Second, let me try to catch you up on things:

A. I will be ending Romans either on May 5 or May 12. Right now I am leaning toward May 5. I am planning on taking the summer to cover the doctrine of the church. Sounds boring I know, but it is not . The Sunday School class I am a part of has been doing this and we have found this topic to be very rich. In September, I am planning on teaching through the book of Revelation. I would appreciate your prayers for these teachings and preparation times, etc.

B. Check out the calendar. I have added a few items.

C. The Nominating Committee is beginning their work for the 2013-2014 year. So please be in prayer for them and for ways you can serve. Do not hesitate to let someone know of your gift or an area you think needs attention (i.e., notify someone from Nominating Committee or one of the elders).

D. Our parsonage guests will be leaving in June. I hope Andrew and his family can be with us one last Sunday. Thanks for your kindness in letting them stay at the parsonage. We already have a request from missionaries in Mexico for December 2014 to December 2015. I trust we can continue using the parsonage as a ministry to others.

E. In the coming weeks, Jason E is going to be showing a DVD series on Wednesday nights, Dispatches From the Front. This DVD series reminds us of Jesus’ calling “that He will not return until the Gospel is proclaimed to all the peoples of the earth.” The DVD series will provide stories and follow families through the journey of taking the Gospel to people who have no access. I want to make a pastoral appeal – “Try to set time aside for this special series. I’m only asking for 6 Wednesday nights.” More details regarding
exact dates will follow.

E. To parents of young adults, I am excited for the fall to come because I sense some clarity for teaching your young adults. My time with them will continue under the aim of equipping and discipleship. I plan to teach them 5 important tools for navigating the Christian life: 1) Knowledge about the canonization of Scripture. If a student does not trust the Bible as God’s Word, then he or she will have a hard time givng any confidence to the truths of Scripture; 2). Developing a theology of sexuality. Your young adult is bombarded with sex. They need a healthy perspective that will help them think through the important issues of premarital relationships, homosexual relationships, pornography, adultery, and how to have a Gospel tone toward those living in sin; 3) Redemptive history. Today’s students think in “narratives.” They need to know the big narrative of Scripture. Hopefully when they have the larger framework, the smaller details of God’s redemptive plan will become clearer; 4) Theological understanding of sin, not just a moral one. Students need to know what to do and not do, but it is very important they have an understanding of how sins originates. They will learn that without God, they tend to make themselves little “gods.” When a student better understands the theological argumentation for sin, they are better able to listen to moral explanations; 5) Understanding the elements of salvation.

For those of you that do not know, there is a powerful biblical argument that a child does not transition from child to teenager to adult, rather a child enters “young adult” status overnight – perhaps even after a spiritual occasion surrounding his or her twelve birthday (i.e, see Brother Dave Black’s book, The Myth of Adolescence). Such an argument makes sense in light of passages like 1 Cor 13:11. Paul said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Cor 13:11). There will be nothing “childish” about our teachings. Children under 12 probably should not attend and children 12 or older should not come if they do not want to learn to “love God with their minds.”

As you can tell, the material will be challenging, and I hope it will raise the bar for your young adults journey of faith in Jesus Christ.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

 http://www.daveblackonline.com/introducing_the_peniel_gospel_te.htm

 So what is “the $10,000 challenge”? Dr. and Mrs. Black have asked each of us at BHBC to prayerfully and personally consider giving a love offering toward the school being built by the Peniel Gospel Team. If we, as individuals, collectively give $10,000 or more to this school, the Black’s will match the $10,000 we contribute from their retirement account. If such occurs, the Peniel Gospel team would receive $20,000 from BHBC alone!

 Here are the details concisely stated:

1. Each one of us is being “stirred up” to give an offering toward the new school of the Peniel Gospel Team.
2. If the total amount given is at least $10,000, the Black’s will match $10,000 from their personal retirement account.
3. The goal must be reached by May 31, 2013.
4. We are not being asked to give out of the church budget.
5. Make checks payable to BHBC and place your check or cash in the “India School” envelopes specifically marked for the challenge; these envelopes are in the pew slots.
6. If we give less than $10,000 by May 31, the money will still go 100% to this project.
7. You can continue giving after May 31. The total cost of this project is approximately $383,000.

 Will you accept the challenge?

Here is a recommended prayer plan that you may use as a guide:

Sunday: Intercessory Prayer for your Church Leaders and Sunday School Teachers

Monday: Intercessory Prayer for Personal Needs

Tuesday: Intercessor Prayer for Persecuted Saints and for the lost and backslidden

Wednesday: Intercessory Prayer for the Leaders of your Nation and State – even for leaders of other churches

Thursday: Intercessary Prayer for other Believers

Friday: A Time for Praise

Saturday: Intercessory Prayer for Special Heart Burdens

Learn to use this plan and watch God transform your prayer life!

SOS (Servants on Site)

The week of June 22-29, 2013, Rebuilding Hope will be coordinating and hosting its first annual week-long youth mission project.  It will be a week of work, worship and witness throughout Vance County and surrounding areas.  SOS (Servants on Site) is a mission opportunity for youth who have completed Grade 6 through adults of all ages.  Participants will be housed at Crossroads Christian School and will work on homes in the area during the day, meet for worship in the evening, and have group devotion time with their own church group following worship.  We have 300 openings for participants at a cost of $125 each.  For every five youth, we require one adult of the same sex.

 Needs for SOS

Volunteers – Adult/college-age volunteers are needed to serve as “staff” during the week of SOS to assist with setting up the rooms, posting signs and schedules, youth or adults to do cleaning of bath and restroom facilities, etc.

 Financial Support for the projects.  A roofing project cost approximately $2,000.  However, any amount is appreciated.  A church sponsoring a project will “adopt” the crew for the week and serve lunch each day.  Your crew will attend your church for worship and lunch on Sunday (6/23/13) and meet your congregation, then visit the homeowner.  Churches can also partner together to sponsor a project.

 Participants – Please encourage your youth to participate in this mission endeavor.  If you know of any churches or youth you feel would be interested, please call our office with contact information (name, e-mail address, church, etc.)

 Visit our website at www.rebuildinghopeinc.org for more information on how to register, or call 252-438-5132 or e-mail rebuildinghope@ncol.net.

We had a nice visit, and I learned that their time in Person County will not be all “rest.” They will be traveling to various churches for presentations. We plan on being one of those churches. Also, Andrew will be taking some courses at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary this Spring.

There is more to say, but for now . . . we simply want to Welcome them to the Bethel Hill Community.

Recently, Becky Lynn and I met to add me as an administrator. She “overwhelmed” me with the “ins and outs” of being an administrator, and I left that meeting with an overloaded brain. I simply want to inform our BHBC readers that if you would like an event to occur on this website or you would like to submit an article that is encouraging to the body of Christ, please feel the freedom to submit such to me via email (jasontevans4@icloud.com).

 I want to refer you to go to the “happenings” page and see a few events that are taking place very soon.

Please feel free to suggest ways that will help us communicate more efficiently.

Just what is ordination? It is not the conferring of special grace (as in Catholicism). It is simply the setting apart, the commissioning, the consecrating to a particular ministry in the church. As such, ordination is not in contradiction with the doctrine of the
priesthood of all believers.

In the Body of Christ there is a principle of equality with functional differences without being hierarchical.

From a scriptural perspective, a better word might be “dedication” or “consecration.” Since all ministers in the Body have the same purpose– to serve Christ in the ministry of reconciliation — all believers are to be dedicated or consecrated to their tasks. The danger we must avoid, I believe, is to give the false impression that only these 3 men are somehow “in ministry.” In Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4 we find lists of the spiritual gifts that the risen Christ has given to the church “for the work of ministry.” The basic idea of ordination in early Christianity was not transference of authority but conferring a blessing and petitioning for divine favor. Because the church is a priesthood of ALL believers, the recognized ministry is a representative ministry. To
belong to this representative ministry, it is the call that is important and not any rite of ordination.

Elders are overseers, but as members of the Body of Christ they no doubt also have individual gifts that vary — teaching, administration, etc. They are shepherds but, like the rest of us, they are also sheep. They are, as Phil. 1:2 reminds, not over the church but
extensions of the church. Thus, from the beginning of church history, ordination has never been a cardinal doctrine of the church.

Service is what the church is all about — and all of us are to be servants of Christ. The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers would suggest that our elders should view themselves first and foremost as co-members of the Body, under the authority of Christ. Together, leaders and led alike are unified in a Christ-centered and Spirit-filled ministry. In such a setting, ministry does not create a hierarchical organization. The total ministry is the Body of Christ, and He alone remains the Head of the church. In this light, Ed, Jason, and Jason will continue to be called Ed, Jason, and Jason by the congregation, and that without any disrespect. For in the Body of Christ, there can be no higher title than that of brother (Heb. 2:11).

“They appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting commended these men to the Lord in whom they had believed” (acts 14:23). It has been done as the Lord Jesus has commanded.

All praise to Him!

Our elders:  Jason, Ed, and Jason

Since we have just recognized and affirmed the elders whom Jesus has granted us at The Hill, I thought I might list here a few of the responsibilities of the congregation toward their  leaders. Taking 1 Thess. 5:12 and Heb. 13:7, 17 into consideration, I have come up with the following list. (It is hardly exhaustive.)

• Get to know them, not just their names but their persons.
• Don’t be a stranger to them.
• Seek their friendship.
• Act kindly toward them.
• Don’t be cold or distant from them.
• Hold them in the highest regard.
• Treat them with the greatest respect.
• Love them because of the hard work they do.
• Consider them as a great blessing from the Lord.
• Greatly value their efforts.
• Be at peace with them.
• Avoid anything that would prove a hindrance to their effectiveness or would alienate their affections.
• Think of all the good that has come from their lives.
• Follow the example of their faith.

In short, our elders are men who are worthy of the greatest esteem from our church. Let us now do our part, my fellow Bethel Hillians.

A few week back our family at BethelHill — and we are family! — enjoyed an evening of food and fellowship as we celebrated God’s goodness to us and to our pastor Jason Evans in allowing him to finish his Ph.D. at the seminary.

Two things I love about brother Jason. First is his humility. He is truly teachable, sensitive to the leading of the Spirit, open to pursuing biblical (and sometimes unpopular) courses of
action. I’ve enjoyed watching Jase develop spiritually and intellectually over these past several years.

The second thing I love about Jason is his heart for people both here and abroad. I’ll never forget the week we spent among the
Gujis of Ethiopia. Jason is motivated by an overwhelming sense of love for Christ because He died for him and others on the cross of Calvary.

Jason, my prayer for you is that God may give you ever-increasing sensitivity to His voice, quicken your conscience to obey Him in all things, enable you to discern more and more the things that
will be a blessing to you and the things that will harm you in life, give you eyes as you read His Word so that you have supernatural knowledge of spiritual truth and can apply it to your life, satisfy you at the deepest level of your life, fully meeting the most profound desires of your heart, and finally grant you many more years of earthly service until you dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Jason and Molly and family, thank you for being such great friends, colleagues in the kingdom, and examples of Christ-likeness.

Missions is always a cooperative task. Think of the four men in Mark 2 who brought the paralytic to Jesus. It took real unity to get him there.

Mission trips are perfect laboratories for testing Christian unity. We must spend time together in preparation, we must pray for each other, we must unite around a common cause.

If an obstacle arises, we are there to help each other. It took absolute unity to get that paralytic to the Lord. For example, they all had to walk at the same pace. Can you imagine what would have happened if one person started running while the others walked? Of course, unity does not mean sameness. I imagine one of the four was the initiator: “Hey guys, let’s get Jacob over to Jesus.” Others were more followers: “Great idea! I’m game!” Unity is not uniformity. Missions means using our individual gifts together in such a way as to accomplish a mutual goal. Sometimes it means surrendering our own agendas and opinions for the sake of the team. And sometimes it means going ahead and taking the lead (right, Mama Leigh?).

When Christians realize how long eternity is and how real hell is, they’ll start working together for the Gospel. After all, that’s what Scripture commands us to do (Phil. 1:27-28).
Today I received a newsletter from a seminary in Odessa. In it I ran across the expression “Great Communion.” I was puzzled at first, and then I realized that it was a mistranslation. The author had undoubtedly meant to say “Great Commission.”

Never was a typo more revealing.

I agree completely that the Great Commission is the church’s marching orders. But is it not predicated upon the “Great Communion”?

“Remember: I am with you each and every day, until the end of the age.”

Surely there can be no greater promise than that. I have found mission work to be exquisitely enjoyable — and full of pain, disappointment, and sorrow. My wife, whose instinct in such matters is so often truer than mine, constantly points me back to the Presence. The rational, academic side of me wants to figure everything out. Instead, I often find myself praying for strength from the One who is always in control. That is grace.

Every day we serve the Lord of the harvest. Every day we reach out to the hopeless. Every day we speak God’s love into their lives. And every day we will be called upon to rest in the One who promised that He would never leave us or forsake us.

The Great Commission is impossible without the Great Communion. Once you realize that, you will never view missions in the same light again.
Some pictures of the last orientation for the Ethiopia Team.

1) Prayer time.

2) Considering aspects of Ethiopian culture.

3) Sister Tope teaches us about the importance of prayer and fasting.

4) Brother Jon (who pastors at Cresset Baptist) reading Scripture.

5) Maggie and Rachel loading their “ministry” suitcases filled with clothes for Ethiopian evangelists.

6) Brady joins us from Texas via video.

What it all comes down to is this: We are a bunch of nobodies who want to be used by a Somebody. The busier we are, the more we have to regroup and reorient ourselves to Him and His Final Commission. We are gradually discovering what the church is supposed to do to be the church. What an exciting pilgrimage!