Over 200 Attend School Prayer Meeting

May 1, 1999

Dear Beloved Family of God:

The love of Jesus continues to warm the hearts of all who would call upon His name. On Monday April 26, 1999 the High School students, teachers, and local public officials of Crystal City gathered together for prayer on behave of the families of the shooting victims' families in Littleton, Colorado. In all there were over 200 people attending this prayer meeting. All of the local denominational churches were represented by their preachers, and I was asked to deliever a speach for the sake of peace and unity in our community. It was an honor to have participated in this event. It is true that all things work for the good for those who love the Lord. The recent tragedy of Littleton, Colorado has shocked our nation as did the shooting spree of Jonesboro, Arkansas. These tragic events have weighed heavily upon our community in Crystal City, Texas, and it has served as an opportunitiy to engage our community in leading the people toward a greater awareness of the truth and the life in Jesus Christ.

As the result of our school prayer meeting I was asked to preach this Sunday (after our evening service) at one of the local Apostolic churches in Crystal City. I have already preached twice at another local Apostolic chuch, and I am looking forward to sharing the Word of God with this other group. Did you know that the Apostolic Churches believe that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins? Yes, they do believe this. They take Acts 2:38 quite seriously. We have much in common with the Apostolic churches, but there are other differences. With God's help I believe that this open door of opportunity will allow us to restore the churches to the pattern of New Testament Christianity beginning in Crystal City, Texas.

At the prayer meeting I also met with the preacher of the First Baptist Church and member of their "pastorial search committee". Their preacher is retiring this month, and is moving away. I offered myself to assist them if they ever needed a preacher to preach for them, and they said that they may have be come to preach for them on occassion in the near future. On Tuesday I was called by their preacher to assist him with some computer training. Our time together was quite productive and I have found that many Southern Baptists are tired of denominationalism and they have a great desire to move their churches toward the pattern of New Testament Christianity.

Today I visited with a local retired Methodist Minister who preachers for the Spanish Methodist churches. He was quite impressed with me at Monday's School Prayer meeting, and he was already aware of our global ministry known as Internet Ministries. We talked about many things regarding the first century church and history of the Methodist church and the works of Alexander Campbell. My new friend was well versed on the works of as he refered to "Brother Alexander Campbell". He knew more about the Campbells than I did, and he admired their efforts to restore the church as he also refered to the works of others such as Martin Luther and John Wesley. According to him there also exists a thirst and hunger on the part of Methodists to return to the ways of the first century church.

Brethren I am convinced that the more I have contact with the people and leaders of the denominational churches I see that our responsibility to take the Gospel to the world gets greater and greater. There a some people among us who desire to change the churches of Christ with denominational patterns, but we must stand up together and see that the changes that we need are rather to restore the churches of Christ to the way of our first century churches that were lead by the Apostles of Jesus Christ the Son of the Most High God. While the denominational churches stand near us with thirst and hunger for the truth about Jesus and His bride there are those among us who keep the truth to themselves. We can no longer continue to keep the way of Jesus to ourselves, and refuse to share Him with other believers. I am thankful for the New Testament example of people such as Priscilla and Aquila who listened to Apollos preach, and later expounded to him the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:24-26).

Yes there are many things that need to be changed in the churches of Christ and the first item of change must begin with our heart. We can no longer afford to remain idle with the Gospel of Jesus. If we do not change this we may find ourselves in the same boat with the church in Ephesus mentioned in Revelation 2:1-7. Let's not forget our first love. From the beginning the churches of Christ were evangelistic and we must regain our evangelistic spirit. It will be better to die preaching Jesus and go to heaven than to quitely live with the truth about Jesus then die and go to hell with it. A growing church is an evangelistic church, and a church that is not evangelistic is a dying church. I encourage you to wake up and become more and more evangelistic with the Word of God and the love of Jesus. When is the last time you gave you local Preacher or Evangelist your love and words of encouragement? And when is the last time that you showed your love and appreciation for your Elders and Deacons and teachers of the Holy Scriptures? Lord willing you will have an opportunity to do this tomorrow.

Please continue praying for me as I am seeking the financial support needed to remain in Crystal City for the next two years.

May the grace of God, the love of Jesus, and the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you and your family forever.

Your brother in Christ Jesus,

E-mail questions or comments to: garcia@church-of-christ.org

The church of Christ at Crystal City

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Last updated on 5/1/1999