Category: The Study

Life at Fairhaven Baptist College–Senior Year

Where shall I begin?  Most of the events I’m going to describe happenend less than a year ago, so they are fresh on my mind.

To start things off, I have to speak about last summer.  After I got back from a missions trip to Canada, my family moved to Kalamazoo, about an hour and a half from Lansing.  The m0ve was different for me; yet I knew I wouldn’t be at home much longer either.  Plus, that put us an hour and a half (it cut the driving time in half) from college and of course: Andrea.  In the last days of June, Andrea arrived back from Mexico for good.  She had been gone for almost a year, yet we still did not completely know eachother as much as we wanted.  Thankfully, I had the same two days off in a row every week at work, and the driver distance was now half of what it was.  That all translated into me being in Chesterton two weekdays a week for most of the summer.  Our relationship truly grew into love that summer.  Andrea’s mother, Mrs. Leslie, was becoming weaker, but she was still able to enjoy the blessings of God very much.  I really got to know Mr. and Mrs. Leslie very well last summer–the rest of the family too.  I am truly greatful to God for giving me that time to spend with Andrea and her family before school even started.

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In early August, I received a call from Andrea who was at a Fall Push bus meeting at my bus captain’s home.  There she told me that I was going t0 be leading a bus for the month of September.  “Wow!  Me?,” I thought.  It was quite overwhelming to hear all of that, and know that I would be responsible for a bus full of children from a depressed inner-city.  At the same time, I was very excited.  What an incredible learning experience that was going to greet me when I moved back for the school year!

And that it did.  I was able to head up Bus #95 for five weeks: Fair Day, Skate Day, Candy Drop Day, Zoo Day, and Patriotic Sunday.  I have a ton of stories from each week, but I’ll highlight a few here.  Fair Day went extremly smooth for us (they had changed the name from Circus Day after 30 years of it being that).  Skate Day is a story and a half!  It downpoured for three days straight, and Sunday was the worst of it.  But, praise God, all of the busses had a great week despite the flooding that made nation-wide news.  Anniversary Sunday was a lot of fun for everyone, and no real obstacles came about.  I think I had 12 parents ride my bus that day too.  Then their was Zoo Day–our biggest day, and with no lost children at city zoo for the third largest city in America!  I am grateful to God for giving me a ministry oppurtunity last September where I was able to see new familes accept Christ and become regular attenders.

Coming swiftly at the heels of the Fall Push is the actual season of fall (ironically, the Fall Push is mostly during summer).  In late October–one year ago–the engagement event was starting to be in play for Andrea and I.  We went to S6303544-1an apple orchard together with her family, while enjoying all of the sights, smells, and treats of the season.  Then on November 1, I took a day off of school to visit my parents…as well as buy a ring!  Then on November 14, we were engaged.  Some of you may wonder what the “whole story” of our engagement was, but that’s not what this post is about.  This is supposed to be about college!  But after we were engaged, life began to move extremely quick.

In late November, Christmas lights came and went.  Andrea and I went with my junior year roommates and their respective others to the Weber Grill in downtown Chicago.  It was there that I discovered HUGE pretzel rolls with cheddar cheese spread.  Glory!  Anyways…  Something else that determined where Andrea and I are at now  happened that same night.  I had an interview with Assistant Pastor Chris Starr of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Brogue, PA about working at the church as an intern.  I had heard great things about Mt. Zion from plenty of people at Fairhaven, so I felt confident that this could be God’s will for us.  Pastor Chris is now one of the biggest mentors in my life (whether he believes it or not!).  God would pave the path plainly over the next few months.

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Early in the first semester, I had the opportunity to preach alongside of one of classmates at Fairhaven Baptist Church’s New Years service.  I was so nervous, even if I didn’t look it!  God led me through that whole process!  It was such a blessing for me to preach about having a thirst for God in front of the church which I had grown to love and admire.  It was one of the highlights of college–not just because I was able to preach, but because God had changed my life through men behind that same pulpit I was preaching from.  I remember listening to men like Bob Kelly as  a sophomore in high school from that same pulpit.  It was then that I knew that God wanted me at Fairhaven.  And then I was somehow preaching to the same church.  What a humbling experience!

Wedding planning seemed to dominate the second semester of school.  I was finally beginning to realize that college was not going to last forever.  There is a life outside of Fairhaven Baptist College.  Reality really began to hit when I met with Dr. Voegtlin about what I was going to be doing after graduation.  He told me that Pastor Starr was probably going to be asking me to come to his church, and that I should prayerfully consider.  His words to me were, “I don’t know of a better place for a church planter to train and minister.”  Just a week or so after that meeting Pastor Randy Starr called me–another huge mentor in my life now.  I accepted the offer after truly finding God’s will in the whole matter with much prayer and seeking God.  My new bride and I were going to Pennsylvania in early June!  Then there was even more preparation…

Classes during my senior year were eventful to say the least.  Two of my “interesting” ones were Articulatory Phonetics and Second Language Acquisition Methodology.  Both are linguistics courses for future missionaries that help develop tools for language learning.  We all had a great time in those classes, and learned a lot from them.  My favorite though was Systematic Theology.  I just loved digging into the Bible and seeing all about God and his plans for us.  Especially the doctrine of salvation–we learned about all of the terms: justification, sanctification, redemption, adoption, atonement, regeneration, etc.  It all can sound so complex and “deep” to the average Christian.  And it is true that salvation is very deep.  The greatest truth I learned from that teacher is that salvation is so simple that a small child can understand and be born again: not even knowing what one of those terms I just mentioned means; but also so deep that we can enjoy our “so great a salvation” even more the more we discover the richness of God’s love.

In the process of discussing our wedding and honeymoon plans, Andrea and I decided that she could go back and visit her friends and ministry in Mexico once more before we were married.  The airfare was fairly cheap at the time, so it seemed worth it to both of us.  However, Andrea’s mom was becoming extremely weakened through her battle with cancer.  We all knew that it was terminal, which made us give this little trip for Andrea a second thought.  After gaining some wisdom about the situation, we decided that Andrea should still take the trip.  Looking back now, we realize that God was in that whole process, even though it may be hard to explain to someone not directly involved.  So Andrea left the Tuesday of Volleyball Marathon, and was going to be back the following Thursday.  That Friday because there was no school, I took a trip home to visit my family.  It was  early that Friday afternoon in March that I heard that Mrs. Leslie had passed away.  I knew that my main responsibility was to get Andrea back home as soon as possible.  She was able to be back the following day, praise the Lord.  The funeral was uplifting, to say the least.  It was joyful: how a funeral should be.  It was the kind of joy where some sadness was shown, but overall God received all of the glory in the life of a  sold old Christian servant: twenty years as the “dorm mom,” with countless  “daughters”  serving God with their husbands all over the world.  The college girls sang “So Little Time” and “Let the Lord Have His Way” as two specials for the service: perfectly fitting for Mrs. Ellen Leslie–now my mother-in-law in heaven!

As my final year was coming to a close, God continued to work.  Preaching Conference came at the end of April as normal, and spoke to my heart about something.  David Cloud preached a message about the “Emerging Church” and the effects that it already has had on fundamental Baptist churches.  After the sermon, Dr. Voegtlin challenged all of the graduates of Fairhaven Baptist College to stand.  I believe it was sad to him that some graduates fall into the temptations of changing things and making churches more like the world, and less like Christ.  What a message!  I think I am going to write an article to summarize all of this sometime in the future, and what it meant to me…

Graduation was speeding up on us!   Cap and gown fittings, graduation testimonies, finals, and rehearsals were all common words during those last few weeks.  Then one week after that, I was going to be married.  And two weeks after that I was moving 500 miles away to “Countryville”, PA–fully involved in the ministry in which I was trained for.  Exactly six days before graduation, myself and another college student were soulwinning on our bus route in Gary.  We knocked on one door when a lady who looked extremely familiar to me answered the door.  I couldn’t place her, though.  She said that her children used to ride the bus to Fairhaven every Sunday.  But both of her sons were killed in a car accident about 2 1/2 years before.  Then it all clicked to me…and her!  This was Joseph’s mother; the boy I had led to Christ during the Fall Push of my sophomore year!  That’s why they had suddenly stopped coming to church!  She told be that he and his brother were riding in the bed of a pickup when they were rear-ended on the corner of 23rd and Garfield.  They both died instantly.  She couldn’t stand to be in the house where they had lived with her only two children, so she moved to where we knocked on her door that afternoon.  I knew that he was saved, though.  He was in heaven!  Because of me?  Of course not.  God had miraculously led our paths together so that Joseph could be redeemed!  Praise the Lord!  I told his mom that, and she started to cry tears of joy.  She said, “He told me that he was a Christian all the time, and knew that he was going to go to heaven some day.”  This was all of the Lord’s working!  “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”

My class graduated on May 14, 2009 at 7:00pm.  Pastor Wilbur Unger preached the commencement–the same pastor who I had helped for two weeks the previous summer.  He preached a message on standing and working.  Everything seemed to be perfect that night…except college was completed for me.  It seemed a little sad to me, believe it or not.  There was going to be no more living in the dorm, Christmas Lights, cafeteria dining, snack shop, college basketball, passes, chapel…now its on to real life, I guessed.  It’s hard to believe that all of this was just five months ago–to the day, actually.  It seems so long ago.  I can’t even express in words how much I love Fairhaven Baptist Church and College.  I owe so much to God for leading me there.  Andrea and I both have huge responsibilities also, to stand and to be instant. We have been given far to much to just throw out and say, “Well, yes, we graduated from there, but let’s not talk about that right now.”  Instead, we owe a huge debt, spiritually speaking.  In any ministry we are involved in from now until the day we die, God’s Word must be the cornerstone.  We are not to be pleasing men, the world, or ourselves; but the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are to be zealous and hardworking in everything that we do, defending the faith in every step.  That’s what I got from Fairhaven Baptist College, and that’s what Andrea and I will continue to stand on.

Lindsey

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The Prettiest Pumpkin!

Lindsey is coming to visit us!  We are so excited!

Lindsey is my little sister who has Down Syndrome, and one of the most precious people in the world!  Just before her birth, the doctors held a special conference with my parents and explained that Lindsey would probably never breath her first breath.  They proceeded to advise my parents to abort Lindsey.  When my Mom and Dad calmly said no, the Doctor insisted even to the point of growing frustrated and angry.  Unaffected, my parents again said, no, we understand she may not live, but we have peace about that.  (That “…peace of God, which passeth all understanding,…“)  The doctor gave up…good thing…leave my sister alone!  And now, Lindsey is a precious eighteen year old, who has accepted Christ as her Saviour, and lives a wonderful, active life of serving the Lord and blessing others!  And to think that Doctor would have had her aborted…

She attends the sixth grade at Fairhaven Baptist Academy, and loves her teacher dearly.  In fact, one of my goals of her coming here to visit Dustin and I, is to regain my “favorite person” status I had held for so long, but since marrying and moving away, I fear her teacher has dethroned me!  Of course I am joking, (I think Linz has many “favorite people”!) and truly, I am grateful she has such a caring teacher along with a class full of true friends.  These are the children who love Lindsey so much they want her to be in their class.  And they choose her to be on their team for contests knowing she will never win the competition!  When she has a birthday party, there are more presents than any of us ever deserve!  And through the tough time of losing her mother, it goes without saying that these people, among so many others, meant much to her.

Now, if any of these classmates were dubbed “Honor Roll Students”, Lindsey has them beat.  For though not in percentages or grade point averages, it is in devotion and time where she has them far surpassed.  Why, they dread homework usually; do only what is required of them most times; and never insist on doing homework, when a diversion is proposed.  Lindsey on the other hand, is religious about her homework.  She willingly goes to the school library carrying a heavy, pull-behind suitcase for a backpack, spreads all of her books out, and writes loops on notebook paper for hours if allowed!  “How much homework do you have tonight, Lindsey?”  “Four homeworks.”  And often she must be convinced to finish up and go home when the time comes!

She attends Sunday School, and all other services faithfully at Fairhaven Baptist Church, and finds many opportunities to serve the Lord.  She goes to a nursing home facility with friends on Saturdays to see and hug “the Grandmas and Grandpas.”  Then during the week she empties the trash in the school office each day along with helping out in the cafeteria at various times.  And for that “work kitchen” part (cafeteria), she is about as religious as with her “homeworks”!

To top it all off, she is the pride and joy of her family, and dearly loved by so many friends from Church.  She is a blessing to more people than I probably ever will be, and has the uncanny ability to draw smiles on more faces than I could ever wish to do!

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History, Geography, and Mr. Speckhals

237365683_oEver since I can remember, I have loved learning about the past.  It all started as a little five year old boy watching a cartoon movie I vaguely remember called The Rescuers Down Under.  I first realized my love for history and geography then, and specifically during a certain part where they showed a world map and a few places an urgent message traveled to.  I had a Fisher Price Globe that lit up and everything–on it I followed that part of the movie when the message traveled.  It was on that globe that I began to learn about all of the places on it–starting with oceans and continents, then going into countries, mountains, cities, and landmarks.  Then my parents got me my first world atlas as a gift, and a road atlas too.  You may think I’m weird–getting a road atlas as an eight-year-old, but there’s something in me that enjoys studying maps and knowing exactly where I’m at.

As a first grader, I had my first history class.  It was there that I learned about what was in those places I had studied on the map.  I think it started with American history, then eventually world history.  I just loved learning about the history of the world.  When I started to attend a Christian school as a second grader, my teachers from then on taught about how God was the one who shaped history, and the Life of Christ was the very focal point of history.  Specifically, these are my favorite periods and subjects of history:

  • Biblical times
  • Ancient Near-eastern empires
  • Ancient Greece
  • The Crusades
  • Colonial Americas
  • Crimean War
  • Civil War
  • British Colonialism
  • The Second World War
  • The Arab-Israeli Wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1981)
  • Collapse of the Soviet Union

Then there are a few things that I wish I knew more about:

  • Ancient Egypt
  • The Indian Subcontinent
  • Oriental History in general
  • Ancient Africa
  • South American anti-colonialism
  • European history from about 1550-1800
  • French “Revolution”

Some people despise history.  That is up to them, I guess–their loss!  I am not particularly fond of mathematics or penmanship either, though both are necessary.  This is a small excerpt from a paper I wrote in college about the importance of history in education:

Does history matter?  This is a question of many students in today’s modern educational realm.  Traditionally, some form of historical education is taught from kindergarten up into a student’s latter secondary school years.  Yet many young people fail to realize this subject’s vast importance in a curriculum; translating into an indifference toward history, which later results in an adult ignorant of the past.  A view of the past shapes every man’s life.  As a Christian, one should have a thirst for some history as a part of education.  The lack of appreciation toward history indicates some ingratitude toward the Bible, because so much of it is historical.  From history, one can obtain a proper worldview of the past, thereby resulting in a proper view of the present.  McClay (1995) discusses the importance of history this way: “Historical consciousness means learning to appropriate into a biblical moral imagination, learning to be guided by it and the distilled memory of others: the stories we never can experience firsthand.”

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And I write this article to say this: I can’t wait until all of my history books are here with us at our new home!  You see, they have been in storage at my parents house since we moved to Pennsylvania, and we didn’t think we would have room to bring them.  Alas though, they will be here when my family comes for Thanksgiving.  A big thank you to my parents for wanting to bring them!  I have most of my devotional and theological books; but literature, geography, and history I am lacking.  We’re also looking forward to seeing Andrea’s family here during Christmastime–especially her dad, who will love to see the US Mint in Philadelphia, Independence Hall, and of course his daughter and son-in-law!

Something Money Could Not Buy…Part 2

Well, I began babysitting Ella (Five years old, adorable, very smart, and a little sassy!) and Harrison (Four years old, and very cute in his “chicken hair”, and very energetic!).  We did lots of things together, from seeing the Healthworks Museum in South Bend to nature hikes, to riding bikes, to eating in the cafeteria at Fairhaven and attending Little 665A0468Lambs class on Thursday night also at Fairhaven.  I strove to be a good disciplinarian and yet love those children and their family.  I saw the community of Ogden Dunes, Indiana, and more particularly, the house at 1 Woodland Trail as my mission field, and knew the Lord had led me there.  You see, I don’t believe in this “hit and miss” theory about jobs, meaning, pick up one here for a week, drop it, and try something else.  I believe that God wants us to be diligent and hard-working, and therefore, He has a particular job out there for ME, where He wants me to earn money to live and serve Him, but more importantly, where He wants me to be a shining example and witness of Christ’s saving power.  And that is the true reason God put me in the Deporter family’s life.  Katie Deporter allowed me to take the children to Little Lambs, a children’s class at Fairhaven Baptist Church, and to tell them Bible stories, and teach them things about the Lord.  I explained to her that what I believe is the Bible, first and foremost, for that is the only thing in the whole world which will endure FOREVER (Matthew 24:35).  And I went further to say, as is true, that Fairhaven Baptist Church also only teaches the Bible.

Well, as some of you may remember, my mother’s cancer had come back with a fury, and somewhere in February or so, she really took a turn for the worse.  It was a tough time of praying, caring for mom, spending nights in the hospital, and trying to fulfill your other duties as well, along with finding peace from God amidst the trial.  Many dear friends from church spent long nights in the hospital with my mom, and made delicious meals for us back at the house, cleaned for us, sent cards, and in so many other ways, demonstrated their true Christian friendship.  And I firmly believe in that kind of local church, brotherly love in ‘bearing of one another’s burdens’.  Well, my mother passed away on March 13, 2009, and although difficult, I saw God work in amazing ways which alone afforded me much comfort and peace.  I invited Katie Deporter to the funeral, and she was there.  Preacher gave a wonderful message where the Gospel was clearly explained.  I called Katie later that day, and asked what she thought about what the Preacher had spoken of.  We talked, and although she did not understand everything about salvation, she had been under conviction, and it would continue.  We had several talks about salvation since then, and we still do from time to time.  I pray for them often to trust in Christ as their only Saviour from sin, and thus be genuinely born again.  It was not a mistake I received that job…but the result of the infinite love and mercy of God on one family.  Since seeing firsthand that God had placed me there for a purpose, I felt great responsibility to accomplish that purpose.  And still today I continue to pray for them.

Well, once again, I was earning an income.  I continued to give what God had laid upon my heart, and began to see God’s blessing upon simple faithfulness.  Every month there was the exact amount to give, and every month there was plenty and more than enough for any other needs I had.

Now I was in earnest with the wedding plans!  Bridesmaid dresses, and flowers, the cake and punch, hairstyles and attendants!  (Wow am I glad all of that is over!…Everyday married life is far better than any frivolous ceremony! –for all of you future brides!)  But where do I begin to name the blessings from the Lord?

Before I even began to search for a wedding dress, one was offered me from Mrs. Kara Mitchell.  I tried it on, and it fit perfectly!  I did not even have to have it altered!  I paid not a cent for it, and was spared all the time and annoyances of having to try to discover a modest wedding dress in the world of today!  A friend from church made the cake for us, and while we did pay her, I am sure we got a good deal!  Other dear friends, Mrs. Gaus and Mrs. Mitchell, put together the flowers, which turned out beautifully!  Mrs. Mitchell also decorated the auditorium and helped clean up, I think.IMG_2431 Mrs. Brady, Mrs. Alvarado, and others helped decorate and set up the reception hall.  Holly Almanza, a good friend, did my little sister Lindsey and my flower girl’s hair as a wedding present, and Katie Deporter, for whom I worked, paid a friend to do my hair and the hair of two of my bridesmaids.  I must say too, I never thought of asking her to do my hair the way she did, but I LOVED it!  She did a wonderful job!  A dear friend, Victoria Campos made the bridesmaid dresses, and was available for immediate alterations!…She did an amazing job, why, the dresses were almost perfectly fitting at the first try!  She also made dresses for two of her daughters who were attendants.  Then, to top it off, she used the money I paid her to send a little girl to Fairhaven’s Summer Camp, where she would hear the Gospel –truly a blessing spoken of in Proverb 8:18 as “durable (or, “lasting”) riches”!  God is good!  So many people were asking to help, I almost ran out of things I could have them do!  two of my other friends even bought a few food items for us to take on our honeymoon!  My Dad, who is one of my heros, and one of the dearest people in the world to me, labored tediously over a brass monogram chisled out with tinsnips for the cake.  And it was beautiful!  And another good family friend offered to make peppermint patties with me for the wedding, while also offering me wonderful advice about marriage which was invaluable since I could no longer rely on my mother for that!  And I am sure there is more I have missed!

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Now exactly one week before Dustin and my wedding was the wedding of Brian Boots and Sarah Swangim.  I guess you just kind of assume that your wedding day will be bright and sunny, without a cloud in the sky.  After all, no one advertises stormy weddings, or the ones where the crepe paper wilted, tore, and fell because of rain!  They never show the photos of brides dashing from the car to the auditorium amidst a thunderstorm, do they?  But that week before, it was just a thunderstorm, rainy kind of day, and it made me realize that my wedding might not be a nice day…there very well could be rain!  Well, thankfully, for Sarah and Brian’s sake, the rain did clear up some by the time of their ceremony!  But nevertheless, I tried to prepare myself for the worst!  It was true, though, that the decorations, the flowers, the dresses, and the day are not really the important thing, but just being married.  A friend said,”When the day’s over, and everything’s said and done, you end up married, and that’s what counts!”

Well, the days approached quickly, and before I knew it, it was the night before the wedding!  I was a bit stressed, and knew the next day would be full of it’s own pressures.  So I decided I needed a good, long devotional time alone with the Lord and His Word the next day.  I did not sleep well, as could hardly be expected, the night before such a momentous occasion!  But I got apart the next morning, and begged God for His help and strength.

Our Lord is so good to us, even in seemingly trivial things!  He gave me a calm spirit through the whole day, and not only that, but I was able to really enjoy the time getting hair done, joking with relatives, getting pictures with bridesmaids, and even picking bugs off my dress with the girls while taking pictures!  Then, in the ceremony, somethingIMG_2586 so comical happened as to make the day unique from any wedding in the history of Fairhaven Baptist Church, and to impress it as a precious day forever in our hearts!  Preacher forgot to say, “You may kiss the bride!”  So Dustin whispered, “Preacher, Can I kiss   her?”!!!  And he did…our first kiss ever!  What a special memory to always treasure!  And to top it all off, God gave us a BEAUTIFUL day!  It was sunny, the lake behind my house was sparkling, the sky was cloudless, and it was everything I ever wished for!  (Not that anyone with a less-than-beautiful day for their wedding is any less-blessed of God, of course, but in our case, it was one of the blessings He so graciously afforded us!)

Now, I could have kept all of my money that year for myself, and tried to buy every wedding supply for myself; I could have poured over the wedding magazines for hours, searching for the perfect idea, but I could never have dreamed up all of those details that God put together so wisely.  Everything turned out perfectly, and God showed us His hand through it, along with revealing to us the true friends we had all around.  And at the same time, He was using the money I gave to Him each month to help missionaries around the world, bless believers, and win souls to Himself.  All of the millions in the world could never buy such “riches”!