The Ohio Independent Baptist, November 1960

1 0, ember, 1960 THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST Page Thirteen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~__:_:~~~~ Ministering to Navy Birdmen Chaplai11 D. A. Vaite, CHC, U R, aval Air Sta tio1 , Corpus Christi , Texas Many centuries ago, Job sta ted : "... the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the 11ame of the Lord. " ( Job l :2lb ). uch is ot1r life-getting and giving up, though it is not always the Lord p erhaps that is behind it. Blessing Recei'ced . Since our las t article, the Lord h as b een blessing His W ord. During the month of August , ,ve had a yot1ng p eoples' military youth camp at Camp Brown– ,,·ood , BrOv\'Il\:vood , T exas. I was asked to be the Camp Chaplain, in ch arge of morning d evotions ii1 the chap el , n oon d evotions, and evening , ~espers. About 150 young p eopl e of the Army, avy, a11d Air Force gathered for Camp . 111 the morning we discussed for d evotion s Old Testa– ment characters who were proud to b e God's followers, and in the vespers , we discussed ew T estament charac– t ers who were proud to be Christia11s. The Lord blessed and gave partict1lar liberty in the evening sermons. At the close of camp, we preached on John 1 : 10-14, and had a decisio11 night. We h ad cards with a number of pos– sible decisions , inclt1ding the main one, " I d esire to accept Christ as my personal Savior." I asked h ow many had trusted Christ for the first time during the week, a1d about 20 r aised their hands. Then I asked how many others desired to t rus t Him fo r t l1e first t i1ne that 11igl1t , and about 10 otl1ers indicated tl1is decision . \ Vhen t l1 y wen t l)ack to t h ir cabi11s w itl1 th ir O\~ couns lors a 11cl f ill d ot1t t l1eir decisio11 c·ards, ther wer a total of 66 out <)f 14,5 cards turnecl i11 w}10 i11dic·ated tl1at tl1ey <l sir cl lo trust Ili1n as J)Cr5C)t 1al 5tl vic)1. Arr1azeme,,t Registerecl v 11 tl tl1 Lord 1nov d h ·c1rts as If > die] i 11 tl1,tl mi) i tary ca111p, I ,vas arna/ d. C>lt say, "\ }1>' w r • yot1 ,11n,t /' <l?,, Be– Cf1t1s t l1 leacl r of tl1 c,ttTi fl \V,lS , t1 1 E1)isco11alia11 a11cl \\ 1 ,1s, i 11 g 11 ral, <>1 - pos cl tc1> d ~c isif)JlS for l1rist , tl1i1 k– i11g tl1at rnost ,1Jl i11 a ll )11<l,t11c w r ' ' J ristit111s a1r >ad}'." 1""11 Lorcl l1acl l1is SU d 'OUI S )lc,r.s }1 >f'" a 11(l tl1 ... r , XVII . GETT! G A D GIVI G UP however , and opened up the way for the d ecision night. The p ower of the Word of God , vas felt by all as we heard abou t Jt1das, Pe ter , Stephen , icodemus, a1d Paul . In military chapels and services, things are so formal and cold. E videntl y the young p eople in the milita ry sense the ir need for Jesus l1rist jt1s t tl1e same as i11 our ovvn cht1rches . Wha t an amaz– ing "power of God u1 to salvati on" is the gospel of Christi Prayer Reqt,ired . W ould you p ray for these who have made decisions for Chri t ? They need to grow i11 Christ or el e much of their impetus and decision wil l cot1nt fo r little. I sent each of the 66 a cop y of Dr. DeH aan's Daily Bread d aily d evo– tion s which may be h elpful for them to d evelop a daily time with the Lord. In the absence of a sound local church into which to send these 11ew believers (which is God 's own tried , tested , and approved me thod of Christian fol low-up ), prayer is the only thing possible. They l1ave scat– tered to their military b ases, all over T exas, and are n o longer subject to our hrist -ce11tered preaching, but only to , vhatever type of Chaplain 1night be in tl1eir base chap el . Prayer is the only resource I know i11 such a condition, will you h lp us in this? Min istry Re-opened. 01 nie and I were glad to see the unclay morn– i11g 1n i11istry re-op 11 d for t1s h r in orpt1s hristi . Yot1 m,1 y reme1nber PORT that since last Ma rch , we have not been scheduled in t11e morning, just in the evening service weekl y. I preached 01 ce i11 eptember , and twice in October to the morning group of peop le . This is encouraging si11ce it means a change in policy on the p art of the p ovver tha t be. A1inistry Removed . Just today, however , our hearts "vere saddened as ,ve learned that tl1e eve11i1 g service , vh ich vve had r }1arge of for 57 ,:veek in a ro,v is no lo11ger in our ca.re , but as of ovember will be divided up and given to all f i,,e Protesta1 t chap– lains equally one n1onth a t a time. I will not have cl1arge again l1r1t il next March , 1961. This was a sornce of blessing and encouragement to me as I preached the vvord for over a year in tl1is service. We took up Joh11, Roman s, H ebrevv , 8 ad were begin- 11ing 1 Peter . The Lord's ways are past finding OLl t , bt1t we pray tha t H e might bless in the morning min– istry and kee1) that door open no,,, that the evening ervice ha clo ed almo t shut. (These vie\\.' are perso1 al a1d do 11ot neces arily reflect those of the U . avy.) ----------- II igl1 ,,,ag do 110 good to the ma.11 , ;vl10 ha bc>e11 Ollt-priced of <1 job b)T Te1~ma11 car or J apa11e e . tee1.' SSIONS I with you r PRAYER , GIFT P .O. Box 465 1-Ielp the FELLOWSlllP OF BAPTISTS FOR HOME l\llSSIONS Rechurch America with .. ound Baptist hurches Jllyria, Ohio