Brother Joe, This encouragement is an inspiration to those of us seeking to follow in your footsteps in the service of our Lord. The way you have conducted yourself in this situation, while also maintaining a broader international Kingdom focus, provides a good example to me. (And you didn’t even mention the free consulting service you provide to keep at least one young and naïve church planter on track). Our Lord is good as He moves to revive and restore His churches. Praise be to His name!! Shane. On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:56:59 +1000, Joseph Krygier <pasjk@...> wrote: > Dear Sounders, > Thank you for your prayers and the ones that will continue. > Yesterday, after serving for one year as the interim pastor at First > Baptist Evans, our re-formed congregation has asked me to stay as the > elder/pastor of the fellowship. > Those who have been aware of the past years difficulties, that began > with the former pastors resignation because of sexual immoratlity, know > we have suffered much from gossip, backbitng and false accusations from > disgruntled former attendees and former members as we have attempted to > rebuild a core work from the ground up. > In light of yesterdays decision, we expect a bit more of the same but > now we can move forward with a greater sense of unity and stability with > my temporary status changed. By God's grace we can move out of > "maintainence mode" and move forward. > A new church constitution has been in place since June and we are ready > to pursue training of two other men to achieve plurality of elders. > We have about 15 members and 20 in attendance. > This is not outside the realm of my experience. My first experience as a > believer was in a church plant in 1977, my first pastorate in 1984 was > a new church plant and I have also pastored a turn around church for 7 > years. Concurrently I served on staff at the Buffalo City Mission for 20 > years as a pastor/chaplain as well as owning a small traing seminar > busisness. > I have never been a member of a large church. We have always been placed > by God to help smaller works. > We are in an area of WNY where Baptist churches are particularly hostile > to the doctrines of grace. No wonder, since the famous Niagara Bible > Conferences in Olcott NY > spawned Dispensationalism, the Bible School movement and prophecy > conferences right in our backyard 35 minutes north from Buffalo. "NCT" > is unknown. > Our primary goal is to glorify our Savior and to grow spiritually in the > grace and knowledge of Christ our New Covenant. > As we progress we pray for financial stability so we can reach out more > to the community. > All of my work has been cross cultural and urban. This work is a bit > more rural but we have opportunity to reach native Americans and > hopefully migrant workers as time goes by. We pray to reach into the > inner city, which is where we live. > Our fellowship is housed in a building dating back to1830 where a > Calvinistic church was first established. By the 1860's it went the > Arminian way and remained so and in more modern days was a GARB member. > God, we believe, has graciously restroed and reformed the work back to > its origianl intent. We are the only known Baptist doctrine of grace > fellowship in a 90 milie radius of the city of Buffalo. We are 35 > minutes south of the city. I commute from the city. > My small business allows me to serve full time. I teach quarterly > seminars when I have students, by God's provision, and the course takes > 30 hours to complete. > New York State has just approved our course to be done online and or by > correspondence, so I am in the process of developing that. I teach a 30 > hr precertification class for licensure for Pest Control Technicians as > well as recertification classes. I have 27 years experience in the > field in 7 different categories. > We have a simple website at www.fbceny.org > JGR, Moe, Chad and Shane have had a bit more of the scoop over the last > year but again thanks to all who have been involved based on a posting a > year ago. > Resting in Him, > Joe K. > > -- > Read the Sound of Grace pages at > http://www.soundofgrace.com > > To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: > soundofgrace-unsubscribe@... > > To view our online archive go to our web page at > http://www.associate.com/groups/soundofgrace > > > -- ___________________________________________________ Please note our change of contact details. Phone: (07) 3107 1720 / +61 7 3107 1720 (New) SIP: 1777 104 334 (New) Skype: shanefromaus (Shane) karenfromaus (Karen) Mobile: 0417 896 319 / +61 417 896 319 (Shane) 0413 696 525 / +61 413 696 525 (Karen) ___________________________________________________