One of my favorite Sundays of the year is coming up on August 11th. It’s Gideon Sunday. Our dearly departed friend and one of the “Saints of Bethel,” Curtis Salyer, was instrumental in bringing the Gideon ministry to Bethel. Over the years, I’ve attended numerous Gideon Pastor’s lunches and a Gideon
convention and I never tire of hearing story after story of how people have come to know Christ through the Gideon ministry. On Sunday, August 11th you’ll get to hear a powerful testimony from a nationally recognized speaker, Mrs. Tempe Brown. Tempe will be travelling all the way from South Carolina just to speak to us about the Gideon ministry. In addition to being a nationally recognized speaker, she’s also a published author and a professional singer. She’s quite talented! I’d love to see a packed church to welcome Tempe and hear her story of God’s saving grace. Just as we do each year, we will collect a love offering for the Gideons to bless their ministry of spreading the good news of Christ. Finally, one last and very important reason to put August 11th on your calendar, Debbie Salyer will be in attendance. Even though she’s moved to Myrtle Beach, she has faithfully
continued to work with the Gideon ministry, just as she loved to do with Curtis. It will be wonderful to welcome Debbie back to Bethel.
On a personal note, I want to extend a sincere, heartfelt thank you for the gift of the sabbatical that the church has graciously given to me and Karen. It’s been life-giving. I’ve enjoyed catching up on reading and even finding a new author that has deepened my knowledge of Scripture. His name is
Chad Bird; check him out. Karen and I have also enjoyed attending other churches and I found it to be a blessing to see how other churches structure their worship services and to experience church life as a “visitor” of a church. I’m happy to report that in all the churches we’ve attended we were made
to feel very welcome and it’s been interesting to meet a number of other Christians from different denominations. It’s been a blessing to worship the Lord without the responsibility of being a part of the service. I’ve also learned some new ways to better cope with stress through a class I continue to take through Shepherd’s Staff Ministry. This sabbatical has been all that I’d hoped it would be, so again, thank you Bethel. I look forward to seeing you all on August 11th for Gideon Sunday and I look forward to preaching again on August 18th. Until then, I hope and pray you’ll enjoy the rest of the
summer. May God bless each one of you abundantly.
-Todd