Upcoming Pastoral Trips

A number of us will be traveling the remainder of this month on international missions in Africa. Darris McNeely will be traveling to Cote d'Ivoire, Africa, July 24-August 2 for a training session with members from Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Benin and Congo. More than 40 are expected to be present. Doctrinal topics covering the nature of God and Jesus Christ, the Church, Divorce and Remarriage and the promises to Abraham will be among the subjects covered. Lectures on sermon preparation and discipleship will also be given. Tim Pebworth, regional pastor for French-speaking Africa, and Jessica Hendrickson, French communication web master and analyst, will provide simultaneous translation for the meetings.

Then, Jorge and Kathy de Campos, along with myself and Bev, will visit our Sabbath-keeping brethren in Portuguese-speaking Angola. This is the church that we have become very well acquainted with after more than 25 years. They have fully adopted the Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God. In Angola, which is a Communist regime, these people have gone through hardships that we are not accustomed to in our Western world. We will hold meetings with their governing council and meet with their leaders.

On the Sabbath, we will be at combined services with 800 brethren in attendance. Overall, in Angola, there are about 6,000 members with 50 elders and many congregations with 50-60 members each.

On Sunday, our ladies will deliver a presentation to their ladies.

Other meetings will include a discussion with their youth, a question and answer Bible study and a few sessions of leadership training.

Please pray for us to stay in good health in the coming very hot weather. Please pray that we can impart a good gift to our people in this stressed land.

One Small Step for [a] Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind

Fifty years ago on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first human being to set foot on the moon. Do you remember where you were on that day (if you are somewhat over the age of 50)? I know exactly where I was and what I was thinking and doing.

This was a momentous time for me, as I had just graduated from Ambassador College in Bricket Wood, England, and moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, two weeks prior to this historic moment. I was assigned there as a ministerial trainee at the age of 21. I lived in a one room efficiency apartment with a fold-out bed. I owned virtually nothing. My mentor pastor gave me some household items and loaned me a transistor radio which was my link to the world. I had no television. I intently and excitedly listened to the live transmission from this lunar mission.

It started with the Saturn V rocket blasting off at 8:32 a.m. Central Time on July 16. Four days later, Neil Armstrong announced from the surface of the moon: "The Eagle has landed." I could not help but weep because I felt that this achievement was one owned by all of humanity. What a fantastic event! Mankind was entering a new era.

Then, a little more than six hours after landing, Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and uttered the iconic words: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong insisted he said "a" man, but it was muffled.

Commentators pontificated for hours about the meaning of this accomplishment, even going so far to say that man had "conquered" space.

Earlier in 1969, missions leading to the Apollo 11 launch caused much discussion among my classmates and faculty at college in England. We closely followed the launches that prepared for the actual manned lunar landing: Apollo 8 in December 1968, Apollo 9 in March 1969 and Apollo 10 (the dress rehearsal for the human landing) in May. Some praised the advancements. However, others were more guarded about the implications of man going into space. The argument was that earth is man's domain. The heavens are God's. Should we be entering this frontier?

As much as we marvel at the great potential of man in the achievements of leaving our planet and going to the moon and beyond, it is overshadowed by what God reveals about an even greater mission that the human race is on. I want to share a few observations from the Bible that address humanity's future in our universe.

We are painfully aware that man is mortal and has a short life span. Neil Armstrong died seven years ago. Space is unfathomably huge. How can our limitations and the great expanse of the universe have meaning? But not to worry. God has a plan and process for all of humanity and He gives us a glimpse in the scriptures.

From the very first words of the Bible, we see God busy crafting what we see here on earth and above: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:1-2). This was quickly followed with the creation of the human race: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness'" (verse 26).

The Bible concludes with two climactic chapters of Revelation declaring the NEW heavens and the NEW earth and the retiring of what we see now (Revelation 21:1). In this environment, the greatest nemesis of man is defeated: "There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (verse 4). Certainly, this is a quantitative leap from one small step in our current earthly existence to a great leap forward for mankind!

Between Genesis and Revelation, a magnificent story is told revealing God's mind about the pinnacle of His creation—men and women made in His image and likeness.

Notice Paul's thoughts in the book of Hebrews as he quotes from the book of Psalms: "'What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.' For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Hebrews 2:6-10).

In the book of Corinthians, the apostle Paul further describes the great leap God is preparing us for: "But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain-perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:35-45).

Man's greater potential is described and assured! The Creation (including space) is for man and his management. God delights in ultimately giving man—who was made in His image—this awesome domain! Indeed, our existence now is but one small step. We can all look forward to the great leap in the years ahead when we reach God's Kingdom.