Dear Church
We are thankful for some beautiful weather here in Astoria where we hit a record high temperature just a few days ago. The winters are dreary but the summers are so rewarding. The Bible says in Exodus, 17:11 “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” We know that God used Aaron and Hur to help Moses keep those hands raised. Much the same way, when the Bond family came to help us more than one year ago, we were at our lowest attendance in the history of Anchor Baptist Church. God greatly used them to encourage us and the church began to grow. They overstayed their commitment to us by a few months and returned to their home church in April. We are so thankful for their sacrifice and help! Two weeks from their departure, a family that had been with us for about 5 months left the church. I am convinced that a church plant in the Pacific Northwest requires one or more families to be called of God to join the work in order to make it successful. We still have two other families attending, but I am very concerned they will not stay if we don’t have help soon. As our Lord and Savor stated so clearly, the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few.
As I consider the burden of Astoria, I recall how that several people missed an opportunity to serve in this exciting church plant. There were actually people who lived in this area and even moved here, but refused to get involved. Some from independent Baptist churches moved here and joined a Community Church, Christian Church, or something else despite the recommendation by their pastors. One man was stationed here, raised in a Baptist Church but decided to attend a church that does not believe in eternal security or use the King James Bible. Another came from a solid fundamental church but opted to attend a Calvinistic church that doesn’t use the King James Bible. The song “Hold The Fort” says, “mighty men around us falling courage almost gone, HOLD THE FORT! A couple years ago, a man saw me in the Post Office and said, “hey, you’re the pastor of Anchor Baptist Church, right? You know, more people would come to your church if you quit using the King James.” I replied, “yea, I know, the Devil already told me that!” As I look back on 20 years of Gospel Ministry, I am convinced more than ever that we must HOLD THE FORT!