My mother and I were conspirators!

I have always known that smoking was nasty and dangerous. My father started smoking while serving in WWII and smoked until a couple of years before he died of smoking-induced emphysema.
When I was young (1950s and 60s) Dad always smoked in the house and in the car. We didn’t have air conditioning in either so we were always exposed to his second-hand smoke. I always hated the stink of his cigarettes.
When I was young my mothers parents always gave me some kind of educational gift for Christmas. One year, when I was probably between 10-12, they gave me a chemistry set. The set included a microscope, a couple of test tubes, and a variety of chemicals with which to do experiments. The set included instructions on doing the experiments. One of the chemicals (if I remember correctly) was boron. The instructions described an experiment in which you burn a small amount of boron powder on a little metal spoon and watch it expand. It expanded quite a bit and almost reminded me of popped popcorn.
My mother and I always talked about Dad’s smoking habit. She had asked him often to stop but he said he couldn’t. One day I told her about my little experiment with the expanding boron. I told her it might help to get Dad to stop smoking if I put some in a cigarette and when it expanded he would see how dangerous smoking was and maybe he’d quit (the reasoning process of a child!). Anyhow, my mother agreed it was worth a try so I took a cigarette from his pack, removed some tobacco from the end, stuffed some powdered boron in, and replaced the tobacco. I then put the cigarette back in the pack and waited. It was only after Dad went to work the next day that I began to have second thoughts about what I’d done. I began to think that maybe the burning boron would produce a gas that would hurt my dad when he inhaled it. I told Mom and she said she’d look for the doctored cigarette when he got home. She did but it wasn’t there. Dad had smoked it.
I don’t know if the boron expanded when Dad smoked the cigarette. He obviously hadn’t suffered any harmful effects from inhaling the tainted smoke. My mother and I agreed to not spike Dad’s cigarettes again.

Church of Christ: The pros and cons of overseas military congregations of the Church of Christ–Part III

My experience with the too-strong women and the jealous men of the American Military congregation of the Church of Christ at Hellenikon, Greece (see Part II), made me a bit reluctant to get too involved with the Kaiserslautern Church of Christ when we moved to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, in the summer of 1984. The congregation at K-town (as people who have been stationed at one of the many American military facilities near Kaiserslautern affectionately call the town) had a preacher but no elders when we arrived.  I decided to stay low key at the church and instead of church involvement pursue a Master’s Degree at night from the Boston University Overseas Program.

One of the problems with overseas military congregations is that there is usually only one congregation of the Church of Christ near an overseas base and you have members of the Church of Christ from all across the conservative-to-liberal spectrum who attend. The Kaiserslautern area was an exception in that there was another congregation–the Ramstein Church of Christ–located in Ramstein Village, very near the Air Base. This congregation is what is usually referred to as an “anti” congregation, in that they are against many things that other congregations of the church routinely do. For example, the Ramstein Church of Christ is against having a kitchen in a church building and against ever eating a meal of any kind in a church building. They are against using funds from the local congregation’s account to support orphans’ homes, church colleges or universities, or any kind of collective mission work. The leaders of the Ramstein church referred to the Kaiserslautern church as one of the “institutional congregations” of the Churches of Christ. By that they meant we supported institutions outside the local congregation with funds from the treasury of the local congregation. They felt having a kitchen in the building, eating in the building, and being “institutional” made us unrepentant sinners and therefore not a true members of the “Church of Christ.” As far as I know, the Ramstein Church of Christ continues to meet in Ramstein Village and they still hold to these views. The preachers of the Ramstein Church of Christ try to draw families away from the K-town church and often write about (against) the K-town church in “Brotherhood newspapers.” The thing that has always seemed strange to me about the Ramstein Church of Christ is that they rent some rooms in the basement of a large building to use as their church building. When I last visited them there was a printing company occupying the upper part of the building. I always wondered if the printing company had any kind of kitchen/eating facility available for its workers. If they did, and since the kitchen/eating facility would be in the same building as the Ramstein Church of Christ, would that mean that there was a kitchen in the “building” and that people were eating “in the building.” Would that have then caused the people meeting as a congregation in the basement to be meeting in a building with a kitchen–which would then violate their biblical understanding of a prohibition against such? I’m still wondering about this.

We didn’t have elders at K-town while I was there from 1984-1986. In lieu of elders the men of the church formed committees to ensure the work of the congregation was taken care of.  I joined the Evangelism committee. In the early summer of 1985 the church received a letter from a native preacher in Belgium. His name was Jean-Marie Frerot. He was asking for financial support to buy a new electronic typewriter, as his old electric typewriter had burned out and he was paying someone to type documents for him. He said he wanted a new electronic typewriter because these new machines had some memory capability and were much better than regular electric typewriters. The letter was given to the Evangelism committee and we discussed it at our next monthly meeting. The K-town congregation was sending some money to an Indian (from India) evangelist every month but were otherwise not pursuing any kind of mission work. The men thought we should look into the work of this native Belgian preacher to see if he was on the up-and-up and to determine if we should help him. As I had a wedding anniversary coming up and was thinking of taking my wife away somewhere for the weekend, I volunteered to go to Verviers, Belgium, and drop in on this congregation unannounced.

We went to Verviers on the weekend of June 15-16, 1985. We didn’t call before going. When we got to Verviers (about a three and a half hour drive from Ramstein Air Base) we checked into the Grand Hotel (it wasn’t!). Then, we called the preacher’s house. He didn’t speak English very well but his older son, Daniel, was able to talk to us. I explained who we were and Jean-Marie invited us to his house that evening. They gave us a very warm welcome and explained the work of the Verviers Church of Christ. He showed us letters from many French-speaking countries, from people requesting Bible studies based on an ad the church had placed in a major French magazine. The one ad brought requests for French language Bible studies for many years. They had ongoing Bible studies (through the mail) with people from around the world. He also explained their financial support situation to us–they were supported by a congregation in Mississippi. Even with the support they received, he didn’t have money to buy the new electronic typewriter they wanted. He had sent his letter asking for help to other missionaries and American military congregations throughout Europe. The next morning we attended worship services with the Verviers church and ate lunch with the Frerot family before returning to Ramstein.

At the next meeting of the Evangelism committee I reported on our trip to Verviers. I told them that I was impressed with the work in Verviers and that the K-town church should help them. I suggested that instead of giving him money to buy an electronic typewriter we should help raise money to buy him a computer and printer. Remember, this was 1985 so home computers were in their infancy. Home computers were a novelty then and most people used them only to play games and as word processors. I thought it would be better if the church at Verviers had a new computer because the word processing capability of a computer was much more versatile than an electronic typewriter. We did some research and found that we could buy an Apple computer, a monitor, and a printer for about $1,200. That was a bit more than the K-town church was prepared to give so the men asked me to write to other military congregations in Europe to explain the situation and ask for their help. We received some money from other congregations and were able to add enough to the donations to purchase the computer system for Jean-Marie.

This began a long relationship between the K-town Church of Christ and the Verviers Church of Christ. Soon after we bought and delivered the computer to Verviers the K-town men invited Jean-Marie and his family to come to K-town for the weekend. We put Jean-Marie, his wife Susanne, sons Daniel and Philippe, and daughter Christine, up in our apartment on Ramstein Air Base for the weekend. Jean-Marie spoke briefly that Sunday at the church, with  Daniel translating. After that visit the men decided to send the Verviers church a monthly check to help with their French Bible studies by mail. This also began a family relationship between the Emerys and the Frerots that continues to this day.

I don’t remember any really serious problems within the K-town church during the two years we were stationed at Ramstein. I know there were some members of the congregation who would consider themselves very conservative and there some who would consider themselves more liberal. We were all able to worship and work together for the good of God without any serious conflicts. I preached once or twice and taught several Bible classes while we were there but as I said before, I dedicated myself to getting a Master’s degree and left most of the teaching and preaching to others. It was a good time at the K-town Church of Christ.

Horseshoes with Dad!

My dad worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MET) for about 18 years–all while I was growing up. Every summer the local MET office in Beaver Falls, PA, had a company picnic at Firestone Park, just across the border in Ohio. The picnic always had the traditional picnic food, as well as games for kids and adults.

Among the games for kids were water balloon toss, finding coins buried in a pile of sawdust, blowing up balloons until they burst, and etc. For adults they had games such as volleyball, softball, pop the balloon tied to other’s backs (by hitting the balloon with a rolled up newspaper) and horseshoes.

The picnic when I was twelve years old was a memorial one for me. I was still of the age that I could participate in the kids’ games–twelve years being the upper limit. I participated in the contest to blow up a balloon until it burst. I won the contest and was awarded a prize. The prize was a toy set of horseshoes. There were little wooden pegs on boards and plastic horseshoes. I wasn’t impressed with the prize.

When the kids games were over the adults began their games. Late in the afternoon the men began their traditional horseshoes championship. The men had to choose a partner and then play a single elimination competition to determine the top team. When my dad told the men that I was going to be his partner several of them groaned and said, “Come on, Howard, he’s a kid. He’ll only slow us down. Let him go play with the other kids.” My dad responded that he and I often played horseshoes together at home and his son was going to be his partner. The men knew dad was good at horseshoes but they had no idea how well I played. I often played all afternoon with my cousin, Gary Fuss, and then he and his dad played against me and my dad when the men came home from work. I was pretty good. As you’ve probably guessed, dad and I won the championship. It was one of the best father and son moments I remember with my dad.

Church of Christ: The pros and cons of overseas military congregations of the Church of Christ—Part II

Church of Christ.

My first permanent assignment after finishing OTS and Aircraft Maintenance Officer Course (AMOC), was at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We arrived there in the late summer of 1980 and attended the Fort Walton Beach Church of Christ. I taught a Sunday morning Bible study class for retirees and helped Russ King with the youth group during the almost three years we lived in Florida. After about a year I heard that the Destin Church of Christ was without a preacher. It seems their preacher left on very short notice and they were looking for a new one. I talked with the elders of the Destin church about filling-in until they found a full-time preacher. I would have loved to have applied for the job but couldn’t because of my military responsibilities. They said they’d like to hear me teach and preach once or twice before making a decision to let me fill-in until they found a preacher. After one or two weeks of “trying out” they asked me to continue to teach Sunday morning adult Bible class and to preach on Sunday mornings and evenings. I told them I wouldn’t be able to come out on Wednesday nights but they said the men of the congregation would take turns with those lessons. After a month or so it seemed to me as if they had stopped looking for a full-time preacher. They even listed me as their preacher in an ad they put in the local newspaper. After about six months I told them they really needed to find a full time preacher as the twice-a-Sunday drives to Destin and the lesson preparation were just too much for me. They soon found a full-time preacher. Many of the members of the Destin church were either active military or retired military. This was a very good time of Bible teaching and preaching experience.

After a couple of years at Eglin AFB I began thinking about my next assignment. The good thing about being an officer is that you have more control over your assignments than enlisted members. I knew I was “hot” for an overseas assignment so I wanted to give my input before the military just decided where it wanted to send me. I wanted to go on an accompanied assignment (one where my entire family could go as opposed to a remote assignment where the family isn’t allowed to go) in a country where I could get close to Bible history. We didn’t have any bases in Israel so that country was out. We could go as a family to Italy, Turkey, or Greece. I decided I’d like to “walk in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul” in Greece and inquired into the possibility of being assigned there. I was told there were no positions for an Aircraft Maintenance Officer anywhere in Greece. There was, however, a slot coming open for a Munitions Maintenance Officer at Hellenikon Air Base in Athens in the summer of 1983. As Munitions maintenance and Aircraft maintenance were sister fields, I was able to take a “crossover” course at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver to take the Munitions Maintenance Officer position. Prior to moving to Athens I got the address of a member of the American military Church of Christ that met in a rented storefront just outside the main gate of Hellenikon Air Base. I wrote asking about the church and he replied very quickly. He asked if I had any teaching or preaching experience. I wrote back about my degree from LCC and the experience I’d gained at the Fort Walton Beach Church and at the Destin Church. He again wrote back quickly asking if I’d assume some of the preaching and teaching responsibilities when I got there as most of the men had little or no experience. I replied enthusiastically that I’d love to do that and we headed to Greece.

The American Military Church of Christ at Hellenikon was a vibrant young group. There were more than 70 in attendance every Sunday in the early 1980s. Most of the families were young military families. There were only one or two couples who were older and who worked as civilians for the military or the US government in Athens. The good thing about the congregation was their youth, energy, and enthusiasm. The not-so-good thing was the inexperience of most of the young Christian men who attended there. Before I arrived they had a policy of rotating the preaching and teaching duties among the men. Every Christian man in the congregation took his turn. A few of the men could do a pretty good job of teaching and preaching. Some of the men wrote out their lessons/sermons and simply read them. One guy just read sermon outlines out of a sermon outline book when it was his turn. He didn’t add anything to the outlines—he simple read the outline! Clearly, everyone isn’t cut out to be a preacher/teacher. I started teaching Sunday morning Bible class and preaching the first Sunday we were in Greece.

I was very excited about being a part of this young group. I knew I had much to offer and I knew I could also gain valuable experience. There were no men old enough to be elders in this group so we operated on the “men’s meeting” system of congregational leadership—a system in place in Ephesus where Paul left Timothy to help “mature” the church, and Crete where Paul sent Titus for the same purpose. There is no doubt young churches and young Christians need to mature and sometimes need help in the maturing process. One early experience with the group in Greece points this out very clearly. The men met one Saturday every month at the NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) Club for breakfast and to talk about the work of the church. We had been there just a few weeks when the men invited me to the monthly men’s breakfast. During the meeting I brought up an idea to change something in the meeting times. I don’t remember exactly what my suggestion was but it was something I thought would make our assembly times better for most people. I was shocked by the response of the men. When I suggested changing meeting times the other guys just sat and looked at each other. After a couple of seconds one of the guys said something like, “We need to ask our wives before we change anything like that.” I told them that we were the men of the church—in lieu of having elders—and we had the biblical authority to make decisions concerning the operation of the congregation. Again, the men told me they could make no such decision without first clearing it with their wives. I stressed our authority to make decisions for the church but I saw I wasn’t getting through to them. The downside to this story is that a couple of the more forceful wives in the congregation (I’m trying to be polite here) had it in for me the rest of the time we were in Greece. I often felt they tried to undermine me as they clearly undermined their own husbands. A couple of months before I moved from Greece to Germany (after we’d been in Greece for about a year) some of the men came to our apartment one evening with the local American missionary (who worked with a Greek-speaking congregation). They told me they thought I had too much “power” in the congregation and they wanted me to step aside and not preach or teach any more. This was like a punch in the gut to me and I believe to this day that the weak Christian men and some too-forceful wives were behind it.

Church of Christ: The pros and cons of overseas military congregations of the Church of Christ—Part I

Church of Christ.

I have had considerable experience with overseas congregations of the Church of Christ. I spent over twenty years in the U.S. Air Force and I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly (Sorry Clint) of Church of Christ military congregations. This is my story.

I was not a baptized member of the Churches of Christ when I first entered the military in October 1969. I was stationed at Craig Air Force Base in Selma, Alabama, (my first permanent assignment) for almost two years when I married Deborah (June 17, 1972). Deborah had been raised in a strict (dogmatic) segment of the Church of Christ. I grew up attending the Evangelical United Brethren Church which joined with the Methodist Church in 1969 to form the United Methodist Church. Although I attended regularly as a child, I was not what you would call a devout Christian when I met Deborah in April 1972.

We were engaged on the third weekend of knowing each other. Her father was in the Air Force in North Dakota and she was living alone in Atlanta at the time. I had not met her parents before we got engaged. He mother was very faithful in attending church services. Her father, although baptized, was an alcoholic and provided no spiritual leadership in the family. On the day we got engaged Deborah said, “I’m not sure how my mother will take our marriage.” I probed for further information and she said, “Well, ours will be a mixed marriage—I’m a Christian and you’re a Methodist.” This floored me and challenged me. I was determined to learn as much as I could about the Christianity and the various Christian denominations. So, when I went to Thailand six months after we got married (Korat Royal Thai Air Base) I spent much of my free time in the base library (Korat Air Base had a wonderful library) reading about religion. I read about the various Christian denominations, Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, Mormonism, and etc.

After we got married I attended a local Church of Christ with Deborah in Selma. This was my introduction to how things were done and what people believed in the Churches of Christ. When I got to Thailand I looked for a congregation of the Church of Christ on base. I found that a group of men met on Sunday afternoons in the Base Chapel. There were only about 5-10 young men who met but they seemed serious about their faith. I attended a couple of times but no one from the group asked about my religious background. On the second or third visit they were talking about a schedule of preaching. The men took turns bringing lessons. They asked me if I’d like to be on the schedule. I told them I understood that they expected people to be baptized as adults in order to be considered members of the Church of Christ and that I’d only been baptized as an infant in the United Brethren Church so I declined their offer. I’m sure they would have changed their minds about allowing me to bring a lesson after my “confession.” I didn’t attend much after that. I just continued to study on my own.

I continued to attend worship services with Deborah when I returned from Thailand. I was baptized by Gray Bortz, the Youth Minister of the Greenlawn Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas, on October 27, 1977. I was convinced that although I’d seen and heard some things in the Churches of Christ that I believed were more denominational dogma than biblical doctrine, this group was closer to the teaching of the New Testament than any other Christian group I’d studied. Besides, I put my faith in God through Christ and not in the particular or peculiar beliefs of the Churches of Christ. I immediately let my family and friends know that I wanted to dedicate my life to working for Christ. To that end, I began making plans to leave the military after just nine years to enroll in the Bible Department of Lubbock Christian College (LCC). I got out of the Air Force in August 1978. As I already had several years of college credit from night classes in the military I only had to take classes for 18 months to finish my BA degree. I graduated in early December 1979.

My plan was to get my BA degree from LCC and to get a position with a congregation of the Church of Christ as a preacher. Reality began to set in during the summer before I graduated. I had already begun to look into possible preaching positions and found that churches weren’t very keen on hiring a relatively “new Christian” with four children (Deborah was pregnant with our fourth at the time) and no experience. Although I was carrying a straight “A” average at LCC, I couldn’t find a church willing to take a risk on me. Dr. Charles Stephenson, head of the Bible Department at LCC, helped me get an offer from the Northside Church of Christ (where he was the preacher) to be the assistant minister. They were only able to offer me a small, three bedroom house and about $700 a month in salary. That wasn’t nearly enough to support my family. I decided the best course of action for my family would be for me to go back into the military as an enlisted airman. In July 1979 I went to an Air Force recruiter and asked about going back into the enlisted force. The recruiter asked questions about my background and education and told me that I could probably go back through Officers Training School (OTS) and become a Second Lieutenant. He scheduled me to take the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) in Amarillo, Texas, at the end of the first week of August. Our fourth child, Jessica, was born in Lubbock on August 8, the day I was taking the AFOQT in Amarillo. I scored well on the test and was accepted into OTS the first week of January 1980. I decided that if I couldn’t be a preacher as a civilian I’d take every opportunity to preach and teach while I finished my military career. That way I could support my family, gain experience, and help churches wherever I happened to be stationed.

“You little monkey!”

I was just a little tyke, maybe five or so, and we were sitting around the dinner table. Joyce would have been a little over seven and Kathy Sue would have been almost four. My mother said, “After dinner you girls have to get into the bathtub.” I said, “Hey, what about me? I want to get into the bathtub too.” My dad laughed and said, “You little monkey” and he and mom laughed together. Of course, I didn’t understand what was so funny at the time. I thought they were laughing in a bad way at me so I cried. They laughed a little more and then told me it was OK and I could take a bath by myself after the girls were finished.

Kaiserslautern Church of Christ: Doing the work of the Lord at K-town, Part 4.

Kaiserslautern Church of Christ. The Kaiserslautern Church of Christ had many successes during the six years I served as evangelist. I don’t know how many baptisms were performed during the service of other evangelists but I know we baptized numerous people while I was there. Most of those who were baptized were adults. We baptized people from Africa, America, China, Indonesia, and Germany. There may have been some from other countries but I don’t remember now.

When I got to K-town I asked the elders if there were any specific topics they wanted me to preach/teach on. They said, “Dave, just preach Jesus!” As that has always been my preference, I was very glad to hear them say it. I immediately began preaching through the Gospel of Mark on Sunday mornings. I continued to preach through Old and New Testament books during my tenure at K-town. For the first Sunday morning adult Bible study series, I presented a series of lessons I’d developed while at the Christian Campus Center at Grayson County College, titled “Who is my brother?” I took the title and theme from a book by the same name, by F. LaGard Smith. However, my series did not follow Smith’s book.

I was quite surprised as well as pleased when a number of adults were baptized as a result of the “Who is my brother?” series. What I found out was that some of people who attended the church did so because of their spouses. It seems that this was most true of wives attending the “church” of their husbands. Many of the women who we baptized during this time had never been immersed for the remission of their sins. Most had come out of other fellowship backgrounds and were baptized as infants. The really surprising thing to me is that they said they’d never heard a clear explanation of the purpose, mode, and necessity of believers’ baptism. I think this speaks volumes about a short-coming in our teaching and preaching. Either we believe a person must be baptized as a mature believer, or we don’t! That so many wives could attend churches of Christ for years and not understand that astounded me and still does.

Soon after arriving at K-town I started a community English reading program. I posted announcements on the glassed-in bulletin board on the front of our building which offered free English reading and speaking classes using the English Bible as the text. This is a system used very effectively by groups such as “Let’s Start Talking” and individual missionaries in various countries. I led a “Let’s Start Talking” group to Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1995 (while I was a campus minister in Texas). It was very successful. The following year I led another group to Athens, Greece, but not under the direction of “Let’s Start Talking.” Without the backing and support of the tried and true “Let’s Start Talking” administration we had very little success in Greece. I had also participated in a similar six-week program in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, in 1993 (while I was the evangelist at the Wolfforth, TX, Church of Christ), which was very successful. Several people from the K-town church volunteered to help me with the English reading students. Most notable for her willingness to help was Daphne Ciufo. We had some German high school students who came to the classes regularly for a couple of years. Also, some of the foreign students from the International University in Kaiserslautern came to improve their English using the Bible. Several baptisms took place as a result of these classes.

When I got to K-town there were one or two Indonesian students who attended the church. They came because they wanted to fellowship with other Christians and they understood English better than they did German. The International University in Kaiserslautern had many programs for people from foreign countries and they offered many of the classes in English. The Indonesian students who were already attending began to invite other foreign students because they liked how I taught and preached and they liked the warm acceptance they received from the members of the congregation. Soon, we had a number of foreign students who attended regularly. About a year after I got to K-town, three of the Indonesian students, Hanna, Shanti, and Mira, asked if we could start a week night Bible study just for the international students. We did and it became very popular. The program continued until I left in 2006. At its height, we had as many as 20 students in these in-depth studies. They represented Indonesia, Germany, China, Africa, Russia, Georgia, America, and other countries. Several baptisms resulted from these classes. Several of the deacons of the church helped organize and teach these classes. Mike Powell was instrumental at the beginning and then Steve Wolfe took over when Mike was transferred. Not only did these guys help with the group, they got valuable Bible teaching experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I spent six weeks in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, in 1993 as part of a four-man team teaching English using the Bible. The program had been set up a couple of years earlier by Royce Sartain and Nat Cooper, who were both associated with the Sunset International Bible Institute. They enlisted college students to go to Blagoevgrad in the summer to teach the classes. The program became so successful that they didn’t want to stop it during the winter months so they recruited four men to go in January and February of 1993. We were followed by two married couples from the Monterey Church of Christ in Lubbock, TX. While I was in Bulgaria I was asked to travel to Sofia (the capital) for the first three or four Sundays to preach in the place of the missionary, Tom Black, who was in the States having surgery. I met Tom and his wife, Sheryl, on my last trip to Sofia to preach. After I started working at K-town I contacted the Blacks and they invited me to come to Sofia to preach and teach for a couple of days. I also contacted friends from Blagoevgrad and planned a visit with them. The Christians in Bulgaria asked if it would be possible for me to come back to preach and teach from time to time. They always liked hearing preachers from America and it was much cheaper and easier for me to travel from Germany than other preachers from America. I discussed the request with the elders in K-town and they agreed it would be a good mission work for us. Starting in November of 2000, I made two or three two-week mission trips to Bulgaria every year. More about those trips in another post.

I believe the six years I spent as the evangelist of the K-town Church of Christ were good years for the congregation. We witnessed numerous baptisms and we reached out to people from many countries. Many of the American Christians who attended during those years were strengthened in their faith and learned how to become more effective and involved in the work of the Lord.