January 8, 2015 Member Letter

Dear Brethren,

As one calendar year has drawn to a close and another begins, many news broadcasts are running “year in review” programs for 2014. It is pretty depressing to look back on all that happened during the past year—wars, plane crashes, disease epidemics, weather disruptions, race riots, just to name a few. At the same time, we are hearing some of our national and world leaders say things are better, that the world is safer and that our country was more prosperous in 2014.

It is true that some Western nations are still more prosperous than much of the rest of the world, but everywhere we look there are major problems boiling just under the surface. And the world is definitely not a safer place! I am reminded of Isaiah 59:8: “The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace.” Wars, accidents, disease, death and tragedy dominated the news for 2014.

But rather than focus on the bad news from the past year, I want to share some good news about one of the most positive church activities of 2014: the Winter Family Weekend, held simultaneously in Louisville, Kentucky, and Portland, Oregon. In Louisville the activity attracted more than 1,000 people over the course of four days. Members in the Northwest were treated to a smaller version in the Portland area.

Each year we observe the festivals, beginning with the Passover and ending with the Eighth Day, also called the Last Great Day. These are commanded assemblies that have deep spiritual significance and bring us great joy. Family weekends are not in the same category as the festivals, but they have become a tradition in the Church dating back to the 1970s. When I was a young pastor in New England in the late 1970s, we rented a sports facility during the winter break when members were off work and children were out of school. We played sports, served a potluck dinner, watched movies and fellowshipped. It was a big hit!

In recent years we have added an educational component to the sports and dances. This has been hugely successful. In Portland Larry Salyer conducted a seminar and also gave the sermon. The local Portland pastor, Jon Pinelli, gave a seminar and conducted a Bible study, all built around the theme of developing godly character. In Louisville we had a number of church pastors who provided educational seminars; and David Johnson, Ralph Levy, Joel Meeker and I taught FI continuing education classes. We were surprised at the high level of interest. The attendance for the FI classes in Louisville was between 250 and 300 each day. The subjects covered were prophecy, understanding the Christian heart, and the writings of the apostle Paul.

I had the privilege of conducting the Friday night Bible study. We had an excellent turnout, and my topic was the “Destruction of Godliness.” The world has become more and more ungodly in the past 40 years, but it has happened so gradually that we fail to notice how bad it is from one year to the next. As one person put it, we are able to see how the world has lowered its values but we sometimes fail to recognize that we in the Church have been adversely affected by the same issues. Evidence of that effect shows up in our language, our actions and our appearance. It is easy to see that our standards of moral conduct are higher than those in the world, but what does that really say about us? The real question we should ask is, how do our standards compare to the standard God gives us in Scripture? As the world lowers the bar for moral behavior, we face the danger of compromising our own values.

Clyde Kilough, operation manager for Media, gave the sermon on the Sabbath. It was an inspiring message from the story of David and Bathsheba with a slightly different twist. David’s major battle in the incident of Bathsheba was with himself and not with Nathan, Uriah or Bathsheba. He had to fight his own lusts. It was an internal struggle over character. The greatest battle we all face is the one inside of us. The theme in Louisville was the same as the theme in Portland—developing godly character. The classes, the seminars, the Bible study and the sermon on the Sabbath all dealt with some aspect of this theme.

(By the way, both the Bible study and the sermon have been posted to the members’ website. You can view them at members.cogwa.org/education/type/sermons/.)

The weekend was great for all who attended. Not only did those present have an opportunity to play sports and be fed spiritually, they had the opportunity to fellowship with brethren. In Malachi 3:16 we read that the people of God “spake often one to another” (King James Version). This past week hundreds of brethren had a wonderful occasion to fellowship. Personally, I met scores of new people in Louisville, and each one had a story to tell. I learned more about people over the four days of WFW activities than at any other time of the year, with the exception of the Feast of Tabernacles.

I want to thank all of you who served during these special weekends. There is nothing more rewarding than serving others. Hebrews 6:10 expresses this well: “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” The Winter Family Weekend was a great example of ministering to the saints, and I am confident that God won’t forget “your work and labor of love.”

The joy of brethren getting together was in stark contrast to the major news stories of 2014. Time magazine chose as its “person of the year” the medical personnel who fought the Ebola outbreak in Africa. And ABC selected the Ebola crisis as the No. 1 story from this past year. The outbreak and spread of this terrible disease contained a tragic warning to the world.

In response to the news, we must pray more fervently that Christ will return soon. But in the meantime, we must “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1). We cannot afford to let down or believe that we are acceptable to God simply because our values are better than those of the societies around us. We must work diligently, seven days a week and 24 hours a day, not to compromise the values established by God as acceptable behavior! That was the lesson from this year’s Winter Family Weekend.

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks