Tag: Preaching

Live at The Gospel Coalition Conference – 4

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

Here is a brief overview of each of the plenary sessions from day 2 of the 2011 Gospel Coalition conference.

Session 5: James MacDonald – Not According to Our Sins (Psalm 25)
–Download audio–

I had never heard James MacDonald preach, except for maybe a clip here or there from the radio or something. He was an engaging speaker and very passionate. He said before you can preach Christ from the OT, you have to know how to preach. There’s a need for people today to preach, “Thus says the Lord.” Then you need to preach Christ from the Word and He is in the Word both in the Old and New Testaments. He then preached through Psalm 25 detailing his own personal experience of being crushed by life’s problems lately and really having to trust in God like the Psalmist did. He used visual elements in the preaching, but it was definitely a word-based proclamation. The visual elements helped, but it’s hard to describe if you can’t see the video. At the end he explained how Jesus is in this Psalm. He embodies our trust, He exemplifies our trust, and He enables our trust.

Workshops

I am not sure if the workshops will be recorded or not. But I’m glad I attended the ones I did.

Workshop 1: Colin Smith – Preaching a Christ to Whom We Can Come

Colin Smith originally hails from Scotland so his accent was on full display. What he said about preaching a Christ to whom our people can come, rather than one they are to follow and obey (only), was very grace-filled and refreshing. I’d say more, but you can download and read his presentation (in PDF) here, from his website and ministry UnlockingtheBible.com.

Workshop 2: C.J. Mahaney – Pastoring with Discernment: Applying the Gospel to the Hearts of Those You Serve

As always, C.J. Mahaney did not disappoint. His lecture was less a workshop, and more a sermon. It just was a sermon, no bones about it. About 800 or more it seemed were in the room for his session. He preached through the book of Jude with particular emphasis on “keeping in the love of God”, as people who were “loved, called and kept (vs. 1) by building ourselves up in faith (through rehearsing the Gospel to ourselves daily), by praying, and through waiting for God’s mercy. He also emphasized that Jude was very eager to declare the common salvation or the Gospel, but he had to contend. Mahaney stressed that contending isn’t optional, but we must be wise in what threats to the Gospel really apply to our church and need to be contended with in that context. The contending is important but Jude’s passion was the Gospel. He stressed that Jude wasn’t eager for secondary things or practice or church structure or social issues. We may be tempted to be passionate. What pastors are very eager about matters and is obvious to their people.

Workshop 3: Randy Newman – Questioning Evangelism

Randy Newman who is a converted Jew who ministers to college professors and the like with Faculty Commons, Campus Crusade, is also the author of a couple books on evangelism. Questioning Evangelism is his first book and what his lecture covered. Bringing the Gospel Home: Witnessing to Family Members, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well is a new book just published by Crossway. This session was excellent as he worked through the role of questions in evangelism. Answer people’s questions about the gospel with a question rather than an answer. He explained that you should look at people on a grid from A to Z with A being extreme atheist, and Z being almost a believer. Rather than aiming to convert people with a one-shot prospect, we should look for ongoing process. Try to bump them up a few rungs, by causing them to think and overcoming an obstacle. Let our Sovereign God do his work. Today people don’t share the many common beliefs that most Gospel pamphlets and tracts assume. So an incremental approach is better. I’m going to have to seek out his book, since this seems such a good approach.

Session 6: Conrad Mbewe – The Righteous Branch (Jeremiah 23)
–Download audio–

With my parents being missionaries in Zambia, I was particularly interested in hearing Conrad Mbewe. I had heard of him only recently, and my parents don’t know him at all. Some apparently, call him the African Spurgeon. He’s a pastor in Lusaka and helps direct two colleges for pastors. Not sure if he’s quite Spurgeon’s equal, but he is passionate and articulate. His message on Jesus, the Branch was powerful. He explained the role of leaders and how their sins affect the people, and their judgment is the people’s judgment. God’s solution has been to give new leaders who are faithful to his people, but ultimately it is Jesus the Good Shepherd and the Branch who will arise. The restoration prophesied here is described as surpassing that of the Exodus. He said, “Let’s face it, this wasn’t fulfilled in the 1940s with Israel.” He finds the ultimate fulfillment in the eternal state. The message didn’t focus on particulars about the land promise or anything, it was a wider lens view of Jesus Christ and his Greatness and Glory.

Session 7: Matt Chandler – Youth (Ecclesiastes 11-12)
–Download audio–

Chandler was the best message of the day, by far. He went so fast it was very hard to keep up. His own story of having been diagnosed with brain cancer a year or so ago, is compelling in its own right. His message on remembering the Creator in the days of your youth, was especially poignant given his own story. He connected the command to rejoice in 11:9-10, with the command to remember. We need to remember rightly (the Gospel and what God has done for us), in order to rejoice rightly. Our problem isn’t rejoicing, it’s rejoicing in the wrong things. Chandler also drove home the need for the Gospel in all of life, not just the entry to the Christian life. He displayed an amazing knowledge of the Bible and had a humorous yet insightful way of putting things. I’ve heard him compared to Mark Driscoll as far as the style of his church, and he is friends with Driscoll. I wasn’t sure what to expect. He didn’t wear a tie or anything close to that. But he didn’t come across as inappropriate or even close to it. His preaching could be put right up there with John Piper’s in a sense, or C.J. Mahaney’s. I was blessed and will want to download this to listen to it again.

This was day two, and I have to leave now to start day three. The conference will be over soon, unfortunately. But I’ve enjoyed my time here immensely.

Live at The Gospel Coalition Conference – 2

~ Bob Hayton

Here is a brief overview of each of the plenary sessions from yesterday’s conference. I’ll have more to say about books and the Band of Bloggers event I went to later.

The music was led by Keith and Kristyn Getty. It was more upbeat and lively than I expected, which was actually nice. The Irish flair was there with even a bagpipe solo. They are introducing a fairly new song of theirs, “By Faith” and also did an even newer one. Prior to session 2, the music at one point dropped out and the congregation was heard more clearly singing “O Church Arise”. The 5,000 or so voices singing that song together was powerful. Praise to Jesus for bringing together his people in places like this conference center (the massive McCormick Place in Chicago) and all around the world…

Session 1: Al Mohler – Studying the Scriptures and Finding Jesus (John 5)
–Download audio–

Mohler explains the problem of a Christless Old Testament, and explains how studying the Scriptures is supposed to result in finding Jesus. He shows how so many people are practical Marcionites, claiming the New Testament is the Christian book, the OT is Hebrew Scriptures. Basically, some would have us do synagogue lectures when we teach from the OT. Don’t get me wrong, his tone wasn’t combative at all. It was a very helpful and hope filled lecture on the importance of seeing Christ in the OT.

Session 2: Tim Keller – Getting Out (Exodus 14)
–Download audio–

Keller showed multiple links from the Exodus account to the New Testament. He explained that the story of the Israelites could be described as this: They were slaves in bondage with no hope and a sentence of death, finding redemption by hiding under the blood atonement, crossing over from death to life, then having a promise of going to a new country. They’re not there yet, but they’re on the way and God has given them his law and a worship system so they treasure and remember His work for them. Keller then says, that’s exactly how you would describe the people of God today, too. He goes on to discuss the layers of bondage and the redemption and how it was accomplished (all by Grace).

Session 3: Alistair Begg – From a Foreigner to King Jesus (Ruth)
–Download audio–

Begg gave us sketches of the beautiful story of Ruth. He showed how Boaz, particularly, was the goel, kinsman redeemer and foreshadows Christ. He also drew parallels from the locale of Ruth’s story and then David’s childhood tending sheep there in Bethlehem, to Christ and the Bethlehem shepherds coming at his birth in Bethlehem. Much to see Christ from in this book.

Session 4: Round-table discussion – Tim Keller, John Piper, Crawford Loritts, Don Carson, Bryan Chapell
–Download audio–

Highlights from that are really anything Keller or Carson said. Loritts emphasized the role of the preacher’s walk with Christ too, in preaching. Piper emphasized not ignoring the context of the OT text itself when preaching from it.

Keller explained his preaching as a fourfold trajectory often: 1) What you should do (as evidenced by this OT text); 2) You can’t do this (due to your sinfulness); 3) Christ has done it for you (i.e. the Gospel applied); 4) Until you rest in what He’s done, you can’t do it (living the gospel life).

Piper mentioned Graeme Goldsworthy’s book on Preaching the Whole Bible As Christian Scripture as containing a line that really got Piper thinking and has changed how he preaches. Goldsworthy said “If a Muslim liked your sermon, you didn’t preach a Christian sermon. If a Jewish person liked your sermon, you didn’t preach a Christian sermon.”

Carson brought out the Temple theme as one of many trajectories that are traced through Scripture and which really do point to Christ. He stressed everything doesn’t point to Christ the same way, but when you are in a text that addresses one of these types or trajectories that aligns to Christ, you have a warrant for going to Christ. Carson was also asked by Chapell, “Can you preach Proverbs without going to the New Testament?” Carson immediately responded, “Why would I want to? It wouldn’t even occur to me to do so.” He also pointed out that it’s the same with texts like Isaiah, too. Carson then went on to stress that the NT relates to the OT yes in terms of not only prophecy (OT) and fulfillment (NT), but also message hidden (OT) and message revealed (NT). Personally I find that very helpful, yes some things are plainly clear, but other things were hidden until Christ clearly revealed them.

At the end of the discussion, Chapell fired off a list of helpful resources for preaching Christ from the OT. I thought that list (plus Bryan Chapell’s own book, Christ-Centered Preaching) was excellent. You’ll have to listen to the audio though since he gave it out so quickly.

At the end of the roundtable discussion Tim Keller, John Piper, Dr. John Woodhouse and Lane Dennis (president of Crossway), presented a book written in Carson’s honor, commemorating his long service to the church and his 65th birthday.

The 2011 Gospel Coalition National Conference: See You There!

~ Bob Hayton ~ 5 Comments

Over the years, I’ve blogged about quite a few conferences, from the sidelines. I eagerly downloaded the audio after the fact and helped spread the word about conferences such as Together for the Gospel Conference, The Gospel Coalition and others. This time, I get to go!

If you’ll be at The Gospel Coalition conference next week, I want to know. I’d love to arrange to meet you in person. The theme of this year’s conference is right up my alley: Preaching Christ in the Old Testament. Already, TGC is compiling a stellar listing of top-notch resources on this issue. You can learn more at their Preaching Christ in the Old Testament page.

I’ll try to bring some “live blog” updates if I have time. But I plan to be soaking up the ministry of the word at the conference. I’m also thrilled to be going with my fellow biblioblogger Shaun Tabatt, and we’ll both be attending the Band of Bloggers event Tuesday night.

Use the Contact page here, or message me on Twitter or Facebook to get in touch. Hope to see you there!

On another note, I’ll be meeting Phil Johnson in person the Sunday before TGC here at my church in St. Paul, Beacon of Hope. I’ve been following Phil’s blogging ministry off and on since his solo Pyromaniac days. He was a big help to me early on when I first started blogging about my journey out of extreme fundamentalism. Phil is in town for the Psalm 119 conference and will speak at our church in the services and for a special Q & A, dinner event following. If you live in the Twin Cities, contact me for more info.

“Appointed to Preach: Assessing a Call to Ministry” by David W. Hegg

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

“A strong case can be made that we presently have too many men in pastoral ministry; too many who have taken the mantle of leadership upon themselves without having been selected and formed by God for that purpose.” (pg. 23)

“Isn’t it about time that we expected more from those who would stand before us as God’s ministers?” (pg. 51)

When is the last time you read anything like the two statements above? Following the lead of such great men as Charles Spurgeon and Richard Baxter, David W. Hegg displays a holy zeal to protect the office of the pastor. In his book Appointed to Preach: Assessing a Call to Ministry (a recent re-release from Christian Focus Publications), Hegg raises the bar for pastoral ministry and recovers the lost art of a thorough ordination process.

An experienced pastor who serves on the regional ordination council of his denomination, Hegg has seen the good and the bad when it comes to ordinations. Too often, the process becomes an empty formality or an opportunity for cranky old men to ridicule a youngster in public. Avoiding either extreme, Hegg envisions ordination as a careful and slow process whereby unworthy candidates for ministry are weeded out and faithful men of God approved and affirmed to their calling.

The book addresses the role of ordination, the character qualities the Bible expects of a pastor, and the path for a man seeking ordination. Wise advice is given both to aspiring ministers and those who would seat the ordination council. A blueprint is also furnished that can be adapted to fit the particulars of a variety of conservative denominations. A helpful appendix of recommended reading rounds out this handy volume.

At a mere 154 pages, the book can be read in one sitting. Yet Hegg’s practical wisdom and insightful comments deserve more extended reflection. Useful as a handbook for all involved in the ordination process, it also offers a wake-up call to the church at large. How we view the pastoral task matters both for how we practice ordination and how well our churches are pastored. We need faithful men behind our sacred desks. May many men and churches be blessed through the counsel David W. Hegg shares in this book. I recommend this book highly.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Christian Focus Publications for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Learn more about this book at the Christian Focus BookNotes blog. You can purchase a copy from Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, or direct from Christian Focus Publications.

Another Reader’s Story of Extreme Fundamentalism

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

Rather frequently I receive emails from readers who have stumbled across “my story.” Most of them thank me for taking the time to share as they have gone through similar circumstances and are helped by my own experience. Sometimes these emails include a detailed story from the reader, of their own journey with respect to fundamentalism. I shared one such story a while back, and now I have another reader’s story to share.

This particular story comes from an ugly side of fundamentalism. In my estimation, this kind of fundamentalism was quite widespread and common twenty or thirty years ago. It is less common now, I would think this kind of fundamentalism is at a decided minority when it comes to the movement as a whole. My prayer would be that people en masse would wake up to this problem and we would soon only encounter it in the history books. Sadly that is not true yet.

Feel free to comment on the story below, or contact me to share your own story.

Message:

I found your blog as I was doing some internet research on the heretical teachings of Charles Finney. Our pastor mentioned him in his sermon at church yesterday so I was finding things to copy and give to him. It is still beyond me how Finney is hailed as a hero in most Baptist circles, but that is another story for another day. While I visited your site, I was intrigued by your “story” and read it with all diligence. Everything you said rang true with me. I, too, was raised in an IFBx church in the Detroit area, with so much emphasis placed on the outward appearance that it has taken me years to come out from under that. The more “holy” you looked, the more “holy” you obviously were, true self righteousness at its finest. The men were not allowed to have facial hair of any kind as it was considered worldly. The deacon’s wives were not allowed to be seen in public wearing pants. We were preached sermons against playing cards of any kind, including Old Maid (I am showing my age here! HA HA). I remember one time during a period of economic decline of the church (which was VERY typical of the control freak stance of most pastors then who believed their authority gave them license to control everything, including the bookkeeping), our pastor even ordered the members to give their entire paychecks the following week. My dad was a deacon but thankfully did not allow himself to be led by such tyranny. Keep in mind this was during the late 60’s and early 70’s where most middle class people lived in modest frame homes, typically 2 or, at the most, 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. The fact that our pastor lived in a three-story home overlooking the lake and was provided a new luxury car by the church seemed a bit hypocritical to me. There was a mindset that prevailed in the church of extreme everything. It led to an over-the-top arrogancy on the part of its adherents, sometimes to the point of trying to “one up” the next guy by coming up with some new Pharisee-minded rule. True legalism leads to rebellion as people realize they will never be able to keep up, so many simply “jump ship” and pay the consequences of extremism in the opposite direction. I was no exception. I heard Calvinistic preachers like Spurgeon quoted by my pastor but obviously it was the Finney-style Pelagianism that prevailed in the church. I find it comical that many IFBs quote people like Spurgeon but don’t even realize the differences in their doctrinal stand. I am 53 years old and am so thankful that God truly delivered me from all that past. I shudder sometimes when I think of the sermons I regularly heard as a kid and which have stayed with me for all these years. The older I get and the more firmly grounded I get in God’s Word, I look back at these sermons not only with true regret as I see the impact they had on the people, but now it also seems almost comical that people would actually fall for stuff like that. Most of the young people I went to school and church with have simply walked away. Most of the older folks have continued with the legalistic mindset, with few of them being delivered from that. After all, it makes them feel better about themselves. When you mentioned Hyles-Anderson College, my interest piqued even more. My childhood was spent attending the church where ——— ———– of Hyles-Anderson College fame attended. I knew his family well as he, his wife, his three daughters and his sister and her family were church members there. I attended our church’s Christian school and made many trips to Hammond, Indiana for sports competitions against Hyles’ Christian school, of which I don’t even know still exists. I’m also very familiar with ——- ——– and his alma mater, Bob Jones University. Spent many hours there as well for musical competitions. By the time I was in high school, I began to question some of the things I was taught but was still too young and immature, both spiritually and emotionally, to fully understand the concept of my quandary. I wanted to thank you for expressing your thoughts and experiences with IFB theology. It has taken me many years and living through many experiences (many of them quite negative) to fully understand how grateful I am for God’s delivering me from that legalistic life. As I dug more into God’s Word, I realized that I was taught a very man-centered form of gospel. The list of rules and regulations seemed to team well with my already existent perfectionist personality but, as those who find “living by the law” unattainable, it only brought me to the point of defeat, guilt, remorse and a period of totally walking away from the church. I thank God for His ever-present nudging in my life and for Him bringing me full circle to where I am today. I have home schooled and raised my three kids, all are college graduates, faithful in church and thankfully see the heretical teachings of these extreme IFBPs (IFB preachers) that I grew up hearing. Even the never-ending “let’s-just-sing-one-more-verse” invitations still ring in my mind. Surely by playing on people’s emotions, they were determined to “get them saved one way or another”, only to be disgruntled when the “converts” would fall prey to “backsliding.” Instead of determining whether or not true conversion even took place, they always assumed the backsliders were just in need of revival. After all, they must be saved as they “walked the aisle and prayed the prayer.” Keep up the good work. I’m not a blogger (don’t have time) but consider me a faithful reader to what you so boldly have the guts to proclaim. God bless you for your efforts.

Then in a follow up email, she gave permission for me to share her story anonymously and provided some more reflections:

I was saved there at 9 years of age in 1967, although I have had to “come to grips” with all that since then. After all, “praying the prayer” doesn’t accomplish anything. “By their fruits you shall know them.” (Matt. chapter 7)…. We left ———— after one of those famous IFB church splits, and went to —————- when I was in the fifth grade. It was at ————- all those impressionable years that I truly received my IFB indoctrination. I went to [their] Christian school from its formation until my junior year in high school when I begged my parents to let me go to ———– High School. I have always been one of those “independent thinkers” which kept me in trouble a lot at ————-. I began to question things at an early age and stayed in the principal’s office a lot for “attitude problems” as they would say. Governing the school on the demerit system, I certainly got my share of paddlings in the principal’s office! HA HA You would receive a minimum of 3 demerits for each infraction. When you accumulated 10 demerits, you made the infamous walk to the principal’s office and would get your paddling. It was quite humiliating at the time, especially as the very large and thick paddle was used on both the boys and the girls alike. You had to bend over the principal’s desk and simply “take it.” When you returned to your classroom in tears from the pain, you would see the smirks and giggles from those who knew where you’d been. With my dad being a deacon, he was on the board of directors at the school so I guess my “rebellious attitude” had to be tamed somehow! These period of years caused quite a rebellion in my heart as I began to see the legalism prevail. Grace was certainly not a doctrine taught on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, I remember hearing more sermons on the outward appearances rather than having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While having that relationship was mentioned, it was as if your daily Bible readings and prayer were things to be “checked off” so as to ensure holiness. To this day, I still struggle with the idea of a frowning stern God ready to punish me as opposed to cultivating that personal relationship with Christ. After all, I was taught that if you dot your i’s and cross your t’s, dress a certain way, abstain from all those “worldly” things, then by default, you MUST be holy! A lot of the people I grew up around would be able to put the original Pharisees to shame! As a disclaimer, I certainly do not blame my rebellion on anybody but myself, knowing that I was, and still am, fully accountable to God for my actions. I would never embrace the current culture’s practice of “being a victim” and milking that for all its worth, just to explain away my own sin. I simply want to express the fact that those early years of legalistic indoctrination took its toll. To this day, I am able to see legalism in people much sooner than my husband who was raised in a very traditional Southern Baptist environment. In his early adulthood when he began studying God’s Word seriously for himself, he began to see the thread of Sovereign Grace unfold and began to also question some of the Arminian thoughts and ideas of childhood. About ten years ago we purchased from www.crosstv.com their Sovereign of God series. By far, more people have borrowed that Bible study from us than anything else we’ve purchased through the years! That study had such a profound effect on us that we purchased more studies from them, many of which were done by other teachers. The Sovereignty of God series was explained in such a way that we were finally able to fully articulate to others how our viewpoints of God’s sovereignty had changed us. While all Christian claim to believe in the sovereignty of God, they still try to explain away their man-centered approach to the plan of salvation and other doctrines. They will say that God is sovereign, but they believe it still depends on man’s choice to accept it. We believe it to all be a paradox but simply cannot explain away the last several verses of Romans chapter 8 and tons of other scriptures throughout the Word that dealt with the sovereignty of God. We’ve definitely taken some heat for our Calvinistic stand by our Arminian relatives, at one point even being accused by a relative of not being saved at all. However, this 70-year-old accusing relative had to admit that if we were indeed correct then he himself had been taught wrong and he simply couldn’t come to grips with that!

…

I did not mean to ramble on so long. I just took the opportunity to express some of my thoughts regarding our common IFBx upbringing. To this day, I literally RUN from any IFB-minded people and/or preachers. I won’t even read any books and/or sermons from IFBPs or authors, fully knowing the lingo they will use. Sorry, but I walked away from that many years ago. I got so tired of topical preaching and taking scriptures out of context in order to fit their own agenda. Instead of expository preaching, where the entire counsel of God is being taught, they are famous for coming up with an idea and finding some verse that will fit. My goodness, even in true fashion of the Pharisees, the IBFPs I grew up with could actually supersede the real scriptures with their own man-made doctrines. While many sermons were indeed truthful, I am sad to report that many of them were based on their own ideas and you were expected to follow along. As I’m sure you remember, ALL IFBPs are indeed the boss of their church and they had no qualms in admitting it. Oh, the times I would hear people being told to simply leave the church if they didn’t like what they were hearing. The deacon board was simply in place in name only. After being elected to the deacon board, those men figured out very quickly that they were required to be “yes men” and any man questioning anything was considered a troublemaker. Our pastor would actually sit on the podium and take roll like a school teacher. If you watched him carefully during the song service, you would see him take out his trusty little “black book” and write down the names of the deacons who weren’t there. My dad confirmed it was taking place as he would receive inquiries as to why he wasn’t there every time the doors were open. My dad didn’t graduate from college until I was in high school so many weeknights of his were spent acquiring his bachelor’s degree in business administration from a small college in ————-. When he was unable to be at church on Wednesday nights or visitation on Tuesday nights, he was certainly read the riot act as he was reminded of his obligations. Most of the time he was required to report to the pastor that he was having classes on any given church night (except for Sunday, of course) and ultimately resigned from the deacon board as a result of what I’ve always called “cult style” religion. That may be an awful word to use, but I’ve always likened the IFBPs of my childhood to cult leaders. They demanded total control over your life, your finances, your children, your homes, how you dressed, etc. and if you refused to comply you were considered substandard Christians. I even remember MANY instances of adults being “called down” from the pulpit if they were “caught” whispering to each other, passing a note of some kind and the infraction of all infractions……..chewing gum. Of course, they were always encouraged to “get right with God.” I remember the pastor’s kids being no exception as he would single them out for any infraction, even to the point of making them stand up at the end of the sermon in order to call them down in front of everybody. Of course, there was always an altar call to follow if they needed to “set things straight” and many times would publicly apologize. Certainly not being against public apologies, I feel those apologies come from the heart of those who desire to give them and not being coerced by an all-controlling IFBP whose desire is humiliate you into conforming. No wonder so many young people of my day decided to bail out and jump ship!

Thank you for having the courage to speak out against IFBx indoctrinations. While these churches don’t seem to be as extreme as they were in my childhood, they are still very legalistic and believe in a man-centered salvation. I cringe at the thought of ever having to step foot in another one. I hope you won’t think I’ve spilled my guts too much. It’s just nice to hear somebody with a similar background extolling the virtues of seeing God’s Word for the Truth that it is. There’s not a day that passes that I am not thankful for the Lord helping me find my way through the legalism of my upbringing. What true transformation, freedom and liberty occurs when you are finally able to shed that old Pharisee cloak and learn how to have a TRUE relationship with your Savior! Why He chose me at all is a wonder beyond my imagination. I feel sorry for those still in the IFB quagmire and I pray they, too, will be released from their bondage.

Thanks for reading my ramblings,
A Reader