connection Independent Assemblies
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your sermon
Jan/Feb 2013 | Volume 4 Issue 5
pay online Now renewing your membership is only a mouse click away!
3 easy steps 1. Go to www.independentassemblies.org
calendar January
Interstate Fellowship Meeting January 14, 2013 Faith Fellowship Cyril, OK Rev. Kelvin Limbocker (918) 371-2996 North Texas Fellowship Meeting January 18, 2013 True Life Fellowship Balch Springs, TX Rev. Joel Reyes
2. Click current members then membership payment 3. Fill out your information and VOILÀ, you’re finished!
February
Interstate Fellowship Meeting February 11, 2013 Living Faith Church Moore, OK Rev. Jimmy Milligan (405) 794-3161
did you move? If you are planning on moving or just recently moved, please contact the offices of the Independent Assemblies so that we may update your contact information. Also, keep us up to date with your current email and phone number.
PO Box 1546 • Ada, OK 74821 • (580) 310-0222 2 • connection
connection Jan/Feb 2013
let’s connect.
Contents
9 2 Calendar 4 Back to the Word 5 Moving Beyond Disappointment 6 Seeing Blind 8 Spies Like Us: The Turner Misson
10 Recycle Your Sermon 11 Board Members
Independent Assemblies PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 www.independentassemblies.org Produced by Layers Media, Inc. www.layersmedia.com
facebook.com/IAFellowship
connection • 3
back to the word by: Mindy Wood
James Tollett envisioned an evangelist’s ministry in 1978 but he said God put that on hold for a 29 year teaching career at Oral Roberts University. Today the Lord revives that early vision for ministry as he and his wife of 33 years, Melanie, travel as preachers and teachers. He delivers the wealth of his teaching career in seminars and courses, both in churches and online, to those who seek to study God’s Word, live the authentic Christian life, and share the Gospel with sound doctrine. He often conducts them in public places with the participation of several area churches and does segments over a weekend or during a week long seminar, similar to a revival-structured meeting. The Essential Tools, Institute on Wheels, and DVD presentations span Bible study tools, ministry courses, theology and doctrine, homiletics, and Bible courses to name a few. “The Institute on Wheel is a non-credit school of courses designed for someone who wants to accurately handle the Word but cannot afford to go to a college. Institute courses are at a Bible college level, for knowledge only. There are no tests,” said Tollett. The Essential Tools, a short two hour read available in print and Kindle edition, is a guide to Bible study tools. Although designed for the lay-person, it is well received among pastors who find it personally helpful. “I’ve walked through 8 basic tools you should have in your library if you do anything with religious material or bible study.” Included is instruction on how to create a Bible study notebook, the difference between a Bible dictionary and a Bible encyclopedia, how to properly use a Strong’s or Young’s concordance and much more. At a time when Christians are busier and more distracted from the Word of God than ever before, Tollett teaches the doctrines of the church. “In American Christendom, our Christians don’t know what they believe; they don’t know the doctrines of the 4 • connection
church. Very few teach a biblical presentation of the church doctrines. When I teach Bible doctrines, it is not “what this or that teacher says,” but what the Bible says about the doctrine.” His sincere passion for God’s Word and concern over the falling away from its reverence in mainstream, charismatic, and non-denominational churches has Tollett on the move. “I would say over the last two to three decades we’ve lost the teaching of the centrality of the Word of God. Therefore, we need to return to the Bible and where the Bible is silent, we should be silent. Where the Bible is very pointed and vocal we need to be very pointed and vocal. It is a timeless work. Old or New Testament, it applies today.” Moving among both fundamental and evangelical crowds isn’t surprising to those who know Tollett. “I’ve had colleagues tell me that I’m the closest thing to a fightin’ fundamentalist they’d seen in years. Even though I’m definitely evangelical, I’m really more fundamentalist.” That’s encouraging to Tollett whose passion for ‘rightly dividing God’s Word’ motivates his entire life’s work. At ORU he still teaches a few courses online, including homiletics. “One reason I still teach that course is that ORU told me I’m the only one who still does it that way. I make my students go back to the text. I want textual preaching. People don’t know the great texts of the Bible. If we look back at successful preachers, they were expositors who knew how to handle the Word.” As the author of countless courses both at ORU and other institutions, Tollett’s knowledge proves indispensable among those who’ve taken his courses or invited the Tolletts to their churches. He has fully recovered from an accident seven months ago, after being struck by a truck, and is available to travel. Visit www.jtmin.org where you can view courses, sign up for the Tip of the Week or call 918-693-6968 for more information.
James and Melanie Tollett
Moving Beyond Disappointments by: Mickey Keith
Disappoint means, “to fail or meet the expectation of, to frustrate.” Have you had someone fail to meet your expectations, or frustrate you with their actions or words? Don’t go into 2013 living and ministering out of the past, out of your hurt and wounds. You see, our pain becomes our identity. The man at the pool of Bethesda was known as the `lame man,’ the man with the deep-seated and lingering disorder. For 38 years, this was his identity. The same thing happens to us: “she is the divorced woman, he is the alcoholic, she is the child of abuse,” etc. When you are labeled with your disorder, and look back to it as a reference point for everything you do and say, you miss the fulfillment of God’s blessing. Everything is seen through the paradigm of your pain. Many people stop growing and developing at the point of their injury. Some people, years later, are at the same point emotionally and spiritually, because they never grew beyond the pain. The pain has stunted their growth. My friend, we serve a God who desires to change us ‘from glory to glory’; ‘one level of grace and excellence to another’! Today, release your past. Phil 3: 10-14 NIV “I want 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. 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. 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.” Let go of the disappointment, and let God take you to another level of living! Matthew 10:39 AMP “Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].” No more low living for us! We serve a God of elevation and promotion and when you hook up with El- Elyon (The Most High God) He elevates you! Don’t just hang around where God is, “step into the water.” This may be a season of troubled waters but you don’t have to wait for an angel to come and move something in the spirit. Your deliverance is available all the time! We cannot use past hurts as an excuse to not do what God has called us to do. Romans 11:29 AMP, “For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.] God’s call is as significant and authentic today as the day He pronounced it over your life.” Don’t let the enemy steal your desire, your vision and destiny through disappointment! Our assignment isn’t to make us comfortable. It’s to be light in a world of darkness; surrounded by those who don’t understand us, aren’t impressed by God’s call, and don’t even know when they have wounded us… But we are still called to reach them. Forgive them and let Jesus Heal your wounds!
Seeing Blind Charlie Tipps
by: Mindy Wood
by: Mindy Wood
Perhaps no one knows the meaning of Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian church about faith better than Charley Tipps. Legally blind since his premature birth, he knows a lot about how to “walk by faith and not by sight.” His spiritual sight has led him through a full life in Christ, brimming with ministry to the church and to the visually impaired. Under John Keith’s ministry in 1973, Tipps started following Christ and has never looked back. He forged ahead with his God-given talents, always finding a way around visual impairment. He plays the 6 • connection
organ, piano, accordion, and drums and is a vocalist for gospel and country bands. Tipps pastored two churches in McAlester, Oklahoma held positions as music director, associate pastor and evangelist for tent and church revivals among IA ministers. As a licensed broadcaster, he hosted both TV and radio ministry show programs, and did news announcements and commercials. No one could tell the difference. “The advantage was that I could read my notes with my fingers and look at the camera and no one ever knew the difference until I was a guest on my producer’s show,” laughed Tipps.
“It blew my cover. People in the studio knew and people in town who knew me did. I liked to make it look as authentic as possible.” In addition to broadcasting and ministry, Tipps entered the field of vocational rehabilitation counseling. After the Vision Services Division assisted Tipps through undergraduate and graduate college, he became a vocational rehabilitation counselor and instructor for the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS), Visual Services Division. In December he was honored by the Oklahoma Commission for Rehabilitation Services for 35 years of service to the disabled. Ministry overlapped his career with the DRS. “I’ve been in the rehab business for years and you’d be surprised how well that goes hand in hand with ministry as well. Even though there’s things I can’t say on the job, it’s the only job I know of where I can make the Bible accessible thru CD’s, cassette tapes, brail, and large print. They haven’t stopped us from it because it’s our job to make things accessible.” Along the way, he struggled with answers to questions about his healing. When asked how he has responded to many ministers who have prayed ‘the prayer of faith,’ he said “I always emphasize to then that, ‘when this happens it’s going to be that God’s the one that does it and no one gets credit for it.’ It’s God timing, it’s His work. God is the one who’s already done it and He’s the one Who’s going to result in it being manifested; not a ministry, not an individual, not even me.” Tipps says because it’s His work, he’s put in God’s hands and no longer struggles with questions. Instead he focuses on obeying God. “My big goal is to make a difference in peoples’ lives, on the ministry and rehab side both. I wouldn’t trade any of my experiences and I give God all the credit because He’s the boss.” For more information, you can reach Charley and Ruthie Tipps at 918-884-8341 or email Ctipps@okdrs.gov CD’s of his music and ministry are available and a DVD will soon be available as well.
walk by faith and not by sight
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spies like us
by: Mindy Wood
the turner mission
D
ean Turner stared back at two armed border agents who demanded to see his bag on the train crossing into Romania. Even though his smuggling had gone undetected, the bag full of Christian materials was about to blow his cover. As one searched the bag, the other guard asked to see his notebook. Full of German study notes and English sermon notes, the English speaking guard would discover she had caught a missionary pastor and wouldn’t hesitate to take him into custody. Dean feared the game was up; but suddenly, as she started to open it, there was a commotion on the train. She passed it to the other guard and left. “Can I have my notes back,” Dean asked in broken German. “I’m studying German.” He agreed and left Dean silently thanking God. That’s just one story that the Turners share about missionary life in former Communist countries in eastern Europe during the early
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1980’s, when Germany was split by the Berlin Wall and hardened dictators remained in power. With little money and no reliable financial support from home, the Turners say that God miraculously connected them to a couple in Germany where they moved their family in 1985. They spoke almost no German, had no prior training, and nothing but obedient hearts with the seeds of faith to get them through. Most organizations report that few missionaries survive the first year, even with training. “I look back and see that it was just by the grace of God that we didn’t become a ‘mission’s statistic.’ We had no training to help us be ready for being on the field, nor were we prepared for the things you face there. We did so much that wasn’t ‘by the book.’ I praise God for the faith He dropped in our hearts that drove us, and helped us, to take the steps we made. Don’t get me wrong,” said Dean. “We made some
stupid mistakes but God saw us through.” The Turners traveled carefully through Germany, Romania, the Ukraine, Estonia, and eventually Russia where their mission played out under the noses of secret police: strengthen suffocating evangelical pastors and equip them with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. “There was a lot of preaching but not a lot of substance. They had salvation but no revelation to keep stability,” said Dean. “They were doing what they could with what they had but they needed good, solid teaching and a move of the Holy Spirit.” As the Berlin Wall came down and eastern Europe turned to Western thought, a new battle emerged. “A friend of mine in the Czech Republic told me the people’s hearts have become so hardened. The people, for more than 50 years, were under communism and couldn’t make any decisions. Now they’re free, the people have gone to the extreme of a form of lawlessness.
They think they’re a law unto themselves. The people are so resistant to the Gospel and there’s a lot of rebellion in the church. They need a move of God.” Today their base is in Antlers, Oklahoma but the resistance continues in some countries. While the Ukraine and Romania have freedom of religion, others are more controlled. “Much of Europe is going back to the Dark Ages, spiritually. It’s dead religion. In Russia, the Orthodox Church restricts the number of visas to Christian workers who aren’t orthodox and you can’t preach the Gospel in the schools but they can train them for their religion. They light candles to an icon. There is no relationship with Jesus Christ.” The Turners remain hopeful that a revival is possible. “There’s hunger there but there’s darkness. We need God-sent people on the mission field with the anointing and direction to be affective.” Their motto of simply following God in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit was the motivation for their book, “Simply Following God.” They hope their story will build faith in readers. “We faced obstacles to our faith that made us want to turn around and go home,” said Doris. “But we helped each other and were in agreement. So many of us don’t step out in obedience and a lot of ministries have never started because they’re not taking that first step.” Hearing the Turner story just might change their minds. For more information, visit them at www.deanturnerministries.com or call 580-2983144
Dean and Doris Turner connection • 9
recycle your sermon by: Brandon Cox
Never waste a good sermon, especially after you’ve spent so much time preparing it! Thom Rainer recently wrote that more time in sermon preparation usually means a more effectively evangelistic church. If you’re one of those who spends 15 hours or more on a message, it must stink to realize that all you can squeeze out of all that work is 38 minutes of preaching on the weekend. So why not stretch it further? In the world of blogging and social media, you can do just that, and here are some suggestions for how: 1. Blog your points, one at a time. A full sermon transcript or manuscript is probably too long for a blog post, but one point with its explanation is just the right size. So if you’re presenting three or four major truths this Sunday, write three or four corresponding blog posts during the following week. 2. Post memorable quotes from the message. Every good message needs to have single sentences within it that really drive home the truth of Scripture. If those sentences can be written in 140 characters or less, send them out on Twitter, and you get even a little more room on Facebook. 3. Post the video on YouTube and Vimeo, either in chunks or as a whole. And there are
advantages to five-minute clips and advantages to full-length sermons. Either way, spread them around. 4. Use the audio for a podcast. One of my new favorite tools is SoundCloud, which has some great features for audio-blogging and podcasting including a nice embeddable media player, and since it’s HTML5-powered, people can listen on mobile phones. 5. Write a small group study guide based on the message. What do you do with all the material you chop off before the presentation? Turn it into a “digging deeper” study and distribute it to small group leaders. 6. Create eBooks from whole sermon series. This idea is gold! Create a nicely-designed pdf eBook for distribution through your website, Facebook, and even the Amazon Kindle store and other outlets. It’s bigger than the bite-sized blog but not quite the overwhelming size of a full book. The gospel is the greatest content on the planet, and we pastors write and say a lot of words about it every week. It’s a shame for that knowledge to go to waste. Utilize modern technology and social distribution points to extend the message and fill every conversational space with the truth and glory of God!
sermoncentral.com
Executive Board Mickey Keith
President PO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222 mickey.keith@gmail.com www.life623.com
Dr. Ted Estes
Vice President PO Box 2248 Claremore, OK 74018 (918) 341-8344 pastorted@lifechangerchurch.com www.lifechangerchurch.com
Ken Anderson
Secretary/Treasurer PO Box 1120 Lexington, OK 73051 (405) 527-6030 kda@valornet.com www.libertygospelok.org
Robert Johnson
Director of World Missions PO Box 978 Blackwell, OK 74631 (580) 363-2734 roj@clarionmissions.org www.clarionmissions.org
Jerry Edmon
Board Member PO Box 862 Elgin, TX 78621 (512) 281-5316 Jedmon1234@aol.com www.fwcelgin.com
Regional Representatives Southeast Oklahoma District Rev. Billy Hunter Antlers, OK (580) 298-2740 Southwest Oklahoma District Rev. Donnie Miller Cyril, OK (580) 464-2224 (580) 512-3657 Northeast Oklahoma District Rev. Mac Blackwell Locust Grove, OK (918) 479-6057 North Texas District Rev. Marc Jones Denton, TX 75751 (903) 675-6011 Southeast Texas District Rev. Herb Hawthorne Baytown, TX (281) 723-2278 South Central Texas District Rev. Jerry Edmon Elgin, TX (512) 281-5316 Midwest Regional District Rev. Mark Maynard Granite City, IL (618) 931-4106 Arkansas District Rev. Charles Kendrick Alexander, AR (501) 303-0831
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Independent Assemblies P.O. Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821