Brethren,
Greetings.
Peace, mercy, and grace be with you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spring went somewhere, I am sure; but it certainly was not in northern Ohio. We went right from cool weather to the 90 degree area. Regardless, people are finally getting out of their homes, and good things are happening.
Working with the Brethren
May has been a good month for associating with the brethren. Anniversary, birthday, and graduation parties have gone on, and we've been able to spend a lot of time with one another.
I have also begun going to the local community exercise center with a couple of the brothers on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. We have enjoyed the dual benefit of being more in shape and getting to know one another.
My wife Sarah has begun to have "ladies' nights" of sorts, having groups meet on the second Monday and fourth Thursday and spend time together doing whatever activities the women choose to do. The women have responded well to this initiative.
Lessons and Classes
I have continued preaching series on the fundamentals of the faith; May has been spent speaking of matters regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and now we are spending time speaking on various societal matters. The lessons, as always, are available in outline and mp3 form on the website.
The Sunday morning young people's class has continued with the new converts also present. We finished Harkrider's First Principles of Christianity: Basic Bible Doctrines 1, and have begun the second book of that series. We will soon begin speaking of matters of morality highly relevant to their lives.
The divided men's and women's classes are continuing and we are wrapping up the materials focusing primarily on the roles of men and women as husbands and wives. For various reasons June will be a transition month for the classes, but by July we will begin the parenting class in that setup.
We have continued the Tuesday night Bible study at our house. We have spent the month going through the prophet Hosea, and the brethren who attend are enjoying having the work of Hosea illuminated for them. While attendance at the study could be better, we are encouraged that some family members of the brethren who are part of denominations feel comfortable coming to the study.
Evangelism
We are mostly continuing the same strategies, maintaining the website, distributing business cards, and sending out the bulletin. We will soon be challenging the brethren to get us enough addresses to make the bulk permit concept viable.
We will soon begin developing evangelistic strategies to complement the gospel meeting we have planned for the middle of September.Visitors
We continue to have plenty of visitors, and we continue to maintain the visitor cards, visitor listings, and the sending of cards. We expect to continue to see visitors as the summer, with Cedar Point and the Norwalk raceway, approaches.
Previous Disciplinary Action
In the last report I spoke of the disassociation from Keith, and the unfortunate reasons for it. Keith responded by distributing an inflammatory letter to the members only, making false claims and impugning the motives of the eldership. I contact Keith and confronted him with evidence contradicting his claims, and he eventually recognized that he was factually incorrect with many of his assertions. He did apologize for the errors, he apologized for the letter and recognized that it was not the best thing to do, yet he has indicated that he wants no further contact with the Norwalk church. We continue to pray for him and for his family.
Current Studies
Cindy. The weekly studies with Cindy have been progressing, and we will begin studying using Irven Lee's Good Families in a Wicked World in June. Unfortunately, some of Cindy's old friends from the world determined to turn on her and began a smear campaign against her and her family in their community. While we have grieved with Cindy on account of the suffering she has been forced to suffer, I am pleased to report that her faith is still strong and her desire to do what is right intact. This event seems to have made her stronger, and we are thankful for it.
Ben and Katie. We have begun studying the same Harkrider material that was previously covered in the young people's class on a weekly basis. Ben and Katie both seem to be progressing well.
June Matters
June looks to be a busy month. Sarah and I and the children will be spending the week of June 10-17 in the Smoky Mountains with other brethren at Higher Ground, and two weeks later we currently intend to make it down to the Bowling Green area for the Truth lectureship. More details will be given in the June report.
Support
I would like to thank all of you for your participation in the work here in Norwalk, either through your prayers or through encouraging me or through financial support. I would like to solicit your continual prayers so that the work here may prosper.
May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.
Response/Feedback
Do you have a question or comment about anything you have read here? Please feel free to contact me through the form below.
Please click here to return to the main reports page. Thanks!