Retirement And Transfer Of Ministry

 I had a thought on retirement as it relates to our Fellowship. Because we do not understand retirement we fear it, like it's the end of our lives. And because as new converts we believed that Jesus was coming back next week we put no value in future plans. Until we suddenly realized that the future we did not plan for is upon us.

Pastor Mitchell did not retire from the ministry. But his ministry definitely changed at the end. He was still traveling and preaching and working up sermons and doing the things that he loved to do. But he had long ago turned the day to day operation of the Prescott church over to pastor Greg and that freed him from the pressure of daily pastoral ministry. Perhaps even at the end of life pastor Mitchell gave a pattern for the transfer of leadership and "retirement" from the daily care of the home church. 

Not every church can do what pastor Mitchell did. But hasn't that been true throughout the long history of our Fellowship? We adapt the vision to our circumstances and to our local expression and do what works where we are. But for leadership churches and larger churches this will work. Let your pastor do what he loves and support him in transferring daily responsibility to a subordinate or future leader.

Last night Pastor and sister Rubi were not in church and everything went well. Pastor Martinez preached a fine message and everyone did their job.

The local church counsel can assist their pastor in implementing this for the healthy and painless transfer of pastoral leadership to the next generation.

Retirement? The Night Is Coming.

 "I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no man can work" John 9:4

There is a distinct pressure to perform in these words of Christ. The need to do what we can while we can. I understand all of that. It's the idea that a time is coming when you no longer can work that is interesting to me today.

I read this text and apply it to the end times. That there is a lot to do before the beast and the antichrist come on the scene. But I wonder if there is another night coming that is not so dire and demonic.

It was sad to watch pastor Mitchell in decline. He could not preach anymore. He had turned everything over to pastor Greg already. And then in his final days to come to church in a wheelchair. Then he died.

What will happen if our pastor can no longer do his job effectively? Or your pastor? Or any minister in our Fellowship? Will the church die if the senior pastor is not out in front leading the way? Will no young men rise up to be evangelists and no young couples go to the mission field anymore? Is our faith so fragile that it only works when our senior pastor is in his current place? 

The first church did alright after Jesus ascended into Heaven. The Prescott church is flourishing under pastor Greg. If a pastor does it right his legacy will be that his church will carry on even if he is not leading the way.

In Pentecostal circles retirement is a four letter word. Pastors can linger on long after they are no longer vibrant and dynamic. I hope pride is not the reason why senior pastors will not step aside to let the next generation of leaders lead the way forward. Retirement from the ministry is not quitting the ministry. Maybe it is adjusting your outreach to those things that you can still do. If only pastor Mitchell had stepped back and written some books; people who never heard him preach could still hear him speak.

Years ago in Prescott I asked one of the council members if pastor Mitchell had directions written down as to what he would like to happen after his death. He had. It was in a sealed envelope to be opened in the event of pastor's death. I wonder if they opened the letter. A failure to plan is just a plan to fail in every walk of life, including Fellowship pastors and the end of their ministering days.

I told someone once that if pastor Mitchell died while preaching I would not go back to church. Traumatic deaths still are a no fly zone for me. I am grateful that did not happen.

The Best For Last

 It was such a blessing to have Peter Ajala ministering for us this week. He gave us a great time and he ministered to many needs on many different levels. We had some of our friends from the area come and support the revival several nights. And we finished with a bang last night.

Even if we cannot see or feel anything, God is at work in us and in our church. And I believe that the best is yet to come!  God always saves the best for last, and the half has not been told of all that God, by the Holy Spirit, has begun to do in and through us in San Antonio. I am grateful to be a part of this church.

One More Night

 I was remembering the old days when a revival meeting would run from Sunday night through Friday night. Pastor Mitchell always felt it important that he minister in his own pulpit on Sunday morning. So that gave us 6 nights of revival. And it gave us 3 nights of extra offerings and one night for a love offering. 

Our revival with Peter Ajala started Sunday morning and ends tonight. That is 5 services. So only one service shorter but our pastor did not preach Sunday morning.

Times change and things change. But it is good sometimes to remember where we came from. The past gives us something to compare the present to. The older you get the more references points you acquire to compare current events to.

One more night. I think that I can make it!

Clarifying Thoughts On Marriage

 Peter Ajala implied in his sermon on marriage that looks do not matter. That is only partly correct. I think that he meant to say that looks alone will not keep two selfish people together in marriage. But looks are the first line of attraction that will cause a member of the opposite sex to notice you and want to get to know you better.

Jacob agreed to work for 7 years to give him the opportunity to marry Rachel. Why? Because Rachel was beautiful. Leah was not as pretty as her younger sister. Beauty got Rachel noticed. But in the end Leah was a better wife. And in death Rachel is buried alone but Jacob and Leah are buried together.

Preachers tell young people what to look for in a potential spouse. But no young person thinks like that. Is he cute, is she pretty, do they come to church? That's about as deep as it gets. When I was looking for a wife in Prescott all I asked was which of these girls were single. I married one of them and we lived in a married relationship till death did us part.

You do not have to be picture perfect in appearance. You have to be the best version of who you are. Someone will notice you and show interest in you and it may be that they will turn out to be perfect for you! Adam and Eve did alright with God's choice for them.

One final thought on Abagail, Nabal's wife. As bad a man and husband as Nabal was Abagail stayed married to him until he died. Some wives have a list of things that are deal breakers. But other wives are committed and they make it work if it is humanly possible. Abuse is one thing. But annoyances can be overcome. If you stay married in time it gets better.

A Surprising Repsonse

 Brother Ajala told how when a call was given in Britain for people who were depressed and suicidal to respond that pastor's wives were some of the first to come forward for prayer. That surprised me at first but then it made sense. Pastors and their wives are people first and they need as much help as we in the pews do. He gave a call for the depressed and the suicidal tonight and many responded. You never know what is happening behind those smiling faces and pretty clothes. Thank God for real ministry!

Monday Night Marriage

 Tonight I was pleasantly surprised when brother Ajala preached on marriage during his revival meeting. I can't ever remember hearing an evangelist preach a whole sermon on marriage. I was glad that I made the effort to be there.

A Good Day

 It was a very good day in the Lord today with brother Ajala. I was encouraged by his preaching and his good words. The teens did a presentation and then they called up all students and staff to be prayed for. All in all I give God the glory for the great work that the Holy Spirit did today.

Peter Ajala In San Antonio

 We begin a back to school revival with Peter Ajala this morning. He has been here all weekend ministering to our young people and he will continue through Wednesday night in revival.

One of the blessings of being in this church is the opportunity to be exposed to ministry that is brand new to me. I have heard men preach here that I never heard preach before. 

Pray that God will give our brother a word of instruction and refreshing to the San Antonio saints. And that souls will be saved and new converts filled and added to this church. Amen!

Why Men Hate Church

 I am reading a book titled Why Men Hate Going To Church by David Murrow. This is an interesting book with some startling information taken from published sources on men and church attendance. I do not agree with everything in the book. And I can see that in the Prescott church men were valued and served and appreciated and honored.

The big issue that this book reveals has to do with why women feel at home in church while their sons and their husbands do not. This is a bigger issue than even this book can address. But it is an issue much older than the Feminist revolution or Women's Lib. It seems that since the first century AD church has catered to women and men have been ignored. This is thought provoking to say the least.

I may over time address some of the issues raised in this book and consider how our church in San Antonio rates.  We err more on what to do with young men who are not called to be pastors or missionaries. And our song service sees wives with their hands raised and their faces upturned while their husbands just stand there. This is a problem with the song service, not with the men.

Today's lesson is pretty clear. Men feel uncomfortable singing love songs to any man, even Jesus Christ. So they will not sing, or they will skip song service, or they will stay home. Stop letting women run our worship service and get rid of the emotion laden love songs and let men worship in Spirit and in truth.

God Triumphs Over All

 "For son dishonors father, daughter rises against her mother, daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own household." Micah 7:6

We seem to live in a world filled with spiritual darkness which manifests in a general psychosis and wide spread mental illness. People behaving in bizarre ways and saying bizarre things. We look at the world sometimes and wonder if anyone can even be saved. This time was revealed a long time ago by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. 

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." Isaiah 5: 20-21

How many of you have children who hate you and who have cut you off because of who you voted for in an election? How many of you have children and close friends cut you off on social media because you challenged some insane thing that they posted? Welcome to the club.

This pandemic has shown me some things about society in general and our unsaved or backslidden children in particular. First, that when it comes time for the mark of the beast people will eagerly and willingly sign up for the mark that condemns them to eternal separation and possibly turns them into non-humans. Also, as the Bible clearly says, it's not bad parenting or less then perfect family life but rather rejection of Christ and truth that make our children behave in unsound and psychotic fashion. 

Carl Jung said that when society rejects the Christian faith they are left to deal with the complexities and insurmountable problems of life without the support or the wisdom of faith to give them shelter and comfort. I told my son that if you turn your back on Jesus you will spend the rest of your life wandering and unsettled and prey to anything and everything. That is exactly what is happening to him today.

Finally, I have read the last chapter and in the end God triumphs over all and makes everything brand new again.

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the Earth with a curse." Malachai 4:5-6

TV And Me

 I grew up with a television set in the house. I spent my formative years watching tv, thought not binge watching. I lived a pretty normal suburban childhood.  My parents had friends who did not have a tv in their house. I remember thinking that was strange, but we were children and we played outside until it got dark.

When Kathy and I were first married we did not have a tv in our little house. We were too busy to watch television. We had one for a short time but got tired of it and got rid of it. We had turned our backs on television long before pastor Mitchell made it a policy that people in ministry ought not to have a tv.

I am not anti watching at all. But honestly, there is very little useful information on tv today. I use the internet as a means to an end, it is not the end in itself. I am old fashioned in that regard. Or am I? Entertainment can be a welcome diversion. But it can also be a tool of evil people to twist truth and to shape our thinking to set our hearts against Christ. This is a problem as old a mankind.

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

Thoughts On Worship

 Pastor Rubi ministered on worship last night. He called it choir practice for Heaven. Pastor understands that in the Bible worship is important. We can judge our spiritual temperature by our involvement in corporate worship.  Worship is vocal and it is physical and it can be emotional. But we can worship the Lamb of God even when we feel nothing or when we feel down.

One thing that I noticed in Prescott and that I see here on a lesser scale is how for some people hand clapping has taken the place of speaking in tongues in worship. There is a time to clap our hands and there is a time to speak or sing in tongues. If you do not speak in tongues you are missing a great blessing from God!

If you feel uncomfortable during worship ask God to help you. I asked the Lord to help me with unfamiliar songs and foreign language songs and He did help me. I was missing something wonderful by struggling with worship. Nothing puts life in proper perspective like going to church and entering in to worship.

I am grateful to be in a church where the whole counsel of God is ministered from the pulpit.

Embracing Memories

 After my wife Kathy died I was angry and I was afraid. I was afraid of the memories that reminded me of the life that Kathy's death  had left me with. And so for the next 5 years I went on a seek and destroy mission to eradicate all memories of my wife of 40 years from my life. Memories caused me pain. Memories made me cry. Memories were the things that I could not escape from and that became one of the things that drove me to move away.

It has been over 7 years now since Kathy died. And for the first time in years I have begun to look at memories in a different light. I have been afraid to let memories back in because of the pain they had caused me. But slowly I began to open that door and waited to see what would happen.  But no tears came and no sorrow was felt and the anger was missing.

I have come to understand that it is alright to have memories and it is alright to miss someone. I used to resent it when people told me how much I must miss Kathy. There are still some sore spots that I will protect. I can't have her picture up in my house. But I can miss having her around.

I miss my old house and I miss my old friends and I miss my old church. My wife is gone and my pastor is gone so there was not much left to hold me where I was. But my future is here not there and I am trusting that the Lord Jesus will guide me to a full and happy life in south Texas.

Midweek Service A Blessing

 I am so blessed to be in a good church with good pastors. I appreciate their wisdom and the words they preach and say in private. Tonight pastor Miguel ministered on being convinced of what you believe and what you are called to do. It was good ministry.

I am grateful that in Christ we are partakers of the divine nature. (2Pet.1:4) And I am grateful that we can ask God for wisdom and He will help us know what to do. (James 1:5)

I also had made up my mind to stop complaining about song service and to sing the songs, even the ones in Spanish. It made a huge difference for me.

I never give away my pastor's sermons in my blogs and I will not do that here either. 

Get Vaccinated Today

 I want to talk a little about covid-19 and especially CV vaccines. There are powerful voices arguing against being vaccinated against this virus. Those arguments are weak and silly. But here is how I see it.

My wife was very sick for a long time. I never got a flu shot but I did when she was so ill.  I was not afraid of catching anything or how it would affect me. I was concerned that I did not give Kathy something that her body could not resist. I get flu shots and I have gotten covid shots and I will continue to do so because I think that it is the smart thing to do.

I think that as the body of Christ it is selfish to not be vaccinated when we spend so much time together in church and in family get togethers. Even if you are not at risk others around you might be and it is your love for them that ought to override your anti-vaccine paranoia.

So if you love me why do you think that the rules do not apply to you? I got the virus because irresponsible disciples from China came to a Prescott conference and infected us. Over 60 Prescott saints got covid-19 in January 2020 before it became front page news. Real love is not believing antivaccer lies. It is caring for the vulnerable among us by getting vaccinated.

If our church gets shut down due to a CV outbreak I will hold the non-vaccinated saints personally responsible.

A Work Of God, Not Man

 One of the new experiences for me in this new place is feeling like the elder statesman. Even the older folks in this church are younger than me. The other thing is the undue respect that I have been shown just because I used to be a part of the Prescott church. The net result has gone from humble to annoyed to accepting.

People have a funny idea about the Prescott church. They hear so many stories and reports of all that God did in the early days and they think that somehow the Prescott saints are special. That they are super saints and that God blessed them because He was so impressed with them.

Pastor Mitchell, that's Wayman Mitchell, always made it clear that this whole thing was not his idea and it was not his superior intellect that planned out our Fellowship. He made it clear that it is a work of God and not the work of a man.

So while it's always nice to be appreciated and I am always glad to share stories from my experiences we need to be careful to make sure that God gets all of the credit.

"the 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne..." Revelation 4:10

It's Christ, not us, in everything. Without Jesus we are nothing. We owe all of our gratitude to Him.

Welcome!

 Welcome to my newest blog. Now that I have settled here in south Texas and am a part of a new church I thought that it might be time to start writing about my thoughts and ideas and experiences that I have here in this place.

I have been in the process of finding my way in this strange new world where so many things are different.  A new church with new people and a new pastor. New worship songs that I have never heard before and sometimes in a language that I do not understand. There are numerous things here that are called by the same name but are not the same thing. 

But I remember what first motivated me to uproot myself and move down here and those reasons are still valid. Where I came from there were suffocating memories and loneliness. Here it is the challenge of meeting new friends and learning new things in a new part of the country.

The one constant in my life is my faith in Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And as I learn the new songs I am able to worship Him here as well as anywhere on Earth.

Pray for me that God will direct my steps and lead me in a plain path and that my life will become entwined with the good folks at the Door in San Antonio. And that the Lord will give me an inheritance among these who are sanctified. Amen.