The Caldwell Seventh-day Adventist Church tried a new experiment this last month. Instead of the typical evangelistic series we opened The Community Bible Study. This approach, with two studies conducted all weekdays at noon and 6pm for three full weeks, is much more, low key than traditional series, and uses a study format with question and answers filled out on printed lessons. Instead of Revelation and Prophecy, the main theme is Righteousness by Faith. Doctrines including our unique truths are presented but in a Relational framework.
Another part of the experiment was trying more direct advertising to invite people to join. We asked members to invite friends and neighbors. Actually none of our guests came from this method. Several weeks prior we went door to door with a community survey that offered Bible study as one of its options, and when interest was demonstrated we gave invitation cards to The Community Bible Study. We invited the entire congregation to join us in this effort. I would like to thank, Casey Baker, Ramon Fernandez, Josh Hester, Nathan Hobbs, Donna Gonzales, Roy Johnson, Lois Moore, and Josh Ro who went door to door with me. Josh Hester, doing Bible work for us for a few weeks this summer, also contacted inactive members, non-member spouses, non- baptized attenders, and others who might benefit from Continue reading

I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the Book of Revelation. But when I took on a special project to study Revelation 12 and see if there was evidence of Historicism, I discovered some amazing things that have given me
“Our job is not to make secular people spiritual but to go after the secular people God is making spiritual. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:13-15 that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. God gets there first, then we are sent to connect the dots, to help them find what they’re already looking for. Desire of Ages page 349 tells us Jesus’ disciples ministered with Him, looking for interested hearers. They were not trying to interest the hearers but to find those God had already made interested. God wakes up the heart and then sends in the messenger (see Acts 2, 8, and 10) and God knew what message is needed to appeal to hearts at end of time, the Three Angels Message of Revelation 14:6-12.”
Rumors were beginning to swirl around our church. Was it true that one of the couples was having trouble with their marriage and even thinking about divorce? The battle in my mind began. Should I say something to them or was it none of my business? What if I said something but it was taken the wrong way? But if I didn’t say something and they later divorced I would feel guilty for not doing anything. They probably needed counseling and since I’m not a trained counselor I was off the hook. But was there anything I could do as a friend and fellow believer to help them with the underlying spiritual issues that were causing the problems?
Gary Blanchard (
Bible Prophecy Truth website
“This is the best, most spiritual book on dealing with church conflict I have ever read,” said John Freedman,
Have you ever wondered, perhaps not aloud, why God allowed some things into the Bible? Why was there a need for all those geneologies? Wouldn’t it be better if the Rich Man & Lazarus parable had been left out? Do we need the record of mass killings in the Old Testament? And why in the world was Colossians 2:16 included, especially when God knew that at the end of time there would be such vicious attacks against the seventh-day Sabbath?
“Cool and collected, Kavya Shivashankar wrote out every word on her palm and always ended with a smile. The 13-year-old Kansas girl saved the biggest smile for last, when she rattled off the letters to “Laodicean” to become the nation’s spelling champion… After spelling the winning word, which means lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics, Kavya got huge hugs from her father, mother and little sister.” “
Have you ever had questions or doubts about how to best deal with Colossians 2:16 “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day” (NIV)?
Editor’s Note- Marcy Perry, an Earliteen Sabbath School Leader, Pathfinder Staff member, wife, mom, and member of the