A Barefoot Boy
Luke, our 3-year-old, is always the first of the kids to get up in the morning. He stumbles out of the room hugging his stuffed puppy with his eyes half closed, his hair ruffled up and his little feet making a quiet ‘pat – pat – pat’ on the hallway tiles. July is the middle of winter in South Africa and so the tiles are cold on Luke’s little feet. On this Sunday I was walking past his doorway when he slowly pulled it open. I stopped and bent down to see his little face and he said “Good morning, daddy.” I said, “Good morning buddy, my little boy, my little barefoot boy. I love you, boy.” I have greeted all my sons this way in the morning while they were young, “Good morning buddy, I love you, boy.” But I only greet Luke this way now. My other sons, Stephen, Timothy and Michael are older, but I can still see them all, three years old and stumbling out of the bedroom with their little bare feet and I can hear me greeting them, “Good morning, I love you, boy.” Later in the day on this Sunday Karen and I took our son Timothy to the airport to put him on a plane to the other side of the world. It was very hard. We don’t know when we will see him again. I stood there hugging my son, who is an inch taller than me, and for the first time in a long time said, “I love you, boy” and I began to cry. I looked at him and saw the brand new baby I held in my arms, the three-year-old barefoot boy and every boy that he had ever been. I couldn’t stop crying. Oh Lord! The arrow has flown, like Solomon said it would! Oh Lord! Hold him up! My barefoot boy has walked away. Blessings on you, barefoot boy. I love you, boy.
A Hopefully Not Too Long Update of the Last 5 Months
Many changes have occurred since we returned home the end of December. Within the first 4 weeks home:
- the senior pastor was caught in sin and has been forced to resign
- Steve was made an elder
- Steve is acting Dean of Administration at the seminary
- we inherited the former pastors home Bible study
- Steve has been given more classes to teach at the seminary
- Steve is preaching more at church
- we found out we need to raise $1000/month more before our new/approved budget kicks in
- Karen has started singing with the worship team at church 2/3 of the time
- David Harris, a 19 year old pastor’s kid from New York came to live with us until end of July
In March we had back to back visitors from the States. Pastor Ted Bigelow (and his 16 year old son Dan) from Grace Church in Connecticut came for 2 weeks. Daniel is actually still with us – staying until mid June. When Pastor Ted left, Pastor Joe from Kansas came for 2 weeks. It was a very blessed, busy time.
Kimberly was able to come home for a visit, arriving in late April. We are SO thankful that God has allowed her to come home for a bit. She and Timothy will be returning to the States the end of July.
Life is very crazy with Steve’s increased responsibilities and with all the kids in the house. It has been a challenging, blessed time.
Timothy, David, and Dan left this morning to go to Mozambique for a short term mission with Samaria Mission. Timothy and David weren’t allowed to cross the border because of improper papers (the Office of Home Affairs gave them wrong information). They will return to Polokwane on Sunday. Kimberly will be going into Mozambique on Sunday along with a group from Oklahoma, meeting up with Dan and other Samaria Mission staff.
We are in the middle of finals here at the seminary, and next week is the Shepherds Conference.
Some praises:
- Kimberly is home!
- lots of opportunities the last few months for ministry
Some Prayer Requests:
- God would use us greatly
- God’s provision (things are extremely tight)
- that Timothy & David’s Visas will come through soon so that they can go into Mozambique next week with the 4th year seminary students
- that God would provide for Stephen to come home for a visit in July; one of his best friends is getting married (also we miss him terribly)
Enough has happened in the last 5 months to write a book, but I won’t subject you all to that. God is good, and we are happy to be home.
And the tears began to fall…
I’m not one to cry often. I was awakened at 3:00 this morning by Luke (a nearly nightly occurrence since arriving home in Africa a week ago). As I laid in bed trying to get back to sleep, the tears began to fall for the first time since leaving Stephen and Kimberly in California last week.
People talk about all the different sacrifices missionaries make, but they all pale in comparison with separating with your kids.
Currently we are about a 30 hour journey away. There is a 10 hour time difference, which makes it difficult to connect, even if we did have phone and internet at the house (which we don’t yet, it takes about three weeks to get it turned on here in Africa). A good price on a plane ticket would be $1400, so no matter how you approach it we are far from our kids in every way physically.
Many memories of our last days together are flooding in to my mind – Kimberly in her robe at 6:00 a.m. outside the mission house on Roscoe Blvd. to wave us off; Steve getting out of the van to give her a last hug and some last words; Stephen talking with Luke on the way to the airport; the goodbyes with Stephen at the airport and then watching him drive away until he was out of sight.
We don’t know WHEN – or even WHERE – we will see them again. We are so thankful for the godly young people that they have become and are continuing to grow into. We are thankful for friends, family, and a good local church that will be a support to them.
We are thankful to be home in Africa; it truly is home. Steve started teaching again this morning; he has four classes this session. We are settling back into African life, getting back into a routine. We are thankful for the four kids currently under our roof that God has blessed us with. I am SO thankful Timothy is home with us for these next six months.
Please pray for us. I know Stephen and Kimberly will be just fine; it’s just that sometimes we miss them terribly; it’s not like they can come home for a weekend. We are happy and excited to be back home, and look forward to this year and how God is going to work in all eight of our lives.
A Letter From Africa
“THEY ASKED ME A QUESTION IF I AM WITH THEM OR THE BIBLE”
Greetings everyone from the Plodinec family. We are still in LA, but, Lord willing, we will be heading back to South Africa on Dec. 27th. Daily I am burrowed into the Master’s Seminary library feverishly writing syllabi for my classes next year.
Here is some news from Africa that I received a few minutes ago. But first, a little background.
Zebulon Debeila is one of our students. He is a good man, around 30, is an associate pastor and is very people oriented and expressive and loud and emotive. These are generally good qualities for a pastor, especially in Africa. He is also in my mentoring group. We meet together regularly and pray for each other and he comes over frequently for dinner. I visited him at his church just before we came back to the US.
This morning I received an email from him and it reveals a difficult reality our students face. Our students all show up dedicated to charismatic doctrine and methodology, even the lunatic fringe of that movement. We don’t address that error head on, it is too much a part of their culture and who they are. We simply teach them how to properly read and interpret the Bible and then point them to the appropriate passages and get out of the way. As a faculty we all have many late night conversations with the students about these issues. But, the Holy Spirit and the word of God do a much better job of leading God’s people to the truth than we ever could. And when the students discover the truth for themselves they then own it, and teach it as only they could in their churches.
There is almost an inevitable result of their excitement for the truth of God, which Zeb is going through right now. He can say it so much better than I and his emotional, relational personality come through in his own words, so I have inserted his email in its entirety below. I can feel the pathos in Zeb’s words and honestly I would rather be there with him than here in the States.
I’M MISSING YOU Ps STEVE
IT HAS BEEN LONG SINCE I WROTE TO YOU OUT THERE IN US, I’M SURE YOU ARE Ok. THE KIDS AND YOUR LOVING WIFE ARE Ok. TALKING TO YOU MY MENTOR IS A RELIEVE. I’M FINE BUT NOT ALRIGHT.
JUST READ THIS……..
TODAY I WRITE TO YOU TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY BAD NEWS, I AM SUSPENDED FROM PREACHING, TEACHING IN MY HOME CHURCH. THEY SAY I WILL CHANGE THE CONREGANTS FROM THEIR DOCTRINE. TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH I’VE NEVER ATTEMPTED TO DO SUCH THING,
I WAS ONLY SHARING WITH A GUY
YOU REMEMBER THE GUY WHO WAS YOUR INTERPRETER WHEN YOU WERE HERE AT MY HOME CHURCH? I WAS ONLY SHARING WITH HIM AT HIS HOUSE ABOUT SOME OTHER THINGS IN THE WORD, YOU KNOW CHARISMATIC PEOPLE, ARE STUBBORN TO SWALLOW, HE WAS FORCING ME TO AGREE WITH HIM WHEN HE MISINTERPRETE THE VERSE, SO HE SAW THAT AS THE DANGER TO THE CHURCH, HE WENT TO TELL THE POOR ELDERS ABOUT IT, BUT WHAT HE DID WAS THAT HE DID NOT TELL THEM WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING, HE TOLD THEM THAT I WANT TO REFORM THE CHURCH, THEN THEY BELIEVED HIM.
Ps John CALLED ME TO THE MEETING WITH ELDERS
THIS WAS A VERY POOR THING I EVER CAME ACROSS IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, POOR PROTOCOL, YOU KNOW EVEN POOR PROCEDURE WAS ALL THAT I SEEN DURING THE MEETING. I FELT I WAS TRAPPED IN A CAGE, Ps STEVE THEY TOLD ME THAT WE BETTER PART WAYS IF I’M NOT WILLING TO SUBMIT TO THEM. I ASKED THEM WHAT WAS MY WRONG DOING THAT DESERVED THE SUSPENSION, BUT THERE WAS NOTHING,
THEIR GOSSIP ABOUT ME IS THAT
I AM AT CHRIST SEMINARY AND IT IS A BAPTIST SCHOOL, THIS THE REASON I AM VICTIMISED. I TOLD THEM THAT AT SCHOOL THEY LEAVE BAPTIST OUT OF THAT, THEY HAD TO FACE THE REALITY WHICH I TOOK THEM TO THE WORD, THEY DID NOT MATCH WITH THE WAY I WAS REASONING FROM IT, TILL THEY ASKED ME A QUESTION IF I AM WITH THEM OR THE BIBLE, I SAID TO THEM I AM WITH THE WORD MORE, AND I AM PREPARED TO BE FAITHFUL TO IT. NO TURNING RIGHT OR TO THE LEFT, BIG GUY SAID NO WAYS, YOU ARE A THREAT TO OUR CHARISMATIC DOCTRINE,
I AM NOW IN A SUSPENSION MY MENTOR, IF YOU WERE HERE YOU WOULD HELP ME WITH YOUR HONEST ADVICES, BUT ANY WAY GOD IS HELPING ME A LOT BY STRENGTENING ME.
STAY BLESSED TALLMAN
ZEB
What more is there to say? “THEY ASKED ME A QUESTION IF I AM WITH THEM OR THE BIBLE, I SAID TO THEM I AM WITH THE WORD MORE, AND I AM PREPARED TO BE FAITHFUL TO IT. NO TURNING RIGHT OR TO THE LEFT,”
When I read that I thought of Martin Luther when he was condemned as a heretic for teaching the truth of God. His reply was, “Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:3; “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”
This is exactly what Zeb is going through in his church. I can’t really explain how much of a huge deal this is in the African culture. To go against the authority, the leadership, is just not done.
And, in a strange way, this shows the great effectiveness of our school. Zeb is a changed man. He will not go back to error. He will continue on and God will get him through this hard time and he will preach and teach and be a part of leading and discipling the next generation of the African church. And, in his church in the future, they will be free to proclaim the truth of God, even to the world.
This is happening right now so please pray for Zeb. Please remember us as well and the school and the other students too.
Steve
Acts 20:32
Preaching Must Be Better – Writing Syllabi
We are currently (Oct.-Dec., 2010) in LA. Lord willing, we head back to South Africa on Dec. 27, 2010.
While here, I am feverishly writing syllabi for my classes and am today working on one for a preaching class. I thought you might like what I say on the first page of the syllabus, here it is;
There is both an art and a science to preaching.
The art of preaching consists of: being taught, lead and empowered by the Holy Spirit , having wise understanding of people and the world, and personal oratory ability.
Preaching is at least as much art (probably more) as science. This class is not primarily about art. This class is primarily about the science, the technical aspects, of studying for and putting together a sermon.
Well crafted art, that is, a well crafted, well delivered and empowered sermon, is enjoyed by everyone. The people who hear it enjoy clever and emotional words and ideas that resonate deeply. They enjoy humor and beautiful word pictures. The preacher enjoys having his jokes laughed at and having his profound statements thought about and agreed with. And, both preacher and people enjoy the personal connection which comes through the mind, emotions, actions and spiritual bond of a sermon that attains to high art. Good art is enjoyable and helps the people understand and accept the content of a sermon.
For the art of preaching – there is no process. The art of a sermon depends on the work of God and your giftedness.
To attain to high art in preaching: seek God in prayer, get wise council and and practice, practice, practice.
Everyone, including the preacher, wants the art of a sermon to be very good. But, not everyone wants nor appreciates the science of a sermon, including many so-called preachers.
The science of a sermon consists of: the precise and correct interpretation of the Bible, making fine distinctions between truth and error, exactness in application and connection to life and the human condition and a sermon structure that is clear, biblically based and easy to follow.
The science of a sermon often alienates people, accentuates differences in beliefs and makes people uncomfortable. This is why much preaching is more about shock and awe rather than the truth of God’s word. And, many pastors either don’t like to study and grapple with difficult passages and theological problems, or they are lazy. These talkers hide their lack of content behind good communication skills.
On the other hand, many who are proficient at the science of a sermon may be biblically, theologically and exegetically correct, but they couldn’t preach their way out of a paper bag. They are excruciatingly exegetical and bore the church into apathy and indifference. I dare to say that this is not a lesser evil than just being a conversationalist.
And, I might as well affront the people in pews while I am at it. In general, people like the content of a sermon to be narrow enough to be biblical, but broad enough so no one gets offended. Many people do not want to be convicted by the Holy Spirit at church. They would rather feel good. But, in the end, it is the preacher who fails if the sermon falls short of true art and science.
Art is best when it flows from science. Form follows function. Knowledge and understanding is the soil that beautiful art grows from. Saying something well is an art, but you first must have something to say. Shallow words said beautifully are still shallow.
When a preacher has thoroughly studied and prepared his sermon he will be much freer and open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in his delivery of God’s word. The more you study, the better your sermon delivery can be. This is not well understood by most preachers.
