Category: Hear From the President

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Do you remember the song I Love a Parade? It celebrates our love for celebrations! Our calendars are filled with them—some national, some religious, some just bizarre. Did you know that January 6 is Sherlock Holmes’ birthday, that January 20 is Penguin Awareness day and that April 26 is Hug an Australian day? September has Video Game Day, Preserve the Ozone Day and Elephant Appreciation Day. Marking time with celebrations is as old as civilization itself.

Ancient pagans scheduled celebrations using various calendars. Perhaps the earliest is found in the cave paintings at Lascaux, France where time was marked using the phases of the moon. Ancient monuments in Central and South America and at Stonehenge in England marked time by observing the cycles of the sun and moon.

When God brought Israel out of Egyptian captivity and settled them in the Promised Land, he gave them a luni-solar calendar with annual festivals to remind them of the great events in which he intervened in their history and of the natural cycle of events that showed he alone was Creator. Since Israel was principally engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, the festivals centered on the harvests.

Israel’s sacred year with its festivals and holy days was determined by observing the phases of the moon, with Israel’s high priest serving as chief observer and calendar custodian. The exact method for determining new moons, the beginning of the new year and other days is not detailed in Scripture. It was passed down through the priests. Even though the temple in Jerusalem was not designed as an astronomical observatory, as were some pagan temples, it served as the base from where the Levitical priesthood decided, by observation, when new months and years began. Numbers chapters 28 and 29 detail the priest’s responsibility to perform sacrifices on new moons and annual festivals.

The Hebrew calendar was not intended to calibrate time for all people in all locations at all times. It was temporary, even as the tabernacle and temple from where it was issued were temporary. Jesus prophesied that the temple standing in his day would be destroyed. Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded Jesus’ prediction. Earlier, Israel’s prophets foretold the same thing: “Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets” (Micah 3:12).

When the temple was destroyed by the armies of Rome, the calendar went with it. However, even before that destruction, the rules for deciding calendar dates had become mired in political wrangling between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Those who rejected Jesus decided the calendar should be determined by calculation rather than by the observation of the high priest. All this may seem rather quaint in our “sophisticated” modern age, when we mark the year by the dates of seasonal sales at the mall!

It is not a sin to celebrate ancient events in Israel’s history, but in doing so—fair warning—you may become enmeshed in a contentious debate concerning how to schedule those celebrations. In any case, such celebrations most definitely are not required of Christians, nor do they have salvific value. Observing days does not make anyone righteous.

While some aspects of Israel’s festivals pointed to Jesus and his coming, their worship calendar was not intended to accommodate the dates for celebrating God’s pivotal intervention to save all humanity from its sins in the atoning ministry of Jesus. The Hebrew calendar is no longer used to mark “holy time,” especially since Jesus now lives in us making all our time holy. On the day of Pentecost, the symbol of God’s presence, the shekinah, bypassed the temple to alight on individuals.

Today, the people of God have a new calendar of events that centers on Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and promised return. Christians celebrate these events at different times and in different ways. Exactly when these events in the life and ministry of Jesus are celebrated is not what is most important. Calendars come and go, but Jesus and his saving acts remain forever. As Christians, we celebrate these acts and respond in joyful obedience to our Lord’s command to go into the world as salt and light, pointing to Jesus, the Living Water who alone quenches our thirst.

Your brother in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We all love to celebrate milestones in our lives—birthdays, baptisms, weddings and anniversaries in particular. Another milestone is graduation, whether from grade school, high school or college. I vividly recall my graduations from high school and Ambassador College. Both marked significant achievements—and also brought feelings of relief!

At our recent GCI Denominational Conference in Orlando, we celebrated an important milestone. Eight students formed the first class to graduate from Grace Communion Seminary (GCS). Seven of those graduates walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, signifying their completion of the Master of Pastoral Studies (MPS) degree. Congratulations to them all!

As chairman of the GCS board of directors, I receive much satisfaction knowing that our seminary is accredited by a national accrediting commission, the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). On their website (detc.org), you’ll find our seminary listed among the institutions they have accredited.

Why expend so much time and effort to educate our pastors, ministry leaders and other members? As Mike Feazell put it in 2003 at the initial GCS planning meeting: “Every thriving denomination has a formal mode for educating its pastors.” Because we are committed to providing quality education and training to our pastors and ministry leaders, many people within our denomination have worked hard to develop two formal online education programs:

• Ambassador College of Christian Ministry (ACCM), which offers ten courses in leadership development, leading to a non-accredited undergraduate-level diploma. ACCM is administered from our office in Australia and is available to anyone with a high school or college-level diploma, or equivalent. Go to ambascol.org.

• Grace Communion Seminary (GCS), which offers an accredited MPS graduate-level degree with courses in biblical studies, theology and ministry. GCS is administered from our office in Glendora, California and is open to anyone with an accredited bachelor’s degree no matter what the person’s major was. Go to gcs.edu.

As befits a fully accredited seminary, we celebrated our GCS graduation in Orlando in a formal manner as seen in the pictures here and at www.gcs.edu/course/view.php?id=37. Graduates, faculty and administration wore the appropriate academic regalia (robes, hoods and colors), representing the collective learning gained from GCS’s fourteen-course program, which concludes with a carefully researched Theology of Ministry thesis as its capstone project. These papers add significantly to the contribution of scholarship in the topics selected by students and can be accessed on the GCS website by all GCS students.

The ceremony included the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” processional and the singing of hymns. GCS President and GCI Vice President Russell Duke gave an academic address entitled “Reconciliation through Transfiguration,” reminding all present of what we learn of God and Jesus Christ in worship and in life. Participating in the hooding ceremony of our first graduating students was an emotional experience!

We are but one seminary among many that seek to understand our God and Savior and live at one in him. A distinctive feature of GCS is our emphasis on incarnational Trinitarian theology. Our intent is not to disparage other seminaries or denominations, but to rejoice in what we have learned from the Spirit, Scripture and centuries of “faith seeking understanding.” We intend to celebrate again at our next international denominational conference in three years with our second group of graduates. We hope that you will join us.

Let me encourage those with bachelor’s degrees to take a course from GCS. You can take one or two of your choice, or you can take a series of courses toward the master’s degree. To enroll, you must first fill out the application to be accepted into the seminary. Then you will be given access to register for courses. We believe that all pastors and many ministry leaders, should be pursuing some form of continuing education. To serve this need, we are pleased to offer our courses at an affordable price. We encourage local congregations to provide tuition assistance for their pastors.

We plan to expand GCS course offerings over the next three years as we continue to enroll more students. GCS faculty and administration are working toward adding courses in the next year in church polity/administration, preaching and theology. I’ll keep you informed of growth in courses as time goes on. The fall semester starts on September 9, so new students need to apply immediately. Here are the courses offered this fall (go to gcs.edu/course for a detailed description of each one, including required textbooks and assignments):

• TH05 Doctrine of the Trinity – Gary Deddo
• BT01 Pentateuch – John McKenna
• NT01 New Testament Background – Mike Morrison
• NT03 Acts of the Apostles – Dan Rogers
• CH02 Church History: The Second Millennium – Neil Earle
• CM01 Ministerial Leadership – Russell Duke
• CM06 Trinitarian Youth Ministry – Ted Johnston
• CM07 Experiencing the Trinity (begins Aug. 29) – Larry Hinkle
• CM08 Church Planting & Development – Randy Bloom

As we move forward as a denomination, we seek to help our pastors and ministry leaders maintain a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and grow in their understanding of our Christian Trinitarian faith. GCS and ACCM are some of the primary ways we do this—helping our leaders faithfully live and then share God’s love and truth so that the body of Christ is built up in the Spirit. Through our educational resources we seek to bring our pastoral leadership into a deeper understanding of who God is and what he is doing today. These programs are an important part of the way we join with Jesus as he ministers to us and through us to the wider world.

With love, in Christ’s service,

Joseph Tkach

PS: GCI Weekly Update is automatically distributed each week by email to all GCI pastors. We now are making this automatic email distribution available to any GCI member. Please let your members know of this opportunity and invite them to sign up by emailing their request to Ted Johnston at Ted.Johnston@gci.org. Please also let your members know that the current and all past issues of Update may be read online at update.gci.org.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I believe that God heals. Healing was a significant part of Jesus’ ministry. It is one of the gifts of the Spirit mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. Sadly, the Spirit’s “gifts of healing” (v. 9) have often been corrupted and distorted by opportunists and charlatans. We need to be careful.

I recall watching a 1991 ABC Primetime Live television program that exposed as fake the “healing” ministries of Robert Tilton, E.V. Grant and Larry Lea. One of the practices exposed was leg-lengthening. The evangelist would “diagnose” the person’s physical problems as related to one leg being shorter than the other, then ask God to lengthen the shorter leg. Lo and behold—before our very eyes—the shorter leg would began to grow. Wow!! Except that, as the program showed, this was just an old carnival trick masquerading as a miraculous healing.

The first time I experienced this trick, it was performed on me by my chiropractor as a joke. He had me sit in a chair and firmly grasped my legs and then held them together to reveal that one leg was two inches longer than the other. I marveled at how quickly he healed my leg by pulling and talking to my legs. I knew there was some kind of trick to this. I had been to medical doctors on a couple of previous occasions with sprained ankles and sprained knees. I’d had x-rays and MRIs and I knew that my one leg was not two inches shorter than the other. So I said, “Okay Doctor, show me the trick.” He quickly explained that it was an old trick used at carnivals. The more you practice it, the better you become at duping unsuspecting people.

There are plenty of videos that expose this practice. In one, former faith healer Mark Haville discusses his use of fakery and hypnotic manipulation (http://youtu.be/BCohlCPSLlo). Another shows two examples of the leg-lengthening hoax (http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=JC229FNU).

Over the years, I have met quite a few people who had been deceived by this hoax. I marvel that so large a number of people needing their legs lengthened did not sound an alarm in medical circles (actually, most people’s legs are slightly unequal in length, a condition that generally produces no significant physical ill effects).

The Primetime Live program showed that bogus leg-lengthening was only the tip of an iceberg of fraud. The investigative reporters examined every aspect of the three ministries, using hidden cameras and multiple interviews with experts and witnesses. They even examined the ministries’ trash bins and dumpsters, finding thousands of prayer requests that had been discarded (after removing the donations, of course). What masqueraded as Christian ministry was shown to be a racket that was making millions of dollars a year by preying on gullible people.

Why am I bringing this up? Because, although the three fake ministries were exposed, the use of their fraudulent practices continues, and leg-lengthening is having a revival. It is not my purpose to publicly expose those who practice these things; nor is my intent to call into question their sincerity. Some people who use these tricks believe they are performing genuine miracles. However, others know it is a fraud.

Whatever the motive, such practices have no place in GCI’s ministry. As elders, we pray for the sick. While praying we often anoint the sick person with oil and lay hands on them to signify God’s healing presence. However, we need to be aware of the potential pitfall in developing a ministry focused on “miraculous healings.” What may seem to be spectacular demonstrations of God’s power can open the door to profound disillusionment, turning people away from Christ and his gospel.

The gospel proclaims that God has healed our relationship with him and reconciled us to himself. We can begin to live in that new life in relationship with him beginning today. He will one day make everything new and wipe away every tear. That’s the reality. However, for now we have only temporary and partial signs of this coming hope. We have only the “deposit” (down payment, pledge or earnest) of his renewing and transforming Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5). While God does grant signs, they remain just that—signs. And God grants such signs in ways that are not predictable or controllable by us. God remains wisely sovereign over how and when he distributes extraordinary signs and does not simply hand them over to us to dispense. That being said, we can remain open to the Spirit’s working “as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

Jesus is truth personified and he is the one who sets us free. He is our healer who sends his Spirit to work when, where and how he sees fit—for his glory and our benefit. So though we do well to pray in his name for people to be healed, it is wrong to represent him with street magic and old carnival tricks, even if some foolishly think they can advance his reputation by doing so.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am writing this from Orlando, Florida where our denominational conference is winding down. About 1,000 people attended. As you know, we hold regular national, regional and district-level conferences for our ministers and members. But once every three years we come together from around the world for an international conference like this one. It takes a lot of work to pull it off, but it is well worth it. My sincere thanks to the many who worked so hard to make it so wonderful.

Though small in numbers, we truly are an international denomination. We are blessed with close relationships around the world—some going back many decades. But those relationships deteriorate unless we maintain them. That is why a conference like this is important. It helps us see who God has made us. We see what God is doing through our collective ministries around the world and our local ministries close to home.

Each day at the conference we enjoyed general sessions with inspiring worship and thought-provoking presentations from GCI leaders and guest speakers including Jeff McSwain and Gerrit Dawson. We also had a wide array of workshops facilitated by GCI leaders and guests. All these meetings focused on our conference theme: Participation-Fellowship-Communion. Recordings of many of the sessions will be posted on our website as soon as our media team can prepare them.

During meals we heard updates from some of our national leaders concerning what is happening in their area of the world. My friends and colleagues from all over the world shared their stories, showing what God has been doing as we strive to follow his lead.

Some areas, like Europe and Australia have become spiritual “stony ground” and the Christian church faces a challenge to survive. In other regions we are experiencing explosive growth. Kalengule Kaoma, our mission director in East and West Africa, told us of whole networks of congregations in Namibia, Tanzania and Burundi that are lining up to join us. We could be adding dozens of congregations in those countries in the next few years. This type of growth already has happened in Mozambique. Tim Maguire, our mission director in Southern Africa, told us that 96 congregations in that region have joined us in the last three years.

As the conference draws to a close, I am encouraged. Though we face many challenges, we are seeing many successes as we join in what God is doing to reach people and transform lives. Though statistics help measure progress, they don’t tell the whole story. As Kalengule pointed out in his presentation, the most important progress is made at the deeply personal and individual level, whether in an American inner city or in a remote African village.

You’ve probably heard the expression “the devil is in the details.” I disagree—in our gospel work, the Holy Spirit is in the details. He guides us to share in what Jesus Christ is doing to transform one life at a time. At this conference, we heard many testimonies concerning the Spirit’s work.

A conference like this reminds us that perhaps our greatest asset as a denomination is our relationships with each other. As one of our pastors posted on his Facebook page, “On earth, I get to know a bit more about heaven all the time in moments like this.” As we worshiped and fellowshipped we had many opportunities to deepen relationships with people we already knew and to forge friendships with those we were meeting for the first time.

In my address to a general conference session, I reflected on our miraculous transformation—from an exclusivistic sect, to an outwardly focused church that joins Jesus in his work to redeem and restore his creation. I am deeply grateful that God has shown us the foolishness of our former ways. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that we thought that was how God wanted us to live. I pray that he will continue to work through us as we join together in his mission throughout the world.

As Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, “The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20 The Message).

Our world needs that message. Our denomination is living proof that human beings can put their differences behind them and work together in harmony, love and mutual respect.

As I write these words, my friends are beginning to go home to their various responsibilities. God willing, we will meet again in three years. As we say our temporary “goodbyes,” we are reminded that God has given us this new life that will last forever. So there will always be a “next time.” And there will never be a “last time.”

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Taking care of our denomination’s financial affairs may not be one of the more glamorous functions of our work, but it is one of the most important. As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy” (1 Corinthians 4:2, NRSV).

Our Glendora office accounting team takes stewardship of GCI’s finances very seriously. They maintain meticulous professional standards and work hard to meet the requirements of the law. This includes submitting our financial records to an independent external auditor. Our staff then devotes many hours in responding to the auditor’s requests. This is time well spent because it shines an outside light on our financial management records and processes and helps us improve each year.

Capin Crouse LLP recently finished auditing our financial records for 2011 and 2012. They presented their findings to our Board of Directors in a written report that summarizes the audit and suggests ways that we can improve our financial systems. The report also notes forthcoming changes to legal and financial requirements for churches. The report’s cover letter includes this summary statement:

In our opinion, the combined financial statements [from GCI]…present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Grace Communion International and Affiliate in the United States of America as of December 31, 2012 and 2011, and the changes in their net assets and their cash flows for the years then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

This statement means that our external auditor has given us a “clean” or “unqualified” report. They noted to us informally that our financial systems are “stellar.” This is significant, for in a world where institutions, including churches, are often distrusted, our members and other donors can have peace of mind knowing that their contributions and financial sacrifices are respected by their church and that its financial resources are being handled with the greatest of professional care. Any GCI member in the US may obtain a copy of Capin Crouse’s audit report by sending their request to Grace Communion International, P.O. Box 5005 Glendora, CA 91740, attention Mat Morgan.

The pictures below show our home office financial team. I thank all of them, including Mathew Morgan, our treasurer and Robert Meade, our accounting manager who lead us in financial stewardship. I also thank the many others in our home office and in our congregations who diligently strive to be trustworthy stewards of the finances entrusted to us for the work of the gospel.

On a related note, I urge all pastors and treasurers in our US churches to stay current with requirements for reviews of financial records as detailed in the GCI-USA Financial Management Manual. An internal review is required each year and an external review is required every third year. Although these reviews can be time-consuming, they are essential in helping us properly steward the finances within our churches.

Due to the upcoming International Denominational Conference, we will not be publishing GCI Weekly Update next week. I look forward to seeing many of you in Orlando.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach.

PS. As you may know, churches, denominations and ministry organizations are seeing significant changes related to financial stewardship and fundraising. Ted Johnston tells me that this important topic will be the focus of the August issue of Equipper. I hope you will read it when it’s published in early August. Equipper is emailed to all GCI-USA pastors and to others who request it. It also is posted online at http://mindev.gci.org/equipper.htm.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In our modern age of smart bombs and unmanned drones, it may seem hard to believe that not so long ago one of the most effective unmanned flying machines used in warfare was the humble pigeon.

The homing, or carrier pigeon, is able to find its way home over hundreds and even thousands of miles. Approximately 250,000 of them were used in World War II as a low-tech but highly effective way to carry messages. Because the enemy would deploy air-to-air anti-pigeon hawks to bring them down, these messages were often written in secret code.

Last November, one of these coded messages was discovered in a canister attached to the leg of a dead pigeon that had become stuck in a chimney. There are few secrets remaining from that war, but this is one of them. The message, which has 27 five-letter code groups, is said to be impossible to crack without its codebook. It may never be deciphered, but here it is (see picture at right) if you want to try.

There is something fascinating and challenging about coded messages, isn’t there? Some people seem to think the Bible is just as mysterious as that pigeon’s message, containing coded information that must somehow be unraveled so the real truth may be known.

Perhaps you remember a book that was published some years ago, The Bible Code. The author claimed that there were secret messages hidden in the original text of the Hebrew Bible. By looking at the sequence of Hebrew letters—for example, every 50th one—the secret information could be deciphered. That information, encoded into the text thousands of years ago, revealed specific details about contemporary events.

If you think this sounds a bit far-fetched, you’re right. It just doesn’t work. The Bible Code failed to predict some important developments and history has shown it to be quite wrong in many others. Also, computer analysis has shown that you can actually do this with almost any book. One critic, presumably with tongue firmly in cheek, showed how Herman Melville anticipated the assassination of Martin Luther King in the text of Moby Dick.

To study the Bible in this way is a waste of time. It is not what it is for. The Bible is certainly profound and repays in-depth study. Ever since it was written, scholars have poured over Holy Scripture in search of a better understanding of God’s character and will. Studies of the Hebrew Scriptures by Jewish scholars before the time of Jesus left them with unanswered questions. This is what Paul was referring to when he wrote to the church at Colosse that the word of God was to some extent a “mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations” (Colossians 1:26a). However, as Paul notes, it is no longer a secret and we are called to proclaim the word: “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness” (v 25).

That fullness is the core message of the gospel, which, through Paul, “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ (vv. 27-28).

Paul’s point is that the Sender has given us the code to the mystery. We don’t have to be expert code-breakers and we don’t have to be stumped. We can shout the message from the highest hill. We don’t have to spend hours struggling to work it out because the mystery has been revealed. God has come to us through his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ with unbounded grace for all. God is the Sender and we are the recipients. Jesus, himself, is the deciphered message of God to us.

The essential starting point of correct Bible interpretation is to read and interpret it through the lens of the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus told the biblical scholars of his day, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40 ESV).

Sadly, for many, that is still the case. They spend their lives trying to decipher what the Bible “really says,” coming up with a never-ending stream of bizarre and inaccurate ideas. You’d think they’d learn, wouldn’t you?

But the hope of unlocking “secret knowledge” lures them on—like, I suppose, those people who are still trying to decipher the message strapped to the leg of that long-dead carrier pigeon. Though the pigeon’s message may never be decoded, we most certainly do not have to be confounded by the message of the Bible. Jesus not only decodes it, he is the code and the message.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

PS: We will publish Weekly Update on July 24 and then skip July 31. The triennial GCI Denominational Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida during the week spanning July 29-August 4. I hope to see many Update readers there.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I couldn’t resist sending you the picture below. Haven’t we all met people who do crazy, self-destructive things? Such people don’t need enemies—they are their own worst enemy! They go through life tripping themselves up and inflicting catastrophe after catastrophe on themselves.

How do we help people like that? They can try a pastor’s patience and it’s tempting to think we must “do something about them.” Perhaps we need to be reminded of Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV).

Note the emphasis here. Paul does not say, “Tell these people to get their act together and start living properly. Or else!” Rather, he tells Timothy to be patient, tolerant and humble, reminding him that even though such people may be their own worst enemy, they are not God’s enemy. They may be unable to acknowledge their problem and so become easy prey for the devil. They may reject and resist advice, but that does not give a pastor the right to abandon them. We may not be able to open up their minds to see their problems, but God can.

Gently relating to such people is an important part of being a pastor. We are reminded that we are shepherds of God’s flock, not “lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3 KJV). If we remember this as we serve those who “oppose themselves,” we will become more aware of God’s unrelenting and unconditional love for all of humankind, including ourselves. If we are brutally honest, we must admit we too have our moments of self-opposition.

One of the most awesome dynamics in our lives comes when we recognize and acknowledge that, in Christ, God says “YES” to the question of our reconciliation with him and our eternal salvation. Then when we see what God is doing with us in Christ and say, “yes” and “thanks be to God,” he says “YES” right back to us—for eternity.

Trouble is, having accepted God’s big “YES,” we often respond with our little “no’s.” Paul lamented this reality in Romans chapter seven. Though wanting to respond to God’s “YES” by living a life worthy of our calling, the more we try, the more we become conscious of our failures.

Paul gives voice to this struggle: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (vv. 18b-19 NIV).

Even seasoned, mature Christians oppose themselves at times and so Paul continues the lament: “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work in me. What a wretched man I am!” (vv. 21-24a).

Sounds hopeless, doesn’t it? But that is not where Paul ends—he had learned that God never gives up on us: “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vv. 24b-25).

When people oppose themselves, they think and behave as if they can cut themselves off from Christ. They are not living in communion with God even though their life, breath and movement is dependent on him (Acts 17:28). God is the sustainer of every life and no one lives outside of his relationship with them, whether they know of or acknowledge that relationship. God loves sinners. That is why he sent Jesus to save and redeem us. He will never give up on us and he never stops loving us.

The wonderfully reassuring dynamic of our relationship with and to God is that when we say “no” to his reconciling and saving “YES” to us in Christ, he won’t take our “no” for an answer. We cannot change the fact that God loves us and has, in Christ, reconciled himself to us. No matter how angry, disbelieving and denying we may be toward God, it does not change the reality that God is our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer. God is faithful even when we oppose ourselves.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we in the United States celebrate Independence Day this week, perhaps some will be asking, “What is there to celebrate?”

There is no question that the US faces serious problems. Americans are divided over many issues. There is the overarching problem of the economy and national indebtedness. What should be done about climate change and protection of the environment? In many places, our infrastructure of roads, bridges and utilities is crumbling. The cost of health care is skyrocketing. Divorce rates are still at 50% and 40% of children are born out of wedlock. There are 3000 abortions a day and 19 million new cases of STDs each year. Some things about our nation are not worthy of celebrating.

Nevertheless, we cannot deny that life in the US, compared to most other nations, is the proverbial bowl of cherries. That is no reason to be smug and complacent about our blessings. As the patriotic hymn, “America the Beautiful” reminds us, we still need to ask God to “mend thine every flaw.” As loyal citizens, we should want to do whatever we can to make our homeland a better place. But how do we do that?

Many Christians have become embroiled in the various causes that campaign relentlessly for change (or not, as the case may be). This is especially true of those issues involving social justice, such as immigration reform, abortion, gay rights and same-sex marriage. Many Christians—particularly evangelical Christians—are heavily involved, and the National Association of Evangelicals is predicting that political activism in its ranks will increase in the next decade.

Maybe some of you are tempted to join in the battles. We are, after all, also members of our earthly communities. However, I do need to remind you to keep your personal political views out of the pulpit. I know it is tempting to use your position and influence to advance an agenda about which you feel passionately. We must also be cautious on another level. Instead of making things better, there is a risk of complicating our ministry situation, while undermining the main purpose of the church in this world at this time. It is important not to lose focus. We need to ask, “Where is Jesus in these debates? What is his perspective and priority? What does he want us to do?”

So this week, as we in the US celebrate our comparatively abundant freedom and independence, let’s remember that God has called us to proclaim a much greater freedom—one that God has for all humankind. Jesus Christ shares this freedom with us by the Holy Spirit who works to renew us from the inside out.

In thinking about celebrating freedom, it’s appropriate that we remind ourselves of what Jesus said to his disciples following the Last Supper. It was a time of national frustration for the Jewish nation. They were under the yoke of the Roman Empire and like the American colonists in the 18^th century, they yearned for freedom. Some of Jesus’ disciples had been political zealots. They all looked forward to Jesus turning his thus far peaceful preaching into a militant protest movement that would lead them to freedom. Isn’t that what the Messiah was supposed to do?

Let’s read what Jesus said in his prayer recorded in John 17 (quoted from The Message, with emphasis added).

I gave them your word; the godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join the world’s ways, just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world (vv. 14-16).

The world tends to define us by our political and moral views—conservative or liberal, pro-life or pro-choice, etc. Jesus prayed for his followers to be above that. If we are to be defined, let it be by our Lord’s agenda.

Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission (vv. 17-19).

Jesus knew that to be successful, his followers must be united. That does not mean that we must be exactly alike in every way. From the earliest days, it was obvious that different cultures and customs could all be accommodated. The church in Jerusalem was different from the church in Corinth. But in their overall mission, Jesus’ followers must present a united front, so that the world will be in no doubt about what we stand for and who we represent.

The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me (vv. 20-21).

While I am not opposed to those who lobby for the government to protect our Christian worldview, our emphasis on lobbying for a certain political position will not always be met with success. Some, if not most, will even misunderstand our motives and aims and have no ability to follow our reasons. Therefore our focus must be on the mission that Christ has given us—to proclaim his gospel and in doing so to multiply his disciples throughout the world—and that, eventually, leads to true freedom for all people.

George Orwell once said that, “freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” I’m thankful that we have the political freedom to share the gospel, even if some do not want to hear it. Though I enjoy the fireworks and other celebrations of Independence Day, I realize that true freedom is found only in and through Christ. Sown in the soil of our souls, that freedom can never be taken from us. It is a gift from God that brings peace and joy to all people for all time.

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Throughout church history, the importance of preaching has been emphasized and explained as being a vital activity of the church. John Calvin said that where the word of God is not preached and heard, there is no church. Preaching is a ministry that Jesus himself authorized and continues to empower by his word and Spirit. When we prepare and deliver a sermon, we are sharing in the ongoing ministry of the Great Shepherd. As the living Word, he continues to communicate by his word, both written and preached. Therefore, let us offer our sermons up to God as “loaves and fish” for him to bless and multiply in feeding his sheep.

Every time I prepare a sermon, I’m reminded of John Stott’s book for preachers, Between Two Worlds. He observed that preachers need twelve hours to adequately prepare a sermon. That amount of time, I know, is unrealistic for many of us—especially bivocational pastors. Nevertheless, Stott’s observation reminds us of the importance of adequate sermon preparation—I’m particularly motivated to spend more time in prayer.

We are blessed with many resources that help us prepare our sermons. I asked Ted Johnston from Church Administration and Development to list some of them (see the “preaching resources” link at left). These resources will need to be adapted to your personal style, your congregation’s needs and our denomination’s doctrinal standards. But they do take some of the “heavy lifting” out of sermon preparation.

Also of interest is a Christianity Today article by John Ortberg entitled “The 5 Comments Preachers Hate Most” (at www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/october-online-only/five-comments-preachers.html). Ortberg wrote:

The single oddest response I ever received after a sermon (true story) came from a man I had never met.

“Excuse me,” he said, “Do you mind if I disturb you for a moment?”

“No,” I said.

He put his thumbs in his ears, wiggled his fingers wildly, and made a noise that sounded like Ruga Ruga Ruga. Then he walked away. I haven’t seen him since. It was the oddest response I have received, but not the worst.

Perhaps the oddest response I have ever received was following a sermon I preached on grace. A man came up to me and said that he would like to publicly execute me by chopping off my head with a giant ax. As it turns out, this fellow was visiting us from one of our splinter groups.

How about you? What is the most unusual comment you have ever received in response to one of your sermons? I invite you to share yours using the “ADD A COMMENT” feature below.

Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.” I have noticed that the opposite is true as well. A critical comment can have the effect of trumping any number of positive remarks. But for a preacher, a certain amount of criticism goes with the territory. It isn’t necessarily your fault. Even the apostle Paul couldn’t please all of the people, all of the time. He wrote,

Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse (2 Corinthians 2:16 MSG).

So next time someone tells you your sermon “stinks,” remember you are in good company. However, let’s make sure the criticism comes because the listener rejects the truth of our message and not because of sloppy, inadequate preparation. To quote Paul again,

This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No—but at least we don’t take God’s Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ’s presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can” (2 Corinthians 2:17 MSG).

Let me encourage you to be diligent in your preaching, entrusting your best to Christ the living Word, so you can be “a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 NRSV).

Your brother in Christ,

Joseph Tkach

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The 1940s were a time of great growth for evangelical churches. Our own denomination, then known as the Radio Church of God, was no exception. As more and more people responded to Herbert Armstrong’s broadcasts and personal campaigns, small groups would form. But with no one to pastor them, they soon disbanded. In his Autobiography, Mr. Armstrong explained how he noticed that several other small churches had resolved this problem by starting training colleges. And so, in 1947, Ambassador College in Pasadena opened. Later, sister campuses opened in England and Texas.

Ambassador College served us well for several decades. In the years when our churches grew exponentially, we were able to employ nearly every graduate. But by the 1970s through 80s as fewer and fewer graduates were employed by the church and as the costs of maintaining the campuses rose, the difficult decision was made to close all three.

This proved to be the right decision. In the last two decades, hundreds of small Bible colleges have been forced to close. Ambassador graduates have gone on to find success in many fields, and many still serve in the ministry of the church. That includes many of you reading these words. No longer are we those fresh-faced young people beaming out of the pages of the Ambassador College Envoy. Many of us, now in our late sixties, are approaching retirement.

We need to prepare the next generation of leaders and pastors. It is no longer financially possible to have a full-time training college. Nor is it necessary. There are many fine institutions, including our own Grace Communion Seminary, which provide a sound theological foundation. But ministry is more than academic knowledge. Effective pastoral training must also include practical, hands-on experience in churches.

This is why, in the US, we have our Pastoral Internship Program. We have just completed the second annual meeting of our interns and those involved in training and mentoring them (see group picture below). The meeting was held in a Christian retreat center north of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Church Administration and Development team member Greg Williams coordinates our Pastoral Internship Program. Following is a report he sent me about the recent gathering. I think you will find it encouraging.

We held our second annual meeting with our interns over the weekend of June 6-9. Out of the 35 attendees, 11 were pastoral interns and two were pastoral residents who are ordained elders serving in GCI churches. Ranging in age from 22 to 50, our interns are participating in one of two internship tracks: as a volunteer progressing at a pace that fits their schedule; or as a paid intern following a two-year intensive program.

The group gathered expecting to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading, to be nurtured and trained, to continue building our relational networks and to clarify our next steps. The Spirit’s activity was clearly evident in the active participation, enthusiastic conversation and transparent sharing.

A highlight of the gathering was hearing the interns offer insights during a group study of 1 Timothy. On Friday, while discussing chapter 3, two interns showed how they saw Paul’s listing of qualifications for ministry less like a “check list” and more like the ingredients of a cake. The foundation of the “cake” is Jesus. His attributes and actions, in which we share, are the cake’s substance. All this is what Paul calls “the mystery of our faith”—a mystery now revealed in the person and work of Jesus.

Our discussions continued on Saturday, examining the nuts and bolts of the internship program. The interns informed us that they feel well supported by their congregations and their denomination. They desire more interaction through the year and plan to use video chats and a Facebook page to keep in touch. They also asked for more clarity in tracking their progress and in transitioning toward pastoral leadership or church planting.

These conversations continued each day after the formal sessions were over—a good sign that people were fully engaged. The weekend showed me that the program is working well. I am impressed that this community of interns and pastor-trainers are so affirming of each other. They encourage one another and are committed to seeking the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. A deep camaraderie, grounded in shared experience, has developed.

The weekend was a valuable experience, and will help us refine our practices for training and developing emerging pastoral leaders to pastor established churches and start new ones.

This is indeed good news. Seventy years ago, Mr. Armstrong saw the need to start a college to train pastors. Times are different, and the techniques have changed, but there will always be a need for qualified and dedicated men and women to take care of those God calls through our ministry. I am reminded of Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “What you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Your brother in Christ,
Joseph Tkach

PS: For a short interview with pastoral intern Jon Kuhn, go to http://youtu.be/Fkn8X32o8rc. For the recent “passing the baton” of pastoral leadership in Kansas City from Ray Meyer to Jason Frantz (one of our first interns in the current program) go to https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151442585746050&set=vb.629281049&type=2&theater.