From Robert Garrett — TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL SUPPORTERS
Today, March 7, I depart for a four month stay Zimbabwe. The response to our appeal for the famine relief in Zimbabwe has been tremendous. The amount that has been given plus what some have promised is sufficient for now.
When I am there I will be better able to assess the situation and the need, and if more funds are still needed I will let you know. But I do not want to have excess funds on hand.
However, we also have a need for building funds for two essential projects – facilities for a Youth and Bible Camp in Binga and a church building in Budiriro.
May the Lord richly reward each of you and please continue to pray for us, especially for Joy whom I must leave behind these 4 four months.
Robert Garrett
KENTUCKY/INDIANA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP WEEK has been planned for the week of July 25-28, 2016. Topics and speakers will be announced at a later date. Churches and interested individuals are asked to help financially with the expenses of the meeting. This will enable the Missionary Offering taken on Wednesday night to go totally to Missions Around the World. For donations to the administration needs etc., please send to:
KY/IN Fellowship, 545 Linnwood Ave., Sellersburg, IN 47172
Why Pastors Quit! (adapted from Prophecy News Watch) In a piece for churchleaders.com, Tim Peters weighed in on the topic with his article on ’10 Real Reasons Pastors Quit Too Soon’ as paraphrased below:
- Discouragement from critics
- A sense of failure in performing ministry duties
- Loneliness from the expectation that they should be near-perfect
- Moral failure – especially since these are magnified in the eyes of the public
- Financial pressure – most pastors are not compensated well
- Anger problems – expressed due to frustrations with others, themselves or God
- Burnout – overwork and lack of adequate rest
- Physical Health – from poor eating and lack of exercise
- Marital problems – since ministry pressures often eat into family commitments
- Being too busy or driven – and not setting boundaries or being adequately organized and efficient.
Overall, across the surveys referenced common issues emerge. Lack of support, overwork and burnout, conflict and stress – financial, physical and marital – seem to be the most destabilizing factors that cause pastors to be overwhelmed to the point of throwing in the towel.
As McConnell noted: “This is a brutal job… the problem isn’t that pastors are quitting – the problem is that pastors have a challenging work environment. Churches ought to be concerned, and they ought to be doing what they can.”
DAVID JEREMIAH (TURNING POINT) 2/17/16
“Through God’s Word we are given insight into the things that are happening and will happen to our society.
In The Jeremiah Report, did you happen to catch the disturbing fact that church attendance has declined 15 percent in the last 30 years? The church is being attacked and discredited at every turn. But this is nothing new. If we’re going to be attacked or ignored by the world, it might as well be for turning the world upside down as the early Church did! When the Church manifests the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Church will be just as relevant in our day as He was in His. May God grant His Church the discipline to stay focused and the desire to manifest the eternal relevance of Jesus Christ to a needy world. We in the meantime, and by God’s grace, must be vigilant. We must be faithful. We must be Bible Strong.” AND REMEMBER JESUS’ PROMISE FROM MATTHEW 16:18 “THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST THE CHURCH.”
SENIOR CITIZEN’S WEEK…is being planned for the week of September 12-16, 2016 and to be held at Woodland Bible Camp in Linton, Indiana. The theme for the week is: “A Charge to Keep” and is based on Jude 3 “…exhorting you to CONTEND earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Planners for the week are: Jackie & Robert Gill, Buford & Maude Smith, Ed & Clara Woosley, Rex & Marcia Prather, and JR & Pie Satterfield. A complete scheduled will be forthcoming. Start making plans now to attend this year’s Sr. Citizen’s Week.