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Letters September 24, 2007 A friend called tonight and told me that there was a
Wendy’s van down the street giving away free hamburgers and a soda. Being the
type of people who always enjoy a deal, we promptly went down to get our dinner.
After obtaining our free burgers, I being the graceful being was walking on a
perfectly flat parking lot, tripped on a small rock, and my burger went flying
into the air like a parachute. Luckily it landed perfectly on the ground in the
sack as if I had set it there. After much ridicule from my son and husband and a
little laughing at myself, I was able to eat the free burger. So as we pack to
go to General Conference and a little vacation, pray that I can stay on my
feet—I will be back in a couple of weeks! In the meantime, everything will
continue per usual with our usual crack staff of volunteers. BTW, this is the last week to submit
your short stories or videos
to win $100! Re: “How
Far is Too Far When It Comes to Church Music” As a church musician I have the unique opportunity of being
able to see the congregation and the praise singers from the piano.
The praise singers are singing (sometimes screaming) their guts out on
the platform, but the congregation is not singing.
Either they feel drowned out by the loud sound (so why try to sing?) or
they don’t know the songs. True, the words are displayed on the screen in the
front of the church, but this does not convey to the congregation even the
melody of the song (let alone the harmony parts or any counterpoint of various
parts moving with and against each other).
People don’t need their noses stuck in a hymnal/song book, but it would
be helpful if it were there as a guide. (If
people can’t read music, the church could have a “singing school” to teach
them how or a practice night where the whole congregation can learn the songs
instead of just the praise singers.) I find that people who really want to worship the Lord
will do so regardless of the type of music being offered, but I believe it is
more difficult to do so for most people with the strange chords and rhythms of a
lot of the newer praise music. Everything
that’s “old”
is not necessarily good, but everything “new” is not either.
Continuous repetition of the same words or portion of lyrics and music in
a praise chorus is monotonous to hear and certainly to play.
If we as Apostolics or Pentecostals pride ourselves on “being
different” from the world (and especially from what we refer to as “Charismatics”),
why can’t our music be unique and not adopted from these sources?
Let’s write and sing our own “different” brand of music. It’s dismaying to me to have a minister turn to the music
director or song leader and ask for a certain hymn/song/chorus just before he
preaches or at the invitation time at the end of his sermon and for younger
people in music leadership to say, “I don’t know that one.” Dennis Dykes, Sr., Texas Re: “Loving
the Sinner Without A Rule Book”
Alice Becton did a wonderful job on this article. She posed
her questions, offered her personal position on the topic and admitted she had
no answer. She is 100 percent correct, in my opinion, regarding how Jesus viewed
the situation. This is such a serious problem in our society. I am nearly
finished with a book I am writing on this same subject. My first husband told me
after nearly 10 years of marriage that he was gay. My book is my personal
experience. We need to speak out and it must be in a positive manner. Who
are we to cast a stone? We each have sin in our lives that we must or have
already been forgiven of and it is not up to us to pick and choose who God will
save. He died for everyone. There are no signs at the cross that says, this is
for you or this is not for you. Ruth Bowman, Louisiana Re: “Talkies,etc” Cylinda, some great thoughts! I really enjoyed your
article—too bad you are so mean to pregnant ladies. Ellie Neumann, Georgia Re: “Of
Sex and Shame Facedness Women: Beware” Thank you so much for your article.
Not to put the women of our church movement down, but this needed to be
said. As Christian Pentecostal men
(fathers, husbands, etc.), if we would be more grateful to the ladies of our
movement for being holy and not looking like this world, and letting them know
that they are attractive, then we would not have this problem.
As you said, men use what we see. If we as Christian men
would stop looking to this world for beauty, the women of our movement would not
have to dress the way they are to get our attention. As Pentecostal men we need
our women to help us identify with holiness and admittedly, men don’t have to
do a lot. Thank you to our Pentecostal women for all you do for us as a
movement. You do have to carry the
burden of holiness, but with your obedience to the word of God, you do bring
power to your homes and to your churches Michael Alford, Tennessee Re: “Respect
” I just wanted to say thank you so much to Seth Boyte for his
poem “I Respect.” As a single Apostolic woman trying to live a holy life for
Christ, it is a great encouragement to me to read your poem. Apostolic young women today often feel pressured to fit into
the world. When you walk around a college campus and you are the only woman
dressed modestly, you tend to feel out of place, sort of like a watermelon in a
pumpkin patch. You just don’t quite fit in. While at the same time the world
is constantly whispering in your ear that if you don’t dress and act like the
world then you are ugly, inadequate, undesirable, etc. Because of this constant
bombardment, it is easy to “know” in our minds that in God’s eyes we are
beautiful when we live holy lives, but we often have a hard time accepting that
same truth in our hearts. But when we hear from a Brother in Christ that our efforts to
live virtuously for Him don’t go unnoticed, it gives us hope and some much
needed encouragement. So on behalf
of all Apostolic women who love the Lord and serve Him, even when it feels like
you’re the only one doing it, I say thank you. God bless you Seth and all of
the good, like-minded, God-loving, gentlemen in the church today. With love from
a Sister in Christ. Devon Stansbury, Missouri Re: “My
supernatural experience-believing for a baby” I thoroughly enjoyed this article. It was a word in due season.
I am expecting my seventh child. I
have had six wonderful, problem-free pregnancies.
Before this one I had a miscarriage.
I too was told of Jackie Mize’s book and took every word to heart.
I knew that the devil was opposing this pregnancy since the very
beginning. I have had to stand in
faith against various issues already and I am only 17.5 weeks.
I too have prayed for a healthy, full-term baby girl.
And as I am currently on rest I needed this article to help boost my
faith. God Bless You and your
family. Thank you for your
faithfulness to share your testimony. Lorrie Robertson, Tennessee RE: Apostolic
in the 21st Century Why must we question people’s methods of sharing the
gospel? Are we too grounded in our man-made traditions that we no longer
consider being a true witness a major priority? Man-made traditions are
the very things that our Articles of Faith tell us not to do, yet the Articles
of Faith is full of man-made traditions and standards, that may be based on a
Biblical similarity, but truly are nothing more than someone’s opinion when
the UPC was being developed. Technology has given us many different options to tell more
people about Christ, so why would we stifle that? What reason is more
important than our Great Commission? I think a lot of it is a control issue. There are
leaders in our assemblies who continue to have a vicious hunger for power.
Many of these leaders cannot even remember the last time the talked to someone
about Jesus outside of their pulpit. They say that a church takes on the
personality of it’s leadership. If the agenda is not necessarily to win
souls, but to dictate and gain power, then leaders that are developed in those
churches will continue to act the same way. God help us, if we are not
humble, and not focused on reaching the lost with this wonderful message we have
been given. Bill Stocks, Wisconsin ninetyandnine.com © 2007,
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