Standard // December 2009
The December issue of God’s Missionary Standard, the official publication of God’s Missionary Church, went to press today. You can view the PDF copy here or subscribe to receive the print edition for free.
The theme is Christmas around the World. Several missionaries both in the States and around the world have written how their culture celebrates Christmas.
Send me to the rough
A few weeks ago Arlene and I found the grave of David Brainerd in Northampton Massachusetts. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. Brainerd attended Yale University but was expelled in his junior year for privately saying of a college tutor, “He has no more grace than this chair.” Brainerd made repeated attempts at seeking forgiveness, but was unsuccessful. Years later, Yale named a building after him and to this day it is the only building at Yale to be named after an expelled student.
In 1743 he began ministry among the Indians in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania until he died on October 10, 1747 at the home of Jonathan Edwards in Northampton.
Here are a few challenging quotes from his journal.
“Oh, that I could dedicate my all to God. This is all the return I can make Him.”
“Here am I, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort on earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service, and to promote Thy kingdom.”
And the entry he wrote in his journal two months after being expelled from Yale. “I hardly ever so longed to live to God and to be altogether devoted to Him; I wanted to wear out my life in his service and for his glory.”
October/November Voice of Salvation
The October/November edition of the Voice of Salvation, the newsletter of the Gospel Center, is available to download here.
What Kalena is teaching me about God
These days, our home is full of excitement as our little girl Kalena learns new things almost every day. It is so adorable (to her parents at least!) to watch her wave her little hand when someone waves to her. She likes to try and make the same sounds that she hears. She loves to imitate people. She laughs when we laugh and imitates many of our actions. It is a little scary at times! She loves to pull shoes out of the closet and books off of my bookcases and has a seemingly overwhelming compulsion to get access to my Mac. The amazing thing to me is that she is imitating everything that her dad and mom does. She sees us go into the closet, taking books off of the bookcase and wants to do the same. So recently my computer screen has a few little fingerprints and a few of my books have a few less pages. But she is doing her best to imitate her parents.
Recently I have been thinking about the text of Ephesians 5 where it says “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.” We need to be imitating God in our every action. In what areas do we need to imitate God? We get the answer from Ephesians 5 as well.
“And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person–such a man is an idolater–has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
God, we have a big task in trying to imitate you, help us to be more effective at it.
A New Name
The other day I was walking around Lebanon visiting some individuals and I saw a lady walking my way. I said, “Hello, Rose, how are you today?” She never missed a beat. “Didn’t you hear? I changed me name. I am no longer Rose, my legal name is ‘Amanda’” (name changed to protect her privacy). I didn’t really know what to say as I had never encountered a situation like that before. I simply told her that was a nice name. But she wasn’t done yet. Amanda told me, “Rose represented my old life and all of the baggage that I had in the past, I wanted free of that.”
While I don’t think that you need to legally change your name to get over your past, she was celebrating her new life. And she thought her new life was best summarized with a new name.
That reminds me of an old gospel song title “A New Name in Glory”.
There’s a new name written down in glory,
And it’s mine, O yes, it’s mine!
And the white robed angels sing the story,
“A sinner has come home.”
For there’s a new name written down in glory,
And it’s mine, O yes, it’s mine!
With my sins forgiven I am bound for Heaven,
Never more to roam.
My prayer today is that we will be passionate about the new life that God offers to all.
September Gospel Center Newsletter
We mailed the print edition of the Gospel Center newsletter at the beginning of the month, but I forgot to post the web edition!
A milestone in the life of John
A few Saturdays ago we celebrated a major milestone in John’s life. On August 1st, John celebrated being sober for one year. This was a huge accomplishment for John since he had been drinking since he was a child. If you ask him what the difference was, he quickly replies, Jesus. I met John before he became a Christian – there is a huge change in his life.
John will share some of his story with us at the Gospel Center on October 10.
Gospel Center makes a top 10 list
For a little over a year, the Gospel Center has been active in helping our community with food. We partnered with an organization called Angel Food Ministries. We are able to provide high quality, low-cost food. We have a great team of volunteers who make this ministry happen, including our fearless leader, Jim Sherman.
This past weekend we were informed that we made the top 10 distribution sites list for July! That is cool!
if you are interested in learning more about Angel Food, click here for more information.
