Christ Communicator

Following up my post on my time recently in a country church, I wanted to post this article Jim Elliff wrote on rural churches. It is very helpful and encouraging, especially if you are in a church that doesn’t seem to be “growing” like the big church in town.

Here’s a portion of an e-mail sent from the pastors to the members of Christ Fellowship of KC yesterday: “We wanted you to know that the church has overwhelmingly affirmed our decision concerning Steve and Patty Burchett. Thanks for praying that through. On Sunday evening we will officially pray together and set Steve apart for this work as our fourth pastor.” I’m so thankful to God for this. This is only happening by His grace. Patty and I simply love our church, and what a joy it has been already to shepherd the church with the other elders of Christ Fellowship.

Ministry to college students is unpredictable. I have often referred to that age group as “elusive” because just when you think you have them figured out and you know their routines, they disappear.

Today at Park, the young lady from the Muslim family did not show up. The young man from Kenya did, but only briefly. He got in a bit of a car wreck yesterday (we had a bit of a snow storm) and was borrowing a car that had to be returned by 3 p.m. (He was telling me this at 3:20 p.m.). I wish he could have stayed, but I was really glad to connect with him after Christmas break. Also, as I stated yesterday, Ryan Upton was out of town, so now what?  Would any other students show up that had previously come? Perhaps a few that Ryan had invited, but had never come, would show up?

Well, one more person showed up–Bryan Elliff.  He’s a godly young man who will be going off to college next year.  Yes, I was disappointed at the lack of attendance as I stood there in the hallway and chatted a bit with Bryan, but I was praying, “Lord, please give us one student today to share the good news with. Please, Lord!” Bryan and I walked upstairs toward the cafeteria where we meet, and I said something like, “Let’s go on in and perhaps the Lord has someone for us in here to talk to.”  We were going to sit down at a particular table, but a young man was cleaning the tables, and he made it clear that he would rather us sit somewhere else. We went into the cafeteria a bit, and there sat a young lady.  We sat at a table close by hers, and I made a comment to her about her “Chicago” sweatshirt, asking if she was a Bears fan.  “No, I just visited.”  The conversation had begun, and for about another 30 minutes, Bryan and I dialogued with her about her beliefs, and we told her the good news. She was a very delightful college student to talk to, very confused about the truth, and receptive of our encouragement to ask the question, “Does the Bible actually teach what my pastor is saying it teaches about God, man, and Christ?” 

That wasn’t exactly the “Bible study” I had planned, but Bryan and I went away grateful to God for the opportunity, and we were reminded again of just how important your prayers are.  That encounter today was an answer to not only my brief prayer in the hallway, but to the many, many prayers that so many of you have taken to the Lord on behalf of our ministry to the students of Park.

Please pray for the Bible Study that will begin tomorrow for the new semester at Park U.  A young man from Kenya, who has attended several times, said he would be there, along with a young lady from a Muslim family.  Ryan will be out of town this week, but he’s doing a great job of building relationships at Park and inviting people to this Friday afternoon study.

This weekend (I was in Athens, Ohio–more on this in a future post), I got to spend several hours with a young man who just recently got back from a two-year missionary stint in East Asia. His name is Mark, he was a college student and member of First Baptist Church of Athens while I was the pastor there, and he’s like my “son in the faith.” I just love to hear Mark talk about his dreams, and also his experiences (he could have lost his life a couple of times these past two years!). 

He said something Sunday afternoon that was so profound, I wanted to share it with you. He was talking about how truly difficult life on the mission field can be (he was not complaining, just stating facts), and then he said something like this, “You can go to a hard place and might be sustained for maybe a couple of months just off of the buzz of John Piper sermons, but spiritual highs from things like that don’t last. What is ultimately needed is steady and prayerful meditation on Scripture.” Mark and I both really love John Piper’s preaching, and God has given the church pastor-teachers (Ephesians 4:11-12), but I think he’s on to something here, not only for future missionaries but Christians in general.  Consider the words of the psalmist: ”The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8). Or think of Jesus Who, when He was in the wilderness being tempted, was sustained by and countered Satan with Scripture (see Matthew 4:1-11).

Piper sermons are normally very helpful, but they must complement, not replace, a life of Scripture reading and meditation. John Piper’s words will not get you through the hard times, God’s Word will. Thanks, Mark. I love you brother. 

A married couple (with two boys) in our church, have created a blog about their journey to adoption.  They write, ”We have set up this blog to keep everyone informed of how everything is going, and specific needs you can pray for.” Many (most?) of you reading this may not know this family, but they are in my home congregation and I thought you might be encouraged to read their story. Also, I’m so proud of them I just had to tell somebody, so why not the worldwide web! Here’s the blog: http://sing-to-jesus.blogspot.com/

Click on the following link for an adaptation of chapter 4 of the book Jim Elliff and I are writing on childhood conversion: http://www.bulletininserts.org/txtfiles/cable.pdf.  The chapters of the book will be fairly short, but we really have to condense them to fit into a bulletin insert.  In other words, there is some really helpful information that gets edited out, FYI.  The picture Susan Verstraete (the administrative assistant for CCW) chose for this insert is stellar! Excellent choice, Susan!

If you’re curious about my preaching engagement this past Sunday, I wrote about it in a letter to Katie and Luke, found at the following link: http://stevenburchett.blogspot.com/2007/12/dying-country-church.html.