Joy in France

In the car yesterday I was singing, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" when Patience said, "Daddy, please don't sing that! It makes me miss Joy!"

Well, for those of you who miss Joy, be sure to check out her blog.

We know that my parents are glad to have her there. Let's pray for Joy as she seeks to serve God in the school where she is teaching English as well as in my folks' church.

Pray for Randy Wilkins

Recently we prayed for the Wilkins' daughter in our morning worship service. Shortly after that (a day or two) Randy injured his leg. I'm not sure of the particulars, but we need to pray for a recovery that is supposed to take several months. Truly, they are being tried during this time.

Remember to pray for Randy and Karen Wilkins as well as their daughter, Hillary.

Our other missionaries:

The Bob Bixbys in France
The Matt Bixbys in Mexico
The Dan Sehesteds in Romania
The Jack Mitchells (missionary dentistry)
The Scott Silsbees
The Duane Scotts

Breakfast Schedule 2006-2007

September-January-May
*Margaret Metras
Laurie Hilbert
Lacey Berryman
Florence Gordon
Robin Hayes
Martina Kilburn
Kaye

October-February-June
*Jennie Bixby
Jenna Boeke
Judy Goodwin
Nancy Hunt
Anouk Scott
Heidi Scott
Connie Walsh

November-March-July
*Jane Cook
Karen Metras
Julie Ascher
Grace Musgrave
Becky Holmquist
Linda Lee
Kathy Johnson

December-April-August
*Bev Garard
Deb Myers
Mel Geismann
Karyn Heath
Faith Sanchez
Jan Miller
Robin Foster

 

October - December 2006 Nursery Schedule

Click here to see our nursery schedule.

Flame of Fire recap

By now many of you have already heard the reports from those in our assembly who attended the performance of Flame of Fire last Friday night. Morning Star Baptist Church was well represented (34 people) at the play and those who attended enjoyed the dramatic rendering of the story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Peter Fleming and their burden to take the gospel to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. Joy McCarnan saw the play before she made her way to Bordeaux and wrote this review. The show's limited run in Itasca has now ended, so those of you who missed it will have to be content with this vicarious experience. Based on the response, however, we may very well take in some of the future productions from Overshadowed Productions.

Flame of Fire

This coming Friday, September 29, the as yet unnamed group of teens and young adults at Morning Star Baptist Church (along with a number of other interested members and friends) will be travelling to Itasca, Illinois to see a performance of the play Flame of Fire.

Flame of Fire is the story of Jim Elliot and four other missionaries who became martyrs as they attempted to take the Gospel to a tribe of Indians known as the Auchas in Ecuador. Some of our members have already seen the play and have enthusiastically endorsed it.

For those of you who have signed up as needing transportation to the play, we will be meeting at the Berrymans' house between 5 and 5:15 p.m. on Friday. Plan for a quick stop for a fast food type meal on the way in. If you need directions to the Berrymans' home, click here.

News from the Leadership

Last night we had a post-prayer meeting leadership meeting at the Metras'. Here are some things that might interest you coming from that meeting.

1. Providentially, the stewardship conference is shaping into a more traditional missions conference. This is because of how God has converged on us several different speakers with several different types of works. The conference will officially begin October 8 in the AM and continue each night through the 11th. Please pray that God will stir our hearts for missions during that week.

2. The numbers for the building we are very interested in are very attractive. We got the first proposal last night. The seller/architect told me that Bill Hunt should be "your hero. He has saved you a lot of money." Bill Hunt has negotiated and discussed the drawings with the necessary people for many hours, trying to bring the costs down. Thank you, Bill, for your efforts. I hope that this works out! We will be arranging a visit to the place soon. Stay tuned.

3. Remember to pray for Chris and Margaret Metras as they minister in Gilbert, AZ this weekend.

Looking forward to the Lord's Day!

Adoniram Judson

Many of you remember the illustration I used of Ann Judson in my message on Abigail. There are a number of good books to read on the Judsons, but if you want a quick read about her husband's conversion (it's an amazing story), check out Nathan Businitz's article (assistant to John MacArthur).

Vision

This coming Lord's Day I am planning on unfolding Colossians 3:12-17 in an effort to remind all of us what our prayer is for Morning Star Baptist Church. This is a message that I repeat in one form or another every 12 to 15 months. This is because I don't want us to forget our DNA, the essence of what we, by the grace of God, are and have been. Please pray for me. This week has been a challenging week ministerially. But God is gracious as always.

Mark your Calendars!

The Bible Conference next year is scheduled for June 17 - 20, 2007. Dr. Dave Burggraff is signed up and ready to go. Many of you heard him speak here this summer and thoroughly enjoyed him. Some of you asked me to bring him back. Well, it's planned!

Remember that Dave Deets will be with us all day this coming Lord's Day. He is desiring to serve God as a missionary to Italy. We will take a love offering for him in the evening service.

Men's retreat and Sunday services

The traditional summer is over and the weather is doing its part to convince us that fall is quickly approaching. It was a busy weekend for many from our church as on Friday a group of men headed to Camp Fairwood in Wisconsin for a men's retreat. Those who attended came back with glowing reports of how they enjoyed the food and fellowship, and the spiritual challenges brought by the speaker.

On Saturday Board of Global Grace met to discuss the status of current projects and to make plans for future projects with this important ministry of our church. Sunday night the church was able to learn even more about this ministry as we highlighted the expanded role that Chris Metras is taking on with respect to both the church and Global Grace. While Pastor Bixby has mentioned it several times over the past few weeks, we were able to see and hear first hand from Chris how excited and enthused he is about his involvement in this ministry. As a church we appreciate the deep personal commitment that Chris has demonstrated with his time, efforts, and personal sacrifice to put himself in a position to be more effectively used in whatever ways God might lead.

After the evening service we were able to meet together in the fellowship area for a time of refreshments as we honored the Metras family and recognized Chris' expanded roles at Morning Star Baptist Church and with Global Grace. We praise God for the generous offering that evening that will allow us not only to send Chris to a conference next month, but also will allow Pastor and Mark to purchase some books for Chris' library.

This Thursday Chris, along with Ben Walsh and John Iverson, will head down to Bay Saint Louis, MS, as a part of Global Grace's continuing outreach efforts to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Along with providing assistance in rebuilding a home of an elderly Christian lady, Chris will be surveying the area and meeting with other pastors to find additional opportunities for Global Grace to minister in the area. Please remember to pray for these men as they travel to the area, that their efforts will be fruitful and that God will open doors for them to minister to both the physical and temporal needs of people and that these open doors will also lead to opportunities to address the spiritual and eternal needs of people as well.

Sunday evening afterglow

We had a wonderful time this evening with a gathering of some of the younger members of our assembly (Pastor Bixby, note that I am trying to avoid the "group" word). We learned things about each other that perhaps were not common knowledge before.

Just to give you an idea, I was shocked to learn that one member of our leadership once dressed up as the Easter Bunny and another member once ate the head of a chicken to impress a girl. This just goes to show you how far God's grace can bring individuals.

Of course we had some food to eat. As we ate we played a short game designed to get to know each other better. Pastor Bixby also elaborated on the purpose of having a targeted ministry for this specific age of gathered individuals (not group). I'll let Pastor expound on that as he and the leadership team have identified and articulated the purpose very well. After the food we also had a time of singing.

As Paul instructed the Ephesians, we are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. And, as this example shows, sometimes when that is done it can sound pretty good.

Father's Day in New Zealand

Did you know today was Father’s Day? Well, it was in New Zealand, anyway! Scott had already planned a message on the subject of believer’s adoption before remembering the significance of this particular Sunday. We always enjoy seeing God organize our program like that!

We are continually encouraged to see God at work in lives here in Hamilton. Our Filipino friend, Marge, is eagerly soaking up Bible study and preaching. She is pleased to have her own Bible now, for the first time ever. Continue to pray for her in her search for truth and peace. She hasn’t missed a Sunday service and has promised to come for the mid-week service if we call and remind her about it.

This past week a lady contact experienced a crisis in her marriage. She is devasted and said she probably needs to go hear Tony Robbins (secular life motivational speaker who regularly shows infomercials here). We loaned her our copy of Jim Berg’s “When Trouble Comes” and she eagerly agreed to read it, beginning almost right away. When Scott told her we would be praying for her she was very pleased and said, “A friend told me I should have asked you to pray for me!” Please pray for this lady as we follow-up with her this week.

One of the church men is struggling with cancer and spent most of this week in the hospital. He is in a lot of pain and is scheduled for radiation treatment this next week. To see someone suffer in this manner is never easy, but to hear him say he is ready for heaven is delightful. This week he resigned his position as church treasurer due to his physical challenges. Lori will step in to help with the bookkeeping for a while.

We are pleased to report that God has provided a beautiful digital piano to use in our services. The school agreed to allow us to store it there in the room where we meet and one of the church men is building a wooden storage crate for protection. We look forward to enhancing the music for our church family and everyone is glad to retire the limited collection of pre-recorded accompaniment!

We have always been amazed at the multi-cultural makeup of New Zealand and recently learned that one in five people living in New Zealand were not born here! That is quite a high statistic which helps to explain the government’s very high standard for immigration and the very multi-cultural group of believers we are serving. Our city of Hamilton is estimated to grow by 26% in the next 16 years. There is work to be done, and you are welcome to come down and help. We did very quickly get used to the feeling of being upside down! J

We can sense the power of prayer on our behalf during this very challenging time of ministry. Keep it up!

Scott, Lori, Heidi and Daniel

Abigail

It is my desire to portray the faith of Abigail in the morning service. You may want to read her story in 1 Samuel 25. Many principles may be gleaned from Abigail's actions, from David, and even from the loser husband, Nabal. However, I think that too often the principles and "life lessons" that are so obvious in Abigail and David sometimes cloud out the most amazing facts of all. Abigail was a woman of faith. Remarkable faith! I pray the Holy Spirit will enable me to portray that fact vividly tomorrow. Please pray with me.

Extraordinary Women

It's about that time of year again. The Women's Bible Study has been a real blessing to many of our ladies. I wholeheartedly endorse Jane's selection for this season. Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur will be the guide for this year's bible study. We will have 12 copies of this book on our book table for $12 a piece. For an excellent review of this book, see Tim Challies "PREview."

The details about when and where will be forthcoming. I hope that many of our ladies will be able to enjoy this excellent ministry. Please pray for Jane Cook as she prepares her mind and heart for this ministry.

Katrina News

As we all know, Chris Metras is organizing more trips to Katrina land. There is much work yet to be done. Last week Cindy Swanson interviewed a pastor whose entire church family lost all of their homes in the storm. Most of his church family still live today in FEMA trailors. Cindy was kind enough to send me an email about this as soon as it was going on, but I am only now getting around to it. Read Cindy Swanson's account at her blog here. It is beautiful to see the pastor's strong confidence in the design of God. Chris, I think you need to check these people out!

Picture in Local News

Some of our own make the front page of the local news (Rockford Register Star). Check out the online version here.

Let's pray for our children who are starting school.

UPDATE: Berryman's blog has better linkage.

Missing link

Pastor Bixby informed me that the link to my address was not working properly. I think I fixed it here. I've also fixed the link below, but I wanted to let everyone know that it was working. Look forward to seeing all of you on Sunday.

Youth Fellowship, part deux

In response to Pastor's last post, Lacey does know about the fellowship this Sunday night and we're all very excited. For those of you who have never been to our house, you can click here for a map and directions. Here's a picture of what our house looks like when we've finished our yard work. We hope to see you all there.

Youth Fellowship

Ok. Ignore this very disturbing discovery (that church-goers are fatter). An actual quote: "Baptist are more likely to be obese." Forget it.

As has been announced over and over and over and over again, we are kicking off a brand new season for youth fellowship this coming Sunday AND one of the ways we are going to set this particular "kick-off" apart is by - er - eating..... At the Berrymans. After church on Sunday night. We figure that the next day being a holiday and all nobody is having to get up early for school. Fellowship will go until 9:30. The length of the fellowship hinges entirely upon the length of the sermon that night, something yet to be discovered. But we'll officially cut off at 9:30 no matter when we start. Most should be able to be home by 10:00, tucked in by 10:05.

Don't know who the Berrymans are? Check out their family picture here. I'm not sure what we'll have yet. I'm not even sure that Mrs. Berryman even knows that we are planning on going there, but hopefully she finds out before Sunday evening. Her husband knows.

We'll sing songs, play a game or two, pray, and enjoy one another.

Sweet Fellowship

 

Sunday Services

Just a quick post to show some of the fun activities thta took place this Lord's Day. We had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship at the Walsh home. Enjoy the photos.

Ladies Retreat 2007

Mark your calendars! The 2007 Annual Ladies Retreat is scheduled for April 20-21, 2007. I am really hoping for a great turn out. We have secured for that special event a much sought-after speaker, Holly Stratton. Holly is the wife of Dr. Dick Stratton, President of Clearwater Christian College. Jennie and I have enjoyed getting to know the Strattons, and we are both very much impressed with Holly's zeal for the Lord and her ability to communicate.

We so strongly believe in the value of the ladies retreat that we have put an increasing amount of forethought into it with an added amount of prayers. Our desire is to bring to you speakers who emulate our heartbeat for the Lord but who are able to add to the work of God here in ways that we can not do ourselves. Holly is a regular contributor to the widely read SharperIron.org. All of her articles are thought provoking and soul-stirring. You may read a few examples of her writing linked below. Mark your calendars now!

Holly on Graceful Modesty, on "Fat Cats", and "No Hang-ups Allowed."

Ladies Retreat April 20-21, 2007

Jacob Bergum

On Memorial Day weekend members from my brother's church were involved in a tragic accident that took the lives of the father and a sister. Another sister was severely hurt. Jacob, the youngest was also critically injured (see a picture of him here). There have been many ups and downs, but lately there seems to be a turn for the worse in young Jacob's convalescence. Here is a recent note from my sister-in-law:

Jacob Bergum has had a turn for the worse. On Friday, he had surgery to re-insert the bone plates in his skull. He did remarkably well on Saturday, and had the Dr.’s stunned! However, during the night on Saturday, he became very disoriented and sick. They decided to release him from the hospital on Monday late afternoon, and he had a rough time once he got home, I guess. Poor Geralynn only got 2 hrs of sleep on Monday night. I dropped off a meal for them on Tuesday afternoon, and I’ve never seen her look as bad as she did then. She was absolutely exhausted and stressed. Poor thing. I guess yesterday morning, (Wed) she had to call 911 to come and pick up Jacob to take him back to the hospital, as he’d been running a very high fever and was unresponsive when she tried to wake him up. He was rushed into surgery again, and they relieved a lot of fluid and swelling that had built up. He is still in a coma as far as I know, and he is very ‘fragile’. I guess they are concerned that more brain damage has occurred now. On our church’s website there’s a little update on them if any of you would be interested. I was just writing so that you can pray for them. They are so heavy on our hearts.

Nancy Foster's Open House

It's time to say "Goodbye!" to our college students. That's the sad part. The fun part, however, is getting to enjoy open houses. The fellowship is always good. Of course, most open houses are in May or June, but Nancy is more creative! There's no way she could spend the money she got before school starts! 

September's Stuff

September 3 ~ AGAPE SUNDAY

Breakfast will be starting up again! Plan on coming at 8:45 for some good food and fellowship. We are very enthusiastic about the positive effect this fellowship has on each Lord's Day.

All youth will be starting a special class and fellowship during Sunday School hour. We will be meeting at the Chris Metras home. Be sure to come! I am really looking forward to this particular ministry.

PM - Lord's Supper will be in the evening.

Friday, September 8 ~

Men's Retreat. There may be still opportunity to sign up for this rather spontaneous adventure at Camp Fairwood. Please contact Pastor Mark for more details.

Sunday, September 10 ~

PM Service. We will be recognizing Chris Metras and his expanded role and ministry in both MSBC and Global Grace.

Sunday, September 17 ~

Dave Deets, missionary candidate to Italy through Baptist World Mission, will be with us all day long. We will take an offering.

Friday, September 29 ~

The Youth will be going to see Flame of Fire by Overshadowed Productions in Itasca, Illinois. This play is about the five martyred missionaries of Ecuador. Details will be announced.

Looking ahead: Missionary/Stewardship Conference on October 8-12.

August 27th

We will not be having our services at the Burritt Township Hall as normal. Instead we will be meeting at the Walshes in Harvard, IL. Click here for directions.

Here's the scoop. Our morning service will begin at 10:30. Please do everything that you can do to be early. You will need to get parked and settled, so allow yourself plenty of time for that. After the morning service we will have lunch. $10 per family is asked to help cover the cost of meat and beverages. Each family is asked to bring a salad and chips or a desert.

It's going to be fun! Come casual. You may get grass stains! Sporting activities will be possible. If the weather is nice swimming is possible. So, come prepared for a festive picnic!

Peep Deep, Volume 1, no. 3

Jonathan Edwards, A New Biography, by Iain H. Murry.


That New Sense of Things

Jonathan Edwards joined the Collegiate School of Conneticut in 1716. He was 13 years old. Harvard had been the place of choice for religious studies before this school was founded in 1701. In fact, it was still a matter of debate among pastoral leaders of the day.

There were rules:

1. Every student shall exercise himself in reading Holy Scriptures by himself every day that the word of Christ may dwell in him richly.
2. All students shall avoid the profanation of God's holy name, attributes, Word and ordinances and the Holy Sabbath, and shall carefully attend all public assemblies for worship.
3. All undergraduates shall publicly repeat sermons in the hall in their course and be constantly examined on Sabbaths at evening prayer. (In other words, "You better take GOOOOOOOD notes!")

Though these kind of rules fostered mere formalism, Jonathan was able to spend a lot of time with his grandfather (Richard) who would die that same year. It was these kind of statements that he heard on a regular basis uttered from his godly grandfather:

"Make the glory of God your main end."
"Depend on him by a lively faith in his promises"
"I carry my life in my hand every day, I am daily looking and waiting until my change come"
His last words: "I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and I desire to do so more and more."

Sometime during this first year Jonathan Edwards would come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The change was evident in his spirit. He writes:

[about walking in his father's field after returning home]"And as I was walking there, and looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express -- I seemed to see them both in sweet conjunction; majesty and meekness joined together: it was sweet, and gentle, and holy majesty: and also a majestic meekness; an awful sweetness; a high, and great, and holy gentleness" (p.36).

What amazing contemplations from a boy only thirteen years of age! Yet, how true!

s

Brethren, pray for us!

We are rejoicing for a good Lord’s day today and ask that you pray diligently for us and the ministry here.

A self-professed non-believing Filipino lady came to church today. A Christian friend who lives overseas somewhere found our church on the internet and encouraged her to visit. She called in advance and said she would be coming to visit and was hoping to also find another Filipino to befriend her. God is looking after this lady, and we do indeed have another Filipino lady in the congregation. The visitor said she previously spent 20 years in Hare Krishna religious practice but is no longer involved with that group. She is searching for truth and said she has lots of questions. She readily agreed to meet with us for a regular Bible study. Please pray for us to have wisdom in directing her to biblical answers to her questions. There is also a 17 year-old daughter whom the mother identified as “another lost soul.”

We are reminded of Paul’s writing to the church at Corinth with the words, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” (I Cor. 3:6-7) We are so thankful to have the opportunity to share in the care for this lady’s soul!

The various cultures and native languages of the people in the church family continue to be a significant challenge. As part of our attempts to get to know the church people attending church and build a sense of family among them, this weekend we invited everyone to our house for an evening of fellowship. We managed to play Guesstures (game where you act out a word without speaking to your team), with the added requirement of drawing pictures of the words for our Mandarin-speaking people to participate. The game was successful in joining everyone in an activity, but it felt more like work than a game! We need to purchase a Chinese-English dictionary to aid in communication, and we need wisdom and guidance from the Lord to help these people to grow in their love and care for each other.

Scott has focused his initial teaching and preaching on the church from a biblical basis…what the church is for, role models in the New Testament, etc. as well as the topic of the Bible itself…it’s sufficiency, authority, etc. Please pray for Scott to have wisdom as he studies and seeks direction from the Lord on what to feed this congregation made largely of babes in Christ.

We continue to attempt to unpack boxes and are once again amazed at the bountiful material blessings God has bestowed upon us. Having lived over two years without the majority of our earthly goods, we have become less attached to them. Many of the church people are not as materially blessed as our family, and we have decided to pick something from our home to give each person/family when we visit them in the coming months. We tell you this not to impress you, by any means, but to share a part of our own spiritual journey that it may encourage you in yours. It is always fun to stop and see where we have grown ourselves in our spiritual walk on this earth. We are just so delighted to be serving the Lord here. We are so thankful for His goodness to us in spite of ourselves. Please pray that we will keep our hearts attuned to Him.

Serving joyfully in New Zealand,
Scott, Lori, Heidi and Daniel

Peep Deep, Volume 1, no. 2

Jonathan Edwards, A New Biography, by Iain H. Murry.

The Son of East Windsor

Windsor is somewhere in New England. Conneticut area. The place that just sacked Joe Lieberman. Back in 1636 a very famous Puritan preacher, Thomas Hooker, journeyed to this place from Massachusetts Bay area. Seems the Bay was too crowded. A woman named Ann Coles was part of the group that traveled with him along with her 18 yr. old son, William Edwards, the son of her deceased husband, Richard Edwards.

Though you may not think of yourself as having a forte in history, you probably can guess where this going? Yup. William got married. So, get this:

Richard begot William.
William begot Richard.
Richard begot Timothy (Creative guy, that Richard. Glad he broke the monotonous name cycle).
Timothy begot Jonathan.

Seems like Richard, Jonathan's grandpa, had a very bad marriage. So bad, that Timothy (Jonathan's dad) and his sister actually filed a complaint against her to justify their father's divorce! Seems like poor Richard had barely betrothed and married his lovely wench when she had a baby by another man. She actually had all kinds of infidelities. That sort of blows the whole pre-1950s utopia we imagine America to be. Anyway, Timothy highly admired dad Richard. He said of his dad: "He was naturally cheerful, sprightly, and sweet tempered, of a ready wit, had a mind well stored with knowledge, particularly the knowledge of history and theology, and in coversation was uncommonly pleasant and entertaining" (p. 5).

That's a pretty cool thing to say about a dad. Hope my son says that about me some day.

Oh, don't have a son. So much for the well-stored mind part.

Apparently, Timothy was a flat out good preacher. He married into preaching stock too. Not that his wife was a preacher, but her dad, Solomon Stoddard, was. Pastor Stoddard, Jonathan's grandpa from his mom's side, said, "We are not sent into the pulpit to shew our wit and eloquence but to set the consciences of men on fire" (p.8).

Jonathan was born to Timothy and Esther Edwards on October 5, 1703. He was number five. Four girls preceded him. Six girls would be born to Timothy and Esther after Jonathan was born. All I can say is, "Wow!"

It is really too bad that basketball hadn't been invented yet. All ten of Timothy's daughters were at least 6 feet tall! People spoke of Timothy Edwards' "sixty feet of daughters!" He deserves a medal for that. I have 3 feet of daughter and I sometimes think myself a worthy candidate for canonization.

Seems like Timothy taught son Jonathan to do all his work with a "pen in hand and to regard accuracy in writing essential" (p.14). AT thss varya mment I have a penn nin handas anddsa it issn ot helpingm y accararuacy nin wrritnng. Oh well, I guess I'll never be like Jonathan Edwards that way.

This was a godly family. The correspondence between Jonathan and his sisters is amazing. Such depth. Jonathan was a mature, young man, adequately prepared for higher learning with a thorough grasp of latin and greek when he rode down river in 1716 on his way to college at the ripe old age of 13.

Peep Deep, Volume 1, no. 1

Jonathan Edwards, A New Biography, by Iain H. Murry.

Introduction: On Understanding Edwards, p. xix - xxxi

Basically, Jonathan Edwards blows people's minds. Is he a metaphysicist, a philosopher, or a theologian (a "divine")? His contemporaries acknowledged him as one of the greatest theologians of all time, certainly of their day. Secular biographers and writers in the centuries since Edwards was born (1703. Many years before the oldest member in our church) have actually bemoaned the fact that Edwards wasted his brilliant and unequaled mind on theology!

But "those who knew him best never put 'the philosopher' first. A fellow preacher, Giblert Tennent, announcing Edwards' death in a Philadelphia newspaper of March 28, 1758, described him as 'a great divine, divnity was his favourite [that's how they spelled favorite back then] study and the ministry his most delightful employment" (p. xix).

Murray, the author, explains why most biographers and historians just don't get it. Being unbelievers, they simply cannot grasp what even a small, believing child sees so clearly. Edwards knew this.

"According to the New Testament, and therefore to Edwards also, the difference between the regenenerate Christian and the remainder of men constitutes the most radical of all divisions. What is revealed to babes is hidden from the proud. The reason, he says, 'why the things of the gospel seem all so tasteless and insipid to natural men' is that 'they are a parcel of words to which they, in their own minds, have no correspondent ideas'. 'It is like a stranger or a dead letter, that is, sounds and letters without any signification. This is the reason they commonly account religion such a foolish thing, and the saints fools. This is the reason the Scripture is not sweet to them, and why the godly are called by the name of fanatics, and the like'"(p. xxv).

Someone said that to remember history means far more than "a mere bow to history." "His theology had revivals and repentance, and salvation from hell, in it; and this made it, and makes it, and will keep it divine theology till Christ is all in all."

I agree with with Murray. "We fail to understand Edwards aright until the record of his life begins to make the same impression upon us."

Peep Deep

Ladies and Gentlemen! I am introducing to you a new, never-before-heard-of (to me anyway)feature of pastoral ingenuity and zeal: Peep Deep.

Have you ever wished you could eavesdrop on an conversation between two interesting people? Have you ever sat in an airplane and tried to read over the shoulder of your row partner, a person who is a complete stranger to you, but just so happened to bring on board a fascinating book? Have you ever desired to peep into the thoughts of other people without having to actually interact with them?

No?

Okay, so I'm the only weird one in the bunch. But, anyway, Peep Deep is a new feature of this blog that will let you get a peep into what I'm reading by exposing to your inquisitive eyes snippets and smidgens of my reading, pithy statements, and provocative quotes. I shall even courageously bare the flotsam and jetsam of my boondoggled mind, overtaxed by gluttonous, voracious reading as it snaps and spins to the stimuli of such deep material. (Impressive, heh?) Thus, Peep Deep.

Know Who's Who

You should know who's who in Church History. This is particularly important because I so often quote from people in the past. Here is an excellent resource produced by Phil Johnson, one of the elders at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur pastors. In fact, Pat, can you put this link on the side of our blog? The page that might interest you the most is "The Stalwarts." Last Sunday, for example, I quoted from A.W. Pink. You'll find out a lot about him here.

Joy's Moved

Joy has moved.

We Ministered in Santa Martha? Really?!!!

Remember this? Then did you pray when we got this? Then I think you will especially enjoy the following:

Dear Pastor Bob,

I wanted to take a minute as we returned a week ago from our 2 week ministry to the Tenek Indian people in the area of Santa Martha, Mexico to say a special "thank you" to all at Morning Star Baptist Church for the toothbrushes sent our way. Many of the people we treated were among the poorest of poor in the world, which was a little surprising to us. In some villages, most, if not all, had never seen a dentist and did not own, nor could they afford, a toothbrush! Needless to say, they eagerly
lined up to receive one of the brushes we were giving out. Thanks to the generous folks at Morning Star we had plenty to pass out and even left some with the local missionary to give out in other remote villages he visits in the future.

The bottom line to this is that the dental clinic and the VBS type of ministry the rest of our team had to local children has generated a lot of good will and a number of new contacts for the local missionary. He has been invited back to several of the locations to begin Bible studies. It's sometimes hard for us to comprehend how something so seemingly insignificant as a toothbrush could be a help in opening up an opportunity to share the gospel!

So, once again, a hardy thank you to all from Morning Star Baptist Church who were such an integral part of this most recent evangelistic dental ministry to the glory of God!

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Jack & Jennifer

And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward ~ Matthew 10:42

Fountain of Youth

Thanks to Jeremy Scott for posting the last three posts. Also, he ought to be recognized for running an excellent program. Though it wasn't large, it met all of our expectations, ministered to the younger children in our church, and they have many happy memories. I think we had more volunteers than attendees! But they had fun too.

If you want to see a funny shot of Steve Johnson, go to the Berryman family blog and see Pat's report of the activity last Saturday. There are some good shots. Be sure to click on the links.

September 3 will be the kick-off Sunday for a new ministry emphasis with our youth. The Chris Metras and the Bob Bixbys will be co-leading that ministry. Stay tuned.

And the winner is . . .

All good things must come to an end.

Last night was the last night of VBS – it was crazy dress night. The week ended with a high attendance of 28 and was full of enthusiasm and excitement. The excitement was surrounding two main things: 1. The conclusion to the Jimmy / Jenny story told by Ms. Karyn and 2. Which team won the competition for the week.

Also last evening, the professors tried one last time to question creation and promote evolution. One of the assistant professors asked a very important question, “How can life come from nothing?” Of course the kids were quick to answer that the only way that life can come from nothing is if it is a miracle of God, not a big bang!

It was a great week – many leaders sacrificed to be a part of it (although, I think that the leaders had just as much fun as the kids!) Everyone did a great job. So, how did the week end? Who won the competition? In the end, it was the Sand Blasters that held on to their lead to take the competition. Joshua K. and Evan M. were the two top point earners for the week and were awarded a gift card to Wal-Mart.

Thank you for your prayers and hard work.

The Adventure Continues. . .

Our kids' Awesome Archaeological Adventure continues. Last night we had 26 kids come and participate in our VBS. It was a great evening. Our focus was on God's word. He created His word for us, so we are responsible to it. The 4th through 6th graders contemplated that fact that Peter said that the Bible is more authoritative than personal experience (II Peter 1:19,20).

As mentioned in yesterday's post, the Sand Blasters had made a comeback and taken the lead. The Dune Destroyers' great effort to take the lead back fell just short as the Sand Blasters stayed on top - led by the evening's top point earner, Cody M.

The snacks were great (thank you to all that made them!), the games were exciting and the continued story told by Ms. Karyn still has us guessing what will happen next! Each team did a great job in participating in Crazy Hat Night! Jimmy W. took the prize for the Sand Blasters while Nathan R. won the prize for the Dune Destroyers.





Tonight is the last night! All K-6th graders are welcome to come. We meet at the church at 6:00 and will be done by 8:15-8:20. If any adults want to come and see the kids have a great time, you are welcome as well!

Attention!

We are halfway through our Vacation Bible School. So far 27 kids have been enrolled and are having a great time. Each night of the Awesome Archaeological Adventure the kids are learning the importance of God's creation. Even though the visiting professors tell the kids that evolution is true, the kids are learning the Genesis 1:1 is the truth and why that is important.




The competition between the Sand Blasters and the Dune Destroyers is intense! After Tuesday night, the Dune Destroyers had taken the early advantage. However, when the kids left last night the Sand Blasters had made an incredible comeback to take the lead.



We have two nights left . . . if you know any kids K - 6th grade who like to play games, sing songs, and maybe get some occassional candy, bring them to the church tonight at 6:00 pm.

If you have any questions, feel free to email them to Jeremy at pj4youth@msn.com.

Stuff Happening

This Saturday the younger people in our church are taking a bike hike under the Metras' supervision. Those of you that are interested will want to be at Midway Village a little before 10:00 AM.

This coming Lord's Day, my Dad and Mom (our supported missionaries to France) will be with us for the entire day. As we typically do for our missionaries, we will be taking up a love offering for them.

Vacation Bible School starts next Tuesday night! Be prepared!

You can keep posted on our church website news page and -- I think this is very helpful -- our church prayer concerns on this page.

A Word from the Silsbees

Happy 4th of July. We had a minor celebration here with canned baked beans, homemade big soft buttery pretzels (like the ones at the mall) and the barbecue grill cooked up hot dogs and hamburgers (magic!). We even found two fireworks pieces in a box of stuff we had left behind with a friend on our way out of New Zealand. (They are a really cool spinning kind that I had wanted to take and show my dad. I chickened out of taking them in our airplane luggage! They survived sitting somewhere for two years and we benefited by lighting the two of them tonight!)

We are currently…and still!...staying with friends. And…they are still our friends!! We’ve hit nine weeks and counting living out of our suitcases and we are SO ready to have a place to call home again. One house we lived in previously is again for sale, and if it wasn’t so close to our previous ministry, we might be tempted to buy it again. The four of us are lined up on the floor like Indians in a teepee. Our gracious friends cleared out a bedroom for us. There is just enough room for sleeping across the one side and a couple suitcases lined up at our feet. Don’t feel sorry for us. We are happy to have stayed in one place now for two weeks straight! It is an adventure we are happy to make in service to our King. Lord willing our suitcase days are coming to an end. This coming Sunday a church will be voting on us coming to assist them. Please pray that these people will be seeking the mind of the Lord and cast their vote accordingly. We don’t want anything outside his will. A number of things have fallen into place to make this ministry possible, and a positive vote will be final confirmation from the Lord that this is the place He would have us serve.

While waiting for the Lord to make His will known, we\nhave been busy re-acclimating ourselves to New Zealand, renewing old contacts\n(both believers and many in need of Christ), and being involved in ministry opportunities\nwherever possible. The church we are currently attending is very short on\nworkers, and one lady was covering the children’s program during all the\nservices. I have helped to provide relief so that she can benefit from\nsitting in on some services as well. Scott has preached a number of\ntimes, and his messages are being well-received.

Missionary Updates

Dr. Jack Mitchell

Dear Friends,

The office staff at Grace Dental Mission has completed the latest edition of the mission newsletter, The Dental Dialogue.

The newsletter can be viewed by clicking on this link: http://www.gracedentalmission.org/news/archive06/DD6-06.pdf

If you encounter any difficulties or desire a paper copy of The Dental Dialogue, please contact us and we would be happy to send one out to you.

Please pray for the team of 13 that will be leaving on Friday, July 7th for 2 weeks of ministry in Mexico, about 4 hours southwest of Tampico. We have recently been informed by missionary Fernando Angeles that all the dental supplies and equipment which were sent ahead made it over the border - after 3 hours of questioning by customs officials and no tax charged! We praise the Lord for His great faithfulness.

Specific prayer requests would include:

- Safety for the team in travel

- Quick adjustment to the culture and food

- Effective spiritual ministry among the unsaved

- Wisdom for the medical/dental staff

Thank you so much for your interest in and support of this ministry.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Grace Dental Mission Staff

Duane Scott

Dear Friends,

This is the first email to “our list” from Thailand! We are doing well and beginning to get settled in. We have seen the Lord work out many details already, which gives us encouragement for the times ahead.

So much has happened between our last letter and this one that it would be impossible to relay it all here. If you would like to see a report of our commissioning service, read some good news about our child care situation, and see some pictures from our first days in Thailand, see our website at www.scottsinthailand.org.

We arrived to a blast of heat and humidity as we walked into the Bangkok Airport parking garage at 1:00 am the morning of June 22^nd. Things have been pretty busy ever since.

Both sets of co-workers were at the airport to meet us. Actually, Ed and Darlene Weber were on our flight into Bangkok. They have been in the States for their furlough, but had to return to Thailand to take care of their visa situations. The Lord worked it out so they “just happened” to be on our flight. Nate and Maam Beckman met us all at the airport.

After spending the weekend with the Webers and Beckmans about 3 hours outside of Bangkok where they are working, we all returned on Monday to look for a place for us to live. Since traffic here is terrible, we felt we needed a place near the subway or sky-train line so we could get to language school in a reasonable amount of time. We were able to find such a place at a price we could afford, which was not as easy as we thought it would be! The Lord’s hand seemed to be in it in several ways though. Not the least of which are our neighbors! The first night we met an American man getting on the elevator. It turns out he and his Thai wife are also missionaries here. They live just one floor down and have already been so friendly and helpful! Since our BMM co-workers will not be living in Bangkok, we definitely need someone to call on for help and answers to our endless questions. We are really thanking the Lord for this connection.

Our immediate plans are to get settled in, try to relax a little bit after a couple really stressful and emotional weeks, and then figure out how to navigate this city. If you have ever seen Bangkok you know that will be no small task! We hope to begin language school shortly after Hannah’s sister Gloria arrives on July 21^st. She will be taking care of Elaine and David while we are at language school. She will be staying for one month.

I would like to close this letter with special thanks to the many people who have helped us to this point:

Those of you who have prayed for us and offered words of encouragement. God is definitely answering prayers.

The many who have given so sacrificially and generously for our financial needs. We have never been lacking for any of our needs.

The Webers and Beckmans who have helped us tirelessly these past two weeks. I could not imagine doing this without the help of someone who knows what they are doing!

And of course, thanks to God, the giver of all good gifts.

With love and appreciation in Christ,

Duane and Hannah

I Love America

In light of the conversation here and here because of this. Pat Berryman, a concerned member of our church, wants everyone to know that he has actually caught me being patriotic! And it was in front of his house! Here's the proof.

Whose Money?

What does the Bible teach about money? What does it teach about giving? How much should we give? What is tithing? Is tithing a command?

Any sincere Christian wants to know the answers. Any sincere Christian is not afraid of the answers.

Later this year we will do a special series (perhaps in the context of a mini-conference) on the subject of giving. The Pastoral leadership will be reccommending books that articulate our thinking on this important matter and we urge you to become a student, lay aside your presuppositions, and learn about this subject even before we address it in church.

We are attempting to make this easier by not only recommending the books, but by making sure that our book table is stocked with copies. This coming Lord's Day we plan to have about 12 copies of MacArthur's book available for purchase. Let me encourage you to read this book and to become acquainted with grace giving.