"I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions." Proverbs 8:12
November 1999 Newsletter
"I wisdom dwell with
prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions." Proverbs 8:12
WITTY INVENTIONS IN PUBLICK MINISTRY
My dad always said, "Where there’s a will there’s a way." Pensacola, FL, like many others cities has been robbed of any public, pedestrian commercial areas by the big malls. This makes publick ministry quite difficult. Dad and his proverb were right though. Bob Love, a member of Smyrna Baptist church in this city has started a publick ministry utilizing the witty inventions of their unique location. The church is on a six-lane highway north of town. The city recently installed a light at their intersection. (Thanks Pensacola!) The folks of the church come and sit in folding chairs in front of a flat bed trailer at the corner of their property closest to the highway. They form an audience for the teens and men to preach and sing to. They use a PA system on their own property and some minister while others pass out tracts and church literature to the motorists who desire it. There is one person who is the "designated driver" who’s "soul" job is to drive their car back and forth across the intersection in order to trip the light, thus forming an audience of commuters for the length of the light. Smyrna Baptist has had some good fruit for their witty invention for the Lord. To see pictures of this click here.
BEAR HAS DECORAH ON THE RUN
Thanks to the many prayers of the saints, the city attorney has contacted Bear’s attorney and wanted to settle out of court. Then he called back and dropped the charges. But Bear is going to pursue this to set a precedent. For those of you who have tuned into this problem late, Bear is trying to start a church in the small, Lutheran/Catholic, agricultural town of Decorah, IA. He wanted to include publick ministry and when he began this proper exercise, he was wrongfully arrested by the chief of police. This drew full coverage from the local paper, including photo. Bear is going to require the city to write a letter of apology signed by the chief and the city attorney and publish this in the same paper. Then he wants another letter clearly stating that he, or anyone else has the perfect liberty and right to preach on public property in that town. Finally, he is asking for his attorney’s fees. Pray that the city of Decorah will happily provide this and that that will bring an end to this matter. Many of you have asked how to contact Bear…and this would be a big encouragement to him. His address is as follows. Terrell Bear 1808 162st. Ossian, IA. 52161…phone 319-532-8903.
ON THE STREETS
To minister with our home church in Deland, FL is always a blessing. They do not have the best of publick ministry cities but they make the best of it. One attorney in our church preaches right outside of his office. Several business men join us ministering right in the middle of the city they do their business in. They also regularly send a platoon over to Orlando, FL to preach on Church St. This is always a thrill for us to join them there. This year we happened to hit it right on Halloween night. My, oh my what a costume party we preached to. Some poor souls must have been flat broke because they could not afford to purchase all of their costume. We ministered with Smyrna Baptist in Pensacola, FL. This was the feature story in the first paragraph. Huntsville, AL has a most resonant place in which to announce the gospel. The courthouse is on a hill overlooking a huge canyon with office buildings built up on both sides. This is a real thrill to lift up your voice like a trumpet in this canyon. We ministered three times once again on the streets of Union City, TN. The good folk there were so moved they were shouting things out of their car windows. I’m just glad we could minister. Lawrenceburg, TN has a marvelous town center from which to minister. This being the home town of Davy Crocket, we preached beneath his protecting musket on the base of his statue. The statue said that his name was immortal: I truly hope so for his sake, for "Davy"' heard us on three different occasions. This great American would have been proud to defend us against the city folk who had an "Alamo" mentality. Finally, Tulsa, OK is always on our top ten list of great locations to minister publickly. The city folk here are a very proud group of people and strutted by the gospel like peacocks.
IN THE CHURCHES
We were honored to minister in the following churches in November. Bible Baptist, pastor James Knox, Deland, FL, Smyrna Baptist, pastor Roy Julian, Pensacola, FL, Sweet Springs Baptist, pastor Joel Logan, Ardmore, AL, Faith Baptist, pastor Keith Parker, Lawrenceburg, TN and Amazing Grace Baptist, pastor Doug Coates, Tulsa, OK.
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