The Ohio Independent Baptist, August 1961

August, 1961 GARBC CONFERENCE GREATEST EVER <Continued trom ~e 2 ) mark if 15 churches had no t been dropped -some because they had gone on t of exist– ence " ' hich must mean that M a tt . 16: 18 does not mean a local church. Others had either cha nged to another association o r con,vention. or decided thev wanted com– plete independence. We always feel like local churches disciplining members " 1 hen ":e have to vote to drop names, but it is part of our belief in the sovereignty o f the local church . We won' t say w e be– lieve it, as some convention leaders do, and then turn around and sue a church that wants to exercise its sovereignty, as ,vas done to a 4,000 member church in Wichita, Kansas, ,,vhen it withdrew from the ABC. Dr. Ketcham reported o n all he had done to help that church win its case, as it did, but explained that very likely that g reat church will never want to come in ,vith vs, nor wot1ld we receive it unt il it become m ore Baptistic; but the point is that we believe the old his– tori c Baprist d0r tr ine that a Bat") ti st ch t1 rch can withdraw from an association or con– vention .., , ithout prejudice to its denomina– tional standing." If chu~ches want to withdrav, from us, we grant their request wi thout question. Tha t is v. 1 hy more and more inderendent Baptis t ch urches feel it 1s safe to come i nto our fellowship. Seventy-three asked to come in, and o nly some 9 living church e<; asked to with– drav.,-one o f those from the comp lete misundersta nding that we demand that they supnor t our ~t')oro,,e1 missio ns! Dr. Paul J ackson, our National Representative, explained that there was not o ne word of truth in that idea. We do like to h ave them support ou r approved agencies, and oromote them; bt, t our ch urches are p er– fectly free to jg nore our p romo tion and support non-approved missions, and manv of them do, some o f them a ltogether! We even report their missio nary g iving and make no d;stinction in our statistics Wl1at is something the conven tions do not do. Growinq Pains As the GARBC has g ro~n, we have had to increase che off1c1al family, a nd like a father of a J.~rowing family, we have ou r dif ficulcies. We bezan as a simple fel– lov.1sl1ip, wirh only a magazine and a volunteer editor jusc as here in Ohio; bur nov.' the GARB( publishes un<lay school l ireratu re, and traces and booklets, and hard as our scaf f 1nemhers \, ..o rk, they have l1ad to seek more l1el p. The crou l)le is so f ev.• churc}ies see che need of sup– (>Orcin ~ this l1orne r11issio11ary accivirv. Last year che association had to spend I ,1,500 more tl1an che year before, L)uc onlv 2,560 more came from cl1e cl1orches. l!acl1 year tl1e deficit l1as g1ov.·n. until ~ t the t in1e <)f our annual meeting ic scood ar 19,564. A generous offering wo.s received to liquid- ce ic, but clie cl1urcl1es are goinv to l1ave co learn co give 1nore, c)r '-' e \\ 1 il] .e.o tl1e v.ay of our national governmenc-witllout Jl ,, I' "f ,noney credir! .,h~rl1er nacionally or state-,vise, the ed1tor 11 s never Ileen allle to see cl1e Jogi of llelong1n~ ro an organi~acion ,virl1our sui>J ortjng i1 Xll1erever "-'' have gone, ,, h ,e se n co it that our chur h su1>- J r(ed 11s o 1 taon, even i 1c ould only do so 1n maJJ ;a. , A hu r h so J>OOr tho, 1r annoc gt e l O a year ro the s.. s J r,on ouel1c co gee 11,.lo from 1r 1 rer 11ur 11 I f ur e, I f 01 P 11 • l1e f <>r help II 1rs n1en1bers ou :,}1c t t)egin t THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST Page Seven HOW TO REVERSE THAT DOWNWARD TREND By Pastor Lynn Rogers, ~orthfield Baptist Chl1rch (Pastors, file this in )'Our ~l ay file of ideas and don't forget to t «:1ke it out next spri11g, dust it and pt1t it a11d your people to ,,,ork. Editor) "Satan" is the summer theme in most of our adult departme11ts tl1is ,'ear. I \\'Onder if ,ve aren't guilty of giving him a field day , vhile ,,,e take , holi– clay. Since summer time is vacatio11 time, ,ve 11att1rall)' expect a slump in all our ser,·ices . H o\ve, ,er , \\'e picked tip an idea at ,l u11day cl1ool con– v·entio11 tl1at ,vas designed to do so1nethi1 g abot1t this summer slt1mp. H ere is tl1e idea. Pl a11 a RE\rER .1-\L l 1 ~DAY. Ex,11ni11e , ·our u11 - day scl1ool record from last st1mmer ancl 11ote t11e t111da\ ' on \\.hich • • vot1 hacl vot1r lo,\,e t atter1dance. The11 clelil)eratel\· set out to re\ ·er e the ~ . , lo\\' t111da)' of l,1st )'ear-a11<l make it tl1e l1ighest u11cla}' of this year. This is \\·hat ha11pe1 ed wl1en \\'e tried it. 111 1950, tl1e eco11d t111da 1, of July \ VclS our lowest Su11day - \vitl1 011ly 176 i11 uncl,1y chool. i11ce our record attenda11ce ,vas 332. \ Ve set ot1r RE\ 1 ER AL UNDAY at 333. ,,ye had bright-colored cards printed ,vl1icl1 aid: "COlT~T ME! The Lord \\ 1 ill– ing ( Jarnes 4: 1.5), I ,vill be one of the 333 011 RE\ 1 ER AL l TND.~Y, Jtil)· 9, 1961-9:45 A.M. - ~orthfielcl Bap tist Cht1rch ." The pri11ter perforated the card , a11d t111der the perforatio11 put li11es for 11nme a11cl address. A carcls ,vere sig11ecl, 11a1nes a11<l acldresse \\'ere tur11ed b1 , bt1t each i11d1\·iclt1<1l kept t l1e top sec tio11 as a remi11der of l1is pro1ni e. \ Ve b ega11 promoti11g Reversal St111cla y six "''eeks i11 adv·a11ce of tl1e l)i g day. A postor in the foyer clearly sho,ved ho, v mt111)' had alread)' declarecl tl1eir i11te1 tio11 to be i11 Su11day scl1ool 011 Jt1ly 9 by igning carcl . B} tl1e tin1e Reversal Sunclay arrived, 36.5 11acl sig1 ecl ( ho,ve, ,er, some , vho h a, ·e "good i11te11tiorls'' still c1on't make it ) . \, 1 e k11e,,· six staff 1nember , ,~11cl at le~:1s t 2.5 "regul~1rs" ,,,ould be alJsent l)ecat1se of , ·aca tio11 ~111cl ick11e . T l1e people \, 1 orked hard ; they sho,\·ed their entl1t1sias1n! \ \ 1 e anti c· ipatecl breaki11g the record-a11d \\'e did-as 351 fot111 cl their ,va)· i11to u11da>' cl1ool 011 J t1ly 9. Six out of seve11 clep artme11ts a11cl 24 of the 29 cl(1s e me t tl1eir i11di, iclt1al goals. Of the .365 tl1at sig11ecl carcl , o, ·er 300 ci1me (1na1l}' of the ·e ,, ere 11e\\ 1 co11tacts-,1 tot<1l of 42 visitors registerecl for the cl,1~ ) . Re, er!)tll t111cla\ also l1elped to keep atte11d,111ce lll) 011 tl1e t111cla)' 1Jrececli11g it . If it~ i11flt1- e11ce is a good 01 rl1e t111cla 1 ·s ,vl1icl1 fo llo,,r. \\ e l1ot11cl go i11to the fall ,,·1tl1 cl rt11111i11 g st~1rt. 01ne fi11,1l ti1)s to l1elp m,1ke tl1e ~t111 cla} a st1cces'i. ,i, e ea<..·11 l t\l1cl1cr a list of those \\ 1 110 sl1ot1lcl be co11tactecl i11 orcler to reacl1 it · goal . \, 'J1e:·11 <. ,11 cl.., ,1re tt1r11ed i11 , crc)SS tl1 111 off tl1e 111aster l1c>et. Tl11~ ,, ,l) , 011 el1c·l1 ~t1cc·e\\I\ t\ vist itat1c>11 11igl1t, ) ot1 ,, ill k110\\ e\.actl) ,, l1ere t c> co11ce1 trate , c>t11 cf fc>1 t~ . Be tire to kec1J tl1e sig1 ecl carcl (1l1Jl1l1 l)e liLt~cl ~<) tl1 l1 t ) t>t t cl<.> 11c>t t(>tal cluplic<1t >s. ( (~llilclrc11 S<)111e ti1nes <;ig11 l\\ ice, c>r 1)are11t · ...,1g1 t<>r tl1r·11 cl1il– (lre11 a11cl tl1c c·l1il clre1 sig11 too.) 'e11cl c, er, 011e ,, 11<) l1.1s ag1 eecl tt> c<.1111e ~1 1e1l1i11clt~r t11rc>t1 gl1 tl1c 111ail l\\ O c> r t11ree cla, " l)cf<>If' l{c,e1\.1l ' l111tl.1) 1 • ~l ~i kt'\ tl1e clc>clg.)r a t trat·t1,t•, l)t1t £11111 i11 1l 'i 111e'>sage. 1c.)111111<.l11lg tl1 '111 of tl1eir C<>111- 1111l1r1 ' 11 t. 1~ 1t \\'<>rt l1 all tl 1t' \\ t> t k? \\ • >11jc>, <.'cl tl1c'\ i11lt•1t•...,t a11<l t•11 tl 1t1,1.1\1t1 it cr~..1tt'<.l )1 •r<• a11cl r ,.j<>ic·ecl as (;c>c.l 's S1)1ril t<>11\1c..: tr·cl \()ttl..., c1 f tl1 \i1 11ct\<.l. F'c>ttt ,, L'll' .s11ffi~i 11tl}' lro t1l>1t•cl le> 1.1i...,f• tl1<•ir l1.111 cl~ t<.>1 1)1a,c)r. \\ r· l)el1t•,e \\t '11 '-t\t' tl1t>111 all J)tll>lic..: l~l C()tlf t.)'>S _J l111st SOOll. \ \ 7 c>t1lcl s11c·l1 a cl,1, l>t~ \\'<Jr tl1 all y<>t11 ,, <.>1 k" ) ot1 l)t' tl1e:• jtt lg·. cicl1e. ~/e suspect that in char c.1~e ic '-' oulcl dr<>p tl1c ide,t o ask in~ f<)r hel1>, oivc 10 or 1l101c co the ( ; ,\Rli anll :uocher sin1ilar gifc to cl1e ().:\lllJ ~, 1111d 1l1eu voce an in re,ise for 1t~ J)asto1 ! Amen ! \Xlell tl1en, ,vhy not s1 )' ic ac yc1ur nexr bu in s 1l1 ct1ng , ud ,vrice che first cl1eck? 'l~l1e :.ARI i fJ01ng 11lor and ,11ore for che l1ur l1es nd ought co }1 ve adequate su1>1> re. Reso lu tions ~ 'e ,ill leave our 11 cl1e .. ,,11 rea s' ( 01111111,ed on p.ige 9) ') l ' '\ I) I'\ l~ \\ 7 .. l ._, \ 1 1·~ l\) ' l\ I() 11 l ! t. 1 11cr,tl 11 ,,,~ l<l litor, ,,,c>111t)11'~ t<> ~Ir~. ~lil11 r, , 0\1tl1 to l ):t, f' l o,, r.