March 2008 Newsletter


“A Lot Going On”

By: Craig Rippy

With the Missouri Christian Convention April 11 & 12, the consideration of Solid Rock working with the Ozark Evangelistic Fellowship in starting a new church in Steelville, and the work to gain unity among the three Christian Churches in St. James, there is a lot going on.

Did you know all these things were in the works? Yes, yours truly is the President of the 2008 Missouri Christian Convention. The convention committee and I have been working diligently to have a great convention for Missouri Christians.

Allen Dunbar, Executive Director of the North American Christian Convention, will be one of our main session speakers. Kenny Boles, Professor of Greek and New Testament at Ozark Christian College will be the other main speaker. These two men will not disappoint.

Workshops should be really good this year. Keith Graves, Minister at Bolivar, has put together a great line up. Teens and Children all have activities and speakers just for them. Even the nursery will be operating throughout main sessions and workshops.

Yes, you read correctly. Ozark Evangelistic Fellowship and Solid Rock Christian Church are hoping to begin work in Steelville as soon as the fall of 2008. The actual start of a congregation may be as late as the fall of 2009, but the ground work needs to get started soon.

Steelville doesn't have a Christian Church and the closest is North of Cuba. The Steelville area needs a New Testament Christian influence. Please be praying for that work to be successful.

We have a few people who travel from Cherryville and Steelville to worship here at Solid Rock. It would be nice to offer a place to worship closer for them to travel. But, even more important, since the Howdeshells and Rynos are willing to travel the distance, is that we offer the rest of those in that area a New Testament Christian Church option.

Third, the Christian churches in St. James are all on board with the unity talks. Forest City Christian Church, St. James Christian Church and Solid Rock Christian Church are now considering the possibility of unity.

What does this mean? It means we are being obedient to Christ. Jesus wants complete unity of His people.

Wherever these unity talks take us, we should be very pleased that we have been willing to meet, discuss, pray, and trust in God to lead us closer together.

We should want to settle any disagreements and work together to honor our mutual Lord. That may mean coming together as one congregation in the future. It may mean having more unified services and service projects. As of yet, we have only just begun the process.

All these things in addition to the regular pastoral work with Solid Rock, keeps your leadership busy. We pray, evaluate, discuss, and pray some more. We ask you to be praying as well. Keep each of your leadership team in your prayers. We need God's wisdom and your support. Thank you for loving us.