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 Miriam Nadler |
It had been almost a year since Sam and I had ministered at Ben David Messianic Congregation in Orange, CA. What a joy it was to have Friday night dinner with Doug and his wife Bonnie, to discuss some of their blessings and pray about challenges of the past year in leading the congregation. Sam had been invited to minister in the morning service, conduct an afternoon forum on Jewish evangelism, and finally meet with the leadership team. |
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Doug described to us that they were dealing with the blessing of numerical growth. A feature article on their congregation in a recent Messianic Times described it this way: "In seven short years, without any full-time staff the congregation they named Ben David ("Son of David"—reflecting their focus on the person and nature of the Jewish Messiah) moved to a fairly large meeting hall in the … city of Orange, and increased to well over a hundred people in regular attendance." We saw for ourselves at the Shabbat service as we noticed a number of new faces and families. Doug had asked Sam to give a message that would encourage both older and newer participants to see the vital need of serving in a messianic congregation. Sam preached from Nehemiah 6, about those distractions that Nehemiah had to fight to build a wall brick-by-brick. He related this to the mundane challenge of everyday congregation building, whether dealing with people's problems, one more children's lesson, or more chairs to set up. Often those who volunteer to help find it is difficult to stay focused and committed to help week by week with the preparations and services. But as we are called to serve we will see the Messianic congregation as a great work from the Lord and we can therefore say along with Paul, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men" (Col. 3:23). One of the points of Sam's message that stirred my heart was the fact that Nehemiah was a man of prayer and his example of prayer is evident throughout his book. We see Nehemiah refusing to be frightened and discouraged but rather look to the Lord and His strength. "For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, 'They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.' But now, O God, strengthen my hands. (Neh. 6:9) Those of us who are called to build up the body of Messiah through the testimony of the local congregation will complete this work as well. "Faithful is He who calls us who will also do it" (1 Thess. 5:24-25). Sam was especially heartened that he could talk with one Jewish man who was not yet a believer in Messiah. He stayed for not only the service but also for the open forum time of questions and answers. He listened as many of the questions over the two-and-a-half hours dealt witnessing to Jewish friends. We rounded out the weekend with a Leadership Team meeting as we discussed future plans and present challenges, including the essential need for growing administration. Sam spent several hours fielding questions from the Scriptures. We ended with prayer and praise, recognizing that the Lord was building up His Body, as a testimony in the Orange County area. Y |
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