July 31, 2000

Vol. 8 Issue 1

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EDITORIAL

2 Cor 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and contributions to the missions especially for your response to the needs of Nigeria. At this time we have $14,746.58 toward the purchase of a vehicle and some of their other projects. Brother John is in the process of purchasing a vehicle at this time, pray that he will be able to buy one that will serve them many years. Editor.

WORLD MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP (WMF)

The annual meeting of WMF was held July 13 2000 at the Newark, Ohio Camp Meeting. Following is a summary of actions taken and reports given:

New members: Rock Chapel Church of God, Shelby County Church of God and Waynesboro Church of God were welcomed into the fellowship.

Brother Stanley Rexroth gave a report of his planned trip to Nigeria. Pastor Wiley Cash and wife, Cynthia will accompany him. They are to depart August 8 and return September 8. They plan to take lots of pictures and give a full report of their findings and activities when they return.

Motion to require Brother Rexroth to take the money with him and have input into the purchase of a vehicle failed. Brother Agharanya was authorized to purchase a vehicle.

Motions to transfer funds from various accounts to the purchase of a vehicle for Nigeria were approved.

Brother Stanley Rexroth gave a report on the Bible Holiness church of God under Pastor D. B. Luzan in the Philippines. Motion to authorize Brother Luzan to withdraw funds for building projects was approved.

Brother George Wilson gave a report on his work.

Chairman J. B. Wood gave a report on Togo. The Dunn Loring congregation has provided funds to have a building built there. The pastor is taking instruction from Brother Tommy Shelton. Brother Robbie Spencer, wife and children are visiting there to help in establishing the work.

Chairman J. b. Wood gave a report on the efforts to service Pastor Rao of India. He is waiting for a reply from Brother Rao.

Editor Stanley J. Rexroth reported that the Info+ is going into 23 different states, 8 foreign countries and Washington DC.

Brother Arnold Lemke, Brother Rube Gayheart and Sister Margene Burrell were elected to serve for three years on the Executive Committee.

Brother Kenneth Yoder will be preparing a draft of policies to be submitted to the Executive Committee at the February meeting.

February 3 2001 was set for the Executive Committee to meet.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Continue to send offerings identified for specific missions to the Treasurer:
                World Missionary Fellowship
                C/O Bro. Steve Yoder
                P. O. Box 418
                Sugarcreek, OH 44681

PRESSING NEEDS

1. $450.00 For Brother John Agharanya’s medical care debt.

2. $5,600.00 for diesel generator for Nigeria as electric power is rarely available for their printing business. $200.00 has been received toward this need. Thank you!

NIGERIA

No report from Brother Agharanya this month. He called on July 18 to coordinate the purchase of a vehicle and to verify our coming in August.

Priority Needs are:
Nsukka land & building $4,000
Omoba $1,000
Akpa $700.00
Umunkama $700.00
Umoko $1,000
Ikpaeze $700.00
Editor.

PHILIPPINES

July 4, 2000

Dear Bro. Rexroth & Saints,

Warm love and greetings to all our beloved supporters in the precious Name of Jesus our Saviour, the one we can depend on and be trusteth.

Once again we’re sending you our July report with the enclosed Bible College Students this opening of the school year 2000. We trust and pray to our loving father above to bless all our supporters for the instructors and the ministry. Truly your continuous support is a great help and encouragement’s to us in the mission field to do our part, to preach the truth to this needy and dying world.

Bible College Students & Instructors

We have no much report this July, but to express our much gratitude to all who are supporting us financially and praying for the great task entrusted in our shoulders. It’s also our earnest prayer to our Great God of Heaven, to give us once more privilege to come over so we can personally give to all our dear supporters sending their offering to WMF treasurer Brother Steve Yoder including our direct supporters. All support we’re using for the ministry and for our building project. Saints, continue your love and prayers for the prosperity of God’s Kingdom here in the mission field.

In closing, may God’s richest blessing be bestowed upon you all is our continuous prayers.

In His Cause,
Bro. & Sis. D. B. Luzan Sr.
Philippine Mission

DEAR JUDY

This column is a burden to help Christian singles get together for encouragement and friendship. Names, addresses, ages and interests are available through your participation. Should you care to receive a list, please send your name and address along with the information about yourself to: Dear Judy, P. O. Box 2053, Ponca City, OK 74602-2053; E-mail: agape157@Juno.com

Dear Judy,

First, I would like to thank you and commend you for your efforts with this burden that God gave to you to serve others. I am usually apprehensive about this type of situation, on meeting new people, but there is one thing that I have learned from serving God. That is, not “putting God in a box” or not allowing Him to do His work, so to speak … I would appreciate it if you would send me a list, so that I may get into contact with those who are serving the Lord, just like myself.

I would not mind establishing some new friendships.

Thank you and may God bless you in your continued efforts.

Sincerely,
E. C.

Dear E. C.

Thank you so much for your encouraging letter. It has really helped me to keep going. Your list is soon to come to you.

May God bless YOU, and keep lifting the Body of Christ!

Praying for you,
Judy

CAMP MEETING REPORT

It was our privilege to attend a few days of camp meeting at AltaPass, NC.

We arrived in time for the evening message on Monday July 3. Brother Norvell Peek brought the message on “God Multiplied The Seed” with text from Gen 15:2-6. He told us “If we are not careful we will want God to work for us instead of us working with God”. We need to lose our lives so that God can multiply the seed. It is necessary for us as Christians to lead souls to righteousness.

Tuesday morning’s message was by Brother Earl Moore on “Such as You And I Have” with text from Acts 2:46-3:10. He told us such as you and I have right now determines our relationship with God and what we do for God. “Prayer is more important than preaching. Praying or singing or offering, revival and camp meeting is a time to receive from God.” You can’t give something you don’t have. “There is something wrong with people you have to beg to pray. Faith, fasting and prayer go together”.

Tuesday afternoon Brother Hoyt Runyon preached on “Divine Revelation” with text from Matt 16:13-17, 20-23. He told us we often answer with our head not our heart. Divine revelation changes your heart. “Everyone who gets a divine revelation is a blessed man.” Every thought that infiltrates your mind is not a divine revelation. The Bible teaches us to understand our thought life. All truth requires Divine Revelation. “Sometimes we don’t understand the mission of Christianity.”

Tuesday evening Brother Norvell Peek preached on “Converting Our Love” with text from John 21:15-17. He told us the deepest need of man is to love God. What’s wrong with Christianity today is the lack of love. “The greatest need in the Church today is to love one another”. We have people in our congregations that have been converted but they have not been converted to Love Jesus. We need to be converted to the Love of God. Some have been converted to modern Christianity, some to honesty, some to morality but many fail to be converted to the Love of God, the greatest need! “Until you are converted to the Love of God, you are not really converted.”

Wednesday morning’s message was by Brother George Sparks on “Examine Yourself” with text from 2 Cor 13:5. He told us that too many sentries on guard duty have fallen asleep. Don’t play around with the gospel for it is too serious. Some were saved at one time and resting on past experience but God requires diligence to keep our souls. Godly humility is easy to be entreated. There are too many negative Christians. God wants us to be more than a conqueror. We need to have a tender conscience.

A business meeting was held Wednesday afternoon. Brother Richard Yaw was elected to serve on the board of directors. October 16-21 was established as the fall workweek.

Wednesday evening Brother Peek preached on “The Keys of The Kingdom” with text from Matt 16:17-19. He told us that the word of God is the keys that unlock understanding. “You can’t get into the Kingdom of God until someone takes the Word of God and opens it up to you. There’s a lot of people out there that have a different gospel.” Many are looking for a marked down, bargain gospel, you can’t get real deliverance from sin using false gospel as your key. Editor

CAMP MEETING REPORT

Following is a report of the Camp Meeting held at Newark, Ohio July 10-16:

The Camp began Monday evening with Brother Glen Edmondson preaching on “The Golden Rule” with text from Matt 7:1-23. He told us that “we are all stressed out, we have the truth but the truth does not have us.” The group that is sending more people to hell than any other is the group made up of those that do not treat others as they would have others treat them. All people need encouragement. All people need to be appreciated. All people need forgiveness. All people need someone to listen to them. You want others to be understanding of you. All people need to know that they are loved.

Brother James DeLuca Jr. preached Tuesday morning’s message on “You Need God’s Word” with text from John 1:1, 17:17. He told us “There’s a great need today to have something of great value, The Word of God”. In many homes today the Word has been laid aside. When you neglect God’s Word your situation will only get worse. You receive the anointing of God by obeying God’s Word. You need the word of God every day. Too many of God’s people are getting thin because of a poor diet with too little of the daily bread. “We cannot combat the adversary unless we know God’s Word”.

Tuesday evening’s message was by Sister Sarah Ingram on “A Perverted Gospel” with text from Gal 1:6-12. She told us that “the perverted gospel is powerless; it does not change the heart”. The perversion of the gospel has shifted the emphasis from following God. We don’t like to suffer and we do little to aid the suffering of others. The Gospel says “many are the afflictions of the righteous; this twisted gospel says God does not like poverty so let’s see what we can do to get rich”. The power of the gospel is required to satisfy the soul. It’s not our job to straighten everyone & everything out. We need to let God be God. When we bring God down and try to make Him as men, we pervert the gospel.

Sis. Sarah Ingram

Wednesday morning’s message was by Brother Bob Rauch on “The Power of The Church” with text from Matt 16:13-19. He told us that “Jesus built His church in such a way that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it. God wants the church in the world but the church is to be separate from the world.” The predominate message of today ought to be the unity of God’s people. He has given us tools and keys to use to edify the church. When the righteous pray, God listens. “We have the keys to the Kingdom, we have tremendous power, but we’ve got to have unity.”

Wednesday evening’s message was by Brother George Wilson on “The Challenge of The Gospel” with text from Rev 1:4-6. He told us that it is sad and frightening to see the church become a worship community with a loss of missionary zeal. Our mission is not to erect structures. “Jesus has in mind a powerful force for change and renewal in our society. Salvation today has come to mean a passport to heaven”. Our churches have become a tidy terminal where we wait for the bus to take us to heaven. “We need to see the church not as a worship community but as a revolutionary force. Is the church today a salt that has lost its’ savor? We need to examine ourselves. “The future belongs to them that sacrifice”.

Thursday morning’s message was by Brother John Collins on “A Medley” with reference to many scriptures and 2 Cor 7:8-11. He gave his testimony of how he came to the Lord and reminisced of his life, experiences and the experiences of others that lived lives completely surrendered to the Lord. “It is the nature of true religion to love self denial. We are missing out on the glories of Mount Zion and it’s our fault”.

Brother Henry Marquiss III gave a testimony of how God healed him of cancer this spring.

Thursday evening’s message was by Brother Darryl Allen on “What’s Right With The Church” with text from Matt 16:13-18. He told us that today many are greatly discouraged with the church. “If we spend all of our time focused on what’s wrong with the church we play right into the devil’s hands”. When people get excited and enthused about something others are drawn into it. The devil doesn’t want us excited about the church. We need to make the choice of focusing on what’s right with the church. “1. To see what is right with the church you need to get the right focus. Whatever you focus on is what you are going to talk about. 2. To see what is right with the church you must see the church”.

Friday morning’s message was by Brother Mike Spicer on “Is The World Adorning Our Doctrine” with text from Titus 1:4-12. He told us that “the world will never adorn our doctrine until we do. Sound doctrine is how we live. A businessman is not interested in your doctrine if you don’t pay your bill”. Our nation has a surplus of fake and phony religion. “May God help us to be real. We could have more unity if we endeavored to. Our lives, the way we live is either making our doctrine attractive or repulsive. Too many of the people have a head knowledge of the doctrine but fail to live it.

Bro. Mike Spicer

Friday evening Sister Mary Boyne was ordained into the ministry. She is co-pastor with her mother, Sister Lillian Crouch, of Waynesboro, Virginia.

Friday evening’s message was by Brother Nobles Darby on “Our Right to Exist” with text from Deu 2:2-7. He told us that our church today needs to update our software. We need a greater understanding of what’s going on. “God runs the church. God is working on other people just as He is working on us. We the church of God movement, we are called a movement.” Too many preachers are turning the church into an enterprise. The true size of the church is the size of the prayer meeting. Too many are content to just talk about the Word without living by it.

Saturday morning’s message was by Brother George Sutherland on “What Is Our Response To The Word of God” with text from Luke 8:4-15. He told us that “it is the Word of God that people need today. As God’s Word is preached and taught let us have our hearts and minds open. God’s Word can be a blessing, a help or a curse to us. When we look into God’s Word, God’s Word looks into us.” The Word of God will teach us how to live, how to conduct every area of our lives. If you love God, you keep His commandments and you love your enemies and you love your neighbor and you love the family of God. Many people do not look into the Word of God because they don’t like what they see when they do look into it.

Saturday evening’s message was by Brother Harold Kelly on “Power From On High” with text from Acts 1:1-8. He told us that “the Holy Ghost is given so that you can be a witness of the saving power of God. If we are going to do the work God has called us to do we need power from on high. We need the power of God’s divine Holy Spirit as never before”. The only power that can keep us today is the power of the same Holy Spirit that kept the early morning church. We need God fresh every day of our lives. The church today needs to put on her fighting clothes and go forth conquering and to conquer.

The final service was Sunday morning. Brother George Wilson preached on “The Movement of Life or The Movement of Death” with text from Ezekiel 37:1-14. He told us that for us to carry out anything we must believe that we can be victorious. “Just as God called Israel to be a witness to the ancient world so God has called us to be a witness to our world. Man needs to be qualified to be free. There is no time for us to be dominated by a fatalistic psychology. Death destroys but life builds. When there is life there is fruitfulness. The only thing that can overcome death is life. We have two movements in the world, the movement of death and the movement of life. The movement of death began with Adam and the movement of life began with the second Adam.”

Cassette tapes of messages may be ordered from LCCOG Tapes, 346 Washington St., Newark, OH 43055; Tapes are $3.00 each either prepaid or wait until tapes are received. When ordering tapes be sure to list the name of the preacher, date of the message and whether AM or PM.

Pictures of the Camp Meeting are posted on www.churchofgodcv.org

MINUTES OF MINISTER’S MEETING HELD AT THE CHURCH OF GOD LICKING COUNTY, NEWARK, OHIO

The meeting was called to order by the chairman, Brother Tony Bartlette, pastor of the Church of God of Licking County. Brother Charlie Craig of Alabama led in prayer.

Brother Bartlette gave reasons for moving the camp meeting from near Westerville, Ohio, to the Church of God of Licking County in Newark, Ohio. He said attendance had been dropping. Also, dorms became available at Denison University and the Ohio State Newark Campus at very reasonable rates. Using the $3,000.00 required to rent the grounds at Westerville, and applying it to the cost of these rooms, the rooms would run around ten to fifteen dollars per night. Other reasons given by Bro. Bartlette for the move were much rain causes the former campgrounds to become a swamp, the lack of proper air conditioning, and the inability of older saints to attend at Westerville. It was reported that the camp meeting this year was running smoothly with few trouble spots.

Bro. Bartlette emphasized the annual meeting to be a cooperative effort and was not to be run by him. Eleven congregations have contributed support toward the camp meeting. Suggested support is $250.00 from each cooperating congregation. The camp meeting in 2001 is scheduled for July 22-29 at the Church of God of Licking County. The meeting is to start on Sunday and end the following Sunday.

A treasurer’s report was not available at this time. The Wednesday missionary offering is to be divided three ways: Nigeria 50%; Cuba 30%; Guatemala 20%.

Bro. Dave DeVoll resigned as a permanent member of the camp meeting committee. This called for the election of a permanent member to the committee. Bro. Harold Kelly II was elected to the position. Bro. Jennings B. Wood and Bro. Rube Gayheart were reelected as committee members. Bro. George Sparks was elected as a new member of the committee.

Bro. Jennings B. Wood offered a word of thanks to Bro. Bartlette on behalf of the camp meeting committee for his untiring efforts in making the camp meeting a success.

Meeting adjourned.

By acting secretary Rube Gayheart.

OHIO BIBLE COLLEGE

Schedule of classes first semester:

The Prison Letters of Paul Instructor, Jennings B. Wood Will meet on Mondays from 6-9 PM; 3 hour course; cost is $24.00

Important Events and People in the History of Christianity Instructor: Rube Gayheart Will meet on Mondays from 6-9 PM; 3 hour course; cost is $24.00

Registration: Aug 16 and Aug 23
Classes begin: Aug 28

For additional information contact Brother Rube Gayheart Phone: 740-745-2412; Email: rvheart@cgate.net

YOUTH CAMP REVIVAL

The precious love of God overwhelmed campers and staff alike attending the Crossroads Youth camp at the Church of God Campground in Burnside, Pennsylvania. Taking part in the senior and junior high weeks of camp were 100 young people and 25 workers, representing ten states.

Purity was the theme for the older youth and the topics of Repentance, Faith, and Holiness were the focus of the junior high youth. Sister Donna Romine from Newark, Ohio and Pastor Glenn Dryden from West Frankfort, Illinois served as camp evangelists for the senior Week and Junior Week, respectively. Doing an exceptional job as camp director both weeks was Pastor John Cain from Accokeek, Maryland. For more information on this annual youth camp for ages 9-18 please contact either Brother Arnold Edmondson 828-396-5661 or Brother Glenn Dryden 618-932-2271. By Brother Glenn Dryden

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