A Brief History Of Our Struggle of Ministry and Why We have Stayed.

 

I have never started a local church, but I have been able to keep a few churches from closing their door. 

For some reason the churches where I have been, the church has been in disarray.  The first church I went to

FIRST CHURCH I WAS THE PASTOR: 1971-1974

The first church I went to,  Madison Missionary Baptist Church, Minford, OH they had five splits in five years I was told. When I arrived there were 12 people, and after the first month those twelve people quit the church.  So you might say we started from nothing.  Oh the church people will celebrate that they are 100 years old,  but the history has been very poor. And by the way the church today is doing very good. They have had some very good pastors since I left. Praise the Lord.

 

THE SECOND CHURCH I WAS THE PASTOR 1980-1996

The second church I went to I learned that there were five preachers who tried out, and was voted to come, but they all turned it down.  (Mrs. York told me this) 

When I came, the adult teacher was not even a member and was not a Baptist.  The song leader was having Mormon class in his home.  The young leader was not a member was not wanting to be. And deacons where were not even saved. So I came anyway, and in the first month they were going to vote me out as pastor.  (which I would have gladly left.) 

That first few months, the deacons left and their family, all those above people left the church, and and before it was all over with several families left the church.  Its amazing why people leave the church.  Its usually not for a biblical reason but for silly reasons.

But for some reason the Lord saw fit to allow me to stay for sixteen years.  The best sixteen years of my ministry as pastor.  Of course I am amazed that the church survived with me as pastor in the first place.

I am so amazed.  The church today is doing very well and has a very good pastor.

Charity and I were invited back again in May 2015 and was so blessed to see the church do well and they have a find pastor.

We were so blessed to see many faithful in their love for the Lord.

THE NEXT TWO CHURCHES  1999, 2000

I tried two other churches, but both was not a fit and they didn’t want Me to stay, so I left. Don’t want to be where where the people don’t want you.

In six months at both church, we had a very good beginning and the church had growth and the people really liked us and we thought.  We did our best to take the church to another level but we certainly failed.

You might think why would I want to continue in ministry.

THE LATER YEARS  2001-2008

Then 2003  we went to Portsmouth Baptist Church and had a good run for about year and half, before the preacher said I need to go.

Then in 2004-2007 I was in Bigelow Church, and really loved the people and had a wonderful time with the group, but finally after been turned down  to be a deacon, turned down by the Elders to be an Elder and then as assoc. pastor, and then voted in as a staff member and then fired before I took office, I quit.  It’s wonder that I would want to continue in ministry.  The pastor left and the next pastor died in the church and then they had another pastor which they fired. And now they have two men who pastor the church, and I hope they are doing a good job, and I still really love many of the folks in that church.

 

RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH, MINFORD, JULY 2008 TO PRESENT

Then comes along Rivers of Joy Baptist Church.  I was asked to call the only deacon left about become the pastor and he hung up on me.  Only the next week two families walked out and they were going to shut down the doors.  They had tried out five preachers in 18 months they couldn’t get enough votes to become pastor. 

For goodness sake,  why of why did I come? My wife said it would not work at all.  It was the last church in the world that I would have wanted to pastor for sure. So why did I end up at the church?

Bob Temple, my father in law.  Its all his fault for sure. 

While I have always been an Independent Fundamental Baptist preacher, the old fashion one, and most of the preachers would not think I was a good one.

When I came to the church, there was little that I was in agreement with how the church leadership ran the church. 

By the way, this church was your typical IFBC. It was one of the best for awhile without any question.

The church was started because the preacher wanted to come back to Portsmouth to finish out his life.  He had pastored there for a number of years, had left and now want to come back to start a church. So he wrote all the former member to tell him he was staring a church in Minford, and wanted them to come with him. He wrote me as well as my father in law as well.  So the church started with a lot of former members who left the church they were end.

If you talk to the members at the time, they really believed that they had a great church, there was a lot of excitement and growth and lots of work and lots of people coming.  The pastor was one who loved to visit, go in to a home ask for coffee and then sit down an take a nap on a nice chair and then get up and leave.  Very true. 

The church grew and they then built a very nice building that would set 250 people, and it was full too.  What seem to be a great church and good people and people were been saved, making a lot of profession of faith, supporting a lot of missionaries, and helping out in the community. People where out door to door, winning people to the Lord. Some were called to preach by the preacher and deacons. For a while you would have thought this was the best church in town.

But what look good from the outside, in my opinion was not looking so good on the inside.

I am not going to address all the things that I was told by members of the church that led to the fall of this church because we still have some good people who are still in the church, who are very good people and have stayed to course.

When I took the church, it was with question. The only deacon left did not want me there in the first place and he and his family left a few years later.

There were several other families who came back and for a while, but did not buy in to the new form ministry that I had established.

My style of ministry was different: which was

1.  I was a Expositional verse by verse Bible teacher more than I was a preacher.

2.  I did not believe in giving a pressured packed altar call and made people fell that they need to come to an altar every month.  Giving a altar call really is not Biblical at all in the first place.

3.  Then we reworked the church by laws.  From pastor rule, to Eldership leadership.  I don’t think the church was ever membership rule.

4.  I didn’t believe that trying to see how many people I could get to come was the goal.  I was not willing to try every trick in the trade to get people to come. 

5.  I was not willing to have just anybody be a deacon, by teacher, be a bus driver.

6.  I was not will to take money from just anybody that was not a member, and I was not going to go outside the church to get money.

7.  I didn’t believe that every time I need money to do something that I pressured people to give.

8.  I didn’t believe in asking businesses to give us credit and then not pay them.

9.  I didn’t believe in pressuring people to be saved.

10.  I don’t believe in clicks.  I don’t believe certain people with high profile should be the only ones working in the church.

And certainly didn’t believe in doing what I heard so many times what was been done.

 So when I came I had a session with the people and they ask me questions.

1.  Do you go out soul winning ever day?

2.  Do you go out visiting door to door?

3.  Do you make hospital visits?

4.  Do you use only the King James Bible?

5.  Do you like VBC?

6.  Do you like a bus ministry?

All my answers was not what they had been used to. 

Good thing they didn’t ask if I was a Calvinist or an expositional preacher/teacher .

A FEW THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN I FIRST CAME TO ROJBC?

The formal pastor’s wife, the first pastor told people not to vote for me for all the reasons she didn’t like.  She was right in describing what I believed.

There was a family that was coming and she was teaching in the SS and then teaching in the church service.  I ask here to give up one and she quit the church the first month I was there.

And one member came for awhile and was very excited about come and had a lot of this family coming and then he got bad in about a month about the change and quit again.

Later the deacon quit, he got really bad, he was critical from the start, and hated all that had happen before I got there.

Some came  and saw the changes and didn’t come back.   We had members come for a while and didn’t like what I was preaching and quit. 

The piano player and his lovely wife and who we loved, and worked with so much QUIT. Hated that you know. He never told us why either.

My father in law remarried and moved to Arlington TX, that wasn’t nice of him. But he and his wife come up a few times a year.

Then as of June 2015 the Assoc. Pastor quit, finally.  We worked with him for almost seven years.

Then church has not seen one baptism, and only a few being saved as far as we know.   I have wondered if we have had the door of the blessings of the Lord closed on us. 

FOR GOODNESS SAKE HAS ANYTHING HAPPEN THAT HAS CAUSE YOU TO SAY AT RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH.

1.  There have been a few old members who have come back into the fellowship, and with a lot of struggle and trials and hard times, have been blessed and doing good. That in its self has cause me to want to stay.

2.  There have been some who just didn’t like us at all, I think, and they have come and are a really blessing to the church. What an encouraging that has been to us.

3.  We have a 94 year old saint who voted for me not to be the pastor, who has not missed service yet.  That has been so encouraging.

4.  We have seen the growth in several men since we have come.  That has been a blessing.

5.  We have seen folks that might have struggled with our position and doctrine but they have been faithful in their giving and support for us. That is why we are still here by the way.

6.  Charity finally talked me into having a class for the ladies, and that has been a real blessing.  Through those classes we have learned just how much they love our church know and they love the teaching that I give, and that is why I am still at ROJBC.

7.  Our people have worked on trying to get people to come because they love the fellowship and teaching.

8. And then we had a family come this last few months that have uplifted our fellowship so much that I think I might make it for another year. We will see.

9. I hear the folks say that they are loved and or blessed so much.

10. We have not seen growth in number but we have seen growth in spiritual growth.

11. The Grants, Hall, Dawkins, Lemaster, Field,  Rameys,  have stayed.

So in July 2008 we will began our seven year at ROJBC church.  Its not July yet, it is  not June, so we might still be at the church.

BUT IF YOU COME TO ROJBC YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW THESE THINGS?

If you don't mind a pastor/teacher that is not bound by the KJV only group, if you don't mind a service where the music is not the primary focus, if you don't mind that the primary focus is on expositional (verse by verse) teaching of the Word, if you are not offended that we don't give altar calls, pleading some one to made a public profession of faith, than ROJBC might be the church for you.

If you are not offended that the pastor preaches theological and has a strong view on Sola Fide, by faith alone. Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone. Solus Christus, through Christ alone. Sola Gratia, by grace alone. Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God ... then ROJBC might be a place for you

Charles e. Whisnant Activity on Thursday

Now you know what I do during the day! I was at Chad's house and he beat me twice at ping pong.

ALL THE LIFE OF THE PASTOR/TEACHER EACH WEEK

So what does a preacher/pastor/teacher do? You usually don't really know do you? Oh we are on Facebook every moment of the day? We play golf twice a week. Well no. I text 100 times a day? No. So what do I do?

Usually we don't do what the people want us to do. Do we. I myself don't know what I should be doing all the time. It is usually something I had not planned on doing too.

I know what I need to do each week?

1. Prepare for the Bible Study on Sunday: Proverbs.
2. Prepare for Sunday Morning sermons: Romans
3. Prepare for Sunday Night sermons: Philippians, and others topics
4. Prepare for Wednesday Night lesson: Biblical View of Prayer
5. Outlines of all sermons and print them each week.
6. Video all lessons I do one Sunday and Wednesday
7. Prepare videos to download on Vimeo and YouTube. At least three 40 minute videos and also special songs by singers at church.
   
8. Write articles on my websites.
9. Presently working on the church financial program.
10. Oh, cutting the lawn at Union Mills
11. Oh, cutting the yard at our house.
12. Watching NCSI on Tuesday.
13. Checking out e mails
14. Reading over 110 current blogs each day.
15. Love searching material on the web about ministry.
16. Downloading my outlines on Slideshare.
17. Communicating with my staff of pastors.
18. Getting Charity coffee in the mornings.
19. I am getting tired already.
    

LEADERSHIP IS BEST DONE BY THE PASTOR WHEN

PASTORS OR LEADERS

• No form of leadership a pastor provides is more decisive than his proclamation of Scripture. Preaching both defines the priorities for your church and fuels the implementation of those priorities in the church. We must never sever the connection in our minds between leadership—providing direction for the church—and your preaching plan. It’s that preaching plan, and its execution, that provide the most powerful and biblically rooted leadership. And I’m not just speaking about the “leadership opportunity” on any given Sunday. The preaching diet over a period of time will be the most formative, shaping influence on a church.

• If all this is true, what then? If you’re a senior pastor, then nothing you do this week is more important than, nor should it supplant, your prayerful preparation for the preaching of God’s Word. If you serve on a pastoral team with a specialized sphere of ministry, you should be thinking about how the Sunday preaching can be applied in the life of the church in your sphere. If you’re a member of a church, there is no more important moment for you than when you sit under the teaching of God’s Word, hearing his voice, and receiving direction for your life as a part of your church.

• THUS PREACHING THE WORD OF GOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE PASTOR/TEACHER'S MINISTRY FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH BODY.

THE RIGHT MOTIVE OF PAUL IN SERVING GOD

Paul's Motive For Serving Christ in Ministry, and Paul's desire for the saints in Rome

Romans 1:8 First, I thank (1SPAI) my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed (3SPPI) throughout the whole world.

Romans 1:9 For God, Whom I serve (1SPAI) in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention (1SPMI) of you,

Romans 1:10 always in my prayers making request (PPPMSN), if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed (1SFPI) in coming (AAN) to you.

Romans 1:11 For I long (1SPAI) to see (AAN) you so that I may impart (1SAAS) some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established (APN)

What has been my motive of ministry as pastor/teacher?

When I was the pastor/teacher of First Baptist Church (1980-1996) and my study was in Romans and I arrived in 1:8 I was studying that verse and listen to John MacArthur on the text and learning what is the goal of ministry.

"What is the greatest thing I could do for you as a pastor/teacher? Hold you hand? Pat you on the back? Nice things to do of course. To like you? To visit you? Those things are good. But has Paul is saying in Romans 1:8-9 and Romans 1:10-11 I really would like to give you something spiritual not physical. I want to make the neccessary sacrifice to feed you the living Word of God, becauses that is spiritual. Something deep, not cheap and superficial.

This is why I spend much of my time, in the Word, to study and learn the Word of God so that I can impart to our members "Thus said the Lord."

I believe the greatest thing that I as a pastor/teacher could give you is to impart into you the Word of God in a way that would establish your faith.

When you are listening to our preaching/teaching, listen to the content, the power is not in my voice, or mannerism, but in the Word of God.

Think about it this way. Normally, in what we call “worship,” we spend significant time—perhaps the whole time—addressing God, singing to him, praising him, extolling him, praying to him. Wonderful! But in preaching we are no longer addressing God; he is addressing us.

Nothing is more important than this moment. And this is why the most important worship leader in your church is your pastor. That really gets to the heart of preaching.

The Bible is not simply a book that we talk about. When God’s Word is faithfully preached, God is addressing us. God is speaking. We hear not merely a man’s voice.

We hear the voice of God. And when God addresses us, what is the appropriate response? We respond with glad and reverent hearts, with voices that proclaim his praise, and with lives that increasingly reflect his character.

God addresses us with a saving Word. We respond to him with faith, praise, and obedience. That is the rhythm of worship.

SO IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHAT MY MISSION AND MOTIVE AS PASTOR/TEACHER OF RIVERS OF JOY BAPTIST CHURCH, THERE YOU HAVE IT.

Charles E. Whisnant Outlines and Work

The above photo is my lay out of sermons and lessons from Wednesday and Sunday.

Well each day I am either on GrowByLearning.com. or the Cloud Sermon site which will give you several sermons I have taught. Or I am on Vimeo uploading Sunday's two message, and Wednesday's message.

One message of 40 to 45 minutes takes 4 10 minutes uploads.

Also I discovered how to put the outline of my sermons from by doc. online too. Here.


So we are having a great time with all this learning.

So Few Have Died So Hard

The sermon was okay, the video stop recording after 22 minutes. Of course there are times when you feel negative about how you are delivering the message.

How Few There Are Who Die So Hard! from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

There are some who die hard in ministry, in sharing the Word of God to a lost world. This message from Philippians 1. This introduction to the message. While the video stopped at 22 minutes, I might record the last half of the message.

Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) was an American Baptist missionary, lexicographer, and Bible translator to Burma. Is the subject of this lesson I gave at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church July 19, 2009.

Ann Hasseltine Judson

• (1789-1826): Teacher, translator, author and first missionary wife of Adoniram Judson, she was the first American woman missionary to go overseas. Born in Bradford, Massachusetts, Ann became a Christian at sixteen, studied at Bradford Academy, and taught school for several years. Married Adoniram on February 5, 1812, and within a few days they began a four month ocean journey with some other missionaries on the brig "Caravan" bound for Calcutta, India. Ordered to leave India, the Judsons went to Rangoon, Burma, arriving on July 13,1813. Ann learned the Burmese and Siamese languages, did translation work, taught Burmese girls, and managed her household and cared for her husband during his 18 month imprisonment in 1824-25. When home in the United States briefly in 1822 because of ill health, she wrote a history of the Burmese work titled American Baptist Mission to the Burman Empire, which was published in 1823. She died October 24, 1826, at the age of thirty-seven. Both a son, Roger Williams (born 1815) and a daughter, Maria (born 1825) died in infancy (8 months and 27 months respectively).
• 
  

Sarah Hall Boardman Judson.

• (1803-1845): Translator, author, hymnist and second missionary wife of Adoniram Judson. Born in Alstead, New Hampshire. Her family knew the Judsons well, and when she was thirteen she wrote a poem on the death of the first child of Ann and Adoniram. Sarah and George Dana Boardman were married in 1825, and went to Burma to work with the Judsons. Later they settled at Tavoy to work with a mountain tribe (Karens), where she founded a school for girls. Her husband died in 1831, and she continued the work with her small son, George. Sarah married Adoniram in 1834, nearly eight years after the death of Ann Judson. During eleven years of marriage, they had eight(?) children: Abby Ann (born 1835), Adoniram Brown (born 1837), Elnathan (born 1838), Henry (born 1838; died age 1 yr., 7 months), Luther (stillborn, 1841?), Henry Hall (born 1842), Charles (born 1843), Edward (born 1844). She translated hymns and other materials into the Burmese language. She died September 1, 1845, exhausted and ill, on a ship sailing back to the United States.

Emily Chubbuck Judson (1817-1854):

• Author and third missionary wife of Adoniram Judson. Born in Eaton, New York. She was a professional writer under the pen name of Fanny Forester. Judson had read some of her writings and contacted her to write the biography of his second wife, Sarah. After working together on the biography, their acquaintance lead to their being married in 1846, about a year after his return to the United States following the death of Sarah. They returned to Burma, where Emily finished the biography of Sarah, which was published in 1848. They had two children, a daughter Emily, born in 1847, and a son Charles, born (and died) the same day in 1850, three weeks after the death of Judson. She returned to the United States in 1851 and died of tuberculois in New York in 1854.

LETING DOWN YOUR SLEEVES IS GREAT

Brief Summary of Sunday's Message from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

The video is from this morning at the church, (I did not have the lights on)

THE JOY TO BE ABLE TO LET DOWN YOUR SLEEVES WITHOUT BEING MISUNDERSTOOD.
TAKING A LOOK INTO THE EMOTIONS OF PAUL
I THESSALONIANS 2:13-14
Pastor/Teacher Charles E. Whisnant

PAUL seems very much at home when he is writing to the church at Thessalonica. In his letters to that favored people he unveils his inmost feelings. He is rather apt to do so when he feels himself quite at ease: for Paul is by no means a man shut up within himself, who is never at home to any one. When he is in a drawn-out conflict with an unappreciative people he keeps himself to razor-sharp words and strong arguments; but when he is writing to a loving, attached, affectionate church, he lets them have the explanation of his heart, and he lays exposed before them his secret emotions. I feel as if we were interviewing Paul today as if we were all sitting in a room with him, and Silas, and Timothy, and were hearing their private conversation. We are come to a round-table conference with them, and we are listening to their talk about the ministry which God had committed to them.

Even in these two verses we hear of how these holy preachers loved the gospel, told out the gospel, and saw that gospel take hold of their hearers' hearts.

When you look back over the places of ministry in the pastorate, as my mind brings up those places of service, it’s with joy that I don’t need to be restrained about my conduct in those places. In each place the experience with friends still fill my soul with joy. The experience with the youth, the children, and adults are so good. I love to tell the stories. To be able to the connections we had with friends in Roanoke, Virginia, Bible Baptist Seminary in Arlington Texas, Wooster, Ohio, Minford, Ohio, West Portsmouth, Ohio, Connersville, Indiana, Mansfield, Ohio, Altoona, Kansas, and perhaps in Lexington, Kentucky.

It is with a joyful enthusiasm to be the pastor of a church where one may be able to speak with some transparent, as a pastor, to be able from the beginning to open your heart without fear that you are going to be wounded.. Pastors usually have to be like a man who wears an armor throughout life, who hardly is able to move his plate of steel, unless somebody should wound him in an unguarded place.

There is not place better than have a church were you can feel yourself at home as a brother among brethren, and as safe as a father among his sons and daughters since he is not afraid of being misunderstood.

To be able to let your sleeves down a while is a joy.

Paul was like that here in our text. He was able to feel at home, he was able to freely speak with peace, and with pleasure his thoughts about the folks at Thessalonica. He could from the first day to his last day, just say, “As you know,” and they did know.

AND FOR THIS REASON WE ALSO CONSTANTLY THANK GOD THAT WHEN YOU RECEIVED FROM US THE WORD OF GOD'S MESSAGE YOU ACCEPTED IT NOT AS THE WORD OF MEN:

This Sunday at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, in Minford Ohio the message from I Thessalonians 2:13

TEN WAYS PAUL DID NOT MINISTER

How Paul Preached Approached Preaching from cwhisnant on Vimeo. Part One
Since I can only upload 1GB (that is over 1billion byes). (Which is about 23 minutes. And I had a 43 minute sermon. So guess what? I will have part two. I hope soon..... But it does take forever for the process to happen.

SUNDAY MARCH 08 2009 REFLECTION TIME

THE QUESTION TODAY IS: what was God doing in Rivers of Joy Baptist Church Today ?

Rivers of Joy Baptist Church Pastor Office

In the Pastor's Office from cwhisnant on Vimeo.

THE CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE CHURCH

The Ministry Update at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church

The culture, though it is growing less and less Christian, just so happens to be progressively becoming more and more “spiritual”. And sadly, I believe young people are being swept away by this movement out of a response to the staleness and plastic portrayal of Christian living that recent generations have displayed.

Our desire and wish (prayer) is to have a church body of belivers that is a portrayal of Christians who show a love for the Lord Jesus Christ in the context of the local church.

It's my desire for myself as well. The local church has been my focus for 50 years of my life. While I have seen the plastic portrayal of Christianity in so many people over the years, my focus has been on Christ rather than the church or people. Otherwise, you would be out of the church all together.

As a pastor and teacher of a local church, it's my calling to lead, feed, teach, love and train those whom Christ gives to the local church body. I am supposed to be able to see people where they are and take them to be where they are supposed to be as a Christian believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What I see are people who have their own agenda as to what the local church is to be about in their minds. That mindset has been set by their church training, which is of course what is supposed to happen.

People's presuppositional thinking i.e.:

• to believe that a particular thing is true before there is any proof of it.

While it's the duty of the pastor/teacher and leaders of the church to teach right biblical thinking about the church and about the Christian life, (and in many churches that is exactly what happens) many pastors and churches teach their own agenda of church ministry rather than biblical agenda.

While all of us pastors and leaders believe we have taught right principles of church ministry, sometimes we discover we err in biblical principles. Sometimes we have to correct our position as we learn the bibical principles as we understand them in scriptures.

Often as I have found, when I become the pastor of a local church, I find my training and thinking about church ministry are different than the church I am in. Herein is the challenge for the the pastor leaders and people in the church.

Herein you have those those who are willing to accept the challenge and work with the pastor and go with the changes set forth; and then you have those who will challenge everything the pastor does and will not change; and then you have those who view what is happening and just leave.

Therefore in any ministry that is new, you have all three situations. Some members will stay, some will leave. The challenge as leaders is definitely challenging, because you know, some will stay and some will leave no matter how you lead.

The challenge of the people is (as it is for the pastor), to desire to discover the principles of church ministry and the prinicples of Christian living and not quit because your own agenda is not met.

As Pastor of Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, we have had the challenge to lead the church. As in all church ministry, some people leave before you arrive, some come and stay a week or more and then leave. Some meet the challenges and stay and work with the new leadership and new ministry perspectives.

As pastor and leaders we have the challenge to present our belief of the church ministry and christian living in a manner that is going to be the most effective way. It is a challenge.

Since June 2008 the ministry has been a challenge. The challenge of a ministry that lost almost 90% of its attendance and income, and three pastors, and sixteen years of history. (And the doors were just about to shut). The good things were, the church buildings were paid for, some good folks stayed and desired to see the ministry of Rivers of Joy continue, and that the work that its pastors and people of the past desired to have would continue.

(FOOTNOTE:) The photo comes from Charles Stanley's website. I believe Charles Stanley's teaching is good and sets forth a lot of great biblical principles for christian living. (the click doesn't take you to the website, sorry.) I wanted to use the photo to show there are Biblical principles to Church, and Christian ministry.