Elders’ Journal

Today we learned a wonderful new song and I wanted to share why it ministers to me. I love the way these words speak the truth; about what God is doing and about what we as the Bride of Christ long to see. It’s the kind of song that seeks to have God do what He’s said He is going to do - so that’s way awesome! It’s also the kind of song that encourages our faith and reassures our correct placement of hope - in Christ. And it’s the kind of song that we can use as a corporate prayer - to ask God together for those things He has promised and the things He has called us to be. How cool is that!

I highly recommend the song; you can buy it for $0.99 on Amazon here as an mp3 for your computer or mp3 player. Do it!

I received an email asking why it is taking the elders so long to hire a pastor. I have edited my response and present it here. Your comments are welcome.

I do not have a short answer to this question, but I’ll be as succinct as I can.

Two years ago, we understood the Lord to tell us that we were not supposed to hire a pastor for a season. We shared that understanding with the church in the summer of 2006.

Last summer (2007), we recognized that the elders and their wives were tired and not able to do all the planning and execution that was necessary. We believed that we were doing an adequate job of shepherding the flock, but wanted to do better than that. We presented a plan to the congregation last October that described ROL’s vision and a commitment to hire a pastor to help execute that vision. We asked the church to pray for 2 weeks and share what God said. During this time, a few folks expressed their concern that we had waited too long to hire a pastor. Others believed that we should not hire a pastor at all.

After the October meetings, the elders decided to press forward and hire a pastor. Almost immediately, tithes and offerings decreased dramatically. Even so, we identified a pastoral candidate and asked him to consider joining with us. After much prayer, he informed us he did not believe he should accept. By then it was Thanksgiving with Christmas on the way. We were not able to make further progress within the time constraints that the holiday season imposes.

By early January, Reg Larkin and Mark Buckner were meeting with us to give us more perspective. Mark brought several suggestions to us to consider: joining a denomination and/or merging with another church. The elders concluded that becoming part of a denomination was too complex to consider in the short term, so we explored merger with another church. We met with representatives of two churches and talked by email with another. As of the end of February, we did not have the Lord’s encouragement to merge with anyone.

At the end of February, Mark was released from meeting with us so he could complete his preparations to move his family back to Indonesia. Jack Dorman, pastor of Hope Chapel, began meeting with us. Jack is an old friend of our church and we have asked him for counsel and to recommend pastoral candidates.

Money:

• Realistically, we have not been in a clearly favorable position to hire anyone full time at any point in the last 2 years.
• Nonetheless, money has not significantly influenced any of our decisions. We have done our best to pray and hear God regardless of money considerations.
• We were caught by surprise when giving declined significantly — and immediately — after our October meetings. The financial information we presented in the October meetings was obsolete in early November. That was without precedent in ROL’s 10-year history.

At present, we are withdrawing from savings to pay our monthly operating expenses. We project to fully deplete our savings in 6-8 months at the current rate. Since we cannot "guarantee" a salary to anyone, our present objective is to identify a bi-vocational pastor candidate. We are open to the possibility of a merge and/or timesharing the building.

The elders continue in prayer, discussion, and activity — asking God for wisdom and guidance. We pray that everyone will take encouragement in the Lord, asking for grace and mercy.

I’ve found a new song that I love. It’s the chorus that speaks to me although the whole song is amazing. Songs have a wonderful capacity to speak to our minds and yet stir our hearts through the marriage of language and melody and harmony; I love that! I pray you are encouraged by these words:

Out of ashes, prayers are lifted
From the weary mourner’s call
Broken hearts are being mended
Jesus’ stripes can heal them all

Chorus:
Out of ashes, into freedom
Out of dying, into Life
See the joy that’s set before us
In the blinding cross of Christ

Out of ashes, sinners finding
Mercy, hope and righteousness
Revel in their newfound passion
Worshiping in thankfulness

Out of ashes, He is risen
Seated with the heavenly host
Clouds of witnesses are praising
Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Words and Music by
PAUL MARINO, GREG NELSON and JEREMY JOHNSON

You can buy the track on iTunes here.

On Sunday March 2, 2008, I presented a lesson from Matthew 6:30. The key point of the presentation is that the same faith we exercised when we asked the Lord Jesus to grant us salvation can be focused on other areas of our life. Consequently, faith does not have to get "larger" but rather less restricted in scope. As we apply belief to all the details and circumstances of our lives, we stop being worriers and "little-faith" people.

Notes from this sermon in pdf format:  Sermon Notes 3/2/08.

Since we last posted in January, the elders have continued meeting with Mark Buckner and Reg Larkin and have considered several options for RoL. We have spent considerable time evaluating a merge with a local body and have also considered two additional potential situations that could lead to mergers. In all three cases, we have concluded that we are not led to go any further at this time with these possibilities. The leaders of these fellowships have been very gracious to us and we are thankful for their willingness to consider the possibilities with us.

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MEDITATION
Choosing to be Transformed by the Word of God 
Reg Larkin 2/3/208

Meditate: to pour over and ponder the meaning; revolve in your mind, look at from every angle; show interest in because it matters; observe and consider; have your mind work at comprehending and heeding; think about and understand; study; imagine;

• - to talk about incessantly, with passion; converse with oneself out loud; pray, speak, utter, declare; commune over;
• - to take into account; give care and estimation to, consider how to apply; gain understanding for heeding.

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In the teaching time Sunday (1/27/08), I shared some questions to guide a quiet time of self examination. These questions are intended to jump start a conversation with the Holy Spirit about the degree to which we are world-minded or heaven-minded. Below are the questions I presented. Read more »

Since I last posted to this Journal, the elders have met with leaders of two churches. One of them, Faith Church, will be visiting us this Sunday (1/27/2008). The church’s pastor is out of country on a short term mission trip and he asked if the congregation could visit us. Bill Ledbetter and I met with members of their leadership team this past week and had a delightful time of fellowship, discussion, and prayer.

The possibility of joining with another church to synergize our talents makes sense in a practical way. However, that does not resolve the question of whether it should happen. We are firm in our belief that God is our Provider, Sustainer, and Leader. Faith, though practical in many ways, is not ultimately a matter of embracing the merely feasible! One great encouragement Bill and I took away from our meeting with these fine folks was their story of how they have been 6 months away from closing their doors several times in the last 5-6 years — and God has always given them a way to persevere.

So, River Of Life will be receiving the blessing of their visit this Sunday. They are not desperately seeking to survive, but rather to hear our Lord illuminate their future steps. As are we!

The elders continue to pray and listen and investigate alternatives. One of us will post again soon. We are walking day by day, expectantly looking for the next step.

[Parts of this comes from BibleGateway.com]

Baptism is a public act showing obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). This comes from a desire to let others know of the choice to follow Him. Only true believers should be baptized (Acts 18:8). In the New Testament two things are never presumed: a baptized unbeliever or an unbaptized believer (the thief on the cross is an exception for an obvious reason).

Baptism gives the believer a good conscience in obeying Christ’s command. Baptism is not a means of washing away sin, or as Peter puts it "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God" (1 Peter 3:21), because the believer knows he has done the will of God.

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We shared an assessment of ROL last Fall in 2 congregational meetings. We discussed our vision for 2008 and our commitment to find a man to help us execute it. We have invested a considerable amount of time in prayer and discussion since then. Here is what we know so far.

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