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Dear friends,
Yesterday the 2010 Session of the Louisiana Legislature came to a close. It was a very challenging year for the senators and representatives as they had to make difficult decisions regarding the budget. Although the session is over, they continue to need your prayers. I hope that you will pray for them and for our governor Bobby Jindal.
As all of you know, in addition to the economic woes that are facing our country as a whole, we have this massive disaster on our coast. Yesterday the Governor participated in a special prayer meeting in the great hall at the Capitol’s entrance known as Memorial Hall. He and others called out to God, asking Him to stop the oil spill, to minister to the needs of those families who are suffering financially, and bring restoration to the environment. May our Lord help us all to pray to Him and truly trust in Him.
Some of you have asked how things went in The Dominican Republic. There are many things I could write about the experiences of the 26 people who participated in this medical/evangelistic mission led by our son Jake and Matt Slate of Crossroads Church of Ruston. However, I will only mention a couple.
First, it was a great joy to see team members who for the first time were having the opportunity to serve the men, women, and children of that island, as they attended to the medical needs of the Dominicans as well as a few Haitians. But I must point out that there was one first-timer who often held my gaze: my ten-year-old granddaughter Elizabeth, who worked daily as her daddy’s truly valuable assistant. I am giving thanks to God, even as I write this letter.
But there was one other experience that I would like to share. I had always wondered whether it might be possible to effectively articulate the Gospel in a language that one does not know. I decided to try. I sat with two Dominican men (a teenager and a former baseball player), who knew almost no English but were willing to read a Gospel tract out loud with me in Spanish. As we would read, they would pause to help me with pronunciations. It created a wonderful dynamic as they became my teachers while I sought to communicate the Gospel to them. When I would come to a word with which I was having difficulty, I would ask, “Ok?” and upon receiving their approving response, I would move on. At the end of each section, I would say, “Comprende?” And they would reply, “Si.” After completing the reading, I called for the translator who then helped me discuss the Gospel with these two men. The conversation was greatly blessed. In fact, the former ballplayer went home and got his wife, who practices voodoo, and brought her back with him, sat her down beside me, and asked me to share the Gospel with her. What a great time I continued to have as I shared the Gospel by reading in Spanish with individuals and groups who lovingly helped me as I stumbled along. I hope that maybe my sharing of this experience will encourage you to consider learning to read a Gospel tract in the language of the country to which you will go on a short-term mission. It will build bridges of love.
Speaking of bridges of love, some have inquired about the Reconciliation Service of Christ Community Church and Crossroads Church of Ruston, LA. Well, brothers and sisters, God’s display of His grace and mercy in and among His people was so great that I can only echo the words of a note I received from my friend Robert Lewis: “This weekend was one of the best of my life. What a praise to our God!”
Dear friends, is there anyone from whom your heart may have slightly, or greatly, moved away? If so, I pray that today you will call them, write them, go see them: let God’s grace and mercy work in and through you!
Your brother always,
Rod (for my dear Bec and me)
Dear friends,
In only a little over 24 hours, I will be privileged to participate in a marvelous display of restored beauty – the beauty of brothers and sisters assembling together in love for one another and in shared adoration of the Savior. Praise be to our infinitely merciful Heavenly Father Who guides His people into mercifulness toward one another and then – oneness!
Fifteen years ago, the people of Ruston saw an ugly, embarrassing rift in Christ Community Church. It was a church that had been planted ten years earlier by close friends who had enthusiastically shared a common vision. It was a church that enjoyed a good reputation with the people of Ruston. But in 1995 there was anger. There was confusion. Some left. Some stayed. All were sad. Within a few years, another church was established – Crossroads Church. Both churches flourished in ways that were quantifiable, but they languished in unresolved conflict. The haze of disharmony hung over their testimony in North-Central Louisiana.
However, one man never gave up hope of reconciliation, although the possibility of any kind of coming together seemed more than remote. Through the years, he remained determined and ever prayerful that the divide would be healed – completely healed. I well remember my doubtfulness in the face of his hopefulness.
But friends, we have a prayer-answering, faithful God! At last this brother's prayers (and the prayers of others) were answered! They were answered through the workings of God's Hand in the heart of a much younger man. This young leader from Crossroads found himself, through no provocation of any man's words, feeling compelled to address the seemingly unaddressable. He reached across the divide and made an appointment with a dear friend from Christ Community, and together these two church leaders took the first step on what would prove to be a lengthy and sometimes challenging journey – one that would ultimately include every man and woman who had been involved in or impacted by the intense strife that severely marred the loveliness of Christ's holy community.
As the number of those involved in the restoration process increased, the reach of the effort went back much farther than the 1995 crisis and much deeper than anyone could have anticipated. It went to the very roots of the discord! While it led to the revealing of long-borne pain, it also brought about the unveiling of long-hidden beautiful scenes in a story that began decades ago. Thanks be to God!
I write these things to you this afternoon for two reasons. First, I have been traveling toward this moment since the day my dear bride, our little son Jake, and I first came to North Louisiana when I was 24 years old, and I cannot describe to you the joy I feel in my heart as the hour nears when my old friend Robert Lewis and I will join with others in leading this reconciliation service tomorrow night, May 22nd, at Christ Community Church. Secondly, I know that many of you have experienced division in your churches and distance in certain personal relationships. I pray that some of you who are reading this letter will pick up the telephone and take the first step in restoring relationships between churches and between individuals. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." May this be our testimony with all men!
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)
Your brother always – because we have a good and faithful Father,
Rodney
