“For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” 1 John 5:7 NKJV
Jesus “…went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two …. So they went out and preached that people should repent.” Mark 6:6-7, 12 NKJV “Those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28) are connected with the right people at the right place at the right time. November 1942, Lee Roberson became pastor of Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga. In 1946, he was joined by J.R. Faulkner, a recent Bob Jones College graduate. By 1949, Faulkner had become the “number two man” in their ministry together. They gave emphasis to three weekly services: Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night, with a goal for equal attendance in those three services each week. They used daily radio and published “The Evangelist,” a monthly newspaper with a circulation of 30,000. Tennessee Temple Schools, founded in 1946, grew and maintained 39 chapels (branch churches) pastored by students and faculty from the college. By 1973, Highland Park had become known as “the world’s largest church” with 37,489 members. J.R. Faulkner served with Lee Roberson for 58 years. In the biography “Lee Roberson – Always About His Father’s Business,” James Wigton wrote: “Roberson championed the theme, ‘Everything rises or falls on leadership.’ He believed leadership was the key to success in any walk of life anywhere in the world – be it the church, the mission field, the business world, or whatever.” Lee Roberson served as pastor of Highland Park until 1983. Born in English, Indiana in 1909, Roberson went to his heavenly reward April 29, 2007. It was my honor to know Dr. Lee Roberson and J.R. Faulkner personally. It was a privilege for my daughter Tami and I to attend Dr. Roberson’s memorial service in Chattanooga together. In January 1996, Greg Groeschel with his wife Amy started Life.Church in an Oklahoma City suburb. They were soon joined by Bobby Gruenewald, who brought his expertise in digital innovation. As they developed the YouVersion Bible app, they made it available free of charge to anyone anywhere. Groeschel shared: “The YouVersion Bible App didn’t start as an app. It was actually intended to be a website to help people engage in the Bible. The problem was that no one used it – including us. Just weeks before we were going to shut it down, we tried it out as a mobile site and then heard Apple was coming out with apps. So we took our failed website and turned it into the Bible App.” Groschel has stated: “We’ll do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. To reach people no one else is reaching you have to do things no one else is doing.” In his book “Divine Direction,” Craig Groeschel wrote: “Our church had grown big enough that people outside our church started asking to purchase our weekend messages.” They considered setting up a separate department for overseeing sales of materials. Then Bobby Gruenewald asked, “What if, instead of selling our materials, we just gave it all away for free?” Groeschel reflected, “Suddenly I was faced with an extraordinary opportunity to do something incredibly generous. Something right. Something godly. One decade ago, we had 10 locations and $26 million in debt. As of today (2017), we don’t owe a penny to anyone.” (They now have 44 locations.) Groeschel continued: “We have had the honor of blessing tens of thousands of pastors and millions of people with free resources designed to draw them closer to Christ. Life.church has become perhaps the largest local church in America.” YouVersion Bible apps have now been installed on more than 725 million devices worldwide, with Bible versions available in more than 2,000 languages. Utilizing every means and media as the Holy Spirit empowers and enables, “Telling The TRUTH so that you may believe” continues to be TTT’s major ministry objective. TTT continues in person and online at 7:27 PM every Saturday. During July and August, there are potential open doors to take the Gospel to up to 14 Tri-State county fairs and street festivals. Students and adults are needed to be trained in evangelism at TTT June 8 and/or July 13, and to be willing and available to “Shine the Light” of the Gospel of Christ this summer. Will you allow God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit to help you personally “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and then invite friends and family to believe?
