Can there be one church in the 21st century?

May 4, 1999

Dear Beloved Family of God:

Jesus is alive and well today, and He continues to inspire us to love and good works of which we were made to walk in according to the purpose of Almighty God our true Holy Father. As most of you know I have been actively involved in a movement to restore the denominational churches to the pattern of New Testament Christianity. This is not the easiest of tasks, but it is not difficult. Over the past few years I have come to conclude that if we do not become more evangelistic as a church then we may all find ourselves to be left outside of the Kingdom of God.

We must all reevaluate our history in the area of evangelism. Growing up in West Texas and being the first born son of a Gospel Preacher I have lived a full life. For better or worse I have been exposed to the best and the worst in the Lord's church. From the greatest to the smallest, Almighty God has allowed me to experience many facets of our daily Christian living as a member of the body of Christ. The example of my earthly father has played a great role in developing my fragile self for a ministry that is greater than I could ever humanly imagine. My dad has brought many souls to the Lord, and as little boy I was amazed by the way this man could use God's Word to win people to Jesus. All my life I wanted to be like my dad, and I pray that he is pleased with the outcome of my life even though I have made some mistakes along the way. I always seek the advise of a few Christians in the area of evangelism and my dad is at the top of the list. He may not always tell me what I want to hear, but he desires what is best for the church and in that I am content.

Over the years I have attended a number of debates regarding the Holy Scriptures by a number of our Preachers against other Preachers from the denominational churches. As a child I remember how most of our preachers would slaughter the denominational preachers with the Word of God. The joy and cheers of our brethren as they witnessed their champions defeat the denominational preachers in the battle of debate still rings in my ears. As a little boy I never liked the outcome of those victories as I saw the wounded and often times humiliated denominational preacher walk away. There were some of these men that did obey the Gospel and they left their denominational churches, but what type of soldier were we receiving in the end? What good is accomplished by using the Bible as a whip to beat people with? What will the defeated say about us in the end? What good is a destroyed person to the Lord after the beating? And what are we out to prove when we are fighting with the King's Sword? Why would anyone be amazed with our "victorious champions of debate" when the battle was won before it ever began? For you or me to debate anyone outside of the body Christ with the Holy Scriptures would be the equivalent of the United States going to war against Yugoslavia. Need I say more?

I am convinced that we must use the powerful Word of God in love to win people to Jesus even the champions of denominationalism. The Word of God is indeed a double edged sword and we should not use it to cut off heads of people, but rather use it to build up people with the more accurate way of Jesus Christ our Master and Teacher. The battle is not over who is right or who is wrong, but rather about overcoming wrong with righteousness in the sight of the Most High God. After all the battle is the Lord's.

We were not called out by Almighty God to condemn and judge the world, but rather to seek out the lost with the saving message of Jesus the Christ. We are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and in his love and compassion for humanity. We can not afford to let time pass us by without making a real effort to reach out to the denominational churches who thirst and are starving for the truth about New Testament Christianity. The Lord's church is not stingy with the Word of God, and we must take the lead in assisting the denominational churches in their move toward becoming more and more like the church that Jesus built.

It is my prayer that this letter will serve to encourage you and many others to open our eyes and ears to the spiritual needs of everyone who calls upon the name of Jesus even those in the denominational world. We can no longer say "it's not out problem", or "if God wants everyone to be one, it will happen". The fact of the matter is that yes it is our problem, and God does want us to work at winning the world to Jesus and He needs us to help Him. We are the workmanship of an Awesome God who's love and mercy reaches out to humanity through his wonderful son Jesus.

Much good has come from our first Gospel Meeting in February 1999, and we are now ready for the second step in our goal to restore the churches in Crystal City to the New Testament pattern of Christianity. Lord willing we will have another Gospel Meeting in Crystal City, Texas on June 3 -5, 1999. The meeting will begin on Thursday and Friday night at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday we will continue with a morning meeting at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and end with a final meeting at 7:00 p.m. This will be the second Gospel Meeting that we have planned for this year, and with God's blessings we plan to have two more meetings before the end of this year. The theme of this Gospel Meeting will be "A call to New Testament Christianity". The Gospel Meetings that we hold are unlike most of our traditional meetings. A preacher from the church of Christ in Eagle Pass, Texas said, "I have never seen the attendance of a Gospel Meeting in which the 'visitors' out numbered the members of the church of Christ as I have witnessed at the church of Christ in Crystal City, Texas." In our February 1999 Gospel Meeting we had a total of 12 denominational preachers and leaders attend with an attendance record of 70.

Our goal is to win the people of Crystal City, Texas to Jesus, and to win the denominational churches to the New Testament pattern of Christianity. This meeting will not be a debate, but rather a time for the denominational preachers and their members to come together to listen and learn how we can preach and teach the same doctrine of Jesus and His Apostles in all of the pulpits in Crystal City, and how we can all work on coming together to form one church. As I stated this will not be what most of our brethren are accustomed to witnessing at a Gospel Meeting. I know that at first some of our weaker brethren will be opposed to this type of Evangelistic effort, but in the end they will see the light. In our first Gospel Meeting I addressed the assembly at each meeting. At this meeting there will be a number of denominational preachers who will be given an opportunity to address the assembly on a number of topics such as:

Denominationalism and its destructive effects on the church.
One baptism.
One faith.
One body.
The importance of unity in the Holy Scriptures.
Discerning between the traditions and doctrines of man and the Word of God.
Is Christ divided?
The New Testament Pattern for church leadership.
Overcoming our fears in accepting the New Testament pattern of Christianity.

A number of the local denominational preachers have stated that they will do their up most best to develop their topics in line with the Holy Scriptures. I am confident that they will be true to their word, and I am spending time with each of them before the week of our meeting. This will truly be a test of faith for all of us involved and especially for the denominational preachers and their members. This meeting is designed to restore the denominational churches to the pattern of New Testament Christianity. I plan to invite one other Preacher from the church of Christ to speak on the topic entitled: "The New Testament Pattern for church leadership." I will also plan to speak at this meeting, and will serve as a type of moderator for this event. This Gospel Meeting is open to everyone who would like to come and witness history in the making.

It is quite possible to one day see one church in Crystal City, Texas that will serve as an example for all cities in the world to imitate. It would be a great thing to say that at the beginning of the 21st century the believers came together as one church and they were called Christians in the town of Crystal City. Please remember the good people of Crystal City, Texas and me in your prayers.

To learn more about our Evangelistic efforts you may visit our web site at http://church-of-christ.org/CrystalCity/newsletter.

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 5/4/1999