Why do we spend money on things like the Father’s Day Cook-out, the Fish Fry, Swim Party, and the Desert Reign Concert (Sept. 14)? Why would we want to buy food to cook and give away to people who don’t even come to our church? Why would we want to spend our time and money on them? After all, a lot of people we come in contact with never darken our doors, so why should we be wasting money on them. And further more, why should we waste our time even if some others are helping with it?
It’s called Outreach. I believe that we need to always be trying new ways to reach the lost and unchurched. Our Father’s Day Cook-out was great, we had over 100 people here, people that came to church, heard the Word, felt the love. The Fish Fry, we had over 110 people here who also heard the Word, felt the love, saw what fellowship is all about. Our Swim Party was a success, we had a good number of young couples come, some who are active in our church, some who will be and some who want to start coming to church here. We also had a lot of Kidzone kids present, getting ready for Kidzone to kick off. Our people had a good time and we had contact with a number of unchurched.
Maybe you believe that church isn’t about having fun, and that if the only way we can reach some people is to give away food or have a swim party, then maybe those people are not worth reaching. Jesus thought everyone was worth reaching. He went to the Pharisee’s house to eat, the Pharisee’s were religious bigot’s, he talked to the Samaritan woman, Samaritan’s were hated by the Jews. He went to the tax collector’s house, they were hated by everyone. He showed the woman who was caught in the act of adultery mercy, and he paid the ultimate price for you, His life.
So is outreach worth it, is it worth spending you time and money on? YES!
By the way, if you think that we should be doing outreach that doesn’t cost any money be at my house tonight at 6:00 pm for Visitation. See you there!!
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
NEO-NAZI FOUND FREEDOM IN PRISON
This is an artic that Russ Rankin of Lifeway wrote about Steven Neil, Paul Harris and myself concerning "Share Jesus Without Fear." It has been in many publications, enjoy.
By Russ Rankin
MINERAL WELLS, Texas—Seventeen years of prison and a lifetime of hate, violence and racism is mapped on Steven Neill’s body. Druids, swastikas, skulls and symbols of the occult circle and mesh darkly up his arms and disappear into his shirt; the letters “skinhead” are tattooed across the knuckles of both fists. Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous phrase – “God is dead” – stands defiantly in black, inked into his wrist.
But God is very much alive to Neill, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, Texas, and his markings weave a visible testimony of a life transformed.
“These are the roadmap of my life-story,” he said unashamedly, running a rough hand up his arm. The tattoos are an easy way to share Jesus, just like Share Jesus Without Fear – the witnessing method that stopped Neill in his tracks and led to his salvation.
The hate and resentment came at a young age for Neill, festered in a broken, abusive home and reinforced in Houston’s dangerous 4th Ward district. After a violent conflict with Hispanic gangs, a 13-year-old Neill found brotherhood with a group of American neo-Nazis. The abuse and neglect crystallized into hate as Neill studied the teachings of radical supremacists.
“We were extremely violent and militant,” he said. “We wanted to wage the racial holy war that Nietzsche spoke about.” Needing paramilitary training to advance in leadership, Neill joined the Army. The white supremacist attachments weakened in the discipline of the military until another altercation changed Neill’s life forever.
The fight started as an argument, but “I stabbed him,” Neill said. “Punctured a lung, severed the small intestine. He died four hours later. Aggravated murder with a deadly weapon gave me a 40-year sentence.”
Going to prison catapulted Neill back into his past. “It was a fight for survival,” he said. “I fully embraced my past and became violently racist.”
Following the teachings of Nietzsche, who blamed Christianity and Christians as the cause of all ills, “I was going to do anything I could do to eradicate Christianity,” Neill said. “In prison, society is organized into predators and prey. I was a predator. I could sense without a doubt who was prey.”
Neill said religious lines in prison were also obvious. Groups would organize based upon what particular ministries had come in and won converts. Converts were weak prey-types, he said. Some would become embolden and share their faith, an exercise Neill relished.
“If I couldn’t verbally convince them their faith was wrong, I’d beat them up,” he said. “But I didn’t have to do that very much because I knew every bit of anti-Christian philosophy – and I enjoyed a good argument – so I would utterly crush them.”
Faced with the Truth
Against his will, Neill was signed up to attend a prison ministry weekend. With his attendance now mandatory, Neill decided to be as offensive as possible.
“I’m rude, belligerent and I go off on how hypocritical everyone is at this thing,” Neill said. “I cussed everyone out and stormed off the stage. Then this guy jumps up into the aisle and jabs a finger in my chest.”
Up until that moment, Paul Harris had begrudgingly endured the prison outreach. His pastor made him come to the prison. Harris had only recently recommitted his life to God after years of charting his own course. But sitting in the prison yard listening to man after man speak about how much they loved God, feelings of condemnation and hypocrisy overwhelmed him.
“And all of a sudden I’m hearing this guy on stage calling us all hypocrites, and I’m agreeing with him,” Harris said. “As he’s stomping out, I jump out of my seat and stick my finger right in his chest and say, ‘You’re the reason I’m here!’
“As a former atheist, I had dabbled in everything he’d been in,” Harris said. “We locked horns that first night. We were both determined to win.”
Neill said he knew he was in a place of heavy discontent. “I came in unhappy, knowing I needed to change. But I went in with a combative attitude and Paul met me on that ground.
“It was intense,” Neill grinned. “Everything he threw at me I had an argument for.”
After an entire day of arguing, Randy Wilson, Harris’s pastor, stepped in and changed the game plan. “I hadn’t read all those books,” Wilson said. “Steven and Paul are both so intelligent. They sat there arguing and contradicting each other with humanistic philosophy. I told Paul it was time to present the Word.”
Wilson is a longtime fan of the Share Jesus Without Fear, produced by LifeWay Christian Resources. The resource offers three simple steps for sharing the Gospel: Five questions to determine where God is working, seven verses to let the Bible speak for itself – which the unbeliever reads for himself – and five questions that lead to the point of discussion.
“What’s so appealing is that it’s not about memorizing a thousand verses and quoting them all,” said Wilson, pastor of Carey Baptist Church, located outside Childress, Texas. “It’s easy. You ask five simples questions; the last is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
“Steven Neill could argue all day against [the Bible], but he’d never read it,” Wilson said. “And so we walked him through this simple process – with him reading the Scripture for himself. At the end, it’s a simple question: according to what you’re read, are you a sinner? Steven wouldn’t answer.”
That night back in lockdown, Neill said his life came into view. “I saw my life as it really was. But I saw everything as God would see it. I saw that I had gloried in active rebellion against God.
“There was no relief that night,” he said. “There was no hope. If I was prone to suicide, I would’ve have done it that night.”
Freedom
Neill said he walked back into the meeting the next morning a broken man. Harris and Wilson could only stare at what was a literal physical transformation. “The darkness was dropping from his face,” Wilson said.
“Randy pulled out his Share Jesus Without Fear Bible and had me read the Scriptures,” Neill said. “By the end, I was bawling like a baby.”
“We didn’t lead Steven to the Lord. We just witnessed to him,” Harris said. “That’s what is so good about Share Jesus Without Fear. When I first used it, it triggered something in me – it wasn’t about me or what I knew anymore. It was up to the Lord, His Word and the Holy Spirit.”
Neill knows it was the Holy Spirit that opened his eyes that day, but “I think the [SJWF] method is the only way I would’ve gotten there,” he said. “Instead of arguing, I was sitting there reading the Scripture. I’m honest enough with myself to reach for the truth.”
Unable to counter the Truth, Neill gave his life to Christ and immediately began a journey of growth. After beginning a Bible study with two other prisoners, the group grew to 26 as lives change and people began to come to Neill for spiritual matters.
“God wanted something more from me than just going to church,” he said. “He was calling me to something bigger. I was studying Scripture 14-16 hours a day and some amazing things happened. I would dream Scripture passages rolling through my head. I would wake up refreshed, often praying even as I woke up.”
Neill earned a Diploma of Pastoral Ministry through Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s extension program and a Diploma in Biblical Studies through Amherst College. After 17 years in prison, Neill was paroled, and he immediately submitted himself to further discipleship under Wilson. A short time later, Neill was ordained into the ministry.
“I want to see this church walk in freedom,” he said, speaking of Northside Baptist, the small West Texas congregation that accepted him with open arms. “I want them to know they can walk with the vilest of sinners because they have in them He who is stronger than the world. Then, lives will change.”
On June 29, Neill, along with Wilson, ordained Harris as associate pastor of Northside to serve alongside the former prisoner he introduced to the Lord. The foundation of the two men’s ministry is grounded in their mandate to share Jesus with boldness and confidence.
“Bill Fay (the writer of SJWF) truly had a great vision,” Harris said. “I believe it’s probably the best way for witnessing. And Share Jesus Without Fear has affected the mindset of our entire church. I believe it’s going to be a catalyst as we look outward.
“The radical power of God to transform lives is what amazes me,” Harris added. “Jesus was a radical man. And that’s why I love to share the Gospel.”
By Russ Rankin
MINERAL WELLS, Texas—Seventeen years of prison and a lifetime of hate, violence and racism is mapped on Steven Neill’s body. Druids, swastikas, skulls and symbols of the occult circle and mesh darkly up his arms and disappear into his shirt; the letters “skinhead” are tattooed across the knuckles of both fists. Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous phrase – “God is dead” – stands defiantly in black, inked into his wrist.
But God is very much alive to Neill, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, Texas, and his markings weave a visible testimony of a life transformed.
“These are the roadmap of my life-story,” he said unashamedly, running a rough hand up his arm. The tattoos are an easy way to share Jesus, just like Share Jesus Without Fear – the witnessing method that stopped Neill in his tracks and led to his salvation.
The hate and resentment came at a young age for Neill, festered in a broken, abusive home and reinforced in Houston’s dangerous 4th Ward district. After a violent conflict with Hispanic gangs, a 13-year-old Neill found brotherhood with a group of American neo-Nazis. The abuse and neglect crystallized into hate as Neill studied the teachings of radical supremacists.
“We were extremely violent and militant,” he said. “We wanted to wage the racial holy war that Nietzsche spoke about.” Needing paramilitary training to advance in leadership, Neill joined the Army. The white supremacist attachments weakened in the discipline of the military until another altercation changed Neill’s life forever.
The fight started as an argument, but “I stabbed him,” Neill said. “Punctured a lung, severed the small intestine. He died four hours later. Aggravated murder with a deadly weapon gave me a 40-year sentence.”
Going to prison catapulted Neill back into his past. “It was a fight for survival,” he said. “I fully embraced my past and became violently racist.”
Following the teachings of Nietzsche, who blamed Christianity and Christians as the cause of all ills, “I was going to do anything I could do to eradicate Christianity,” Neill said. “In prison, society is organized into predators and prey. I was a predator. I could sense without a doubt who was prey.”
Neill said religious lines in prison were also obvious. Groups would organize based upon what particular ministries had come in and won converts. Converts were weak prey-types, he said. Some would become embolden and share their faith, an exercise Neill relished.
“If I couldn’t verbally convince them their faith was wrong, I’d beat them up,” he said. “But I didn’t have to do that very much because I knew every bit of anti-Christian philosophy – and I enjoyed a good argument – so I would utterly crush them.”
Faced with the Truth
Against his will, Neill was signed up to attend a prison ministry weekend. With his attendance now mandatory, Neill decided to be as offensive as possible.
“I’m rude, belligerent and I go off on how hypocritical everyone is at this thing,” Neill said. “I cussed everyone out and stormed off the stage. Then this guy jumps up into the aisle and jabs a finger in my chest.”
Up until that moment, Paul Harris had begrudgingly endured the prison outreach. His pastor made him come to the prison. Harris had only recently recommitted his life to God after years of charting his own course. But sitting in the prison yard listening to man after man speak about how much they loved God, feelings of condemnation and hypocrisy overwhelmed him.
“And all of a sudden I’m hearing this guy on stage calling us all hypocrites, and I’m agreeing with him,” Harris said. “As he’s stomping out, I jump out of my seat and stick my finger right in his chest and say, ‘You’re the reason I’m here!’
“As a former atheist, I had dabbled in everything he’d been in,” Harris said. “We locked horns that first night. We were both determined to win.”
Neill said he knew he was in a place of heavy discontent. “I came in unhappy, knowing I needed to change. But I went in with a combative attitude and Paul met me on that ground.
“It was intense,” Neill grinned. “Everything he threw at me I had an argument for.”
After an entire day of arguing, Randy Wilson, Harris’s pastor, stepped in and changed the game plan. “I hadn’t read all those books,” Wilson said. “Steven and Paul are both so intelligent. They sat there arguing and contradicting each other with humanistic philosophy. I told Paul it was time to present the Word.”
Wilson is a longtime fan of the Share Jesus Without Fear, produced by LifeWay Christian Resources. The resource offers three simple steps for sharing the Gospel: Five questions to determine where God is working, seven verses to let the Bible speak for itself – which the unbeliever reads for himself – and five questions that lead to the point of discussion.
“What’s so appealing is that it’s not about memorizing a thousand verses and quoting them all,” said Wilson, pastor of Carey Baptist Church, located outside Childress, Texas. “It’s easy. You ask five simples questions; the last is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
“Steven Neill could argue all day against [the Bible], but he’d never read it,” Wilson said. “And so we walked him through this simple process – with him reading the Scripture for himself. At the end, it’s a simple question: according to what you’re read, are you a sinner? Steven wouldn’t answer.”
That night back in lockdown, Neill said his life came into view. “I saw my life as it really was. But I saw everything as God would see it. I saw that I had gloried in active rebellion against God.
“There was no relief that night,” he said. “There was no hope. If I was prone to suicide, I would’ve have done it that night.”
Freedom
Neill said he walked back into the meeting the next morning a broken man. Harris and Wilson could only stare at what was a literal physical transformation. “The darkness was dropping from his face,” Wilson said.
“Randy pulled out his Share Jesus Without Fear Bible and had me read the Scriptures,” Neill said. “By the end, I was bawling like a baby.”
“We didn’t lead Steven to the Lord. We just witnessed to him,” Harris said. “That’s what is so good about Share Jesus Without Fear. When I first used it, it triggered something in me – it wasn’t about me or what I knew anymore. It was up to the Lord, His Word and the Holy Spirit.”
Neill knows it was the Holy Spirit that opened his eyes that day, but “I think the [SJWF] method is the only way I would’ve gotten there,” he said. “Instead of arguing, I was sitting there reading the Scripture. I’m honest enough with myself to reach for the truth.”
Unable to counter the Truth, Neill gave his life to Christ and immediately began a journey of growth. After beginning a Bible study with two other prisoners, the group grew to 26 as lives change and people began to come to Neill for spiritual matters.
“God wanted something more from me than just going to church,” he said. “He was calling me to something bigger. I was studying Scripture 14-16 hours a day and some amazing things happened. I would dream Scripture passages rolling through my head. I would wake up refreshed, often praying even as I woke up.”
Neill earned a Diploma of Pastoral Ministry through Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s extension program and a Diploma in Biblical Studies through Amherst College. After 17 years in prison, Neill was paroled, and he immediately submitted himself to further discipleship under Wilson. A short time later, Neill was ordained into the ministry.
“I want to see this church walk in freedom,” he said, speaking of Northside Baptist, the small West Texas congregation that accepted him with open arms. “I want them to know they can walk with the vilest of sinners because they have in them He who is stronger than the world. Then, lives will change.”
On June 29, Neill, along with Wilson, ordained Harris as associate pastor of Northside to serve alongside the former prisoner he introduced to the Lord. The foundation of the two men’s ministry is grounded in their mandate to share Jesus with boldness and confidence.
“Bill Fay (the writer of SJWF) truly had a great vision,” Harris said. “I believe it’s probably the best way for witnessing. And Share Jesus Without Fear has affected the mindset of our entire church. I believe it’s going to be a catalyst as we look outward.
“The radical power of God to transform lives is what amazes me,” Harris added. “Jesus was a radical man. And that’s why I love to share the Gospel.”
Pastor's Pen 8-17-08
I received this e-mail from Derrell Monday, our Director of Missions, pray about this and see if this is something you might be interested in.
“We have the possibility of doing a construction project (a duplex or housing work) in Haiti for a seminary there. We would be looking at January and February, ideally with two or three (or more) teams staggered to go in and do the project or as much as possible. We would need builders, plumbers, electric, good "Indians" and all. We could have some that would be able to do prayer walking or other things if not able to do construction, but construction would be the focus. I do not have costs yet, but when the missionary returns to Haiti next week he will send me sample plans for the building needed and other information.
I am sending this now for you consideration as if we plan to try to respond we will need to make a commitment and get started enlisting workers and getting a staggered schedule of folks to go. We would not need large groups, but 10-15 or so in each group.
Please pray about this and let's discuss it at the board meetings. Thanks. Derrell”
All I can say is, pray about it, we have some in our church who have a specialty, and we have a good group of Indians, after all we can only stand so many chiefs. Anyway, pray about this and if God lays it on your heart to go and build in Haiti, you will need a passport and money, but the good news is, we have time for both. Time to get your passport (apply now) and time to raise some money. We can do some church fund raisers and you can raise some on your own. If God opens this door, and if He leads you to go, I can guarantee you that this will be a mission trip you will never forget.
So start praying now, please don’t just dismiss this and say that there is no way you can go, with God there is. Remember, prayer is the key.
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
“We have the possibility of doing a construction project (a duplex or housing work) in Haiti for a seminary there. We would be looking at January and February, ideally with two or three (or more) teams staggered to go in and do the project or as much as possible. We would need builders, plumbers, electric, good "Indians" and all. We could have some that would be able to do prayer walking or other things if not able to do construction, but construction would be the focus. I do not have costs yet, but when the missionary returns to Haiti next week he will send me sample plans for the building needed and other information.
I am sending this now for you consideration as if we plan to try to respond we will need to make a commitment and get started enlisting workers and getting a staggered schedule of folks to go. We would not need large groups, but 10-15 or so in each group.
Please pray about this and let's discuss it at the board meetings. Thanks. Derrell”
All I can say is, pray about it, we have some in our church who have a specialty, and we have a good group of Indians, after all we can only stand so many chiefs. Anyway, pray about this and if God lays it on your heart to go and build in Haiti, you will need a passport and money, but the good news is, we have time for both. Time to get your passport (apply now) and time to raise some money. We can do some church fund raisers and you can raise some on your own. If God opens this door, and if He leads you to go, I can guarantee you that this will be a mission trip you will never forget.
So start praying now, please don’t just dismiss this and say that there is no way you can go, with God there is. Remember, prayer is the key.
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Gossip, An Enemy of Unity
Did you know that there are 5 forces that can tear the unity of a church apart? Poor communication, gossip, unresolved disagreements, lack of a shared purpose and sanctioned incompetence. I want to take a closer look at the destructive nature of gossip.
It’s impossible for people to be comfortable working around or worshiping with each other, let alone enjoy each other, when gossip is present. Gossip is inherently degrading; it will divide and destroy a church or an organization.
What is gossip? It is delivering negative information—any negative information about anyone or anything—to someone who cannot do something about it.
Our motto here at Carey should be: negatives go up; positives go all around. We are, after all, the real beneficiaries of that policy. We need to know what we can and can’t do with negative information; there is no gray area. Of equal importance, we can point to that rule with pride and cut gossip off before it has a chance to do any damage.
Negative stuff will happen. That’s inevitable. The negatives may be about a person or a process. Either way, they need to be handed to the pastor or a deacon, (these are the leaders in the church), someone who can do something about them. If you’re mad at a leader, talk to another leader about it. But complaining to anyone else is disloyalty, and it fosters a negative spirit that will trash the church.
If a person needs to be counseled or educated or reprimanded, that’s a leader’s job. If a process needs to be changed, that’s also a leader’s responsibility. If the situation is really none of the communicator’s business, then a leader will let him or her know that, too.
However, if someone delivers the same negatives to a peer or tells someone below them on the chain of command, then that’s gossip. It’s that simple.
Passing along negative information for the sole purpose of telling someone is gossip. That should never be tolerated in a church that strives for unity. Remember, negatives go up; positives go all around.
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
It’s impossible for people to be comfortable working around or worshiping with each other, let alone enjoy each other, when gossip is present. Gossip is inherently degrading; it will divide and destroy a church or an organization.
What is gossip? It is delivering negative information—any negative information about anyone or anything—to someone who cannot do something about it.
Our motto here at Carey should be: negatives go up; positives go all around. We are, after all, the real beneficiaries of that policy. We need to know what we can and can’t do with negative information; there is no gray area. Of equal importance, we can point to that rule with pride and cut gossip off before it has a chance to do any damage.
Negative stuff will happen. That’s inevitable. The negatives may be about a person or a process. Either way, they need to be handed to the pastor or a deacon, (these are the leaders in the church), someone who can do something about them. If you’re mad at a leader, talk to another leader about it. But complaining to anyone else is disloyalty, and it fosters a negative spirit that will trash the church.
If a person needs to be counseled or educated or reprimanded, that’s a leader’s job. If a process needs to be changed, that’s also a leader’s responsibility. If the situation is really none of the communicator’s business, then a leader will let him or her know that, too.
However, if someone delivers the same negatives to a peer or tells someone below them on the chain of command, then that’s gossip. It’s that simple.
Passing along negative information for the sole purpose of telling someone is gossip. That should never be tolerated in a church that strives for unity. Remember, negatives go up; positives go all around.
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
ARE YOU READY?
You never know from day to day, hour to hour, moment to moment how you life will be changed. That is the way it was for Becky and I on Wednesday, July 16. She has had this type of rash on her foot for years, and it is trying to spread. Now we have been to many doctors with it over the years and all of them just kind of blew it off as nothing, but a dermatologist in Amarillo did a biopsy on it and sent it in. Well her foot wasn’t wanting to heal so she went to see Dr. Green who did a culture on it. We flew into Denver for our few days off and her foot began hurting really bad so she called Dr. Green who put her on a half of a dose of antibiotics and told her when we got home to come in and see him. So she did and while she was there Dr. Green called the dermatologist to see what the test results were. This is when he told Dr. Green that Becky has cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, cancer. So we went to see the oncologist on Tuesday, July 22 not knowing what to expect. He did some tests and will do more but in his own words, “If there is a cancer to get, this is it.” Basically, this is the type of cancer that shows on the skin and will most likely never show on the inside and that is what these tests are for. Most likely it will be treated with a steroid cream or pills, worst case maybe some radiation or chemo but he did not expect it. We are now waiting on the blood test and pet scan results.
So we never know what life will throw us, but regardless, we know who still sits on the throne and we know who still saves us from our sins and we know where the redeemed of the Lord will spend eternity. Are you ready?
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
So we never know what life will throw us, but regardless, we know who still sits on the throne and we know who still saves us from our sins and we know where the redeemed of the Lord will spend eternity. Are you ready?
In HIS Service,
Bro. Randy
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