CONCERNING MISSION APPRISING MINISTRIES


During the heat and bluster of battle in this spiritual Vietnam sometimes called the Truth War it happens occasionally where a writer gets the feeling that important points have been lost within the barrage of his other articles. So what follows may just be a little bit of rather significant information concerning the ministry of Apprising Ministries which may have previously slipped through the cracks.

I have testified before to the fact that I do count myself so blessed and very thankful that the Lord has literally given me two websites, which is surely something I never asked for. God is also my witness that I have often told Connecticut River Baptist Church, the small house church from which AM is an outreach and where I am also pastor, I would recommend shutting this fellowship down immediately to join with another if that is what our Master wanted.

Men and women, the important point which I feel has possibly been lost within other writings of mine is that I would most gladly do the same with AM. And yet the Lord chose to give me Christian Research Net, which is now itself an outreach from Apprising Ministries with multiple volunteer contributors who are under my ministerial supervision as General Editor, four of which are also pastor-teachers themselves.

For those who are not aware the leadership team of CRBC oversees both Apprising Ministries and CRN along with a five man board of directors which consists of Jon Cardwell of Vayahiy…God’s Infallible Word, a pastor currently between churches, Mike Corley, of The Mike Corley Program, Jim Luppachino, of Watcher’s Lamp, Paul Walker, pastor of Elm Avenue Baptist Church, Grand Junction, CO and Ed Young, pastor of First Congregational Church, Douglas, MA.

Then from CRN extends another website Symphony of Scripture, which is a conjunction outreach from CRBC with a few 23 and 24 year-old men from some churches over in Sydney, Australia. There I act as a pastoral advisor when needed. The Lord be praised that through AM I also have the extreme privilege of personally advising numerous pastors and leaders within many churches across the country.

In addtion through preaching and through encouraging I am actually involved in quite a bit of other types of Christian service as well. While I have no shortage of critics questioning the validity of my Internet ministries I rest assured that God knows my heart. And the many people who stand with me in accountability as well as to assist me are pleased to let you know that my labors in the Lord extend well beyond my more controversial work in Christ here at Apprising Ministries.

Which brings me to pointing out that my approach from the beginning here in this section of the work I do in Christ has been to move beyond the typical “plus-minus” type of apologetic and return to more of the polemic an Irenaeus might use. I am aware that often what I say is quite blunt, and considering the time of rampant apostasy in which we now live this also is by design. It needs to be understood that in Special Ops often unconventional warfare techniques are the norm.

Prayerfully what my work in the Lord at AM adds to this area of discernment ministry is a fierce devotion to the cause of Christ, and a boldness to state the absolute Truth contained in God’s Word from a pastoral perspective. My sincere prayer is that what I feel the Lord gives me to say can be a support for other discernment ministries in just the same way that their materials have been so helpful to my own writings. Otherwise, quite frankly, Apprising Ministries itself would be a colossal waste of time and finances for the Body of Christ.

I am well aware that resources are stretched quite thin as it is while faithful Christians struggle to help many other fine ministries financially. Certainly at AM we have a few dedicated supporters but frankly it isn’t near enough despite their greatly appreciated and sacrificial giving. So we do covet your prayers. Something that we are specifically praying for is that God would place it upon the hearts of a few churches and individuals to pick up AM this year as a mission work they can help support. If you’ve been blessed through our writings and want to contribute financially you can find out how here.

And if that happens then I’ll be able to more quickly follow the call of the Lord to begin accepting speaking engagements nationally that have already been offered. Should God see fit there will be a few more radio interviews which would also help get the word out about this work in some different markets as well. The bottom line is: AM is actually a bit similar to the type of ministry done by Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989) only in an updated fashion to also handle Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, apostate Roman Catholicism and to deal with issues related to semi-pelagian postevangelicalism and the postliberalism of the Emergent Church.