Hello Folks,
The past two weeks have been filled with the blessings of God. In the last two weeks we had two people come to the Lord for salvation in our worship, both of them probably in their 30's, and we had at least one person recommit their life to Jesus. What a blessing that has been and I give praise to our Savior for all His wonderful blessings.
Ruth came home last night after 9 days visiting our children and grandchildren. It is a possibility that our daughter and her husband may have a job transfer to Houston, Tx. Ruth and I are not that thrilled about it but we understand that these things take place. We will probably know by Christmas whether this will come about. If they do go they will have to live there at least 3 years before they could go back to Illinois. Yet if our son-in-law is to move up the ladder where his work is concerned this may have to take place or it could slow him down for a number of years. Pray that God's will be done in this! Since He is in charge I am very happy to allow Him to work it out for our good.
You know that sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the problems of life and to miss out on the good things that God gives. As I look at my life I realize that God has been far better to me than I could ever deserve and I give praise to Him. He has allowed me to pastor this congregation and even though there have been, and will be, difficult moments I find that He is always providing direction and help. I am sure that you would find this to be true as well if you were to look closely.
Yours In Christ,
Pastor H. G. Rudd
Monday, October 18, 2010
Hello Folks,
If you were not with us Sunday Oct.17 at Locust Springs you should have been. What a wonderful afternoon and evening it was. We had a wonderful dinner, thanks for the donation of meat, and all the work that went into setting things up by the David Dotson and the Fellowship Team. Also thank you for all who made food and brought it out, especially the corn! After we ate we had a worship time with the singing of hymns, a special by Teresa Hensley and a sermon. As I looked at the children playing and the people of all ages that sat there it brought to my heart the fact that we have great opportunities and challenges in front of us. Of course that is true at any time. But I wondered out loud if we were willing to "suffer the little children" and help them to hear the great message of Jesus. Then I talked about how there is a great change in our time, almost seismic in nature, and that if we were not willing to "suffer" some of the things that we do not like to enable the next generation to see these great truths that we would miss our time. In a couple of weeks I will be preaching a sermon titled "Our Challenge" and will attempt to bring some of these thoughts to you as well.
In our Sunday a.m. worship we had a woman saved and I ask you to pray for Carla Bailey. I preach on the subject that "God Has A Church" and she saw her need of salvation and came to the Savior! What a glorious moment that was and I am praying for more moments like that and ask you to do the same.
I have been blessed to be part of this congregation for over nine years and pray that God will use me to fulfill His will among us. Please pray that I do exactly that.
Pastor H. G. Rudd
If you were not with us Sunday Oct.17 at Locust Springs you should have been. What a wonderful afternoon and evening it was. We had a wonderful dinner, thanks for the donation of meat, and all the work that went into setting things up by the David Dotson and the Fellowship Team. Also thank you for all who made food and brought it out, especially the corn! After we ate we had a worship time with the singing of hymns, a special by Teresa Hensley and a sermon. As I looked at the children playing and the people of all ages that sat there it brought to my heart the fact that we have great opportunities and challenges in front of us. Of course that is true at any time. But I wondered out loud if we were willing to "suffer the little children" and help them to hear the great message of Jesus. Then I talked about how there is a great change in our time, almost seismic in nature, and that if we were not willing to "suffer" some of the things that we do not like to enable the next generation to see these great truths that we would miss our time. In a couple of weeks I will be preaching a sermon titled "Our Challenge" and will attempt to bring some of these thoughts to you as well.
In our Sunday a.m. worship we had a woman saved and I ask you to pray for Carla Bailey. I preach on the subject that "God Has A Church" and she saw her need of salvation and came to the Savior! What a glorious moment that was and I am praying for more moments like that and ask you to do the same.
I have been blessed to be part of this congregation for over nine years and pray that God will use me to fulfill His will among us. Please pray that I do exactly that.
Pastor H. G. Rudd
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Hello Folks,
I have been reading two books that have really stimulated my mind. One of them is "Who Stole My Church" by Gordan MacDonald and it was really insightful into the problems that exist in our society today as congregations either attempt to shift to speak to the generations that are to come or if they will refuse to address those issues. If you want to have an easy, but extremely insightful, read I would recommend that you get this book. I happen to believe that most of Christians really do want to reach our world but that most of us want to do so without it costing us anything.
The other book that I have just began is titled, "Serious Times" by James Emery White and as the title implies it is of a more serious nature. This deals with the cultural and intellectual mindset that is taking over our society. While I am only 50 pages into this book it is something that is causing me to think as I consider the educational climate in the institutions of higher learning and, even, in our primary and secondary levels. It would appear to me that the viewpoint that religion is something that shoudl not be dealt with in public is common, if not the dominating viewpoint. Christianity is seen as one religion among many and that all of them are of the same value. While we have had many religions for centuries the viewpoint that they are all on equal footing is somewhat new but even more that none of them, including Christianity, has the truth is becoming the common understanding.
While these two books are different they actually are dealing with the same issue. What will the church of God do? How will we face this great challenge of our day? Will we roll over and play dead or will we stand up and fight the battle? Fighting the battle means that we must proclaim truth but do it in a manner that will be listened to by our generation and the next one as well.
These are some of things that are on my mind. I hope this stimulates you into thinking about this rather than just living another day.
Pastor H. G. Rudd
I have been reading two books that have really stimulated my mind. One of them is "Who Stole My Church" by Gordan MacDonald and it was really insightful into the problems that exist in our society today as congregations either attempt to shift to speak to the generations that are to come or if they will refuse to address those issues. If you want to have an easy, but extremely insightful, read I would recommend that you get this book. I happen to believe that most of Christians really do want to reach our world but that most of us want to do so without it costing us anything.
The other book that I have just began is titled, "Serious Times" by James Emery White and as the title implies it is of a more serious nature. This deals with the cultural and intellectual mindset that is taking over our society. While I am only 50 pages into this book it is something that is causing me to think as I consider the educational climate in the institutions of higher learning and, even, in our primary and secondary levels. It would appear to me that the viewpoint that religion is something that shoudl not be dealt with in public is common, if not the dominating viewpoint. Christianity is seen as one religion among many and that all of them are of the same value. While we have had many religions for centuries the viewpoint that they are all on equal footing is somewhat new but even more that none of them, including Christianity, has the truth is becoming the common understanding.
While these two books are different they actually are dealing with the same issue. What will the church of God do? How will we face this great challenge of our day? Will we roll over and play dead or will we stand up and fight the battle? Fighting the battle means that we must proclaim truth but do it in a manner that will be listened to by our generation and the next one as well.
These are some of things that are on my mind. I hope this stimulates you into thinking about this rather than just living another day.
Pastor H. G. Rudd
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hello Folks,
Here we are with a new month upon us. Sometimes I wonder how it is that time moves along so quickly. This month I saw my 59th birthday come upon me and still feel like I am much younger--how much I am not sure but much younger. Things here at the church continue to be challenging. As most of you probably know the finances are very tight and we have been working to make sure that we are doing all we can to be good stewards of the resources that God gives to us. Of course it would be much better if we could get everyone in the life of the church to follow the biblical principle of tithing but we have what we have and we will do what we must do to ensure that we pay our bills. Noah's Ark is doing ok at this point even though we are still not out of the woods completely. The actions that have already been taken are of great help but we must be very careful with what we do. The current economic climate certainly is making us revisit some of the ways we do ministry.
The pastoral staff has been working on developing what we are calling The Institute of Christian Living or ICL. It will consist of a number of classes offered at multiple times and as a person finishes all five levels they would receive a star for each level. We are working on the class curiculuum but do not anticipate being able to have it start before September of 2011. I ask you to pray with us as we attempt to find new and better ways of moving people from entrance into our congregation to being a full participant in the life of kingdom ministry here.
I pray that the Lord bless you all.
Yours In Christ,
Pastor H. G. Rudd
Here we are with a new month upon us. Sometimes I wonder how it is that time moves along so quickly. This month I saw my 59th birthday come upon me and still feel like I am much younger--how much I am not sure but much younger. Things here at the church continue to be challenging. As most of you probably know the finances are very tight and we have been working to make sure that we are doing all we can to be good stewards of the resources that God gives to us. Of course it would be much better if we could get everyone in the life of the church to follow the biblical principle of tithing but we have what we have and we will do what we must do to ensure that we pay our bills. Noah's Ark is doing ok at this point even though we are still not out of the woods completely. The actions that have already been taken are of great help but we must be very careful with what we do. The current economic climate certainly is making us revisit some of the ways we do ministry.
The pastoral staff has been working on developing what we are calling The Institute of Christian Living or ICL. It will consist of a number of classes offered at multiple times and as a person finishes all five levels they would receive a star for each level. We are working on the class curiculuum but do not anticipate being able to have it start before September of 2011. I ask you to pray with us as we attempt to find new and better ways of moving people from entrance into our congregation to being a full participant in the life of kingdom ministry here.
I pray that the Lord bless you all.
Yours In Christ,
Pastor H. G. Rudd
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