PASTOR THANKS US FOR THE CHURCH DIRECTORY

August 14, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following letter is from a pastor who uses the church directory at the Way of Life web site:

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Bro. Cloud, The purpose of this email is simple and straightforward - THANK YOU for the list of Baptist churches you supply via the net. Our church, Old Landmark Baptist Church, in Greenfield, Indiana, is listed and we have received email and phone calls as a result of your listing our name. That itself has been a blessing, but the true benefit of your list has been the opportunity to find churches for family and friends. I have used your list more than one dozen times to locate churches across America for those who have moved or have vacationed in areas that we were not familiar. If I could share just a couple of great stories.

Lori is a girl from Colorado, my wife and I met her online about 3 years ago. She was a 13 year old Baptist girl, some neighbors had taken her to church and she had gotten saved. She was truly serving the Lord in spite of the fact that her family life was a complete disaster. Her mother had disowned her, her dad was living with a woman and they would mock her because she wore dresses and would not drink liquor or smoke with them and her younger sister. We met her in a Christian chat room on AOL and she came and spent the summer with us. She has spent two summers with us now, and is on her way to visit us right now to go to Bro Duane Rutherford’s campmeeting, Fresh Oil Campmeeting, in Oregon, OH.

Last year when she returned home, her dad announced they were moving to the south side of Denver. It was too far away for her to get to the church she was attending - so I went to your list. I called a church on your list that did not have the ** rating, talked with the pastor and encouraged Lori to attend the church.

It turned out to be a full-fledged "easy believism" church though the pastor on the phone assured me they were not. Needless to say, I went back to your list and found one near Lori’s new home that had the **. I called this pastor and had a wonderful conversation with him. Lori is a member there now, and is happier than she’s ever been. The church has a burden for her and they care for her. Without your list, we would not have been able to find her a church.

I still have a secular job, and I pastor full-time. In my secular business I do a lot of traveling. I have used your list extensively for my own personal use when I’m out of town and in an unfamiliar area. I only visit ** churches and I have written you with requests to remove the ** when it turns out they are not meeting the standard that I’ve come to expect from those you list with the **.

I’ve used your list to locate churches for myself in OH, PA, NY, MA, FL and have used it to help family and friends find churches in MI, MO, MT, CO, TN, KY, IL and IN.

May the Lord continue to bless this great ministry of helping those in need find a good church.

Pastor David Stogsdill
Old Landmark Baptist Church

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CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD:

I developed the Internet Directory of Fundamental Baptist Churches at our web site in March 1998. Many people have left unscriptural and compromised churches and joined good independent Baptist churches after coming across our preaching either on the Internet or in the books and magazines. I hear about such things regularly and have met several of these friends as I have traveled. Many of them have thanked me profusely for the blessing they are seeing in their lives and homes through the influence of a good church. Our Church Directory exists to help such people. We have also been able to help people find churches that will visit unsaved friends and relatives who are living in other areas.

I receive nothing monetarily or otherwise from this labor, other than the blessing of seeing the Lord use it. In fact, not only has the directory been a lot of work, but it has been a headache for me in many ways. There are an infinite variety of fundamental Baptists, to say the least, and it is exceedingly difficult to determine which churches to include and how to judge or rate the ones I do include. Every decision I make in such matters is criticised and contested.

I NEED THE HELP OF LIKEMINDED FRIENDS IN BUILDING THIS CHURCH DIRECTORY. Please take a few moments to check the Directory for your part of the country or world. I need help in the following four ways:

1. SEND ME THE NAMES OF GOOD FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCHES IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY THOSE YOU KNOW TO BE LIKE-MINDED WITH US. Include the church name, address, phone #, pastor’s name, web site and/or e-mail address (though we do not require that the church have a web site or e-mail). There is an article at our web site, "Marks of Things We Look for in Churches." It is at the Internet Directory of Fundamental Baptist Churches -- http://www.wayoflife.org/

2. IF YOU SEE A CHURCH LISTED WITHOUT A DOUBLE ASTERISK AND YOU KNOW THAT THE CHURCH IS A STRONG, LIKE-MINDED CHURCH (ASSUMING YOU HAVE READ THE "MARKS WE LOOK FOR" ARTICLE AND KNOW WHAT WE LOOK FOR), LET ME KNOW SO I CAN ADD THE ASTERISKS. Please note that we will not add the asterisks unless you have read the "Marks We Look For" article and can testify that the church being recommended fits those marks. Just writing and telling us that "this is a great church" or "this is a soul-winning, separated, King James church" is not enough. I have been very specific about the things we look for in church doctrine and practice, and we need to be assured that the church is likeminded in those matters.

3. SEND ANY CORRECTIONS OR CHANGES THAT NEED TO BE MADE IN THE DIRECTORY. When sending these, be sure to tell us the city and state or country, as well as the name of the church, so we will know where to make the change.

4. TELL ME ABOUT SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH ANY OF THE CHURCHES LISTED. In building this directory I am largely dependent upon friends who have knowledge of the churches in the various areas and who are willing to share information with us. It is easy for churches to get in our directory that we would not list if we knew the whole story. We need the help of likeminded friends in weeding these out. It is not wrong to analyze churches and to warn people about problems. In fact, it is scriptural to do so. Just because a church is Independent Baptist does not mean that we want to recommend it. As a matter of fact, I can recommend only a small percentage of independent Baptist churches. Examples of problems among Independent Baptists that we would like to be alerted to are churches that have gone to "contemporary" services and music, churches that have joined the Southern Baptist Convention, churches that have worldly youth ministries, churches that have adopted the quick prayerism-no repentance-"Hyles method" of evangelism, churches that follow Peter Ruckman, churches that use the modern Bible versions, churches that are controlled by deacons, and churches that have become ecumenical and have begun to support such things as Promise Keepers. All of these things are explained at the Way of Life web site. By the way, if we are informed of an alleged problem with a church, we will make an effort to confirm it before making a change in the directory.

Following are four examples to illustrate the kind of information we are providing in the Church Directory:

British Columbia, Vancouver - **Tabernacle Baptist Church, 4440 Victoria Dr., Vancouver, B.C. V5N 4N6. 604-874-7400 http://www.mdi.ca/tbcvan [Pastor Gordon Conner tbcvan@mdi.ca]

California, Escondido - **Fundamental Baptist Church, 1111 N. Ash, Escondido, CA 92027. 619-743-1600 [Pastor David Earnhart Dleesc@flash.net]

Northern Ireland, Belfast - **Braehill Baptist Church, 6 Clare Hill, Belfast BT14 8LY 441232719656 [Pastor David Moore 101740.3007@compuserve.com]

The double asterisk indicates the church is like-minded with us on the various issues. There is an article at our web site, "Marks of Things We Look for in Churches." It is at the Internet Directory of Fundamental Baptist Churches -- http://www.wayoflife.org/