Just got home from the reunion!! It was SOOOO much fun. I'm so glad that we went. CC1 and his wife stayed with us in the condo the first night and it was good to hang out with them again. She still has the BEST voice of anyone at JCM ever, in my opinion - it was great to hear her sing again.
It was fun being with Mr. Steinway, of course Renda, Thad (St. Mark), TCovey, Tamar and also seeing Sister Alvear. I was so excited to run into them in the mall the very first day - we hadn't even been to the hotel yet. I caught her eating ice cream. LOL!! Then that night, she ventured into our meeting room for a little while - I've got pictures somewhere, but I'll have to find them.
Bro. Craft, Bro. Howell, Bro. Johns, and other well known UPC guys were there, and they all treated us with love and respect. There is just a bond there between us all that is very unusual - we lived through some tough times and came out stronger. The spirit of the Lord was so sweet in there today after Bro. Craft spoke. No one wanted to go home!
The best years of my life were spent at JCM.
Ditto me for everything Sherri said. We got to the condo late Thursday night but sat around the table talking with Eddie and Sherri until after midnight. It was like a mini JCM only the rooms were a lot bigger and nicer!
It is funny how relationships forged over 30 years ago are so strong. I see Bro. Bruce Howell and Bro. Darrell Johns only every few years but it is as if we just see each other yesterday we fall into such easy conversation.
When Bruce Howell as a young man taught me at JCM And was the advisor to the Evangelism club I was an officer in I never dreamed one day he would hold one of the highest positions in the UPC. Same goes with Darrell Johns. Always knew he would go far but never dreamed we would be having lunch one day talking about his responsibilities not only as the pastor of a thriving church but as the President of a UPC Bible College.
In the case of Eddie Cupples I don't think I even knew for sure if he was going to be a preacher / pastor during Bible College but 30 years later he has started multiple churches from almost nothing and grown them into strong representations of the body of Christ on earth.
Some of us are not in full time ministry but the JCM years still formed who we are today and impacts our daily lives.
__________________ "I think some people love spiritual bondage just the way some people love physical bondage. It makes them feel secure. In the end though it is not healthy for the one who is lost over it or the one who is lives under the oppression even if by their own choice"
Titus2woman on AFF
"We did not wear uniforms. The lady workers dressed in the current fashions of the day, ...silks...satins...jewels or whatever they happened to possess. They were very smartly turned out, so that they made an impressive appearance on the streets where a large part of our work was conducted in the early years.
"It was not until long after, when former Holiness preachers had become part of us, that strict plainness of dress began to be taught.
"Although Entire Sanctification was preached at the beginning of the Movement, it was from a Wesleyan viewpoint, and had in it very little of the later Holiness Movement characteristics. Nothing was ever said about apparel, for everyone was so taken up with the Lord that mode of dress seemingly never occurred to any of us."
Quote from Ethel Goss (widow of 1st UPC Gen Supt. Howard Goss) book "The Winds of God"
Ditto me for everything Sherri said. We got to the condo late Thursday night but sat around the table talking with Eddie and Sherri until after midnight. It was like a mini JCM only the rooms were a lot bigger and nicer!
It is funny how relationships forged over 30 years ago are so strong. I see Bro. Bruce Howell and Bro. Darrell Johns only every few years but it is as if we just see each other yesterday we fall into such easy conversation.
When Bruce Howell as a young man taught me at JCM And was the advisor to the Evangelism club I was an officer in I never dreamed one day he would hold one of the highest positions in the UPC. Same goes with Darrell Johns. Always knew he would go far but never dreamed we would be having lunch one day talking about his responsibilities not only as the pastor of a thriving church but as the President of a UPC Bible College.
In the case of Eddie Cupples I don't think I even knew for sure if he was going to be a preacher / pastor during Bible College but 30 years later he has started multiple churches from almost nothing and grown them into strong representations of the body of Christ on earth.
Some of us are not in full time ministry but the JCM years still formed who we are today and impacts our daily lives.
Up until a month before he graduated, I would ask him what he was going to do. He would tell me, "I don't know, but I know I'm NOT going to be a preacher." HA!
Up until a month before he graduated, I would ask him what he was going to do. He would tell me, "I don't know, but I know I'm NOT going to be a preacher." HA!
How did God turn him around?
__________________
His banner over me is LOVE.... My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
To be a servant of God, it will cost us our total commitment to God, and God alone. His burden must be our burden... Sis Alvear
There is a huge difference in a school reunion and a church conference...
While we humans tend to lump everyone together in some big pot...God will judge us all ONE BY ONE...He sees past my outside and deep into the corners of my heart...
I always think of what Mahatma Gandhi said...
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
While judging on the outside comes easy for most of us only a day by day relationship has a tendency to reveal the inside...
I am not in any way taking up for anyone that is wrong however before I open my mouth to judge may I be at the foot of the cross looking into his suffering eyes and watching his blood drip slowly from his veins...
I sat in the other conference and watched brothers that dress alike avoid eacth other...
So may we all fall at His feet and be baptized with HIS MERCY...and if we have to for some reason judge someone may our words even through we may take an opposite side RING with mercy.
I remember long ago sitting in a meeting in Brazil watching a preacher being ex communicated because really of some gross sins...However the attitude of those judging was that of gladness to see him go....Yes he had given us LOTS of trouble...I was the only one that left weeping for I remember the good he had also done...
We have remained friends through the years...I did not take up for his evil and he knew that but he also knew I loved him and his family very much. Today he works in another work however he often comes to see us when we are in the area where he lives...
Sometimes our paths may part...that happens to us all...however we can leave a good memory if possible...
Sis Alvear, you are so kind! Please allow me to share a quick story here.
On Wednesday night I went to hear a speech by the worlds best piano tuner and technician, Franz Mohr. He tuned pianos for Carnegie Hall, the White House and famous pianists like Horowitz, Rubenstein, and Van Cliburn.
He was born and raised in Germany and was quickly found to be a genius on piano repair. Steinway & Sons asked him to move to the US to be their chief concert tuner in the early 60's. He went to the US embassy in Germany with his resume and a letter from Steinway stating that they were hiring him. A very kind and clever person at the embassy told him, "I'm so glad that you're coming to the US, because our country is out of tune!"
My first thought were that if ever our country were out of tune, it is today! Then I began to think of churches, organizations, marriages and people that seem to be out of tune!
Franz Mohr went on to tell a story he heard about a glorious Steinway piano on stage. 98% of piano artists have it in their contract that they must play on a Steinway. It is of the highest reputation in the industry. Though it looked so beautiful on that stage, when the master came to play and found the piano to be out of tune, he walked off the stage! He declared that the piano must first be tuned before he will use it! He mentioned that in some cases that an inferior piano could be brought in and preferred by the master over the Steinway if the Steinway is not in tune.
No matter how you look, and no matter how much talent you have, you are useless to the master if you're not in tune!
God, put the tuning hammer to my heart and keep me tuned. Keep my marriage in tune, my church and church organization in tune, and God please tune our country!
__________________ Words: For when an emoticon just isn't enough.
...Franz Mohr ...went on to tell a story he heard about a glorious Steinway piano on stage. 98% of piano artists have it in their contract that they must play on a Steinway. It is of the highest reputation in the industry. Though it looked so beautiful on that stage, when the master came to play and found the piano to be out of tune, he walked off the stage! He declared that the piano must first be tuned before he will use it! He mentioned that in some cases that an inferior piano could be brought in and preferred by the master over the Steinway if the Steinway is not in tune.
No matter how you look, and no matter how much talent you have, you are useless to the master if you're not in tune!
God, put the tuning hammer to my heart and keep me tuned. Keep my marriage in tune, my church and church organization in tune, and God please tune our country!
I think he knew all along that he was supposed to preach, but he was fighting it. As it turns out, I asked him a month before graduation if he could work for anyone that he knew in a church, who would it be? He immediately answered "Bill Luther" in Memphis, because he had known them for years and highly respected him as a minister. Within a week, our Bible college VP called Eddie in and said that he had gotten a call from a pastor who was wanting a young couple to come in as youth/assistant pastor and the VP immediately thought of Eddie and me. Lo and behold - it was Bill Luther who had called!!! We knew at that point that it was God. We went full time into ministry, and we have never looked back.
Had anybody changed over the years at the JCM Meeting???
Nope. We all look exactly the same as we did those many years ago!
__________________ "I think some people love spiritual bondage just the way some people love physical bondage. It makes them feel secure. In the end though it is not healthy for the one who is lost over it or the one who is lives under the oppression even if by their own choice"
Titus2woman on AFF
"We did not wear uniforms. The lady workers dressed in the current fashions of the day, ...silks...satins...jewels or whatever they happened to possess. They were very smartly turned out, so that they made an impressive appearance on the streets where a large part of our work was conducted in the early years.
"It was not until long after, when former Holiness preachers had become part of us, that strict plainness of dress began to be taught.
"Although Entire Sanctification was preached at the beginning of the Movement, it was from a Wesleyan viewpoint, and had in it very little of the later Holiness Movement characteristics. Nothing was ever said about apparel, for everyone was so taken up with the Lord that mode of dress seemingly never occurred to any of us."
Quote from Ethel Goss (widow of 1st UPC Gen Supt. Howard Goss) book "The Winds of God"
Hi, Elder! How are you doing?
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. 
Linear Mode
