Sad News

I received some sad news yesterday when I read that the Pastor of the very first Word of Faith church in Santa Rosa that Piper and I attended, passed onto glory on Tuesday the 21^st of January.  Piper and I had made the decision to leave the Baptist church that we had been members and ministers at for many years toward the end of 1982.  During that time, we had been following the little weekly posting on the Religion page in our local newspaper that advertised a church called Faith Christian Fellowship, pastored by a Rhema Bible Training Center graduate named Doug Smith.  The church met in a room at the El Rancho Tropicana Motel and Convention Center in the southern part of Santa Rosa.  The part about Doug being a Rhema grad is what caught our attention and compelled us to check it out.  We first attended on January 1, 1983… and never left

Little did we know when we walked into that room arranged with metal chairs and Radio Shack equipment, that we were setting the course of our lives for the next 35 plus years… up to and including today!   I always considered Doug and our time there as my first Bible School.  He was an excellent teacher of the Word who caused both Piper and I to sit on those hard chairs in those old and funky little rooms and literally write reams of notes.  We became good friends and spent some fun times fellowshipping with them at our perspective homes, while our kids terrorized the rest of the house! 

Piper and I had the honor of leading the Praise and Worship parts of the services for about six years.  Together with Doug and his first wife Linda, their five boys and our (eventually) 3 kids, we held services in multiple locations throughout Santa Rosa (including our new home in Larkfield… I still remember when all the kids went out back to play and tracked muddy footprints across our new light blue carpet!), Napa and Petaluma.  When Doug and Linda felt the leading to leave and follow the call as itinerant/Evangelistic ministers, we transferred the church phone to our house and then spent the next twenty or so years keeping the remnant of that church and the Word of Faith teaching alive and thriving in Santa Rosa.  Our heartfelt prayers for the peace of God go out to Doug's family. 

The news of Doug’s homegoing kind of shook me because of the connection we had.  After reading the news online, I sat back in my chair and without thinking said aloud, “Piper did you hear that?  Doug Smith passed away.”  Then I immediately started laughing as it hit me that of course she knows… Doug’s probably preaching in heaven right now and Piper most likely is in the front row taking copious notes… just like she used to do!  If you’re interested, check out his obituary at the end of today’s post*** 

I recently read a statement that the great revivalist Smith Wigglesworth once made.  It caused me to pause and have one of those “A Ha!” moments, because it described exactly what happened to Piper and I after being introduced to the Word of Faith message in the mid 1970’s.  It was the follow-through on that life-changing experience that expectantly drove us to attend Doug and Linda’s church in 1983.  Wigglesworth was quoted as declaring “After you have once laid hold of the plan on the lines of faith – the simplicity of faith – you will be in a new world.”

There is a line that Nicholas Cage makes toward the end of the first National Treasure movie when he sees an indentation in a wall that seemingly matches the shape of the ornately designed antique pipe that he had found earlier in the movie.  The camera comes in close on his face as he says, “Could it really be that simple?”  He then inserts the pipe, turns it clockwise, and a secret wall to the treasure room opens up!

The look on his face and the skip that must of occurred in the character’s heart at that revelation, perfectly mimicked the way that Piper and I felt as we began to see and grasp the understanding of the power that we Christians have through our active faith in God and His Word.  As we grew in our revelation of that truth which is clearly described in the books of Ephesians and Colossians**** we began to live in another world… a world where we tended to only be moved by what we saw in God’s Word and not be moved by the negative things we saw happening around us.  

I remember telling Piper with great frustration, when we returned home from Oklahoma from 2009 into 2014 and had received a lot of conflict from those who didn’t agree with the path we were following as we began to deal with Piper’s declining health… “that it felt like were living in two different universes!”  Or… “in a new world!”

How about you?  In which world… or universe do you live?  One which is governed by the steady and secure truth of the Word of God?  Or one that is ruled by the roller-coaster temptations of emotions… based many times on fear?

Have a great weekend, and as you do, say with me… “I’m expecting to choose the truth of God’s Word when it comes to the decisions I face today!”



*** https://everloved.com/life-of/douglas-edward-smith/obituary/?flow=201&fbclid=IwAR0sCp5XCj8uU86lPSqYjCEKWaQWnxb34PegHK_b7tiGIuRYsyKuxLoQdW4



**** In particular see Ephesians 1:17-23, Ephesians 2:4-6, Ephesians 3:13-20, Colossians 1:12-14