answer questions according to what they think they should be doing, rather than what they are doing.

So it’s only 20-25 percent. But the picture is bleaker than that. How many of that shrinking minority attend a real church—one that functions the way Jesus intends the church to function? Not many. Here’s why.

One word that captures the heart of what Jesus wants the church to be is “sanctuary.” Unfortunately, most congregations focus on building spaces that have a sanctuary. Jesus is more concerned that we build spaces that offer sanctuary.

When our daughters were four and six, we brought two African men into our home who had fled political persecution in their home countries. When we met them at the airport, they couldn’t speak a word of English. It was hard for all of us, but they were safe. They found sanctuary with us.

That’s what churches are supposed to do — very similar to what God did through Noah and the ark. People who had no hope outside the ark found life and a future by being in the ark. Did you know that the name “Noah” is thought to mean comfort?

That’s what sanctuary is supposed to mean. Threatened people are protected from harm. Haggard people are comforted with hope. Drifting people are promised a future.

Do our churches do that? It’s ironic that so many of our American churches are more intent on

protecting furniture and carpets than people. Yes, we should try to honor sacred space, like our physical sanctuaries. But what makes a space sacred is the presence of God. And what brings the presence of God is not clean carpets and open hymnals, but clean hands and open hearts.

According to 1 Peter 2:5, you and I are the raw material Jesus works with to build churches that offer true sanctuary.

We must be ready to bring comfort. People need to hear comforting words in times of struggle

and turmoil. However, those words bring comfort only if they are coming from people who stop long enough to be present in the lives of those suffering. This can’t happen well on Sunday mornings.

Sunday-morning-only churches will never offer sanctuary. Sanctuary happens only when a large portion of any congregation commits itself to caregiving relationships as much as to good worship experiences.

We must be ready to offer protection from the wrath of God. People who have rejected God are living under the wrath of God. When people come to church, they must be offered their only hope for salvation — forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

But churches where people sit and simply absorb a Sunday morning ser-vice will never offer sanctuary. Sinful and broken people must be shown how to receive forgiveness. That will not happen until a large portion of any congregation commits itself to honest confession, talking openly about their own sin and need of grace.

We must be ready to offer protection from the enemy of our souls. As Luther wrote, “this world, with devils filled” threatens to “undo us.” A church that does not deal directly with the satanic realm and teach the ways of resistance and victory will never offer sanctuary. That will not happen until a large portion of any congregation joins in the aggressive work of intercession. Until then many people will continue to suffer needlessly.

Finally, people won’t find sanctuary until someone opens the door. When those two young African men came into our home, everything changed. For a while it seemed that

our home was more about them than it was about even our own daughters. But it had to be that way for a season. If they were to find sanctuary, our home had to be about their needs first. We changed our family lifestyle — how, when and what we ate; what we watched on TV; how we spent our money and time; and where we went.

That’s the transition many churches must make. Sometimes it will feel like we are neglecting our own to pay more attention to “them” — the new folks. But this is how we cooperate with Jesus’ plan to build churches that offer sanctuary.

If we all went to churches like this, we’d probably force the social scientists back to their calculations.

Note: Part two of last issue’s “Deleted Verses,” sanctuary is another biblical truth we ignore.

Doug Newton is senior editor of Light & Life magazine and senior pastor of Greenville FMC (Ill.).

Sanctuary


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Where Is Thy Faith?modern batik24” x 17”

I think God must ask us, “Where is thy faith?” When I read Luke 8:23-25, I found the verses so powerful I instantly caught a vision for illustrating them. Let’s say the storm represents a challenge, struggle or situation in life from which we are quick to run in fear, because we know we cannot battle it alone. God says, “Have faith and trust in Me.” You realize you are no longer an individual battling a storm by yourself. Instead, He rebukes the raging wind and waters, and guides you into clear, calm seas. Designing this piece definitely took me on a journey. It also helped me adjust some things in my life.

Modern batik methods have evolved from the traditional technique in which wax is applied to fabric that is then dyed. New applications bring enhanced details to these fabric images. Batik dyeing results in beautiful, unpredictable textures and tones. Depending on the artist, modern batik designs can be complex or simple, realistic or abstract … but always expressive. “Where Is Thy Faith?” was one of my first and favorite modern batik pieces.

Deon Best has been passionate about art since age 5. Through the years, he has used his giftto produce increasingly advanced designs using acrylics, mixed media, modern batik and digital media. “The journey has been a blessing,” he says. “Having my family along the way has added much value and meaning to what I do.” Best attends Kingsview Free Methodist Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. See more of his work at http://deonbestdesign.daportfolio.com.

http://deonbestdesign.daportfolio.com

light & life magazine -- sep-oct 2010

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