With Pastor Harold Miller of Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA)
I left Grand Rapids for Kansas City on Friday morning, but missed my flight in Chicago because we parked on the Tarmac for nearly 1.5 hours waiting for a gate! Our pilot, who has been flying for nearly thirty years, said he never experienced anything like it. Happily, I was able to get the next-to-last seat on the next flight and still made it to Kansas City in time for my first address. Pastor Harold Miller of Covenant Reformed Church (URC) and a friend of many years, together with his wife Carol and three children, were patiently waiting for me, and were so helpful to me throughout the weekend.
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Kansas City
I spoke eight times in forty-eight hours in the beautiful Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA), pastored for the last eighteen years by Pastor Tony Felich, a graduate of Covenant Seminary. When he arrived at the church there were only eighty people; today there are more than four hundred, and they worship in a six million dollar complex that includes a Christian school with hundreds of students.
My first four addresses were for a conference sponsored by the Kansas City Alliance of Reformed Churches, which consists of seven churches. The theme was, Following God Fully, with the following addresses: How to Be a Modern-Day Caleb, Following God Fully as Spouses and Parents, Following God Fully by Teaching Our Families How to Overcome the World, and Following God Fully by Cherishing the Church.
Six of seven large boxes of books that RHB had sent ahead sold briskly. Throughout the weekend several people told me they couldn’t stop reading the books they bought. Selling books at conferences is so rewarding. I often think that the book ministry may be considerably more important than my speaking, as books have a wonderful longevity.
With Ministers of the Kansas City Alliance
After the last address, I met for lunch with the pastors from the seven churches represented at the conference, and then spoke to them on How to Cope with Criticism. The excellent discussion that followed focused on how we as ministers could set a positive tone for our churches by being loving rather than critical in our own demeanor.
On the Lord’s Day, I preached three times for Redeemer Presbyterian. In the evening service, the seven churches came together for worship which made for a good crowd. I preached on How to Live and Die for God Fully.
I also had the privilege of meeting Sherri and Robert Reymond Jr., the son of Dr. Robert Reymond who was a great systematic theology teacher at Covenant Seminary for many years, and who also taught at our PRTS seminary a course on apologetics shortly before he died. When I heard that Dr. Reymond’s grave was only across the street from the church, I asked his son and wife to visit the grave with me. Dr. Reymond wanted a simple text placed on his gravestone that declared Christ’s gospel powerfully and looked away from himself entirely, so he chose Matthew 1:21, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Almost immediately I felt bonded to this dear couple. It was a nostalgic time, also because, providentially, Pastor Frelich’s father is buried right next to Dr. Reymond. What will it be for believers to rise together on the Great Day to eternally praise Immanuel with absolute perfection world without end!
With Robert Reymond at the Grave of His Father
I was up at 4:00 a.m. on Monday to take the earliest flights out which brought me home by noon to my wonderful Queen on her 56th birthday. I took her out for dinner at Rose’s on the water. What a gift she is to me! She is one of those rare women who become more beautiful in every way with the passing of years. Is it possible to be so grateful for one’s wife that you cannot put it into words? The Lord is so incredibly good.
