Andrew Versteeg, Ethel, Ontario, Canada . . . uncommon Christian wedding

Congratulations to groom Andrew J. Versteeg and his new bride Patricia!

With over 300 in attendance, the "uncommon Christian" wedding took place July 17, 2010, in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

After a honeymoon on the Canadian Atlantic island of Newfoundland, the couple will settle where Andrew has lived since 2001: rural Ethel (pop. 216) near Listowel in the eastern portion of Ontario's "west coast" of Huron County (pop. 59,325).

I served as Andrew's best man as I took a 5-week break from my 26 months of sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry in Israel.

What an honor and privilege from my best friend during and after my student days (1994-2000) at Canada's Prairie Bible College (Three Hills, Alberta) and Toronto Baptist Seminary (Ontario).

Andrew Versteeg (left) and Francis Kyle (right).
July 17, 2010. Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

While past joint travels included trips throughout the U.S. and Canada and to England, Scotland and Israel, Andrew will now have a new traveling partner.

In addition to being now a husband and step-father to four wonderful teenagers, the pig farmer-laborer-preacher serves as an elder at Ontario's Gorrie Bible Fellowship (est. 1985).

Click here to listen to some of Andrew's sermons.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24  (Matt. 19:5, Mark 10:7, Eph. 5:31)

UPDATE

On August 6, 2011, Patricia Versteeg gave birth to a son, Cornelus Samuel John Versteeg. He is named after Andrew's father (Cornelus), Patricia's father (Samuel) and Andrew's middle name (John).

In summer 2011, Andrew became an elder and pastor of Brussels Community Bible Chapel in Brussels, Huron County, Ontario, Canada. To listen online to some of Andrew's sermons, click here.

Independence Day 1826 with James Brainerd Taylor, uncommon American Christian . . . Nassau Hall, Princeton University. . . fireworks vs. God's light

From Granby, Connecticut, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes all Americans a happy Independence Day (Fourth of July). Happy 234th birthday, America!

Appropriately, here is the Tuesday, July 4, 1826, diary entry of the "uncommon Christian" American James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1826) as recorded in Fitch W. Taylor's A New Tribute to the Memory of James Brainerd Taylor (1838, available online and for free via Google Books). At the time, the Middle Haddam, Connecticut native and aspiring evangelist was a graduating senior at Princeton University (est. 1746), and America was celebrating its 50th birthday. Taylor is the primary founder (February 1825) of what is now called Princeton Evangelical Fellowship.

The candles in the windows that Taylor mentions in his diary were in Nassau Hall, his place of residence (student dorms) that also housed classrooms and offices. Completed in 1757, Nassau Hall is the oldest building on the Princeton campus. It was one of the largest buildings in colonial New Jersey. (See modern-day photo above.)

Interestingly, on the same festive day the "father of American music" and writer of such classics as "Oh, Susanna," "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Hard Times Come Again No More," Stephen Foster, was born in Lawrence, Pennsylvania. Sadly, and along with the young nation, J. B. Taylor and his fellow Princetonians mourned that day as its country's second and third presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died.

This evening the bell rung, and summoned each man to his post. Another bell was the signal to illuminate the windows in front. I was on my knees and alone, conducting our stated prayer meeting. By and by I walked out and beheld the illumination and the crowd. Did some hand light up these tapers [candles]? "God said, let there be light, and there was light" (Genesis 1:3).

For a half hour the crowd gazed at the illumined windows. Had one of ten of them during their lives ever spent a half hour in looking at their hearts in the light of conscience—the grave—the bar of God—of heaven and hell? Who of them had solemnly and seriously and prayerfully retired, even once, to investigate their character?

"This is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:19-20)—or lest they should be brought under conviction. Happy they "into whose hearts God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Assist me, Holy Spirit, and thus fit me for that city [the new Jerusalem] whose "light is the Lamb" (Revelation 21:23).

Kofering, Germany to NYC . . . immigrant Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992) . . . Parkway Baptist Church, Queens (Rosedale) . . . pro-Christ sermon

How fitting to have visited New York City this month, just 4 months after visiting the rural village of Kofering, Germany, where my beloved paternal grandmother was born. (Click here to read the May 10 blog entry about the February 20, 2010, trip).

My visit to Kofering this year was only the 4th visit by a Kyle family member in 64 years. Very special.

It was at New York City's Ellis Island Immigration Station that Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992) first arrived via boat as an American immigrant in 1922 (age 17). Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the site of the nation's busiest immigration station from 1892 to 1954.

In the early 1990s, I had my grandmother's name engraved on Ellis Island's American Immigrant Wall of Honor (panel 240).

Next to Ellis Island is Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty sits.

On my next visit to Washington, D.C., I plan to visit the German-American Heritage Museum (est. 2010).

Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
New York City. USA.

Though not my first visit to NYC, this month's 7-day visit comes during my 5-week break from Israel, June 9 to July 20, 2010. The break includes visits to my home in Port Angeles, Wash.; friends in NYC; family in Granby and New Hartford, Conn.; and friends in Burlington and Ethel, Ontario, Canada.

I am the best man in my friend's July 17 wedding in Burlington, thus the main reason for the North American trip. On July 21st I return to Israel to begin my second and final year of volunteer work and ministry there. (Click here to read the February 11, 2010, summary of my happenings in Israel so far.)

Parkway Baptist Church. Est. 1989.
Rosedale, NY (NYC/Queens). USA.

While in NYC, and in addition to trips to the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, I had sweet and renewed fellowship with "Brother" Rizzo (Robert F. Rizzo Jr.), Pastor Vincent Williams and the dear saints at Parkway Baptist Church (est. 1989) in the NYC borough of Queens (city of Rosedale, NY). The church consists primarily of Caribbean/West Indies immigrants (Jamaica, Trinidad, etc.) and some African immigrants.

--> UPDATE: I am pleased the City of Rosedale and the New York State Senate honored Pastor Williams with a Senate Resolution (J1836-2013) to have him be the Grand Marshall of the 2013 Rosedale Memorial Day Parade, May 27, 2013. Click here to see Pastor Williams to the immediate right of N.Y. State Senator Malcolm A. Smith's three-minute speech prior to the parade.

On Sunday morning (June 27, 2010) I delivered a sermon entitled "Pro-Christ and Pro-Eternity, not Pro-Israel or Pro-Palestine."

Left to right:

Francis Kyle, Robert F. Rizzo, Jr. (church treasurer), Vincent Williams (pastor).

Parkway Baptist Church. 

Rosedale, NY (NYC/Queens). USA.

Kofering, Germany . . . Marie Gangl Kyle (1905-1992) . . . beloved grandmother + German Catholic turned American Protestant . . . pray for Bavaria

German Passport.
Marie Gangl (Kyle). Age 17.
Stamped November 15, 1922.

For immigration sea voyage from
Hamburg, Germany, to New York City, USA.

Dr. Irvin Francis Kyle, Jr.
1927-2006

Marie Gangl Kyle
1905-1992

Born: Kofering, Germany (Bavaria)
Died: West Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Marie Gangl Kyle
1905-1992

Irvin Francis Kyle, Jr.
1927-2006

U.S. Army Private, W.W. II.
Enlisted August 10, 1945, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Serving in Germany, 1946. Age 19.

Irvin Francis Kyle, Jr.

Granby, Connecticut.
2005. Age 78.

Irvin Francis Kyle III (far right) with German relatives
who had met and remembered Marie Gangl Kyle
(their aunt) and I. F. Kyle Jr. (their cousin).

Kofering, Germany (Bavaria).
February 20, 2010.

Irvin Francis Kyle III.

Train station. Kofering, Germany (Bavaria).
The same station U.S. Army private I. F. Kyle, Jr., used in W.W. II
on his weekend visit to/from Munich and Kofering, 1946.

February 20, 2010.

Irvin Francis Kyle III.

In front of the birthplace and home (1905-22)
of grandmother Marie Gangl Kyle.
Homestead still owned and lived in by the Gangl family.

Kofering, Germany (Bavaria).
February 20, 2010.

Castle in Kofering, Germany (Bavaria).
1/4-mile from the Gangl homestead.

February 20, 2010.

St. Michael's Parish (Roman Catholic).

Home church of the Gangl family.
1/4-mile from the Gangl homestead.

Kofering, Germany (Bavaria).
February 20, 2010.

Map of Germany.

For 6 hours on February 20, 2010, I visited the rural and adjacent villages of Kofering and Scheuer in Bavaria in southeast Germany. It was a very precious and memorable visit.

With a population of about 2,400 and located 8.5 miles south of the historic city of Regensburg (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), it was in Kofering that my beloved paternal grandmother was born on January 25, 1905.


BIOGRAPHY & PRECIOUS MEMORIES

At the age of 17 in November 1922, Marie Gangl left Kofering and sailed, via Hamburg, Germany, to the United States of America. She landed on New York City's Ellis Island near Liberty Island's Statue of Liberty.

Evidently, there was a wealthy family that was friends with the Gangl family who helped secure the hard-to-obtain immigration papers for Marie. Marie was the only family member among her seven siblings (3 brothers, 4 sisters) to leave Germany after World War I (1914-18).

As a teenager, it appears that adventure and seeking a better life were the main motives behind Marie's decision.
--> NOTE: In the mid-1990s, I purchased an engraving with my grandmother's name on it during a centennial anniversary fundraising project to restore Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The engraved name (Marie Gangl Kyle) is located on Ellis Island's American Immigrant Wall of Honor, panel 240.

After marrying Irvin Frielinghausen Kyle (died 1967) in Wichita, Kansas, on September 8, 1926, Marie gave birth to my father, Irvin Francis Kyle Jr. (1927-2006), and my aunt, Lenore Anita Kyle (later Lenore Anita Thomas, 1928-2009).

After living in Germany (Kofering), Kansas (Wichita), Nebraska (Omaha), Oregon (Hood River), Illinois (Alton) and Ohio (Toledo), Marie Gangl Kyle died of Alzheimer's Disease (a form of dementia) on March 21, 1992 in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Sadly, her dementia began soon after she was violently assaulted/mugged in 1984 in Toledo, Ohio. At the time, she was on her way to get breakfast for me and a sibling while my family was visiting her on a summer vacation. Horrific, traumatic situation. (Just two years prior a teenage female cousin of mine was killed by a drunk driver on September 16, 1982. This also took place in Toledo.)

Marie Gangl Kyle is buried next to her husband at Hillcrest-West Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska. A "Together Forever" emblem, Bible emblem below Marie's name and a Masonic Lodge emblem below her husband's name are engraved on their gravestone. I visited the gravesite during a visit to Omaha in August 2008. The visit was in conjunction with the 80th birthday party of Marie's daughter, my aunt.

Except for Kansas and Illinois, I have now visited and seen most or all of the homes where Grandma Kyle lived. This includes a visit to Hood River, Oregon, in April 2009, and the still-existent apartment she and her fishing-loving husband lived in. Her husband's ill health prematurely ended their 5-7 years of peaceful retirement along the Columbia River in scenic Hood River. They had to head back to Nebraska where Grandpa Kyle's railroad retirement health insurance provided better financial coverage, so I was told.

My time with Grandma Kyle in Ohio during my foundational infant years of 2-to-5-years-old (1973-76) are my most precious memories of her, followed by the family vacations we took to see her in Toledo and her trips to see our family in Connecticut at Christmas (1976-85). In September 2014, I met for the first time Donald W. Fothergill, her pastor in Toledo, Ohio (see below).

It was when I left Grandma Kyle and moved to Connecticut with my family in 1976 that my life took a downward turn--click here to read the story on the Uncommon Christian Ministries' website.


TRIP DETAILS

My visit in February 2010 was only the fourth visit to Kofering by a Kyle family member in 64 years.

In 1946, shortly after the end of W.W. II, my father visited Kofering while on a weekend leave from the U.S. Army (see above Army photo). He was stationed near Reims, France. (Private Irvin F. Kyle, Jr., enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 10, 1945, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.) In the early 1950's, Marie returned by boat to her native village for the first and only time since immigrating to the U.S. And in October 1997, my father, mother and a sister visited.

The trip to Kofering was extra special and timely in that

+ my father and his sister (my aunt) died recently (August 2006 and November 2009, respectively);

+ two of my grandmother's nephews are still alive--Walter Brombierstaudl and Paul Gangl, both in their 70s--and remembered many things about my grandmother and my father's two visits which were separated by 51 years; (there is a third nephew, Alfonse Brombierstaudl, but was unable to meet him.)

+ many buildings that existed during my grandmother's brief 17 years in Kofering (1905-22) still exist, including the town's Roman Catholic Church (St. Michael's Parish, see above photo), inn (now a restaurant/bar owned by Regensburg's Brauerei Kneitinger), railroad station building, castle (schloss) where Marie and some family members worked (see above photo), and the Gangl family home which is still owned and occupied by the family (see above photo);

+ the Roman Catholic Church in the nearby village of Scheuer (one mile from Kofering) also stands today (the name of Faver Gangl is engraved on a memorial outside the church that is dedicated to those from the area that died during W.W. II); and

+ I had a German-to-English translator in my native German friend Friederike who I met here in Israel--I will forever be grateful to her.


REFLECTION

Uncommon Christian Grandmother? . . . German Catholic turned American "Born Again" Protestant . . . pray for Bavaria

I am so grateful to the Lord that He took my beloved grandmother out of Kofering, Germany, and sent her to America at age 17 (1922). For it was in America that she heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and apparently and hopefully "fled the wrath to come" and was "born again." I explain . . . .

Though impossible to know for sure, it appears Grandma Kyle was a Christian--that is, was born again, was a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ--and thereby had her sins forgiven and has been granted eternal life by God the Father. I hope I will see her in heaven but it is only a hope, I realize.

Grandma Kyle did not speak to me about the Gospel during my 21 years with her (1971-92). However, with only a third-to-fourth grade education, and with a son (my father) and daughter-in-law (my mother) who were raising their six children in the Roman Catholic Church, her silence on spiritual and eternal matters to me and her seven other grandchildren is somewhat understandable. Plus, during the last of these 21 years with her she was unable to remember things and speak clearly due to her dementia.

What is known and what I do remember from my childhood is that Grandma Kyle read her Bible regularly, was a woman of prayer (including before meals), attended church every Sunday (including the evangelical Washington Congregational United Church of Christ in Toledo, Ohio, under one of her beloved pastors, Donald W. Fothergill, a Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary graduate and native of West Hartford, Connecticut), attended periodic "revival" meetings, never partook of the Eucharist when attending a Catholic Mass with my family, and had evidence in her speech and actions of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, namely, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).

From what I have pieced together over the years is that my grandmother may have become a Christian in the 1940s (about age 45?) during a series of revival meetings by the evangelist-pastor and pioneer radio preacher, Dr. R. R. Brown (1885-1964), at the Omaha Gospel Tabernacle (Christian & Missionary Alliance [C&MA] denomination). Founded in 1921, "The Tab" is now called Christ Community Church.

It appears that her daughter Lenore got saved first and then brought her mother (my grandmother) to the revival meetings. Lenore would later go on to study at Minnesota's St. Paul Bible College (est. 1916, C&MA affiliate, now called Crown College) and marry Meredith Thomas. "Uncle Tommy" later become a Baptist minister and Air Force chaplain.
--> See here for the November 13, 2011, Parade Magazine article, "Could It Be Alzheimer's?" Meredith Thomas is mentioned in the article.

My father told me he attended the meetings only once for about 10 minutes and hated it because all he heard was "fire and brimstone" (preaching about hell). He never again entered the Omaha Gospel Tabernacle and would later convert to Roman Catholicism in Lourdes, France (of apparitions of the Virgin Mary fame) while a 19-year-old soldier in Germany at the end of W.W. II.

It is possible his conversion to Catholicism was a reaction to the constant preaching of his fiery redhead, German immigrant mother that he "must be born again" (John 3:3, 7). In his later years, when I politely asked if Grandma Kyle ever talked to him about being born-again when a youngster, my father told me in immediate reactionary anger, "Did she? Every day!"

As I learned first-hand in February, the villages of Kofering and Scheuer, nearby Regensburg and all of Bavaria are steeped in Vatican-style Roman Catholicism. Sadly, the Martin Luther-led Protestant Reformation did not penetrate as much into Bavaria as it did in other parts of Europe. Even today, only Saarland has a higher percentage of Catholics among the German states. While 56.4% of the population adhere to the Catholic Church, 21% are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. The former pope (2005-13), Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), was born in Upper Bavaria.

Religion remains important to many in the region, as expressed by the typical Bavarian, Austrian and Swabian greeting: "Grüss Gott!" ("God greet [you]," originally es grüsse Dich Gott--"God may bless you").
--> NOTE: In the U.S., particularly among German Americans, Bavarian culture is viewed somewhat nostalgically, and many "Bavarian villages," most notably Frankenmuth, Michigan and Leavenworth, Washington (in the North Cascade Mountains east of Seattle), have been founded.

An interesting observation and question was made my grandmother's nephew Walter while we were having dinner in Kofering. A Catholic himself along with his wife Trudy, he asked why my grandmother converted to Protestantism after she left Germany. To add to his observation, I commented that her son (my father) converted at age 19 from nominal Protestantism to Catholicism, attended a Catholic university for his B.A. and M.A. (Creighton University [Jesuit] in Omaha) and that he even studied for the Catholic (Benedictine) priesthood. And that I converted (was born again) at age 21 from nominal Catholicism to Evangelical Protestantism and graduated from three Baptist schools.

Please join me in praying for more Gospel-centered Evangelical Protestant workers to go to Kofering (and Scheuer), Regensburg and other parts of Bavaria where spiritually lost people are blinded by the deceitfulness and darkness that is the false religion of Roman Catholicism.

"The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37; Luke 10:2).

Strength in weakness through Christ . . . appearing strong vs. being weak

"So many things about you annoy me. . . .You appear to be strong but you really aren't. You are weak. I need a strong man."

Such were the words spoken to me recently by a, sadly, now ex-real time and ex-Facebook friend here in Jerusalem.

I will spare the reader of the other comments made about my alledged pride, self-pity, brainwashing ability, talkativeness and other non-glorifying-to-God behavior and character.

May the words spoken produce a spiritually poor and broken spirit in me.

"But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite/broken spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:2).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).

Upon reflection--and with my Bible-based masculinity intact--I praise the Lord for such a comment, one that I hope is and will always be true as I continue on my Christian pilgrimage of faith.

Yes, I privately and publicly confess that I am a very, very weak and desperate man in need of and dependent upon God's grace moment-by-moment and for everything, be it the constant fight against sin and temptation, wisdom in decision-making and relationships, desire to pursue and love God and not the lies of this materialistic and sin-loving world, courage to face reality and obstacles, guidance in writing a book or preparing a sermon, and even the motivation to get out of bed each morning.

It has been a glorious and adventurous 17.5 years since I began being a weak man and finding my strength in Someone much more stronger and powerful than me, namely, the God-Man and Jewish Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:19

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10

[The] joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10

Here are some verses from the New Testament (NIV) on weakness for my fellow striving uncommon Christians:

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
Matthew 26:41 (Mark 14:38)

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Romans 8:26

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29

I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. . . . We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! . . . . To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
1 Corinthians 2:3, 4:10, 9:22 (Apostle Paul)

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. . . . I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. . . . Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [the thorn in my flesh] away from me. But [Christ] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 11:30, 12:5, 12:8-10 (Apostle Paul)

[Christ] is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you. . . . We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.
2 Corinthians 13:3b-4, 13:9

For we do not have a high priest [the Lord Jesus Christ] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Hebrews 4:15

[Those who walked by faith] whose weakness was turned to strength.
Hebrews 11:34

Celebrating the Gospel this Easter . . . Gospel defined . . . James Brainerd Taylor, Gospel-centered uncommon Christian

From Jerusalem, Israel, Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday.

For the sake of those who are still spiritually "dead in [their] transgressions and sins" and are thus "by nature objects of [God's] wrath" (Ephesians 2:1-3), please join me in praying that the Gospel be preached in churches and street corners throughout the world as God's people celebrate the life, death/crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). May many people repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ this Easter season and thereby advance God's global and eternal kingdom.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written [Habakkuk 2:4]: "The righteous will live by faith."
Romans 1:16-17

Relatedly, I am excited to learn of and wholeheartedly recommend two American Evangelical Christian entities that the Lord has raised up recently to unashamedly defend and proclaim the Gospel.

Led by D.A. Carson and Tim Keller, The Gospel Coalition (est. 2005) exists to equip "the next generation for Gospel-faithful ministry and promote church reform and culture transformation." The Coalition does this by

+ providing Gospel-centered online resources;

+ posting blog entries by various theologians and pastors;

+ hosting national and regional conferences (the next national conference is April 12-14, 2011 in Chicago);

+ publishing Themelios: An International [Online] Journal for Pastors and Students of Theological and Religious Studies; and

+ helping like-minded, Gospel-centered Christian individuals and churches encourage each other--both in-person and online--via the The Gospel Coalition Network.

For the "Foundational Documents" of The Gospel Coalition--"The Gospel for All of Life, Confessional Statement and Vision for Ministry"--and a list of its members, click here.

The other Gospel-centered entity is Together for the Gospel (est. 2006). Led by friends Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C. J. Mahaney and Albert Mohler, T4G hosts a conference every two years to encourage Christians, and especially pastors and church leaders, to stand "together for the Gospel." The next conference is this month (April 13-15, 2010) in Louisville, Kentucky.

T4G is "convinced that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been misrepresented, misunderstood, and marginalized in many churches and among those who proclaim the name of Christ. Compromise of the Gospel has led to the preaching of false gospels, the seduction of many minds and movements, and the weakening of the church’s Gospel witness. The goal of [T4G's] friendships, conferences, [blog] and networks is therefore to reaffirm this central doctrine of the Christian faith and to encourage local churches to do the same."

T4G provides a nice summary of the Gospel when they state,

The Gospel is the joyous declaration that God is redeeming the world through Christ (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:68; Eph 1:7; Col 1:20), and that he calls everyone everywhere to repent from sin and trust Jesus Christ for salvation (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38, 17:30).
Each of us has sinned against God (Rom 3:23), breaking his law and rebelling against his rule, and the penalty for our sin is death and hell (Rom 6:23). But because he loves us, God sent his Son Jesus (John 3:16; Eph 2:4; 1 John 4:10) to live for his people’s sake the perfect, obedient life God requires (Rom 8:4; 1 Cor 1:30; Heb 4:15) and to die in their place for their sin (Isa 53:5; Matt 20:28, 26:28; Mark 10:45, 14:24; Luke 22:20; John 11:50-51; Rom 3:24-25, 4:25; 1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Eph 5:2; Heb 10:14; 1 Pet 3:18). On the third day, He rose bodily from the grave (Matt 28:6) and now reigns in heaven (Luke 22:69, 24:51; Heb 8:1), offering forgiveness (Eph 1:7), righteousness (Rom 5:19), resurrection (Rom 8:11), and eternal blessedness in God’s presence (Rev 22:4) to everyone who repents of sin and trusts solely in Him for salvation.

For the Affirmations and Denials document of T4G (in both English and German), click here.

James Brainerd Taylor (1801-1829), Gospel-centered uncommon Christian

Interestingly--and unlike Christmas, Independence Day (4th of July) and New Year's--the uncommon Christian and American evangelist James Brainerd Taylor never mentions Good Friday or Easter in his (extant) letters and journal entries. Nonetheless, we know that Taylor loved to preach "the truth of the Gospel" (Galatians 2:5, 2:14) by which repentant and Christ-believing sinners "are saved" (1 Corinthians 15:2).

+ I have longed to live and preach the Gospel. (Letter from Princeton University. February 13, 1825.)

+ That I have a call of God, besides, to preach the Gospel, I have no more doubt than of my existence. . . . It did not become mine but through strong cries, and many tears and wrestlings, when I was in college. . . . It is a blessing of great worth to any one who attempts to preach the Gospel to feel that he has a commission from God. I now feel as I have felt: "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16). (Letter from Trumbull, Connecticut. May 3, 1827.)

+ Never, perhaps, did any one more intensely desire to preach the Gospel than did James B. Taylor. (Memoir compilers John Holt Rice and Benjamin Holt Rice.)

 + A preacher of the Gospel. (Inscribed on Taylor's gravestone, located in the Hampden-Sydney College Church cemetery, Prince Edward County, Virginia.)

Excerpts (pages 273, 364 and 112, respectively) are from the Memoir of James Brainerd Taylor, Second Edition (New York: American Tract Society, 1833). Available online via Google Books--click here.

Christ at the Checkpoint . . . conference in Bethlehem, Palestine (West Bank) . . . thoughts and reflections, eternity and social justice

From March 12-17, 2010, Bethlehem Bible College (est. 1979) in Palestine/West Bank sponsored its inaugural conference devoted to theology and social justice.

I was able to attend the last 3 days of the conference. (The follow-up/second conference is scheduled for March 5-9, 2012.)

With its title being "Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Peace and Justice" (also "Theology of the Land"), the international conference sought "to equip the global church to understand Scripture as it relates to the Palestinian context, and to discuss the theological importance of peace and justice in an evangelical context."

Held at Bethlehem's Intercontinental Hotel (Jacir Palace), BBC's hope was "to provide a forum for evangelicals who take the Bible seriously to prayerfully seek a well-informed awareness of issues of peace, justice and reconciliation which are contextually sensitive as well profound to scriptural scholarship."

Over 15 speakers from the U.K., U.S. and Palestine/West Bank delivered lectures to the over 400 in attendance.

While most all of the speakers were from the political, social and theological left (liberal/progressive), the conference did invite two well-known conservative evangelical scholars (both whom I highly respect) to give opposing views, and especially concerning the role of ethnic and national Israel in regard to the "Promised Land"/"Holy Land" and the end times (eschatology).
--> For the full list of speakers, click here. For the lectures (downloadable in PDF format) and conference schedule, click here and here.

Though he was not able to be present in-person but only via a taped video, Systematic Theology scholar John S. Fienberg of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Illinios) gave a lecture entitled, "Must Dispensationalists Support the State of Israel--No Matter What?" And New Testament scholar Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary (Texas) spoke on "The Land in Light of the Reconciliation in Christ: A Dispensational View."

Other aspects of the unique conference featured such things as the following:

+ cultural night consisting of a traditional Palestinian dinner and a Palestinian youth and young adult dance by Diyar Dance Theater group at Dar Annadwa (International Center of Bethlehem), adjacent to the Evangelical Christmas Lutheran Church; the dance depicted the struggle between Palestinians and Israelis;

+ newly released film "With God on Our Side" by director Porter Speakman Jr. which takes a look at the theology of Christian Zionism and its emphasis on the divine right of the Jewish people concerning the land of Israel (title inspired by Joshua 5:13-14a); the film seeks to demonstrate "that there is a biblical alternative for [liberal/progressive] Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel, a theology that doesn't favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians;"
--> UPDATE: For a review, see Gerald McDermott's Jan. 18, 2011, review on the Christianity Today Entertainment Blog, "A one-sided attack on Zionism: The many problems with the documentary 'With God on Our Side'"

+ visit to the Jewish settlement of Efrat (est. 1983) in the West Bank which included a Question and Answer session with three of the settlers;

Aida Refuge Camp, West Bank

+ trip to and video about the United Nations-sponsored Aida Refugee Camp (est. 1950) adjacent to Bethlehem (see above photo of Aida's key-shaped entrance, based upon the Palestinian Right of Return as stated in U.N. Resolution 194 from 1948); the camp's adjacent Israeli-West Bank security barrier/wall stands in stark contrast to the now no longer Berlin Wall (1961-89) in Germany that I visited last month;

+ surprise visit and talk by Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Palestine National Authority (click here to read about the visit); and

+ written draft of the Bethlehem Evangelical Affirmation.

According to a World Vision press release after the conference (click here),

The population of Palestinian Christians in the occupied Palestinian territories currently stands at about 51,710 or approximately 1.37 percent of the Palestinian population. Numbers have been declining for the past century, especially since the early 1990s because of lack of freedom and security for Palestinian Christian families, as well as political instability in the region.

Thoughts & Reflections

While the conference did provide increased insight, understanding and compassion towards the plight of the oppressed and minority-within-the-minority-within-the-minority Palestinian Evangelical Protestant Christians--minority compared to Israeli Jews and West Bank Muslims and West Bank Roman Catholics and Mainline Protestants--I pray the believers in Bethlehem and the entire West Bank will not lose sight of the spiritual and eternal welfare of the lost/unsaved people around them as they fight for their political rights and social justice.

"Christ is the Checkpoint" (not "at the Checkpoint") would also have been an appropriate title for such a conference, for one day all, including Jews and Arabs,

must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinithians 5:10

May Evangelical Christians--and especially all aspiring "uncommon Christians"--throughout the globe have a proper balance and avoid extremes when it comes to being concerned about peoples' eternal and temporal welfare. May we be pro-Christ rather than pro-Israel or pro-Palestine or pro-whatever.

While I do what I can by God's grace and within my sphere of influence regarding my three main social justice concerns--namely, racial equality, religious freedom for all and peace in the Middle East--I want my social activism to be based upon the theological truth that all are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26-27) and thus deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. At the same time, I do not want to lose sight that each one of us will, upon death, either go to a sinless and Christ-exalting heaven or a miserable and Christless hell.

Therefore, we need to intentionally and lovingly tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ with our lips (verbally) along with our actions/good deeds.

Whoever believes in the Son [the Lord Jesus Christ] has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
John 3:36

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission)