Dave's Letter

Letters:
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Fall 2005

Dear Truth Encounter Family:

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend who for many years was a leader in a local church but now has gone several months without connecting with a congregation. Years of involvement on church boards and the inner “politics” of a local church have burned him out. He had strong reasons for withdrawing and expressed to me how much he was enjoying the ministry of a well-known TV preacher.

My friend is not alone. According to the National Association of Religious Broadcasters thousands of American believers join my friend each week in front of their television for worship in the privacy of their living room. This got me thinking about the advantages of this kind of “church” experience. Think about it --

• Your lazy boy in your living room is much more comfortable than the seats in most churches.
• If you have to go to the bathroom, you don’t have to embarrass yourself by climbing over an entire row of people.
• If you don’t like the message, you can simply hit the remote and try another topic, another style of music, or another sermon delivery.
• You can totally control the loudness or softness of the music, the announcements, and the preacher.
• You can totally control the temperature of the room.
• You can enjoy a snack or repeated snacks while you are listening.
• You can record the church service that pleases you the most and view it at your own convenience—even stopping and starting the video at your own good pleasure.
• You can view the service in private and not have to mess with all the complications of having other people around.
• As you mature and your taste in worship style changes, you can easily start to view another type of service without the messiness of saying good bye to people who have become like brothers and sisters to you.
• If you are enjoying a particular sin, you don’t have to put up with someone personally trying to get you to turn away from your favorite vice.

Now if you are homebound or get sick, TV ministry can be God’s answer to your needs on any given Sunday. In fact you can hear some heavenly class preaching on the tube as well as some earth bound self-help sales pitches. But even if it’s theologically healthy and filled with passionate fire, your Heavenly Father still says it’s not good for you to be alone and this includes far more than Adam’s aloneness in the Garden of Eden.

When Jesus gave you new birth, you were born into a family, and this family doesn’t live in cyber space. He calls you to live together with flesh and blood believers in your town or city, and during thirty-three years of ministry here in Midlothian as a small town pastor, Jesus has repeatedly reminded me why I must not forsake assembling with my local brothers and sisters in Christ.

How’s your commitment to a local church body? Why should you attend a live worship service on a regular basis and connect with a small group of believers who will know you well enough to realize when you get angry and withdraw from church to watch TV? Can you grow to maturity in Christ watching “church” on your wide screen Sony™ in your den?

These are the issues I addressed in a recent message titled Living Together--”It’s Not Good for Man to Be Alone!” Mary and I want you to hear this message about Jesus’ passion for you to get close to others in your local church.

Katrina’s rampage through New Orleans and Mississippi exposed the deadly consequences when community breaks down. When the crisis hits, Dr. Phil might show up a couple of days later to cheer you on, but you will need a lot more than a TV personality to give you a ride to escape 100 mile per hour winds and twenty feet of water when the storm threatens.

If you are burned out on the local church like my friend, you need this message before your fall asleep for good in your Lazy Boy. After sharing about our time together with our now scattered Wyrtzen clan this summer, Mary will tell you how you can get your copy of Living Together.

God graciously gave us a day this summer with all of our children and grandkids under our roof. Needless to say, life picked up pace by 1200% as we all enjoyed the energy of 5 babies under three and a half years. (Dave’s “Living Together” message came too late for us!) Josh and Laura came from New Haven and surprised us with the announcement of our expected 6th grandchild. Joel, Courtney, Blythe and Fiona arrived to show off our first grandson, Noah Maddox, who debuted on his mother’s birthday!

Jonathan & Leslie and their girls, Leila and Nora, left for Morocco where Jonathan is studying Arabic as a Fullbright Scholar and Leslie will be working with Moroccan women in a town near Ifrane. Our daughter, Jenae, is starting the Th.M. program at Dallas Theological Seminary this fall and is also helping our college ministry.

As we all continue to experience the ups and downs of life, the crisis and joys of family living, we need each other to help carry the load just as we have pulled together in our church and community to help the victims of Katrina. That is what being a part of God’s Family is about. Our prayer is that you are experiencing that same togetherness in the part of God’s family near you.

Please fill out the order form for your free CD of “Living Together—It’s Not Good for Man to Be Alone!”

  

Dave and Mary Wyrtzen

If you want to support this ministry, send your gift to:
Truth Encounter
Box 580 
Midlothian, TX 76065

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