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The Impact of Obedience
by Steve Stoner
One phone call. In the grand scheme of world events, it was not even a blip on the radar screen. Just one phone call. But that one phone call, a simple act of obedience by a woman simply serving on a committee of a small church had a huge impact on my wife Peggy and me.
Sharon Bolton was serving on the Newcomer's committee of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Germantown, TN in 1981. A small group of ladies would gather every week and call everyone who had recently moved to the community. I was out of town on a business trip when Sharon called Peggy. We had recently moved to Germantown, a suburb of Memphis. I had just received a promotion to the position of National Account Manager which required a relocation to the corporate headquarters of the Maybelline Corporation. Little did I know how that one phone call would rock our world. When I returned from my business trip, Peggy told me about the phone call and that she wanted to visit the church. In our 10 years of marriage, we had been to church only on a few occasions so this was a very unusual idea. But that one phone call and the accompanying invitation resulted in a visit to the church and then to regular attendance. At Forest Hill we encountered a loving body of believers who accepted us just as we were and over time, Peggy and I both came to faith in Jesus Christ. We consider Forest Hill our spiritual birthplace.
So, it was with excitement recently that we drove to Memphis to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Forest Hill Baptist Church. The church had relocated since we left in 1987 and many of the people we knew when we were there were no longer attending but there were enough familiar faces that we knew that the long drive had been worth it. We really went to be able to tell as many people as we could how they had impacted our lives and how that impact has had a ripple effect.
We had sent a letter to the church to tell them of how that one phone call had been so impactful in our lives and how we are currently serving the Lord in ministry. When we met the pastor he told us how much our letter had meant to him. Many of the names we had mentioned in the letter he was not familiar with. But on Saturday afternoon during a picnic that was part of the celebration, he approached Peggy and me with a big smile on his face and said "Look who I found!" and standing behind him was Sharon Bolton. Sharon is caring for her elderly mother so she hadn't planned to attend any of the celebration and was no longer attending Forest Hill but there she was. When Peggy and I told her of how her phone call had been the catalyst for our spiritual journey and where we are now and what we are doing, she began to weep. She told us that she didn't even remember making the phone call since they made so many on a weekly basis and that she had no idea how that one call had made such a difference in our lives. She went on to say that if she died today, she would die joyfully knowing that a simple act done in obedience to the Lord had so profoundly made a difference in our lives.
Perhaps our only reason for making the trip to Memphis was to be able to tell Sharon our story as an encouragement to her.
I hope this story is an encouragement to you. You never know how the Lord will use a simple act done in obedience to His leading. When he prompts you to make a phone call, write a note, or simply ask someone how they are doing, your obedience may have a profound impact on someone else. It did for us.
The Bible tells us of how small things can make a big difference when faithful obedience is exhibited. The widow's mite, the fishes and loaves and dropping the nets after a night of fruitless fishing to name a few. Jesus says that if we only have mustard seed sized faith we can move mountains. Our God is a mountain mover!
Luke 19:17 "And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, be in authority over ten cities.'
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The Secret Ingredient
by Patrick Flores
The best get togethers are the ones where everyone brings a dish and all eat and fellowship. Boy, do some of our friends know how to cook some serious dishes! The most interesting part is how some people taste something interesting but can't quite wrap their taste buds around it. Been there before? Many are left in amazement how the dish had that particular ingredient! Who would've guessed? Oh, and the presentation really often times makes the dish. You don't even want to cut into something just because it looks so delicious. This is the best way to describe for me the effect that BLE has had in my life.
Our group of guys are the ingredients that somehow come together and make our study work. We are so different, from the type of work we do, our age, and who we associate with. Yet those experiences that we bring to the table add so much to to the topic of discussion in our BLE study and is amazingly relevant to our walk in Christ. This happens every week with the same results. WOW! Our fellowship, is very similar to the one mentioned in the above paragraph. It is a social gathering where it is fun and relaxing with no pressure to bring your thoughts or comments to the table. Be yourself, bite into the dishes (thoughts, comments and insights) brought in by others if you like. I have been blessed by the fact that we are your average guys, making a go at life, sharing our experiences, general thoughts, questions or concerns with others who may or may not relate. They somehow almost always do. They have to because Christ is the main ingredient in our lives and we are finding out through what's been our main topic of study, Marketplace Ministry, how we can share that ingredient with the lives of those around us.
Through our study, I think we have all learned that we do this for a "living" just like Phil and Steve. For me, I am already in a position, because we serve! It seems the whole group (business professionals) is in some capacity directly serving others. We have definitely in the short time that we have met developed a camaraderie and a genuine concern for each other's worries and victories in life. There is some tremendous insight shared by our group and I know that we have all grown spiritually.
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