Chrittuin

Mission

Field Address; Don Bridges

Kaiserstrasse 66
6790 Landstuhl

West Germany
VOL. 8

MARCH - JULY 1988

NO. 2

"You say (but they are only empty words}, 'I

have counsel and strength for war.' Now on
whom do you rely, that you have rebelled
against me?" (2 Kings 18:20 NASB)
Such was the challenge of the blatant
Assyrian field-marshal!, Rabshekah, flung at the
helpless King Hezekiah (read 2 Kgs. 18 & 19).
Even though his denunciation involved not only
helpless Judea, but also that of God, little did
he realize that in just a short period of time
185,000 of his proud men would be corpses, cut
down by an invisible scythe of the Almighty
God. Hezekiah made no reply to Rabshekah.
Despite the hopeless looking circumstances, his
heart trusted in God "he clung to the Lord; he
did not depart from following Him, but kept His
commandments..." (2Kgs 18:6) He prayed to
the Lord in his temple asking for deliverance from
his trouble. Isaiah the prophet sent to Hezekiah

For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro

throughout the earth that He may strongly sup
port those whose heart is completely His."

a word from the Lord about the deliverance that

poverty, yet, one of its blessings is that it keeps

us looking to and trusting God.
There must, however, be a qualifying word on
the how of our trusting God. First, it must be a
real trust; not merely a pretended or imagined
one. Micah 3:11 says, "Her leaders pronounce
judgment for a bride, her priests instruct for a
price, and her prophets divine for money. Yet
they lean on the Lord saying, 'Is not the Lord in
our midst? Calamity will not come upon us.' "
That kind of trust was superficial, and God did

will take place "because you have prayed to Me

about Sennacherib king of Assyria." (2Kgs
19:20) Here lies the secret of his victory!
Even so today, the first mark of the Christian
is reliance (or trust) on Jesus, the Son of God.
We rely on him exclusively as the vicarious
sinbearer through whom we have the salvation
of our souls. We do not earn salvation, rather
it is a gift given to all who come to him.
We are to rely on him, also, as our victorious
champion through whom we have victory in our
daily lives. "Were not the Ethiopians and the
Lubim an immense army with very many
chariots and horseman? Yet, because you relied
on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.

(2Chron 16:8-9)

As long as we rely on Him we have victory.

Many times we see failures and sins because the
people did not rely on God, but rather on
themselves. We see Daniel, who despite the cir
cumstances trusted Godand he lived power

fully (victoriously). Daniel's three friends decid

ed to trust God, whether He saved them from

the flames of the furnace or not. Rejection, fear,

persecution, pride, lust or death, over all these
we gain victory as we rely on Jesus.
We rely on Him as our vigilant provider who
"supplies all our needs" (Ph 4:19, Mt 6:31-33).
He may not employ ravens to feed the Elijahs of
this world, but by one means or another he sus
tains all those who rely on him. We do not praise

not honor it. So it is in Jeremiah 42 & 43"we

will do whatever the Lord our God shall say"

and then they refused because it was not what
they wanted to hear.
Second, our trust must be constant. Even

good king Hezeklah had relapses (2Chron

32:35). We must guard against such vacilla
tions. Psalm 112:7 describes the godly man,
"His heart is fixed (steadfast), trusting in (rely
ing on) the Lord."

Simon the Revolutionary. Perhaps even Judas

Iscariot could be placed in company with Simon
as the name Iscariot may refer not to his home
town but to the radical Zealots who carry a dag
ger (sicarius). We see Jesus, however, rise

Finally, our trust must be unmixed, it must be

above the pettiness of his oppents, and we

adore him for it. We are shocked and offended,

in the Lord alone. A wishy-washy faith dishonors

God. We must learn to say with David "He only
is my Rock and my salvation,...My soul, wait...
for God only, and (he only is) my stronghold."
(Psalm 62:2,5,6) Paul put it well when he
said"...I count all things to be loss in view of the

however, when we see people trampling on

Jesus.

surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my

Lord, for whom i have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them but rubbish in order that
I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of my own derived from
the Law, but that which is through faith in
Christ, the righteousness which comes from God
on the basis of faith." (Ph 3:8-9)

CAMP
The theme of this year's camp was "En
couragement." Eleven people from the Landstuhl congregation made the trek to northern Ita
ly for this week of fellowship and teaching. One
of the people said "This is great! I really needed
this. I can't wait to come back next yeardid
you say something about a Mid-Winter rally?"
It was a good time. Of the sixty people who at
tended, more than half were military or military
related people stationed in Italy and West
Germany.

Jesus was going toward Jerusalem the

Samaritans did not receive him. James and John

became angry over this and wanted to know if

they should call fire down out of heaven to
destroy them but Jesus rebuked them. When
Jesus healed the man who was possessed by
demons, the people were gripped with fear and
asked him to leave. Even Jesus' own trial, he is

described as a sheep which is silent before its

sheerer. Matthew states that Pilate was amaz
ed that Jesus would not even answer the

charges made against him. He says nothing ex

cept when the High Priest charged him under
oath to God to tell them whether he was the
Christ or not.

Let me share with you some thoughts

presented by Harold Fowler in his class on "En
couragement in Christ." He dealt with different
themes (e.g., gentleness, kindness, interrup
tions, and self-discipline) and looked at various
instances in Jesus' life which gives us en
couragement. Jesus uttered the statement
"Blessed are the meek (gentle)..." in the midst
of revolutionary thinking. Simon the Zealot
would be more appropriately thought of as

Gentleness means we surrender our personal

rights and goals to God. Did Jesus ever defend
his rights? Yes! Gentleness does not demand
that we surrender all our rights under all cir
cumstances. What advantages would there be
in not asserting our rights? Our witness to others
is affected. We might have more energy to chan
nel in one direction (rather than blowing off
steam). Passages like James 4:10 and 1 Peter
2:22 would take on new meaning. We cannot
trust deeply in someone we don't know well (cf.,
Mt 11:25-30). Do we really know Jesus and
God and His plan well enough to accept and act
upon it?

BOOKSTORE UPDATE
Since April I have been working on setting up
the bookstore. I have learned a lot concerning
permits, tax payments, and an overall business

setup. Of course, there is more "red tape" here

(almost) we would have Bible study in their

than one would encounter in the states. Some

home. They would drive down from Hahn (about

of this red tape involves knowing what the trade

restrictions are going to be. Then there is the
waiting involved for the material to arrive. It

an hour's drive) to attend. Their love and friend

takes about a week for the letter with the order

to arrive in the states, some time for process

ing the order, and four to eight weeks for the
merchandise to arrive in Germany.
At present, we have about two-thirds of the
material which I have ordered. Several people in
the congregation have volunteered their time in
helping to set up this store. We have built
shelves, hung signs and made some flyers to
give out to people. A special offering was taken
to lay new carpet in the store area. The people
here are enthusiastic about the store. Although
according to the German government, the store
is officially open (and we have been selling
items), we are planning to have a grand open
ing in September. This would give us time to put
out some publicity about the store. All in all, the
store is progressing well and should be a benefit
not only to the church but also to the
community.

INTERN VISITED
Early this year I received a letter from Tim
Snyder, a youth minister in Kentucky, about
coming to visit for a couple of weeks while he
was in Germany. About mid-June Tim came and
learned about the work here among the
Americans in this area. He was a great help
around the building as we worked some on the
bookstore. He accompanied us to camp in Ita
ly. He said he really enjoyed this camp because
usually he was busy teaching or coordinating
youth camps. After camp, we journeyed through

ship are going to be missed.

(Darl and Judy Bersagel left this August for
their new station in San Fransico. They have for
the past three years added a lot to this congrega
tion. Carl has led singing, done meditations,
preached, headed the men's meeting and filled
in wherever needed. Judy has taught in both the
children's church and in Sunday school. They
took some important leadership roles while they
were here. It seems that they attended every
camp and Mid-Winter Rally there was while they
were here. They are going to be missed, but their
new congregation will gain!

NEW PEOPLE
We know that people are going to leave after
two, three or four years. So, even though we
will miss those who leave, it is a joy to welcome
new ones as they begin their work here in a
foreign land. Scott and Robin Kendall joined us
this past spring. Robin is switching with another
Robin in teaching Sunday school and Children's
Church. Their enthusiasm for the Lord and the

work here is great!

Steve and Robin Johnstone also joined us this
past spring. Both are active in teaching roles

(Sunday school and Children's Church). They

keep asking what they can do. They are willing
to step in wherever they are needed.
Duane and Jamie Griicky (pronounced Gerlick-ee) came this spring. Duane looked around

PEOPLE LEAVING

their first Sunday here and said to himself that

here was a congregation in which he could do
something. He began asking what he should do
and hasn't stopped. He spots something which
needs to be done and begins the task. He is do
ing meditations and is the teacher for the adult
class, also. Jamie steps in wherever she is need
ed. Both bring excitement for the work.
Bill and Claudia Britz joined us this summer and

It seems hard to believe that time passes so

quickly. This past June Leah Belts left and head
ed for Washington. She has been here for the
last three years supporting and working in the
congregation here. We received a letter from her
already. She says that her congregation there
has a new building, but she would like to be in
the small congregation in Landstuhl. She is go
ing to be missed.
David and Carol Collins left this past July
heading for Ft. Worth, Texas. Every week

day, we did not have a piano playerBill

volunteered Claudia. She plays excellently!
There are rumors now of beginning a small choir
or trio or quartet. Bill has offered his carpentry
skills and we are going to take him up on this.
Room does not allow me to tell you about all
the new people which have come, so I will save
that until another time. I must still tell you of the
Fishers, Watts, Shelbys, Vagniers and Richardsons. They all are excited and ready to share
their talents in whatever capacity they are able.

Switzerland and visited the Matterhorn. Those

mountains impressed him (me too!) It was nice

to have him for those couple of weeks.

have shared their talents with us. Their first Sun

TK.aaoMn

Hi

'3TTtixou|

60L6Z Xi'oillJeuJv

Ea>
V

, , -

_ '-sv'^

-^smsv iv l^J/^^l

98&/

siuaev Buipjewjoj

loo L\ \

NOISSIN NVIISIUHO BNidlV

. ?]

r-^

Wedding Bells are Ringing

for

Don Bridges and Janet A Idrich

October 31, 1988

'r

at
Landstuhl Christian Church

Landstuhl, West Gerifiany

T/'

FINANCIAL REPORT
Balance on Hand 12/31/87

4.194.59

Income

9,560.19
$ 13,754.78

Salary
Miscellaneous
Furlough & Retirement

$
$
$

5,600.00
2,974.20
1,866.69
$ 10,440.89

Balance on Hand 7/31/88

3,313.89