You can never go wrong with a good quote from Winston Churchill.

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour!"

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Acts 2:37

It has long been a concern of mine that the art of asking good questions is dying. There are plenty of questions around, but few good ones. Many questions today seem to be excuses to let everyone else know how clever the questioner is. These are generally pointless from an information gathering perspective. When a real question comes along, it's positively refreshing to hear. I call them real questions because they are asked so the the questioner can learn something. I love real questions and I love answering them.

In Acts 2:37 we not only find a real question, but an important one. It is an important question because of what they learned that caused them to ask it. It was a real question because they needed to know the answer to it. Consider the activities that morning. Peter explained the outpouring of the Holy Ghost that the crowd had witnessed. He pointed out that this was all prophesied by the Lord and is proceeding according to his plans. And that he had come to dwell among us as our savior and redeemer just as he had promised. The Messiah had walked among us! And that they (the crowd) had killed him.

And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Acts 2:43

This is a cool enough verse in its own right. Wonders and signs are always good. But while the content is very important, the first thing to notice about it is the context. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, this verse comes right after the one before it. And this is what makes it special.

The proceeding verse, as discussed in Modeling The Early Church, explains how the early church operated. It provides for us the four key elements they operated by. This verse then, reveals to us the natural outcome that should be expected from operating an Apostolic church carefully, according to the scriptural guidelines provided.

Pastoring is a huge endeavor, especially when you are new to it. I liken it to being a new parent. When your first child arrives, so does the responsibility to care for them. Now, usually you receive a little help in the first few days. We were blessed that my mother-in-law came and helped us for a week. But then, she left and everything was down to us.

As an analytical kind of guy, I quickly figured out the principles of caring for a baby. The key skills necessary are to quickly and efficiently get food into the top end and diligently keep the other end as clean as possible. Oh, there are a few other details, but when they're brand new, those are the big two.

Five and a half years ago, I took over the pastorship of New Life Church in Dodgeville, WI. This was my first pastorate and I had about twenty souls looking intently at me for spiritual nurturing. I understand that having multiple children can be challenging enough, but now I had twenty spiritual charges to feed and clean and raise in the Lord.