Our Reform NOW Project has been getting out and upfront with its SAVE OUR SCHOOLS Initiative this quarter. Project Director Rick Cech has repeatedly addressed the Harford County Board of Education. Recently, Rick was on the Morning Drive with Casey & Elliot on AM 680. Listen to Rick talk about the Initiative.
We have been swamped compiling a State-wide School Board Candidate Scorecard for Candidates. You can view this scorecard on the Reform NOW Project website.
If you would be interested in distributing handouts or being on the front lines for our children, contact Rick at rcech@reform-now, org or call 443-2038238 Ext. 1003.
You can learn more about The Reform NOW Project and the SAVE OUR SCHOOLS Initiative by visiting REFORMNOW.CO.
You may have recently discovered that the Ministry’s YouTube Channel has disappeared. While working on transitioning away from using Google services, the channel was accidentally and permanently destroyed. However, we are not looking at this as bad as viewership of our life, and prerecorded content has not been doing very well recently.
We have noticed that there has been a strong attack on conservative and religious content on several media providers such as YouTube lately. We will be bringing our media back through a different provider to avoid being a target ourselves. We are currently evaluating platforms.
If there is one tough lesson we have learned, it is ministry expensive. As we enter the last quarter of the year, we are evaluating our expenses and simplifying our processes. We started using a platform called Churchtrac to manage our contact list and other aspects behind the scenes. We have come to realize that most of what we pay for in that platform we do not utilize. We are migrating away from that and into simpler resources.
Since then we have been using a new platform Mailchimp for contact management which is what is bringing you this newsletter you are reading.
We are also working to tidy up our main website.
Please consider making a donation to help offset our expenses.
Many of our expenses are paid for by our volunteer leadership out of their personal resources.
We are no longer mailing printed newsletters by default.
If you would like a printed copy, please email us at info@dimom.org or call 443-203-8238 Ext. 1001 to request printed copies. Please provide your name and postal address when calling.
Help Wanted
Our ministry needs volunteers, but especially ones with specific skills. We need skilled volunteers for:
Worship/Music Leader - Capable of playing acoustic guitar preferred (able to perform in varied environments)
Treasurer - The treasurer oversees the financial management of all ministry related functions.
Secretary - Keeps meeting minutes, coordinates record keeping, and compliance in coordination with the Treasurer.
Interested volunteers should email shofmeister@dimom.org or call Pastor Steve at 443-203-8238 Ext. 1002
Have a Christian friendly funny comic or photo? We’d love to add it to our repository for our newsletters. Send them to info@dimom.org or text them to Pastor Steve @ 14107811814
From The Pastor’s Desk
Looking To Spring Ahead
Many have been wondering what the future has to hold for our ministry. Some have found it strange that we have devoted much energy into our Reform NOW Project’s SAVE OUR SCHOOLS Initiative instead of evangelism. Truth be told, we never expected to either. The Lord put this endeavor in front of us, and we answered the call.
We are a community oriented ministry. Without protecting the interests of our children, there will be no communities to share Christ with. Christianity is being vilified daily, and parental rights reduced. To minister to our communities means also to protect our communities. By protecting parental rights we protect the families we will set out to share Christ with.
We are making a hard push identifying school board candidates that share our same values and are driven to preserve parental involvement. We don’t endorse any particular candidate. Our Candidate Scorecard is provided from responses to a survey we sent all school board candidates in the State of Maryland. We are poised to remain vigilant for our children though election season and into the beginning of the new year.
If you are a school board candidate, or know a candidate, encourage them to participate in our survey. We will be listing all candidates and identifying those who are non-respondent as well as those who have responded to our survey. If you have not been emailed a survey, please contact Rick Cech at rcech@reform-now.org or 4432038238 Ext. 1003
Come spring we will be switching gears. We will always have our eyes on our schools, but we will be working to reestablish our community outreach. We have stumbled about on this in the COVID19 aftermath, but praise God we have a great team of people building. We ask for your prayers, feedback, and ideas.
We ask the community to let us know what you would like to see from us in the way worship, and community outreach. We do everything for Christ’s Glory, and community well being.
Pastor Steve Hofmeister
Expect False Teaching - An Article From:
Pastor Steve’s Blog
Have you noticed a lot of complaining, judging, pointing fingers, and arguing going on these days? One group is right about a particular issue, while those that oppose them are perceived to be evil, vile, or the source of everything wrong in the world. It goes both ways depending on what your view is in most cases. As Christians, we should expect this. It should not be a surprise to us. The Apostle Paul spoke of this very thing in his charge to Timothy.
“For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.”
2 Timothy 4:3-5 (NLT)
I can confidently assume that at least one out of every five people can cite an example of someone misteaching the Bible. I have seen people bend the scriptures to the breaking point to fit a particular cultural or political narrative.
Let’s look at some scripture commonly cited in the anti-firearm position. For this context, we will use the term anti-weapon.
“Those who use the sword will die by the sword.”
Matthew 26:52 (NLT) in part
Those who teach this narrative purport that Jesus was anti-weapon; if you read the entire context, this sheds more light on the actual meaning of Jesus’s words.
“Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.”
Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.
“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”
Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.”
Matthew 26:50-56 (NLT)
Jesus was not making a political statement about weapons here. Instead, Jesus was talking metaphorically about the sword. Peter is identified as the sword handler in John 18:10 (NLT) and scolded for his hasty action. Jesus is identifying Peter’s quick-fired temper as the sword. It is a lesson on letting our hasty human decisions and tempers interfere with God’s plan. Peter’s impulsive human actions could have caused a conflict contrary to the course of events Jesus knew needed to transpire and prophesied about in the scriptures.
I’m sure you can see now that Jesus is not commenting about not using weapons. Jesus even stated he could call upon heavenly help, but doing so was not in the plan. Incidentally, Jesus healed the servant’s ear according to Luke 22:51 (NLT) before being hauled away for questioning.
Let’s dig deeper into how this is poor teaching in the context of weapons. First, if Jesus were anti-weapon, I would ask why Peter had one in the first place. If Jesus was anti-weapon, would it not be reasonable to assume he would not allow his disciples to carry them? Finally, if Jesus was anti-weapon, why would he fabricate one himself in John 2:15 (NLT)?
Though I make no secret that I am a supporter of gun rights, this blog article is not about my position on the issue but an example of misquoting and misrepresenting scripture.
As Paul is cautioning Timothy, however, we should expect that this misteaching will happen. We should not be afraid to stand up against poor teaching and share God’s word for what it means, not its literary structure. Instead, we should face the fact that we will take heat and face judgment from those around us who believe in this poor education for doing so. But, in the end, we will be rewarded for our conviction and fortitude.
Rev. Steven D. HofmeisterFounder, Senior Pastor, & President
Diakonos Independent Ministries of Maryland
The Original Article can be found on our website at: https://dimom.org/blog/expect-false-teaching/
