What is the mission of the Church? What does God want to see from us as Christians? The church has withstood many adversities throughout its history, and there have always been true followers of Jesus that have carried His message to the world. God has always had a remnant of people who have carried the faith further.

Listen as brother Trent shows how God has faithfully kept a remnant throughout history to show his glory to the world. We need not be discouraged because of hard times. We need to see that there is a glorious opportunity for us a Christians to portray Gods glory and honour, especially in times trouble and persecution.

Self-denial. It sounds like a very negative thing. But is it? What is Gelassenheit? What does it take for brothers to have Brotherhood Agreements? What does it take to live in true Community as Jesus intended? What does it mean to deny self? Why should I deny self? Why is it necessary to submit my life to other members in the church?

These questions get answered in this message, and the importance of denying ourself is explained. If viewed correctly, it is a glorious thing to deny self. Self gets in the way of so many things. Let us strive to deny and crucify self!

What are some distractions and temptations the church is facing today? Join these four men along with Nathan Overholt as they wrestle with these four topics relevant to our day.

"Are you infinitely distracted," Trent Eikenberry asks us, "with up to the minute news from the other side of the world?" He suggests that this relatively new phenomenon is keeping us from seeing real needs and lost souls right around us. How much should we be "in the know"?

Next, Elisha Byler introduces what he calls "pop up theology". This is old heresy covered with a skimpy varnish of Christian terminology that spreads quickly through social media platforms. These half truths we are bombarded with can distract us from deep genuine Bible study. How are you combating this distraction?

What about materialism? Philip Showalter tells us that far too often our souls are lean and sickly and we lack the power of God, but our bank accounts are fat and our businesses are flourishing. Hard work and industry are good, but the problem is our accumulation of money. He challenges us to stop justifying materialism and to repent of our love for money. What is first place in your life?

Lastly, Kevin Brechbill calls out the sin of gossip. A gossip is a person who habitually reveals personal and sensational facts about others. Churches are struggling to be united because of this root problem of massive gossip. The most effective way to combat gossip is to talk a good report about others. Ask your brother or your sister to tell you when you are gossiping. Are you building others up or tearing them down with your words?

How much do you want to get done in life?

How can we be useful vessels that God can use to get a lot done in His kingdom? Self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit, is an essential element in our lives if we want to be fruitful Christians. We make a firm decision, and the Holy Spirit gives us the power to live it out. Spiritual disciplines such as prayer, daily morning devotions, and a pure thought life will make us vessels that God can use. As we find victory from things such as lust, idolatry, grumbling, and addictions, we can be a soldier in God’s Kingdom. In this message Elisha Byler shares from the things he has learned in his journey with the Lord and from his years of experience working among an indigenous group in Mexico.

In architecture, pillars provide crucial strength and stability to buildings that can last for generations. In the same way, any enduring church needs members who are faithful ‘pillars’ that others can rely on (Galatians 2:9). Brother Philip Showalter shares six simple steps to becoming a pillar in the church.

1. Open transparency in the brotherhood
2. Be un-offendable
3. Learn the heart of your leaders
4. Bending and blending
5. Commitment to the church
6. Vibrant walk with God

Do you want the church to be what Christ intended? Resolve in your heart to become a pillar in the church, for God’s glory. It’s a calling for each one of us!

In this message, Joel Martin challenges us to consider three prophetic keys that are absolutely essential for those of us who hope to overcome the accuser of the brethren. How will the victorious saints overcome the devil? Let’s learn together how we will be able to conquer that great dragon of whom the Scriptures say, “Woe unto you ye inhabitants of the earth for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath!”

How can we be a church not just in name, but in holiness, and in the character of God? Is the church of Jesus Christ prepared to face her battles? Do we know who our enemy is? Are we unified against our enemy? Are we winning our battles?

A soldier for King Jesus must have complete surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We serve our Captain Jesus. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith. If we want to stand in the time of testing, trials, and temptation we must put on the whole armor of God.

If we want to know how to win the battles ahead of us, we must know whose side we are on, who is on our side, and who our enemy is.

The question is not if temptations will come, the question is, “When temptations come are you prepared to stand?”

We all yearn to witness the realization of heaven on earth, but the question remains: How does this transformation occur? Does God suddenly change us into completely new Christlike people? Will it come with a group of averagely good individuals? Or will heaven truly come to earth only when we as individuals and churches press into intentional growth into mature Christians.

This message presents and emphasizes the importance of Christlike maturity becoming an intentional pursuit of every individual and the core passion of each church. Maturity serves as the gateway to building trust, which is the currency of credibility for both individuals and churches. It creates an avenue for churches to experience sustainability and longevity.

Raymond Glick, Kevin Brechbill and Micah Hozen discuss and take audience questions raised by the message on “God’s Equipment for Building His Church.” Panel discussion moderated by Andrew Kurtz.

In his call for the church to “lengthen the tent cords and strengthen the stakes,” Raymond Glick points to the need for brotherhoods to identify the gifts individuals have been given, to bless and encourage the use of those gifts, and for leaders to delegate responsibility to gifted members.

Elisha Byler emphasizes personal surrender and the practice of spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and Bible reading. These practices fortify us for the experiences in kingdom work that feel like going through a meat grinder.

Andrew V. Ste. Marie paints a powerful picture of the dedication and desperation that powered the spread of God's kingdom in the days of the early Anabaptists. Andrew calls us to cultivate faithful communities that shine a welcoming light into the darkness around us.

This message was given at the Church Growth Seminar 2023, which is a segment organized by the Church Planters’ Forum (https://churchplantersforum.org/).

Let All Things Now Living

Katherine K. Davis, 1892-1980

Descant by Tom Fettke, 1941-

© Word Music, LLC (ASCAP) and Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP).

All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

1 Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving

To God the Creator triumphantly raise;

Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,

Who still guides us on to the end of our days,

God’s banners are o’er us, His light goes before us,

A pillar of fire shining forth in the night:

Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,

As forward we travel from light into light.

2 His law He enforces, the stars in their courses,

And sun in its orbit obediently shine,

The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,

The depths of the ocean proclaim Him divine.

We too, should be voicing our love and rejoicing

With glad adoration, a song let us raise:

Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving,

“To God in the highest, hosanna and praise!”

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

Hymns of the Church, # 14

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Blessed Are They Who Will Trust in the Lord

Friedrich Munz, 1865-1916

Tr. Dan Nickel, 1993

Words & music © Copyright 2010 by Larry K. Nickel. Used by permission.

Sorry, verse 1 and 2 are not recorded.

1 Blessed are they who will trust in the Lord

Who offers us love and grace.

Almighty Pow’r, every foe is subdued

He saves us in wondrous ways.

Chorus:

Blessed are they who trust in the Lord,

Blessed yes, wonderf’ly blessed are they.

Praise to the Lord! Shining Star of Grace.

Guide us, O Father, along your way,

Guide us, O Father, along your way.

Blessed are they,

Blessed are they,

Blessed are they who trust in the Lord.

Blessed are they,

Blessed are they,

Blessed are they who trust in the Lord.

2 Blessed are they who are led by His hand

Thru the ups and the downs each day.

Blessed the hand who reigns over all,

Who strong and secure shall stay.

3 Blessed are they who are quiet in pain,

Such pain that the Lord allows.

Comforting cross where the Saviour was slain

Brings hope to the suffering brow.

4 Blessed are they who will trust in the Lord

And follow that Godly light.

Eternal Word, what a fortress of pow’r

Victorious it takes the fight.

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

Hymns of the Church, # 997

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Bread for the Journey

Bret Hesla

Copyright 1990 Bret Hesla.

Posted by permission of Augsburg Fortress.

1 Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

When our feet are getting heavy

And we’re hanging down our heads,

Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

2 Guide our way as we travel. Guide our way.

Guide our way as we travel. Guide our way.

With so many roads before us,

Where to go is hard to say.

Guide our way as we travel. Guide our way.

3 Make us one with each other. Make us one.

Make us one with each other. Make us one.

All the walls we’ve built around us

May we learn to tear them down.

Make us one with each other. Make us one.

4 Lead us home to the garden. Lead us home.

Lead us home to the garden. Lead us home.

Where we’ll live with all creation,

Find our place and never roam.

Lead us home to the garden. Lead us home.

5 Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

When our feet are getting heavy

And we’re hanging down our heads,

Give us bread for the journey. Give us bread.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Robert Robinson, 1735-1790

1 Come, thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount I’m fixed upon it

Mount of God’s redeeming love.

2 Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Hither by thy help I’ve come;

And I hope, by thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Bought me with his precious blood.

3 Oh, to grace how great a debtor

Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to thee:

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;

Seal it for thy courts above.

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

Lord, in the Fullness of My Might

Thomas H. Gills, 1819-1906

1 Lord, in the fullness of my might,

I would for Thee be strong;

While runneth o’er each dear delight,

To Thee should soar my song.

2 I would not give the world my heart,

And then profess Thy love;

I would not feel my strength depart,

And then Thy service prove.

3 I would not with swift-winged zeal

On the world’s errands go,

And labour up the heav’nly hill

With weary feet and slow.

4 O not for Thee my weak desires,

My poorer, baser part!

O not for Thee my fading fires,

The ashes of my heart.

5 O choose me in my golden time,

In my dear joys have part!

For Thee the glory of my prime,

The fullness of my heart. Amen.

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

Hymns of the Church, # 965

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The Music of Heaven

Elisha A. Hoffman, 1839-1929

1 The music of heaven is sweeter in measure

And purer in every strain,

Than the music of earth, tho’ it fills us with pleasure,

As it thrillingly rolls over valley and plain.

Chorus:

Oh, music of heaven

So rich and so sweet;

Oh, joy that it brings us!

So full and complete.

2 The music of heaven is grander in rhyming

Than any that mortal e’er toned,

And the mansions of glory forever are chiming

With the songs that arise to the Saviour enthroned.

3 The music of heaven, no mortal can sing it,

Save he who attunes his poor soul,

At the throne of the Father, to swell and to ring it,

With the angels to make it thru paradise roll.

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

Hymns of the Church, # 1013

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Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915

1 Jesus, keep me near the cross,

There a precious fountain;

Free to all, a healing stream,

Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.

Chorus:

In the cross, in the cross

Be my glory ever,

Till my ransomed soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

2 Near the cross, a trembling soul,

Love and mercy found me;

There the Bright and Morning Star

Shed His beams around me.

3 Near the cross! O lamb of God,

Bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day

With its shadow o’er me.

4 Near the cross! I’ll watch and wait,

Hoping, trusting ever;

Till I reach the golden strand,

Just beyond the river.

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

I Would Love Thee

Madame Guyon, 1648-1717

1 I would love Thee, God and Father!

My Redeemer, and my King!

I would love Thee; for without Thee

Life is but a bitter thing.

2 I would love Thee; ev’ry blessing

Flows to me from out Thy throne;

I would love Thee; —he who loves Thee

Never feels himself alone.

3 I would love Thee; look upon me,

Ever guide me with Thine eye:

I would love Thee; if not nourished

By Thy love, my soul would die.

4 I would love Thee; I have vowed it;

On Thy love my heart is set;

While I love Thee, I will never

My Redeemer’s blood forget.

Chorus director: Mark Beachy

Hymns of the Church, # 379

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