When were you last hungry?  It has been observed that some people will get up from their holiday meal with the announcement, I am so full I could burst. Yet not ten minutes later they are spotted rummaging through the turkey carcass or picking up another bite of dessert. Then there are teenagers who periodically emerge from their caves growling for something else to eat. Imagine being the single parent of three children, working one or two minimum wage jobs, trying to keep everyone clothed and fed, plus cover rent and utilities; or a disabled vet living on the street; or a senior couple trying to make it until the end of the month. These are some of our church neighbors. 

Our People’s Pantry ministry has not missed a single week of sharing bags of groceries each Wednesday night for ten years straight—no matter the storms, Covid, the heat or the cold. Today a group of volunteers unloaded 1,792 pounds of commodities from the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This included dozens of bags of frozen chicken thighs and drumsticks, canned goods, and bottled juices. This, combined with donations of goods, and the purchase of supplemental items will last us about a month. All of this ministry is under the direction of Lori Dryer with her husband David and Terri Qualls at her side.

Here is a summary report for 2023:

Total Families served: 393

Total Individuals served: 948

Total Grocery Meals provided: 11,376

These numbers reflect a 15 percent increase in the number of people served over 2022.   We provide good quality food, an opportunity for conversations and prayer. Diep Vo and Terri Qualls oversee our Clothes Closet ministry, which is available each week for those who have additional needs. We also provide personal hygiene kits, can openers, and other necessities. We invite our neighbors inside for a light hot meal prepared by Russell Ford, Ben Shepard, and Patty Hickman. The People’s Pantry is open each Wednesday evening from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed around 4:00 p.m. to help us set up. Thank you for your on-going prayers, food and clothing contributions, and financial support.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Live faithfully. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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It’s time to put away Christmas. You know the routine: get out the boxes to re-store the decorations, undecorate the tree and the various places in the house, remove the tree, bring in the outside stuff, and finally pack it all away. I should not have been surprised to learn that there is a social media controversy over when to undecorate a Christmas Tree. Social media is the birthing room of all controversies great and small. It is the playground of brats and bullies. Apparently, there is a specific date on which to undecorate a Christmas tree. Some people disagree. Those who call themselves Christmas Traditionalists view Epiphany as the sacred date. Their reasoning lies in that the Twelve Days of Christmas concludes on January 6, the 12^th Day, Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day, the day Jesus is made known to the Gentile world. Those who are the true believers of Christmas, as the controversy seems to imply, are right because of a centuries-old tradition. Everyone else must be a pagan or heretic.  All I want to do is put away the extra stuff. 

I have known people who never took down their Christmas tree. Some moved fully decorated trees in and out of a special closet. I’ve known others who redecorated their tree every few weeks—Valentine’s, St Patrick’s, Easter, Mother’s Day…throughout the whole year. Other people have trees with lights on them year-round because it makes them feel better. I have even known some people who do not always put up a Christmas tree. Who is the troublemaker?

Jesus never had a Christmas tree. His tree was a cross. Jesus never wrapped a Christmas present. His gift was the Word made flesh. Jesus never sang a Christmas carol or wished anyone a Merry Christmas. His salutation was “follow me.” Jesus never signed a Christmas card. His love was written in red—while we were yet enemies of God, Christ died for us.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Put away the stuff and Celebrate Jesus. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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I have a blessing to pray over you for this New Year. It is a prayer that Paul prays for the church at Ephesus. It is a blessing for today to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It is a prayer for discernment. Discernment is my focus word for 2024. 

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance of the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 2:17-19a)

Throughout the next few weeks, I am committing to pray this passage repeatedly with your specific name in mind, and as far as I know their names, your family members also. Instead of “you” I will substitute your name. I will be using the church directory and Evangel mailing list. There is nothing magic in this prayer. It is simply the majesty of God at work through the prayers of His people. 

So many are walking in darkness. So many are facing daily temptations to succumb to lies and fantasies. So many feel the weight of bad news, overextended schedules, and depression. So many believers also find themselves overwhelmed by health, money, and family issues, they may wonder if there is any Light at all left for them. This passage has a word for each of us—that the eyes of your heart be enlightened –discernment.

If you are so inclined, would you join me for a concert of prayer over your extended circle of friends, neighbors, and family members? What if, during the month of January, we were to blanket a great host of people across our country, even our world, with a prayer of enlightenment amid their daily living?  

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Pray for discernment. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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(This is reprinted from January 2020, lightly edited.)

Can there be a day beyond this night? I don’t know any more what is true.  I can’t find my direction, I’m all alone. The only star that guided me was you. How to rise from the floor – when it’s not you I’m rising for? Just do the next right thing. Take a step, step again. It is all that I can do—the next right thing.

One evening during the holidays, Dorothy and I took our grandchildren to see the animated musical, Frozen II. I was surprised by the many issues addressed by the movie, including the intense grief and sorrow in the apparent loss of one character’s older sister. In her pain and confusion, Anna remembers her sister’s words from earlier in the story—if you are ever lost and wonder what you should do, just do the next right thing. This is the moral takeaway from the movie.

Many of the children and teens who saw the original movie when it debuted in 2013 have faced their own personal crises, like family divorce, grief, depression, temptation, and peer pressure. This story gives them a memorable way to find hope in their confusion, and a starting point for making good or even better choices. Right choices matter. Teaching the next generation the difference between right and wrong has always been a challenge. Taking this one step further, the Bible is filled with cautionary stories of those who make wrong choices, and the power of doing the right thing God’s way. 

I won’t look too far ahead. It’s too much for me to take. But break it down to this next breath, this next step. This next choice is one that I can make. So, I’ll walk through this night, stumbling blindly toward the light, and do the next right thing.

Life is filled with small choices each of us make every day. “What would Jesus do?” was a question that we asked ourselves in our younger years. As people of faith, we are challenged to live morally rich lives by modeling trust in God and listening for His voice. 

And, with it done, what comes then? When it’s clear that everything will never be the same again, then I’ll make the choice to hear that voice, and do the next right thing.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Do the next right thing. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

Bro. Darryl

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On the Friday after Thanksgiving, sometimes called Black Friday because of the trauma of holiday greed, my car radio rudely switched songs in the middle of my easy listening music. An up-tempo Andy Williams launched into It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  I was not feeling it. At the least they should have waited until December to start holiday music. But the message was received loudly and clearly, get in the Christmas shopping mood now, or all the good stuff will be gone or cost even more. What has happened to Christmas gift giving?  

It starts when we are young. What do you want for Christmas, boys and girls? Later it becomes, What did you get for Christmas? Selfishness is built in. The “present” becomes the point of Christmas time. There is a healthier guide to gift-giving for parents and grandparents. It goes like this, limit up to 4 gifts: something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. If giving to another adult, you can substitute with something to eat, like fruit or nuts, or a restaurant card. Ask yourself, who am I trying to impress? 

When the Church began to celebrate the birth of Christ, some 300 years after the fact, the image of the Magi bearing tribute offerings to the newborn King of the Jews was emphasized. The gifts were for Jesus. Going forward a century, Christians used the day to worship and give gifts to the poorest people in the area; think of the Saint Nicolas story. In time Christmas Day came wrapped in all kinds of local traditions, blending secular religious practices and fundraising. Martin Luther is credited with the indoor, candle-lit evergreen tree. Christmas became fantasized and commercialized in the 1800’s. Today, getting in the Christmas spirit is demanded by advertising and social pressures. 

My model and mentor for being a pastor was Dr. James G. Harris, Senior Minister of University Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Harris would repeat occasionally before the ushers received the Sunday morning offering, “Anyone can give without loving, but no one can love without giving.”  

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Love gives the best. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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