Carol Long – Dawsonville, GA

Carol Long was born and raised in Griffin, Georgia located sixty miles south of Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents became Christians during her adolescence years, however, after being married 25 years they divorced and followed the ways of the world. Sadly, Carol and her three siblings repeated the same sins of their father and mother. It was on this bed of divorce that she recognized her need for a Savior, therefore, repenting of her sins and receiving Christ Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

Shortly after her conversion, she resigned her secular job with the government and volunteered for full-time Christian service. From 1993-1999 Carol served as a Mission Service Corp Volunteer with the North American Mission Board in foreign and home missions. Her short-term mission trips were: India, Brazil, London, Kenya, Mexico, Thailand, and Ghana. Next was her first long-term assignment at Valley Drive Baptist Church in Miles City, MT as their Singles Ministry Coordinator helping women who had gone through broken and unhealthy relationships. A few years later the Montana Southern Baptist Fellowship in Billings, MT asked her to serve on staff as their Singles Ministry and Church Development Director where she could help 138 churches instead of one.

In 2000, due to family illness, Carol resigned her position in Montana and moved back to Georgia where she worked as a ministry consultant in the video sales department of the Walk Thru the Bible Ministry in Atlanta, Georgia under the Presidency of Dr. Bruce Wilkerson. She also served on the Prayer Team led by Darlene Wilkerson.

Carol is currently married to Stirling Long and they live in Dawsonville, Georgia. They are active in their Acts 2:42 Day home fellowship church weekly providing a prayer meeting that consist of other churches throughout the town and evangelize at the North Georgia College in Dahlonega and close surrounding towns. Carol and Stirling are the parents of five children and ten grandchildren.

Daily Devotional 1-14-21

A Tale of Two Professors

Every January 3, I celebrate the birthday of two of my favorite professors, J.R.R. Tolkien and Dr. Rod Rosenbladt. Is it a mere historical coincidence that these two professors share a birthday? Like C.S. Lewis, I do not believe in coincidences.

The fact that these powerhouses of intellect and imagination share a birthday only adds to the day’s delight and joy. And I praise and thank God for it every year, and perhaps with the year that has just passed, now, more than ever. After all, good teachers do more than influence their students; in their unique vocation, they can inoculate us with the antidote of truth, goodness, and beauty. Rod Rosenbladt certainly was and is that kind of teacher for me, as he is for many others, pointing without fail to Christ crucified for you, no matter what subject he happened to be teaching or lecturing on. So too, with J.R.R. Tolkien, a professor of literature, who in many ways used his God-given gifts of imagination and storytelling to invite his readers to join him on a journey through his sub-created world of Middle-earth and onward to Christ.

I realize that for some, this might sound like a rather odd pairing at first. What does Dr. Rosenblat, a faithful, Lutheran professor, and pastor, have in common with J.R.R. Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic?

Odd though it may sound at first, Rod Rosenbladt and J.R.R. Tolkien have far more in common with each other than a date on a calendar. This tale of two professors has a common theme, plot, and denouement – the good news of the one true story, Jesus Christ crucified for you.

Good teachers do more than influence their students; in their unique vocation, they can inoculate us with the antidote of truth, goodness, and beauty.

Many have come to know Rod Rosenbladt through his work on the White Horse Inn; a rich, engaging theological radio show focused on Reformation theology from several corners of the Protestant Reformation. Rod, along with his co-hosts, introduced countless atheists, frustrated evangelicals, and wandering Christians to the good news that the Christian faith was not only defensible; it was dependable. He recounted that the story of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is both historically accurate and meaningful, true, and comforting. And that the Christian faith is founded on facts, and those facts are as wonderful and beautiful as they are true.

Others have come to know Dr. Rosenbladt through his essays and lectures, including my favorite, “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church.” By grace, through his humble servants like Rod, God has drawn exiled Christians back into a church where the Reformation’s quintessential theology is at the center: you are justified by grace through faith in Christ. Or, as Rod is fond of saying, “Christ died for sinners, and you qualify.”

Still, many others, especially in recent years, have come to know Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, and many of his students and friends, through the blogs, podcasts, conferences, and resources that are a part of the 1517 family which he was integral in founding.

My own introduction to Dr. Rosenbladt was like many others, as a student sitting in a freshmen year theology course at Concordia University Irvine, where Rod taught classes on the Lutheran Confessions, Reformation theology, and, of course, Christian apologetics for over thirty years.

It was there, in Rod’s classroom, that I was re-introduced to my other favorite professor, J.R.R. Tolkien. Instead of finding my thoughts drifting off to the sunny California skies outside the window, I found myself captivated by the truth of Reformation theology, the veracity of the Christian faith, and the beauty of a well-told story that soaked the imagination in Christ’s redemption. In a section of a course on Christian Apologetics, Rod took us on a journey through “tender-minded” apologetics: the joyous reality that the Christian faith is meaningful as well as true, beautiful as well as historical, imaginative as well as intellectual. Professor Rosenbladt taught us that Professor Tolkien – like his Inklings colleagues and many other authors – wrote great stories, and that sometimes the best stories pointed us to the true story of the gospel. I learned that Tolkien’s stories were full of more than adventure, fantasy, hobbits, elves, and orcs. They were also filled with Christian themes of redemption and rescue, good triumphing over evil, death and resurrection, and Christ-figures like Gandalf, Frodo, Samwise, and Aragorn.

I have never read a book the same way again. Rod’s teaching had more than influenced me; my time in his classroom forged me. After graduating college from Concordia Irvine, I went to seminary, got married and started a family, served, and still serve as a pastor. But I still consider myself a student of Dr. Rosenbladt. To me, and I know I am not alone in this, Rod will always be my professor, friend, brother in Christ, and father in the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

And as I thought about and celebrated the birthdays of my two favorite professors this year, I stopped to think about some of the remarkable things I have learned from them.

From Professor Rosenbladt, I learned to see the grace of God in Christ crucified on every page of Scripture. From Professor Tolkien, I learned to see Christ crucified in some of the best stories that are told.

From Professor Rosenbladt, I learned the importance of declaring and defending the gospel as we give anyone who asks a reason for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15). From Professor Tolkien, I learned that the gospel of Christ crucified can also be declared and defended through a well-told, beautiful story, that the heroes of Middle-earth point us to the Savior who came to this earth.

From Professor Rosenbladt, I learned that good theology is the most practical thing you can have as a Christian. From Professor Tolkien, I learned that good theology and the joy of Christ crucified is found in some of our favorite stories. And that the Christian story is both true and beautiful. It is made all the more sublime because this story really happened.

From Professor Rosenbladt, I learned that God’s gift of the intellect and the imagination are not contradictory but complementary. From Professor Tolkien, I learned that one could profess their Christian faith in rich, imaginative ways.

From: https://www.1517.org/articles/a-tale-of-two-professors

Stirling Long – Dawsonville, GA

Stirling Long was born a twin in Johannesburg, South Africa. Shortly thereafter his parents moved to Kitwe in Zambia. He and his twin brother Garth were educated in the Eastern Province of South Africa and attended a Private Boarding School Run by Catholics.

After school Stirling and his twin brother Garth joined the British South Africa Police Force. The 1960’s and 1970’s were very troubling times in Africa. Rhodesia was at that time at war with Communist Trained Insurgents. This was at the height of the Cold War and Communism was fast spreading through the undeveloped world of South America, Asia, and Africa.

Later Garth, Stirling’s Twin was to be ambushed in the May of 1977 and although he survived the ambush attack, he was left severely injured. Garth, told Stirling in hospital that as the ambush occurred, he had shouted out, ” Jesus Save Me!” Milliseconds later the RPG rocket exploded inside his vehicle. Leaving Garth and the driver as the sole survivors. He was seriously injured and left totally blind.

One Good Friday in 1988, Stirling attended a Protestant Church and heard the full Gospel preached. The Preacher repeatedly stated, “You must be Born Again, or you won’t even see Heaven!” This simple Gospel message so impressed Stirling that as the altar call was given, he raced up to the altar to give his life to the Lord.

Stirling completed a D J Kennedy Evangelism Explosion Ill training Course and worked with an Australian Ministry called, “Reach Out Ministries”, helping with their street evangelism programs in Soweto and Johannesburg. Reach Out Ministries also traveled to nearby Swaziland and did open air preaching in the townships and surrounding cities. The 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s was an incredible time to be a Christian in changing Southern Africa.

In 2006 Stirling and his then wife Diana immigrated to Los Angeles, CA. They later moved South East to Georgia in 2009 and settled close to their daughter Bernadette in Dawsonville, GA. Three years later Stirling’s wife Diana was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It was whilst nursing Diana with an incurable condition that he came to understand the true meaning of God’s faithfulness. The Lord supernaturally provided for them and made a way for Stirling to give up work to help nurse Diana. The last five months of Diana’s life and the 11 days in Hospice reinforced his belief that death was a certainty, and we all are in desperate need of a Savior. Diana died in March 2016.

In June 2017 Stirling married Carol Pilcher, also a widow. They soon became involved in street ministry handing out gospel tracts at malls and College Campuses. In August 2019 Stirling contacted Son Life Ministries in Athens, GA. Son Life mentored and instructed Stirling in the basics of open-air preaching.

They are dedicated to taking the Gospel to their neighbors and surrounding cities. Stirling has preached on two occasions at their city’s “Moonshine Festivals”. Stirling and Carol are active on the streets and squares of Dahlonega, Dawsonville, and Helen, GA.

Daily Devotional 1-13-21

Just Another Story…?

Everyone loves a good story. Millions have enjoyed J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and millions more, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. The Bible has been described as ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’. Many would agree, but rarely read it or think about it.

Deep down we long for a better experience of life and a certainty about the future. The question is, ‘Where can we find it?’

This was a key issue that confronted C.S. Lewis. Holding a triple first from Oxford in classics and philosophy and literature, Lewis’ atheism was challenged during his mid- to late-twenties. As he wrote in Mere Christianity: Atheism was too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we would never have found out that it has no meaning.

He began to ask: If God exists, was there a time when he had revealed himself to the world? With his deep understanding of literature, he asked whether the myths were really echoes of one true story.

Prompted by a remark from a colleague at Oxford, Lewis began to read the four Gospels. He noted particularly that, unlike the myths and stories of literature, that the accounts about Jesus of Nazareth were set in the context of history. Indeed, friends, such as JRR Tolkein, pointed out that Jesus’ resurrection was historical.

With these thoughts in mind come with me to the opening lines of the Gospel of Mark: The beginning of the gospel – the good news – of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1).

With these words Mark set the agenda for his writing. Mark wants to demonstrate to his readers that Jesus is the Christ, the Hebrew Messiah. He also wants us to know that this Jesus is the Son of God. At the outset we are introduced to an extraordinary idea: Jesus is both truly human and truly divine.

Despite what the voices of social media tell us, most people have an awareness that God is there. Yes, some people look at the world with all of its suffering and reject God outright. But most people still have a sneaking suspicion that He does exist. What they don’t like about the idea that God exists is that he might be an interferer and call everyone to account.

That said, many high-level research scientists through the ages have no problem with the idea of the existence of God. For example, Francis Collins, the scientific director of the US government’s Human Genome Project, said: “It is humbling for me and awe-inspiring to realize that we have caught the first glimpse of our instruction book, previously known only to God”.

Having a sense that God might exist is one thing. Believing that we can relate to God is another. But this is just what the Bible tells us – we can know God personally.

Imagine you wanted to get to know Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. You could try writing her a letter or calling Buckingham Palace. You could even try standing outside the gates of the Palace. The fact is that our only real chance to meet the Queen would be if she decided she wanted to meet us.

Yet, this is what the Bible is telling us that God has done in Jesus Christ. It tells us that God wants to meet us and that Jesus Christ is the one he’s chosen to make the introduction. And that is why Mark, and the other Gospel-writers, wrote their accounts of Jesus. They knew that getting to know Jesus Christ is the most important thing we can ever do.

Consider what we read in verse 9: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up from out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”.

A voice from heaven said, “You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased.” They are similar words to those when Jesus was transfigured in front of three of his close followers on a mountain – described in Mark chapter 9. But there is a very significant difference. God’s words on that mountain, were addressed to the disciples. Here they are addressed to Jesus.

God’s words on both occasions echo the introduction of God’s servant that we find in Isaiah chapter 42 – the servant who would suffer and die for the sins of the people. The words at Jesus’ baptism also echo Psalm 2 verse 7 where God greets the Messianic King as his Son.

Jesus would have understood immediately what God the Father was confirming about the relationship between them. He is uniquely God’s eternal Son and as such he had a mission to fulfil here on earth. The journey that was beginning here for Jesus at the River Jordan was going to finish at Golgotha with a sacrifice more far-reaching than the sacrifice that Abraham had been about to make. This time the Father in the narrative would be God himself.

Did it all happen? Or was it all just another story?

Historians in the 1st century, such as Tacitus and Josephus, confirm that Jesus lived and died. Josephus also records that Jesus’ followers saw him physically alive following the crucifixion. Accounts such as these have convinced many throughout the centuries – including CS Lewis.

The Bible invites us into its narrative, beginning with the creating act of God and ending with God gathering us into a life of great beauty that stretches into eternity. It is the story of God’s action in cleaning up the mess we have made of the world and ourselves.

When did you last read the Gospel of Mark? Is Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God? Have you turned to him and become part of the story?

From: https://anglicanconnection.com/just-another-story/

Elisa Keefe – Raleigh, NC

I’ve lived in North Carolina my entire life and I grew up going to church. I loved church people, reading the Bible, the whole nine yards. Until… I went to college and became an apathetic agnostic/atheist, and later a devout humanist in the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

By God’s grace, I am among the 2-4% of Christians who are saved after the age of 30 (42, to be exact). My husband Sean shared the Gospel with me, and God saw fit to save me in 2006.

I currently work full time at TWR (the world’s farthest-reaching Christian media ministry) as the Director of the US Spanish Ministry. The US Spanish Ministry focuses on ministering to Hispanics in the US, distributes radio programs, and provides support to our partner offices throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

(Find more at www.twr.org/elisa-keefe)

In my free time, I enjoy doing evangelism alongside Sean, passing out tracts, engaging in spiritual conversations and supporting the preaching in prayer. This keeps me passionate about the saving power of the Gospel and the Holy God that we serve!

I attended SBO ‘15 in Phoenix and am looking forward to being part of this year’s event. I love the Lord, I love evangelism and I love the Lord’s people.

College Football Championship – Florida, January 9 – 11

Watch the Twitter Live video of preaching in Little Havana January 9, 2021 here: https://twitter.com/SportsFanOutrea/status/1347969792909717505?s=20

Watch Bill Adams preaching in South Beach January 9, 2021 here: https://www.facebook.com/100000421938737/videos/4016675278356497/

Watch Gary preaching at Wynwpod Walls in Miami for the College Football Championship January 9, 2021 here: https://twitter.com/SportsFanOutrea/status/1348027783994343425?s=20

Watch live preaching on Facebook from January 10, 2021 here: 

https://fb.watch/2Zvk1EUHfC/  and   https://fb.watch/2Zvq-5D-Ug/

Hard Rock Stadium Outreach January 11, 2021, watch live outreach videos here: https://fb.watch/2ZvwxiRXCg/   

Hard Rock Stadium 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/3Lst5C38jZ

— Sports Fan Outreach International (@SportsFanOutrea) January 12, 2021

Ft. Lauderdale Gospel Ministry January 11, 2021: https://fb.watch/2ZvzVow9SH/

https://twitter.com/SportsFanOutrea/status/1348706594796789761?s=20

Jason preaching at Ft. Lauderdale: https://twitter.com/SportsFanOutrea/status/1348723959211155456?s=20

Daily Devotional 1-12-21

Understanding the Future

When we ask questions about matters that elude our full understanding, we tend to look for models or patterns that are similar to what we do understand. We seek for clues to a new and different paradigm. The shift from earthbound thinking to conceiving of heaven is a massive paradigm shift.

To speak of our mysterious future is to search for analogies that will give us a hint about what to expect. We cannot say what heaven is, but the Bible does give us hints as to what it is like. We try to imagine the unknown in the light of what is known. John tells us: “It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

We do not know for sure to whom the “He” and the “Him” refer. Do they refer to God the Father or to Christ? God the Father is the subject of the preceding verses, but what follows seems to indicate Christ.

The difficulty of the reference is mollified when we realize that to be Christ-like is to be God-like. The firstfruits image of Christ in His resurrection indicates that, ultimately, we shall be like Christ. As Christ rose with a glorified body, we too will enjoy glorified bodies at the final resurrection.

Coram Deo

Pause a few moments to think about your eternal future in heaven.

Passages for Further Study

1 John 3:2

Psalm 17:15

1 Corinthians 15:51

From: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/understanding-future/

Sean Keefe – Raleigh, NC

Born in a non-Christian home, I was a flesh loving, non-penitent, non-regenerate Roman Catholic from New Jersey for all of my teenage life. When I was 20, by God’s grace, He intervened in some supernatural ways combined with the Gospel. Shortly after that, I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, the Thanksgiving of 99. Then I moved from Phoenix to Raleigh in 2003, met my wife, Elisa, in 2006 and married that lovely woman in 2007. I have two stepchildren, Miranda and Joe. I worked as a property manager of an apartment community in Durham, NC from 2006 to 2016 and then for a marvelous Christian ministry (TWR). Through my wife’s encouragement and the fellowship/discipleship of more mature believers, I became more passionate about the great commission, specifically through street evangelism since 2013. By God’s providence I have had the privilege to publicly proclaim Christ on numerous occasions and many one-on-one conversations as well. This is not my first Super Bowl Outreach and hopefully not my last. Many of them were intense, but to serve the LORD in such a biblical relevant way is rewarding. Praise be unto the only God and worthy is the Lamb!

Daily Devotional 1-11-21

The Problem of Guilt

I recall having a debate with the manager of a radio station. He took a common position. “You cannot legislate morality,” he said. Although this man was a professing Christian, he thought it was improper for one segment of society to impose its moral standards on the other parts of society. The position is quite popular, but it does not make a whole lot of sense. After all, there are laws against murder, rape, and robbery.

This position is based on the thought there is no absolute standard of morality. Everything is relative. Whatever you believe is right is right. Because everything is relative, there is no sin! There are no sinners.

However, there is one problem with this theory, the problem of guilt. The Bible speaks of people who “show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them” (Romans 2:14). You know what the Bible is talking about. You’ve had the experience! You do something and suddenly you feel guilty. Your conscience bothers you. Then you start arguing with yourself. At first, you agree with your bothered conscience. Then you defend your actions. So the argument goes.

The Bible says all of this internal arguing proves God’s Law exists. It proves sin is real. It proves guilt comes as a result of sin. “And sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).

To help you understand this better and perhaps help you find relief from your guilt, click here to listen to s sermon called “Defining Sin and Guilt.”

From: http://dennyprutow.com/daily-devotions/

Jerardo Ibarra – Houston, TX

I was born & raised in Houston, Texas and currently live about 5 miles east of downtown Houston. All four of my kids are grown adults that are working or are in college. I work as an HVACR technician in industrial chemical plants.

Raised in a catholic household, I remember going to church when I was small, but only knew religion. I knew nothing about what the Bible teaches to be born again. As a lost person, I lived in many sins of the world and did not think about heaven, hell or the consequences of my lifestyle. I was far away from God and comfortable in my sin.

In 2009, God opened my ears to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. God removed my heart of stone, gave me a new heart of flesh and put a new spirit within me. Of all the places for this to happen, it was at a funeral viewing of a coworker’s mother that I recently started working with. The pastor was bold and feared God rather than men. He did not scratch itching ears that night, he preached about our standing with God in our sin and the eternal punishment in the wrath to come if we did not truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I could feel the conviction of all my sins at that moment. Then he preached about what Jesus Christ’s blood had done on the cross for my sins, I could not escape the love of God that had been shed abroad in my heart and the wickedness of my sin so I prayed and cried out for God to save me.

The Gospel preaching was presented in Spanish that night. A raise your hand and repeat after me prayer was presented. After fighting with my pride about what my coworkers that where next to me would think of me, I remember feeling completely hopeless without the Christ that he was talking about! Inside I could feel the price that was paid for me on the cross and I remember being broken and telling myself, “I don’t care if y’all laugh at me for the rest of my life, I WANT THAT CHRIST HE’S TALKING ABOUT!”

Unlike the common false conversions of a sinner’s prayer, God’s grace saved me that night and through the Holy Spirit guiding me to His Word of Truth. What I felt that night stayed with me from then on and I had desires and passions that I never had before and a hatred to the sins I always loved. I did not know what was going on with me. I would get excited every time I seen someone say the sinner’s prayer, just to later find out that it’s not a prayer that saves you and many times creates false converts. I would wonder why there was never that true born again conversion like in my life because I never had anyone hold my hand and disciple me early in my new birth, but God is faithful to save His sheep!

God saved me out of religion and gave me a desire to go into the streets and tell people about Jesus Christ. There was a desire to go to streets but it took years before I was obedient to my calling. I did not know what street preaching was or how to do it until I seen some guys preaching while I was leaving the only Houston Texans football game I have ever attended. Now knowing about street preaching, I prayed and God answered my prayer by sending me brothers that I could learn from, brothers that street preach all over the U.S. and around the world.

I started by passing out gospel tracts with brothers around the Houston area. My first open air preaching was at a Scotland Preaching Tour with JeremiahCry Ministries. By God’s grace, I now go every Friday and Saturday night to Downtown Houston preaching outside popular bars and club spots. I have preached at major events in surrounding cities such as Austin, San Antonio and Dallas. In July of 2019 the Founder of JeremiahCry Ministries made me part of the JeremiahCry ministry team and I am so thankful to partner up with brothers that are unashamed and boldly preach Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I have come to the realization that I have been bought with a price and I am no longer my own. I cannot stay silent about Jesus Christ and how He gave His life on the cross for sinners like me. Only by His grace and mercy will I continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God unto salvation.

All praise and glory be to God!

No King But Christ!