jun2004_top (4K)

A Work of Churches of Christ

Do You Notice The Tadpoles?

The story is told of a college campus that was located in a valley between two mountains. The water tower for that college was located up on one of the mountains. One morning while the guys were taking showers, the water sent off. They thought the girls were playing a trick on them so they quickly got dressed and ran to the girl's dorm, only to find the same thing had happened to them.

When they realized that it wasn't a trick, they called the maintenance crew. When the maintenance crew arrived, they were perplexed. They could find no pipes that were burst or valves that were cut off, so the began the tedious task of following the pipe all the way back up the mountain. Piece by piece the took it apart to see if there was any blockage. Finally, they came to the last piece of pipe that went into the water tower. They opened it, and found a big bullfrog stuck in the pipe.

They could not understand how a bullfrog could have gotten into the water tower. There was just no way. Then, they realized that it hadn't come in as a big bullfrog but as a tiny tadpole. It had worked its way in and lived off the algae in the water until one day it was swimming too close and was sucked into the pipe, cutting off the water supply to the whole campus.

When you ignore the sin in your life, even when it is a small, seemingly insignificant thing, eventually that sin will rob you of your joy and fellowship with Christ. Sin has a way of sneaking in and finding a home in our hearts and souls. You might say, “That can't happen to me!” or “I'm totally committed to God and His will for my life.” These statements might be true, but it is amazing what we are willing to overlook in order to feel good about ourselves or others.

We are swift in our reaction to “big” sins, but we ignore or keep silent on the “smaller” ones. The “small” sins are the ones that creep in; however, they do not remain the same size. They continue to feed and grow. One day we will wake up and ask ourselves, “When did things get so bad?” We are that way with our churches. We ignore small and slow changes to our worship, preaching, and identifying marks of the Lord's body. Some people wake up one morning and ask, “How did the church get this way? When did this happen? Who let this happen?” These seemingly insignificant changes are beginning to infect the body and they will multiply, feed, and grow until the living water from Jesus is cut off entirely.

Don't sit comfortably on your pew and say, “It's no big deal. It doesn't matter. Who am I to say anything?” It is a big deal! It does matter! You are a child of God, a part of the Lord's body. If you can't say anything, who will? A silent Christian is a dying soul. We have to be on guard against any and all sin, no matter what size or degree. Would you let your child turn on the gas as long as he doesn't light the fire? That's the way it is with us individually and as a church family. Sin begins as a gas that you don't notice. It then fills the soul as you drift off to sleep and eventually it smothers the life out of anything living. Only those who notice the small changes in the air are able to turn it off and run from the house. Hebrews 12:1.

God bless you all as you strive to follow the path of Jesus and to stay true to the word of God.

Vendall. W. Dollarhide

— 1 —

Accra, Ghana

I greet you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I have had some occasion to read some of the books written by Guy Caskey. Just recently I was give the book, He Shall Tell Thee Words. To be frank with you, I am highly impressed and hold him in high esteem. I have been in the Lord's Church for just seven years, but I have within this short period reestablished the Lord's Church in my home town. I preach, teach and also evangelize in my congregation and outside. At this juncture, I should be grateful if you could see your way to supply me with some of the books to enable me to get a good insight and understanding of the scriptures.

In our end of the world, many of our churches do not have libraries for research. Therefore, you would be doing me a great favor if you will consider my request for me to get a small library of my own.

Delta State, Nigeria

I am indeed delighted to be able to communicate with you. I am a member of the Lord's Church and am preaching part time at a newly established congregation of about ten members. We are in need of hymn books, study materials and books that can help in the preaching and the edification of the members.

Nigeria

Servant of Jesus Christ: My dear friend in Christ, I pray that everything may go well with you and that you may be in good health—as I know you are well in spirit. I was so happy for all the literature and books that you send to us. It has made a wonderful change in so many people's life here in Nigeria. God bless you for this.

We all appreciate all that you are doing for us and it is our prayer that the seed of truth will be planted in us, and that God will add the increase to the kingdom. We send greetings to all our friends over there. Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

University of Ghana Medical School

we are students of the medical and paramedical institution. We number 15 and are members of the Lord's church. For the sake of time it has become difficult to worship outside the campus. We have organized to meet every Sunday (morning and evenings) and Thursday evenings. Our singular

 

aim and source of motivation is to introduce the church to as many people that we come in contact with, including patients and colleagues. We have planned an evangelism program including hospital visitations to bring our goal to reality.

We therefore write for your help. We need books and other handouts that would train us and boost our confidence for the leadership role we have assumed, to teach the converts and to nourish and upgrade the faith of the old and prepare them for all good works. This is our dream and we hope you will help us make it real. Thank you very much and may God bless you for the good work you do.

Johannesburg, South Africa

I sincerely hope and pray that my note will find all the saints doing well at Mission Printing. The Lord's work continues to prosper here. We have been greatly encouraged by your printing material. We sure do appreciate this fine work, the staff and the support of the brethren of the brotherhood. We would like to ask for books. We have used our last material from Mission Printing. We would like to request some books written by Guy Caskey. We will highly appreciate any literature you have, and we will continue to share this materials as well with the brotherhood. We desperately need literature to share with the saints and the lost.

Badarawa, Kaduna State7–Nigeria

Dear Brethren: I want to state here that I received the evangelism materials that you sent me. I thank you very much and appreciate your effort in seeing that the gospel is preached everywhere and to all people of the world. I pray for God to bless your effort, as well as the work, and continue to use the churches and individual Christians to keep the cause of the gospel accordingly. Finally, I will make sure that I keep you inform on the usefulness of the materials sent for preaching the gospel.

Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Calvary greetings to you people for the good work you are doing in being partners with us in the spreading of the gospel in Nigeria. I pray earnestly that God will continue to bless and enrich you. Please, we are in need of books for the work here, hence I appeal to you to kindly send us some. If possible, I would appeal for some books such as, The Overcomers, He shall Tell Thee Words and others. This will go a long way to help me to spread the gospel. May God continue to bless you all. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

— 2 —

Gaborone, Botswana

Dear Brethren: I wish to confirm safe receipt of your gospel literature sent to us. The evangelism ministry is grateful for your continued support. An announcement will be made on Sunday after service.

Arusha, Tanzania

I hope things are well with you. Thank you for the publications you sent me through the mail. I got them today from the post office. I had lost my key so I had not checked mail for 20 days. They charged for the delay on my side. I am going to make sure that I give to the preacher students where I teach. As you might remember I am the director of Arusha Bible School and Andrew Connally School of Preaching in Arusha, Tanzania.

I have 28 students in Arusha Bible School and 24 in Andrew Connally School of Preaching. I will make sure they get the material. I will also be taking some to Uganda where I working with 4 congregations. I was there for a one-week gospel meeting and 10 people were baptized and added by our Lord to His church. Thank you very much for the materials.

Gambia, West Africa

I count it all joy to receive your mail. I am humbly requesting that you mail materials to the three missions that our mission work covers. I thank God for you at Mission Printing for the great work you do and the sacrifices you make.

Rumphi, Malawi

Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus. I trust that this letter finds you enjoying the blessings of the Lord. We are thrilled to receive your materials. It will help us in soul winning the lost souls. We want also to encourage you in your evangelistic outreach. It was good to hear from you and know of your continued interest in helping spread the borders of the Kingdom of God in the whole world through the printed page.

Unknown town: Thank you so much for the materials that you sent for me to use. I am using children's materials and we all enjoy them. Unfortunately, my husband recently had a serious stroke so I passed the other material on to our preacher and a young man working with our young people. I have asked them to contact you should they need anymore. I appreciate all the work that you do and thank you for all that you have sent me

 

In Memory

Elvan Allen

John & Francis Snyder

Loy & Kaye Pressley

John Spence

Roy Allison

Grady & Ruth Paul

Merel Austin

Hubert & Walterrene Hartin

Bill & Onnie Newton

Rodney Baccus

Grady & Ruth Paul

Norman Beaver

Dorris & Janie Walker

J.C. & Dessie Ross

Willie Beeman

Perry Cotham

Kent Bell

Julia Watson

Hugh Brown

Hallis Falls

Warren Carroll

Morris & Melba Guthrie

Madge Cheairs

Beltline Church of Christ

Dorothy Crawford

Bob & Sue Herriage

Alice Crump

Dortha Dawdy

Joyce Campbell

Alice Walker

Jessie Hiltibidal

Faye Cudd

Perry Cotham

Virginia Dade

Frank & Sylvia Harston

Guy & Wyvonne Robinson

Helen Dart

Dortha Dowdy

James Howard Davies

Don & Betty Davies

Vera Grogan

Virgil & Virginia Brown

Bill Jones

Marguriette Dismuke

— 3 —

Dorothy Jones

Katherine Jones

Lera Mae Klein

John & Oleta Jennings

May Kruietzer

Grady & Ruth Paul

Curtis & Ora Lay

Melvin & Pearl Brown

L.B. McClung

Roy & Lue Hughes

Hugo McCord

Perry Cotham

Marie Nobley

John & Francis Snyder

Loy & Kaye Pressley

John Spence

Warder Novak

Perry Cotham

Robert Parkey, Jr.

John & Oleta Jennings

Gilbert Reed

Guy & Jean Robinson

Monty Reynolds

Bill & Eileen Graves

Zona Sanderson

Bill & Onnie Newton

Gene & Joyce Beavers

Joyce Harris

L.S. Milam

Hubert & Walterrene Hartin

Roy & Jettie Vincent

James & Jean Morgan

Pearl Yeldell

Bill Sarratt

Anonymous

 

Wanda Scrimshire

John & Francis Snyder

Loy & Kaye Pressley

John Spence

Thomas E. Tompkins, Jr.

Vera Lou Gleghorn

Marinell Zaun

Harry Traverso

Cleo & Judy Tarver

Duane Trimble

Robert & Shirlee Cruse

Debs Widner

Melvin & Pearl Brown

A.W. Wied

Leona Wied

Leon Winchell

Alice Walker

Doyle & Roxie Hammons

 ** ** ** ** ** ** 

Birthday Honor

Jonathan Jennings

10th Birthday

John & Oleta Jennings

Honors

Charles Archer

John & Juanita Teague

Clif Clough

John & Juanita Teague

Susie Hughes

John & Juanita Teague

 

Pauline Jones

John & Juanita Teague

Vivian McCall

John & Juanita Teague

Naomi McKeever

John & Juanita Teague

 ## ## ## ## ## ## ## 

Memorial/Honor

                                

(Circle) Memory or Honor
Acknowledgment sent to

                                

  Name           Relationship

                                

Street Address

                                

City/State/Zip Code

Contribution by

                                

Name

                                

Street Address

                                

City/State/Zip Code

jun2004_bottom (46K)