Hello, Crossroads Family!
I look forward to connecting with many of you over the course of this coming week and also next Sunday for worship and a cookout!
It sounds like you’ve had two great Sundays without me! I’m happy to hear that! Thanks to everyone who helped coordinate Sunday worship, and thanks again to Mark Tice and to Markus Kirner for preaching in my place.
Don’t forget about our cookout this Sunday following worship! The purpose of the cookout is twofold :
- To enjoy some needed fellowship (as we did at the last hot dog cookout we had).
- To have a presence in the community and hopefully make some connections with people who need to rub shoulders with a part of the Body of Christ.
We’ll gather at the Walton Park Pool parking lot after our morning worship service. I hope you can be there! Please bring chairs for yourself and maybe an extra for anyone who may stop by to visit. Also, if someone has an extra table they can bring, would you let Julie Kemper know that? Thank you!
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Immerse resumes this Wednesday night at our church building, from 7-8:15 pm. It’s a good time to re-connect with Immerse and the encouraging discussions that are a part of it. The reading assignment for this Wednesday is pp 122-153 in the Immerse Bible (1 Samuel 21 – 2 Samuel 12).
———————————Some thoughts from my time off …
Thank you very much for your prayers for me while I had some Spring Break time off. I appreciate the care you show me. Thanks for giving me some space to focus on areas in my life other than church ministry. It was a great time. I feel like my heart and mind are so full of thoughts from the past two weeks and beyond that I’m still trying to sort it all out. Let me share a bit below.
First, though, let me say that I’m eager to get back to preaching this Sunday. I trust God will bless us as we move towards the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This Sunday we’ll be at a very practical section of what it means to live up to our high calling — a discussion in Ephesians 5 on marriage. I want to take this section in two parts :
- First, what is marriage? Do we even know what marriage is, according to God’s Word?
- Second, what does “submission” mean? What does it mean for us to submit ourselves to one another, for wives to submit themselves to their husbands, children to their parents, etc? Not easy questions, but understanding what God is saying here can be a tremendous and important help to all of us as we journey through life.
A little bit about the past week or so :
I’ve had the blessing, actually over the course of the past three weeks, of seeing almost all my kids and grandkids who live in the central part of the U.S. Of these “Midwestern” children of mine, I’ve only missed seeing my daughter-in-law Hannah, Billy’s wife.
Billy came through Nevada earlier this month during a rare week off from work. He and I enjoyed seeing the bison and hiking through a very soggy Prairie State Park out near Liberal. Billy is still quite severely hampered by two herniated disks in his back. It’s hard to see someone as active as he is struggle with something as debilitating as this back pain is. Billy puts in long hours in this, his third year of medical school residency in Wichita, then many times must come home and simply lie on the floor in order to find relief. Thanks for your prayers for Billy and Hannah. I enjoyed my time with Billy.
Evan was home several days during his Spring Break from the College of the Ozarks, and with the sunshine we had that week, we were able to have several good tennis matches and just a little bit of pickleball, too. Evan was preparing for a pickleball tournament in the St Louis area. When Evan’s home, the routine is fairly predictable, and I always enjoy it. It often involves a trip to Freddy’s after we get some tennis in.
During the first weekend of Nevada’s spring break, I was able to be in Texas to see my son Sam and his wife Maddie, newlyweds. We made a day trip to the Dallas Arboretum where the tulips and many other flowers were blooming. What a blessing and a joy to be among crowds of people from what seemed to be every nation on earth. So many different languages being spoken added to the beauty of the day. Sam and I also got some tennis in, and I even beat him once — something which hasn’t happened in a long, long time! I enjoyed the sermon at their church that Sunday on “warning” passages given in Hebrews 3, 6, and 10. It was a helpful and hopeful message; I hope I’ll have a chance to share some parts of it with you soon. I also enjoyed being the old man in their young singles & couples Sunday school class — about 50 or so “kids” studying the book of Genesis. Good discussion. What a blessing to see young adults interested in reading and discussing the Bible.
This past weekend I was with my oldest daughter Emma, her husband Jason, and their six children in cold, windy northern Iowa. We also enjoyed some fun times together including one evening when I babysat the four oldest while Emma and Jason attended a marriage conference at the church where Jason is pastor. Their church, Westview Church, has completed the exterior of a new church building. They’re a church of 200 or more and are lacking space for Sunday worship. They’ve erected the exterior of the building without debt, but they’re soon to vote on taking out a $1 million loan for the interior work needed to finish the building. I enjoyed the adult Sunday school study in Romans 6 and also Jason’s sermon yesterday on the story of Gideon. I sat in the back row which was one of three rows filled with children — quite “busy”!
Thinking about the growth at Westview and the decisions they’re making concerning their new home drove home again the high cost of things and our own space needs, present and future, at Crossroads. When the elders meet on April 6, we’ll continue discussion we initiated at our last meeting about how to approach these needs. As we look to the future, we’re also trying to consider how we might expand our budget to provide for a full-time pastor at Crossroads. To bring a new pastor and his family to Crossroads when my ministry is finished will be much easier if we’re able to pay for a full-time position. Even now the role of pastor at Crossroads has evolved significantly from where it was ten years ago when I first took on an extra job at Nevada High School. Doing an adequate job of shepherding and teaching while holding down a second job is not as obvious as it might appear. All this kind of planning requires vision, prayer, and input from the congregation. Thanks for being part of that praying! Feel free to share your thoughts with the elders as we seek God’s will together. Thanks for being willing to receive the changes God will guide us through as we become all He wants us to be!
I was also able to stop in at Esther’s apartment yesterday while on my way home. It was a refreshing stop near the end of a long trip home. I’m proud of Esther and the hard work she has put in this past year at the Herzog Foundation. Last week she attended the National Review Ideas Summit just outside of Washington, DC. I chuckled because National Review magazine was one of several magazines my parents subscribed to when I was growing up. Even as a teenager, I looked forward to reading the ideas debated between its covers.
The Herzog Foundation provides training and support for Christian school teachers and administrators all across the U.S. Earlier this month, I had an opportunity to visit with one of the individuals starting a Christian school in Nevada for grades K-5. You might be interested in reading about it online — Beacon Christian School. You can link to their website here.
I’ve been weighed down the past two weeks by the sudden passing of a 17-year-old who attended our church in Hermann, Missouri. Jack was a smiling 7-year-old when I finished my ministry at Hermann in 2015. Our family loved his cheerful disposition, and since that time he grew to become a well-loved, active member of FFA and other pursuits at Hermann High School. Jack’s dad, Lucas, was one of the men who moved our family from Hermann to Nevada in July 2015. Jack was the only son of Lucas and Andrea and was killed in a car accident. The memorial service was yesterday in Hermann. A 6-hour visitation was scheduled Saturday which gives you an indication of the number of people expected and how much Jack and his family are loved in that community. It’s still hard for me to think about it without the tears welling up.
Jack’s passing, along with the passing of Shane Dahmer’s dad and Diane Ray’s mom, reminds me of the brevity and fragility of life. The passing of a young person raises lots of questions that are hard to answer. Yet, the reality is that none of us knows the number of our days. God does — which is a good thing — but from our human perspective life seems unpredictable, and a person’s passing sometimes very unfair. We must all be ready for what is inevitable for each one of us. Frequently, in studying the Bible, we talk about the slavery of sin, but Hebrews 2 speaks about people who live in slavery “through the fear of death.” Everyone is born with a natural fear of death, but it need not be a fear that enslaves us because of Jesus having risen from the dead. Death has been conquered — good news for all who know Him, and good news we must share with others.
From some strange reason, during all my driving over the course of the past ten days, I got hooked on some YouTube videos from a person who grew up in the Mormon church but has since left Mormonism. I feel like I know more about Mormonism than I ever did before! Truly very interesting and very disturbing. One of the recurring themes of this person’s story is that, as a Mormon, she just had to “keep trying harder.” As a Mormon, the hope of eternal life depends on keeping lots of rules while on earth. I’m so thankful for the free gift Christ offers — new life now, rich and growing, and eternal.
Two Final Words
First, there is an opportunity for women at Crossroads to bless others on Sunday, April 13, at 3 pm. All women interested are invited to the church to help fill gently-used purses with essential items for women in our community who could use a boost of confidence and a practical gesture of love. As you’re able, bring a used purse and/or some travel-size toiletries, toothpaste, lip balm, etc, … or a card or a note of encouragement for someone in the community who could be blessed by such a gift. Feel free to contact Bobbie Barbour (417-540-0545) or Diane Ray (417-684-7805) if you have questions. (Details also in the sidebar.) Thank you!
Second, I’m going to tack on below some thoughts I recently received on discipleship from a retired missionary colleague of mine. I hope, if you have the time and have endured this far through this email, you will be encouraged by what Hank has written — some basic, helpful descriptions about what discipleship is. (Hank currently serves in his church in Minnesota and ministers in a local assisted living facility.)
I hope to see you this week at some point or, at the least, this coming Sunday morning!
— Tom
“Christian discipleship is a term that many of us never hear outside of our Christian experience, so it might be helpful to understand it from a biblical perspective. What is discipleship according to the Bible? The word for “disciple” is a learner who follows a master teacher. In contrast to our current Western era, learning in Jesus’ time was very relational and holistic. “Discipleship meant much more than just the transfer of information . . . it referred to imitating the teacher’s life, inculcating his values, and reproducing his teachings.” Therefore, Christian discipleship connotes a relationship with a master teacher, following them, and adhering to their way of life because their teaching shapes your own worldview. ” (Christy Hill)
The ordinary means of grace: “Just as Jesus called His first disciples to follow Him, so every Christian is called to discipleship. And discipleship is a life, not a program in the church. Ministries, classes, small groups and programs can help us in our discipleship, but such activities do not define what a disciple is. These activities also should not displace the primary means of discipleship – the ministry of the preached Word, the ordinances, and prayer in corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. God promises to work through these ordinary means of grace to form and fortify disciples of Jesus Christ.” (Burk Parsons)
Personal spiritual disciplines: I love worshipping the Lord every Sunday, as well as participating in our small group twice a month, but I need more frequent nurture than that to grow as a disciple, so every morning I spend time reading the Word, memorizing the Word, praying, and singing a hymn at the beginning of my day. Donna does the same, and sometimes we share with each other what we are learning. In addition, we pray together every night.
Practices in the Christian life: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress … .” (James 1:27a) As for a more active form of discipleship, I have found that visiting elderly folks in our church and at The Rivers is a way I can personally practice this verse. It truly gives me joy to do this! I love visiting with these older folks, reading the Bible to them, and praying for them!
However, I need to beware of a warning by Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest. “The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. … We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. … The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him.”
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