Eldership and New members

At Parkway we try to meet with all of our new members. There are certain things we want them to know about being a member at Parkway. One of our goals at Parkway is to help our members reach full spiritual maturity.

- We encourage our new members to come to a complete knowledge of what God has revealed to us. So we encourage our members to study their Bibles at home and to attend all the public Bible classes we offer. - We encourage our members to control sin in their lives and we are there to help hold them accountable for their actions. We will help with any problems they might have but for those who willfully sin we cannot maintain fellowship. - We encourage our members to live lives of service to each other. Humility is built and pride is torn down by putting the needs of others before our own needs. - We encourage our members to participate whole heartedly in our collective worship responsibilities; Singing, Praying, Lord’s Supper, Sacrificial offerings and teachings.

By having these discussions up front we all start off on the same page and have a foundation to build on.

Sacrifice

The scriptures are clear that the world will come to know Jesus Christ through the love/service that Christians show to each other. We’ve got the concept down. I thought I might illustrate it with some experiences from my life.

Rudolph Kocurek and I were good friends, God rest his soul. He taught me a lot about woodworking. We developed a partnership where we would go out onto ranchland, winch the mesquite logs onto his trailer, go to the sawmill in Kingsville, Texas and then divide the boards. One day my Dad was visiting from Houston and watched Rudolph and I as we divided the boards. I would pick out the best boards and tell Rudolph… you take this one. He would say… no you take it. This happened board after board. Finally Dad out of frustration said… just divide them up… you’re not going to cheat each other. No we weren’t because our relationship was a lot more valuable than boards.

Gus, David and I have been Elders for a number of years. We were having problems with a member and two of us wanted to do one thing and one of us wanted to do another. I told the other two to go ahead with what they wanted to do but I couldn’t be part of it. The other two said if you can’t go along with it then we won’t do it… our relationship is too important. The member ended up moving off. I’ll never forget the respect that David and Gus had for my conscience.

In 1998, Pancho Hubert and I decided to partner up and start a new Veterinary clinic. A lot of people warned us about taking on a partner. I’ve had a lot of good friends and Pancho Hubert is as good a friend as I’ve ever had. We take care of each other. He can borrow anything I have and I can borrow anything he has. If he’s short on cash I’ll give him whatever I’ve got and he’ll do the same for me. He went to my dad’s funeral and I went to his dad’s funeral. We can laugh and poke fun at each other and we love each other for it. We never take advantage of each other but try to treat the other better than we treat ourselves. We have built an incredible business because just as water flows downhill so does the power of good leadership.

I’ve learned this, when you have complete trust in a relationship that frees you up to focus all your efforts in a positive direction and great things can be achieved.

I’ve also learned that things are not as important as people. Sacrifice yourselves and your things so you can build great relationships with people and God can be glorified.

Keep Your Vows

The prophet Isaiah was the mouth piece for God to warn his people about his unhappiness with them. God’s people Israel were often referred to as God’s wife. They had made promises to each other but the wife Israel forsook her promises and started “sleeping” around with other false Gods. God warned Israel through Isaiah (and other prophets) that he was going to give them over to her “lovers”… the heathen nations of Assyria and Babylon. God took away his protection of his wife and gave her over to Assyria and Babylon and they treated her horrendously… slaughtering most of them.

We as Christians have made a promise to God and committed our lives to him. Don’t think for one minute that God doesn’t expect us to live up to our promises. There are consequences for breaking vows… on this earth and in Heaven. Just ask Israel.