February CrossTies - MAKING NEW UNSAVED FRIENDS

How many friends do you have? According to Jonas Rawson’s mother, her son still has every friend he has ever had since he was a small boy! If that’s true, do you know how uncommon Jonas is? Generally speaking once an average person becomes a Christian he or she will lose contact with most of his or her unbelieving friends within two years? This statistic about changing friendships among believers does not really seem strange to me because it is reflective of my own personal experiences. Why is it generally true for most of us believers that our whole friendship structure seems to change after we accept Christ? Could it be our old friends just kept living a lifestyle that we determined to leave behind? Or is it because the new friends we found in the fellowship of the believers naturally replaced some of our old friends? The Apostle Paul seems to understand this as he encouraged the Corinthians: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?" (2 Cor. 6:14). We do need to realize that Paul was not stressing a cessation of all friends outside of Christ. His concern appears to be about our unbelieving friends’ tendency to wield an evil influence over our lives. In such cases it demands we be cautious of such friendships. There are some friends we are better without (1Cor. 15:33).

Thoughts about friends outside of Christ come to mind as I considered the church’s evangelistic efforts for 2009. Evangelistic success might be a big problem if collectively the church is no longer building relationships outside the church fold enabling us to effectively reach out to the lost. Reading through the gospels it seems as though Christ had the ability to balance his ministry. There was the inner circle of Peter, James and John, along with all of his other disciples, who provided strength and fellowship for Christ’s spiritual walk. At the same time Jesus always had time for those away from God. The Great Shepherd was constantly in search of the lost lambs. What is it that I need to learn from Christ in being effective in reaching out to the lost? Why did it seem so many found Christ easy to approach about some of the most difficult problems of life? Questions about salvation, family, marriage, prayer and the list just goes on as each person sought some type of hope in what appeared to them a most hopeless situation. Maybe it was because there was no doubt Jesus really loved all people. The "sick" willingly sought out this great physician (Matthew 9:12). While the religious folks winced at the societal burden of the lepers and the rest of the world scoffed at the destructive and damning nature of sin, Jesus knew their problems were real. A lady stopped by the church office yesterday to ask if I would be willing to counsel her and her family. A husband with an uncontrollable anger, a wife battling multiple problems—including thoughts of suicide and their children, bless their hearts, just need stability in a home that has little to offer. The woman stated, "All the other churches have told me we have problems greater than they are able to provide counseling and help." Admittedly I had similar thoughts at the time. Making friends of those in the world often places great demands upon our lives, our resources and our limited time. Jesus seemed to always realize the priority of time alone with God, but he never forgot his mission of reconciling a dark, depressed and difficult world back to the God who created them. He knew his job was to seek and save—not merely fill a pew at the local temple, synagogue or church building.

How will we become more like Jesus in 2009 in making new friends with a purpose of winning them to Christ? The challenge is great, but so are the opportunities! Here are a few things to get the thought processes flowing if you are lacking inspiration as to a place to start: volunteer at a local woman’s shelter, take food to the homeless, become a "watchdog" dad or PTA mom at school, join a grandparent program that reads to children at school, become a mentor, get involved in the neighborhood watch, bake cookies for new neighbors or a bereaved family, sew bibs for the local nursing home, visit an inmate at the local jail or prison, become foster parents, volunteer at Red Cross or become a member of the Lion’s club. Here’s to a successful year of reaching the lost for Jesus! —Bill Adcox

March CrossTies - THROUGH AND THROUGH

I don’t mean to be rude but I don’t like to eat food only half prepared or partially cooked. Give it to me well done! Cook it through and through would be my suggestion. Who likes to cut into a delicious chocolate cake only to see the inside of it gush out in a liquid state? Why would anyone want to eat raw hamburger meat? Who wants to take a bite of a delicious smelling biscuit only to sink her teeth into raw dough? You get my point. If the recipe calls for it to be cooked before being eaten, then my expectation is that I want it cooked through and through (not burned mind you - that only spoils it).

Shouldn’t there be a reasonable sense of expectations that the same could be found in our search for a local church? What a disaster in God’s spiritual kitchen should we find a church and its congregants who have neither attained some degree of spiritual maturity, nor who want it! Such is worse than attempting to devour a raw hamburger. It was the Apostle Paul who wrote to the saints at Thessalonica about God’s desire for those believers (and for us): "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-25). God wanted to make the Thessalonians actually holy, through and through. That assurance came on the heals of Paul’s encouragement, "Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophesies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil" (vv 19-22).

Being kept completely sanctified seemed to rest upon the role the Holy Spirit would play in their individual and congregational lives. For the Spirit to be effective in his work the believers would by necessity need to be completely open to his leading. No fire quenchers in God’s kitchen! Inspired prophecy (even as we follow those same inspired and written prophecies today) would direct them. I still picture my wife on so many occasions opening the oven to test the middle of a cake with a toothpick. Testing is required in God’s kitchen, even as a wise cook knows when to throw away spoiled food. These are the challenges of every church leadership and every saint. The ultimate goal is spiritual maturity—sanctification—actual holiness, through and through, making every believer completely ready and prepared to meet Jesus at his return. One doesn’t have to settle for raw, uncooked food as long as there is some means to thoroughly cook it. No individual or congregation needs to sit idly by in spiritual immaturity when the God of peace is offering to sanctify us through and through. God is fully capable of doing what he promises, because he is "faithful and he will do it."

This month we start a two-issue look at reaching for spiritual maturity as our writers focus on a few characteristics that make for "Great Congregations." —Bill Adcox

April CrossTies - THE GREATEST GENERATION

Ben Steele served as one of our local Elders for most of his life. We owe such a debt of gratitude to him. It can justly be said that he is part of America’s greatest generation. He volunteered to go to war to defend his wife, his family and his nation during WWII. It was a sacrifice and decision that his wife supported, which speaks volumes about their generation. Brother Steele returned home with horror stories held deep in his heart—that is until a few years ago when the doctor told him that what he was hiding inside from his days with the 101st Airborne were literally killing him. Ben and I sat at a local hospital this past week. His wife, Ethelynn, had taken a tumble that landed her in the hospital. It wasn’t strange to find her loyal companion, although feeble and facing the early onset of Alzheimer disease himself, nearby trying to be her constant protector.

Ben talked through tears and with great pride of what others had so faithfully done for our nation and to preserve his family's freedom. Little was said of his own feats and sacrifices. He recounted events of encounters with the “Filthy Thirteen,” who gained notoriety first during their training in England for taking a bath only once a week and for not washing their uniforms. Of course their heroism in battle remains the most historically significant detail. The Filthy Thirteen were air dropped into the city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge with equipment that would guide the supply planes through enemy fire and eventually rearm the trapped 101st Airborne. Ben freely admits the Filthy Thirteen weren’t model soldiers. What made them so special? Ben told of an encounter with a gunner on a tank who was one of those pinned down by enemy fire in Bastogne. With only three shells left in his gun, what a sight to see the US cargo planes coming through enemy flack guided by the heroic feats of the Filthy Thirteen, and that was but one of their four heroic ventures behind enemy lines. The Filthy Thirteen just seemed to know what needed to be done; they trained to be prepared and then, with little thought of themselves, took on the dangerous feats of dropping behind enemy lines to accomplish a greater cause. These men and so many others deserve our gratitude. When our nation needed them the most, they stood the tallest!

My thoughts turn to another group of faithful soldiers who have fought and are still fighting in the spiritual trenches in a cause that is older than the church itself. Their greatness is no accident either. Planned from eternity. Unified in the cause of Christ. Forged under the banner of his love. Great congregations emerge from the ruins of this dark old world because church leaders and members realize that to ignore heaven’s call to become great for God’s glory spells doom for our world. Last month three writers addressed the characteristics required to build great congregations (Great Purpose, Great Evangelistic Commitment and Great Giving). This month three more writers add to those thoughts, inspiring those of us who love the Lord and his church to march faithfully forward with heavenly inspiration, power and direction in pursuit of making known the glory and greatness of Christ's Church.         -Bill

May CrossTies - DOOR TO DOOR IN ASHLAND, OREGON

Buddhist, nudist (aka, Jennifer Moss—The Naked Lady), environmentalist and the rest of us might be the best descriptive terms for the door knocking effort in Ashland, Oregon. I had the privilege of being among the saints in Southern Oregon for 10 days in April. It was my first experience knocking doors in this part of our country. Their evangelistic outreach benefited from beautiful weather, a blessing Brother Duane Ash, one of the two Ashland Elders, tells me they have enjoyed in all their door knocking efforts. I was amazed at how many patrons of the Zen Center (Buddhist Temple) we met knocking doors in Ashland. Most Buddhist’s homes were readily identifiable. Pudgy statues of Buddha adorned many of these homes. Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Flags flew in many yards showering the air with blessings of luck, peace, happiness and good health each time the wind blows (or so they teach and believe).

As to the Ashland church, I was most impressed with the youngest door knockers. The Church of Christ in Ashland numbers only about 17 on most Sunday mornings. More than one third of their number is below the age of 14. John and Trudi Vermillion’s three children, along with Rodney and Trina Ash’s three children, were such a bright spot as I witnessed these young, eager hearts spreading the message of Christ. The door knocking was actually set during spring break this year so all the children would be available to participate. The Ashland Elders are committed to evangelism believing it is their church’s responsibility to spiritually plant and water, leaving the "increase" in the hands of God (1 Corinthians 3:6). It’s apparent their vision to reach Ashland for Christ includes the talents of the youngest and oldest members of their congregation.

Results: The April door knocking saw results the first Sunday when a neighborhood lady visited their morning assembly. Surely the spiritual seeds sown and watered will see additional, visible fruit in God’s own timing. One thing is very apparent: It’s hard for God to make a seed grow if it is still in the package.                —Bill

June CrossTies - OVERCOMING OUR IDENTITY CRISIS

It seems hard to preach these days without an airplane! In the past months I am indebted to the airline industry that has shuttled me to and from Oregon, Texas, California, Mexico and soon to India, all in the cause of evangelism. Those poor preachers of the 40s, 50s and 60s did not have the benefit of our modern transportation conveniences, although they fared better than Jesus on a borrowed donkey and Paul in his "for hire" sail boat! Yet, with all our modern conveniences the church in the United States is lagging when it comes to saving the lost or even holding our own! The United Press International reported in 1965 that the "churches of Christ" were the fastest growing religion in America. I know those facts are a bit distorted. The men reporting for the "churches of Christ" had no firm grasp on the growth of our autonomous congregations—they just kept adding 10% every year. While the data was not based upon good science or even science at all, it did reflect a time of rapid, indisputable growth. Things have also changed undeniably in the years that have followed.

Identity: It seems to me what the church in America enjoyed in the mid 20th century, and we have been losing, is an awareness of who we are. What has happened? Those who were part of the church’s rapid growth were propelled by their greatest strength: their love for the purity of God’s Word. Sadly, as things played out, history seems to show their greatest asset became our greatest weakness. What? Their love for the unadulterated, biblical truth gave way without great notice as "we" began to confuse who the enemy was and turned on each other with our "own truths." Unity gave way to division and separate "pharisaical" sects. Then while we fought among ourselves the world continued to change. America and the western world evolved into our modern society of complete tolerance for almost anything and everything (even damnable things). The Restoration movement wisely fashioned upon a "thus saith the Lord" suddenly found our arguments carried very little weight with the very ones we now are attempting to lead to Christ.

How do we regain the identity of our churches and brotherhood? First, it is not in abandoning those things that we know make us a unique, God-fearing people! Abandoning spiritual truths just makes us another ordinary, human organization—not a divine, God-inspired organism! We must once again elevate God’s Word in our discussions. Nothing raises the level of a discussion or answers the real questions of life better than Jesus and his truth! He has, always has had, the answer for every question or problem of life. We must speak the Word——not the traditions of man, whether theirs or ours! Our identity is wrapped up 100% in our God-given uniqueness. That seems rather simple in an age of airplanes and high speed internet, doesn’t it? Identify with Christ! Identify with his word! Identify with his church! —Bill

July CrossTies - ONE MAN'S TRASH

Every two weeks (or thereabouts) the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma dispatches a semi-truck to our church. It’s not uncommon that much of the molded and overly-ripe produce is immediately disposed of in our trash dumpster. Not until this morning did I realize a group of temporary workers for the sanitation department regularly feast from our dumpster on those Tuesdays. One of the supervisors came by the office to ask permission for their workers to continue retrieving produce and food products from our dumpster. Apparently most of their "temp" workers find their nightly accommodations and meals at the downtown soup kitchen. Can you imagine someone asking permission to eat from your church dumpster?

Wouldn’t Satan rejoice at such an invitation!. Jesus is just the opposite. He often found the "dumpster divers" and offered instead God’s banquet table, even the very Bread of Life himself (John 6). How disappointed Christ must have been at the end of John 6 when most of the approximately 15,000 spiritually emaciated souls determined to walk away from God’s table. Why would spiritually hungry people do that?

Author Lee Strobel once described the top ten beliefs of someone he called "Chesterfield Charlie," who struggles in "dining" freely in most of our churches:

Hunger seems to be a great problem, more than I realized. We filled the ice box at the Warr Acres Sanitation department. Now to better understand our mission in feeding the "Chesterfield Charlies" of this world. Dumpster diving for these folks seems a shame when God’s banquet table is overflowing in abundance.               —Bill

In the keynote speech to the U.S. Democratic National Convention in 1988, then Texas State Treasurer, Ann Richards, modified an old proverb at the expense of the well-born and wealthy George Bush: "Poor George, he can’t help it—he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." Richards’ words proved a valuable sound bite for the Democrats in that Presidential election. We know the old proverb simply as, "He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth." Medieval spoons were usually made of wood so to have been fed with a silver spoon spoke of social advantages, even aristocracy. I’ve had my head in several books lately, but especially Latourette’s A History Of Christianity (Volume I and II) and Alstrom’s A Religious History Of The American People. Latourette, maybe more than Alstrom, presses the point that Americans believe they are better. In other words, we’ve been fed with a silver spoon! Better Christians, better religiously, better morally and in past years, even economically (although the world seems to have caught up quickly on the latter).

Jonathan Edwards as he pondered the Great Awakening in 1740 stated, "Tis not unlikely that this work of God’s Spirit, that is so extraordinary and wonderful, is the dawning or at least a prelude, of that glorious work of God so often foretold in Scripture, which in the progress and issue of it shall renew the world of mankind…And there are many things that make it probable that this work will begin in America." George Bancroft in 1876 wrote, "to explain how the change in the condition of our land has been brought about; and, as the fortunes of a nation are not under the control of blind destiny, to follow the steps by which a favoring Providence, calling our institutions into being, has conducted the country to its present happiness and glory." Edwards and Bancroft saw the United States as the one nation with the "silver spoon" in our mouth, placed there by the hand of the Almighty himself. Denying Divine providence upon our nation would be foolish.

Thoughts of the issue theme, "Walking Before The Lord In The Land Of The Living," caught my attention as the phrase, "land of the living" was also used by King Hezekiah. He, too, came from a nation: the children of Israel that had enjoyed a silver spoon. The sad thing about silver spoons is they have this terrible propensity to become an Achilles heal if left unchecked. Arrogance. Pride. Self sufficiency. Hezekiah almost checked out of the land of the living (2 Kings 20: 1-11) until God intervened. Hezekiah offered a song or petition of thanksgiving when he realized dwelling in the land of the living left the occupants with "life" like a shepherd’s tent that could be pulled up and moved in a moments notice. Realizing he could lose it all, Hezekiah found living in God’s presence had it’s blessing. "The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; Fathers tell their children about your faithfulness" (Isaiah 38:20).

Being born with a spiritual silver spoon in our national mouths certainly has its advantages, namely seeing God moving and working about us in so many lives. But eating from a silver spoon can also be disastrous in the land of the living if we forget we must walk humbly, obediently and acceptably before our God while he grants us time and opportunity in the land of the living. —Bill Adcox

September - CrossTies - Speaking Across Cultures

Recently I was reading an article by Paul G. Hiebert, a former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, as he wrote about cross-cultural differences in Perspectives On the World Christian Movement: "In Palestine shepherds were respected and devout men. In India shepherds are the village drunkards, and in Christmas pageants in more than one instance they have come onto the stage reeling (as though) drunk…The fact is, there are no words in one culture that carry exactly the same meanings as the words in another culture." I think of one time in India where the place we were staying had no toilet paper. The scene was almost humorous as Scott Gage and I would go from one small store to another trying to convey to the Indian storekeepers that we wanted to purchase toilet paper. We were offered "choke removers" (plungers), toilet seats and a multitude of other items but only when we noticed some single rolls of toilet paper on a store shelf did we finally return to our compound victorious. Things have improved in India since then, but the difficulty remains in trying to find correct words that will effectively bridge the understanding of our two cultures on many levels.

We may be seeing the same problem of cross-cultures in our own land as the church strives to convert our own nation back to God. Are we speaking a language the lost can understand? J.D. Thomas in his 1974 book Heaven’s Window wrote, "…we should understand that the revelation is clear-cut, definite and objective so that there need be no vagueness or misunderstanding whatever. Unless the message God is revealing can be known exactly, the revelation has failed of its purpose and really is no revelation." Hiebert and Thomas’ writings drew my thoughts to the Apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 10:14: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

Hearing and believing are only possible when the gospel is presented in a language the listener can understand, and that the presenter himself or herself understands. Cross-cultural challenges are not just problems faced across the waters by missionaries and bible translators. Sometimes those same challenges occur in our own living rooms with our children, with our neighbor across the street or folks sitting on the church pews. America’s culture is changing faster now than ever. Despite our advances in modern communications, Jesus still cannot redeem the man or woman who is unable to locate the Redeemer. The lost must understand the directions in their own language. May God help us to speak his words in a language that each man, woman and child can fully know him. Otherwise, we can expect folks to keep hanging up the receiver on God.

Don’t misunderstand me...no "Christian-ease" please! No abandoning of scriptural truths or definitions in an effort to make it more palatable for modern respondents. Just simply the Jesus of scripture who can be understood in any culture or language. —Bill Adcox

October - CrossTies - Humbly His

He was an alcoholic and illiterate; I was merely a wet behind the ears preacher who thought he was a counselor...so went my first experience with the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous back in the 80s. It is apparent as I read the same book recently that my reading retention skills had pretty much matched my counseling prowess. One portion of Step Seven (Humbly Ask Him To Remove Our Shortcomings) captured my attention:

1 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1952), Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 75 p.

November - CrossTies - Must Everything Change?

"Everything must change; nothing stays the same. Everyone must change; no one stays the same. The young become the old, and mysteries do unfold. ‘Cause that’s the way of time; Nothing and no one goes unchanged...Winter turns to spring, a wounded heart will heal. But never much too soon. Yes, everything must change." Bernard Ighner’s song seems to express truths that are as old as time itself. With change being inevitable, let me speak of a few changes around GT as we provide this offering of the November 2009 issue.

We thank Bob Mullen who has masterfully handled the Care Ministry Column for the past eight years. The November column will see the culmination of Bob’s fruitful endeavor to provide teaching that has blessed, encouraged and helped us all. Bob is not alone when I speak of those who have been, and are, great blessings. To my Associate Editors let me pass along kudos for the masterful work you have and are doing! None of those associated with GT receive any monetary compensation. For each it is but a labor of love. Many give of their time and talents on a monthly basis. Travis Allen, Max Pratt, Scott Gage, Allen Ketchersid, Kay Talley, Joel Sandefur, Becky Sandefur, Homer Youngblood, David Langford, Mickey White and a host of others. This group of workers is so deserving of our praise and thanksgiving for their marvelous gifts that they so readily make available to this publication. While time marches on, they have faithfully kept the publication secure and stable.

Speaking of change let me mention GT’s effort to make the old sheet available through the electronic media. We are now offering our subscribers an opportunity to receive a color version of Gospel Tidings that would arrive via their email. The advantages of the PDF format is that it generally arrives earlier in the month to these customers, plus readers have the advantage of enjoying 1st generation pictures in full color. It is more cost effective for GT so we are offering PDF subscriptions at $5.00 a year. In time we are hopeful of having GT online where, with your subscription, you could access the site by password and peruse current and past issues at your leisure or for sermon preparation, news or research. GT will continue to publish the hard copy (booklet) for what remains the core of our readership. If you are wondering about change when it comes to the subscription price, GT remains the same low price of $8 per year (the same subscription price for more than 25 years).

The Greek Heraclitos observed more than 2500 years ago that you cannot step into the same river twice. The same cannot be said of the current GT catalog that has served us for the past two years. If you are still sporting the old 2008-09 Gospel Tidings Bookstore catalog, let me offer encouragement that the 2010-11 catalogs have arrived and we will try to post them sometime around the first of the year. Purchases from the bookstore and our web hosting have provided the necessary funding to offer GT at the same old price (because there’s some things we just hate to change).   —bda

December - Crossties - Let Tents Of Ease Be Left Behind