Hi, there …

Last spring, members of First Baptist-Elfers selected me as an alternate Deacon. Turns out, there’s an unexpected opening, so I’ll soon go from “alternate” to “actual.” Why mention this? Because, if 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that things change—often fast.

Campus Crusade for Christ used to have a tract with the phrase “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” I’m accepting that God wants me to be a Deacon. We’ll see where that leads.

As you may recall, Stephen was one of the church’s first deacons—he was also the church’s first martyr. In unsettling times like this, it’s best to remember things like that.

“Wonderful” doesn’t mean a big house, good job, or a new car. (If you don’t believe that, read “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” or Richard Wurmbrand’s compelling biography “Tortured For Christ.”)

I became a follower of the man from Nazareth back in 1971 after going forward during an evening chapel service in Vietnam. I’d been living a life of “Drugs, Sex, and Rock ’n’ Roll”—a hollow, barren, and shallow existence. As Paul wrote in Romans 7: 24-25, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Wish I could say that long-ago decision made me perfect. Didn’t happen. But it did change my direction. Since then, I’ve learned more about Jesus, his love, and his grace; the more I’ve learned, the more grateful I’ve become—for his righteous life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection.

I’m asking friends and family to pray for me as I take on this new responsibility so I may serve King Jesus with honor and humility.

Becoming a Deacon won’t make me perfect, but it’s a milestone in my ongoing walk with Christ.

Thank you,

Jim