Pastor Commentary

The most important element of my identity is that I have a relationship with God through Jesus. Beyond that I carry a 'Y' chromosome and am married (by the grace of God) to Carol. I am the father of four who have made me the grandfather of eleven. I have been called by God to pastor and teach His church. I am blessed with skills and experience in woodworking which makes this present bi-vocational existence possible and enjoyable. By God's providence I live and have my earthly citizenship in the United States of America. I enjoy an official relationship with those followers of Jesus known as the Evangelical Free Church of America among whom I am recognized as a churchplanter working in 'South County' Rhode Island. My weekly fellowship is with a core group of Christians who have committed to the vision of establishing a testimony for Jesus in this area which is deeply relational ('friends', 'family) and devoted to developing disciples of Jesus who want to 'grow up' in Christ and also make disciples of Jesus.

How would you identify yourself?
Statisically? Height, weight, date of birth, education, residence, etc?
Relationally? Son/daughter of, father/mother of, wife/husband of? Tempermentally? Characteristically?
I am an optimist, lazy, forthright, sneaky, impatient, addictive.....?

Sometimes we simply describe ourselves while overlooking our true identity, who we are.

We just finished a study of Abraham, 'Created to be God's Friend' (Blackaby). Ah, there is an element of Abe's I.D. A 'friend of God.' What are elements of friendship? Someone whose company I enjoy who accepts me as I am, but is free to tell me what needs to be said, who expects candor from me, with whom I have important things in common, shared interests, someone with whom I can safely share all of what I truly am, for whom I would lay down my life?

Remember, the issue is not if God is my friend. It is: does God consider me His friend? Is such a consideration part of your identity?

Yes, we returned from Tunisia. (Seems like such a long time ago, now). Our hope had been to give a bit of a photo tour, but, unplanned, our photos remained on a computer in Tunisia and are now, as I write, thanks to Matt's skill and time, making their way here on a disc. You'll hear more from us about that.

God moved so that I was graciously granted an extension to complete my work on the final draft of my ordination thesis/defense. Your prayers that I faithfully follow through on that in a timely manner will be appreciated.

By God's grace we are discipling, we are meeting new folk who found our website, we are sharing in the loss of a parent of one of our own, we are bailing a friend out of jail, we are visiting and being visited by grandchildren, we experience discouragement without being downhearted, we develop friendships in our neighborhood and grow the friendships we have among our team. We have not heard God tell us to stop what we are doing, so we continue doing it. We trust His presence will continue to bless us, that we will remain clean so He will not be grieved with us.

There's always more to tell and we will do that in subsequent 'Reports.'

Seeking to be those whom God would call His friends,

Russ and Carol