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Greg William, my dear brother in Christ who works at CVS Drug Store in the pharmacy department. Greg is an active evangelist who spends many hours learning the Lords Word and spreading the Gospel with anyone he feels the Lord has led an opening to, which is everyone...LOL

The Windchime Ministery Attendees

Windchime church members, small crowd today. They had a walk-a-thon yesterday, so many members were too tired to attend church.
This is from June 2008, and most of the women that attend were present. I took this picture for my Church bulletin board. The top picture is from this past Sunday on Oct 11. I took it because I have a gentleman who has been attending for the past couple of months. He is only the second man to attend on a regular basis, in the five years I have been doing the sermons at Windchime. The last gentleman, Harvey, is now battling ilnesses and does not attend very often, so keep him in your prayers.

In The Begining God Created

(I would like to give special thanks to Hanna for the artwork used in my article.)

There is a disturbing trend that has taken hold of the modern day Christian community, and it is my opinion that this trend is causing a schism as big as the one that was addressed at the Council of Nicea over the Trinity. Now this is not a debate for those who have no faith in Christ, for what accord has Christ with Belial? No, this is strictly a debate for those who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior. Unfortunately, those who attempt to address the problem are usually labeled as rabble-rousers who only wish to spread discontent within the ranks of Christendom. This trend I speak of, is the compromising of the Word with the idea of evolution known as theistic evolution or Old Earth Creationism. I say “compromise”, because in the 150 years since Darwin offered his theory of evolution, the only side in the argument that has offered to compromise its position has been the Christian side. I have yet to see the evolutionary camp temper it's teachings to include God anywhere in the equation of creation.

The Clarion Call of the Great Commission - Part II

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."Matthew 28:19-20

The last words Jesus spoke to His disciples before He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father would become the clarion call for thousands of Christians missionaries throughout the years. Many, like Stephen, would die a martyr’s death while others would work in obscurity never to be remembered but by Christ Himself. Regardless of their success, they would all follow in the footsteps of the greatest missionary of them all; like Paul of Tarsus they would spread the gospel to the four corners of the world. Last week I touched on the missionary movements of Asia and Africa, today I will attempt to do justice to the missionaries that spread the gospel to the Indians of the American West and the jungles of South America. 

The Clarion Call of the Great Commission - Part I

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

These were the last words Jesus spoke to His disciples before He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. While it would eventually take the stoning of Stephen to actually force His followers to obey His commandment, many Christians would answer the clarion call of the great commission to leave home, friends, and family to spread the gospel to the gentiles of the world. It is no coincidence that the standard bearer that missionaries have used throughout the years has been Paul of Tarsus, who was present when Stephen was stoned. By being the example of what it means to follow the “Great Commission”, Paul would take the gospel to the Gentiles of the Roman Empire, and eventually share the gospel with Nero himself. For the next couple of centuries men like Polycarp, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian would continue where Paul and the other disciples left off until 314 BC when Constantine would embrace Christianity and make it the favored religion of the empire.

While there were men like St. Patrick and Columba who would win Ireland and Scotland to Christianity through their missionary work, it would not be until the 14^th and 15^th centuries that the great commission would again be followed with such fervor. That is when the Franciscans and Dominicans, who had ministered to the poor and helped nurse a population ravaged by the Black Death, began spreading the Gospel to the barbarians of Brazil, Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean. Soon followers of Loyola like Xavier and Ricci would start Jesuit missions in the Asian countries like Japan, China, and the Philippines. When the Spanish Armada (Spanish account, and the English account), was defeated by Queen Elizabeth's smaller and faster ships in 1588, the Roman Catholic Church lost its ability to control the missionary movements to the new lands of the West and eventually to the East as well.