A Heart For "All Nations"

 More than 50 people gathered together on October 27, 2013 in the Community Room of Earl Bales Park in North York, Ontario, for the 2nd Anniversary Service of All Nations Baptist Church Toronto.  It was my pleasure to be the guest speaker for this wonderful group of Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and Pastor Jolly Ampong and his wife, Mary Jane.

It was a strange turn of events that brought me to visit Jolly and Mary Jane back in August with a team from Westmoreland Baptist Church in Huntington, WV, and to be back there in October for the church plant's 2nd Anniversary.

The circumstances can only be identified as a "God Thing".

The story begins in February, 2000.

That is the year I made my first (of a dozen) short term mission trips to the Philippines.  I was part of a team of six eastern Kentucky pastors who made a two week trip to the Province of Negros Oriental in the Central Visayan area of the archipelago.  There we split up and worked with several native church planters of the Negros Oriental Southern Baptist Association.  After arriving in the provincial capitol of Dumaguete City, we took a 50 minute Fast Ferry ride to the neighboring island of Siquijor, for us to spend a couple of intense days of prayer and fellowship with the Filipino pastors who would be our partners for the next 11 days.

Thirteen of us crammed into a small "Easy Ride" (a huge misnomer) and we began an up close and personal relationship that transformed my ministry.  We bounced along the rough road that traversed the small "Island of Witchcraft".  Loaded down with Filipinos, Americans, and all our luggage, the little easy ride couldn't quite pull itself to the crest of the hill we were crossing after leaving the port city of Larena.  I wish you could have seen us all piling out of that little truck (like the clowns in the Volkswagen at the circus) and pushing the Easy Ride the rest of the way to the top of the hill.

Anyhow, we spent the next two days getting to know one another, planning our crusade strategy and itinerary, and sharing devotional time together.  One of the young Filipino pastors was a man named Jolly Ampong.  My first thoughts were that with his wide smile and jovial manner, he certainly lived up to his name.

When our brief retreat was over, it was time to get down to work.  We returned to Negros Island and once we reached Dumaguete we all went our separate ways for the crusade activities.  Bro. Charles Davis and I stayed in Dumaguete in the home of Pastor Reuben Allosa and his wife, Lolina.  Joed Rice traveled to the next town of Bacong, where he worked and stayed with Pastor Josue Cadiao and his wife, Christy.  Ric Frazier went north about an hour up the National Highway where he paired up with Pastor Benjamin Marcelino and his wife, Emma in Bais City.  Henry Mosley, partnered with Jolly Ampong.  Jolly and his late wife, Anita, were based in the town of Manjuyod, an hour and a half drive up the National Highway from Dumaguete City. 

I'll skip a lot of other details, but will just say that it was a joy working with the pastors of NOSBA.  I made two trips there over the next three years, working with Pastor Doming Valdez in the Upper Batinguel area.  On each of those trips it was a pleasure to be associated with the Filipino pastor/church planters. We worked with Jolly on three of those trips.  After Anita died from breast cancer, Jolly was unable to continue the church planting activities that had been based on Anita's family's property in Manjuyod.  We were never able to work with Jolly again in the Philippines, but we did stay in touch via email, and later through Facebook.

Fast forward a decade.

Jolly had remarried.  His new wife was Mary Jane Malaga from his native island of Mindinao.  Mary Jane had also attended the Southern Philippines Baptist Seminary, Jolly's Alma Mater.   She was in Canada working as a caregiver, and had almost given up on her dream of marrying a pastor.  But through a mutual friend, they were introduced and began a long distance relationship.  After marrying, Jolly began working on the papers to join Mary Jane in Metropolitan Toronto.  Shortly after arriving there, they began the work together to begin a new Baptist work in the city of North York in Metropolitan Toronto.

Westmoreland Baptist Church was seeking new ways to reach out in Missions.  Through a series of events, and the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board's "Send North America" initiative, my long time friendship with Jolly and their new work's affiliation with NAMB and "Send Toronto", we were able to hook up as partners for missions in the fourth largest metropolitan area in North America.  

God works in mysterious ways!

I would like to ask our readers to join us in praying for Jolly and Mary Jane as they work primarily in the large Asian community in North York. The challenges are great, but the Kingdom possibilities are unlimited. Although their present membership is made up of Filipino and Chinese believers,they are seeking to reach out to others in a multi ethnic ministry.   At the anniversary service there were Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, African Americans, Canadians, in attendance.  There was even a Muslim woman who visited, who had been invited by one of her co-workers who is a member of the church. 

They have a heart to reach out to everyone with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

There are only 300 Southern Baptist Churches (Canadian Baptist Convention) in Canada.  The goal is to increase that number to 1,000 by the year 2020.  By God's help, this can be accomplished!

We have also become acquainted with two other Baptist Church planters in the Toronto area (David Smith and Rudy Geronimo) with whom we also hope to partner in some way.  Will you join us in praying that God will use Jolly and Mary Jane and the other dedicated church planters who are working diligently for the Lord among our neighbors to the north?

The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few.

Trustees Take A Biblical Stand In Kentucky

This is a followup to my post from Saturday, November 2, regarding the Sunrise Children's Services (formerly the Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children) and their Director's proposal to change employment standards to allow for practicing homosexuals to serve on staff.  click here to see original post

The Sunrise Board of Trustees has voted to keep the hiring standards as they have always been.  While affirming that there is no one who is beyond the love of our God, and no one to whom we should not show Grace, as a former Kentucky Baptist pastor, I am thankful for the stand taken by the Trustees.  Those who serve the children of Kentucky through this long standing ministry of the Kentucky Baptist Cconvention
should certainly be held to the highest Biblical standards.

Here is a link to the Baptist Press article on the Trustee vote.  click here to view article

Since Sunrise presently receives over twenty five times more money from federal sources than it does from the parent organization, the Kentucky Baptist Convention, this decision may result in a radical reduction of funding.  We should continue to pray for this important ministry.  Pray that if the federal funding is taken away that the God who was able to serve more than 5,000 people with one little boy's lunch, will also show His power in this ministry.  May He honor the stand the Sunrise Trustees have taken for Biblical truth.

Little is much when God is in it.

A Report From Our Partners In The Philippines.

Several of you have written to ask about our friends and church planting partners in the Philippines.  It has been my pleasure to work with these dear people for the past 13 years in the province of Negros Oriental, in the Central Philippines.

I am thankful to report that we have heard from most of them.

I am passing along their communications in this post, so you all may see their level of trust in the Lord and their reactions to being hit by the strongest storm ever recorded to make landfall on the planet.

Negros had high winds and torrential rains, but they were blessed to be missed by the most powerful portion of the typhoon.

Here are communications we received from Pastor Josue Cadiao (who also had the family of Pastor Ernel Agaban with them in Bacong), and Pastor Roberto Martin in the coastal area of Bais City.

Hello Dear Brethren in the Lord,

God is gracious enough who holds our lives from the monster typhoon Yolanda.

We cannot hold our emotions upon looking  at the news. Hundreds of people were dead due to the typhoon and homes and establishments were broken. We are so sorry for them. And we prayed for God's comfort and hope for them.

For us we are sending our heartfelt gratitude and thanks giving for your earnest prayers for our situation upon waiting the coming of the typhoon. Your prayers mean a lot to us. God redirected the typhoon in our area Negros Oriental. From signal No. 4 to signal no. 2 He made it possible and it is because of all your prayers for us. We really appreciate. 

We cannot explain our emotions upon waiting the said typhoon but because of your prayers, your calls, and your concern we felt God's hand and comfort. and protection.

To Central , Burnaugh, Ptr. Darrell, Bro.  Richard, Ptr. Pete, Ptr. Joed, Dr. CJ and all who prayed for us our heartfelt appreciation to all.  How lucky we are to have you as our prayer partners. To God be the glory for all that He has done.

We are now back to our daily routine of works. Today we are experiencing a sunny day.

We will uphold you all in our prayers continually.

We thank God for all of you.

God's blessings be upon us all.

In His Vineyard,

Bro. Josue Cadiao, Cristy and Bacong Christian Fellowship

Pastor Roberto Martin in Bais City kept us updated with the following dispatches as the Typhoon approached, and in the aftermath:

11/6  5:59AM  “Hello dr. Cj.Pls pray for Negros we are the center of Super typhoon.The Gov. already suspended the classes for two days.please pray for the covering of God's hand”.

11.6  11:26PM   “The strong Wind is now starting....  We are in the house.praying,preparing just open the computer till there's service of electricity to update the news.”

11/7  6:48PM  “The typhoon striking signal no.3 in our place.About to landfall before 2 hours.”

11/10  6:29AM   “Hello Dr. CJ.....Thank you for all your prayers.God's grace we are all safe.Lets just continue pray because Yolanda is still in the Philippines and this coming Tues night-Wed.There's another heavy rain threat and it may become a tropical storm.

God is amazing!miraculous!He really answered prayer.There's no any damaged in our home and church building.During the landfall,we sing God's songs and prayed.rebuking the typhoon.God is good all the time.”

I have also heard from Pastor Nico Folio in Manjuyod.  He did not give specifics regarding damages, etc, but we understand that the Bamboo Church is still standing along the sea coast in Manjuyod.

While our hearts are broken at the tragic loss of life and catastrophic damage in Tacloban City, Leyte Island, Samar, and northern Cebu, we are thanking God for the deliverance of our dear friends and partners on Negros Island.

Please keep the thousands of affected families in your prayers.

This Is A Sad Story

Over the years in which I served as a Kentucky Baptist Pastor, the two churches I served in Boyd County and the city of Ashland were faithful supporters of what was then known as the Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children. website located here .
We supported KBHC through our Cooperative Program giving, and through the annual KBJC offering.  One year, we at Ashland Baptist also participated in the "Mile of Pennies" drive, hundreds of dollars were given to the home in the pennies we collected all over Kentucky.  We could barely lift the big plastic water cooler bottles in which the pennies were collected.  Also, Community Trust Bank officials nearly croaked when Tandy Kemper's body shop crew and this pastor wheeled those pennies into the big bank lobby on dollies to make our deposit!

We were happy to support this ministry, and why not?  This great ministry, a long time entity of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, has impacted the lives of thousands of children by providing wonderful homes, educational opportunities, and instilling Godly values. Over the years they have added other campuses and have grown tremendously in the number of children served. Over the years, they have also become more and more dependent on Federal dollars to be able to operate and expand the work.

A year or so before I was called to pastor Westmoreland Baptist Church in the neighboring state of West Virginia, KHBC (Sunrise) was hit with a major crisis.  Through a series of events the administration learned that a staff member was living in a same sex relationship while employed by Sunrise.  Since the lifestyle of the employee was unscriptural and in direct conflict with the values being taught by KBHC, the employee was terminated.  As one might guess, a lawsuit was brought against Sunrise, its director, Bill Smithwick, and the Kentucky Baptist Convention.claiming that the plaintiff had been unfairly terminated. The ripple effects of this issue has gone on and on.  The history of all this is easily found on Google and the Western Recorder (KBC official Newspaper) and I will not go into that in this blog.

Baptist Press and other media outlets are now reporting that Sunrise is presently considering changing its hiring policies, doing a 180 degree turn and allowing for the hiring of homosexual persons to staff positions with the agency.  The Baptist Press story is located here.

When I read this story, the first thing that popped into my mind is how after the lawsuit had been filed, Bill Smithwick (The Director of Sunrise) made a tour of the state, meeting with pastors and leaders of the local associations of Baptist Churches.  I remember, well how he stood before a good number of us gathered at Oakland Avenue Baptist Church in Catlettsburg, and told us, "We will never give in and change our employment standards. We will never agree even if it means the loss of federal funding."

Churches and associations rallied around Smithwick, bathing him in prayer and recommitting themselves to the support of Smithwick and the KBHC.

Well, it appears Mr. Smithwick has changed his mind, to the dismay of state Convention leadership, and, I am sure, the vast majority of Baptists across the Bluegrass State.

Now hear me on this.  I am not trying to generate a bunch of comments and debate.  Facebook is not the place for that.  Please do not post any inflammatory comments here.  I hope you hear my heart on this.

I have ceased to be a "Cultural Warrior" several years ago.

I am not  homophobic.  I seek to minister to those who are dealing with this issue in their lives. They are welcome at Westmoreland Baptist Church,  We want to show them the love of Christ, but we would never knowingly place a practicing homosexual person in a teaching or leadership position in the church .

I am no longer a pastor in the KBC, (so I don't have "a dog in that fight") but I do still live in the northeastern corner of the Commonwealth and have many dear Baptist friends from the mountains to the Mississippi, and my heart is breaking for what is happening here.

This situation is exactly what I have been trumpeting for some time now. The Church is increasingly having to learn that we are a spiritual people in a secular world.  We are not in the majority.  If we faithfully practice the tenants of our faith (and I am not talking about "legalism" here) we will find that we are increasingly going to be considered "out of the mainstream".  American Christians have been spoiled over the past 300 years of freedoms and guarantees from our government that millions of Christ Followers around the globe have never had.  We have never tasted the government intrusion, persecution, and even martyrdom that many of them have faced. Many of us just don't get it.

The American church is at a cross roads.  Decisions must be made as to with whom we will partner financially for the furtherance of our ministries and programs.  Are our would be benefactors motivated by the same love for Christ and for lost people as are we?  Are we unequally yoked?  If so, will the end justify the means?

Can we expect a secular pagan government to continue to smile kindly upon those whose belief in an alleged resurrected Messiah, will eventually come to be in direct conflict with governmental decrees?  Ask Daniel and his three Hebrew friends in the Old Testament about that.

If our ministries and entities receive Federal funds and depend on them for their existence, they must then abide by their secular guidelines.  Sunrise is in that position now, and they must make some difficult decisions. (the BP article explains both sides well).

Will you join me in praying for Bill Smithwick?
Pray for boldness, wisdom, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Will you pray for the Kentucky Baptist Convention?
For the people in the pews that have faithfully prayed for and supported the ministry,  And that Executive Director Paul Chitwood and the churches across Kentucky will display wisdom and Grace, and that they would seek the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Will you pray for the Sunrise Children's Ministries, and the hundreds of lives they impact for Christ?
That they might have a quiet and peaceable life, and exalt the Savior, even if it means a scaling back the scope of the ministry.

May God grant wisdom to all involved, and may His Will be done!

Happy Reformation Day!

Although not a legal holiday here, as it is in Slovenia, and though not as widely celebrated by Baptists as by Lutherans, Presbyterians, and others, today is Reformation Day - a day that should be fondly remembered by all who believe in Salvation by Grace, through Faith in Jesus Christ.

As a German Monk and ordained Roman Catholic Priest, Martin Luther had become disenchanted with many of the teachings and customs of the Church. The most important issue for Luther was the doctrine of Justification – God's act of declaring a sinner righteous – by faith alone through God's grace. He began to teach that salvation is a gift of God's grace, attainable only through faith in Jesus.  He was particularly put off by the sale of "indulgences" (The teaching that justification could be obtained by donating money to the church).  He was also put off by the wealth of the Pope and by the great wealth of the Church and the building of the opulent St. Peter's Basilica on the backs of its poor members.  When a papal envoy came to Germany selling indulgences in 1516 it pushed Luther over the edge.

It was on October 31, 1517 (496 years ago today) that he sent a letter to his bishop, protesting, not only the sale of indulgences, but many other grievances with false doctrine and actions of the Pope.  The letter contained what has come to be known as the "Ninety - Five Theses", a document that provided the fuel for the Protestant Reformation.

Luther wrote and traveled extensively lecturing on the Psalms, Romans, Galatians and other books of the Bible that plainly taught Justification by Grace through faith in Christ alone.  He was eventually excommunicated by the Catholic Church.  Perhaps one of Luther's most important contributions was his translation of the Bible from Latin into the language of the common man.  Luther also wrote many hymns, including "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God".

Luther, and the other reformers left us the rich legacy of the "Five Solas", which articulated five fundamental beliefs of the Protestant Reformation, pillars which the Reformers believed to be essentials of the Christian life and practice.

• Sola Scriptura - "By Scripture Alone"
• Sola Fide - "By Faith Alone"
• Sola Gratia - "By Grace Alone"
• Sola Christus - "Through Christ Alone"
• Sola Deo Gloria - "Glory to God Alone"

If you, like many of us, hold to these powerful doctrines of Grace, may I wish you a Happy Reformation Day!

True Commitment

If there is one thing the church needs in America today it is COMMITMENT to Christ.  Not Lip service.  Not “Cheap Easy Believism”.  Not fussing over preferred worship styles. Not a “my way or the highway” or a “let somebody else do it” attitude.   A deep abiding commitment to Follow Christ, no matter what the cost.  Believers here have been spoiled by and have become accustomed to our freedoms and have developed an entitlement mentality that we are free to worship under our Constitution.  However, these freedoms are quickly slipping away from us.  This is contrary to everything Jesus taught about those who would follow Him.  We should take the example of the commitment to Christ seen in believers in areas of the earth where severe persecution is a reality. 

 

The following is alleged to be a letter found in the pocket of a Kenyan Believer after his murder for following Christ.  I don't know if those circumstances are true or not, as I have read this somewhere before.  But whether from a martyered believer or not, it is a great picture of true discipleship!  Take a moment to read this and see what real commitment to Christ looks like.

How do we measure up to this?  May we be challenged and convicted by the Holy Spirit as we digest these words.

“I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed, the die has been cast, I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made—I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ—I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure---I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is tough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear.  I won’t give up, shut up, let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till everyone knows, work till He stops me and when He comes for His own, He will have no trouble recognizing me because my banner will have been clear.”

90,000 Views!

Today we are blessed to have reached 90,000 views of "For What It's Worth". 

That number is "small potatoes" for many blogs, but I am humbled that folks have cared enough to visit.  I certainly haven't posted much in the past few months - several reasons - many excuses - but I am truly thankful that we have had so many visits from so many people from countries all around the world.

Recent visitors have come from the US, Canada, China, The Philippines, Germany, Poland, Sweeden, France, India and the United Kingdom.  Wow!  Who'd a thunk it?

Hopefully our posts have brought a chuckle to some of you, or may have provoked a thought or two, or honored our Savior, and that it may have been a blessing in some way to a number of folks.

I am writing this post today to say thanks for visiting.  I also thought it would be nice to get off the rather unpleasant number of posts I was stuck on (666)!   Hopefully I will be able to post a little more often than I have been able to do for the past few months.

As we said when we began this blog, this is not a political site - although sometimes I will deal with political issues.  It is not a deep theological site - although I do hope to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints".  I may sometimes blog about my family - which could prove quite boring to those who do not share my connections with, and affinity for the Adkins, Stidham, Bowling, Clanton, and Slater folks.  I may also drive you nuts going on about five particular young men who are the apples of my eye.  But that's the beauty of a blog. It's mine, and I can follow my whims, and post my opinion on just about anything - "For What It's Worth).  Follow it, or visit from time to time, or just move along to something else.  It's your choice.

At any rate, thanks for being here. Hope to have you visit again soon, and would ask you to share the site with your friends who might be so inclined to visit.