Friday, February 8, 2013

February 2013 Newsletter

 

First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte

P.O. Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625

(605) 964-3617 (Office) / (605) 891-1704 (Pastor’s Cell) 

February 8, 2013 

Dear Friends, 

Now, at last, I think I have become a South Dakotan.  After nearly two years of living here, the Lord has shown me my first TRULY COLD DAY.  Earlier this month, a cold front blew in that shattered every idea I had of what “cold” is.  If you asked me to explain the cold with a mere number, I would tell you, “-45 degrees”.  But the cold is much better quantified by describing its effect:
*It was so cold that they closed the schools.  Mind you, there was no snow or ice on the road.  But to go outside and wait for the bus was to risk death.
*It was so cold that the police picked up the homeless people in town and put them in jail.  Not because they had done anything wrong, but for their own protection.
*It was so cold that the snowmen had frostbite.
That’s how cold it was.  And even though I am happy to have experienced what a TRULY COLD DAY is like, I have to admit that it makes you grateful that God invented “indoors”.

A New Development at Off-the-Wall


 
When the Off-the-Wall program was first started, it was intended as a means to give young people something fun to do on Friday nights-something that didn’t involve getting into trouble.  It was hoped that by providing them with a fun and exciting place to be within the context of a church, the young men and women would learn to view the church in a positive light, and be more receptive to the Gospel.  But we decided not to include any serious Bible studies in the event at first, since unchurched teenagers would be frightened by anything serious whatsoever.
 
All of that changed recently when one of our volunteers, Christina Osthus, offered to lead a Bible study for any young men and women who were interested.  A year ago, I would have said no.  But now that Off-the Wall has grown to attract as many as 60 young people a night, and has gained a reputation in the community for being a fun and exciting place, I decided that this was an idea whose time had come.  After all, what are we doing this for, if not to advance the Kingdom of Heaven?
 
Since that time, Christina has hosted two such Bible studies at Off-the-Wall.  At the first, two people willingly showed up and seemed to have a real interest in studying the Bible.  The next study had three people participating, who were very involved with listening and asking questions.  We have high hopes for this new Bible Study, and can’t wait to see where it might lead!

Native American Christian Art


 
The Lakota are famous for their remarkable skill in artwork.  Whenever my wife teaches art to her sixth-grade class, all she has to do is show the class a picture and ask them, “Do you guys think you can draw this?”  Then they do-perfectly.  But despite all this artistic talent, there is very little Christian art produced here.  Our church decided to find a Christian Lakota artist and get him to paint a series of pictures for our hallway, showing scenes from the Bible.

The artist we found was Bryson Dupris, a member of our church who is pictured above.  To the right of him, you see the first painting he did for us- a depiction of Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.”  He will be painting more such pictures for us in the future, and we hope they will spark the imaginations of young and old alike.

A Generous Gift from Good Friends

 

This month, three boxes of socks arrived from our good friend, Ellen Mustoe, who had been collecting them from our Christian Brothers and Sisters in Virginia.  We are always pleased to receive gifts of this nature, and we plan to distribute these socks, together with other clothing items, to the community very soon.  Thanks to all who donated these.  God is using you as His hands in this world.
Back to School
 
 
Long ago, I graduated from seminary and said to myself, “That’s it.  I’m done with school for the rest of my life.”  Boy, was I wrong!  This month found me attending classes at the Oglala Lakota College here in Eagle Butte, making a feeble attempt at learning the language of the Lakota people.  While the Lakota have a distinct language, unique to their culture, necessity has forced them to learn English over the years.  In fact, the primary language of nearly every Lakota on the reservation is English.  But many of them are sad for the decline of their native tongue, and they are currently providing classes in elementary school and the college to re-train their people in the Lakota language.  I signed up for this class for two reasons.  First, there are still some Lakotas who speak Lakota as a first language, and who understand it better than English.  I want to be able to connect with such people.  Second, it is the nature of leadership that people only listen to you when they respect you.  And one of the best ways to earn respect is to show respect for others.  So I am learning the language, hoping that the Lakota will feel respected by my willingness to learn about them.

Baby Shower! 
 
Two of our newer members, Adam and Rachel Cowan, had a baby girl about two weeks ago.  So the women of the church wanted to hold a baby shower for her four weeks ago, and my wife volunteered to host it.  It turned out great!  There were refreshments and gifts, as are the tradition.  But when it came time for the games, they went a little unconventional.  After the women had given Rachel her presents, each of them wrote their own thank-you note, addressed an envelope to themselves, and presented it to Rachel as a way of lightening her workload. 
 
A New Ministry Tool

 
At any given time, I have about a dozen ideas in the back of my head about ways to help the church.  One project that we just finished this month is shown in the picture above.  It is a map of Eagle Butte-about six feet long and four feet wide-attached to the wall in our office.  This would not be very useful in most cities, but in Eagle Butte it is wonderfully helpful.  You see, while our streets have names, they don’t have any signs to mark where they are.  And while our houses have numbers, most of these numbers are not written on the houses.  The result is that it is next to impossible to explain where anything is.  But now, thanks to this map, I can mark the house of all the church members, and find them when I do visitation.  Even better, we can use it to mark the houses of all the children that we pick up for Sunday morning breakfast-and then use the map to train new van drivers.  It’s little things like this that make me happy.
Plans for the Future
 
On March 10-13 of this year, First Baptist Church will be hosting a revival in Eagle Butte.  We will be getting a guest speaker from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and together we will launch an all-out effort to spread the Gospel, expand the church and reenergize the local Christians.  It’s going to be awesome!  However, as is the case with every revival, we cannot be effective without the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit.  That’s why I want to ask all of you to pray that God will move in the hearts of the people of this reservation to win them to Christ.  When you pray for our evangelism efforts, it is exactly the same as being right there with us, working alongside us for the furthering of God’s Kingdom.
 
So perhaps you are wondering how you can become a partner with us in our ministry here in Eagle Butte?  If so, then we are happy to tell you, since we welcome assistance from the body of Christ. Here is what we need the most:
Prayer.  It may be true that our church is getting along very well at the moment, and that God is doing great things here.  But it is precisely when a church is being used by God that Satan does all in his power to destroy it.  So please pray, my brothers and sisters.  Pray that our leadership will keep their hearts pure and humble, and that we will live at peace with each other.  Pray that we will be protected from the power of the enemy, and that God’s Holy Spirit will shine through in our lives.  Pray that the Lakotas in the community will come to know the Lord, and that the commitment they make will not be a superficial group of words, but a real change in their Spirits that will alter the course of their lives for eternity. 
E-mail addresses.  For those of you who have e-mail addresses, please send them to me.  That way, these monthly newsletters can be forwarded to everyone in your church who wants one!  Just send your name and e-mail address to me at benfarrar777@hotmail.com, and I’ll make sure you receive this newsletter as often as it comes out.
Financial Assistance.  Our church is fortunate to have members who are generous in their giving. But some of our most generous members are, nevertheless, very poor.  We have long been blessed with assistance from outside churches and individuals, and we try to use those gifts wisely and well. 
If any one of you wishes to bless the church with a financial gift, you may send it to:
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
May God bless you all, and draw you closer to Himself each and every day.
Yours in Christ,

Rev. Ben Farrar
Pastor
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
 
 

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