A Different Kind Of Banquet

This year, the seats for the 2020 Fundraising Banquet were empty. Even before the latest spike in the Coronavirus, the Lord led us to change the format for this year.

The two big changes were the food and the fellowship. The good Baptist fellowship that we always experience is what truly raised our concern.

We still did enjoy a fine speaker, heard some wonderful harmonica trio music, and we took an offering. The program was sent through the mail, and called Banquet Archived. If you did not receive a CD (we know that several were lost in the mail), please contact us.

The response to the message and music has been great. So far in banquet gifts we have topped $8,500 of the needed $12,000 goal. We are trusting by the end of the year to reach this amount.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!

The President’s Perspective

The Black Death, known then as the Great Mortality, was the greatest of all pandemics. The plague began in Asia (many think in China) about 1346. Moving along the trade routes, it had encircled most of the known world by 1351. When this initial wave ended, it had killed approximately 50% of the earth’s inhabitants. More than two centuries would elapse before the population of the world recovered.

In 1349, the Black Death entered England. Soon it was reeking destruction and death across the country. The university at Oxford suffered much the same fate as the rest of England. At Oxford University there was a young student studying theology. His name was John Wycliffe (1330-1384). His studies became more earnest as 2/3 of the faculty and student body died of the plague. Though his studies were extended, Wycliffe finally completed his education.

As Wycliffe viewed all that was transpiring in the world (including the Great Schism) he came to the understanding that the Bible was the only Authority for Faith & Practice. For centuries, the Vatican had confined the Bible to the Latin language, and then only to be delivered by the priests. Wycliffe stated that there was a need for the Bible to be heard by every person and in their native tongue. Wycliffe set out with his students to translate a Bible into the English language. After Wycliffe’s death from a stroke, his students finished the translation, and spread the Word throughout England.

As Englishmen heard the Bible in their language, a revival began in the heart of the country that grew and continued well into the 1400’s. This enlightenment flourished and raised up many nonconformist churches that focused on the Word of God.

We will all certainly remember this Coronavirus Pandemic. What if we could also live to see the Lord begin a revival among His people that would engulf our country and spread around the world?

The War Is Over

Private Gustav Schaefer was a young German radioman inside a Panzer IV tank. He had grown up on a farm in northern Germany, entering WWII as the end neared for the Third Reich. Gustav held no illusions, and he realized that victory was impossible. Even his tank commander, Rolf, coached him with these words: “The main thing is to stay alive.”

One million WWII German soldiers, 25% of Germany’s total dead, occurred during the last 5 months of the war. The war came to an end for Gustav on March 6, 1945, as they were left behind with two other tanks to defend the historic city of Cologne. He and his commander had leapt out of their damaged tank and they were later captured.

Now 18 year old Gustav joined the growing swarm of German POW’s. Because of his small size, decidedly unsuitable for breaking rocks to build roads, Gustav was assigned to the kitchen crew. His specialty became making donuts for the GI’s, which he and his fellow POW’s would serve in the mess hall.

Seven months after Germany was conquered, Gustav remained a POW working on the cafeteria crew. That Christmas Eve, as he waited on the American soldiers, his guard came over and told him to go through the chow line. “Everyone gets the same tonight - commander’s orders,” the guard said. Gustav thought he was dreaming. He filled his plate with turkey and dressing, grabbed his first ever cola, and he was even allowed to sit at the table with the GI’s.

The bandleader took the microphone and requested everyone join him in an Austrian Christmas carol from the 1800’s: Silent Night. The American translated the title so that the Germans would understand, and he asked them to sing along. At first just the American voices could be heard, but soon the German POWs joined.

All is calm—Alles schläft.

All is bright—einsam wacht.

Gustave found his voice and sang along.

Heav’nly hosts sing Alleluia—Tönt es laut von fern und nah.

Christ the Savior is born!—Christ, der Retter ist da!

Christ the Savior is born—Christ, der Retter ist da.

Gustav began to cry as the song continued. He wiped his eyes, but the tears kept flowing.

The sound of everyone singing together told him that it was true.

The war was really over. (Makos, Adam. Spearhead. New York: Ballantine Books. 2019. pp. 307-311).

One day Christ will return and we will sing together “Worthy is the Lamb.”

Then our life’s battle will really be over!

NHine Years and a Half

Happy is a great way to describe our special, little, 91⁄2 year old daughter. Lilliana’s middle name is Joy, and we experience that each and every day.

The label of “Incompatible with Life” is often attached to a child with Trisomy 18, and from her birth in the spring of 2011, Lilliana’s journey has been filled with many challenges.

One of our first shocks was to be given a “death letter” to hand to the police. Her doctors were convinced that she would die at home in a matter of days.

But Christians prayed, and the Lord blessed. With a hole in her heart, the next test was for repair. Told impossible by many, Christians prayed. At 5 months old, Lilliana had the first open heart VSD repair in the state of Indiana.

Lilliana now began to thrive, and develop little by little. At 8 years old, Lilliana was diagnosed with serious liver cancer. Christians prayed. Lilliana spent 51 straight days in a hospital out of state, and God healed her.

Just a few weeks ago, Lilliana went for her 1 year cancer screening. She passed with flying colors.

Happy...I guess that could also describe our family. Thank you, my Christian friends, for so many prayers!

Heritage Baptist Bible Fellowship Winter Meeting

Where: Webster, FL