Wednesday, February 9, 2011

We did not have a scheduled meeting on February 9th.  So we decided to visit The Baptist Temple in Fort Worth, TX.  This church was founded under the authority of First Baptist Chruch of Fort Worth while J. Frank norris pastored First Baptist.  The founding pastor was B.F. Dearmore.  Founding date, 1954.  I am not sitting in my office in Yarmouth to have access to my library, but if I recall, during the pastorate of J. Frank Norris, First Baptist of Fort Worth established well over one-hundred churches.  If any one reading this can supply the real number please leave a note in the comments section below.

Why do I bother adding this little bit of history?  Simply this, true NT. independent Baptist churches are churches that have been started under the authority of other churches and therefore know first-hand the necessity of planting churches.  Churches that get their start from the sacrifice of another church(es) will, and should, feel the moral obligation to plant churches of NT. faith and practice themselves. 

By the way, the missions display at The Baptist Temple was full with dozens of missionary prayer letters.  Awesome.  On of the missionaries on that board was Roy Dearmore, a son of B.F. Dearmore.  That is exciting.  This intense missions activity is the norm with the churches we have visited to date.  The churches that we have been visiting are of one mind in their desire to plant churches of the NT. Baptist type--the type Jesus built.

Pastor Bruce Engleman of The Baptist Temple is an encouragement to me.  He and his children have suffered pain and loss this year and are not embittered, but of sweet tempers.  Although we did not have a meeting scheduled at The Baptist Temple Pastor Engleman still heartily gave me a couple of minutes to speak of the work and allowed me to pass out prayer cards.

If you are not burdened and involved with seeing souls saved, discipling them to follow Christ obediently, and participating in the work of firmly establishing churches on NT. baptism and NT. doctrine you are like the man with the loosed shoe--look him up in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

The shoe insult is still practiced in the near East.  Mubarak is insulted.