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I was born in San Diego, California in 1954. Mother and Dad attended Johnson Street Church of Christ. We moved away when I was in the First grade. Of course I was just a kid but I remember all my parents friends were Christians. They were always in the homes of their friends and we had a lot of company as well. They would always be some of the last people to leave because they would stay so long visiting.
Next we lived in Brigham City, Utah and attended a church of Christ. It was pretty small as most of the people who lived there were Mormons. We met in some kind of school house. We would get there early and set out chairs and put them up after services. The classes were in the basement that was accessed by a trap door. When we would get out of class we would climb the stairs and lift the door up with our heads while the adults were still having their class. I remember we went on something called an encampment with the other members and we camped and cooked outside. Dad said this church was a “liberal” church but was too poor to spend their money in a “liberal” way.
When I was in the fourth grade we moved to Athens, Alabama. It seemed like there were Churches of Christ on every street corner and we went to a big one. We only lived there for a year (1965) and I don’t remember much about it. I do remember that the members would stop by and visit occasionally and I attended Athens Bible School.
Then we moved to Annandale, Virginia to another small church that met in a school house. I threw a snowball and broke out a window at the school. I don’t remember getting in trouble for it. Very friendly people there and I was baptized when I was in the 8th grade. Of course mother and dad were some of the most active members in whatever church we attended and in most of them they were always the youngest couple.
Round about 1968 we moved to Houston, Texas and attended at Spring Branch Church of Christ. It seemed huge… maybe about 300 members. The church had Elders and Deacons and was a fantastic church. I was 6’-1” in the eighth grade and we first attended on a Wednesday night. A lot of the girls were interested in me until they found out how young I was. Houston at the time was the longest we had lived anywhere. I had plenty of friends my age at church and we ran around together. Mother had company every Sunday for lunch. Dad became a Deacon there and they let me lead songs on Sunday morning. Men like Roy Cogdill, Herbert Thornton, Kent Ellis, Maurice Jackson and Robert Harkrider preached while we were there.
I met Julie there one Sunday morning in Bible class and made many life-long friends. The church split after I went to college and there was a lot of heartache over that.
Julie and I married and moved to College Station, Texas to attend school. We attended Twin City Church of Christ for the eight years we were up there. We attended on a regular basis and I led songs, etc. David Smitherman and Joe Fitch preached while we were there and we became life-long friends.
After graduation (1981) our young family… Julie, Walker and I moved to Mexia, Texas where we attended Shiloh Church of Christ… another small church. We had some friends up there and that’s part of the reason we moved there. Almost the minute we stepped in the door they asked me if I would teach the auditorium class. We were and still are close to the Lucas family who live there. Joe Lucas was my dad’s best friend.
In 1982 we moved to Corpus Christi (Julie was pregnant with Lauren) and placed membership at Parkway Church of Christ where we remain to this date (2020). This congregation owns my heart and is my life’s work. I became a Deacon and Elder here. When we moved here Elmer Moore was preaching followed by Charles Boshart, Sakkie Pretorius, David Smitherman, Jeff Carr, and now Marc Hinds. I have served as an Elder with David, Gus Cargile, Bill Chambers and Ricardo Baca. We raised our kids in this congregation and now all six of our grandkids are here as well.
If you think I don’t know I’ve been blessed… well… your wrong about that. Sometimes it’s good to look back at where you’ve been and the people and experiences that have shaped you and I thank God… and you for that.
Acts 6 reveals a problem in the early church in Jerusalem. The first problem was that there were widows in the church who didn’t have enough to eat. So the church steps up to care for them.
It must have been a tremendous undertaking because for one thing it needed seven men to oversee it… so probably a lot of widows… maybe in the hundreds.
The text also implies that the church set up a place to serve the widows… not serving them in their own homes… because Peter said “we don’t have time to wait on tables”.
So think about what this must have involved… procurement of food (grains, vegetables, lamb), preparation of those foods (cooks and kitchens) and a place to serve it all with tables.
The seven men assigned to this task must have been on site and managing the whole thing.
The second problem was that the families of the Grecian widows thought their people were being neglected and that the widows from Judea were being shown favoritism. Of course in general Jews who lived in Judea thought they were superior to the Jews who were from gentile nations.
What must that have looked like? Maybe the Grecian widows weren’t seated in the most desirable locations… maybe like a table with a window. Maybe the Grecian widows were served last. Maybe the Grecian widows thought they were getting smaller portions or not getting “seconds”. Maybe the support staff didn’t smile and visit with them.
Who really knows for sure but remember that if you have been treated like you were inferior all your life it doesn’t take much to get your feelings hurt. So the 7 overseers were there to make sure everyone was treated with the same care and consideration.
Of course the same thing can happen in congregations today. If you know some members better than others or if you prefer the company of some more than others or heaven forbid if there are members who you can’t even remember their names… they will notice that… and feelings will be hurt. We have to work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Those seven guys could have been going out and knocking on doors and trying to convert more Jews to Christianity and spending all day in prayer but instead they had to go manage a job that someone else was failing at… and it was an important job.
Remember James 1:27
Several passages in the New Testament reference a famine in Judea and Greek Christians collecting funds to send in relief of those Christians in Judea. Acts 11:30 says that these funds were given to the Elders of the Church in Jerusalem.
From this we conclude that the church is not a world-wide relief organization and church funds collected on the Lord’s Day are only authorized to be used for needy Christians. Of course that certainly does not relieve individual Christians from helping those who are not Christians.
I always wonder about the details of distributing that money to those needy Christians.
- Perhaps you have a member that doesn’t attend all the services and maybe just attends at Christmas and Easter. Do we help that member?
- What if you have a fellow Christian that has some doctrinal issues that are kind of “deal breakers”? Does that member get 100% help?
- You have a member whose husband is not a Christian and you give her some funds but find out she has been feeding her husband with funds that are only supposed to be used for Christians.
- You receive some funds and are feeding your family but there’s a Jewish family next door with a bunch of little kids that are starving. Can you use funds that are designated only for Christians? If you are an Elder and find out someone is feeding kids from the tribe that crucified Jesus Christ what do you do?
Here’s the other thing that I have wondered… maybe those funds were limited to Christians only because there wasn’t enough to feed the non-Christians.
Like if the church had a million dollars in its treasury and had fed all the Christians until they couldn’t eat any more would it be okay then to help some of those other families (non-Christian) who are starving?
These are the kinds of questions I ask myself. Thanks for listening.
Sometimes understanding the Bible can be like working a jigsaw puzzle. When you first start that puzzle it’s hard to get a clear and complete understanding of it. The more pieces you connect the clearer it becomes and the easier it gets.
Growing up during the Christmas season my mother would put a big puzzle out on the table and we would work on it from time to time all week long. It was a great family activity.
Usually you do the easy pieces first… the corners and the straight edge pieces… those are the easiest ones, but then it tends to get more complicated before it gets easier again.
I see my grandkids putting puzzles together and sometimes they can force two pieces together that don’t really belong.
Sometimes when you’re putting a big 10,000 piece puzzle together it seems like an impossible task and you just give up and walk away.
Sometimes the cat knocks all the pieces off the table.
Of course it always helps to look at the picture on the front of the box to help figure it out.
As the puzzle got more complete and there were just a few pieces left we would race to see who would finish it first (sometimes we would hide a piece so we could put the last piece in).
Bible study can be kind of like working those old puzzles. It always helps to have a picture to understand where all the Bible pieces fit together. The picture that helps me is what Jesus said are the two greatest commands… to love God with all your heart… and your neighbor as yourself. If that’s not what the final product looks like then you haven’t put the pieces together correctly.
Sometimes people have a picture in mind (that isn’t correct) and try to make all the pieces fit that picture. That’s kind of like my grandkids forcing two pieces together that don’t belong.
Some people try to minimize the Old Testament in the picture and make the picture all about the New Testament… big mistake… huge mistake.
Some people just think it’s too complicated and give up too easy. Remember… it is just one book and you have a lifetime to put it all together and the more pieces you successfully put together the easier it becomes. If it seems too hard take a break and come back to it.
Understanding the Bible becomes easier when you have some friends to help you… just like a puzzle. It builds community.
At home when we would complete a puzzle we would feel a real sense of accomplishment and leave it out for a few days just to look at it and remember the work we had put into it, but then we would take it apart, box it up and put it up in a closet where it never left.
That’s the big difference between working out a puzzle and figuring out the Bible. Once we have that Bible figured out it stays figured out in our hearts forever and we can help the new Christian figure out how all the pieces fit together to get a true picture of God… and then rejoice together at the accomplishment.
