Today’s Students—Tomorrow’s Gatekeepers

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Education

–September of 1996

Today’s Students—Tomorrow’s Gatekeepers

Fearful of invading armies, early inhabitants of China erected a 1,500-mile-long wall along their northern border. However, this massive barricade did not bring perfect security; hostile forces continued to make their way into ancient China from time to time. No, these intruders did not batter through the 35 foot-high structure. Rather, enemies simply gained entrance through the watchtower gates by bribing the gatekeepers. You see, in their quest for national security, the ancient Orientals forgot that the wall around their country was only as strong as the character of the people who were guarding it.

In many ways, the “gatekeepers” of our nation today appear to be in the throws of a character crisis of their own. This assessment appears to be beyond dispute. But the church cannot piously look down upon the moral chaos of the day and claim total exemption from charges of impropriety. Too often her own story has simply been a replay of the very themes that mark the world around her. Sadly, even our beloved holiness movement has not been altogether without those who would barter the message of heart purity and its far-reaching ethical implications on the auction-block of compromise and secularism.

Just as national survival depends not upon missiles and bombs, but upon the character of those who are entrusted with those weapons, so the future of the church-at-large, and the holiness movement in particular, depends not simply upon creeds and codes—the “walls,” if you will—but upon the personal integrity of those who recite them. This is not a call to abandon the time-honored statements of faith and practice which have served as “walls of protection” to incubate and nourish the message of entire sanctification. Rather, it is simply an observation that these walls alone will not insure the faithful perpetuation of the holiness message. Walls are only as secure as the integrity of the gatekeepers.

Here at God’s Bible School we are in the business of training tomorrow’s “gatekeepers.” Those who fill our classrooms today will fill our pulpits tomorrow. To them will be entrusted a particular heritage which we believe has marked us as people of God. Will our students be men and women if integrity? Will they prove worthy of their spiritual inheritance? We certainly hope so. But more than merely hoping, we are taking definite steps to address the character question in the lives of tomorrow’s leaders who are currently enrolled as students here at GBS. We hope to share some of these specific plans with you through the pages of the Revivalist in the near future. Until then, we remain fully committed to academic excellence at God’s Bible School. Furthermore, we intend to continue the faithful transmission of Scriptural doctrines and practices to the next generation. But as another school year begins, we solemnly recognize that fine scholarship and an impeccable grasp of doctrine are sheer vanity unless they are rooted in the soil of a good heart. Pray for us as we do our best to nurture the integrity and godliness of tomorrow’s gatekeepers.

This Thanksgiving, Focus on the Good

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Holiday

–November of 1996

This Thanksgiving, Focus on the Good

I recently held a revival meeting in Binghamton, New York, with a wonderful congregation, who is privileged to be shepherded by a fine man of God and his wife.  God gave a gracious moving of His spirit, as well as a wonderful time of fellowship with the parsonage family.  The pastor, Rev. Rowan Fay, is such a delightful man, full of optimism and cheer.  In our conversations together, he was ever sharing something good about the people in the church or community or about someone both of us knew.  It seemed that he spoke of every person in such delightful, positive terms.  I became so intrigued by his genuinely positive evaluation of people that I asked him the “secret” to seeing the good in all men.  He told me that his father, Rev. O.L. Fay, had instilled in him as a young man this philosophy.  He would say, “Son, look for all the good in all the men which you can; and when you have found it, dwell on it until you know men for the good that is in them.”  This little nugget of pure gold struck a responsive chord in my own heart.  What a refreshing view of life!

The unfortunate truth is that far too many Christians have developed a view of life that has them focused on the bad.  They are always looking suspiciously for the flaws, weaknesses and failures of others.  If any good is seen or ever mentioned, it is only by accident and not by design.  There are even those who almost feel that it is their Christian duty to speak of everything and everyone in somber, negative tones.  What an awful view of life!

Christians who live out this simple philosophy of Brother Fay are just naïve people who are blind to all the warts and failures of others who are around them.  Rather, they are those who have chosen to catch and possess the spirit of perfect love that is found in the New Testament.  Jesus looked upon a renegade tax collector and saw a man—filled with potential.  Jesus looked upon the emotionally volatile Peter and saw a “rock” of a man that would lead His church.  The New Testament teaches us that perfect love enables us to “suffer long,” and “speak kindly” to and of our brothers.  On the other hand, it is the writing of the book of Proverbs who tells us “the ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire.  A perverse man sows strife and a whisperer separates the best of friends.”

I know that a Dale Carnegie course or a Zig Zigler seminar can teach a man how to have public optimism for the good of his business.  However, I am convinced that it is only the work of God in the soul that can enable us to see the redeemable good in others, to dwell on that good, and to speak of others in kind and positive ways.

As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, let me challenge you to look for all the good in all the men that you can; and when you have found it, dwell on it until you will know men for the good that is in them, so that on this Thanksgiving Day, you can thank God for good men.

Needed: Men of God

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living

–April of 1996

Needed: Men of God

The Church at this moment has a pressing need of men.  The right kind of men, bold men, fearless men—men of God.  Most pulpits and periodicals are telling us that we need revival and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  God knows we desperately need both!  Yet, as Tozer put it, “God will not revive mice and fill rabbits with the Holy Ghost.”  He must have men!

We need men who are worthy role models.  Men that are secure in their masculinity, yet humble and holy in their walk.  Men that serve God and others from high and noble motives.  Men that make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, and accept no compromise on ethical issues.  Men who live for a cause greater than themselves.

These men are desperately needed—needed by our children as heroes to look up to.  In a barber shop some time ago a minister asked a small boy, “Hey, son, whom do you want to be like?”  He looked the minister straight in the eye and said, “Mister I ain’t found nobody I want to be like.”  The pedestals are almost empty.  The world is immortalizing athletes and movie stars, and it is having a devastating effect.  We must have men, godly men, who can be the heroes for another generation of our children.

We need men who can mentor a younger generation.  Our world has a serious deficiency in male leadership.  The average child growing up in our society doesn’t have a clue as to what a good father and husband looks like.

We need godly men in the classroom.  We live in a day of competing faiths and conflicting philosophies even in the Church.  This has created a large number of young people who are stumbling, strolling, or staggering through life with little regard for their heritage, uncertain in their faith, and with little hope for their future.  They need a godly man to show them the way.  They need a mentor.  They need someone who will do more than pontificate on a theory or point them to a textbook.  They need a man of God who will not only speak to them from the Word but will live the Word out in front of them.  They need a man who will teach them to pray, pray with them and pray for them.  They need a man of God who will allow them to walk down the road of life with him and share in all honesty and candor the wisdom he has learned from the failures and successes of his life.  They need a man who will hold them to a standard of accountability, one that will insist on their morality, integrity and decency.  It has been this kind of faculty here on the Hilltop that has made the difference in countless thousands of lives.

God sought for a man who would stand in the hedge and fill the gap.  God is looking today for men.  Can He look to you?

Let the Lions Defend Themselves

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Culture, Theology

–August of 1996

Let The Lions Defend Themselves

The story is told of a circus train which derailed while passing through the mountainous terrain of West Virginia. As locals gathered to observe the situation, much attention was given to the car which contained the circus lions. These massive beasts, already disturbed by the accident, were being further aggravated by neighboring dogs which were barking snapping at them through the heavy iron bars. The frustrated circus owner, concerned for the welfare of his prized animals, began to cry out, “What can we do to protect the lions?” An amused farmer called back with this bit of practical advice: “Why, mister, you don’t need to protect lions! Just turn them loose, and they’ll protect themselves!”

This story reminds us of the inherent power of the Gospel message, a power that it contains in and of itself. The Gospel needs only an outlet, a channel, someone to “open the door and let it out” in order to demonstrate its native dynamic.

Now to give the full picture, it is admitted that the Christian minister sometimes must adopt a defensive posture. In a society oriented toward doubt and skepticism, it is necessary to employ reason and logic to “protect” Christianity from the “barking dogs of dissent” Whose howls of criticism often dominate the intellectual marketplace. This is the task of apologetics, and it involves the responsibility of proving or defending the Good News. Paul himself declared that he was “set for the defense of the gospel.” Furthermore, Peter admonished his readers to be prepared to defend their faith before those who would inquire about the hope we have in Christ (I Pet. 3:15).

A second aspect of the Christian minister’s responsibility in relationship to the Gospel is that of persuading. Here again Paul acknowledged, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” King Agrippa certainly felt the force of the apostle’s persuasive powers for he candidly admitted, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” This concession, however, didn’t satisfy Paul, and he promptly increased pressure upon Agrippa to be “altogether” persuaded. There certainly is a time and place for the preacher of the Gospel, under divine direction, to bring his hearers tactfully—yet firmly—to a crisis, to a point of decision.

However, to maintain a balanced view of the Great Commission, remember that the Gospel had been best advanced—not by proving or persuading—but simply by proclaiming. This basic methodology is often neglected because it is humbling; it accents the message, not the messenger. It does not depend upon “enticing words of man’s wisdom” but simply upon the Holy Spirit’s power. When angels appeared to astonished shepherds in Bethlehem, they didn’t unfold complex arguments to prove the birth of the Messiah; nor did they come with a high-pressure sales technique to convince their hearers to worship the newborn King. They simply proclaimed the birth of the Saviour and let the wonder and mystique of their message do its own work. The world has not been the same since that day.

So, the next time you are tempted to be discouraged by your inabilities or your want of talent, take heart. The power of the Gospel message does not lie within ourselves; it is inherent in the message itself. The Gospel only needs a channel, someone to open the door and release it. The lion will defend itself.

From the River to the Rhine

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Culture, Ministry

–October of 1996

From the River to the Rhine

I grew up in the country. My boyhood days were making memories on a lazy little farm in the Deep South. I was awakened in the morning by the sound or a crowing rooster or a bawling calf. I spent hours walking barefoot behind my father’s plow as he turned up the soft cool earth, readying it for the spring garden. I have played the day away in the gurgling, pristine waters of a forest stream, while birds darted about and squirrels chattered angrily at the sight of an intruder. The grand finale to such a storybook day was when family gathered around the front porch for the evening, each taking his place on a rocking chair on the porch swing.  The cool night breeze would bear the music of a distant whippoorwill, the crickets chirped wildly, while the flickering light of fireflies provided us with our own dazzling fireworks display.  Conversation would gradually begin to be interrupted by yawns, and Mother would give the order that sent us scampering away to bed.

Few outsiders ever invaded our private world.  Anyone driving by on the main thoroughfare in front of our place was most often someone we knew.  Any car turning up our lane caused an immediate rush to the front door or window by inquisitive kids to see who our rare visitors might be.  I grew up in a quiet tranquil world.

I now live in the heart of a bustling metropolis.  The sounds of traffic and commerce fill the air.  People dash about with jobs to perform and deadlines to meet.  Recently while driving off our hilltop campus into the heart of downtown, my heart began to long for the tranquil quietness of my boyhood days, I cried inwardly, “Lord, look at all these people!”  My Heavenly Father quickly responded, “No, you are the one that needs to look.  I see them.”  With the aid of divine illumination, I suddenly began to see more clearly.  I saw the multiplied thousands of people in the inner-city with no one to care for their spiritual needs.  Here are people of every race and class, scurrying about like sheep with no shepherd—abandoned, it seemed, by those who could offer hope and help.

Mission strategists tell us that the inner cities of America have now become one of the largest mission fields of the world.  Yet strangely, the Church—and particularly those within the holiness tradition—has largely abandoned the inner-city.  It has surrendered the high ground of spiritual warfare to poverty, drugs, prostitution and vice of all sorts.  Even the horn and cymbals of the Salvationist street preacher have been traded for a soup ladle and a used clothing store.  Oh, the large mainline churches still stand tall and proud on prominent downtown streets; but they have no ministry to the hopeless or message of holiness for desperate sinners.

The Wesleyan message of saving grace and heart purity saved England in her darkest hour from revolution and turned around one of society’s and civilization’s most festering sores.  Yet the holiness church here in America has not chosen this road of revival and reform for the inner-city, but it has chosen rather to flee the cities and entrench itself in comfortable suburbia.  It now lines the outer beltways of our major metropolises and enjoys a selective evangelism that is more palatable and profitable.  This ecclesiastical escapism has helped to breed the user-friendly church, with plenty of self-help classes but very little agony and anxiety for the lost.

Jesus, however, authenticated his ministry and membership by preaching the gospel to the poor.  He rebuked the righteous by reminding them that he did not come to call them to repentance, but the sinner.  He articulated his mission statement well when he said, “I have come to seek and to save that which is lost.”  This Bible contains over four hundred passages relating to the poor, sixty-four of which command us as believers to help the vulnerable.  Yet holiness people rationalize their own inactivity with a “pessimistic theology” that believes we can’t fix society’s ills.

I’m well aware that the words I write will stir up strong feelings and immediate debate.  The first rebuttal will be that “white flight” and population shifts have forced the church to relocate in the proximity of those who want to identify with the church ministry emphasis.  Another argument is that because of socio-economic reasons, as well as other cultural factors, the blending of the two groups of people is just not possible or even practical.

I fully grasp the significance of each argument and will not take the time in this article to rebut them.  However, what frustrates me is that these groups will parade missionaries from every land and isle to their churches, hear their presentations, cry over the distant lost, and empty their pockets to make sure that sinners ten thousand miles away get the gospel message.  Yet they have no burden and make no plans and feel no responsibility to send a missionary or establish a ministry to and for the most desperately lost people in the world—the people in the inner-city.

This duplicity has even gripped until the Bible college movement until they, too, boast of rural campuses in comfortable suburbia, with plenty of hiking trails, swimming pools, and white-water rafting.  All, of course, within a considerable distance of any poor miserable sinner!  No wonder many graduates ask the potential church congregation about parsonage amenities, salary packages and retirement programs before they ever explore the possibility of reaching the lost.

Did I say that all have abandoned the inner-city?  The Catholics and the cults are still there.  There are also many little store-front ministries, mostly sponsored by the Pentecostals or the Calvinists.  These little hole-in-the-wall churches offer hope and light to those lost in darkness, and to some extent hold back the powers of evil in the inner-city.  Several of those missions here in Cincinnati have been fully operated and staffed by GBS students.  It was my own years spent working in an inner-city mission that created a passion and a drive for evangelizing the lost that has marked my ministry for the last twenty years.

One such mission stands at the north end of Main Street, in a section called “Over the Rhine.”  GBS Alumni will know it as “Main Street Mission.”  Our students have preached from its pulpit, held Good News Clubs for the neighborhood children, preached on its street corners, and passed out gospel tracts all the way down the southern end of Main Street, where it deadends into the riverfront.

Our present pastor, Tom McKnight, works so faithfully with his people for the conversion of souls in his inner-city parish.  Tom is often heard from the pulpit saying, as he challenges his people, “we must reach them from the river to the Rhine.”  Of course, Tom is referring to the southern end of Main Street on the riverfront to the northern end of Main Street in the area of Over the Rhine.  The words and burden of this man have challenged my heart again and again.  Tom is right.  We must reach them.  We must take our cities back for the glory of God and the good of our civilization.

In the first part of this century when the Bible college movement, God called out the Cowmans and sent them to the Orient.  He called out the Smelzenbachs and sent them to Africa, as well as various others around the globe.  But these two couples from the holiness movement made an impact on the world that will never be forgotten.  I’m praying that in the closing part of this century God will once again find a couple like the Cowmans and call them—call them to the inner cities of our own country!  I want God’s Bible School and College to be on the front line, leading the way and giving the support that is necessary to see our inner cities reached.  Tom is right.  From the river to the Rhine, we must reach them!