“ Pastor where have I failed, what did I do wrong?” The question was prompted by a wayward child, perhaps in trouble with the law. My answer has been, “ You have not necessarily failed.” Im mediately someone says, “How about Proverbs 26:6 where it says: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.’ ?” May I say the children I am speaking about are usually adoles cents, in their teens. They are not yet mature. I am thinking of a key leader in our church who came to me years ago and poured out the story of his son’s way wardness and trouble with the law. Today that son is a spiritual leader in our church. It is true that the Bible has a great deal to say about the family and its individual members, in cluding the responsibility of par ents to their children. May I re mind you of a few? Children are exhorted to obey their parents “ in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord” (Col. 3:20). Hus bands are told to love their wives “ as Christ loved the church and gave Himelf for it” (Eph. 5:25). Wives are to adapt themselves to their husbands as they submit to the Lord (Eph. 5:22, Phillips' Translation). The husband is des ignated as the head of the wife and home (Eph. 5:23) but is warned not to provoke his chil dren to anger, lest they become discouraged (Col. 3:21). In God’s Word, we find not only a multitude of direct references to life and responsibility in the home, but also many illustrations of good and bad homes, worldly and spiritual homes. We are in troduced to wise and foolish par ents and to obedient and disobedi ent children. However, it is diffi cult to filter out a definite formula that works in all cases. We learn of good parents who had evil chil dren and evil parents who had good children. We see parents with obedient children who find a good place in society and are commendable to both their par ents and God. Other parents have
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O h j U r t C J b OF THE
E M M A N U E L F A I T H C O M M U N I T Y C H U R C H
by Rev. Coy T. Maret
T he E m m a n u e l Faith Com munity Church is located in the “hidden valley” of Escondido, California, a city o f twenty-nine thousand people. It is an inde pendent Bible church (member of I.F.C.A.) reaching eleven hun dred people in its two Sunday morning services and a thousand in its two Sunday schools held at the same time as the church serv ices. About fifteen hundred dif ferent people are ministered to each Sunday. Some six hundred attend its Sunday night services with almost half of them college age and below. With clubs and groups for all ages, seven hundred are present on Wednesday nights. The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Earl Morgan, whose widow, Mrs. Verda Morgan, still worships at Emmanuel and is active in the church. Twenty-four years ago, the Rev. Coy T. Maret was called to be the pastor and fourteen years ago the Rev. James Welch came to be Youth Pastor and now is Assistant Pastor. Mr. Don Talley now serves as Youth Pastor and Mr. Harold Randall is the Christian Education Director. Messrs. Morgan, Maret, Welch
and Talley all graduated from Biola. Mr. Randall, a graduate of Bob Jones University, has been a member of the church family since his Junior High School days. God has blessed the Bible school-type ministry coupled with an up-to-date aggressive program. Souls are added to the body of Christ weekly and although its membership is less than seven hundred, almost three thousand people call it their church. For many years, the church has been known in the community as a young peoples’ church. A youth emphasis has paid off in many lives’ saved, trained and sent out to the world’s mission fields. In recent years, the area has become a place for senior citizens, and the church is making this an em phasis that has begun to pay divi dends in many ways.
SPIRITUAL PARENTS AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN
I N my twenty-seven years as a pa s tor (twenty-four in my present church) many, many times a faithful, spiritual parent has sat across from my desk in my study and said, in effect:
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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