Blessings at the Fall Banquet!

Dr. David Price, pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Coopertown, TN, brought the message at this year’s Fall Fundraising Banquet. With his text from II Timothy 4:14-22, Dr. Price dealt with several of the challenges in Ministry.

The gymnasium was comfortably filled for this year’s banquet, including eighteen preachers from various Midwest states in attendance. The delicious food, beautiful music, and great fellowship made for a very special evening. When the offering was taken, the $10,000 winter expense goal was reach.

We are so thankful for all those that took part in the Fall banquet, and especially for our many friends, though not in attendance, that gave early towards the offering.

Please mark your calendar for the next Heritage banquet. The annual Graduation Banquet is scheduled for Tuesday evening, May 2, 2023.

On display in my office is a single paper bill that was valued for $50,000 German Marks and printed in Berlin, one hundred years ago on November 19, 1922. This note is part of the collection of German money during the hyperinflation that captured the German economy, when their leaders, using 130 printing companies, printed valueless money.

In 1914, a US dollar could be exchanged for 4 German Marks. At the peak of 1923, only nine years later, one US dollar could command 4 trillion German Marks. Interest would rise sometimes at 21% a day with an inflation rate of 29,500%.

That type of inflation would see Germans transporting money in wheelbarrows so that they could buy food at the grocery. The largest currency in Germany became the 100 trillion Mark. Soon it would cost millions of Marks just to mail a letter. All this economic confusion propelled Adolf Hitler to power and he later began WWII, killing millions.

Could this snowballing of hyperinflation happen in America and the world? Could hyperinflation create in people a desire for a single world leader, especially if all the Christians mysteriously disappeared?

My old history professor often began his lecture with this quote: “The one thing that we fail to learn from history, is that we fail to learn from history.”

Money around the globe has been inflated by various countries over the years, and paper money can quickly become worthless.

Christ made it a point during His ministry to show where the true worth lay: What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul. – Mark 8:36 & 37

Witnessing on the Street is Worthwhile

General Bedford Forrest was one Southern leader that the Union never really conquered. He fought with distinction during the Civil War, and his brilliant tactics are studied in military schools around the world. He was famous for several quotes including: Never stand and take a charge. Charge them too.

Two years before his death, General Forrest was strolling down the streets of Memphis, when he happened to meet one of his former officers, Lt. Colonel Raleigh White. After the war, White had become a Baptist minister. The two former Confederate officers had not seen each other for some time, and Bedford Forrest was surprised to hear of the others change. The general listened as White shared his testimony, and then he asked if they could step into the adjacent bank. Soon after, in the parlor of the bank, the General got down on his knees and made his final surrender to the Savior. Raleigh White left that day, never to see the general again on this earth.

A few days later, on November 14, 1875, General Bedford Forrest’s dear wife saw her prayers answered. He came forward to make a public profession for Christ and joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church where she attended. (Mathes, J. Harvey. Great Commanders: General Forrest. New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1902)

Helpful Chapel Quotes

What you believe matters. Your beliefs shape your actions, and eventually the outcome of your life.

If you want your dreams to come true, don’t oversleep (Proverbs 24:33)

The opposite of fear is faith.

Some people want to get to heaven with smoke on their coattails.

Leadership in Ministry is likened to a conductor on a train. Some people get on the train, and some people get off. Your job as the conductor is to keep the train moving.

In your ministry are you big enough to be small?

A proud man is seldom a thankful man.

Men look for better methods, God looks for better men. (Ezekiel 22:30)