November 13, 2015

"But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness........" Matthew 6:33

When young courageous, firebrand pastor, Adam Crooks was finally forced to leave North Carolina in 1851 because of his arrest and conviction on the charge of distributing a tract on the Ten Commandments (No First Amendment for Wesleyans) one of his laymen picked up the cause and the Underground Railroad continued to run through Freedom's Hill Wesleyan Methodist Church!

Wesleyans preached the very unpopular message that slavery was "man stealing" and was a direct violation of the Eighth Commandment.

Micajah McPherson was the brave layman who carried forward the anti-slavery efforts of Freedom's Hill Church. McPherson knew what it meant to count the cost of discipleship. He was caught by a lynch mob and hanged from a dogwood tree on his own property because of his commitment to Wesleyan principles of freedom (Loving people to life!). The mob returned later and cut him down because they needed the rope "to hang another Wesleyan".

What they didn't realize in their haste was - McPherson was still alive! His wife nursed him back to health and he lived to the ripe old age of 85!

Why am I sharing these stories?

I am reminding you of your heritage as a Wesleyan because so many people ask, "What is a Wesleyan?" and you need to know who we are!

I am reminding you of your heritage because you may sometimes wonder what can one little church belonging to an obscure Denomination in a small town do to make a difference? According to our history - quite a bit!

I am reminding you of your heritage because you have inherited a rich legacy that MUST be passed on to the next generation of Wesleyans at FredWes! When I cast the vision of raising up a new generation of believers who are more passionate and committed than we are this is part of what I mean!

I am reminding you of your heritage because any vision of future ministry must connect a proud and productive past to a preferable future!

I promise to be an Adam Crooks if you promise to be a Micajah McPherson.

November 12, 2015

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

The brave young Wesleyan Pastor, Adam Crooks, came to North Carolina to build the Kingdom, and he began by building a meetinghouse near the town of Snow Camp in Alamance County. It was named Freedom’s Hill because it stood for freedom for the slave and the sinner alike. The congregation started the building soon after Crooks arrived in late October 1847. The church was dedicated in March of 1848.

It was a simple building 27’ X 36’, erected on a foundation of fieldstones. The hand-hewn pews were constructed with pegs, not nails, and the church had no heat source at first. The windows were only shutters. Simple as it was, it must have seemed like a cathedral to those new Wesleyans who had  campus of Southern Wesleyan University in Central, SC. It has been restored to its original condition and is used for occasional weddings, classes and frequent prayer gatherings.)

Almost immediately, the Freedom’s Hill congregation began to operate a station on the Underground Railroad. Of course, that “railroad” had no tracks or trains but was a network of safe houses all the way from captivity to freedom for escaping slaves. Routes to Ohio, Indiana, and New York were well established, with a major Southern terminus of the historic pipeline being the Piedmont area of North Carolina, where Freedom’s Hill was located.

Slaves were hidden under hay in a “friendly barn”, sometimes in a false-bottom wagon, or a hollow tree.

One such hollow tree, less than a mile from Freedom’s Hill Church, was used by two congregations – the Wesleyans and the Cane Creek Friends (Quaker) Meeting – to hide slaves during the daylight hours and to help them escape at night.

Other Wesleyans were active in the Underground Railroad, too. For example, Laura Smith Haviland was a Wesleyan Methodist from Michigan, who worked closely with Levi Coffin, the “Father of the Underground Railroad.” Her home was the first “station” of the Underground Railroad in Michigan, and she has been honored with a statue in her hometown of Adrian, Michigan. She worked among African-American refugees in Kansas and the town of Haviland, Kansas is named in her honor. To us she is a hero, but in the title of her autobiography, she saw it simply as “A Woman’s Life Work”.

Why am I sharing all this history? Because when someone asks, “What’s a Wesleyan?” you will be able to tell them we are one of the main reasons slavery no longer exists in America. Because you need to know the heritage of the movement to which you belong! It is a great heritage but the next chapter of our movement is being written and through FredWes, you and I have are part of that story! If a tiny church like Freedom’s Hill can impact the moral conscience of a nation why can’t FredWes?

November 11, 2015

"He has told you, O Man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8

Before I get to my thoughts for the day I want to first express my gratitude to all of you vets for your service to our great nation!

The issue of slavery became increasingly divisive to the Nation and, as history records, led to a brutal bloody Civil War. This divide was primarily between the industrial North and the agricultural South where slavery was, in all fairness, integral to the economy.

Obviously, not all Southerners were pro-slavery. Like nowadays, there were good people who chose to remain silent in the face of this evil. The Wesleyans were not among those choosing to be silent.

In North Carolina, forty anti-slavery Methodists withdrew from their church. They had heard of the Wesleyan Methodists, and asked them for a pastor. That was not a request easily granted. To be an abolitionist above the Mason-Dixon line was one thing. To cross that line in the turbulent days before the Civil War was quite another thing. The risks were great, and the Wesleyans did not feel free to appoint someone to go but did put out a call for a brave volunteer.

All eye-witness account of what happened next on the floor of the annual conference in Ohio is recorded: “After a season of prayer, Brother Adam Crooks arose, his cheeks pale as marble. ‘I will go,’ he said, ‘Sustained by your prayers, and in the name of my Savior, I will go to North Carolina.’”

Adam Crooks was now 23, newly ordained, and single. He knew it would be hard, but he had no idea how hard it would be. In the journal of his journey south, Crooks recorded the road was rough. Dr. Roy Nicholson later remarked (personal note, Dr. Nicholson preached my ordination sermon, laid hands on us and signed my ordination certificate) “His road would be rough for the next four years.”

In North Carolina, Crooks was labeled an outside agitator, a dangerous radical, and a traitor to the white race. He was also labeled a “disturber,” one charge which was certainly true! He was tarred and feathered in effigy. He was prohibited from speaking on the courthouse grounds in Forsythe and Guilford counties (where Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem are located), denying him his First Amendment free speech rights. In fact, judges in North Carolina ruled the constitutional guarantee did not apply to “True Wesleyans”! Interestingly enough, a recent book on violations of the right of free speech in the pre-Civil War South focuses on Wesleyan ministers.

Reverend Crooks was dragged from the pulpit and beaten numerous times. Twice he was poisoned - once by a false friend who said, “Your life is in danger. Come and stay with me.” He survived an assassination attempt when armed men lying in ambush one day saw that he was alone and decided against an attack.

Through all of this, the question that challenged him was, “Can you give your life for the Cause?” (Cf. II Corinthians 11:23b-28.)

Obviously, Adam Crooks was willing to give his life to “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with his God.”

What are you willing to do?

November 10, 2015

"Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." John 8:32

On November 8, 1842, five ministers (Orange Scott, Jotham Horton, LaRoy Sunderland, Luther Lee, and Lucius Matlack) announced that they were withdrawing from the Methodist Church they had loved and faithfully served.

In his book explaining why they were leaving Methodism, Orange Scott gave two main reasons: the evil of slavery, and the oppressive hand of the bishops. There would be no slave-holders in this new denomination…..and there would be no bishops, either!

To make sure their reasons were clearly understood they named their new denominational magazine The True Wesleyan – intending their emphasis on the TRUE.

This newly formed denomination grew rapidly. Others were drawn by their passion for social justice in the name of Christ and the Gospel. Scott said on one occasion, “We are anti-slavery, anti-intemperance (anti-alcohol) and anti-everything wrong.”

They also boldly announced their intention, as a denomination, to disobey the Fugitive Slave Law which required an escaped slave, even in the North, to return him to his owner. This was an early example of civil disobedience, and those who took part were following in the footsteps of Peter and the apostles, who said to the Sanhedrin: We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)

Orange Scott died of tuberculosis and exhaustion in 1847, just four years into the life of the new denomination he helped to establish. Not only the Church, but also the nation lost one of its strongest anti-slavery voices. Historian Donald Mathews of Princeton and the University of North Carolina paid him that tribute. At Scott’s funeral, Luther Lee said, “He lived in advance of his age.” He gave his life to persuade the nation of the evils of slavery. We, today, are a nation persuaded.

The place of Wesleyans in the Abolitionist Movement was underscored in 2002, when the Oxford University Press published an important legal reference entitled The Oxford Companion to American Law. On the cover, superimposed over a view of the Supreme Court Building, is a painting that depicts one of the most historic cases ever to come before that court. It was the trial of the slaves on the Spanish ship Armistad, who successfully rebelled against their captors but were then recaptured in American waters. Should they be returned to their owners as property?

An American abolitionist, Lewis Tappan, funded their legal defense, and former President of the United States John Quincy Adams pled their cause in court. Lewis Tappen was a colleague of LaRoy Sutherland, one of the founders of the Wesleyan Methodist denomination. They were both named on a wanted poster in New Orleans, and the price on their heads was $10,000. Their crime: being abolitionists. After the trial the Armistad Defense Fund became the budget for the American Missionary Association, including Wesleyan pastors and their church members.

The Wesleyan Church from its inception stood out from the Methodists and other mainline denominations because of their stand against social evil and moral injustice. Because they stood up they stood out.

God used this Wesleyan movement we belong to rouse the moral conscience of our nation and caused it to right a terrible wrong. God is calling Wesleyans today to stand for holiness and righteousness and against the moral evils of our day. The time has come to stand up so we can stand out.

November 9, 2015

"Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." John 8:32

Pastor Gerald powerfully and passionately presented the story of Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church. It is abundantly apparent that our history is HIS STORY!

The FredWes story is certainly one that needs to be shared and celebrated but so is the bigger story of our Wesleyan Movement! During my posts this week I will be telling this inspiring story (drawing heavily from the work of Church Historians Bob Black and Wayne Caldwell).

Wesleyan Methodists, those given to the leadership and teachings of John Wesley, have always taken a staunch stance against slavery. John Wesley himself had been one of the first in England to oppose the slave trade. His book, Thoughts on Slavery (1774), had been an early call for the Church and society to rid itself of this great evil, and the last letter he ever wrote was to William Wilberforce, a member of the Parliament and an evangelical Christian, encouraging him to use his legislative efforts to prohibit the slave trade and outlaw slavery in the British Empire.

So Methodism, the church John Wesleyan founded without an explicit plan to do so, had an anti-slavery legacy. Their opposition to slavery would have been a given. It was not. Methodism had become America's largest denomination and didn't want to "rock the boat" on an issue as divisive as slavery. In fact. one Methodist bishop himself owned slaves. Ironically, the church which saluted John Wesley as its Founder had turned its back on his principles.

One Methodist who had not abandoned Wesley's principles was a young minister is New England, named Orange Scott. He rallied fellow ministers and concerned laity in an abolitionist But he found many Methodist leaders opposing him. At the Methodist General Conference of 1836, one speaker said on the conference floor that he wished Orange Scott were in heaven - a liturgical way of saying, "Drop dead" In the annual conferences that followed in successive years Methodist bishops would refuse to give abolitionists, like Scott, the right to speak. In the words of one Methodist historian, the bishops were "soft on slavery but hard on abolitionists."

Orange Scott is a name to remember,honor and respect for 21st Century Wesleyans. I will have more to share about this faith hero in the next few posts.

We need some Orange Scott-types in 2015 America! Will you be one?

November 8, 2015

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

Are you diligently seeking Him?

What does it mean to diligently seek God?

The Bible gives us numerous admonitions to seek Him. From those you can gain insights about what seeking God requires.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." Jeremiah 29:13-14

Are you seeking God with your whole heart?

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God!" Psalm 42:1

Does your soul pant for God like your body craves water? Are you desperately thirsty for God?

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24

There is a reward for seeking Jesus but there is also a cost! In order to diligently seek God you must crucify your selfish flesh. Have you taken up your cross?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6

Seeking God means to come after Him as you would come after water if your were thirsty or run to the refrigerator if you were hungry. Is that how you seek Him?

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

Diligently seeking requires making God the first thing, the highest priority, your greatest passion of your life. Does that describe how you seek God?

Seeking God diligently means obeying His Word as all the Faith Heroes listed in this chapter did.

Seeking God diligently means walking in His will and you can't discover His will apart from His Word! The Faith Heroes walked in God's will and His will was accomplished through them!

Seeking God diligently means living in His way. God's way is love! Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

Now you know how to diligently seek God!

Not what?

If you diligently seek God He will reward you and He will be your reward!

November 7, 2015

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

In a chapter filled with stories of impossible things that happened by faith, I find it fascinating that the most impossible thing that faith accomplishes is pleasing God! Of all the fantastic feats of faith featured in Hebrews 11, the one that mattered most to these Heroes of Faith was gaining the pleasure of God! That was their greatest reward! He was (and is) their greatest reward!

What are you hoping to accomplish through your faith?

Meditating on this inspiring notion I was able to identify several satisfying rewards of faith! I would like to share them with you in the hope they will bless you as they bless me!

Reward One: RELATIONSHIP!

God created you for Himself. As Pascal declared, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God made known through Jesus Christ."

The greatest reward you can receive is the mercy, grace and pleasure of God flooding your soul and filling the void in your life. Knowing about God is one thing but knowing God in a very personal intimate relationship is the joy of faith!

You can receive everything else your vain ambition may crave but unless you receive a relationship with God through Christ it will never satisfy! 

Reward Two: REALITY!

Because you are created for God, you are created for eternity. As Paul articulated in II Corinthians 4:18 - "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" what is eternal is what is real!

Living in time with a physical body, your world is defined by your five senses, your environment and your education. So, when you think of what is real you define it in terms of what you can see, touch, hear, taste and intellectually understand. Despite how vast the physical universe may be, it is still a reality defined by time and space.

God created you for and calls you to a greater reality! We find that greater reality when we find Him and when we put our faith in His Word! What He says through His Word is real not what you see with your eyes. It enables you to change the current reality but your connection with the greater reality! That is precisely what Abraham did and Noah did and Moses did "by faith"!

How do we link the reality we live in to the reality we believe in? FAITH! That's what faith is! that's what faith does! Faith ushers you into an existence that is not limited by physical restrictions. It allows you to hope! It allows you to cope! It allows you to transcend the evil and the brokenness of this world! That is what Jesus meant when He taught you to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!"

By the way, faith itself, even though it connects you to the eternal reality, is itself temporary! When you take your last breath in time and inhale eternity you will live by sight so faith will hold no further value for you!

Reward Three: RIGHTEOUSNESS!

A third reward of faith is righteousness. Righteousness means being made right with God!  It has a spiritual aspect to it. Without faith you trapped in your sinful human nature. That nature is spiritually dead because it is separated from a life-giving God Who is holy aka sinless. Unrighteousness is deceived in its thinking and incapable of distinguishing truth from lies. Since God is truth that creates a problem.

Righteousness also has a legal aspect to it. Because you are born a sinner separated from God you are judged legally guilty before God and condemned to eternal suffering. Jesus, Who was righteous and without sin went to the cross and took your sin upon you Himself to take the penalty for your sin. When by faith, you receive God's gift of salvation you are forgiven of your sins and He declares you "not guilty". At that moment you become righteous in His sight.

God IS the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! And the greatest of His extravagant rewards is God Himself!

Are you diligently seeking Him?