Anybody and everybody who calls

"My relationship with Jesus is so much stronger," Will wrote, "and I know that with You, and with Him on my side anything is possible.  I could go on and on but You know how I feel God."

Will is 17 years-old and gave me permission to use his real name.  He is incarcerated as a minor at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent for adult inmates.  Earlier this week, I met him briefly with others.  Jon, another inmate, suggested I meet with Will because he was really reading his Bible and was getting it.

Will and I read together a quote about Joel 2:32 in Romans 10:13 and placing our burden on the Lord from Charles Spurgeon.

"With Him I have His royal promise: "I will be saved."  And with Him I never need to ask if I may call on Him or not, for the word "everyone" is all-encompassing.  It includes me and means anybody and everybody who calls upon His name. Therefore I will trust in this verse and will immediately call on the glorious LORD who has made such a great promise."

                                                  Steps of salvation

RJC in Kent

We met Thursday when I went over my "Steps to salvation--the greatest news you've ever heard," worksheet.  I start with an adapted walk through the Romans Road: Romans 1:16-17; 3:10-11, 21-24; 6:23; 4:4-5, 5:6-8; 8:1, 10:8-13.  Next, we had time to work through "salvation is through Jesus Christ alone": John 14:6, Acts 4:12.  There is a third section on assured repentance and salvation he finished on his own, later.

In each verse, we looked at how it applies to him and really the greatest news he has ever heard.

Will attended an alternative school after things were not working out in his regular high school in the area.  Being incarcerated as a juvenile in an adult facility means the charges are strong with a felony, most often. Despite his struggles in school, he is a very good reader and clearly comprehends the material.  He has received biblical instruction, as you will see in his leeter to the Lord, below.  He was fully engaged as we worked through the Bible texts.  

"I really want to get this," Will said.  

I suggested he complete the study on salvation through Christ with Acts 16:30-31, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 2 Corinthians 6:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, and 1 John 5:11-13 and the section on repentance on Luke 15:7 and 10, Luke 24:46-48, and Acts 2:37-38, 3:19-20, 5:31-32, 17:30-31, and 26:20.

                                          Finishing the worksheet

Many adults don't finish the readings in two or three weeks.  I also invited him to write a letter to Jesus in his own words about calling on Him to be saved or whatever was on his heart.  He told me it would be ready on Friday, the next day. 

When I came in about 3 pm,  he asked the unit officer to get his paper and Bible in his unit.  Back in the unit multipurpose room, he showed me his completed work.  We first went through 1 John 5:11-13 and Acts 2:38.  We talked it through and Will wrote, "I have the Son so I have eternal life.  I am confident that I have life because of Jesus," from 1 John; and "the old Will died and Will was raised following Jesus Christ."

                                 Will's prayer

"I want to start by saying thank you not only for sacrificing your one and only Son for us humans and our sins but also for the heart, mind, soul, and the spirit of the Jesus Christ that sits in us.  Some people choose to try to live their lives filled with sins.  But you know, and now I do too that that is not the way to go.

"I really had it bad before I got interested in reading and studying Your word.  Once I did, it really opened my eyes and made me see things a lot clearer now and turn my life in a complete 180 and I love it.  Thank You for bringing me to this place  I would have to say  because if You hadn't I probly of got this oppertunity or chance to change.  Now that I've changed I feel a lot better about life knowing that You have a place for me in your eternal kingdom  just waiting for me and I want that spot more than anything.

"My relationship with Jesus is so much stronger and I know that with You  and Him on my side anything is possible.  I could go on and on but You know how I feel God so I'll just end this letter by saying thank you again for everything GOD.  It all means so much to me.  I appreciate life a lot more  in a better perspective.  thank you and I love You with all my heart. Amen."

Strengthening faith

Unchained after Purdy concert

I richly enjoyed participating with the band, "Unchained," at women's facilities Mission Creek in Belfair and the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy, these last two weekends.  Jessica Parker joined us in Purdy as the PFC group leader.

Robbi Baskin, from my home Faith Church in Kent, recently joined this band and plays the keyboard and sings back-up.  Other members of the band are Chris Sherry, Jeff Reed, Homer Haynes, Terri Gierke, Kent James, Bob Steen, and leader and song writer Geoff White. 

When I am with them, I provide prayer, listening and encouragement. We nearly did not get into to Purdy because of a paperwork disruption.  Our group gathered around a table to pray to lay everything before the Lord, whether we entered or went home while Jessica and Geoff interacted with the gracious officers.  We received favor from Him and were able to enjoy great ministry.  The band rocked for two services and Terri preached  Spirit-empowered messages.

Jim Dixon

Steve Lamken

Last Saturday, I accompanied Steve Lamken and Jim Dixon for a concert at Olympic Corrections Center in Forks.  I was pleased to preach on "you must be born again," from John 3:1-16.  We saw two men make first time commitments to Christ.

Daily faith needs constant focus.  Growing Christians are supernaturally enlightened and given faith by God.  

At the same time, we cooperate with God to progressively strengthen our faith--to nourish, feed, and cultivate living faith--sanctification, the empowering work of the Holy Spirit.

“Poor coming soul, you are like the man that would ride full gallop, whose horse will hardly trot! Now, the desire of his mind is not to be judged by the slow pace of the dull jade he rides on, but by the hitching, and kicking, and spurring, as he sits on his back. 

"Your flesh is like this dull jade; it will not gallop after Christ; it will be backward, though your soul and heaven lie at stake." (John 1:47; Psa 51:6; Matt 26:41).” 

~John Bunyan minimally edited

I visit with 20-25 men each week as part of my PFC ministry at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in downtown Kent.  I meet with many through one-on-one discipleship to build up their living faith.

I often share, "Men, this is His local church as you meet together, right here at the RJC.  His church is a living organism. It lives, and grows, shrinks, and changes. Your life can change forever, here.  Your faith can get very strong.  Sometimes, you don't come because you get discouraged or conflicts develop.That is the real church.  Sometimes, it's messy. You don't all stay the same amount of time.  While you are here in this unit, you can enjoy coming to church for the first time."  

These men share with me about weakened faith.  Some think they might be Christians and recount some church attendance as a child or teen-ager.  The common cycle begins with drugs and alcohol, disruption at school that leads to dropping out, dysfunctional family relationships void of a present father.  They entered into gangs and street life all spiraling downward to jail and prison time.

If there was any church attendance and introduction to saving faith, they often chose drugs and alcohol.  Any attachment to religion or genuine church involvement was commonly through their mothers or grandmothers. Some were living with a woman and have several kids.

Faith is strengthened by standing on what the Scriptures proclaim about who God is and what He promises to do in, through, and for us.  We gain confidence as we watch Him work over time.  He is faithful. Christians meet in and around the church to encourage each other.  In the jail settings, the men can develop local churches as they meet together regularly. 



I often take them to Romans 1:4-7, 4:20-24, 5:1-3; Ephesians 2:8-9; and Hebrews 11:6.  I am providing the focused text in each passage.

"...Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,  including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ..."  Romans 1:4b-6

 " No unbelief made him (Abraham) waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."  Romans 4:20-21

 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Romans 5:1-2

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."  Hebrews 11:6

Reaching high school boys

Our Faith Church Student Ministry team in Kent is working to engage our high school boys in effective ministry. We met earlier this week to discuss activities to build relationships and develop a lifelong spiritual foundation for our boys.  

We want to keep our boys!

We know a lot of youth, boys and girls, leave the church during and after high school. The statistics are frightening.  Some return. Here is one of many articles, this one by George Barna, on this huge challenge:  Teens are leaving the church



These are the most recent and most cited studies from one website by Brett Kunkle in 2009:

• 88%:  The Southern Baptist Convention's Family Life Council study in 2002 (unfortunately, I can't find the actual study and methodology)
• 70%:  LifeWay Research study in 2007 (LifeWay also found only 35% eventually return)
• 66%:  Assembly of God study (again, I can't find the actual study, only references here and there)
• 61%:  "Barna study in 2006 -- "Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf..."

The LifeWay and Barna studies include research details.  I’m no sociologist but from what I can tell, their methodology seems sounds. 
Here are some related studies: 

• "Spirituality in Higher Education":  The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found that 52% of college students reported frequent church attendance the year before they entered college but only 29% continued frequent church attendance by their junior year. 
• College Transition Project:  The Fuller Youth Institute's current data seems "to suggest that about 40-50% of students in youth groups struggle in their faith after graduation."
• "The Religiosity Cycle":  A 2002 Gallup Poll study found that church attendance “drops during the teen and young adult years.”

Conclusion: It's safe to conclude the church is losing a signficant portion of its young people for some period of time.  Even if we take Barna's lower numbers and then cut 10% off to be extra conservative, we're still talking about losing half of our young people.

Pastor Aaron at baptismal service with boys

Our youth pastor, Aaron, is focused on  "teaching them to observe (or obey) all that I commanded you." 

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  
Matthew 28:19-20
 

Are our boys disciples? Are they identified with Christ? What does their spiritual development look like as teen-agers? How can we walk alongside them to next levels, this year?

We did a Monday night Bible study with sharing and prayer, most of last year with 10-12 solid participants. I saw how active they wanted to be and so we did several activities with them.  I even let them run around the elementary school playground as part of what we did.  They ran all around the church.  Once they accidentally broke a window.  Boys are active, some are really active. 

Many others did not participate.  Many don't come and don't want to come and sit.  We are looking at groups of three with each adult leader and grow each group from there.
 
We want to expand and multiply by reaching the other "20," and their friends. One of our considerations is getting the Dads involved, as much as possible.  Many of our regular church men do not read their Bibles nor see it as relevant, either.

I want to lead a regular consistent teaching that gets my group exposed to the Biblical text with my own heart and method that moves to engagement, personal application...yes, obedience. I want to get them really active in Kingdom activity.



I am praying for:

• Pastor Aaron and our team of adult leaders
• The dads
• The boys the Lord will give each of the leaders
• The work of the Spirit to save and mature us all
• The relationships we develop  
• The activities the Lord shows us
• The teaching and methods He Himself gives us

Jim and Carol from Nebraska

Carol and Katharine at the Seattle Aquarium

Even before Katharine and I were married back on July 10, 1982, Jim and Carol started visiting us nearly annually from their various homes in Nebraska.  

Jim is one of Katharine's two older brothers and Carol is his wife.  Both have served for 37 years in United Methodist churches and administrative positions in Nebraska.

                                       

                                                  Jim and Carol on vacation

Jim and Katharine at Waterway Museum

Jim and Carol also tour to visit family members in Portland and west Spokane.  This time, we visited a museum on the Tacoma waterway and the Seattle Aquarium.  We eat out and enjoy Cutters Point drinks in Covington.  We started our relationship when Katharine and the Brewer family were living in Parkland and spending time on their family property on Oakland Bay in Shelton.

                                                 

Tyrone and Miguel at the MRJC

So, contacts at the Maleng Regional Justice Center remain very productive and I'll be returning to a full-time routine again, next week.  Tyrone should be starting his trial soon.  He has made tremendous strides since we began meeting in 2009.

Tyrone was influential to introduce Miguel to receive Christ and begin studying the Bible.  He actually said if he lost his trial case, he would begin seeking after the Lord.  That was an unusual response.  Usually we hear "jail faith type things something like "if I get out of jail... or win or get a favorable ruling... because I am innocent of these charges even though I did other things... and He gives me another chance, I'll respond to God."  

Oh yes, the Lord can use these kinds of manipulation-soaked offerings to draw men to Himself.  Occasionally, we see genuine transformation with all these trappings but not very often and these men must be warned God is not a maker of deals.  He wants men who will seek Him for who He is with all their hearts.
 
                                                  Hope and faithfulness in Lamentations
I am journeying into Lamentations, this week.  John Calvin has rich commentary on chapter 3.  Verses 17-24 lead into the often quoted and comforting verses 22-23.  Notice the sequence about fleshly and eternal hope in verses 18,21-24.  Great is Thy faithfulness! 

17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;

18 so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”

19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.”

I don't often turn to Lamentations for much of anything. It's a weeping look at Jerusalem after deportation to Babylon.  As I read through the Bible most years, I let the verses 22-23 stand alone.  Jeremiah's words are ever more powerful and are reaching deep.  John Calvin is more than a challenging theologian.  He was a caring pastor, as well. When all real hope in this world is close to lost or more concentrated as completely drained, the Lord's very character and promises shine as He faithfully draws us to Himself for comfort and strength.

Miguel took some significant steps but continues to attend Friday Muslim services where he can sit in the chairs, watch the services, and learn about their religion.  Yes, that is very frustrating after we've shared about Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Ruling Master of His harvest so we share with Miguel as much as possible before he leaves for his prison journey.

                                                       Cameron and the Allen family on the road

Saturday, I am invited to Stanwood to visit Cameron and his family.  Cameron completed a year-long regeneration stay at Standing Stones in Wapato.  He lives in Arlington.  On the way home, I'll stop by to visit with Travis, Angie, Thad, and Derek Allen around their housewarming open house in Lynnwood.  Travis, Thad, and I remain in solid contact from our time together and Faith Church in Kent

                                            Robbi and Unchained in Purdy

Mission Creek

On Sunday, I am accompanying the band "Unchained" as they provide a Prisoners for Christ worship concert and message at Mission Creek Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy to pray, support, and listen.  This will be my first trip to Mission Creek.   

I enjoy weekly fellowship with Geoff White, the band leader, and have shared some with Homer Haynes, one of the lead singers.  From our home church, Faith Baptist in Kent, Robbi Baskin began playing the keyboard and singing and Bob Steen occasionally plays percussion with Unchained.

Praying as co-workers together with our pastors

“You all are partakers of my grace.” Philippians 1:7

 by Octavius Winslow

This is a second devotional by Octavius Winslow, a contemporary of Charles H. Spurgeon. Further readings by Winslow may be found at: 
Blog about Octavius Winslow

Octavius Winslow

Most true is it, that in the grace bestowed by God upon a Christian pastor all the members of the flock share. They partake of that which belongs to him. All the grace with which he is enriched- all the gifts with which he is endowed- all the acquirements with which he is furnished- all the afflictions with which he is visited- all the comforts with which he is soothed- all the strength with which he is upheld- all the distinction and renown with which he is adorned- belong alike to the Church over which God has made him an overseer.

There is in the pastoral relation a community of interest. He holds that grace, and he exercises those gifts, not on account of his own personal holiness and happiness merely, but with a view to your holiness and happiness.

 You are partakers with him. You are enriched by his “fatness,” or are impoverished by his “leanness.” The degree of his grace will be the measure of your own; the amount of his intelligence, the extent of yours. As he is taught and blest of Christ, so will you be.

The glory which he gathers in communion with God will irradiate you; the grace which he draws from Jesus will sanctify you; the wealth which he collects from the study of the Bible will enrich you. Thus, in all things are you “partakers of his grace.” How important, then, that on all occasions he should be a partaker of your prayers! Thus your own best interests are his strongest plea. Your profit by him will be proportioned to your prayer for him.

To the neglect of this important duty much of the barrenness complained of in hearing the word may be traced. You have, perhaps, been wont to retire from God’s house caviling at the doctrine, dissecting the sermon in a spirit of captious criticism, sitting in judgment upon the matter or the manner of the preacher, and bitterly complaining of the unprofitableness of the preaching. With all tender faithfulness would we lay the question upon your conscience, “How much do you pray for your minister?” 

Here, in all probability, lies the secret of the great evil which you deplore. You have complained of your minister to others (alas! how often and how bitterly, to your deep humiliation be it spoken); have you complained of him to the Lord?

Have you never seriously reflected how closely allied may be the deficiency in the pulpit, of which you complain, to your own deficiency in the closet, of which you have not been aware? You have restrained prayer in behalf of your pastor. You have neglected to remember in especial, fervent intercession with the Lord, the instrument on whom your advancement in the divine life so much depends.

You have looked up to him as a channel of grace, but you have failed to ask at the hands of Jesus that grace of which he is but the channel. You have waited upon his ministrations for instruction and comfort, but you have neglected to beseech for him that teaching and anointing, by which alone he could possibly establish you in truth, or console you in sorrow. You have perhaps observed a poverty of thought, and have been sensible of a lack of power in his ministrations; but you have not traced it in part to your own poverty and lack in the spirit and habit of prayer in his behalf.

You have marveled at, and lamented, the absence of sympathy, feeling, and tenderness in the discharge of his pastoral duties, but you have forgotten to sympathize with the high responsibilities, oppressive anxieties, and bewildering engagements inseparable from the office which your pastor fills, and in which he may largely share, often “under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.” 

Thus in a great degree the cause of an unprofitable hearing of the word may be found nearer home than was suspected. There has been a suspension of prayer and sympathy on your part, and God has permitted a suspension of power and sympathy on his.

Winslow on pastors in the local church

Octavius Winslow

“Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” Romans 15:30

"There are many weighty and solemn considerations which powerfully plead for the prayers of the Church of God, in behalf of her ministers and pastors. 

The first which may be adduced is- the magnitude of their work. A greater work than theirs was never entrusted to mortal hands. No angel employed in the celestial embassy bears a commission of higher authority, or wings his way to discharge a duty of such extraordinary greatness and responsibility. 

He is a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ- an ambassador from the court of heaven- a preacher of the glorious gospel of the blessed God- a steward of the mysteries of the kingdom. 

Properly to fill this high office- giving to the household their portion of food in due season- going down into the mine of God’s word, and bringing forth to the view of every understanding its hidden treasures- to set forth the glory of Emmanuel, the fitness of His work, and the fullness of His grace- to be a scribe well instructed, rightly dividing the word of truth- to be wise and skillful to win souls, the grand end of the Christian ministry- oh, who so much needs the sustaining prayers of the Church as he?

Secondly. The painful sense of their insufficiency supplies another affecting plea. Who are ministers of Christ? Are they angels? Are they superhuman beings? Are they inspired? No, they are men in all respects like others. They partake of like infirmities, are the subjects of like assaults, and are estranged from nothing that is human.

As the heart knows its own bitterness, so they only are truly aware of the existence and incessant operation of those many and clinging weaknesses of which they partake in sympathy with others. And yet God has devolved upon them a work which would crush an angel’s powers, if left to his self-sustaining energy.

Thirdly. The many and peculiar trials of the ministry and the pastorate ask this favor at our hands. These are peculiar to, and inseparable from, the office that he fills. In addition to those of which he partakes alike with other Christians- personal, domestic, and relative- there are trials to which they must necessarily be utter strangers. And as they are unknown to, so are they unrelievable by, the people of their charge.

With all the sweetness of affection, tenderness of sympathy, and delicacy of attention which you give to your pastor, there is yet a lack which Jesus only can supply, and which, through the channel of your prayers, he will supply. In addition to his own, he bears the burdens of others. 

How impossible for an affectionate, sympathizing pastor to separate himself from the circumstances of his flock, be those circumstances what they may. So close and so sympathetic is the bond of union- if they suffer, he mourns; if they are afflicted, he weeps; if they are dishonored, he is reproached; if they rejoice, he is glad.

He is one with his Church. How feelingly the apostle expresses this: “Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?” 

To see a Christian pastor, in addition to his own personal grief, borne often in uncomplaining loneliness and silence, yet bowed down under accumulated sorrows not his own- others looking to him for sympathy, for comfort, and for counsel- is a spectacle which might well arouse in behalf of every Christian minister the slumbering spirit of prayer. We marvel not to hear the chief of the apostles thus pleading, “Brethren, pray for us.”