“When in Rome do as the Romans do” is an oft quoted phrase that is many times cited as the reason we do things that we otherwise would not. As believers we can’t let this be our sole guiding principle for determining what aspects of another culture we will adopt and what we will reject. If for example, I was living and serving in a culture where the men all wore robes, I would also wear a robe out in public. (Something I will certainly not do in America.)  When in Rome…   Since modesty is the standard of dress for believers, however, you won’t find me wearing loin clothes with the natives anytime soon. If the polite thing to do when offered an espresso is to accept it gratefully and drink it all even though I really don’t like it, having no conviction against drinking coffee, I will accept it as a gracious gift. If, however, I am in a place where it is considered polite to accept an alcoholic drink when offered, my convictions require that I decline. The difficult task, and it is much harder than we often think, is to search the scriptures and be convinced that we have solid biblical grounds for these kinds of choices. I am also convinced that we must make these choices with the correct attitude. The attitude that says “how far can I go before this is technically a sin” is not one we find espoused in scripture. Paul’s attitude was almost the polar opposite to this. Rather than thinking “how far can I follow my flesh” Paul’s question was “to what extent am I willing to deny my flesh for the sake of the gospel.” In First Corinthians 9, Paul spends 14 verses pointing out many things which he has the legitimate biblical right to do and yet, he does none of those things. He denies himself for the sake of the gospel. It is with this attitude that Paul also makes a statement that is frequently quoted, “I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some.” First Corinthians 9:22. This was not an excuse for getting involved in questionable activities with a neighbor with the pretense of getting close enough to them to be able to “be a witness.” Paul was speaking of what he was willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

Well, this has been a whole lot of serious talk as a precursor for a very frivolous subject. A while back I promised that after the first Ohio church began to support us in our quest to go to the mission field, I would post a picture of myself in an Ohio State shirt. Mt. Zion Church and Salem Baptist Church both pastored by Jeff Eschbaugh have begun to financially and prayerfully support us. The day for picture taking came today after breakfast at a missions conference at Westerville Bible Church just outside of Columbus, OH. (Just as a side note, this afternoon Michigan State beat Ohio State 10-7.) Many of my friends from Michigan, even my own University of Michigan loving pastor, would put this under the category of treason, ie giving aid and comfort to the enemy. However after searching the scriptures long and hard I can honestly say that I have no biblical conviction against wearing an Ohio State shirt. This definitely falls under the category of the things I was willing to suffer for the gospel’s sake, albeit only in a very roundabout way. When in Ohio do as the Ohioan’s do.

In all seriousness, I am very grateful for my many friends both in Michigan and Ohio that enjoy the fun of sporting rivalries but love the gospel more. While I expect some good natured ribbing, I know that whether they wear red or blue those who have heard and received the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ would also be willing to become “all things to all men that by all means they might save some”.

Well the day has finally arrived! As of Friday August 19^th at about 3:40 pm Carol and I became Grandparents. We got to see little Mercy Ray Knakal for about half an hour on Friday, then on Sat morning at 4:00 am we left for South Carolina where we are today. Mercy weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and 20 ½ inches long. As one who has long been quietly critical of grandparents who always want to show pictures of the little ones I have to admit I have already shown off pictures of my beautiful granddaughter.

We will be leaving the girls off at BJU for their junior year, so things around home will be much quieter than they have been for the last few months. We, however, will not be home that much to experience that peace and quiet.

By the time October comes and goes we will have been to churches in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Minnesota, and Michigan.

Since we now have a supporting church in Ohio I owe you all a picture of myself in an OSU shirt. It will be coming soon.

The rest of the story…

Last fall I was at a small church in Northern Wisconsin telling the folks there that I looked forward to being in Germany and being able to tell Bible stories to people who have not already heard them. “For example I can tell them about David and Goliath and they won’t already know who won the fight,” I said. In the congregation, there was a young teen girl who was a German exchange student recently come to the states. After class was over the German girl asked her friend, “So, who’s Goliath?” While I expected that many a German child would not know these things, I was still surprised to meet a teen with no knowledge of the Word of God. I knew I would get the opportunity to find out if this was just an anomaly for soon we would be at another church where there was a teen boy from Germany, also an exchange student. After torturing this young man for a while with my poor attempt at speaking auf Deutsch, I asked him, “Have you ever heard of Goliath? How about Noah? Jonah?” All were answered with a kind of bewildered, “No.” Certainly the problem is not with these young people. They have no more reason to know these things than my kids would have to know about characters in the Baghvada Gida (do they have characters?) As parents we saw no reason to learn and teach these things to our kids, nor did our grandparents. Sadly this is now the norm in Germany as well as much of Europe. While the Christian heritage is rich, it took only a couple of generations for Biblical illiteracy to set in. I have told this story in many churches around the country, but last week I heard “the rest of the story.”

Anyone who knows our pastor, Glen Currie, knows that he is a big Michigan football fan. If you pay any attention at all to college football you know the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State is among the biggest in all of sports. With this in mind I teasingly told our pastor that when the first Ohio church began to support us in our effort to go to Germany, I would show up wearing an Ohio State shirt. We are still waiting for that first Ohio church, but while out west we were told that “bolo ties” were the thing to wear. In keeping with this tradition we are establishing, I promised that when the first western church began to support us, I would wear a bolo tie. Thanks to the great folks at Ruby Mt. Bible Church in Spring Creek, NV, my wardrobe has expanded to include western shirts and bolo ties. We look forward to our next trip out west where I may even show up at church this way. We hope soon to have reason to plan a shopping trip  for that OSU shirt. We also expect to be in many Pennsylvania churches this year and wonder what will happen with the first church there. Maybe we will just eat a lot of Hershey chocolate.

Pastor Jeff Eschbaugh Community Christian Church

Mt Zion Church

Salem Baptist Church in Salesville. Yes that's an out-house, no indoor plumbing here.

Sometimes as you travel the country speaking in churches you get to spend time with pastors of great reputation of whose ministry you have heard much about. Most of the time, however, you meet quiet men who just keep on working for the Lord day in and day out. These are men who for the most part you will never hear of, they seem to be known only by the people in their communities and in particular by the people in their churches. Jeff Eschbaugh is such a man. As I visit churches in Ohio, I have not yet found another pastor who knows Pastor Eschbaugh. But he is certainly known and loved in Salesville, OH, where he grew up and lives today and in particular by those who attend the three churches he pastors there. That’s right, three churches! And he works a couple of jobs on the side to make ends meet. Pastor Eschbaugh allowed us to present our work in all three churches and will encourage them to support our ministry in spite of the fact that they are unable to pay him a full time salary. His only concern was that they be obedient to the Great Commission and see the importance of taking the Gospel to all the world. Other than the couple dozen of you who read this blog, most will never hear of the ministry in Salesville. It is a blessing and a humbling experience to meet these men and to know that there are many more like them around the country whose only desire is that the name of Jesus be the one with the great reputation.

Colorado Rockies

As you may have recognized from the picture we are currently in the Colorado Rockies. Today I decided to go for a run, a nice easy three miler. I wore my new shoes, those new fangled ones with the curved heels designed to make you expend more energy when you walk or run. It should come as no surprise that the roads here are not very flat, these are mountains after all. With the altitude being between 7and 8 thousand feet the oxygen was almost as rare as flat roads. Add to these conditions the fact that I have spent most of the past two weeks in my car driving from Clarkston to Greenville back to Clarkston and then here to Colorado.  Well all these things ganged up on me to the point that I was reduced to not only running very slowly but I actually walked/jogged/walked/jogged on the uphills, something not easy for me to admit.

 

Why am I telling you these things?

Pastor Douglas and Valerie Demar from Salem Bible Church

And we’re off! After leaving Salem Baptist Church in Ohio, today we are on our way to West Seneca, NY for a joint missions conference with First Baptist of West Seneca and Hedstrom Baptist Churches. The next five weeks will find us in twelve different churches and covering in the range of seven thousand miles. After a couple of months of relatively few meetings, we are about to learnof the rigors of deputation with only a small handful of free Sundays left this year. So far we have found the most difficult thing is to be

There is a special announcement in this post! Will you read far enough to find it?

A missionary on deputation has a lot of exciting things to do. We travel to places that until recently we didn’t even know were places. We meet lots of new people. We see new perspectives on things we may have thought could only be done one way. People take us out to eat and entertain us in their homes. Probably the most exciting is that almost everywhere we go I have opportunity to teach the word of God. What a privilege!

There is also the mundane;

Have you ever wondered what the first Christmas looked like from the perspective of the angels in heaven? I certainly wouldn’t lay any claim to understanding the psyche of an angel but I have to think that there was a great deal of wondering at these monumental events. When our loved ones who know the Lord pass from this life and go to be with Jesus there is still sadness on our part. We will miss that one even though we know they are far happier in heaven where there is no more sin and they see Jesus face to face. But just imagine having the most loved one, God Himself, the one in whose presence you have been in for all of your existence, leaving heaven to go to earth! Certainly this must have raised questions in the minds of the angels. Why does the God of glory who created the world and all those who dwell in it, take on the form of one of His creation? Why would He enter into that world as a babe in humble surroundings? How could those people be around their creator and not fall to their knees in worship? How could He willingly give His life for vile sinners?

What a joy to meet friends everywhere we go! Many of you have experienced the phenomenon of walking into a church full of people you have never before met and finding that you are in the midst of a new group of friends. This has been happening time and again as we visit churches around the country. This is not a coincidence. In first Thessalonians 4:9 Paul says, “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another”. How gracious is our God! He commands us to love one another, tells us this is how people will know that we are His disciples, and then takes upon Himself the task of teaching us how to love. Being the beneficiaries of this wonderful gift it should be easy for us to heed the command to abound or increase this love more and more.

Just to get you up to date, we returned to Clarkston on Nov. 3 about 2:00pm, unpacked changed clothes and headed to the first night of a missions conference at Grace Baptist Church in Birmingham, MI, Nov. 3-6. This conference overlapped the one at our home church of Maranatha Baptist in Clarkston, Nov. 5-9. Saturday was a busy day! The 14^th found us at Ashley Baptist Church in Belding, MI. Next camewhat is likely to be our last missions conference of 2010 at Faith Baptist in Bradford, PA. Pastor Bill Raymond and the folks in Bradford were great hosts and gave further evidence that when it comes to loving the brethren the teacher is none other than God Himself.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, made even better by the homecoming of Patti and Julie along with a new friend, Trevor Whitfield. The kids are all pretty talented musicians, so I was excited when they allowed me to join them in providing special music at Maranatha this past Sunday.

Next on the agenda? Redouble the efforts at setting up future meetings, moving along on our reading schedules, ramping up the German lessons and enjoying some time at home!