A Little Slideshow of our Experience with the New Testament Church Pioneers!
The dictionary describes a pioneer as "a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others." I'm not sure if there's enough definition to fit the description of The Crown College's New Testament Church Pioneers. I think the skeletal idea is there; but I think the sinews to the bones would be sacrifice. In many ways the New Testament pioneers made great sacrifices for the sake of the gospel here in Tarboro. For one, they called hundreds and hundreds of people they didn't know and endured rudeness and ridicule so that they could produce a list of names that New Grace Baptist Church would use to evangelize with long after the Pioneers are gone. They sacrificed energy! I think phone calling can be perhaps one of the most exhausting things because of the emotional struggle involved in trying to offer what the caller knows to be the truth to a crowd who rejects it in many cases. I'm so thankful for the ones who responded positively, and if you are reading this because of a phone call you received, I'd like to thank you for your kindness toward such a sacrificial bunch of college students. They sacrificed pride! It is a hard thing to try and present something you believe to be amazing only to get the phone slammed on you. It was truly a lesson on perseverance for these 13 young people whom I'd like to recognize: Stephen Hamilton, Justin Barnes, Charles Price, Ryan Woods, Bethany Schneider, Tabitha Coleman, Kristy Orange, Brooke Miller, Amber Gay, Alina Hardie, Joan Janvier, Brianna McClafferty, and Anna Tyre. Thank you for the sacrifices you made to open a region so that others may occupy it until Jesus comes and to develop it. Truly, we had pioneers in our home, and we are so grateful for all that they did. You have contributed to a future for New Grace Baptist Church. We need to pray for more pioneers. That is, Christians who are willing to sacrifice their lives so that others can occupy and increase true Christianity. We need pioneer Christians who do not care if they are remembered, so long as God was recognized. We need pioneers who want to go somewhere with the ministry instead of staying in the same place. A Christian that keeps his hand on the plow is a Christian who doesn't look back and who doesn't stand still; but, rather, presses toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God and not glory. A Christian who, though he or she is weary, continues to reach out to the lost. Pray that God will burden more Christians to be pioneers!!