May 2002 Contents

This is our May cover.

In this issue

Witness to war

Michael L. Zorn, a member in Spokane, Washington, writes about his experiences during and after the Vietnam War. Mr. Zorn, who has struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, notes that no Purple Hearts are given for the psychological damage soldiers receive in war. Page 3.

Pastor General

Pastor General Joseph Tkach writes that the Holy Spirit is not something we can "switch on" to achieve our overcoming goals, like some kind of supercharger for our willpower. The Holy Spirit is God, present with us and in us, giving us the love, assurance and close fellowship that the Father has for us in Christ. Page 6.

Another look at faith

God has not called us to worry, to fret, to fear, writes Michael Feazell. He is on our side. Why should we worry that he, the very one who is indescribably for us, might somehow be against us? Yet when we fall short, it seems, we go through this traumatic worry session that God is going to pound us instead of forgive us. Page 8.

Financial report

Income sources show a total first quarter income right at $5.1 million, writes controller Ron Kelly. February, March and April were good months, but we are still making up for January. Page 11.

Regional Snapshot

Aub Warren writes from Burleigh Heads, Australia, that the result of more than two years of preparatory work has seen both the Australian and New Zealand churches establish national boards to take responsibility for governance issues in each country. Page 14.

SEP

"Our goal is to continue to provide a great SEP experience, but to do it at a price and in a location that will make it available to many more of our teens," said Dan Rogers, operations manager for Church Administration in the United States, in an article on SEP. Page 18.

Orr camp sale

The sale of the summer camp property on Pelican Lake near Orr, Minnesota, closed April 11, writes Mat Morgan, secretary to the WCG board. The buyer plans to create a quality residential development. Page 19.

Bible Study

Paul tells the church in Philippi that salvation is not by works, but he exhorts them to work. Let’s see how he balances these two thoughts, writes Michael Morrison. Page 23.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Bernard Schnippert

Worldwide Church of God

(626) 304-4011

Legacy Partners withdraws from Ambassador campus sale

Church to press on with planned residential development

Pasadena--The Worldwide Church of God, owner of the Ambassador campus in west Pasadena, announced April 29 that Legacy Partners, which had been under contract with the church to purchase the property and develop it into a luxury residential development, allowed their contract to expire and withdrew from any participation in the project.

"In the end, Legacy found the twin pressures of time and financial investment just too much to make the deal work for their bottom line," according to Bernard Schnippert, director of Finance and Planning for the church. "This is too bad," he added, "since the plan is a good one, well within the guidelines of the West Gateway Specific Plan, using fully qualified design, environmental and traffic consultants and engineers, and replete with numerous public benefits such as gardens, open spaces, historic properties, and of course, the unequaled Ambassador Auditorium."

The church intends to move forward with the plan without Legacy, although it does not intend to abandon its other options, which it calls "strictly backup plans for now." Schnippert added, "We have stated publicly that the Ambassador Plan as put forth is really the best for the community, and thus our first option, and we are thus pressing forward with the plan, even without Legacy."

The development plan, which was put forth by the church and Legacy more than three years ago, called for a residential project spanning both sides of the 710 freeway, and included retention of numerous historical properties, acclaimed gardens, and the preservation and reactivation of the renowned Ambassador Auditorium.

Schnippert believes that most of the city and the neighborhood will be saddened to learn about the loss of Legacy, since it received broad community support, "with the exception of some," he added, "who hadn’t yet come to fully understand the benefits of the project and the economic realities of its development."

The church believes that proceeding with the existing plan is practical since the church intends to "slip into Legacy’s shoes" and move forward with the same Environmental Impact Report, the same development agreement framework, the same Community Facilities District financing for the Auditorium plan, the same excellent traffic mitigation approach, and the same commitment to save the gardens and historic structures. 

"Despite Legacy’s withdrawal, we believe that there is a basis for cooperation between the City, the community, and the church to bring about the planned development we have previously put forward, although, with perhaps some fine tuning in an area or two of neighborhood concern."

Although the church is disappointed by the loss of Legacy, it is nonetheless still upbeat about its chances of success. "We believe the public statements by the neighbors saying they didn’t want to kill the plan," Schnippert added, "and also believe we are refining a plan that a consensus of responsible parties will eventually come to understand and embrace."

When asked about any concerns the church might have regarding various neighbors who have spoken publicly about the project, Schnippert remarked: "We expect the interested parties will move closer together as the plan moves along, not farther apart. At least, this is our goal."

"Legacy is gone," said Schnippert, "but the Plan is still alive for now, albeit under new stewardship. The church believes this project should and will succeed."

Life after war

As we celebrate Memorial Day, May 27, The Worldwide News would like to thank all who are serving or have served in the armed forces.

By Michael L. Zorn

SPOKANE, Washington—It’s New Year’s, Jan. 1, 2002, and they just set off fireworks. I’m having a hard time because my body is telling me that it hears mortar fire, and I want to hide. This is part of life after war.

The morning after, one might ask: "How did I sleep?" I had nightmares of a mortar attack and a flack vest with shrapnel in it. In fact, I have had 30 years of nightmares. Nights where I slept for only four hours and nights when the nightmares were so horrible I felt I was in the presence of Satan. I was too scared to go back to sleep again.

Hollywood can present war in graphic detail, but the reality of living through it, and after it, is a never-ending tale in itself. What I experienced in Vietnam runs the gamut from exciting new things and experiences, to stark fear.

One of my worst experiences in Vietnam was when one of my sergeants, a quiet, gentle, black man from the Carolinas, asked me to check to see if his weapon was on semi-automatic. I did as he asked, not realizing his intentions.

He walked 50 feet away, disappearing behind a sandbag wall. Then I heard the weapon fire, and before I could reach him another sergeant came running out and said: "It is too late. He has blown the top of his head off."

You see, my friend had received word that his daughter had run away and that his wife was filing for divorce.

I had to live with the horror and guilt that he had really been crying out for friendship. The Army tells you not to talk to anyone about these things, so for 25 years I lived with horrific nightmares.

I experienced being responsible for the protection of Vietnamese civilians and their families. I stopped fellow soldiers from stealing from a helpless woman, then I retreated out of fear for myself and the lives of the men with me when five Vietnamese soldiers broke into her home, beat her family and all five raped and beat her.

How do I look her in the face? I was sent to protect those who could not defend themselves.

What is it like to come home, where the people you have known all your life have forgotten you?

Where the media, wanting a bigger paycheck, have joined the enemy camp and accuse veterans of the very things we went to stop. Where the very people you were willing to give your life to serve will take a vet who lost his legs to a land mine and throw him on the ground and call him a baby killer.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to see someone disemboweled while alive or see their children taken and killed before their eyes? I know, and I live with that kind of horror in my mind.

I also know the reality of living with abandonment and being totally devoid of human emotion. You cannot deal with the places that America asks its young men to go and the things it asks them to do.

To do what the military requires, you cannot allow your emotions to enter into your daily thoughts and then come home to a nation that does not want you anymore.

I lived for 30 years without ever letting my guard down. A civilian may not have any understanding of a life constantly on guard duty. You spend your adult life wondering why you’re alive and why God didn’t just let you die and spare everyone a lot of misery.

I’ve stood in the shower many times and said, "God, it would have been so much easier just to have died over there." I’m not alone. Two hundred other vets have told me the same thing.

In the military, a purple heart is awarded to a soldier who receives a physical wound. No purple hearts are given for the psychological damage you may receive through a war. Then there are those things you inadvertently pass on to your family—anger, fear, bitterness, resentment, betrayal and a spirit of wandering through life. Wives and children don’t get purple hearts, but the Veterans Administration says that a Vietnam vet adversely affects at least 18 women’s lives.

I was born in 1947, right after World War II. My father was a veteran, and my mother’s father was a Spanish-American War veteran. If you follow my family tree back to its beginning in America, you would find us involved in all kinds of wars.

When I came home on April 30, 1969, to a wife and daughter, I thought it was over. I was through with the government and all that I was asked to do. I wanted to put it behind me forever, but you cannot be involved with something as life-altering as war and come back and pick up right where you left off like nothing ever happened.

I went to college, got a degree, had three more children, was baptized, went to church and tried to make my life right. No matter what I tried since Vietnam, nothing worked, nothing would fit.

I have been asked: "What is it like to sit all night with a rifle waiting to kill anything that moved?" I knew without a doubt, that when it came, I would kill without a thought. "What is it like when you see blood running out of a man’s neck?" I am not shocked, as this is part of day-to-day life. I have lived with it for the past 33 years. It followed me through every day into every night, and it molded every thought and influenced every decision, until I was totally broken.

I’ve spent the last three and half years learning how to examine every thought, and still there is a rage that burns like a pilot light waiting to be triggered. Only God’s grace gets me through each day

My sister wrote a letter to the Veterans Administration. She said she took her brother to the airport in March 1968 and met him when he returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, on April 30, 1969. My family got a body back, but the man we sent to Vietnam never has come home.

Through God’s grace I am now coming home a little each day. Larry Barkemeyer, who, like me, is involved in Point Man Ministries, which helps heal vets, has a music tape called "20 Years of Tears." One of the songs is "The Boy I Used to Know." The lyrics are: The boy I used to know was strong, yet with a kind, gentle way. He is not here anymore. But every once in a while he comes around."

What is it like to not have a marriage that works, or not see your child go to his first day of school or to be able to watch their high school or college graduation? What is it like to never be able to succeed at anything you try?

What is it like when you set out as a young man with all the right intentions but what you agree to do is not what you thought it would be. Then the rest of your life is not what you agreed to. We all had dreams, ambitions and goals, but what we endured in a year of war changed us so much. We are happy to just get by one day at a time without tears. Is that all you expect out of life?

What is this thing that the medical community calls Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? It is not just emotional scars; it’s chemical imbalance, loss of brain mass, and the very violation of what God created us for. It is not something new. It has been here since the day Cain slew Abel and God cursed Cain with wandering.

Medical science now has the tools to connect all the pieces of the puzzle, except one, of what goes on in a man’s mind. Without the grace of God you cannot find peace in your life. I found peace when God humbled me while I was homeless. I was physically broken and unable to work. I had lost all will to go on with my life.

Then through a long road of discovery, God showed me how Paul could abound in whatever circumstances he found himself. Facing death, chained to a guard, Paul said, "I have a peace that surpasses all understanding." When your life gets so desperate that the only thing you can do is cry out in prayer, God is waiting.

He wants to lead you out of the darkness into the light. When you are unable to produce anything in yourself, God is able to abundantly bless your life beyond comprehension. When you’re all alone and you cannot bear the loneliness anymore, God can bring a wife and children into your life. Without God’s grace to sustain me through each day, the horror and reality of what I have been through and how it stole everything I desired in life, I could not go on each day.

More than 200,000 Vietnam vets have killed themselves. Just over 58,000 died in Vietnam. Our suicide rate is 33 percent higher than the national average. Compared to people our age who did not serve in Vietnam, it is twice as high. Of unexplainable one-car fatalities, 70 percent involve Vietnam vets.

At best, 60 percent of us have some level of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to live with and deal with for the rest of our lives. We have the highest rate of drug and alcohol problems for our age group, and the highest percentage of incarceration. The divorce rate for Vietnam veterans is twice the national average. In Seattle, Washington, 87 percent of the street kids (runaway, throw away children) were children of Vietnam veterans. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average for our age group, and 25 percent of us live on less than $7,000 a year. One third of all of the homeless people in America are veterans.

Now our nation is involved in yet another war. We’ll have a whole new generation of young men and women who will come home to what? Only God in us through Jesus Christ can make a difference in what this new generation will face. Can we love them just as Christ would? Accept them just as he called them. After all, he did the same for all of us.

Michael L. Zorn, a member in Spokane, Washington, entered the Vietnam War during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and served until April 1969. His e-mail address is ptsdvet@spocom.com

 
SERVING COUNTRY—Michael Zorn in Vietnam, 1968.
Right: basic training.

POINT MAN EVENT—Michael Zorn (left)
with Allen Erickson in Post Falls, Idaho.

Ken Friend gets
Purple Heart
34 years later

SPOKANE, Washington—Mike Zorn met Ken Friend through Point Man Ministries and invited him to attend the Spokane church.

Mr. Friend was stationed at Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam from March 7, 1967, through March 6, 1968. He arrived at Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon March 6. He and many others spent the night in temporary quarters. That night they were hit with rockets. The next morning several of them were loaded onto a C-130 transport plane and flown to Da Nang.

The night of March 15, Da Nang was hit with 10 rounds of 140mm rockets. Shrapnel hit Mr. Friend’s foot and leg before he entered a hole for cover.

"No one ever told me I qualified for the Purple Heart," Mr. Friend said. "Until a friend, Mike Zorn, saw my medical records and said, You were wounded during an attack. You qualify for the Purple Heart." Mr. Friend wrote to the Air Force, which reviewed his records and said he was entitled to receive the Purple Heart.

Something worth thinking about...
                  By Joseph Tkach

Can You Trust
the Holy Spirit
to Save You?

One of our elders recently told me that the main reason he was baptized 20 some years ago is that he wanted to receive the power of the Holy Spirit so that he could overcome all his sins. His intentions were good, but his understanding was a bit flawed. (No one understands perfectly, of course, and we are saved by God’s mercy despite our misunderstandings.)

The Holy Spirit is not something we can "switch on" to achieve our overcoming goals, like some kind of supercharger for our willpower. The Holy Spirit is God, present with us and in us, giving us the love, assurance and close fellowship that the Father has for us in Christ. Through Christ, the Father has made us his own children, and the Holy Spirit gives us the spiritual sense of knowing that (Rom. 8:16).

The Holy Spirit gives us intimate fellowship with God through Christ, but he does not suspend our ability to sin. We still have wrong desires, still have wrong motives, still have wrong thoughts, words and actions.

Even though we may want to stop a particular habit, we find that we are still unable to do it. We know that it is God’s will for us to be freed from this problem, but for some reason we still seem to be powerless to shake its influence over us.

Can we believe that the Holy Spirit really is at work in our lives—especially when it seems like nothing is really happening, because we are not being very "good" Christians? When we struggle with sin again and again, when it seems like we are not changing much at all, do we conclude that we are so messed up that not even God can fix the problem?

When we come to faith in Christ, we are born again, regenerated, by the Holy Spirit. We are new creatures, new persons, babes in Christ. Babies are not powerful, not skilled, not self-cleaning.

As they grow, they acquire some skills, and they also begin to realize that there is a lot they cannot do, and this sometimes leads to frustration.

They fidget with the crayons and scissors and fret that they cannot do as well as an adult can. But the fits of frustration do not help— only time and practice will help.

This is true in our spiritual lives, too. Sometimes new Christians are given dramatic power to break a drug habit or a bad temper. Sometimes new Christians are instant "assets" to the church. But more often than not, it seems, new Christians struggle with the same sins they had before, have the same personalities they had before, have the same fears and frustrations. They are not spiritual giants.

Jesus has overcome sin, we are told, but it sure seems like sin still has a grip on us. The sin nature within us has been defeated, but it still treats us like we are its prisoners. O wretched people that we are! Who will save us from the law of sin and death? Jesus, of course (Romans 7:24-25). He has already won the victory—and he has made that victory ours.

Alas! We do not yet see the complete victory. We do not yet see his power over death, nor the complete end of sin in our lives. As Hebrews 2:8 says, we do not yet see all things under our feet. What we do is trust Jesus. We trust his word that he has won the victory, and we trust his word that in him we too are victorious.

Still, even though we know we are clean and pure in Christ, we would also like to see progress in overcoming our personal sins. Such progress may seem excruciatingly slow at times, but we can trust God to do what he has promised—in us as well as in others.

After all, it is his work, not ours. It is his power, not ours. It is his agenda, not ours. When we submit ourselves to God, we have to be willing to wait on him. We have to be willing to trust him to do his work in us in the way and at the speed he knows is right.

Adolescents often think they know more than Dad knows. They think they know what life is all about and that they can handle it all pretty well on their own. (Not all adolescents are like that, of course, but the stereotype is based on some evidence.)

We Christians can sometimes think in a way similar to adolescents. We may begin to think that "growing up" spiritually is based on right behavior, which leads us to start thinking of our standing with God in terms of how well we are behaving. When we are behaving well, we might tend to look down on people who don’t appear to have their act together so well. When we aren’t behaving so well, we might fall into despair and depression, believing God has left us.

But God does not ask us to make ourselves right with him; he asks us to trust him, the one who justifies the wicked (Rom. 4:5), who loves us and saves us for the sake of Christ.

As we mature in Christ, we rest more firmly in God’s love demonstrated supremely for us in Christ (1 John 4:9). And as we rest in him, we look forward to the day described in Revelation 21:4: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

When that day comes, Paul says, we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We will be made immortal, imperishable, incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:52-53). And God redeems the inner person, not just the outer. He changes our innermost being, from weak and corruptible, to glorious and (most important of all) sinless.

Instantly, at the last trump, we will be changed. Our bodies will be redeemed (Rom. 8:23), but more than that, we will finally see ourselves as God has made us to be in Christ (1 John 3:2). We will then see plainly the as-yet-invisible reality that God has made true in Christ.

Through Christ, our old sin nature has been defeated and demolished. In fact, it is dead. "For you have died," Paul puts it, "and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). The sin that "so easily entangles us" and which we strive to "throw off" (Heb. 12:1) is not part of the new person God has made us to be in Christ. In Christ, we have new life.

At Christ’s appearing, we will at last see ourselves as our Father has made us in Christ. We will see ourselves as we really are, as perfect in Christ, who is our true life (Col. 3:3-4). It is for this reason, because we have already died and been raised with Christ, that we work to "put to death" whatever in us is earthly (v. 5).

We overcome Satan (and sin and death) in only one way—by the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11). It is through the victory of Jesus Christ, won on the cross, that we have victory over sin and death, not through our struggles against sin. Our struggles against sin are expressions of the fact that we are in Christ, that we are no longer enemies of God, but his friends, in fellowship with him through the Holy Spirit, who works in us both to will and to do God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

Our struggle against sin is not the cause of our righteousness in Christ. It does not produce holiness. God’s own love and grace toward us in Christ is the cause, the only cause, of our righteousness. We are made righteous, redeemed from all sin and ungodliness, by God through Christ because God is full of love and grace, and for no other reason. Our struggle against sin is the product of the new and righteous self we have been given in Christ, not the cause of it. Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8).

We hate sin, we struggle against sin, we want to avoid the pain and sorrow for ourselves and others that sin produces, because God has made us alive in Christ and the Holy Spirit is at work in us. It is because we are in Christ that we fight the sin which "so easily entangles us" (Heb. 12:1). But we gain the victory not through our own efforts, not even our own efforts as empowered by the Holy Spirit. We gain the victory through the blood of Christ, through his death and resurrection as the incarnate Son of God, God in the flesh for our sakes.

God has already done in Christ everything that needed doing for our salvation, and he has already given us everything we need for life and godliness simply by calling us to know him in Christ. And he did this simply because he is so almighty good (2 Peter 1:2-3).

The book of Revelation tells us that there will come a time when there will be no more crying and no more tears, no more hurt and no more pain, and that means no more sin, for it is sin that causes pain. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the darkness will end and sin will no longer be able to deceive us into thinking we are still its prisoners. Our true freedom, our new life in Christ, will shine forever with him in all its glorious splendor. In the meantime, we trust the word of his promise—and that is something worth thinking about.

Another look at faith

By J. Michael Feazell

One night recently I couldn’t sleep, and after an hour or so of tossing and turning I got up and went to the kitchen. I stared into the fridge for a minute or so, then stared into the freezer for a while, and finally into the food cupboard, and then started over. At last, sometime during the third or fourth survey of the fridge, I pulled some leftover meatloaf from behind the milk and made myself a sandwich, and went to see if anything good might be on TV at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Flipping through the channels I ran past a Star Trek rerun, an old M.A.S.H. episode, and a Steam Buggy infomercial. Then I came upon a bespectacled, white-haired preacher who, with furled brow, was pointing threateningly and warning his listeners with an air of authority that they had better "wake up" and start "keeping God’s law," including, he emphasized, "God’s holy Sabbath day," or they would not be in God’s kingdom.

He was scary. He had a string of verses lined up, right out of the Bible, that sounded like God was mad at just about everybody, and that the only way out of the horrible mess we’ve gotten ourselves into is to "repent" and "start keeping God’s law."

"Oh, you’ve heard that it’s just by faith, but that is not true," he said. "All those preachers are just preaching an empty faith, without meaning. God will not save you if you are not keeping his law."

I wondered just what this preacher counts as "keeping God’s law." Does he really mean what he says? Does he mean that even one sin will doom you to hell, regardless of your faith? Just how well does one have to keep God’s law in order to be saved? Is, say, 95 percent good enough? Or does one have to be perfect?

To be fair, he finally admitted that nobody can keep God’s law perfectly, "at least not on our own," but with Christ in us keeping the law, he said, we can. I felt sick. This finger-waving professing prophet was telling people that if Christ lives in them, then not only can they keep the law of God perfectly, but they must, or they will assuredly not be saved.

Wait a minute.

I would like to point out that no Christians, not even the sober-faced, stone-jawed preacher on the TV screen or the apostle Paul himself, have ever, EVER, finally got to the point, even with Christ living in them, that they no longer sin.

I am baffled as to why the Law Brigade has never seemed to notice that. Or maybe they have, but quickly put it out of their minds, since it doesn’t fit their tidy view of how salvation works. Or maybe it’s never occurred to them, and they really do believe, that somewhere, somehow, somebody finally, at last, with the Spirit’s help, actually overcame all sin and got perfect and died without ever sinning again.

The gospel teaches us that "because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved" (Eph. 2:4-5). The righteous us—the sanctified us, the perfect us—is a miracle of grace performed by God in Christ. That perfect us is "hidden with God in Christ" and won’t be seen by us or anyone else until Christ comes back (Col. 3:2-3). We do not get perfect in this life by trying really hard, by setting goals for overcoming, by following Preacher Fearmonger’s seven-point program, or any other form of Christian work, jargon or platitude.

We are accounted righteous by God for the sake of Jesus Christ—and Jesus Christ alone—and that is only because God is holy and good and full of grace and loves us and did it, period (Col. 1:19-20). That’s why we trust our salvation to him alone and not to the latest overcoming model. With a sense of peace, I went back to bed and fell fast asleep.

Salvation is by God’s own grace, given freely in spite of our sins for the sake of Jesus Christ, and we experience and enjoy that gift by trusting him. If we don’t trust him, we don’t enjoy the gift he has given us; if we trust him, we do. It’s that simple.

We don’t have to know deep theology, or sign the right statement of faith, or recite the right phrases, or read the right books, or belong to the right club. He is already our Redeemer; he has already redeemed us. All we have to do is trust him to do what he has already done and to be who he already is.

"But you had better stop sinning!" warns Preacher Ironjaw, who forever seems to be lurking behind the lamppost. Well, when Preacher Ironjaw stops sinning, maybe we can too. But he won’t, because he doesn’t have it in him, and neither do we. And the sooner we figure that out, the sooner we will cast our burdens on Christ and find our true rest in him.

A crowd beside the Sea of Galilee once asked Jesus, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29).

"But my sins!" your weary conscience protests. Listen. Jesus knows you are a sinner. That’s exactly why he died for you. Don’t let your sins talk louder than the Creator and Redeemer of the whole universe. Sin and death are done for. Your sins and your death are done for. They are done for because God condemned them and destroyed them and reconciled all things to himself through the blood of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:19-20). That’s the gospel; that’s what the Holy Spirit empowers you to know and believe so you can start resting in Christ instead of worrying so much.

We are saved by grace, by God’s own kindness toward us, which he expressed perfectly in Jesus Christ. No work of ours, not even our faith, can save us. Salvation is entirely God’s work for us from beginning to end. Our faith is simply the act of accepting what God has already given us even though we didn’t deserve it. Faith doesn’t cause him to give it to us. It doesn’t convince him to give it to us. He doesn’t even withhold it from us until we have faith; he died for us while we were still sinners, before we ever had any faith (Rom. 5:8).

But without faith, we will not, indeed cannot, see, experience and enjoy his gift. In other words, if we don’t trust him, we won’t believe him, which means we won’t accept and make use of his gift. And when you don’t believe you have something and therefore make no use of it, it amounts to the same thing as not having it. Faith doesn’t save us, but without faith, the salvation we have in Christ by God’s grace is meaningless to us.

So we lament, "But I’m not sure I have faith." By God’s grace, the answer to that concern is not to worry about it. Jesus has enough faith for all of us. He provides not only the obedience and perfection, but also the faith (compare 2 Pet. 1:3: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness"). So instead of worrying that we don’t have enough faith, we can simply trust Christ to save us in spite of our doubts and weakness. We can trust him to have for us the faith we need to believe in him.

We can trust Christ to save us in spite of our sins, in spite of our past, in spite of our ignorance, our fear, our doubt. We can trust him to be everything for us that God requires, because he is.

"Wait a minute," you say. "You just said we have to have faith, and then you said if we don’t have faith, don’t worry about it. What kind of shell game are you playing?"

It’s no shell game. It’s just that we need to learn to trust in Jesus, not in faith. Listen. When we start analyzing our behavior to see if it is good enough to make God happy, we are playing a losing game, because our behavior is never that good, for starters.

In the same way, when we start to analyze our faith to see if it is good enough, we have already aced ourselves right out of real faith, which is simply trusting Jesus. Instead, we have set up faith as the new work of salvation, and ruined the whole thing.

That is why, when we start to worry that we don’t have enough faith, we should just trust Jesus, whose faith is perfect, to be everything we need for salvation. We trust him, not our faith. We can set aside our worry about how much faith we have, and remember that we have decided (by God’s grace—through the Holy Spirit freeing us and prodding us) to trust Jesus to save us no matter how things look.

Looks are deceiving. Sometimes things look bad because we feel depressed. Sometimes things look bad because we are plagued by doubt. Sometimes all we can see is our mountain of sins and failures. But we don’t trust in looks and feelings; we trust in Jesus Christ. Feeling good about our progress in holy living does not save us. Feeling bad about it does not condemn us. Christ saves us. We trust in him, not in how things appear to us.

The Bible says that there is nothing that can separate us from Christ’s love (Rom. 8:31-39). Our worries are no match for his love. Our doubts can’t overpower his love. The shortcomings of our church, our pastor, our friends, or our families are no match for his saving power.

The noise, lack of space, and even chaos of our home, which might keep us from the kind of prayer and Bible study we might hear about others enjoying, cannot keep Christ from saving us. Not even our roller-coaster-style emotional instability can keep him from making us into his new creation.

When we trust Christ, when we rest in him, we can quit the futile game of counting up our good deeds and our bad deeds. We can cast all our cares on him. We can confess, without fear or reservation, all our sins to him. We can rest in his forgiveness, in his acceptance, in his love.

God has not called us to worry, to fret, to fear (Rom. 8:15). The Holy Spirit leads us to courage, to boldness, to confidence in the one who loves us and gave himself for us. He is on our side (vs. 31-32); why should we worry that he, the very one who is indescribably for us, might somehow be against us? It makes no sense. Yet every time we fall short, it seems, we go through this traumatic worry session that God is going to pound us instead of forgive us.

Sin lies to us in countless ways. It tells us that it is fun. It tells us that we need it, that we deserve it. It tells us it won’t hurt us or others. All lies! Once we fall for its lies, though, sin takes off its mask and laughs in our faces while it beats us senseless. And then it starts lying all over again.

But maybe the worst lie of all is when sin tells us that God doesn’t like us any more. Don’t ever forget: Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:6, 8). God does not hate sinners. He loves them. That’s why he died for them.

Are you a sinner? What a surprise! Well then, sinner, God loves you. And he loves you right in the midst of your sinfulness; in fact, it is right there in your sinfulness that his greatest display of love took place on the cross.

That means that when we confess our sins, we are not begging for God to do something that he might not otherwise do. We are, in a word, celebrating the forgiveness he has already given us. We admit our need and then celebrate the restoration of fellowship we have with God through Jesus Christ. We celebrate our friendship with God, who loved us and saved us, coming to us in our sinfulness and taking it away. (And in the joy of such celebration of God’s love and grace toward us sinners, we likewise forgive those who have sinned against us.)

When we trust in Christ, we believe he knows what is best for us. That means we listen to what he tells us to do, and we do our best to do it. Still, even though we commit ourselves to live by every word of God, we fail in so many ways. But because we trust in Christ, we do not ever have to despair! We ask forgiveness, in full assurance that we have it, and we get up and try again.

This very process is an exercise of faith, of trusting in the One who both saves us and who is at work in us. As C.S. Lewis wrote: "We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection" (from Mere Christianity, chapter five).

Faith is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. It is a gift of God that prompts a decision, a decision to trust in Christ no matter how we feel. Sometimes we mistake our emotions for faith, and we think that because we have bright feelings toward God we are full of faith, or that because we are in the dumps we lack faith. But that is a mistake. Faith is not based on moods. It is a gift, ministered to us by the Holy Spirit, and it must be held onto even when the winds of doubt and fear threaten to pull it away.

But it is not usually the wind that causes us to lose faith; winds usually motivate us to hold on tighter. No, it is usually neglect—just setting it down someplace and planning to get back to it sometime, but rarely getting around to it. That is why Christians make it a point to pray and read the Bible and confess their sins every day, as well as meet together every week. When we do that, we are reminded of what we believe, and therefore less likely to let our confidence slip away (see Eph. 3:12; Heb. 10:25).

Such constant reinforcement, such practice or exercise, helps our grip on faith remain strong, which is important, because it is only through faith that we can see things the way they really are—instead of they way they appear to be. The more we let God remind us of the truth, the less inclined we are to believe sin’s lies.

Without faith, the lies that sin tells us start to sound logical again. Without faith, we start to think God is mad at us again. Without faith, we start to think salvation comes by good behavior again. Without faith, we start to forget the real gospel, and that makes us start down either the road of arrogance or the road of despair, depending on how we feel about the way our dimming eyes decide to size up our behavior.

One way we could describe faith is this: Faith is the Holy Spirit nudging us to believe what is really true in spite of the great pendulum swings in how we feel about things. And what is really true is that God loves us and saved us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Some Christians think that God ordained before all time some to be saved and the rest to be lost. But the Scriptures tell us that what God has ordained before all time is his own steadfast love, that is, his unswerving covenant faithfulness (Acts 13:32-33). He will see through what he began in Christ before all things (Eph. 1:9-10), and he will do it because he is faithful, and in spite of our human unfaithfulness (Rom. 5:6). In fact, our unfaithfulness becomes the very tool through which God magnificently displays his utter faithfulness (Rom. 5:10, 15; Titus 3:3-7).

In Christ, the ever-living God whose word cannot be broken, became, as God in the flesh, the perfectly faithful human for all our sakes, thereby keeping his covenant with humanity from both ends. From God’s side, as God, he became and provided everything we needed for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3); from our side, as human, he became and offered up to God everything humans needed to be and needed to give to God (Rom. 8:1-3). That is why we find our fullness, our true selves, only in our union with Christ, for it is only in our union with Christ that we are truly ourselves as God created us to be (Col. 3:3-4).

Update from Finance & Planning

First quarter of 2002 complete

By Ronald Kelly

At last our mail processing staff has caught up with the backlog that began to accumulate in December. The staff worked extra hard to have a more accurate accounting of church finances by the end of the first quarter.

Our regular mail and local church donation income for March was just over $1.9 million—and that’s an increase over March of last year. However, because donations for January were down more than we hoped, the totals for the first quarter show a seven percent decrease. The donation income for January through March 2001 was $4.86 million, while the same period this year was $4.53 million.

When we report income figures each month, we divide income into two major categories: (1) Donation Income—primarily from church members and co-workers; and (2) All Other Income—that mainly consists of estate donations, Legacy Partners escrow extension payments, property leases and auction sales, but also includes tax refunds and a variety of other sources.

In early 2001 we had a rather extensive auction of furnishings and equipment as well as a tax refund from the Big Sandy campus after all bills were settled there. This year we had neither of those sources of revenue, so the "other income" picture is obviously less when compared to last year.

Adding both income sources shows a total first quarter income right at $5.1 million. That’s a decrease of almost 12 percent compared to $5.8 million in total income last year.

As we report on page 19, we have sold the summer camp site in Orr, Minnesota. Although that sale generated a small revenue compared to the value of the Big Sandy and Pasadena campuses, nevertheless, the sale proceeds will help our financial picture through the middle portion of the year.

I want to compliment our management team for doing all they can to keep expenses as low as possible. Because our major expense (as is the case in almost all churches and non-profit organizations) is employee salaries, it is difficult to trim expenses. Over the past several years we have reduced the number of employees at headquarters by more than 90 percent.

Our staff works hard to maintain a high level of efficiency. But as I noted earlier, the mail processing staff fell behind in January and did not catch up till the last week of March. So, other than ongoing salaries, the staff has managed to save about $500,000 in expenses during the first quarter of the year!

In the meantime, we continue through what seems like a painstakingly slow process to complete the Pasadena campus sale. Pasadena city staff, planners and the city council regularly evaluate the information they have regarding the proposed development, but often find they need further information to proceed. We and Legacy Partners are doing all we can to meet the requirements for city officials, but we are finding these matters take a great deal of time.

Last month I reported that it looks as though the decision on the sale process will not be completed by midyear, but will be moved toward the end of the year. That still seems to be the best-case scenario.

We anxiously await the implementation of our new local congregation financial procedures after the campus sells. We realize many of you are equally anxious to move into the new financial model in order to have local funds available for outreach ministries. I think we are all excited about the potential for our local churches, so let’s continue together in prayer to our great God, who has control over all timing, that he will bless us with a successful completion of the campus sale.

Statement of Income and Expenses for
WCG and PTM combined for March 2002

                                                For the Month             For the Year-to-Date

Income

       Mail Income                             $ 1,927,000                         $ 4,532,000

        Other income                                 272,000                              636,000

            Total income                           2,199,000                           5,168,000

Expenses                                             2,483,000                          6,947,000

Net gain (loss) to bank reserves         $ (284,000)                     $ (1,779,000)

Regional Snapshot

From Rod and Ruth Matthews
Australia and New Zealand

National churches
continue development

By Aub Warren

BURLEIGH HEADS, Australia—The result of more than two years of preparatory work has seen both the Australian and New Zealand churches establish national boards to take responsibility for governance issues in each country. In Australia a national board was established in April 2001, while in New Zealand a new board of trustees was established at a meeting in Auckland March 2 and 3, 2002. Regional director Rod Matthews sits on both boards, as an executive member in Australia and a nonvoting member in New Zealand.

The members of the church board in Australia conducted their first meeting for the year Jan. 26 to 28. Because of the various commitments of board members the meeting took place in Melbourne, Victoria, after a combined service in Dandenong, Jan. 26. Several board members were at the service and participated in a discussion session after the service and lunch.

The board agreed that it was important that its operating premise needed to be "looking ahead" not "looking to the past." This is a reasonable and responsible approach to our stewardship of the work of the gospel.

The board also agreed that the focus of central church administrative effort must clearly be expressed in an overt and intentional commitment to the spiritual development of the church and the development of genuine Christian spiritual community.

This means that while some of the church’s central administrative services must be immediately reduced to be within available income, Christian ministry education and church development resources must be not only protected but enhanced as a tool for the church’s growth and development.

The church established Pacific College at the end of 2000 to deliver Christian ministry training, including a qualification in Christian Ministry. Classes can be delivered through distance education (print and e-mail correspondence), intensive weekend classes, or at the college premises on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Flexible learning options mean that, after July, students may negotiate a starting time that suits their own schedule. Students can choose to study one or more classes at a time, and audit (not for credit) classes are also available.

Pacific’s current classes include: the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, Spiritual Formation, Pastoral Care, Basic Pastoral Counselling, Christian Leadership, and Worship.

"The emphasis is on practical involvement in ministry," said college director John McLean.

Pacific’s classes have been received enthusiastically by students in Australia and New Zealand. Intensive weekend classes have been delivered in many church areas, and the college welcomes inquiries from students anywhere in the world.

For more information, contact the registrar at info@pacific.qld.edu.au, telephone 011 61 7 5593 4343, fax 011 61 7 5593 4662, or write to P.O. Box 2420, Burleigh MDC, Queensland, Australia, 4220.

At the end of 2001, the Australian Worldwide News published the following summaries from a selection of congregations around the country.

Wollongong, with an average attendance of 17 adults, is a developing congregation in which people enjoy coming together in a relaxed style. Their income has increased significantly over the last three years, and the congregation supports Ken and Joy Slade’s work in Papua New Guinea, the Summer Educational Program (SEP) and increased pastoral services from Sydney.

One of the major developments of the year was increasing the speaking list from one to nine people. We assigned sections of the book of Acts to different speakers. This encouraged the use of commentaries, resources on the web and understanding the historical context in order to do a proper exegesis. The results were encouraging with several speakers ready to choose their own messages. Peter McLean, a minister from Sydney, often has meetings after church to go through principles of exegesis and presentation. Rod Dean.

The activities of the past year for the Perth congregation have seen an increasing energy and focus on the work of evangelism.

This focus has included:

The continued development and improvement of the Internet video ministry Message of the Week. Statistics hover at around 2,000 visitors to the website per month, with more than a third coming from Asia.

The launch of a free Christian magazine, Life Today... A Perspective. The magazine aims to present the message of Jesus Christ as it is relevant to life today.

During two days of the festival, the community was invited to Open Church 2001 by radio advertising and the letterbox delivery of 2,000 information packs and personal invitations. The topic explored during both worship services looked at the "Great Hope for All People," from a local and global perspective. Fifteen new people attended, with several follow-up visit requests.

Numerous other ministries have served community needs during the year, including the supply of overseas clothing packages, the sponsorship of three children through World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, and the support of two women refugees.

Pastor Mohan Jayasekera commented that congregational life has improved immensely, with many members supporting and driving the new initiatives. John Klassek.

Unity and peace is characteristic of the Brisbane East congregation with a continuing focus on developing the characteristics of a healthy congregation. A congregational survey based on Christian Schwartz’s Natural Church Development organized late last year formed the basis for this direction. Monthly themes include the eight characteristics of healthy churches and have enabled members to focus more deeply on these spiritual themes. Increasing member participation and ownership of various ministries is evident.

Brisbane has continued development of worship services with two worship bands and several groups of worship leaders and singers. B1 (the youth band) and B2 (parents band) alternate each week in providing the music.

The youth council has played an active part in assisting with church activities, and in helping to organize and run our annual winter camp for the youths. Bob Regazzoli.

The Flagstaff Community Church set up fund-raising stalls and worked with the community center for the Flagstaff Community Fair. Members distributed church information through flyers and public announcements.

Pacific College personnel John McLean and Kerry Gubb ran a congregational training day on team ministry in April and on June 13 members signed up for the Pacific College intensive weekend on the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.

Fifteen to 20 participants attended the women’s retreat weekend in the Adelaide Hills. The retreat focused on building bridges between Christian denominations, nations, races, divided families, unbelievers and Jesus Christ. Bharat Naker.

The Hobart church has endeavored to lift its evangelistic efforts. This began with the Tasmanian churches annual weekend retreat at Sheffield in July to focus on evangelism. Using Peter Bolt’s Mission Minded material (Matthias Press) as an underpinning for the weekend, we looked at being in mission mode rather than maintenance mode, and examined the two areas of mission that Jesus has given us—that of evangelism and nurturing the church.

We looked at the steps involved, including contact, pre-evangelism, follow-up, nurture and training in ministry, and analyzed what we are and are not doing, and what we can do to do better. The area of weakness was, no surprise, evangelism—the actual communication of the gospel to others.

We have made contact and built relationships with lots of people, and have done a lot of pre-evangelism as well as nurturing and training ourselves. We have been inviting friends to church social activities, and are planning evangelistic services two or three times a year. Overall we believe personal evangelism, including giving appropriate literature to people that fits their life situation, is most effective.

With the last issues of Living Today, the magazine formerly published by the Australian Office, we offered a free Jesus video. We have had about eight responses, and have delivered them personally, which has led to some good conversations.

Hobart member Kath Reid runs a Share a Care small group, which we have advertised, and a few new people have come. It is designed to help lonely people who need companionship, a willing ear and encouragement. Phil Hopwood.

Youth Ministry:
New SEPs just months away

By Jeb Egbert
SEP director

FRISCO, Texas—"The Summer Educational Program (SEP) is a fabulous experience for teens," said Dan Rogers, operations manager for Church Administration in the United States.

Regional SEP
camp directors
receive certification

EDGEWATER, Maryland—Ten regional Summer Educational Program (SEP) camp directors participated in the American Camping Association Basic Camp Director Course Feb. 16 to 20. The training took place at YMCA Camp Letts in Edgewater.

Church sells Orr camp facility

By Mathew Morgan

The sale of the summer camp property on Pelican Lake near Orr, Minnesota, closed April 11.

Thank you to all who have been praying for the successful conclusion of this sale. Please continue to pray that God blesses the efforts of all those involved with the regional camps this summer. Please also remember former facilities manager Tom Kennebeck, his wife, Sandy, and their children Mitch, Brandee and Chris, as they transition into new employment opportunities. Their service to the church while in Big Sandy, Texas, and during their tenure at Orr, is much appreciated.

Dayton, Ohio, host
for reconciliation service

DAYTON, Ohio—The Dayton area CrossRoads Christian Fellowship was host for a reconciliation service on Sunday, March 3. The theme was People Reconciliation—a Celebration of Diversity.

The CrossRoads drama team opened the service by presenting Reconciliation Not Judgment, a drama that depicted Jesus’ desire to reconcile to himself with all people. The drama ended with the song "On My Cross," written and directed by Lola Daniel.

"As God’s children and imitators of Christ, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation," said deaconess Levada Bibbs, who gave the opening message.

In his sermon, Pastor Jim Valekis reminded us that we are called to be reconciled to the Father through Jesus Christ and we need to be connected to Jesus so we don’t miss out on the "Joy of the Journey."

Martha Ormbrek and Rosie Andzik led an uplifting praise and worship service. They appropriately ended the service with the song "Let the Walls Fall Down." Several guests attended the service. The CrossRoads Women’s Discipleship Ministry coordinated the service. Martha Ormbrek.

STEERING COMMITTEE—
Back row from left: Jane Boone
and Martha Ormbrek. Front row from left:
Rosie Andzik and Levada Bibbs.
Not pictured: Lola Daniel.
[Photo by Bernie Andzik

Bible Study

Starting right and finishing well:
a study of Philippians 3

By Michael Morrison

Paul writes to the church in Philippi to encourage them to rejoice in their trials and to be considerate of one another. In chapter 3, he comments on the foundation of the faith and exhorts them to finish well. He tells them that salvation is not by works, but he exhorts them to work. Let’s see how he balances these two thoughts.

Although Paul is only in the middle of his letter, he indicates his transition by writing, "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!" (3:1). He wants to stress that joy is found "in the Lord."

"It is no trouble for me to write," he says, "the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you" (3:1). In other words, I’ve told you before, but I think it will be helpful if I remind you. Then he warns them about false teachers.

"Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh" (3:2). Paul is referring to Judaizers, who taught that people must be circumcised in order to be saved. This heresy was apparently not an urgent problem in Philippi, but Paul wanted to be sure that the Philippians wouldn’t fall for it.

He uses harsh words about those who taught salvation by works—dogs, evil-doers, mutilators. He used the Gentile objection to circumcision—that it was a mutilation of the flesh. Paul was not opposed to Jews circumcising Jews, but in this letter, writing to a primarily Gentile church, he felt free to use the Gentile perspective.

"Dogs" was Jewish slang for Gentiles. Why does Paul refer to the Judaizers by their word for Gentiles? He considers them not truly the people of God, not part of the true Israel. "For it is we who are the circumcision," he writes (3:3)—and by that word we, he is including his Gentile readers. Although they are not physically circumcised, they are part of the true circumcision (Romans 2:29).

Those who have faith in Christ have the circumcision that counts, the circumcision of the heart. We Christians, not the Judaizers, have the true worship: "we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh" (3:3). Our hope of salvation, he says, is not based on our flesh, anatomy or genealogy. Our confidence is in Christ.

If salvation were based on genetics and Jewish laws, Paul would do well. Even though he has those, he trusts in Christ, not in his works. "Though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more" (3:4).

Then he lists his merits: "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless" (3:5-6).

Paul has everything the Judaizers have, and more. He was born a Jew, educated in Judea, zealous even by the standards of the strictest group. He did everything he could, but it was not enough. Not because he failed, but because even at its best, the old approach does not work. He had to start over.

No one can accuse Paul of preaching grace for his own benefit or to ease a troubled conscience. Paul has gone from being a respected rabbi, to being a persecuted apostle, for one reason only: he is persuaded that Christ is the truth, the way and the life. "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" (3:7). He counts those things as spiritually valueless. They cannot bring him any closer to God.

"What is more," he writes, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things" (3:8). Paul was willing to give up all his Jewish advantages, all his merits, because Christ is so much more valuable. Paul is still a Jew, of course, but genetics and traditions cannot save him.

"I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (3:8). Circumcision is not wrong in itself, but it is worthless for salvation—and actually harmful if someone trusts in it. Only Christ counts; only he is of value for our relationship to God. Paul wants something far more valuable than anything Judaism can offer, and that is Christ.

On judgment day, Paul wants to be found in Christ, "not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith" (3:9). True righteousness does not come through law-keeping (no matter how well we keep the laws)—it comes only as a gift of God to those who trust in Christ. This is the right place to start.

Paul’s goal is "to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead" (3:10-11). Now he knows only in part (1 Cor. 13:12), but he wants to know Christ fully, and he will experience this only in the resurrection.

But to share in Christ’s glory, Paul also shares in his sufferings, and by doing so, he will in some way attain the resurrection. Not that he will earn salvation through his sufferings, but that through faith he is united to Christ, including his crucifixion and death (Rom. 6:3-6). He shares in Christ’s sufferings as well as his glory. Both are part of being "in Christ" through faith. He has joined Jesus in the journey of salvation, and he is willing to follow him wherever he leads.

But Paul has not yet achieved what he wants: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Phil. 3:12). So Paul works hard to perform the work for which Jesus called him. This is part of knowing Christ—knowing his will and being eager to do it. Paul wants to experience the riches of Christ, even if they involve some suffering. His confidence in Christ does not make him complacent or lazy.

And again he says: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (3:13-14). He does not rest on the many good things he has already done—he works, for that is what Christ called him for. Paul is not talking about qualifying or earning the prize, but about his zeal for it.

Paul has a reason to explain his eagerness—he wants the Philippians to share his approach. "All of us who are mature should take such a view of things" (3:15). Those who are mature recognize that they are not yet complete, but the immature sometimes claim victory prematurely. So Paul adds, "And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you" (3:15). As you mature in Christ, you will learn to think this way, too.

"Only let us live up to what we have already attained" (3:16). Those who are in Christ should live like it (Eph. 4:1); we should let Christ make a difference in our lives, changing us, giving us zeal for his work. And to reinforce this active faith, we are to be attentive to good examples. "Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you" (Phil. 3:17).

Be zealous for Christ, he says. "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ" (3:18). Here Paul equates the gospel with "the cross of Christ." The good news is based on a crucified Savior, for salvation comes through what Christ did, not on what we do. But many people are embarrassed by the cross and stress works instead.

"Their destiny is destruction," Paul says (3:19). "Their god is their stomach"—they seek financial support—"and their glory is in their shame." They glory in the flesh, in circumcision and works of the law. But now that Christ has come, it is shameful to choose these things instead of Christ, or to insist on both, when Christ is all that we need. Paul concludes, "Their mind is on earthly things" (3:19).

In contrast, Paul says, "Our citizenship is in heaven" (3:20). Our minds are set on heaven, not on earth. We focus on the spirit, not the flesh. Our hope is in the future, not in this world. "We eagerly await a Savior from there [heaven], the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (3:20-21).

When Christ returns, we will be like he is (1 John 3:2). He will give us the righteousness we need, and that is why we can so eagerly strive to do his will. "Therefore," Paul concludes, "that is how you should stand firm in the Lord" (Phil. 4:1). Be eager, press onward, and trust in Christ!

Questions for application

• Have I been fairly successful at keeping biblical laws? Does that tend to give me confidence?

• Do I count my past (whether good or bad) as rubbish, as irrelevant?

• Do I want the fellowship of sharing in the sufferings of Christ?

• Does confidence in Christ make me zealous, or complacent?

• Can I trust God to teach people who think differently than I do?

• What is my attitude toward the cross of Christ?

 

International Women’s Ministry Retreat

Sponsored by the Worldwide Church of God
Hueston Woods, College Corner, Ohio, 45003
Nov. 15 to 17

"But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

REGISTRATION FORM

_____________________________________________________
Name                               (Last)                                (First)                           (Middle)

_____________________________________________________
Address 

___________________________    __________    _____________
City                                                                        State / Province      Zip / Postal Code

______________________    ___________________   _____________
Country                                                    Home Phone                                   E-mail

Sharing with: (Mail applications together)

1) ___________________2) __________________3) _________________

• Please assign me a roommate with three others
  
  SPECIAL NEEDS:
• Hearing impaired
• No steps
• Wheelchair accessible
• Sugarfree treats

Other: ______________________________________________________

COST PER PERSON: Includes: Registration fee, five meals, two nights lodging, activities and seminars.

 

Occupants         Before June 30         July 1- Aug. 31

4 per room         $165 per person         $185 per person

*3 per room         $180 per person         $200 per person 

*2 per room         $215 per person         $235 per person
                            *Limited Availability

DONATION: I would like to help others attend. Amount donated: $ _________

TOTAL ENCLOSED: $ _________

PAYABLE TO:                 LCAF—Erlanger
                                         c/o Mary Koch, 2656 Van Deren Drive
                                         Lakeside Park, Kentucky, 41017

E-mail: maryk@zoomtown.com                    Phone contact: 1-859-426-1535

All retreat funds must be payable in US dollars.
No applications can be accepted after Sept. 1.

Celebrate Christ in Canada

By Bill Hall

This fall nine locations in Canada will play host to visitors celebrating the 2002 fall festival.

The festival in St. John’s will take place Sept. 21 to 28. About 70 are expected to attend. Newfoundland is an island in the Atlantic, the easternmost part of North America, and a popular tourist destination.

Those transferring in may obtain a provincial tourist guide with accommodation information by calling 1-800-563-6353. Contact Chris Starkey, telephone 1-709-368-9901, e-mail cstarkey@nfld.com

The focus of this year’s celebration will be the weekend of Sept. 20 to 22. Ross Jutsum of State of the Heart Music Ministries plans to be there Sept. 22 to share his musical talents and lead worship.

For more information, visitors can contact Nova Scotia Information and Reservations for brochures and assistance at 1-800-565-0000 or visit their web site at www.explore. gov.ns.ca. Contact Owen Willis, telephone 1-902-826-1197, e-mail owillis@ns.sympatico.ca

The New Brunswick congregations will celebrate Jesus Christ on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Oct. 11 to 13. Gary Moore, Canadian regional director, and his wife, Tamara, plan to attend.

The greater Moncton area is known for its hospitality and as the hub of the Maritime Provinces.

For more information, call the City of Moncton at 1-800-363-4558. You can also visit a web site at www.gomoncton.com Contact Eric Vautour, telephone 1-506-389-2638, e-mail evautour@nb.sympatico.ca

Camp Vendee is two hours from Montreal or Ottawa in the Quebec Laurentian Mountains beside Lac Windigo. The autumn celebration of Jesus will take place Friday evening, Sept. 20 until the closing communion service Sunday, Sept. 29.

Ross Jutsum of State of the Heart Music Ministries will lead a worship seminar, as well as worship services to begin this celebration.

Children’s Bible School with a theme of "An Extreme Adventure With Jesus" will take place each day, as well as teen classes and activities on the two weekends.

Camp Vendee has on-campus housing available on a first registered and requested, first offered basis, at $15 per person per day to a family maximum of $45 per day. Meals will be served in the Camp Vendee dining room for $20 per adult per day to a family maximum of $60 per day.

You can view the facilities at www.wcg.org/youth/campvendee

Contact Dennis Lawrence, telephone 1-514-425-5371, e-mail dennis.lawrence@videotron.ca

The Toronto East congregation will be host for a festival Sept. 21 to 28. Services will take place at the congregation’s usual meeting location. Contact Pastor Richard Wilding, telephone 1-416-222-9884, e-mail wildingr@rogers.com; or Kevin Armstrong, telephone 1-905-668-7737, e-mail kevin.armstrong@sympatico.ca

The festival in Winnipeg will take place Sept. 20 to 28. The opening night will be devoted to a praise and worship service. Activities this year will include a boat cruise on the Red River and an all-church dance at the convention site. The Winnipeg congregation will be host for the annual festival pancake breakfast. A Christian Gospel concert is also planned. Children’s church will be offered as well as teen services and activities.

Contact Alan Redmond, 3 Matthew Bay, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2G 3L1, telephone 1-204-654-3217, e-mail redmond@mb.sympatico.ca

The Battlefords congregation will be host for a festival Sept. 21 to 27 with a theme of "Being a Missionary Church." Along with events and activities on the weekend of Sept. 21 and 22, evening services during the week will feature guest speakers from the local faith community.

A traditional Saskatchewan fowl supper will take place during the first weekend. Contact Bill Hall, Battlefords Worldwide Church of God, Box 1690, Battleford SK S0M 0E0, telephone 1-306-937-7848, e-mail: bill.hall@sk.sympatico.ca

The Edmonton congregation will be host for a festival Sept. 20 to 28. Worship services, seminars and workshops will be conducted at People’s Church, which serves as the regular church home for the Edmonton congregation.

Gary Moore, Canadian regional director, will be the guest speaker Sept. 20 to 23. Activities will include Saturday afternoon and evening entertainment at West Edmonton Mall, Sunday morning brunch meetings for men’s and women’s ministries, and a Sunday evening social and dinner dance. On Monday, Colin Wallace, Saskatoon pastor, will present a seminar on conflict resolution.

Sept. 27 and 28 the guest speaker will be Gordon Graham, Calgary pastor. Additional seminars are yet to be confirmed. Contact Robert Millman or Colin Lauchlan, telephone 1-780-444-8903, fax 1-780-484-5661, e-mail rmillman@telusplanet.net, web site http://churches.wcg.org/edmonton/

The festival in Penticton will take place Sept. 20 to 28. This year’s Celebration of Christ will emphasize the priceless blessings that God gives each one of us through his Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Penticton, situated in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, is one of Canada’s most popular vacation sites.

Services will be at the Cleland Theatre, and attendance is limited to 450. Early registration is advised. Contact Bob Morton, telephone 1-250-769-5613, e-mail morton@direct.ca

 

FALL FESTIVAL 2002

Registration Form

Worldwide Church of God Canada

 

 

AFFIX MAILING LABEL HERE

 

 

 

Phone Number ( ____ ) ____________________

Number of adults: ______    Number of children (high school age and younger): ______

Number of single adults: ______

Number of seniors (60 and older, include spouse even if younger than 60): ______

Age(s) of children (high school age and younger) at festival:

• D  Disabled (cannot move freely)

• W Wheelchair

• A  Deaf (sign language)

• B  Blind

• L  Severe allergies

The church asks for donations of at least the following amounts from each individual or family to fund the festival:

• Regional site: $125 per family or $75 single person $   ________

• Weekend fee: $30 per family or $20 per person $   _________

• I wish to give an additional amount to pay for the registration of someone who cannot contribute at this time. I understand that excess amounts from this fund will go to general festival expenses.   $  _________

Total Enclosed: $   ________

• I am unable to donate at this time, but am planning to attend.

• MasterCard    

• VISA

Card Number _____  _____  _____   ______ Expiration Date ____/____
                                             (REQUIRED)                                                              (REQUIRED)

Cardholder Name   ______________________________________
                                                            (PLEASE PRINT)

Signature   ____________________________________________
                                                                   (REQUIRED):

Please mail completed form to:

New Zealand festival site

AUCKLAND, New Zealand—A festival will take place in Wellington, New Zealand, Sept. 21 to 28.

The registration fee is $100 per wage earner. Passports are required for international visitors. Visas are not required for most visitors, but it is suggested to check with the nearest New Zealand consulate.

Wellington airport has flights from Australia and connecting flights through Christchurch and Auckland from other international destinations.

Accommodations can be found on the web at www.nz-accommodation.co.nz If help is needed, contact Maureen MacDonald, 10 Kingston St., Lower Hutt, New Zealand, telephone 011-64-4-577-2225, e-mail maureenmac@xtra.co.nz

Guidelines for sending photos
to The Worldwide News

Following are guidelines to consider when sending photos
to The Worldwide News.

• When sending photos by e-mail, save the photos in jpg format and send them as separate attachments.
• If you choose to send hard copies of photos, please send us the original photo. Photos from publications or other printed material are generally not usable.
• Please do not cut photos. This makes cropping and sizing more difficult.

Stephen Lovato, emergency medical technician,
killed responding to call

ROSWELL, New Mexico—Steven Lovato, 30, an emergency medical technician, was shot and killed March 16 while responding to a report of an explosion and fire at a private residence. Mr. Lovato was attempting to render aid to a burn victim who then opened fire killing Mr. Lovato and a neighbor and wounded the Roswell fire chief (who also later died) and a four-year-old girl, before killing himself.

Bruce Moot, a WCG elder from Santa Fe, New Mexico, conducted the funeral service March 20, assisted by Rick Hale of Grace Community Church. According to the Roswell Daily Record News, Mr. Moot told those attending the funeral: "I look around me and I see all the lives Steve has touched. We were all brought together by his life. Now we are brought together by his death, but don’t forget, we are here for his resurrection." The last time he saw Mr. Lovato was at a retreat the previous weekend where he was baptized. Mr. Moot told the audience: "Through faith in Jesus, death is not final.... Steven is in the arms of Jesus."

During the service, taps were sounded and then a radio call went out to Mr. Lovato’s EMT radio number that said: "One final call for Steve Lovato" and then, "negative response," followed by "Steve is now at rest with God."

"The funeral procession was several miles long and it appeared as if the whole town had shut down," said Don Lawson, district superintendent. "In places people lined the street, many at attention and some with their hands to their hearts."

Mr. Lovato is survived by his wife, Josephine; a son, Alexander, 10; parents, Lawrence and Rosie, who pastor the Roswell church; three sisters, Christy Ann Villarreal and her husband, Daniel; Lori Jean and Vicky Marie; and a niece, Erin Villarreal.

In a statement, Mr. Lovato’s family said: "Thank you for honoring our son, a wonderful daddy, husband and child of God in whom we are well-pleased. Love each other, dear ones, and take care of one another. Life is fragile and precious. Handle with prayer. Think of good things."