A ‘Useful’ Tool
I am very appreciative of the March/April issue of Ministries Today—one of the most useful ones for me personally. So, a big thanks for a job well done.
Harriet Craig
via e-mail
REPLY: Thanks for these encouraging words, Harriet. From our readers in the trenches of ministry, to be considered “useful” is a description we relish. In fact, we’ve honed our cover tagline to more accurately reflect our goal in serving you: “Expert advice for Spirit-led leaders.”
Word Wars
I agree with Larry Keefauver. We have many words or phrases in our vocabulary that don’t come from the Bible, nor do they emphasize the Christian life. Pastors should stand for God’s truth, His Word. Many notions come from the secular world. May God watch over our mouths.
Ronnie Lowry
Jacksonville, Florida
While I appreciate your concern for sound word studies, I disagree with Larry Keefauver (“Watch Your Language,” MinistryMatters, March/April) that every word has to have a biblical origin or be able to be found in word-study references. The word “destiny” is not being used to teach that our lives are based on luck or fortune, but to convey that we, as believers, have an opportunity to be a part of God’s wonderful plan.
Jeff Burke, pastor
New Beginnings Fellowship
Inverness, Florida
Though I am not one to preach a lot about destiny or pre-destiny, the concept is a very central theological issue in the Bible. It is the translators of the English Bible who chose to borrow the phraseology of “destiny” to translate Greek words into words such as “predestined” in reference not to the Greek concept of fate, but to the Christian concept of predestination. Those preaching about destiny are merely suggesting that yielding to God’s predestination [destiny] makes way for God’s providence [favor.]
W. Godsey
Huntsville, Alabama
Go Team!
Larry and Judi Keefauver (“Put Your Wife in Her Place,” March/April) have hit the nail right on the head. As the dean of a Bible college (International College of Bible Theology), I have found that from the moment my wife and I put our efforts into this ministry full-time, our relationship has really strengthened—much more than in the previous 38 years of marriage. We believe that this husband-wife team effort is one of the modern moves of God that should not be ignored.
Charles A. Wootten
Margaret S. Wootten
Petersburg, Virginia
Accusation Assumptions
Concerning the sidebar taken from Joe E. Trull and James E. Carter’s book, Ministerial Ethics, in “When an Accusation Is True” (MinistryMatters, March/April), it is assumed that the particular local church body is both congregational (in which congregants vote) and part of a denomination. I see problems: first, that of forming a committee who are not the pastor’s peers, nor equipped through longevity as elders; second, exposing the accusation to the congregation when the accusation is false.
Francis P. Martin,
Pastor emeritus Family Life Christian Fellowship
Lafayette, Louisiana
A ‘Ray’ of Light
Thanks for the article about Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron by Matthew Green (“Afflicting the Comfortable,” January/February). For 5-1/2 years, I was the evangelism director for Christ for the Nations in Dallas, and Ray paid his own way every semester to teach my evangelism class. I am now a local pastor and lead an outreach team to the nightclub area of Dallas every Friday night. We use Ray’s tracts—and every other Christian I’ve run into down there uses his tracts.
Randy Jones
Mountain View Church of God
Dallas, Texas
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