The Ohio Independent Baptist, November 1965

I decided then that I wou1d cul ti - ate new friend hip . Being of an talian-Jewi h marrige I got in touch ~.-ith other in the rune marital tatu . o fi nd, perhap , if we might have omething in common. In contacting 1ne acquaintance, our conver ation ed to her telling me of the joy and ,eace he had from attending a Bible ;las that met regularly. Thi lady aid she had no intere t in anything ~I e. ocially, and that thi clas pro– ,jded all that he wanted and needed . called at the addre s he gave me tnd ]earned that it was the home of fhe Cleveland Hebrew Mis ion. fhere. I talked to Florence Hagen 1nd n1ade several appointment to ,ee her. but each time omething ;ame up -so I wa unable to keep the .1ppointment. I wa impre ed with he friendlines and incerity of thi une to whom I talked , and in the ack of my mind I decided that ome dav I would make an effort to meet ., 'ler . Something different In the mean time , I became ac tive in PTA work. There I met and be– ...ame close friend with the one who Ya· then the president. She wa a wonderful person, loved by everyone. There wa omething di1'ferent about her, but I did not know then what ,t was. One day I called for her to go to a social club with me, and later we sat in the car until 1: 30 a.m. talking. I was amazed . ould he, this wonderful Jewi h woman, be talking about Je·.)u ? See ing my in– tere t. she told me that he would refer me to a place where I could r call., learn the Truth. Thi place again \.vas '"Dhc leveland Hebrew M,i - ion. J coL1ld no longer di regard the c ocalled coincidence. . J made a ca ll l)y phone and arranged to tudy the 13 ib1e with Florence Hagen. I thought J was quiet mart in tho e da~' . I rememher telling lorencc t t1at he vlould probabl}f be wa~ting }1er ti r111e if he expecte<l n1e to be– I ieve that Jc u \.\'a·., the Messiah, 'tlnd I h a I I d id not 'v\' an t to o 11 Ii g atc r11 y e I f . I an t d nl) to under tand wt1at the ll il>le said. At tl1a1 J)Oint I d id 1101 e, e 11 t, e I 1 eve t 11 e B i l>I e w a t h c i n– s p Ir d >·lord (,od. W II , Florc11 c "a" flat, r1t , lo, ing a11d \ ' Cf)' ""' ise. I o" I JJI a, ,od for g1vi11g 111c an r> 11 n 1nu. an fr the faith to I) - lie e tt1e rutl11 "11 n 1t ._ ·, re l:'.al ti t 11t.:' "'-' lt1di cl er I I ar11ed l t1 } I re\.\ pf U f I , Il O 111 a 111 J 11 g f t 11 " r d I I 111111 • I l u 111 al c u1an 111 tin 111 ig ·· t111d I r "d H OhtlO f t O P O T BAP IS , I aiah 5 3. I wondered who thi one wa who would be de pi ed and r e– jected of men. I met other worker at the Mi ion and wa impre ed with -their genuine love for the J ewi h people. ( I wa not ea ily deceived and I recognized their incerity). Before that, I did not believe it wa po ible for a Gentile to love a Jew. I wa uspiciou~ and felt they had ulter ior motives when they were friendly. I do not remember the exact mo– ment of deci ion when I pa ed from doubt to wonder and then to faith , joy and freedom in Chri t J e u . But I do know there wa~ a greait change. Prayer became preciou , the Bible becan1e very dear , even the gra appeared greener. I tarted to love the go pel hymn ; they had new meaning for me. The veil wa lifted - doubt and fear were gone. Then, I became burdened for un– . aved loved one and friend . Since J e·"' u the Messiah, ha become a reality in my l ife my i ter and her daLtghter have accepted Him a their Saviour . T 1 hen my Catholic hu band and our two married daughter came to Chri t and were aved . Ju t recent – ly my econd son-in-law, who wa rai ed a a trict Catholic and had been an altar boy, helping •to erve ma went forward in a ervice and accepted Him a hir per onal Savjour and Lord . What a joy it ha been to ee the Lord work·ing in my famil y a one by one He i bringing them into the fold! l prai c and thank the Lord fo r Hi wonderful , f a ithiful a int who, becau·--e of their love for Him are bringing to our people ithe ble cd good new th a t our Mc iah. the Wonderful One, came, and i con1ing again for tho c who accept Hin1 . I thank God for peace in place of conflict, for faith in place of fear and for the peace and joy that truly pa es all u nder t andi ng. Mo t of all f thank Him for Hi Un peakab]e Gift - our Saviour. Je u . the Me ia h of I rael. GARBC statistics show growth in association De Plaine Ill. - The General A ociation of Regular Bapti t Churche relea ed ta ti·"' tic for the fi cal year ending Apr il. 1965. Fifty– three new churche were received into the As ociation bringing the total number to 1200. The average mem - bership per church i Ii ted a· · 137. Financial report how th at gift · to mi ion tot aled $5 ,303,339. Local church expenditure totaled 13.156.- 629. Building expan·-- ion reached $4,- 060,079. Total giving for all purpo c , amounted to $22,520 04 . A compar1 on of tihe e figure with imilar one of the previoLt year how an increa·se in mi ion giving of $408.047. The per capita mi ionary giving wa $32.20. Loca l current e - pen e giving increa ed by $1, I 7 ,492. The Regul ar Bapti t are o call ed becau·-- e of their di tinc tive hi toric po ition . They tand forth rightly on the hi tori c con titutional ground of e,par,at1on of c hurch a nd tate which i one of the everal hi toric Bapti t di·-- tinctive . The A ociation i church centered in it government and hold th at the Hol y Scrip ture are the final au thority in all matter f faith and practice. E ten ive n1i ionary ff rt. and evange li tic fervor are the ear– n1ark of thi·· ft1ndan1 ntali t fell \\ - . hip of Bap ti t cht1rche . The new Editor' s address is: Rev. A. Donald Moffat Box 7 Cedarville, Ohio LOS ANGELES BAPTIST COLLEGE NEWHALL, Dr . John R. Dunkin Pre ident & GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY CALIFORNIA A CHRIST CENTERED COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES C. Lloyd Button, M. A. Dean • Six Maiors (A B. & 8 . S. Degree) • Outsta nding Faculty • Good Employment ' 'Com e and nioy The un ' ' Lovely New Campu Wri1e for C t I og Tod y LABC N wJ1al I, Ca llfor,11 . NOVEMBER 1965 PAG l