The Ohio Independent Baptist, October 1965

A church can help • its pastor By ·oavid D. Allen We complain of a mediocre min– istry but a wide-awake church can make an excellent preacher out of an ordinary one. Here s how! Christians, for the most part, are more interested in how their pastor can he1p the church than how their church can help the pastor. A con- cientious pastor diligently plans ways and means of being a blessing to hi people but rarely do his people plan ways and means of being a blessing to him. An alert church can assist the pas– tor both spiritually and materially. Their s.piritual help should begin by praying daily for the pastor. It is appalling how few Christians remem– ber the minister before the Throne of Grace. If the folk in the pew were as quick to pray for the preacher as they are to criticize him, there would he new power in the pulpit at once. The next thing that will greatly aid him is the regular attendance at all services. Empty .pews eat the heart out of a pastor. Most nominal church members attend only on Sunday morning. As a result the Sunday evening service and the prayer hour are poorly attended. The substantial, reliable, consistant Christian will always 1 be in his place at the mid-week meeting to pray and to praise, and thus be a tower of strength to his pastor. Some churches hinder their pastor by the unreasonable demands they place upon him. He must be a master of ceremonies, public relations officer real estate agent, insurance man , taxi driver, janitor, financial wizard, hand– hol,der, baby-kisser, etc. A church can help its pastor by not wasting his time on secondary matters. If he is forced to spend his time on non– essentials or things that omeone else could do just a well, he has that much les time for preparation of heart and mind to minis ter the Word . Home is a little school Young parents! You are the teachers and your children are your pupil . This school is always in se,3- sion. Your children constantly observe and learn from your life and attitudes. They learn from the reading materj al you provide, the radio and TV pro– grams you allow, and the gue ts you entertain. Here, under your supervi ion your children get their training, in human relations. They learn cooperation, though ever so lowly, that will enable them to get along with others in the larger community. Or they do not learn it at home and are handicapped forever. God has appointed you a the main <;piritual leaders of yo11r children. Home is a place to wor<;hip God regL1larly - to read the Bible and to pray - to eek ,the Saviot1r and to Jive for Him. What your children will be they are now becoming. And their most effective training ground is your home. Those church contributions Flexib]e guideline have been e tah– lished in many sections of the country for one of the most ensitive point~ in income collection - the amount a taxpayer can claim for church con– tributions the Internal Revenue Serv– ice aid. Varying from about $50 to $80. the guidelines are used by tax tech– nician when they interview a tax– payer who does not have record to back t1p the church and charitable deduotions claimed on hi return. Wa hington official denied there wa a campaign to crack down on per on who claimed large deduction. for ,church and charity. The guideline e tabli bed for the New York City di trict allow $ l a week for church contributions and 50 cents a week for mi cellaneou charitable contribution . Thi add up to $78 a year. The guideline only come into play when taxpayer are challenged by the IRS and a ked to produce evi– dence of deduction how·n on their return. The government made a clo e crutiny of 3 440 000 rett1rn in 1964 and ome 2, I 08,000 of the e individ– ual had to pay addi,tional taJCe . In 455,000 ca e the government n1ade refunds after auditing the return . A poverty war? CIRRHOSIS OF THE GIVER ... Babc;on, noted economi·=>t, quote son1e of the 'charges of wastefulne s' ' in the initial tages of the Admini sitration'. ' 'War on Poverty" campaign. '"The to,p 45 employees working at the Wa hington headquarte~~ are being paid salaries ranging from $18,000 to $30,000 per year , an annual total of nearly one n1il– lion. And nine additional top aides are scheduled to be hired here. '"fhe Washington office alone will have a staff of 1, 1'lO employee . ' alaries of field personnel are reaching gigantic J)roportions. '"'xan1ple: Out of a total anti-poverty grant o t $67,000 for Mo11n1ottlh, . J . $52,000 will go for staff alariec". ,... l~he New York ity anti-poverty \ laff, who~c alaries total a tre111endous figure, have 011e wo1na11 on tt1e pa),roll who ge t 50() J)er week." And so it goes... \Al,:, l1ope ar1d pra}' tl1at J)ro<ligal Ar,1crica will wake Ltp one f tl1e t: day,i;, after wa ting its ~L1bstar1c.e in waste au1d ri tot1 livir1g, in tt, far11i11e co11ditio11 (>I tl1c "far COL1r1lr}' ' ' - a'V\' ,)' tr 111 the ,4 atl1er'~ 11 0L1 • THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST (D i covered 34 A .0 . by a hu band and wife tearn. nanias and • apphira . ee Acts 5) . J t i an acL1te nervou condition which ren ler-; the patient'. hand. imn1obile when he i call ed upon to 111ove them: ( a) in the direc tion f the billf lli or pttr c, anct thence , (b) to the offering plate. I{ n1cd)' : The pat1e11t n1ay he rcr11ovctl frl)111 tl1c environ~ of the Hot1\e 1 (jt) l 011 ttnLln), s111cc it i~ clinica ll y ob·')ervah le t l1a t the contl t t ion tit)~~ nt)t t)C 11r 111 st1ch t1rrot1nd111g a\ the golt clt1l1, ' t1pcr-111ark.ct , or the 1 c'\ t a Lt ran t . 11101 ~ cor1"trt1 t1\ e re111ctl} t\ tL) 11oi11t t)Ut t() t l1c 11at1en t ho\\ 111 ,trl} 111co111e L.\ tletlt1Lttor1\ 111 ·1) l)L "lai111ell l)} overco111ing tl1c 111,tl,\d} r C<)llfSC tllt? l)CSl tl1 l 'c.lp ' a11 l tl1at \\'lli 11 le~1J, t a star,. a11LI lasti11g {.ttrl!, 1 tl> lla\ c tl1' l1l! t11 t get rigl1L \\ itl1 ,o<.l. I 11 .. l)' l) ~ of affl1c t1011 tie~ ·ribl!(I al) )\l }1,1, it s l)e- gin11i11g i11 tilt:- l1eart. OCTOBER 1965 PACJE 5