Feeding the Hungry

One of the ministries we have here at WVCC is a hot meal for the homeless every Saturday afternoon. We have partnered with the Worldwide Church of God that uses our facilities on Saturday mornings, and they provide each person who comes with a bag of food for the week. Well, word has gotten out, and the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars is going to be providing the hot meal along with clothing, shoes and blankets on October 24. We are excited to be partnering with the VFW on that day. One thing we have learned here at WVCC is that cooperating with each other not only lightens the load, but allows a lot more to get done. As for why we do it - well it was Jesus himself that said when we do it to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do it for him. What could be better?

Pastor Ken

Paperwork

As I sit at my desk, I have just finished calling the immigration attorney to take the next step on getting the proper status for our new associate pastor of outreach and administration who will be helping to plant another congregation out of our church. I figure that we will be sending at least 50 pages of material to the INS for this purpose. There are pages of forms to fill out, copies of corporate documents to send and, well you get the picture. Bureaucracies live on paperwork. And that is appropriate, since as human beings we are not only not omnipotent, but we don't even have a perfect memory! Someday, however, I intend on immigrating physically to a kingdom that I have been a member of since 1971. Praise the Lord, there will be no paperwork to fill out! I have already made my reservation and, once there, have no intention of ever leaving. I trust that you intend on joining me there. And, if you are not sure about how to get there, email me and I will be happy to explain how you, too, can spend eternity in the kingdom of God. My email is: krwalters@hotmail.com

Pastor Ken

Revival?

The joy was palpable and the crowd was standing room only. I am speaking about the baptismal service at the First Armenian Assembly of God, one of the nascent congregations that are a part of West Valley Christian Center. Last night I watched and rejoiced as 30 new believers were baptized in water after having studied the contents of Christian Doctrine and Biblical teaching for several months. They were all ages and backgrounds. Some had even become Christians after having heard Pastor George Hovsepian preach on the satellite back in Iran and then coming to the United States as religious refugees (Muslims are all for religious freedom if it means converting to Islam, but to convert from Islam to Christianity is in many cases to receive a death sentence). Nor is this the end. There are 35 more ready to begin taking the pre-baptismal class for the next opportunity to be baptized. There is a real revival going on in the Iranian-Armenian community in Southern California. It was exciting to watch last night. It was also a reminder of the revival we so desperately need here in the US generally. Would you join with me in praying that God sends such a revival? It just might be the "last call" for our country and culture.

Pastor Ken

Coins with Joseph's face?

Here is a great article I just had brought to my attention that is potentially very interesting: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1253820674074&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Right now, this seems to be the only source for all of the other postings on the story, so we need to be careful about running with this. But it does bring up an interesting subject: the tendency of modern archeologists to almost completely reject written sources in favor of their own findings. Now, we all know that not every written source is to be trusted - not even the NY Times! But the archeological record is so spotty, and so open to interpretation based on the assumptions of those writing, that I have a tendency to adopt a "wait and see" approach. It always amazes me how many times the "assured findings" of archeology have proven that the Bible was wrong, only to have a later finding prove that the Bible was actually right. That has been true for over a hundred years, but it is even more important in this day of the 24 hour news cycle to withhold judgment until all the evidence is in. In the meantime, I have found the Bible significantly more trustworthy that all the other sources combined. So, I think I will stick with it!

Pastor Ken

Music

There are so many things we can thank God for. Today, I am thankful for music. Oh, I realize that many might point to evolutionary reasons and maybe even evolutionary advantages to the production of music. Yada, yada. The pure enjoyment that music gives exceeds any "advantage" bestowed. I never cease to be amazed at how people think that, just because they have come up with an idea of how something came about, they have exhausted all there is to know about it. Is there some kind of benefit bestowed by the ability to make music? Maybe. But today, I am just enjoying it! With music I can calm the soul, communicate my feelings, and most of all, worship God. CS Lewis wrote once of a man who had determined how the body digests food, and therefore thought he had exhausted all there was to know. He starved. He forgot that we still need to eat. Well, I still need to relax. love, and worship. Thank God for the music that helps me do just that.

Pastor Ken

Misunderstandings

I just finished meeting with the Pastor of our Armenian congregation, a great man of God who has suffered much persecution and has come here to the US to minister to other religious refugees of Armenian background. During our discussion, we were talking about Bylaws and governance (exciting, huh?) when he asked about some church ownership and relationship with the General Council details. The details aren't important, but what we both realized was that we do things very differently from how they were done in Iran. And that reminded me of the times when serious disagreements have ended up being based on assumptions on the part of both parties that the other party was not even aware of. I once worked for a pastor who said that one of the biggest mistakes we make in relationships is "imputing bad motive" - assuming that the reason the other person did something we don't like is because they meant to hurt us! It is amazing how often that turns out not to be true. When I was growing up, my mother used to encourage me to give other people "the benefit of the doubt." After our discussion today, I realized that that is still good advice today.

Pastor Ken

College?

One thing that the parable of the workers tells us is that God can and does save and call us at various times in our lives. God's salvation is the same for one who comes late in life as it is for one who comes early in life, although the quality of this life will certainly be affected by when you make that decision to accept God's love in Jesus Christ. The same is also true about the call to ministry - God calls people early and he calls them late in life. Many of our most faithful ministers of the gospel have been called in their 30s or 40s or ever later after having been saved a little later in life. That is why I have always supported the alternative ministerial training opportunities the Assemblies of God have traditionally offered. They are vital, especially for those whose call to ministry precludes them from attending the traditional 4 year college. But that doesn't mean that we should ignore the traditional route. Indeed, if someone has been privileged to come to the Lord at an early age and to be called to ministry, perhaps while in High School, I still think that getting one's theological education at one of our 4 year colleges is the preferred route. I know it is expensive - but our God will always help us with what He has called us to. So if you are younger and sensing a call of God to ministry - don't hesitate to check out some of those admittedly expensive, but excellent colleges. You will be pastoring people who have 4 year degrees. It will help if you have one, too. Or, that is at least how it seems to me!

Pastor Ken