Spring 2015 Edition

Spr ing 2015

I AM My Brother’s Keeper!

by Steve Anderson

N

o true Biblicist can deny that there is an abandonment in our day of a strong literalhistorical-grammatical hermeneutic. And the fallout of forcing the Word to say what one needs it to say, rather than what it clearly says, is massive. Included are major shifts in doctrinal positions (both ecclesiastical and personal), a flippant view of God’s holiness (if it is even considered) and the subsequent disregard of personal piety and a consistent growth toward Christlikeness. Coupling this with the pervasiveness of worldly enticements to the flesh and other contributing elements, and the growing number of tragic, moral failures provides a clear demand for an increased personal accountability. The need for accountability is particularly true for those in the ministry.

• the missionary’s call and daily preparation— Bible reading, prayer life, meditation

God will hold us accountable (Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27), and His loving design is for accountability in this life as well. The Word says that “Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:5-6). If one puts these principles alongside those found in the texts of Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Proverbs 27:17, and Galatians 6:1-4, one begins to understand the critical importance of each believer’s intimate involvement in the lives of other believers! The concept of a believer functioning essentially alone is foreign to the Scriptures. The idea that a believer can serve Christ acceptably outside the body-life of the local church is contrary to God’s will for this age. The mandates to biblical discipleship are all about the consistent impact being made in a believer’s life by others and the impact he is to then have in others’ lives. Consider the four generations of this process cited in 2 Timothy 2:2.

The many “one another” passages in the New Testament strongly attest that it is God’s will that all believers have active and continual interaction with each other, providing for the growth and correction of each member of the body of Christ (e.g. “teaching and admonishing one another” Colossians 3:16).

• his partnerships (with his sending church, his supporting churches, his prayer partners, the nationals, other missionaries and his mission agency)

The need for strong accountability is especially acute in missions, owing to the geographic component (“out of sight, out of mind”), the protected “pedestal” status that missionaries are far too often afforded, and the significant financial investment in their lives and ministries. This accountability would include, but not be limited to:

All believers should welcome accountability. A believer should at no time consider himself exempt from the need for personal and ministry accountability. Believers holding one another accountable may appear to be a negative activity, but it should be embraced as tremendously needful and positive—a consistent provocation to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)—for the glory of God!

• his ongoing personal and ministry integrity • his home and family (guarding them as a priority and discipling them) and God’s using them to model the Christian family and home to the nationals, who desperately need this visual example • his personal development (e.g. graduate-level classes, reading program, grasp of current issues, etc.)

• his motivations and transparency in all his communications, including prayer letters and updates • his personal purity and that of his family, including Internet use with appropriate safeguards

• his conformity to biblical church-planting principles, including faithful evangelism, directed discipleship and leadership training • his raising and use of funds for property, buildings and equipment, while seeking to honor the New Testament indigenous policy Of course, critical to this accountability process is a missionary’s strong relationship with his sending church and, in particular, his sending pastor. The sending pastor can tremendously enhance the missionary’s life and work by keeping his fingers on the spiritual pulse of the missionary, his practice and his family, thereby providing counsel, encouragement, guidance and correction, as necessary. A missionary typically will have cut his teeth on service in his sending church. He grew to maturity in that context. The pastor’s personal knowledge of these steps, along with observation of God’s call on the missionary’s life, will be invaluable in efforts to see the Lord’s blessing on the field ministry. This may well result in the missionary family and ministry being preserved for the longterm.

In This Issue

2 Highlights from the Highways & Hedges

3 Avoiding a Lone Ranger Mentality — Part 2 Ready to Go

4 Itineraries

Highlights f r o m

t h e

Highways & Hedges

France Bernard and Bernice Dodeler serve in France and shared this account of God’s blessing on their outreach ministry. One of their evangelistic tools is distributing tracts and Bibles at Christmas time to those who will take them. One lady refused their offer, saying she already had a Bible and was a Christian, but didn’t go to church. They shared the Gospel with her and discovered she did have a testimony of true conversion. She promised she would come to church some day, but wouldn’t give her contact information. Then, a man named Denis visited their church in February. He said he is a Christian from Haiti and that one of his New Year’s resolutions was to start attending church again. The Dodelers were pleasantly surprised when he also showed up on Tuesday evening for the prayer meeting. The following Sunday, he attended with his youngest daughter and again attended the prayer meeting that week. He promised to bring his wife and four children the following Sunday, which he did. What a surprise to learn that his wife was the lady who had refused the Bible back in December! It appears that the family will start attending regularly. Once again we see that God blesses our faithful witness, even in the so-called hard places.

Bernard and Bernice Dodeler have served with BWM since 1996.

Argentina James and Amy Greenwood serve in Argentina and recently reported on a new church-planting effort. James writes, “On the eve of the new church plant’s first service, the weather forecast predicted heavy storms.

Since the small town mainly consists of dirt roads that are impassable after inclement weather, we decided to wait and see what happened before canceling the first church meeting. By midday, it was still raining, and the family who hosts the meetings told us that no one would want to come out of their houses. However, we determined that since we had canvassed the whole town saying we would be there on November 30, then we ought to be true to our word, in spite of the adverse circumstances! At 4:30 p.m., with five adults from the Pilar church and with one of our children as our pianist, we headed north to Duggan. A little over an hour later, we parked five blocks away from the house, transferred the keyboard and our small pulpit to our host’s cargo van, and the six of us piled in for the bumpy ride through the muddy ruts. God blessed the first Sunday service of Duggan Independent Baptist Church with wonderful music, preaching from His Word, and a total of 19 in attendance! Since then, four people have made professions of faith.

Starting a work in a rural town of 1,000 was never part of our plan, but God opened the doors! The most exciting aspect to us is seeing our people do so much of the work! The host family is a member of the church in Pilar with a burden for their little town. When we held the first Sunday services in Pilar just five years ago, we had no one to play the piano and no one trained to counsel or even to teach the children. It is amazing what God has done in such a short time!”

James and Amy Greenwood have served with BWM since 2002.

Germany The Tim Peterson family serves in Hamburg, Germany. Tim shared this inspiring account of a recent witnessing opportunity. He writes, “Church planting here on the north side of Hamburg, Germany, has presented many opportunities to give the Gospel of Christ to the German folks around us. On Monday, January 5, I met with a 17-year-old young lady named Loren Corcho, along with some others in the home of a family from church. Loren had questions about the Bible. I explained the Gospel to her, and she tearfully prayed to trust Christ as her Savior! Sitting directly behind Loren was 18-year-old Jasmin Blums. The whole time I was witnessing to Loren, Jasmin sat with her head turned to one side and her long hair blocking my view of her facial expression. I assumed from her body language that Jasmin was not at all interested in the Gospel. However, when I finished praying with Loren, I simply asked Jasmin if she had a de-

Argentina The Don Harris family serves in Argentina and recently shared this uniquely precious account of how the Lord used the faithful witness of one young person with a handicap to help build His church. Don writes, “Our church recently ordained Mario Palavecino to the gospel ministry and called him to be pastor of our church. But without Marcelo, there would be no Mario.

Marcelo was born with severe nerve motor problems that caused his limbs to be twisted. He has never been honored with the ribbons and trophies that this world gives out for outstanding physical achievements. To the contrary, his mother was told that he would never be able to walk. But God had other plans. Marcelo received the Lord at our Bible club when he was ten years old. We gave him a New Testament, which he kept in his shoebox of special things. Although his mother said she was not interested in our Gospel, she got into her little son’s box of special things each day when he left for school and read his New Testament. She soon started riding the church bus to Sunday school with Marcelo, and in a short time, both she and Marcelo’s younger brother were also saved. At a special testimony time, I asked folks to give a testimony of their salvation and tell who invited them to come to our church. Many said that it was Marcelo, now a teenager, who first invited them to church. I asked all those who had been invited by Marcelo to stand. Nearly half of the congregation stood to their feet! In his testimony, Mario (our newly-ordained pastor) told how Marcelo had agreed to attend a mass with him if Mario would then reciprocate by attending church with him. After the mass, Mario asked Marcelo for his opinion. Marcelo pointed out some of the doctrinal errors he had observed, and there in the same seats where they had just sat through a mass, Marcelo led Mario to trust Christ as his personal Savior. Mario attended the next service at our church with Marcelo and made a public profession of faith. This is just one of many ways God uses ‘broken things’ for His honor and glory. I surely never expected that God would provide our national pastor through the efforts of a handicapped boy.”

Don and Lois Harris have served with BWM since 2009.

sire to also place her faith in Christ.

It was at this point that Jasmin turned her face toward me with tears flowing down both cheeks. She too prayed and trusted Christ as her Lord and Savior!”

Tim and Cynthia Peterson have served with BWM since 1982.

Kenya The Brent Halstead, Michael Rains and Rick Simonsen families serve in a team ministry in Kenya, which includes training national preachers. Brent writes, “Missionary church planters must also be educators.

Our missionary team in Kenya is celebrating six years of working together in the Bible college ministry of Independent Baptist College of Ministry (IBCM). In November 2014, we held a notable graduation; eight candidates received certificates and degrees, including four bachelors degrees. There were two others who were the first to receive certificates for a new one-year program. It was also our first time to confer master’s degrees. Since its inception, 22 graduates have completed their studies at IBCM. All graduates are active in their local churches, and five have gone on to plant independent, separated Baptist churches. We anticipate the same from future graduates.”

Brent and Karolyn Halstead have served with BWM since 2003.

Mission Matters: Avoiding a Lone Ranger Mentality – Part Two

by Dr. Bud Steadman

A

s noted in the last edition of “Mission Matters,” there is in Waco, Texas, “The Official Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.” The entrance sign to the museum contains these words, “One Riot, One Ranger, One Hall of Fame.” The story behind the sign involves an incident from the life of a famous ranger, Bill McDonald, who responded to a request from Dallas authorities for rangers to come and put down an unlawful assembly in the city. When Ranger McDonald arrived at the train depot, the mayor of Dallas asked, “Where are the others?” McDonald infamously replied that since it was only one riot, one ranger was enough.

Too often in Christian ministry, servants of Jesus Christ are tempted to take an unbiblical view of self-sufficiency that says, in essence, “I am enough.” While the Scriptures make it clear that we are not sufficient in ourselves to accomplish the work of God—we need the Lord and others—we are sometimes tempted to think that we are the exception. Such a Lone Ranger mentality manifests itself in minimization of biblical accountability that ultimately undermines the ministry we desire to advance. As spiritual leaders we must understand and embrace the importance of biblical accountability in our lives and ministries. The last edition of “Mission Matters” challenged us to look at the first of three areas of biblical accountability—to our Master in heaven. In this article we consider two additional areas.

Accountability to Our Marriage Writing to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul exhorted, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25). Paul was drawing his challenge from the Savior’s ministry to His Bride, the Church. Part of that ministry involved our Lord walking among His people for three years, demonstrating His purity of life.

In like manner, a Christian husband is to walk with his wife in transparency, demonstrating to her that he loves her in purity and godliness. While he will not be perfect, as Christ is perfect, and she will find fault in him, that fault must not be of such a nature as to disqualify him from biblical leadership in ministry.

If true love is giving, what greater gift can a man of God give his wife than confidence in the genuineness of his love and leadership by allowing her access into his life for the purpose of accountability? Areas of accessibility by the wife for this purpose should pervade the home and marital relationship—the use of the Internet, bank accounts, cell phone, calendar management, entertainment, recreation, etc. While respecting his God-given leadership, the wife should be able to freely inquire into her husband’s activities in these areas without being made to feel that she has gone beyond legitimate bounds. The responsibility of the godly husband is to welcome such accountability, as the Savior welcomed the scrutiny of those who followed Him. Accountability to Our Ministry The accountability of believers to one another in the Body of Christ includes the accountability of pastors to their congregations and missionaries to their sending church, supporting churches and mission agency. Although Paul cautions the church that “against an elder [a pastor] receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses,” in the same passage he continues, “them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear” (1 Timothy 5:19-20).

In Titus 1:6, the idea of being blameless or above reproach in ministry is conveyed by the present participle translated “be,” indicating that the pastor (and missionary) is to be in a present state of being above reproach. While this obviously does not refer to sinlessness on his part, he must be a model for the congregation to follow, and that demands his willingness to be closely observed and held accountable.

The importance of example—public demonstration of faithfulness to Christ personally and in ministry—is one of the greatest forms of New Testament leadership. How can determination be made that we indeed qualify for leadership if we are not willing to be accountable and transparent before those whom we say God has called us to lead?

Itineraries

Steve Anderson

Bud Steadman

April 19–24:

April 19–24

BWM Orientation Seminar Camp Joy, Whitewater, WI

BWM Orientation at Camp Joy, Whitewater, WI

April 26–29

May 12–June 2

Faith Baptist Church, Davison, MI

Italy

May 7–October 6

June 7

South Africa—Furlough Replacement

Community Baptist, South Bend, IN

Kevin Brosnan

June 16–18

April 19–24

FBFI National Meeting, Good News Baptist Church, Chesapeake, VA

BWM Orientation Seminar Camp Joy, Whitewater, WI

Ready to Go

These missionaries have almost reached 100% support. They are READY TO GO! Perhaps the Lord of the Harvest will enable you or your church to help get them to their fields of service. Contact them today!

Jason & Leigha Carpenter (Cambodia) 70% jcarpenter@baptistworldmission.org Mike & Sarah Frueh (Hungary) 70% mfrueh@baptistworldmission.org Philip & Bethany Herwaldt (USA-Native Americans) 96% pherwaldt@baptistworldmission.org

David Canedy April 19–24

Don & Jill Vanderhoof (Germany) 81% dvanderhoof@baptistworldmission.org

BWM Orientation Seminar Camp Joy, Whitewater, WI

June 1–5 BWM Soul–Winning Seminar Marquette Manor Baptist Church, Downers Grove, IL

Pat Delaney April 19–24 BWM Orientation Seminar Camp Joy, Whitewater, WI

May 21–June 4 Asia

Schedule an Administrator or Director at Your Church!

BWM administrators and directors offer a wonderful blend of passionate preaching and current field experiences. Please contact the mission if you would like to schedule any of these men for your next conference.

This publication is available at baptistworldmission.org.

Canada Office PO Box 51 Milton ON L9T 2Y3 Phone (905) 876-9936 bwmission@bellnet.ca

Phone (256) 353-2221 office@baptistworldmission.org PO Box 2149 Decatur, AL 35602 Nonprofit Organization US Postage PAID Permit# 259