Not infrequently I will get a reference to fill out on someone. Maybe it’s a church wanting my thoughts about a candidate they’re interested in. It could also be regarding a former employee.

But I’ve never, ever had to fill out one like this.

Dear Dr. Mains,

We would appreciate a few minutes of your time to fill out the following reference about God.

(About God? Oh my!)

We are especially interested to know whether He keeps His promises:

A. Always
B. Usually
C. When He’s able
D. Seldom
E. No opportunity to observe.

Hey, am I sweating? That’s a tall order. Thinking back, I would have to report that my experience has certainly been positive regarding God keeping His word.

Wait a minute. Let me refer you to what someone else of far greater stature wrote. This is from the great Israeli general Joshua. He made it clear: “Not one of the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed.” That’s Joshua 21:45.

It’s a delight to give a reference about someone who has been exemplary in every way. And, to any who know God well—you would have to believe the Lord fits that category!

What kind of reference will you give God this Sunday when you represent Him before your people? Will your endorsement be as strong as Joshua’s?

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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At the time we moved there, Chicago’s Old Town was the hippie center of the city. Drugs were just on the ascendancy. And, we began hearing about teenage runaways, bad LSD trips, the homosexual community, and experiments in communal living. We became used to beads and leather, long hair and guitars, beards and bare feet, as well as driving around and around and around on Friday or Saturday nights for as long as twenty minutes hoping for a chance at anything resembling a parking spot.

During the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when Yippies camped at night in Lincoln Park, we watched the rioting from our apartment and closed the windows to protect ourselves from tear gas fumes. It was nothing to see our building on the television coverage.

In the daytime, the Circle Church staff could observe the confusion in Grand Park from the block where our original offices were locates. We almost felt the police clubs as they met with heads directly below us.

Once we opened our door to frantic banging and found eight frightened Chicago teens who had been chased into the cul-de-sac of our courtyard by the authorities.

“Those cops will kill us!” they whispered, eyes wide with amazement. We, quickly ushered them to the back door and down the steps, as Karen admonished, “Go home and stay out of trouble!”

Earlier, during the riots which followed Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, we spent night hours listening to sniper fire from the Cabrini Projects, those settlements of horror which border close to the .Old Town strip. Our children had been picked up by their grandfather to ride the train with him on his way home from work, but we didn’t want to leave.

The first night of rioting, before the National Guard had been mustered, our doorbell rang. It was my brother Doug, a surgeon, who had driven into the city to attend an orthopedic convention. He became aware of the danger when he saw store windows being boarded in preventive measures, businesses closed, and the convention canceled on account of the riots.

“Do you kids know what’s happening?” he demanded.

We were well aware of it. That very moment we had been sitting on the kitchen floor with our backs against the door just listening to the small sharp explosive sounds which we knew were deadly. Karen had been “junking” with a friend that afternoon—some blocks away—when a truck veered in front of her car, forcing her to the curb.

“Lady, I wouldn’t go down that street. Those people are mad as Hell. They’re breaking windows and setting everything on fire. Go home.” She did.

“Don’t you think you’d better come with me?” asked Doug.

Frankly I felt safer in our third floor apartment than having to snake my way to Glen Ellyn on an expressway which was under siege, and I declined. At any rate we didn’t feel right in running.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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The first two thirds of 1969 had held major adjustments for us. Zion Church had drained our energies and finally been allowed to die. The personalities of the staff were still in the process of meshing. And, I found myself with increased responsibilities in the role of coordinating pastor. It was also during this time that my wife presented me with a third child, Joel David, who chose to be born at 4:00 on Sunday morning.

The birth of this baby climaxed some personal agonies we had been experiencing. Years before we had deliberately moved into Chicago. The indoctrination into urban life had left us with much of the scorn for suburban living which most city devotees feel. Our lives and thinking had experienced fantastic transition.

During the first years on the near north side, Karen underwent tremendous emptiness in her faith. Somehow her early spiritual training just did not relate to the overwhelming complexities of urbanity which surrounded us. It was a form of cultural shock to which most missionaries give testimony, as they move in and out of contrasting patterns of culture.

Karen suddenly realized she had been accepting the faith of others as her own. And, the dilemma was compounded by the great divergences which existed between suburban life and the urban setting in which we now found ourselves.

We had moved from Wheaton, Illinois—which is not only insulated by its suburban character, but also by its abnormally high percentage of Christians—to the Old Town Triangle, a historic section of Chicago where many of the brownstones and grey-stones were built after the great fire of 1871.

Extending due south from its boundaries was Wells Street, a commercial and night spot attraction. Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan were its front yard. This made the summer atmosphere something like a resort, with bathing suits and picnic baskets abounding. The Loop—that included State Street, Marshall Field & Co., countless parades, and the Civic Center Plaza with its Picasso (which we enjoy and Randall our oldest son thought looked like an anteater)—was only thirteen minutes away by public transportation. The zoo, botanical gardens, the Chicago Historical Society, and Hugh Hefner’s mansion were all within walking distance.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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One day, upon learning that Mrs. Peick was ill, I made a hospital visit. Her husband happened to be present and she mentioned the article I wrote about in the last blog post.

“That bothered me,” said Mrs. Peick. “That headline that said ‘Teamster Boss Gets Religion.’ That’s not so. Louie has always been religious!”

Perhaps that statement from his wife lends insight into Mr. Peick’s motivations. At any rate, I remain very grateful to him all across the many years right up to the present day.

Since the very beginning of Circle Church, we had chosen to accept God’s working through whatever means He desired to sustain us. And, the glimpses into the labor world proved both fascinating and illuminating. It became a part of my cultural maturing. The only time I was asked to return a “favor” was when they requested that I say a prayer for the meal at the dedication ceremony for their new multi-million-dollar office building.

We had no contract that ensured our future in the Teamsters’ facilities, nor did we ask for a guarantee of that kind. Consequently, we had to consider the possibility that none of these arrangements was permanent. When somebody asked, “What will we do if we have to move?” I always replied, “We will face that when it comes.”

I remained fully confident that God would provide for us in the future the way•He had provided, both in the past and in the present. In any case, it was a very healthy type of insecurity.

Too often the church depends so much on her physical crutches: the roof over her head, the new heating system, the adequate Christian Education facilities. Such dependence causes her to completely eliminate the need for God. Trusting in her securities, and because of their solidity, she is not forced creatively to overcome struggles and obstacles, inconveniences and dilemmas.

We at Circle Church always were grateful that these insecurities existed.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy