What’s Happ’nin’ & Who Dunnit!

By Harold Hendrick

 

            Just look at the impressive testimony lineup for Christian Family Day at Busch Stadium (CFD) following the noon St. Louis-Pittsburgh game on July 26!  They include Nicole & Miguel Cairo, J.D. Drew, Cal & Terry Eldred, Wayne Hagin (Cardinal radio broadcaster), Dustin Hermanson, Eli & Marisol Marrero, Mike Matheny, Dave McKay, Lance Painter, Orlando Palmeiro, Albert & Deidre Pujols,  Jason Simontacchi and Woody Williams!

            There will be three phases of the day.  (1) Feed, entertain, and provide a positive witness to 3,200 underprivileged children at Gateway Plaza (The CFD committee raises thousands of dollars to finance it.)  (2) Provide those children the game at the cost of $15 each, but free to the children.  (Includes the food at the Plaza. Cardinals Care will give them each a hot dog and a coke during the game.)  (3) Have a post-game program featuring the contemporary Christian music of “Salvador” (brass, guitars, and drums), and the sharing of the Gospel of Christ by Cardinal players and their wives.

            One powerful response from last year came from the Faith Assembly of God Church in Quincy, IL.  Outreach pastor Dorinda Davis wrote the CFD Committee (Judy Boen, founder and chairman): “It was great!  We minister to the children ... that live in the housing projects…in Quincy.  The majority of the 70 children we brought had never been to a major league game and we had the BEST time!  The talk on the bus ride home was ‘I didn’t know that he was a Christian, did you?’and ‘Did you hear his testimony?’  It was a powerful witness to our children of how God will bless and use those who fully commit their lives to Him.”

            About the two children from the group selected to go on the field and meet the players: “The kids were thrilled and so was I as I realized that both of these children had fathers who were in prison.  …the game was held on Fathers’ Day weekend and instead of feeling like outcasts they were made to feel like the most special kids in the world…”

            For ticket info, or to donate, see www.christianfamilyday.com or call (636) 227-9788. 

 

 

            It was quite unusual.  On June 3rd I invited three men -- Gary Leibovich, Jim Pearl, and Jeff Lestz (“lets”) – to be radio guests.  All for different reasons.  Yet it was in the broadcast itself that I recognized three remarkable similarities. (1) Each was Jewish.  (2) Each was a Messianic Jew, having come in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  And (3) each was a “first generation” Messianic Jew … that is, none of their parents were believers in Christ before these three. 

            It brought home what Jewish Messianic leaders have said in recent years:  “More Jews have come to Christ in the previous 20 years than in the previous centuries.”  And, indeed, it reflects fulfillment of Scripture.

            Gary Leibovich is the Director of “Restore St. Louis,” which are the 12 outreach ministries of New City Fellowship.  He is having a great ministry, primarily in the inner city, revealing the love of God in addressing the needs of many people.

            Jim Pearl is the chairman of the board of the Midwest Messianic Center in St. Louis.  He is also the grandfather of Alex and Matthew Pearl, the two young children with the rare life-threatening illness that require perfect bone marrow matches (www.alexandmatt.com).  More than 50,000 have undergone bone marrow testing in drives in support of Alex and Matthew.  Each eligible person was entered into an international bone marrow registry that resulted in more than 100 matches to people around the world, saving many lives. 

            Jeff Lestz is a successful St. Louis businessman with Primerica, making plans to move with his wife to London soon.  In childhood he was a Chicago orphan -- his father committed suicide and his mother institutionalized -- living in numerous foster homes and on the streets and sometimes dealing drugs as a teen.  When visiting Jewish hippie friends in southern Illinois, he found them no longer doing drugs but in Bible studies, wonderfully changed when they gave their lives to Jesus Christ as their Messiah.  In time Jeff sought the Lord Jesus as his Savior.  Primarily through business relationships, Jeff estimates that he has had the joy of leading 400 people to faith in Christ.  You should hear his testimony…and you will if you listen to my Encounter program, Tuesdays and Thursdays on KSIV AM (1320), repeated late night at 11.


  

            Wedding News: Long time pastor Clyde Oster, 83, faithfully preaching Christ and serving Him since 1935, is getting married.  He certainly won’t be “unequally yoked,” – the Bible warns us about marrying an unbeliever – for he led his bride and her husband to Christ …40 years ago.  Since both their spouses have died, romance has blossomed and, as I write, his wedding to Ruth Schneider -- with his children’s’ blessing -- is scheduled for June 28th. 

            As one gets older we can experience more of those “senior moments” of forgetfulness.  It seems that Clyde has considered that.  Both his first wife – now with the Lord – and his new wife have the same first two names… “Ruth Silvia.”  So Clyde’s first wife was Ruth Sylvia Oster, and now his second wife will be Ruth Sylvia Oster.  (Should reduce the danger of calling his new bride by the wrong name.)

            May Ruth Sylvia and Clyde Oster be blessed with happiness and continued service to the Lord together.

 

            

            What do you think Jesus meant when, just before His death, He prayed for us believers living beyond the first century?

            "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  (John 17:20-23)

            At the recent St. Louis City Impact Roundtable -- a great inspiration to those who attended -- Dr. Larry Lewis offered guidelines for helping us advance the kind of unity for which Jesus prayed.  In the inner circle of his illustration are our basics, which are non-negotiable: Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came from Heaven, lived a sinless life, died as a sacrifice for our sins, rose again from the dead, and Who provides salvation to all who come to Him by repentance and faith in Him alone.   

            There can be no wavering or compromise on these basics. Spiritual unity requires a unity in the Person of Jesus Christ. 

            But in the illustration, in the sequential outer circles beyond the basics are (2) interpretations, (3) conjecture, (4) traditions, and (5) preferences.  We must not give up or negotiate away the basics.  But we can still function in spiritual unity even though we have differences in interpretations, conjecture, traditions, and preferences.

            Thank about it.  And ask yourself if you are a part of the answer of the prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-23.

 

 

            The ABC group in Jefferson County – “Against Barnhart Casino” – is sponsoring my speaking at a rally on Sunday evening, June 22, to be held in the worship center of the First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City.  The subject?  “Neighborhood Casinos Ruin Neighbors!”

 

 

            First Cousin Mike Causey has been a Washington, D.C. columnist across four decades.  We are each the only children to a brother and a sister.  Check out cousin Mike at www.federalnewsradio.com.  And other family members can be seen at www.hendrickfam.com and www.hendrickchronicles.com.

 

 

            “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  (Galatians 6:9)

            “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.”  (Hebrews 6:10)

 

Press On!

 

 

Harold Hendrick is a minister at large in the St. Louis area, Director of Public Affairs for Christian radio station KSIV, and talk show host of "Encounter" aired Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m. on KSIV AM 1320.