July 2001. Those who know first-hand the joy and assurance of salvation through trusting in Jesus Christ also experience the family love of fellow believers as spiritual brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. This weekend my own heart filled to overflowing with pleasure and with love as I worshiped, ate, visited and studied the Bible with "home folks" in both a physical and a spiritual sense. The occasion was a weekend of gospel ministry at Seven Mile Post Road Church in Athens (Limestone County), Ala., the town in which I grew up and the county of my ancestors since … [Read more...]
RENEWAL IN REGINA
April 2001 -- Outdoors the sun reflects off snowbanks as the Canadian Spring temperature dances in the 40's (F). Inside the Regina Church of Christ building, however, hearts warmed by the gospel glow in God's presence, and sweet harmony of worship rises as a sacrifice before the throne of God in heaven. The Holy Spirit hovers over God's new creation in an atmosphere of manifest reverence and celebratory joy. Churches of Christ are rather scarce in Canada, and not large by U.S. standards. This annual Spring Renewal thus brings believers to Saskatchewan from Alberta and British Columbia on … [Read more...]
MINISTRY IN OREGON
March 2001 -- For three days this week, I had the pleasure, along with my co-author Dr. Robert A. Peterson of Covenant Theological Seminary, of presenting the Bueerman-Champion Lectureship at Western Theological Seminary in Portland, Oregon on the theme "Two Views of Hell." Dr. Peterson argued that hell will involve unending conscious torment. I argued that hell will culminate in the everlasting extinction of the entire person, body and soul. We both appealed to the Scriptures as primary and final authority on the subject. The Western Seminary administration, faculty, staff and students … [Read more...]
KEEN ON KIWI-LAND (3)
Most New Zealanders speak English, with a modified British accent to American ears, although Maori is also enjoying a revival among the growing indigenous population. One-third of the nation lives in Auckland -- NZ's counterpart to New York City -- and one of them in five came there from some other part of Asia or the Pacific. By far the country's largest and most cosmopolitan city, Auckland's 1.3 million residents sprawl from Waitemata Harbor on the Pacific Ocean to Manukau Harbor on the Tasman Sea. Auckland appropriately calls itself "The City of Sails" -- its harbors' dancing waters sparkle … [Read more...]
KEEN ON KIWI-LAND (2)
This was a working vacation to New Zealand, in which I averaged almost one presentation per day. On successive Sunday mornings I preached at Titirangi Baptist Church (pastor Jonathon Weir) and at Owairaka Baptist Church (pastors Bruce Hilder and Carl Josephson), sharing three points from John 3:13-17 -- that God desires to save people, not to condemn them; that he saves believers through the merits and for the sake of Jesus Christ; and that the alternative to eternal life is, indeed, to perish. Sunday evenings saw advertised public meetings at Remuera Baptist Church (pastor Warren Prestidge) … [Read more...]
KEEN ON KIWI-LAND (1)
We arrived home safely about 9 p.m. last night (Thursday, August 24, 2000 Houston time), 28 hours after waking on the same date in the distinctly "Scottish" town of Dunedin on the South Island of predominately "British" New Zealand. New Zealand is an extraordinarily beautiful Pacific country composed of two major islands, situated 1200 miles southeast of Australia. Explorers launch out from NZ to Antarctica and the South Pole. If you imagine England and Scotland 125% larger, inverted in the South Pacific, you won't be far wrong. Or think of California, reduced by 25%, then stretched thinner to … [Read more...]
FAMILY MATTERS
July 2000 -- This past Thursday through Sunday, Sara Faye and I attended a reunion of the extended family of my maternal grandparents, Will and Delia (O'Neal) Short, who themselves went to Africa in 1921 as missionaries and served Christ there for more than 60 years. About 100 Shorts, O'Neals, Fudges, Ewings, Mansurs and decendants came from across the United States, England, Holland and (recently) Africa to the beautiful Roman Nose State Park Resort in northern Oklahoma. There we variously made new acquaintances and renewed old ones, golfed, swam, picnicked, played, rode horseback, and … [Read more...]
PRAISE ON THE HIGH PLAINS
February 2000 -- Joyful praises ascended to God in songs and prayers from the Texas plains this weekend as some 90-100 men from Broadway and Vandelia Churches of Christ, St. Luke's and Aldersgate Methodist Churches, a Bible church, an Hispanic Baptist church and a Worldwide Church of God -- all in Lubbock, Texas -- joined in a spiritual feast of worship, fellowship and ministry of the Word. I was privileged to deliver four messages from the Bible at the multi-church men's retreat, conducted at Plains Baptist Center, in a sequestered canyon on the Caprock (high plains) of West Texas. God not … [Read more...]
A DAUGHTER’S REFLECTIONS
My wife Sara Faye and I are honored to have her mother Celia live with us in her declining years. The two of them just made a trip to check on the family homeplace in Middle Tennessee. I thank Sara Faye for allowing me to share the following personal reflections with you which she jotted down one evening during that visit in 1999. (Edward) * * * She sits on the bed surrounded by piles of photographs. The frustration and agitation are evident on her face as she gropes for a name, a place, a memory -- searching through the mists which have come to her 87-year-old mind. She brightens at a … [Read more...]
‘RECHARGED’ AT DOUBLEHEAD
October 1999 -- One can hardly imagine a venue more conducive to spiritual "recharge" than the picturesque Doublehead Resort, located alongside Wilson Lake amidst 1100 acres of towering pines and hardwoods between Decatur and Florence, Ala. A gentle and much-needed rain throughout the weekend highlighted the comfort of the 5,000 square foot central lodge and lakeside log cabins, where I joined about 30 men from the Seven Mile Post Road Church of Christ (7MPRC) in my hometown of Athens, Ala. for 15 waking hours of Bible teaching, worship, testimonies and prayer. The rain also reminded us of … [Read more...]
