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Mar 28 2009

Living, or Leaving on Tulsa Time – Day 4


Another great day is in the books as they say. Atchley, Walling, Mead, Fudge, and Joe Alanzo all did great jobs and were each an encouragement and a blessing.

I had great visits with several friends, some new and some old. It was a nice surprise to run into Mark Hodges from Long Beach, MS whom I met shortly after Katrina. Mark is a great guy and you should visit the Long Beach church when you are on the Gulf coast of MS. They are great people!

Tonight one our WFR elders, Mac Owen and his bride Mary, gave their testimony at the Park Plaza church here in Tulsa. It is amazing how many doors have opened for this sold out couple who are on a mission to get everyone on the planet into recovery and walking with God.

The workshop exhibit area has been a buzz of excitement since we arrived. It is obvious that in addition to being a church thing, it is also like a family reunion. Folks are happily meeting and greeting people they only see once a year here in Tulsa. New friendships are forged and old ones strengthened.

There has been a consistent theme throughout; Love people in tangible ways and go to where they are. Finally, it seems that many, if not most, are convinced that the attractional model of doing church will not work. We must love people where they are, like they are, without asking anything in return. God will do the heavy lifting, our job is to love unselfishly, share the good news with gentleness and respect, and watch God do what only He can do, raise the spiritually dead to life.

I know there are still some exceptions, but I can safely report that the Holy Spirit is out of the box in the churches of Christ. He was once relegated to the pages of a King James Bible, but today He is a welcomed guest in the lives of the people and the gathering when they come to worship and hear from the God of heaven. Things are looking up!

God willing tomorrow we will stop living on Tulsa time and be leaving on Tulsa time. If the global warming doesn’t get too deep we will start back to the  land of crooked politicians and the people who deserve them, Louisiana. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed in my own house. There is a garden to plow and plant, grass to mow, bass to catch, a honey do list to complete and hopefully some houses to sell.

This is likely my last post until I return home, hopefully late Saturday.

Royce

Royce

Mar 27 2009

Living on Tulsa Time – Day 3


Classes by John Dobbs (King of all bloggers), Rick Atchely, Edward Fudge, and lots and lots of fellowship highlighted by dinner at Red Lobster with Edward Fudge all made for a very good day.

I have met wonderful people who are friendly and eager to talk and listen. I had some almost embarrassing comments about my blogging, and enjoyed great conversation with friends and strangers alike.

I look forward to hearing Patrick Mead speak tomorrow along with other. My friend Jackie Chesnutt and I had a nice chat on Facebook and now I am ready for bed.

Royce

Mar 20 2009

Smoke on the Mountain


Tonight it was my joy to go with my daughter and a friend to the Strauss Theater here in Monroe to see the musical “Smoke on the Mountain”. What fun! We laughed a lot, we sang a lot, and we were reminded of times gone by and our wonderful Lord.

The setting for the play is the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina just west of Hickory near the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1939. The 63 member church is hosting a Saturday night singing and the guests are the singing Sanders family from Slier City up on Highway 11.

The actors sang hymns, gospel songs, blue grass gospel tunes, and gave testimony to what Jesus had done for them and lamented hard times and the closing of the pickle factory in Mount Pleasant. It was a wonderful, very entertaining evening. I saw John and Maggie Dobbs and the Riley’s, Chuck Adams who leads my 6:30 a.m. men’s group on Wednesdays, and other friends.

As I enjoyed the show the memories flooded my mind. The Singing Sanders family owned a filling station and they talked about Esso gasoline and selling Ne-Hi colas. And of course the church set was very familiar.

In my late teens and through my twenties I attended many Saturday night signings at little frame churches stuck on the side of a hill up in a hollow in the Blue Ridge. The singers were often family members. I was always amused that at least one of the groups would begin their part of the program by one of them saying something like “We an’t much at singing but we like to make a joyful noise for the Lord“. Well, let me tell you, that disclaimer was usually a prophecy! At least 25%  of them couldn’t sing a lick but they tried, and most of them earnestly believed it was one way they could serve the Lord.

Many, many times I led singing at some little church on the side of road where someone I knew was holdin’ a revival and didn’t have a song leader. I was a pitiful excuse for a song leader but I was glad to try. My wife and I would often sing a couple of songs a cappella like More about Jesus…

More about Jesus I would know, more of His grace to others show.
More of saving fullness see, more of His love who died for me.

More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.

A good crowd at those little country churches would be 30 or 40. They were country people who for the most part lived off the land, hard working folks who lived a hard life by today’s standards but they loved God and  were doing what they could for the kingdom.

I have preached to perhaps 15 or 18 and I have preached to several hundred and I had just as much joy sharing my heart with those wonderful, simple people, my people, as when I spoke to 800 or so upper middle class people in the city.

I have seen first hand the power of the gospel of Christ. I’ve seen drunks dried up, men addicted to cheap drugs for years delivered in an instant never to use them again. I have seen rough mountain men like my own father changed from bitterness and hopelessness into humble servants of Christ. I don’t know how to explain it but in those days we were not bothered much by hypocrites. Most of those mountain folks were pretty easy to figure. What you saw was what you got. Most of the time a man was exactly what he claimed he was. Yes, there was few devils about but they were the rare exception. Even our drunkards believed the virgin birth of Jesus and that the Bible was the word of God. Everybody respected the preacher. He was the one who would help them get to heaven, bury their dead, and marry their children. He was without question, God’s man.

I am fortunate to have the heritage that I enjoy and appreciate. I am familiar with folks  who believed the only reason to pray was to get what you asked for. Their word was their bond and nobody locked their doors or took the keys out of their cars. It was  good place to grow up and a good place to meet God and begin what is now my almost 50 years of walking with him.

If you ever have a chance to see “Smoke on the Mountain” I recommend it. You’ll get just a glimpse into my history and get to know my people from the hills.

Grace be with you,
Royce

 

Feb 28 2009

Odd Doctrine


Phil Sanders believes preaching about instrumental music is preaching doctrine. Do you agree? I don’t.

The most basic meaning of doctrine is “something that is taught”. In that strict definition it is doctrine. However, it is not Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is something the Bible teaches. Instrumental music is not something the Bible addresses.

A few years ago some men came to the elders of a church of Christ to complain about the quality of the preaching. Their charge was that the preacher was not preaching the “full counsel of God” (doctrine). What they wanted was not Bible doctrine but speeches about the superiority of the church of Christ and other topics that define the most legalistic congregations.

There is glaring lack of Bible doctrine being preached from our pulpits. The great themes of the Bible such as redemption, justification, sanctification, prayer, the Holy Spirit, the church…and the list goes on.

A cappella singing vs. singing accompanied by musical instruments is related to Bible doctrine in the same way Al Gore is related to science, questionable at best.

Royce