We would
like to thank everyone who has offered words of encouragement and supported us
during the past year and a half. Before this issue, the May/June 2003 Servants’ News was the last one published.
Since that time, several articles were prepared and a few were distributed as
e-mail, but no issues were printed and mailed. What has happened during these
two and a half years is a long story that cannot be completely told in the
pages of this issue. What we believe is most important, is that the Almighty is
making it possible for us to be a part of the solution to some of the problems
in His Church today—letting us do more than just write about them.
We are
now writing from the Port Austin Bible Campus, established on a property which
we began to utilize in May, 2004, in Port Austin, Michigan. God willing, this
will continue to be the place of publication for Servants’ News and other Bible literature for many years to come.
But more than that, it will be a place
where dedicated believers can come to live and study among each other, and
where young people can come to truly “seek his kingdom first” (Matt 6:33) in
their lives, knowing that God promises to take care of their physical lives if
they do. Matthew
We
cannot emphasize enough that the Port Austin Bible Campus (PABC) is a place where people can serve God and
be served through His people. Seventh-day Believers have a tendency to want to
look to a single place that is the work
of God. The Bible and history show that the Eternal has worked through a
diversity of people. Unfortunately, the servants of God today, much like the
disciples of Jesus, still argue about who is the greatest among them (Luke
One of
the recent visitors to PABC related a dream that she felt that God gave her.
She saw a pillar reaching up to heaven which she understood to represent the
Some
readers might be wondering if God still speaks to people through dreams today.
But looking up “dream” or “vision” in a concordance shows over a dozen cases
where God spoke to people through dreams and visions in the New Testament. Such
messages were not reserved for “apostles”, but included Ananias (Acts
The
woman who received the ladder dream had been a member of an independent
Sabbatarian group for over 30 years. Members of the group generally understood
that God can speak through dreams, but not all of them keep all of the Feast
days. As the dream shows, we are all learning different things at different
times. Dreams, visions, Feast days, the Sabbath, love, service, patience,
humility, wisdom and many other things are all part of the rungs of the ladder
that we climb to the kingdom. We ought not to look down upon other Believers
because they have not learned something that we have learned. We ought to be
humble and ask, “What do they know that I need to learn?”
During
the 30-month lapse in Servants’ News
publication, we have learned something about how difficult it is to actually
reach out and serve brethren. We intend to write with more honor
and respect for those who are actually doing that. We hope to combine our
writing with practical ministry and evangelism experience. We are planning to
publish 10 times a year again, with the advantage of a largely on-site staff.
God willing, we will be able to answer many more of the letters that we
receive. During this lapse, we have received many good articles from our former
readers and are anxious to publish them.
We hope
that you will take time to read the articles about Port Austin Bible Campus in
this issue and gain an understanding of what we believe the Eternal has led us
to do.
— Norman
Edwards