I was looking through some old books of mine that I received from an older retired preacher several years ago. The books where over-looked by many of my peers, but I found something wonderfully impressive about them–and refer to them time and time again. I treasure these books and, over the years, they have given me a great education in preaching and pastoring. Inside one of the books was a bulletin from the “Fairfield Highlands Community Easter Sunrise Service”. The bulletin, or program, was dated April 1, 1945. While it was inspirational to see, the final line on the back caught my attention.
The final line of this bulletin said: “Get extra copies of this bulletin to take to a friend, or send to a Service Man.”
How wonderful it would be if more churches in the states would begin sending “their bulletins to Soldiers, Airmen, and Sailors” as an encouragement to keep the faith! This year, I have been blessed by the support of a local church. This support is incredibly unusual, but demonstrates the power of the local church, and particularly the work of the Sunday School. While they don’t send the bulletin, nor need to—the times have changed, they have sent messages and have kept in touch with me, as well as taking a huge effort to support my wife, Monica. Even in our case, they didn’t have to reach out this way to us. We have only been in the church for a year, and in this particular Sunday School class for about two months before I left, but they stepped up and truly cared for us.
From time to time, I hear of other churches reaching out to their Soldiers downrange, or overseas, and it is always good to see. I would love to see more churches and Sunday School classes reaching out to the families of those serving overseas. This is a great ministry of support and means so much to the Soldier. It is also a great witness to the other Soldiers who hear the stories of how they are cared for.
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This post is a fresh rewrite of a post title “Send to a Serviceman” from March 2009.
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