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Soul Lifting

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 24, 2019
 
Today is an example of “lifting my soul to God” during a team conflict that occurred several years ago. Lifting our souls is an effective way to get things out, to give ourselves perspective, to remember who our God is, who the real enemy is and to seek God’s help through surrendering to Him.
“Had trouble getting to sleep, then was awake often, struggling with negative thoughts about the team’s conflicts. Praise you, Lord Jesus, that in the midst of this turmoil, you led me to think about you and how incredibly powerful, wise and faithful you are.
“You are the star Breather, the galaxy Arranger, the sun Maker who put our solar system in just the right place under one arm of the Milky Way–in a position so we can observe the universe and see the works of your hands.
“You hung the earth on nothing, put it in just the right orbit at the perfect speed, tilted its axis exactly and spun it perfectly, so each day and night are of optimal length. You set each condition of the solar system precisely so that carbon-based life could exist on earth. Praise be to you for you great wisdom and power displayed in that.
“So it is with our lives: in your mighty power, your deep wisdom, your gracious love, you bring or allow what you will use for good. This present painful situation, these messy and hurtful circumstances have all come with your permission and you are using them to develop us as leaders and give opportunity to develop our followers.
“Lord, help us to let go of our feelings of failure and frustration, and instead to stand firm in Truth, such as, ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials, knowing this, that the trying of our faith works patience. And let patience have its perfect work that we may be perfect and mature’ (James 1:2,3).
“Help us to swim in the current of your Truth, Lord, letting you carry us along in the right direction. Help us to reject despair, feeling sorry for ourselves, and the embarrassment of failure along with our weariness. Help us instead to embrace what you bring by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, so that we may thereby honor you and open the way so that you can show us the salvation of the Lord.
“I thank you now for what you will do with this mess, for how you will work in and through it to bring growth, transformation and deepening for us as leaders so that you can bring the same thing to all involved in the midst of this situation.
“I praise you in faith, Lord God, our Great Shepherd, our Glorious Transformer, our Wonderful King. As you used the sins of Joseph’s brothers to provide a way of salvation for the Jews and many others, so you can use the sins in this situation to bring about good and grace for us all.
 
“Do that Lord, move in your might, defeat the plans of the enemy, bring glory to yourself. Answer us out of your faithfulness, your righteousness, your goodness and your power. Answer to bring glory to your name, honor through your might and maturity to your children. I praise you now for the answers you will send. Amen.”
Epilogue: God did not resolve the situation as I desired, but He did answer to deepen and mature most of us through it.
 
Picture: God can make what seems ugly into a thing of stark beauty.
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Amazing God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2019
 
I praise you, Lord God, for your great Love, your persistent Faithfulness, your mighty Power, your wide Wisdom, your deep Knowledge, your pure Righteousness and your perpetual Perfection.
 
You are the One I can trust today, the One who rules every day, who rights what is wrong, who redeems what is lost, who restores what is broken, who reigns in every circumstance. You are God, you are Great, you are Glorious and you are Gracious.
 
I commit myself today to praise you with all my heart, with all my being, all the time. I choose to embrace what you bring, what you reveal, what you allow. I thank you for my failures which point me away from myself to you, breaking me of self-reliance, of pride, of independence, of selfishness.
 
Thank you for your very specific working in my life, your personal, careful, exact plan to fashion me more into the image of Christ. While I do not like it when this includes breaking, I do love the outcome of seeing you more, of worshiping you more deeply by faith, of growing in trust, of seeing your great power at work.
 
In thinking about my inability to bring a good resolution to the group conflict mentioned earlier, you used my failure to reveal my unhealthy desire for success and praise, my pride, my selfishness, my wanting a specific timetable.
 
Well, all that cannot be changed now, but I can repent, change and grow through it all. To you be glory in it, Lord. I see right now that this failure is a blotch on your name, but you can turn it into a positive as you desire.
 
Thank you for helping me to recognize my weakness, my smallness, and to see more clearly your greatness and power. It is such a wonderful thing to be your child, to be your servant, Lord, to join you in what you are doing, to rest in the fact that you are my Rock, my Fortress, my Redeemer and my Light. Help me, help all of us to be humble, to discern what you are doing and to join you in it so we can bring you glory and honor.
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1993

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2019
In 1993 we were due for a furlough, and this was also a natural juncture for us to leave the fellowship in the hands of the local believers. Our departure also seemed to be the right time to accept a position in the Overseas Department of the home office. The leadership had been asking us to consider it for the past eight years.
 
We arrived at our new home in Eastern Pennsylvania during August of 1993. The house we rented was located in a nice middle class suburb.
 
What a contrast from the densely populated, heavily polluted city we’d lived in for the past 14 years! There had been ten times more people just in our one neighborhood of than were in the whole county of our new location!
 
In another contrast, everything here was so green, lush and well kept as compared to the browns and greys of the Middle East—a gracious gift prepared by the Lord just for us.
Moving here also opened up new possibilities for the boys that were totally missing in our other city. First was some help in the transition into a new culture. The guidance counselor at their school met with us and warned the boys about two things that would help their transition into American high school.
 
“No one is going to be interested in where you’ve come from,” she said. “I was an army brat, living in Europe and other places; when I returned to the States for school, no one wanted to hear my stories. They won’t want to hear yours, either.”
 
She paused. “And keep away from watching too much TV, especially MTV. It’s not a healthy way to spend your time.” These were good points of advice and the boys took them to heart.
 
God’s second provision was through the high school cross-country coach. In our first visit to the city, Coach Hetrick came to the office to talk with Nat. He checked Nat’s shoes for wear to determine his running style, and talked about developing his abilities.
 
Nat had never run competitively, but was fast, and Mr. Hetrick picked up on this potential. He turned out to be not only a great coach for Nat, but became his mentor as well. Running provided an entry niche for Nat and he was quickly accepted by the other runners, giving him an instant sense of belonging in this new environment.
He went on to excel, being named the best runner in the county his senior year and placing 8th in the Pennsylvania State Championships. Nat’s performance inspired others to try running. In his freshman year there were only 6 male runners, but by his senior year ten percent of the entire student body of eight hundred were running cross-country.
 
Josh’s experience was very different. After finishing his sophomore year in the German school, Josh had transferred to a boarding school for MKs in Germany for his junior year.
Now, his senior year would be spent in yet another high school. But the Lord provided just the right niches for Josh also, first in a singing group and later in the drama club. He even landed a major role in the main production for that year, an unusual accomplishment for a newcomer.
 
Josh was not afraid to speak up in class, which the teachers appreciated, since most of the other students didn’t find class participation cool. The fear of man ruled, but Josh ignored it. He also was not afraid to talk openly about his faith and was quickly dubbed as “God boy.”
 
During that year Josh, Nat and a couple of other MKs started a student prayer group that has continued on after their departure for at least another fifteen years. It was usually led by an MK from our group.
 
Nat was still a pretty lazy student and was happy that he didn’t need to work at all his freshman year. His German school education had already taken him quite a bit beyond his classmates who all thought he was brilliant because he knew so much more than they did.
 
He and Josh had the advantage of having lived in three cultures, speaking three languages, and having traveled through much of the Middle East and Europe. In addition, from an early age they had avidly read the National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Ranger Rick and many other books full of facts which cumulatively gave them a grasp of a wide range of information.
 
At one point Nat’s history teacher called us in and said, “I have never met a freshman who knew so much about the world and understood its significance. But, could you get him to write more than one-sentence answers on his essay tests?” Nat might know a lot, but he had no real motivation to use it.
However, the Lord had plans to wake Nat up, using running as His primary tool. With Nat’s natural talent being developed under his coach’s good training, he began to win races, and found he liked that. He began to realize that putting effort into reaching goals could be a worthwhile endeavor. He began to study more, do more around the house, and most importantly, began to grow spiritually.
 
When he turned sixteen, Nat decided he wanted to be baptized. This decision brought a very deep surrender in him, triggering a lot of spiritual progress. He then started using his status as a successful runner as a means of sharing his faith with others at school.
 
He later told us that in high school his running fueled his spiritual life, while in college his spiritual life drove his running. Nat realized he needed to lay down the foundations for his personal faith. He had been riding on ours, but needed his own. During his sophomore Nat researched and wrote a paper to help him sort out the relationship of the Bible and science. He entitled it, “Why I am not a Monkey.”
 
When he had to present a position paper for English during his senior year, he chose to polish up this paper and gave it a better title. His classmates laughed when he announced his subject, “How I Know That Evolution Is Not True.” But when he presented it, they were fascinated and the student evaluators gave him an A.
 
His teacher, however, was not so impressed, giving him a lower mark. She asked, “If God created the world, then where did he come from?”
 
Nat, who normally doesn’t think well on his feet, was helped by the Holy Spirit to reply, “As Stephen Hawkins and his associates pointed out, both the universe and time have a beginning. Since God lives outside of time, He doesn’t need a beginning.” The teacher, not knowing how to respond to that, turned to the class and said, “OK, next paper!”
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Psalm 35:28

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2019
 
David, envisioning God protecting him and exonerating him before his foes, finishes his psalm with this commitment:
 
Psalm 35:28 “My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long.”
 
[At this point God had not yet delivered David, but since he had appealed to the goodness and love of God, to the power and the faithfulness of his Lord, he was confident of His help coming. So, David promises to be a man of praise, continually exalting his Savior.
 
This must be my practice, too, whether things work out according my desires or not.
 
Praise be to you, Lord, that you are in control, that I awake each morning to your safeness, to your surrounding love, to your eternal faithfulness, to your indwelling, unceasing presence. You are always here, patiently unfolding the intricate plan you have for my life, giving me wisdom, direction, endurance, grace, love and joy.
 
It is only in you that we can have joy, for without you this world is meaningless, empty of purpose, randomly dangerous and utterly pointless. You, however, are here, being our rock, our foundation, our fortress, our shield, our high tower and our deliverer.
 
In you there is order, meaning and purpose. In you there is protection, power and provision. In you there is love, light and life. In you there is goodness, grace and greatness. In you there is caring, compassion and completeness. In you there is healing, help and hope. In you there are answers, reasons and wisdom.
 
To live without you is death in delayed degrees, ever spiraling downward towards eternal destruction. With you there is life with ever increasing light, love and joy, ever spiraling upwards towards our eternal home.
 
So, in you I can rest–for in you I am chosen, loved and cherished, in you there is rightness, beauty and clarity, even in the most difficult of situations. I thank you for the great privilege of being your child and praise you now for the outcome of the present challenges in my life, for whatever you will do in our situation with my wife’s illness and other challenges. You, O Lord, are trustworthy.
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Psalm 35:24-27

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 20, 2019
Psalm 35:24, 25 “Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God; do not let them gloat over me. Do not let them think, ‘Aha, just what we wanted!’ or say, ‘We have swallowed him up.’”
 
[A number of years ago, when I first wrote these comments on Psalm 35, I was involved in helping a group resolve a serious conflict. The leader, who had been confronted by his teammates on abusive leadership, maintained that he was blameless and all the rest of us, including those he asked to come in from the outside and help him, were wrong. He thought he’d “swallowed us up” as he steamrolled us with his logical arguments, not realizing that he was demonstrating exactly what his teammates objected to!
 
Lord, protect us from having such pride, such self-righteousness, selfish ambition and self-deception. Expose such sins of ours to us quickly so we can, unlike this leader, immediately repent, be wise and kind and avoid bringing dishonor to your name. I thank you, Lord God, for how you will help us in your wisdom which is much higher than ours: you are always firm and clear in what is best. I give you glory and honor now for what you are doing in all our lives.]
 
Psalm 35:26 “May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace.”
 
[Lord, may Satan and his hordes all be brought to shame in their attempts to bring disunity and distress. Even years later this leader I mentioned has not accepted his fault and continues to hold a bitter grudge against those who tried to help him; may he come to a true and deep repentance and thereby to a greater usefulness for you, Lord.
 
Thank you for leading us to forgive him as you have forgiven us. In faith I give you praise now for what you are doing through the turmoil this man has caused and what you are doing in him, for you, Lord, are good, gracious and loving.]
 
Psalm 35:27 “May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, ‘The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.’”
 
[Yes, may YOU win, Lord, vindicating your servants in the way you know is best; may you be exalted as we obey you in humility; may you be the One who is lifted up in our joy and gladness at your goodness. We can trust you in all things, knowing that you will periodically lead us through the dark valleys, down snowy paths so that you can eventually bring us out into wider, greener pastures.]
 
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Psalm 35:19-23

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 19, 2019
 
Psalm 35:19 “Let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; let not those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye.”
 
David had a lot of enemies who were jealous of his position, power, wealth and standing, people who were glad to see him in trouble. Satan has the same motives in attacking us.
 
We have been given eternal life, while he is doomed to eternal death; we have the Holy Spirit living in us, the power of the living Lord, while he is separated from God; we have been made heirs with Christ while he has lost all; and we are children of the King, members of His family, citizens of His Kingdom and partners in His great plans, while Satan is an outcast, a loser and a reject by his own decision.
 
He will do whatever he can do to help us forget who we are in Christ and urges us to veer off onto our own selfish course of life and action, just as he has done himself and led Adam and Eve to do.
 
Psalm 35:20, 21 “They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land. They gape at me and say, “Aha! Aha! With our own eyes we have seen it.”
 
[Satan uses people with their lies and unjust accusations to pressure us to get our eyes off of God and onto the natural desires for safety and comfort, significance and fulfillment. And yet in Christ we already have a super abundance of each of these!
 
We must be carefully and consistently listen to Truth, recognizing the lies of the enemy. We can do this by daily reveling in the richness of belonging to Christ, nurturing our first love for Him, rejoicing in and delving into His powerful living Word.]
 
Psalm 35:22, 23 “O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent. Do not be far from me, O Lord. Awake, and rise to my defense! Contend for me, my God and Lord.”
 
[David here makes exactly the right move: when threatened he comes immediately to God for help, seeking input from the Rock, from Truth Himself, from the Most Powerful and Wise One.
 
Sadly for us, prayer is usually our last resort when it should be our first response. Forgive us, Lord, for trying to do things on our own; help us to follow David’s good example, to turn first to you, our rock, and make you, “my God and Lord” our refuge right away!]
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Psalm 35:11-18

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 18, 2019
 
Written several years ago
Today we look at a darker part of Psalm 35 where David lifts his soul to God in distress, seeking relief in the attacks coming against him.
Psalm 35:11-13 “Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about. They repay me evil for good and leave my soul forlorn. Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.”
In the daily spiritual battle, Satan often uses those around us to attack and accuse us. Those we have done good to now stand and oppose us, accuse and blame us.
This can be disorienting, as two versions of the past collide, perhaps causing us to question our own sanity. David needed a touchstone of reality, so he remembered how he had been so kind and concerned for those who were now attacking him:
Psalm 35:13b, 14 “When my prayers [for them] returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.”
[But these same people had just the opposite response when David was down:]
Psalm 35:15,16 “But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; attackers gathered against me when I was unaware. They slandered me without ceasing. Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked, they gnashed their teeth at me.”
[Note that these were “like the ungodly” meaning they were probably believers, people who had been close to David.
So, we, too, can experience injustice and evil from fellow believers who are pursuing their own agendas rather than God’s. And, like David, we must look to God for help.]
Psalm 35:17-18 “O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions. I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise you.”
[Your timing, O Lord, is right, but to us our suffering always seems to go on too long. Thinking of my wife’s illness of depression, I cry out, “Act, Lord, and bring the changes, bring the deliverance that is needed.” But He waits, for He has bigger plans.
So, I must pray, “Lord, help us to wait through well, learning what is necessary, giving you glory in praise through it all. Answer for the sake of your Name, for the sake of your Glory, O Lord.
“I can and will praise you now, Lord, for how and when you will respond. For you are wise and good and gracious, making us lie down in the green pastures of depression so we can grow and be more useful instruments in your hands. May you be glorified in our lives.”]
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Riches

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 17, 2019
For your edification, here are fifty-seven spiritual reasons to give thanks in any and all situations.
 
Our God (Elohim, Yahweh, Jesus) is real.
He is eternal.
He is holy with no sin, evil or negatives.
He is perfect.
He is wise beyond comprehension.
His ways and thoughts are far higher than ours.
He knows everything.
He understands everything.
He created everything ,giving each thing its complexity and superb design and did so just by speaking!
He is present everywhere, all the time.
He is Sovereign.
He is powerful beyond conception.
He is beautiful in perfection and fullness.
He loves beauty and shares it with us in His creation.
He is love.
He is light
He is life
He inexplicably loves His enemies.
He bought us back from the kingdom of darkness.
He rescued us from Satan, sin and self.
He has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in the Kingdom of light.
He chose us before the foundation of the world to be His children.
He predestined us to hear the gospel.
He convicted us of sin and righteousness and judgment.
He revealed Himself to us through whatever means each of us needed.
He sent people to share the good news with us.
He pinned us down to listen.
He granted us faith and repentance.
He has made Himself our Shepherd.
He has made His Spirit dwell in us.
He has made us  become the temple of the Living God.
He has made us members of the church universal.
He has given us a church local.
He has given us purpose and meaning, hope and a future.
He has a plan for our lives, laid out in detail, so nothing comes to us randomly.
He is running with us in the race He has set out before us.
Every bit of suffering has meaning and purpose.
He helps us in every weakness.
He chastens us when we need it (which is much of the time).
He is tender, gracious, loving and kind.
He will make us into the Bride of Christ.
When we die we will go to be with Him.
There will be no sorrow or suffering, no tears or terror.
He has given us peace and joy here and now.
He calls us to trust Him so our lives can overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
He invites us to join Him in His great plans.
He has given us the gift of prayer.
We can enter His presence any time.
He has made us His ambassadors.
He has promised to never leave us or forsake us.
He has given us the three things all human beings long for: belonging, worth and competence.
He gives us rest for our souls, as we seek our refuge in Him.
Jesus loves us as the Father loves Him.
He has given us all the significance and security we could ever need.
Because He is always good, we can always give thanks to Him in all things.
 
And the list could go on. What a wonderful God we have, far better than we could ever have thought up. Let us be in awe, fall before Him in worship and live lives that bring Him both joy and honor.
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Supreme, Sublime, Super

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 16, 2019

From EDIFIED!

“Why do the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Ps. 115:3). You, O Lord God, are the final authority—no one can tell you what to do. You can, literally and truly, do whatever pleases you, and all that pleases you is good, pure, positive and holy. You are never tempted to do anything wrong, anything selfish, sinful or negative. All that is evil is totally repulsive to you; you are incapable of doing what is unholy, impure, unloving or ungracious.

No, what pleases you is always lovely, true, noble, right, pure, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8). It is according to your character, to your name, to your being, to your essence. You are Love itself, you are Life itself, you are Light itself–you are literally lovely in every aspect of your being.

What pleases you is going to please us, too–in the long run. Your will is what we would want if we had all the facts, which we never do, but we can trust you to have them and act accordingly.

What a joy to be your child. You have given us great privileges: to look on your loveliness, to behold your beauty, to hope in your holy highness, to rejoice in your graceful goodness, to marvel at your glorious greatness, to rest in your full faithfulness. In you we can bow before your pristine purity, obey in your power and provision, and act in your graciousness and goodness—these are the great riches of your children.

I lift you up, revel in you, exalt you, honor you and praise you, my Lord, the King of Kindness, God of Glory, Lord of Love, Leader of Light, Redeemer of rebels.

Prayer: “In all I do, say, think and desire today, may I direct all glory to you, Lord Jesus. May I live the fact that you are my mighty Rock and my Refuge. Amen.”

 

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Major Team Conflict

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 15, 2019
Difficult Discussion on a Sensitive issue: Major Team Conflict
The team of foreigners we worked with in this church plant was very diverse. There were three different organizations plus independents, six nationalities, multiple languages and theological views and along with various church planting ideas. It was amazing we worked so well together.
 
One issue that had been bubbling beneath the surface was the role of women in ministry. As usual, this was brought out into the open over a person, not a principle.
 
The most educated member of the fellowship was a young woman who had been there from the beginning. In addition to her university education in English, she had had a year of Bible school in England, and was now married to a doctor. She had been asked to speak a couple of times in the fellowship and did a good job. Now some were pushing to have regular women speakers with the possibility of them being pastors and elders.
 
I was conflicted on this issue. On one side I did not see it as fitting in with a biblical worldview. On the other side, I was not comfortable with my position that women should not be pastors or elders or teachers of men, for this view was considered old fashioned, outdated and intolerant. So I did a through study on it, both a “macro” overview of Scripture and then a “micro” exegesis of specific passages. I studied with an open mind, not pre-committing myself to either position, ready to have Scripture guide me to the answer.
To get the macro view, I asked four questions. First, are there any examples in the Old and New Testaments of women having leading positions, such as pastor or elder? The answer is “yes.” For example,
–Adam allowed Eve to take the lead (this was actually the orginal sin!) in the discussion with Satan, and then followed her lead in eating the fruit.
–Abraham, instead of believing God, followed Sarah’s lead in trying to have a family through her maid, resulting in Ishmael and the many ensuing problems that continue down to the present.
–Deborah was selected by God as a judge and prophet. The context makes it clear that He did this because the men were afraid to lead, as Barak demonstrated when he refused to go to war without having Deborah accompany him. This example gives the possibility of a woman leading when no man is available or willing.
–Then there was Queen Jezebel who ran her husband’s life, leading him into many evil practices, including killing the prophets of the Lord.
–And there was Queen Athalia, daughter of Jezebel, who took over the kingdom after her son the king died; she solidified her power by killing all her grandsons.
In the New Testament, there is no example of a woman having such a position, positive or negative.
The second question was, “Is there any passage that commands women to have such a position?” I could not find one.
The third question was, “Is there any passage that encourages women to have a position pastor, teacher of men or elder?” Again, none to be found.
The fourth question was, “Is there any passage that commands women not to have such a position?” And the answer is “Yes, there are several such passages.”
Basically in the whole sweep of Scripture, in principle, practice and precept, men are the leaders of mixed-gender groups, including family and church.
In the micro study, the strongest single statement is found in 1 Tim 2:12-14:
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.”
In examining these verses, it was important to see it in the larger context I’d already looked at. In this setting, these verses confirmed all that I’d already seen. Male leadership is announced in creation before the fall, is confirmed in the fall and commanded in the New Testament, tying all aspects of the Bible together.
 
After doing the study, I was disappointed in one sense in the outcome, for now I was “stuck” with an unpopular and much maligned position. However, I decided that it was wrong to be ashamed of a clearly biblical stance. I should not let the pressure of culture push me away from what God has given. This was another step God was taking in setting me free from the fear of man.
In order to bring this disagreement in our team over leadership in the fellowship to a conclusion, it was suggested that we have a debate, or presentation , and and then let the young budding local leaders decide what should be done.
 
I gave the presentation for the male leadership principle, using the four questions above. Then the other position was presented. The opening argument was: “God created man first, then woman. That means that women are more sophisticated than men.” This is actually an Islamic argument (their founder is better because he came after Christ), that newer is always better and the locals immediately noted and rejected it.
 
In the end the young leaders made a clear decision: “no” to women speakers, pastors or elders. But as a concession to those with the other point of view, they said it would be acceptable for a woman to lead a Bible study under the direction of an elder. As everyone had the integrity to abide by the agreed on process, we all accepted the outcome. These decisions kept us working together and prepared the fellowship for launching off on its own.
 
Sunday School class of  workers’ children being taught by Josh when he was about 12


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