John Perdew Editorial: Text Driven Teaching

First Currents NOW Past by Rev. John Perdew, Associate to the Executive Director

Saturday, March 18, was a busy day at the Gulf Stream Baptist Association office.  The Hispanic Pastors Fellowship met in Dr. Minshew’s office while the Deacons from Metropolitan Church met in the conference as Dr. Minshew taught them about the Biblical role and pattern of the ministry of the Deacon.  Even though the teaching on the Deacon and his ministry was good, something more important took place.

Each person was taken to the Scripture to see what God’s Word had to say to us and about our ministries.  There are many opinions that people hold concerning life, attitudes, processes, and roles.  Because of tradition or “practical” considerations, many form views that are heralded as spiritual truths but are not rooted in the biblical teachings.  In fact, many concepts that have been dearly possessed may actually run contrary to Scripture but will be defended as time honored truths of God.  From the teachings and the discussions, all were encouraged to look at the teaching of the Word of God.  However, grabbing a passage to proof text is not the method sought.  Our goal should be to look at the whole counsel of God to see His methods, His character, His purposes, His goals.

As we come to God’s Word with the honest desire to know His will and ways, we may be challenged to the core.  A long held belief may have to be abandoned or a time honored tradition may have to be let go.  We have been called to obey God completely, whether it makes sense to us or not.  The goal for the follower of Christ is not to find our way through life using our wisdom, methods and taking our ‘best shot at it.’  The goal is a yielded life that will follow Christ no matter what He may ask us to do.  The only way to come to that point is by giving ourselves to text driven teaching and accepting its truth for what it really is – the wisdom of God.

New GSBA Associate: Rev. John Perdew

It is my privilege to announce that Rev. John Perdew, who recently served Gulf Stream as chairman of the Finance Committee and Treasurer, has joined the Gulf Stream ministry staff as Associate to the Executive Director.  Rev. Perdew brings great experience to this role which is a contract part-time position designed to assist the association during this calendar year.

John holds a Bachelor's degree in marketing from Oklahoma State University and a M. Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He has served as a church planter as well as a full-time and bi-vocational pastor.  In addition to his ministry at Gulf Stream, John serves in a variety of ways at Parkridge Baptist Church and is employed as Vice-President of Resource Benefits, Inc.

John has been married to Patti for 32 years. They have two daughters, Michelle and Alicia.

John has been a great encourager to me for the past three years.  I'm excited that we will be able to work more closely in ministering to our Gulf Stream churches in the days ahead.  Join me in welcoming John to his new role!

Report on French culture and evangelism conference, 2/25/17

You can’t always get what you want

The eminent philosopher, Mick Jagger, popularized the concept in his song of the same title.  Though intended in a different way, those of us who serve the Lord recognize this truth from a positive standpoint: the One who occupies the place of Eternity is also the one who has promised to make our paths straight – if we trust in Him, lean not on our own understanding and acknowledge him in our paths. 

Gulf Stream saw that in process this past weekend!  We planned an event with Jean-Marc Princivil, a church planter who works in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The design was to give insights to French speakers, particularly among our Haitian pastors and leaders, about how to reach across the racial and cultural bridges to share with French Canadians when they are with us for the winter.  

Unintentionally, the conference conflicted with a state Haitian event, but did not compromise the most significant leadership who would be impacted by our event.  Then, the Lord called Pastor Michel Rouzard home.  The celebration of his life was planned right over the top of this training and impacted a great number of people who had hoped to attend our event.  The event was reduced significantly in number.

Have you ever noticed that God often limits the number of His people when He wants to create something powerful?  Gideon saw his forces reduced to 600 from over 30,000.  Only 3 of the 12 experienced the Mount of Transfiguration.  I believe that the Lord allowed reductions to create a very powerful experience of interaction and fellowship that will guide future work among French speakers.  I look forward to sharing some of these insights in coming days.  In the meantime, I will leave for the beach in just a few moments to take the Princivil family to lunch.  On their behalf, let me thank you, Gulf Stream Baptists, for your generosity of finance and spirit that have allowed us to bless this church planting family with wonderful days out of the snow and onto Hollywood Beach.

Michel V. Rouzard passes

Word has come that Pastor Michel V. Rouzard has entered eternity this week.  He was pastor of Emmanuel Haitian Baptist Church in Pompano Beach.  The funeral will be held on Saturday February 25th at 10:00am, at First Haitian Baptist Church of Pompano.  Will you pray for Pastor Rouzard's family as well as the Emmauel Church?

Gulf Stream churches increase investment through Gulf Stream every year since 2013

Any honest observer of Southern Baptist life would affirm the fact that we are definitely in the midst of paradigm change. Whether it be the agencies of the Southern Baptist Convention, the makeup of the Florida Baptist Convention or how we approach the concept of association, things are changing.  During the year and a half where there was no director at GSBA, momentum, in terms of investment, slowed to a crawl. Total receipts for Gulf Stream in 2013 were $193,000; grew in $2014 to $227,000; advanced further in 2015 to 245,000 dollars; and, grew slightly last year to almost $246,000. We are grateful to the 88 churches who participated with us. A report for the year is listed below:

1st Baptist Church at Weston	6,996.00
1st Baptist Church of Ft. Lauderdale	12,000.00
1st Baptist Church of Hollywood	5,181.34
1st Baptist Church of Oakland Park	700.00
1st Baptist Church of Pompano Beach	16,681.48
1st Baptist Church of Sunrise	3,064.33
1st Brazilian Baptist Church of South Florida	2,910.00
1st Ebenezer Christian Church	120.00
1st Haitian Baptist Church of Coral Springs	270.00
1st Haitian Baptist Church of North Lauderdale	600.00
1st Haitian Baptist Church of Pompano	1,350.00
1st Seminole Indian Baptist Church	2,147.07
Atlantic Baptist Church	4,054.65
Baptist Church of Bethlehem	45.00
Bethany Baptist Church	500.00
Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church	1,300.00
Bethel Worship Center	250.00
Bethesda Christian Center	3,960.00
Bible Walk Missionary Baptist Church	2,500.00
Celebration International Inc.	775.00
Chinese Baptist Church of Coral Springs	1,000.00
Christian Unity Baptist Church	145.00
Christway Baptist Church	29,843.30
Church by the Glades	14,436.20
Church in the Glades	22,527.04
City Church of Pompano	636.04
Eglise Baptiste de Galilee	100.00
Eglise Evangelique Triomphe	200.00
El Shaddaï Missionary Baptist Church	169.29
Emmanuel Church of Holiness	360.00
Emmanuel Haitian Baptist Church	300.00
Emmaus Haitian	800.00
Gardens Baptist Church	1,611.20
Gospel Life Church	900.00
Grace Life Center-1st Davie-Cooper City	200.00
Grace Romanian Baptist Church	25.00
Gracepoint Baptist Church	400.00
Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church of Pomano	150.00
Haitian Fellowship Baptist Church	475.10
Haitian Gospel Evangelical Baptist Church	40.00
Haitian Missionary Baptist Church	700.00
Hollywood Community Church	1,100.00
Iglesia Bautista Canaan	1,958.26
Iglesia Bautista de Pompano	727.00
Iglesia Bautista Miramar	465.00
Iglesia Comunidad de Parkland	233.66
Iglesia Cristiana Confraternidad de Broward	240.00
Iglesia La Nueva Esperanza	1,200.00
Iglesia Victoria en Jesus	43.61
Igreja Batista Betesda	93.00
L'Eglise Evang. Baptiste De La Divinite	240.00
Lael Mission Baptist Church	200.00
Lauderhill Baptist Church	1,475.83
Lighthouse Community Church	7,312.34
Living Hope Baptist Church	1,600.00
Living Water Community Church	1,250.00
Metropolitan Baptist Church	7,741.65
Mount Hermon Community Baptist Church	1,487.18
Mount of Olives Haitian Baptist Church	330.00
Nazareth Baptist Church	800.00
New Bethlehem Baptist Church	310.00
New Life Baptist Church	2,218.42
New Vision Baptist Church	200.00
Oasis Church	3,850.00
Parkridge Baptist Church	28,900.75
Pembroke Road Baptist Church	1,089.03
Peters Road Baptist Church	6,357.00
Philadelphia Haitian Baptist Church	360.00
Point of Grace Christian Fellowship	170.48
Potential Church	5,500.00
Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispanica West Pines	797.00
Providence Baptist Church	800.00
Redeeming Love Fellowship	380.00
Redemption Haitian Baptist Church	1,800.00
Renaissance Evangelical Baptist Tabernacle	250.00
Revelation Divine Baptist Church	150.00
Salem Evangelical Baptist Church	350.00
Sarepta Church	187.55
Shalom Haitian Baptist Church	397.00
Sheridan Hills Baptist Church	4,640.00
Sichem Calvary Baptist Church	150.00
Solid Rock Evangelical Baptist Church	100.00
Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church	350.00
Stirling Road Spanish Baptist Church	8,432.85
Taft Street Baptist Church	1,332.00
Trinity Haitian Baptist Church	45.00
Twin Lakes Baptist Church	820.00
Victory Life Baptist Church	7,100.00
	245,957.65