BATON ROUGE, COVINGTON, MINDEN, PERU MISSION, AND MONDAY MORNING FOR MEN IN RUSTON

September 19, 2012

 

Greetings, friends!   We give thanks to our Lord for you and for your prayers. 

 

BATON ROUGE, LA – First Baptist Church:  I am very grateful to Pastor Oren Conner for the privilege of preaching at First Baptist on Sunday, September 9^th.  This was very special for me for two reasons.  First, this congregation has very warmly hosted our weekly Gathering of Men luncheon since 1999. Also, this was the first church that I visited when I came to LSU as a freshman in the summer of 1968.  I was something of a wandering, seventeen-year-old soul as I sat near the back of that beautiful sanctuary with its massive white pillars.  Little did I know that one day my Lord would actually allow me to serve Him in that very pulpit from which Dr. Norris Palmer preached to me on that morning. 

 

COVINGTON, LA – Grace Family Church:  On Saturday, September 8^th, through the kind invitation of Lavon Welch, Ed Miltenberger, and Eric Cooper, I led a seminar on how to preach from the epistles at GFC.

 

MINDEN, LA – First Baptist Church:  A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with Ty Pendergrass, Pastor Leland Crawford, and Ass’t. Pastor Jim Wallace to discuss strategy for the establishment of a men’s ministry at First Baptist Church.  They are now moving forward with their plan!  On Thursday, October 11^th, our long-time friend, Judge Wayne Smith of Ruston, LA, will be the speaker for an evening outreach event. Please pray for Wayne, and if you are in that area, I hope you will consider attending this meeting.  In January FBC will begin their weekly ministry to men as Pastor Leland will be teaching “The Quest for Authentic Manhood” (a series written by our brother Robert Lewis, also originally from Ruston).    

 

PERU MISSION – Seminary (Presbyterian):  Through the invitation of another dear friend Steve Hill, I will be teaching expository preaching in the seminary of Peru Mission from October 1-10. I have also been asked to speak at evening outreach meetings. For several days, I will be in the city of Cajamarca (pop. 217,000) which is situated in the northern highlands at an altitude of 8,900 ft.  One of our visits to churches will take Steve and me into a remote area even higher in the Andes Mountains.  Then on Friday, October 5^th, we will take an overnight bus down to Trujillo (pop. approx. 315,000) on the Pacific coast where I will preach at several churches on Sunday and will then teach another group of seminary students, beginning on Monday. Please pray for safety and for effectiveness in teaching. Also, please pray for Steve and his wife Dianne. 

 

RUSTON, LA – "Monday Morning for Men":  A new, but long-awaited ministry endeavor!  As some of you know, Ruston, Louisiana is very dear to us.  In the 1970's and early '80's, we enjoyed wonderful years in ministry there before moving to England in 1984.  Twenty-four years later, in 2008, our son Jake and his family moved back to Ruston.  Since before he arrived in Ruston, he has strongly encouraged me to do men's ministry there.  Well, at last, on Monday morning, September 17^th, at 6:00 a.m., we began! 

 

Exactly 40 of us came into the lovely conference room provided by First National Bank.  The men came from a number of churches and denominations.  Their ages ranged from about twenty to eighty!  My message was on the never-ending discovery of God:  “You shall seek Me and find Me when you search for me with your whole heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). We then divided into small groups for discussion of the passage and prayer.  

 

Would you please pray for the protection of this effort and of all of the men who are involved? Please pray for Bec and me as we make this weekly 8-hour round trip, and please pray and ask God to cause all of us to grow in our obedience to that commandment that guides us into the fullness of who we are as human beings: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39). 

A brother in Ruston has developed a website: www.mondaymorningformen.org   There you can find our guide for meditation and an audio file on the great commandment. It is entitled “The Great Theme of Your Life”

In our great Savior,

 

Rod and Bec

 

P.S.  As we are about to enter the final quarter of this year, we must address the matter of finances in a bit more direct way.  We need additional monthly supporters.   Please know that any amount will be deeply appreciated.  Thank you for whatever you may feel led to do.  

Becoming Anglican

August 13, 2012

 

Dear friends,

 

For many years, Becky and I have been on a long, much blessed journey.  It all began in 1984 when we and our boys moved to England where I studied with John Stott, and we had our first experience with the Church of England.  Week after week and month after month, we had tremendous joy in our worship, our fellowship, our study, and our service with Anglicans.  What we did not realize was that we were at the beginning of a winding and sometimes uphill road that would at last take us into the Anglican Church. 

 

About ten years ago, Becky and I became aware of a new conservative, evangelical movement among Anglicans in the United States.  Because of the extreme liberalism that had become pervasive in the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A., many Bible-believing Episcopalians were assembling themselves in a new expression of American Anglicanism.  These conservative Episcopalians were placing themselves under the oversight of conservative archbishops in Africa and Asia as a number of these groups were being established all over America.  As soon as Becky and I became aware of this unprecedented situation in Anglicanism, we began our quest.  We wanted to know if God was calling us to be a part of this movement.  Over the past decade, Becky and I have attended large conferences as well as small meetings of Anglicans, and we have spent many, many hours in counsel with Anglican leaders who have been very helpful and strongly encouraging toward us.  And now at last we have reached our destination. 

 

I know that you will have a number of questions.  I will try to briefly answer the most important ones.

 

1.  Nothing will change in our ministry with The Mission Foundation.  Becky and I will continue to do all of the work we have been doing in the past.   I will continue to serve at the Louisiana State Capitol, with The Gathering of Men, and in Developing World countries.  Becky will be going forward with her ministry to women both in the U.S. and abroad.  As in the past, our ministry will always be trans-denominational. 

2.  Becky and I will continue to be dependent upon friends like you for the financial support of our ministry with The Mission Foundation.  We want to say again that any monthly support of The Mission Foundation is greatly appreciated.  We need your involvement.  Even the smallest monthly gift is a great blessing to us.  If you are not presently involved, would you please consider becoming a monthly supporter?

3.  I have met with our presbytery (Southeast LA Presbytery of the PCA) and have explained to them why I am becoming an Anglican.   I assured them of my love for them and of my anticipation of good co-laborship with them in the Lord’s harvest here in LA.  I am in good standing with my presbytery.  I have no conflicts with any of my brothers in the PCA.  A letter that affirms my good standing has been sent from Rev. Scott Lindsay, clerk of our presbytery, to the Western Gulf Coast Diocese of the Anglican Church.

4.  Becky and I are joining the Anglican Church in North America.  I am NOT joining The Episcopal Church whose leaders have departed from Biblical theology and have begun ordaining homosexuals.

5.  There are about 78 million Anglicans in the world today.  As is the case with many denominations, the Anglican Church is growing most rapidly in the Global South where Anglican preachers are proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus with great zeal.  It has been my privilege to serve among many of them in Africa. 

 

I am very happy to say that Becky and I are taking this step with the blessing of our board of directors.  Also, we are deeply grateful for letters of recommendation that have been sent to the Anglican Church by those with whom we have been associated in ministry for many years.

 

In closing, we are very thankful to have friends like you.  In just a little while, we will all be before our King.  We must remember the words of Jesus to His disciples, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.” (John 9:4)  Let’s get on with the work until He comes, or until we go to Him! 

Meet you at the finish line!

 

Rod and Bec

Rodney and Becky Wood, serving at home and faraway

Rodney and Becky

Dr. Rodney Wood and his wife Becky have ministered in many contexts here in the U.S. and in other countries.  Rodney is the Director of The Gathering of Men of Baton Rouge, a marketplace ministry for men.  Also, since 1993 Dr. Wood (a seventh generation Louisianan) has ministered at the Louisiana State Capitol.  Rodney and Becky have also ministered internationally.  Rodney leads seminars on expository preaching as an International Facilitator with John Stott Ministries, and he has taught at a Bible college in Uganda and served as a professor at Ukraine Biblical Seminary.  For many years, Becky has taught and discipled women.  She continues to engage in that ministry not only in the U.S. but in a number of other countries in which she and Rodney work together.  

Ministry to the Louisiana Legislature

Since 1993 Dr. Wood (a seventh generation Lousianan) has ministered at the Louisiana State Capitol. "When I was a university student (and even before that time as a boy), I had very privately-held thoughts of one day serving in our state government.  However, the calling that God had for me was different than I had originally imagined.  What a blessing it has been." - Rodney Wood

Dr. Wood in the House of Representatives

Senator Robert Adley and Senate President John Alario

Opening the Senate in Prayer

Senator Francis Thompson in the Louisiana Senate Chamber

Invocation - The House of Representatives

Rep. Hollis Downs and Rep. Frank Hoffman

Governor Bobby Jindal

Ministry to Men

For 19 years, Rodney has led The Gathering of Men here in Lousiana.  But he has also established men's ministries in Sheffield, England and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that are continue to thrive under the leadership of nationals in those countries.

  

Men's Retreat

Men's Ministry, Sheffield, England

Rod with some of the brothers in Sheffield

International Ministry to Pastors

and other church leaders

Rodney and Becky's ministry has taken them to many countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia,Croatia, Czech Republic, Albania, Ukraine, Russian, The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, England, and a closed country in East Asia. Some of this travel has pertained to his work with John Stott Ministries.  Ten years ago, Rod's teacher and mentor Dr. John Stott invited him to be involved in an effort to establish a world-wide movement of expository preaching in developing countries.  In addition to JSM's preaching seminars, Rod has also taught at a Bible college and a seminary, and Bec has taught and discipled women.  In this presentation, we will only be able to highlight our work in Africa.  

But first we would like to share a picture that was taken at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity not very long before our family moved to Covington.   

WITH JOHN STOTT WHILE LIVING NEAR LONDON
JUST TWO YEARS BEFORE WE CAME TO SERVE AT TRINITY CHURCH IN 1986

Serving in Africa

Rod and Bec have served in countries in both East and West Africa

Affy and Femi Adelye (one of Rod's teaching colleagues)

Archbishop Henri Orombi and his wife Phoebe, one of Rod's students at Kampala Evangelical School of Theology in Uganda

Delegates at our first preaching seminar in central Tanzania

Teaching with Swahili translation

Teaching at a Bible college in Uganda

Teaching at a preaching seminar

Tanzanian delegates listening intently

Bec's translator leans in to capture the words

Bec teaching the women's fellowship that she established at a Bible college

What Bec loves to do

And this is what she has always loved most!

______________________________

We are extremely grateful to our Lord for the many opportunities

He has given us to serve His people.  However, . . .  

Sometimes one becomes so tired that she can sleep anywhere, even on the floor in the Nairobi Airport!

But our Lord is pleased to give us energy.
So, by His grace, we pick up our bags and go again!

THANK YOU, FRIENDS,
 FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS 
AND FOR 19 YEARS OF MONTHLY SUPPORT 
OF US IN OUR WORK.  THANKS FOR KEEPING US GOING!
With love to you all!

Rod and Bec

"Flushing Out Fear With Faith in Jesus"

Dear friends,

The days of this new year seem to be quickly clicking by, and January will soon be “in the books.” So may I ask you to stop for a moment and look back over the little stretch of road just behind you? What do you see? Have you been making good progress in your personal holiness and in your service to our Lord’s Church? Are you encouraged about the prospects of a fruitful 2012? I hope you are. But if you are not, may I suggest that you consider the extent to which fear may possibly be causing a drag on your spiritual legs?

What fears might you have? Fears about matters pertaining to your children, grandchildren, parents, or spouse? Fears related to your vocation, finances, health, or church relationship? Fear concerning your ability to endure some great emotional pain? Or possibly fear of fear itself? What causes fear in your heart?

On Friday morning, January 10^th, I was meditating on John 14 in which we hear Jesus’ words to His disciples who were experiencing great fear on that singularly dark night before the crucifixion. His words to those men are ones that you and I should gather into our own hearts: “Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me”(vs. 1) and “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (vs. 27).

Jesus tells His disciples to let faith flush fear right out of their hearts! He tells them to believe in God the Father and in Him. And He couples this loving command to have faith with some amazing words of promise and reassurance. Because, by grace, I am a friend (John 15:14) and follower of Jesus, I sought to receive His words into my fear-prone heart in the most personal way possible. I wrote the following in my journal last Friday (which I am only slightly altering here). Maybe you will find it helpful to take up these words (and/or other similar ones that you might write):

• Jesus has prepared a place for me. (vs. 2-3)
• I know the “way”. I know You, Jesus. (vs. 4-6)
• I know God the Father. (vs. 7-10)
• I believe that Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. (vs. 11)
• I believe Jesus when He says that I will do “greater works” than the ones He did when He was here 2,000 years ago. Why? Because He has gone to the Father where He is now my great Mediator in whose Name I can pray so that He will do great things through me! (vs. 12-14)
• I love Jesus; so I will keep His commandments. (vs. 15)
• Jesus has given me the Helper, the Spirit of Truth who will be with me forever, and I know the Spirit of Truth because He lives in me. (vs. 16-17)
• I have not been left as an orphan; Jesus has come and has remained with me. (vs.l8)
• I behold Jesus here this morning. (vs. 19)
• Because He lives, I live. (vs. 19)
• I know that not only is Jesus “in” His Father but also Jesus is “in” me and I am “in” Him. “I in you” – What amazing words! (vs. 20)
• I have Jesus’ commandments, and I keep them because I love Him. Furthermore, Jesus loves me, and His Father (and my Father) loves me, and Jesus will disclose Himself to me, even as He is doing right now. (vs. 21)
• Because I love Jesus and keep His word, God the Father loves me, and He and Jesus have come to me and have made their abode with me! (vs. 24)
• I have the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom God the Father has sent to me in the Name of Jesus, and the Spirit is teaching me. (vs. 26)
• I rejoice this morning because Jesus went to be with the Father. (vs. 28)

“Lord Jesus, I need Your ministry in my heart by the Holy Spirit to help me believe and fully lay hold of the things I have written above. Please work in me this morning.”

I share this journal entry with the prayer and earnest hope that you might be stirred to meditate on John 14 and that the Holy Spirit will enable you to hear the fear-shattering words of Jesus in your own heart!

Walking with you as fellow pilgrims in the Savior's love,

Rod (for Bec and me)

John Stott's Memorial Service to be held in London on January 13th

I TOOK THIS PICTURE IN EARLY 1985 AT THE LONDON

INSTITUTE. WHEN I RETURNED TO THE U.S., I REFERRED

TO THIS MOMENT BETWEEN JOHN STOTT AND THIS LADY

AS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I SAW DURING MY YEAR

IN THE UK.

It has been almost 28 years since John and I first became friends. I was only 33 years old when he greeted me with a warm embrace and with very kind, receiving words at the door of All Souls: "Rod, my dear brother, how good it is to have you with us." That brotherly welcome and the genuine, loving interest he immediately took in my life forever altered the pathway of our family. He and Martyn Eden had allowed me to attend the Clergy School at LICC, although I was not a clergyman at the time. During those days in May of 1984, John granted my request to do the Christian in the Modern World course (and other studies) at LICC, and he invited me to be in his tutorial group and to meet with him individually over the course of my time at the institute. Becky, the boys, and I then moved to the UK in early August and were there for almost exactly one year to the day. But when we returned to the U.S., the friendship continued between John and each one of our five family members.

Jim, John, Becky, Jake, Uncle John, and Rod - London, 1984

Birdwatching on the levee of the Mississippi River, 1987

Uncle John and "Johnny" (Uncle John was

called this as a boy, and so he chose to

call our John the same.) pause at the edge

of an oxbow lake near the Mississippi

River to look at waterfowl, 1996.

I want to write much more about John's great friendship toward us -- of how he encouraged me to pursue ordained ministry (on a particular evening at 12 Weymouth), of how he initiated a visit to our home in Baton Rouge and spent several days with us (with no ministry engagements on the schedule here), of blessed days of birdwatching in Louisiana and at the Hookses, of laughter (until tears poured from his eyes!) over the reading of Saki, of the invitation to be a part of the Langham work, . . . . Beyond any further mention of our shared experiences, I will simply say that John was a real friend -- a lasting friend -- to Becky, to me, and to our sons, Jake, Jim, and John.