As a church, we are doing our best to be smart, timely, and flexible about responding to our changing circumstances. And it's important to us that you know what's going on. Read below for Furnace Brook's latest news and updates.

1. We will be changing locations.
Ever since our initial three year lease ran out we have been trying to make a more permanent arrangement for our church. It has felt as though all of our efforts to get a long term lease or a purchase agreement for our current location or for another property have been thwarted and that's been very frustrating. Leasing month to month has made us feel insecure; but now it looks providential. The lease we have been paying is much higher than we can afford to pay for a building we can't meet in or than what we would expect to pay on the other end of this crisis. And we are not locked into it. So we will be moved out of our current location at 67 Gecha Lane by April 30th.

What this means:

• We will be saving $2500 a month in lease, to say nothing of electricity, fuel, insurance, and other related expenses, money that can go toward our mission and, potentially, relief during this period.
• We have begun looking for an office to rent at modest expense that would give us a physical address and a place from which to work.
• We will go on streaming our services on Sunday mornings, and working to edify and connect the people of Furnace Brook through small groups meeting electronically. 
• When the current restrictions are relaxed to allow meetings of small groups again, we will look at combining meetings in homes with our streamed Sunday service.
• And when, on the other side of this, we are able to meet again as one people in one place we will do that! It may mean worshiping in a mobile location for a time, and we may even end up back at 67 Gecha Lane, but there will almost certainly be options available to us then that are not available now. 
• We will need help to move our things out of the building into the 20' storage containers we will be using. And if anyone has a place where we could store those storage containers once they've been filled please let us know. 
• God works in situations that are volatile to bring about His glory. We should live and worship with an expectation of his provision.
• Now more than ever it is pivotal that we are a group of believers who are driven towards making more and better disciples.

2. Pastor Joel Tate is going to be Furnace Brook's only paid staff person for now.

• Mary's contract expires at the end of April and the board made the budgetary decision earlier this spring to not renew the contract. It was a difficult decision and the board made it very reluctantly. Mary's professional abilities and her remarkable personal qualities account for much of Furnace Brook's success during her years of service. But even before the pandemic and its economic impacts we were on a budgetary path that required significant reductions. 
• Joel will pick up some of the things that Mary had been doing and we will be looking for volunteer assistance to cover others.
• Abbey will go on serving as our pastoral intern, but we will not be able to make the contributions to her seminary expenses that we had been making before.
• Pastor Joel is committed to our mission, and available to pray, counsel and talk with you. You can contact him at pastor@furnacebrook.org or by calling him at 483-3002 (google number) or 499-8126 (home phone.) He is not too busy for you! If he can't talk to you at the time that you call he will arrange for a time to talk. 

3. Our Annual Meeting, scheduled for May 17th, is indefinitely postponed.

• The Northeast District of the Wesleyan Church has given all the churches in the district permission to forego the annual meeting that the Discipline (our church constitution) requires.
• With so much going on and so many important decisions to make we are reluctant to completely cancel that meeting, and are hopeful that we might be able to hold an annual church meeting some time this summer or fall

4.  Expect phone calls.

• We have designated some leaders in the church to help Joel with the important work of connecting with everyone who considers Furnace Brook his or her church. 
• You might get a phone call or an email from someone on behalf of the church to check in on you. We want to know how you are doing physically, mentally, and spiritually. And we want to know how your livelihood is being affected, and if there is anything that you need. You can share as much or as little as you would like. Just know that we are eager to love you. 

Our mission is to make more and better disciples, and nothing about that mission is on hold. As a church we are going to come out of this season very lean and mission focused. But we are going to come out of it. 
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During their time in the wilderness the Israelites experienced calamities and plagues, suffered violence and want. And yet, every indication is that the number of Israelites who came across the Jordan was actually greater than the number of Israelites who had come through the Red Sea! 
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Let that be true of us! We can do the work of growing in our faith now. We can offer the Word of life to our friends and neighbors now, inviting them on the journey with us. And when we meet again, as we certainly will, there will be people meeting in person with us for the first time who had been meeting with us virtually for some time, who came to faith through the nimble, adaptable, unflappable, mission-over-comfort ministry of our church for the glory of God! We can't wait for that day.

From time to time we like to share with you some resources and things to enrich your life and faith walk. Some of it is stuff that you will have no use for, and some of it is stuff that could change your life. And some of it will prompt you to share stuff with us: please do! We would love your suggestions and feedback.

It’s been quite the month or so in the pulpit of Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church. We’ve been preaching through 1 Corinthians and it turns out that Paul has a lot to say on the topic of human sexuality. (Listen to some of this month’s sermons here.)
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This Month We've Talked About Sex a Lot.
So we have squirmed and laughed uncomfortably and held our breath together. It’s been good, but it’s been . . . uneasy.
We’re aware that there is a caricature of the church as a finger-wagging place where everyone is hung-up on sex. “It’s all sex, sex, sex with them. They need to just move on.” We know this is a thing that people think and say and, implicitly, we hear that the more mature you are the more “over it” you will be. 

And the church does not want to seem ridiculous or immature. We don’t want to confirm the stereotype and push people away. And the result, sadly, is that a child is more likely to hear about drag queens at the local library than an adult is to hear about married sex at church, regardless of how much the Bible has to say on the topic.

And the Bible has a lot to say on the topic. From the Old Testament law to Jesus’ instruction in the Sermon on the Mount to Paul’s letters to the various churches, the Bible is remarkably frank and explicit about human sexuality (2 Corinthians 12:21, Ephesians 5:33, Galatians 5:19, Genesis 2:24, Hebrews 13:4, 1 Corinthians 6:18).  It’s strange how much more prim and cautious churches are than is the Bible which those churches preach. 

In many of our churches, we have effectively ceded discussion of the topic to an aggressively mistaken and hostile culture in an act of self-censorship. It amounts to a crisis of self-confidence. We might fear God enough to practice his teaching, but we fear the world too much to preach it. 

Pastors shouldn’t seem strangely intent on working it into every sermon, but neither should they seem reluctant to mention it, as is often the case. Recovering a good balance starts with understanding why we might be reluctant to cover the topic and why we should do it anyway.

Why Do Christians Avoid the Topic of Sex in Church?
Two reasons why we wouldn’t want to discuss sex in church:

1. Hot button, divisive issues.
Some of the reluctance to inject delicate and politically charged issues like “marriage equality” and transgenderism into the worship service is not only understandable, but admirable. If our goal is to reach lost people for Jesus why would we put stumbling blocks in their way? Taking a “Jesus first, social issues second” approach makes more sense than a “social issues first, Jesus second” approach (starting with the social issues will often mean going no 
further.) But the problem with this approach is that you can not separate Jesus the Lord from Jesus’ teaching on human relationships, including human sexuality. You can no more lead with Jesus and defer social issues to some 
conversation in the distant future, than you can entice someone to consider broccoli with an appeal to its nutrition, while putting off to some later date a consideration of its taste and texture. (And, yes, I know that how you feel about 
my comparing Jesus to broccoli will depend a lot on how you feel about broccoli.)

 2. Sexual Fatigue.
Ironically, living in a sex-saturated culture does not necessarily stoke the flame of passion to a roaring flame. In fact, it can suffocate the libido in the same way that an all-you-can-eat buffet kills the appetite. Imagine living at the Golden Corral, waking up there, going to bed there, feeling bloated and queasy all the time, and imagine how you would groan if once a week you had a chance to go outside and enjoy a break from the sizzles, scents, and clinking of cutlery and on one of those occasions someone tried to talk to you about food. This, I think, is a real problem for us and one that Paul did not have to deal with in his cultural context. It doesn’t mean we should give people a break from talk of sex, but we might have to bring it up in a manner that is different from Paul’s.

Why Should Christians Talk About Sex in Church?
While those reasons to not talk about sex in church are well and good, I think it’s important that we discuss sex in church anyway. Here are four reasons why:

​1. To not is to surrender.
My grandfather once took me out in the middle of Lake Champlain in an old rowboat that was both leaky and low enough in the water that even mild waves might lap a little over. We had two coolwhip bowls and I was almost constantly employed in the business of bailing. When I expressed my frustration with the bailing he told me that I could easily lose the war against the water but I could not win it, except by getting safely back to the shore. Neither the leaking water nor the pervasive culture will take a break just because we do, and if we fail to bail out each other's boats we are consigning each other to dreadful swampings. Not discussing sex in Church surrenders the discussion to the world, whose beliefs do not line up with God’s design for sexuality. 

2. It is pertinent and of interest to everyone.
The topic of human sexuality applies to every person, regardless of age and situation, and most people have a lot of questions on the topic. If people are concerned and curious that’s an “in” the church can’t afford to ignore.

3. Scriptural fidelity
If all scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching and edification (2 Timothy 3:16), then our preaching content should be roughly proportional to scriptural content. If God felt it was worth revealing we should, in humility, consider it no less worthy of proclaiming.  

4. Romantic hope
If you listen closely you will hear that a lot of our cultural language about sex is tinged with a sad cynicism. Real romance has been a casualty of our sexually permissive and libertine culture. And the church can create space for real romantic hope for longing people by restoring a biblical approach to sexuality wherever we can. Where people follow God’s heart for human sexuality there is more sexual joy and romantic delight. As Christians, we should be aiming to understand and apply God’s word in all aspects of our lives (Colossians 3:16), including (but not limited to) sex and romantic relationships (2 Timothy 2:15).

Written by Joel Tate

This past Sunday (8/25) Pastor Joel talked about building a faith that would survive the fire (listen to the full sermon here.)

 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.
- 1 Corinthians 3:12-14

 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? - 2 Corinthians 13:5

Paul’s metaphor of building a house reminds us that our faith, like a house, requires a strong foundation, sound materials, careful workmanship, and ongoing maintenance.

It is a good faith practice to regularly audit your faith life, or have a ‘building inspection’ for your faith building. Are there materials at your disposal that you didn’t have when you first started building your house? Have you used some building materials that are worn out or unsturdy? Regular faith examination can be painful, but is an important part of spiritual health.

Consider asking yourself some hard questions about your faith life. Determine how sturdy your building is, and do the hard work of making repairs where needed. Below is a list of questions to help you do a ‘building inspection’ for your faith. 
John Wesley’s list of 22 Questions for Self-examination that you may adapt to the purpose of a “building inspection”:

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

Prayerfully consider each of these questions, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you anything that you may need healing in, that you may need to repent of, or that you are unaware of. Contact the church office if you have any questions or would like to discuss the questions above. You can email the office at: office@furnacebrook.org, or call (802)483.2531.

How to be a Good Building Inspector
Self-examination is important, but we all have blind spots and gaps in our knowledge. Building inspectors are tasked with intentionally seeking out faults in a home in order to strengthen the whole structure. This can be a painful process for the homeowner, but is beneficial to the longevity and usefulness of the home.

Christians have a role to play in building each other up. This is no easy task, and should be done prayerfully and delicately. Below are some guidelines for how to lovingly assist your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Principles for building inspectors:

• Be gracious but not permissive. When you identify a problem be quick and ready with the grace, but do not offer or accept excuses.
• Persist with scrutiny even when (and especially when) it is uncomfortable and painful for you and the one you are inspecting. No shortcuts.
• Make no assumptions.
• Believe about the person you are inspecting that he who began a good work in him will be faithful to complete it. (Philippians 1:6)
• If you come across something in your inspection that is true of you as well, own up to the apparent hypocrisy and resolve to address the matter in your own life. Do not let hypocrisy make you useless to the one you are inspecting. 
• Offer, whenever possible, action items instead of criticisms. This will sound like “develop a schedule that makes the Bible a priority,” rather than “you’re not reading the Bible enough.”
• Pray at the beginning and the end of the inspection. And throughout. 
• Commend everything there is to commend, and expect, Jesus being a good Savior, that you will find commendable things in even the most distressing saint. 
• Ask questions about behavior (it’s definite and measurable) but always work to make the connection between a person’s behavior and that person’s heart and convictions.
• Use a template for the inspection, but follow the Holy Spirit. The question that needs to be asked most may not be on your list of questions. 

We are all being built up in the faith, and came to Jesus broken and sinful. The beauty of our Savior is that he has saved us (past tense), but is also actively saving us (right now!) in our daily lives by building us up to be more like him. It is our privilege to grow our faith in Him daily, and to reach out to those around us to know him more deeply. As a church we are committed to making more and better disciples: more by sharing our faith and blessing our community, and better by encouraging and equipping each other in the faith daily.

Questions? Would you like to have a ‘Building Inspection’ done? Contact the church office. You can email the office at: office@furnacebrook.org, or call (802)483.2531.

Furnace Brook is blessed with many things, one of which is our Pastoral Intern Abigail Elliott. Abbey has been focusing her efforts at the Brandon Campus this summer, but will be transitioning to a more to  the Pittsford Campus as the Brandon service winds down this fall.

Below is an update on Abbey as it pertains to her Ministry and our Church. 
Hi everyone, 
Your Pastoral Intern is still alive. Life is crazy but I wanted to take some time to update you with some things going on in my life. I finished my undergrad at Castleton in December. Since then, I’ve started my second construction season with the Agency of Transportation and started working at Head Start preschool. I’m loving both jobs. The fall sports season is underway; I’m coaching cross country at Otter Valley and cheer on the Rutland Raiders because Cody [Abigail's boyfriend] coaches football. 

On top of that I started my Masters of Divinity program at Wesley Seminary in June and started my second semester a week ago. It’s a crazy, exciting, and stressful journey. I’m excited for what God has in store for us. 

This past summer, Furnace Brook held a service in the Brandon Town Hall. It was an amazing growing experience. I loved the less formal environment, the interactive teaching, and taking communion every week. Unfortunately, we were a smaller group than I intended it to be, but I believe God planted seeds for better things to come. 

Here are some things you might want to know about what is happening in my life:

1. I am currently attending Weslyean seminary at Indiana Wesleyan.
I'm passionate about sharing the Gospel, and I'm excited to see how God is going to seminary experience to bless my community. It’s exciting to be excited about something. My undergrad classes were interesting but I wasn’t eager to learn. My seminary material is thought provoking, applicable to my current ministry content, and it’s encouraging. My classes so far have focused on spiritual health and changing the culture of evangelism in the church. These things are essential for a healthy church so I’m looking forward to sharing my findings with you all. 

2. I'm staying in the Word and feeding myself spiritually with blogs, devotional, and podcasts. 
Here are some of my favorites:
Blogs

• sayable.net- down to earth, honest blog about the ups and downs of the spiritual life. 
• Devotional: BiOY- Bible in One Year by Nikki and Pippa Gumble. They provide the Alpha material. Alpha is a series that explores the Christian faith. This program delves into who God is , why God is important, and how  he changes lives. The material is conversational and inclusive for anyone curious about faith. I highly recommend. It is an App and has been my favorite thing to pair with my morning coffee. 
• Seedbed Daily Text- this is sent to my inbox through seedbed.com. Author J.D. Walt takes his readers through different books of the Bible or a series to offer fresh perspectives and deepen one’s theology. A friend of mine told me last week that he really enjoys the short readings and the new perspective. 
• She Reads Truth- at shereadstruth.com. This resource was recommended to me by a dear friend who has a busy home life. This devotional is great for a quick dose of encouragement and verses to hold onto for the day.

Podcasts: 

• Elevation with Steven Furtick- sermon based. This podcast is put out by Elevation Church. 
• Proverbs 31 Ministries- Biblical truth for any woman in any season. Ministry and non-ministry focused. 
• Paula Poundstone & Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!- both NPR podcasts. Hilarious and not in the slightest church related.

All of these podcasts can be found on Apple podcasts and Spotify. 
Books
My time reading is consumed by seminary material and construction specification manuals. Work work work. If I have free time, I enjoy reading DCF books, Jane Austen, and running/health books. I like short and sweet because I’m rather impatient.  

3. God is teaching me through leadership experience, and growing me in ways I didn't expect. 
I can’t do everything and not everything is going to work. It has been extremely difficult to let things die so that better things can be born. It seems to be a season of praying and waiting. As I mentioned before, the Brandon Campus did not go as well as I hoped it would. As a result, we have decided to take a break from meeting at the Brandon Town Hall to enter into a season of prayer and evaluation. It’s hard to stomach but I’m confident God will carry us through. And honestly, perhaps less stress will be good for me ;) . Zechariah 4:6 says, ‘“Not by strength or by my might, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord of Armies.’ God has ample strength and I’m grateful for the strength He gives me. 

4. I am praising God for his work, and seeing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my ministry. 
I started discipling two women who are young and eager in their faith. I’ve been praying for discipleship opportunities for about 6 months as  the initial people that I wanted to disciple fell through. Discipling these women happened organically and is totally providential. I’m thrilled and humbled to be able to disciple these women. Both women see spiritual formation as an essential ingredient in their spiritual lives.

Discipleship is so important to me because I care deeply for the spiritual health of the people around me. Spiritual maturity isn’t something we can do ourselves. During discipleship we implement spiritual disciplines like Bible reading, scripture memorization and time alone with God. This process of spiritual formation creates a life lived with intentionality. As we work through the tough stuff, the Holy Spirit reveals to us our purpose and calling. As a result of this maturing process we become rooted and grounded in love which leads to a desire to share and invest in other people.  It is an internal process with an external reaction. 

I can’t wait for the time in the life of Furnace Brook where every person is either discipling or being discipled. Please be praying for us!  

Please Pray for me.
Please be praying for time management: having the proper priorities,and patience. During my busy days I can lose sight of what is important or sometimes I take on more than I can handle. Please be praying that I prioritize the things God wants me to be dealing with rather than what I deem as important. 

Blessings, 
Abbey Elliott, Pastoral intern

Looking for a good read to challenge, expand or inform your faith journey? Consider some of the books your Ministry Leaders are reading right now! Got a great book to share? Comment below!

Below are the books the Ministry Leaders are reading during this season.
1.  John McDonald, Care Ministry Leader
As the Care Ministry Leader, John coordinates visits for the sick of the congregation, as well as prayer, meals and similar assistance for those who are ill. In addition, John is a member of the Prayer Ministry. Contact John at: 1parley2@gmail.com.
What John's reading:
Banding Together: A Practical Guide for Disciple Makers by Jon Weist
Not sure if you're up to the challenge of discipleship? Check out this intuitive guide on Band Meetings by Jon Weist. Jon's guide is the result of research on the Methodist revival, and the success of Band Meetings. This guide is designed for those looking to lead a Band, but has useful information for anyone who isn't familiar with Band Meetings: including a framework for disciplemaking, and how to disciple outlined step-by-step.

2. Barry Tate, Forest Dale Supply Pastor
Barry is the Supply Pastor at Forest Dale. He leads the Forest Dale service on Sunday's at 6pm, 1895 Forest Dale Rd. He is passionate about Furnace Brook's Mission of Making More and Better Disciples in our Brandon community. Contact Barry at: P.O Box 189, Benson, VT, 05731.
What Barry's reading:
Henry Moorehouse: the English Evangelist by John MacPherson
This book chronicles the life of Henry Moorehouse, a buisnessman turned English preacher whose ministry drew large crowds. 
The Minor Prophets by Charles L. Feinberg
If you've ever had questions about some of the less knows prophets like Haggai or Zepheniah this is a great book to check out! The third of three volumes, this is a scholarly exegetical and expository commentary.

3. Ed Hackett, Growth Group Leader
Ed is a member of the Prayer Team, and also leads the Men's Band on Tuesday mornings (resumes September 10th, 5:45am, Pittsford Campus). Ed is eager to support men to live and love like Jesus. Contact Ed at: reved84@aol.com.
What Ed's reading:
The Relational Disciple: How God uses Community to Shape Followers of Jesus, by Joel Comiskey
The Relational Disciple analyzes Jesus's disciple making process with a relational lense, noting implications for disciple makers and those looking to deepen their relationship with Jesus today.
Groups that Thrive, by Joel Comiskey
What make some groups successful and others fall flat? In this book, researchers , Joel Comiskey and Jim Egli analyze their research of 4800 small group participants across four continents. The authors summarize their findings in 8 conclusions and practical advice on how to create a thriving small group.
 Ed's thoughts: "Solid insights and great encouragement!"

4. John Solie, Discipleship Ministry Leader
John heads up the Discipleship Ministry. He is eager to see lives transformed in the pursuit of Jesus, and for the faith to be multiplied in the small group context. Contact John at: jsolie2000@yahoo.com.
What John's reading:
Miracles by Eric Metacas
Do miracles happen today? Are miracles valid or can science explain them? Metacas analyzes miracles using scientific and anectotal evidence which speaks to the skeptical and the passionate believers.

5. Carla Peck, Events Ministry Leader
Carla heads the Event Ministry which coordinates and exectues Furnace Brook events such as the Blood Drives, and Bonfire Nights. Contact Carla at: bostonfan802@yahoo.com.
What Carla's reading:
The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly
 "I like crime/detective novels and especially his Harry Bosch series" says Carla. Check out Connelly's book for a good summer read.

6. Stephanie and Frank Rue, Worship Ministry Leaders
Stephanie and Frank lead the Worship Ministry at Furance Brook. They are enthusiastic about expressing praise and worship through song, and ushering others into the presence of God. Contact the Rues at: srue@therues.com
What Stephanie's reading:
Worship Words by Debra & Ron Rienstra
Rienstra's work examines the importance of language in worship. Curious about worhip or looking for some appreciation of words in worship? Check out this book to gain some appreciation for using words in worship intentionally.
The Worship Architect by Constance M. Cherry
Cherry delves into the nitty gritty of worship in her work, outlining a worship blueprint for worship leaders. 
What Frank's reading:
Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
How can contemporary Christians stay Holy? If we're set apart, how do we stay apart? Bridges delves into the role of the Holy Spirit and staying holy as Christians.
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“All truth is God’s truth.” As a freshman at a Christian college I was being asked to read a book by an atheist, and I was suspicious. The professor refused to apologize that the assigned text was from a nonbeliever, insisting that God’s grace extended even to the New York Times best sellers list.

It’s a simple and fairly obvious idea: not everything is true, but everything that is true is true regardless of who said it. It’s not hard to grasp, but it can be hard to accept.

How Can Christians Know Truth in Today’s World?
Every day, it seems, we read about some campus dust-up over the removal of another book from the curriculum. Works of literature get tossed in the memory hole because the author, it turns out, held beliefs which, however conventional at the time, are now considered politically incorrect. And whether you cheer that as a principled stand or condemn it as another step down the slippery slope to George Orwell’s “1984” depends on where you line up in the culture wars.

But it’s a universal impulse. We all have a tendency to quarantine the things we fear might carry their author’s infection. But should we? If it’s true that all truth is God’s truth do we need to fear that good and true things may carry some hidden contamination?

A former pastor of a midwestern megachurch has been in the news lately because of new, sensational accusations. He had already been fired from the church he started because of financial improprieties and a leadership style that has been described as “bullying.” But add to the long list of accusations about him the new bombshell coming from two different people that he tried finding a hitman to kill someone who he felt posed a threat to his ministry.

Judging by the people I know to still be among the living, this is not a widespread practice among pastors, most of whom remain stubbornly committed to the more biblical if less gratifying approach of “killing them with kindness.”

It’s not surprising at all that this pastor lost his pulpit. It makes complete sense that he has been disinvited from speaking engagements and that his calendar has freed up. But what’s interesting is that bookstores have stopped carrying the books he has written, and publishers have stopped publishing them. And it’s not because there is no longer a market for these books or because anything he wrote is untrue. People are still buying them and reading them and, presumably, benefitting from them.

I have one of those books on my shelf. I read it several years ago and it made a real impact on me at a critical point in my ministry. It breathed fresh air into my preaching and my commitment to the church. It still informs my thinking.

How to Sift for Truth Biblically in a Fallen World
I’m having a tough time reconciling the author of that book with the man who asked his bodyguard to “take care of” a problem for him. And I’m wondering if a book that no longer has a place on the shelves of Christian retailers should have a place on the shelf of my study.

Regarding how to sift through books (as well as movies, music, television, celebrities, memes, etc.) these are some of the conclusions I’ve come to:

1.  Run Everything through a Bible filter. We should be taking a “Berean” approach to all the books we read and authors to whom we give a voice in our lives.  The Bereans were early believers who rigorously ran everything they heard through a Bible filter.  Scripture is, after all, a book where we don’t have to worry about the power of the material or the validity of the Author.
2. Rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance. I can not completely trust any author, any book, or even myself. But I can have complete confidence in the Holy Spirit’s ability to guide me into the truth. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)
3. Caution is still warranted. Ideas themselves are not polluted with the other notions held by the mind that conceived and expressed them. But ideas and arguments closely associated with individuals can pull us into the orbit of their authors. John Wesley, for instance, is a thinker whose ideas about sanctification have had a marked effect on my own thinking. I admire him a great deal. And when I read that John Wesley believed that some animals would experience resurrection and a heavenly existence I found myself carefully considering an idea I would probably have dismissed without a thought if it were expressed by anyone else. For better or worse, I’ve been pulled into his intellectual orbit and that would be more dangerous if he were less godly.
4. Look for truth in the fallen world. There is biblical precedent for confidently sifting out the nuggets of gold hidden amidst the world’s gravel.
5. Be Humble. Are there any things you used to be convinced of that you now regard as foolish? Is it possible that there are things you’re convinced of now that you will end up disavowing later? Being humble about our own ability to definitively identify the truth, we should be reluctant to either dismiss or embrace any books, authors, or ideas. Instead, we should keep everything in a sort of quarantine as we work to submit our minds to Jesus.
6. You can and should crowdsource your discernment. If godly people in your life commend a book be more eager to read it If they are throwing up red flags about a book treat it very cautiously. And make sure that those godly people are in your life by participating in a small group or a discipling relationship!
7. Be cautious with creating legitimacy standards. We should be careful about developing standards of legitimacy regarding books and their authors that will, in the end, render all sermons useless for edification, coming as they do from preachers with, invariably, flaws and hypocrisies of their own.
8. When it comes to children a higher degree of scrutiny and caution is justified. The more we grapple with material from unsanctified sources and the more mature we become as thinkers and believers the more immunity we develop (hopefully) to bad and false ideas. But children have not developed those immunities yet. They are more susceptible to virulent thoughts and need more gatekeeping help from the believers in their lives.

Now there have been entire books written on this topic and by better authors than this one. And, as the Teacher says in Ecclesiastes, “of the writing of many books there is no end.” So a blogpost like this one may be of limited value.

But it’s my hope that Christians in an intolerant culture and an incurious age would be set apart by their confident discernment and Holy Spirit led appropriation of all the truth they can get their minds on while carefully spitting out all the nasty stuff before it gets swallowed.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8.

​Written by: Joel Tate 

As part of the Wesleyan denomination, our Church meets annually to discuss the past year and take the opportunity for members to vote on board positions.

The theme for our annual meeting this year (2019) was “the proper time,” a reference to Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

• A warm afternoon on a Sunday in July is the proper time for a maple creemee.
• A rainy Monday evening in October is the proper time for the first bonfire of the season.
• A bright sun, kite breeze morning in June is the proper time for strawberry picking

​Anything that is already good is even better when enjoyed at “the proper time.” And even difficult and unpleasant things can be redeemed by good timing.

2019 Annual Meeting: The Proper Time
In God’s wisdom this is the proper time for our church to do some fun and wonderful things. It is the proper time for growing in numbers and scope as we fulfill our mission of making more and better disciples for Jesus. More and more people are attending services at one of our locations and subsequently praying for salvation, getting baptized, and engaging in discipleship.

But it is also the proper time for facing some challenges. We have strategically positioned ourselves for this growth by adding personnel, systems, and worship services. We are confident that these decisions have been vindicated and that we are going to be very grateful in the long run. But, in the meantime, we have to fund them and that means finding ways to operate within a constrained budget.

And our annual meeting highlighted all of this in the ways that make Furnace Brook special. Jesus was front and center. We operated transparently and told bracing truths to each other with candor. And all of this was discussed without any rancor, as becomes the mission-driven sons and daughters of the God whose peace passes understanding.

For a copy of the Pastor’s report follow this link, and you can listen to the recording of the annual meeting here.
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The officers who were elected for the upcoming year are as follows:
Vice Chairman - Calleen Brosse
Treasurer - Dan Tilden
Secretary - Wendy Wood
Members at Large - Susan Hibbard, Tim Elliott, Tom Valach
Lay Delegate to District Conference - Dick Brosse

​If you have questions about the annual meeting, please contact the office: office@furnacebrook.org; (802)483.2531. Board members are also available to answer questions.

​Written by: Joel Tate