Category Archives: Ministry

Bible, Church, Doctrine, Ministry, Salvation

Wear the Name of the Lord Jesus!

Water baptism in the name of Jesus clothes a repentant candidate with Christ:

“…for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27 NIV).

Biblically, the proper formula for Christian water baptism is to baptize in the name of the one who was crucified for us (I Corinthians 1:11-13)—that is in Jesus name, since Jesus is the one who was crucified for us. Biblically, we’re to be baptized in the name of the Son (Matthew 28:19), and the Son’s name is Jesus (Matthew 1:21). Biblically, we’re to be baptized while calling upon Jesus name (See Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48, Acts 19:5, and Acts 22:16). Biblically, being baptized in Jesus name is the proper way to obey Matthew 28:19. Speaking of Matthew 28:19, some people are confused regarding what the name of the Father is, and what the name of the Holy Ghost is. But the scriptures give guidance:

What is the name of the Father? Since Jesus came in His Father’s name (John 5:43), and since the Father and Son (Jesus) are one (John 10:30), and since it was prophesied that the Lord’s name is to be one (Zechariah 14:9), and since the Son’s name is Jesus (Matthew 1:21), and since God the Father is glorified when we worship Jesus by bowing to Him and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord (Philippians 2:11), then we should recognize that by calling upon the name of Jesus we have access to God the Father, and that, for those of us alive in the New Covenant, Jesus is the person and name by which God the Father desires to be addressed and accessed.

What is the name of the Holy Ghost? The terms Spirit and Ghost are synonymous. The Bible says, “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). There is every reason to hold that all the prior points, about the name of the Father, should apply. But there is more. Since there is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4), and since there is only one Lord (Ephesians 4:5), and since Jesus is the Lord (Philippians 2:11), and since the Word of the Lord says, “the Lord is that Spirit” (II Corinthians 3:17), and since, while He was describing the Holy Spirit’s arrival to dwell within believers, Jesus Christ said, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come unto you” (John 14:18), then we should recognize that the Holy Spirit is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), and that Christ’s redemptive name for all New Covenant believers is Jesus.

Does this surprise? It should not. As believers who have the one Spirit dwelling in us, as long as we abide in the doctrine of Christ, we have both the Father and the Son (II John 1:9). The man Christ Jesus said Himself that the Holy Spirit would be sent in His name (John 14:26). His name is Jesus. The Spirit is sent in Jesus name. No name other than Jesus could possibly be rightly attributed to the Holy Spirit within New Covenant believers. Thus, the Bible says of Jesus name, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” {37} When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” {38} Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:36-39 NIV).

In the Bible, everyone who was baptized by any of the Lord’s apostles or disciples was baptized in Jesus name (see the Book of Acts and study the epistles).

Have you been baptized in Jesus name? If so, you are clothed with Christ. If not, you need to be baptized in Jesus name as soon as possible!

All United Pentecostal Churches baptize in Jesus name!
To find a UPCI near you, visit www.upci.org

Copyright information: Permission is granted to UPCI churches and/or Jesus-name people for use of this article, provided that credit is given and it is not edited without permission. All other rights reserved. This article previously appeared here.

 

Church, Doctrine, Ministry, Theology

Wisdom from Bishop T.F. Tenney

Church, Ministry

Free for UPCI churches: Affidavit of Trusteeship (blank).docx

Fellow UPCI Pastors, please take note:

How long has it been since you last updated the official courthouse record of who your church’s trustees are, by use of an appropriate, notarized Affidavit of Trusteeship? In theory this should be done after each election in which one or more of the names on the list have changed.

While serving as a district presbyter, I have at times helped churches through a tough transition, and sometimes we find that it has been years since the church/pastor last updated the record. Sometimes the old list of trustees on file at the courthouse did not even list the current pastor (who is often the chairman of the board of trustees, depending on the by-laws in use), and the old, obsolete record often had names of former trustees who were no longer members of the church, and in some cases were no longer alive.

Please feel free to download the attached file, Affidavit of Trusteeship (blank).docx, and use it to simply fill in the blanks, print, sign in the presence of a notary and have it notarized, and then file it at your county clerk’s office at the courthouse. The recording fee is usually very minimal.

Click (or “right-click”) the image below for the file:

Humor, Mentoring, Ministry

Phenomenal message, and funny to boot – More than funny with Michael Jr.

 

Abortion, Church, Culture War, Ministry, ProLife, West Virginia

West Virginians For Life interview with Pastor Doug Joseph, regarding “Angel of the Year” award + more

Dr. Wanda Franz presenting award to Pastor Doug Joseph, 2018-10-20
Dr. Wanda Franz, President of WV For Life, presenting award to Pastor Doug Joseph, 2018-10-20
Harrison County Chapter, Members, Residents, Friends, 2018-10-20
Harrison County Chapter, Members, Residents, Friends, 2018-10-20
2018-10-20 WVFL State Convention, Pastor Joseph received Angel of the Year award
2018-10-20 WVFL State Convention, Pastor Joseph received Angel of the Year award

October 20, 2018, Fairmont, WV — At the West Virginians For Life annual State Convention, I was presented WVFL’s “Angel of the Year” award. WVFL caught up with me later to ask me about that and more. Here are my brief answers from the interview:

WVFL: Thoughts on recent elections & passing of Amendment 1 in WV:

DJ: These [November 6, 2018] election night victories were more thrilling than I can express. So many endorsed pro-life candidates were elected/reelected and Amendment 1 (A1) was ratified! That was the single most exciting pro-life accomplishment for our state. It was bittersweet since pro-life Patrick Morrisey got so close, yet didn’t prevail.

WVFL: Thoughts on receiving Angel of the Year Award at WVFL State Convention: (Congratulations!)

DJ: I was blown away—totally didn’t see it coming! My wonderful wife, family, and others knew yet kept it secret. Considering our great pro-life heroes in WV, I am humbled to be selected. This is one of the most meaningful honors I’ve ever received. Thank you all!

WVFL: What are some pro-life activities your local WVFL Chapter and Church have been involved in since you were last interviewed in 2016?

DJ: Our amazing Harrison County chapter and awesome Christian Apostolic Church have partnered in Life Chain events, staffed festivals, and participated in Lit Drops. CAC hosted WVFL state board meetings and Morrisey’s launch of the pro-life coalition! Both chapter and church went all out for Amendment 1 and support of pro-life candidates. Members attended rallies, wrote letters to editors, did canvassing, made calls, created/shared videos & memes, aired radio spots, and paid for a huge billboard on I-79 for all of October, thanks to massive donations by members/friends. We cannot say enough about our chapter and church! You all are wonderful!

WVFL: Any parting words of wisdom, inspiration & encouragement?

DJ: WVFL is a wonderful organization of precious, selfless, dedicated people, and I am privileged to know you all and join you in laboring for life. Let’s fight on for more victories, until we see the sanctity of life honored in law and in the hearts of the citizenry! Each life saved makes it worth all effort and expense. God bless you!

Church, Design, Ministry, Software, Technology

CAC’s 3D Visualization for New Construction – HD

Video

3D Visualization (modeling & animation) for new construction – prepared for Christian Apostolic Church, Clarksburg, West Virginia, by Pastor Doug Joseph at Design8Studio.net

Here are a couple of still shots made from the same model:

Portfolio - 3D visualization (modeling & animation) for new construction

Bible, Church, Culture War, Israel, Mentoring, Ministry, Politics, Technology, Terrorism, Theology, Travel

Join us in DC for the CUFI Summit! (Special Group Rate)

The annual Summit of Christians United For Israel is always amazing, and this year looks to be better than ever. Your voice is needed! Join us in DC for the CUFI Summit!

http://cac.wvupci.com/summit/

Church, Ministry

IRS Form 990 is NOT for churches!

Sometimes an accountant — or even an IRS employee — will misinform a church employee or church member, falsely claiming that the church supposedly must file a troublesome document called IRS Form 990.

Such accountants are simply mistaken. Put simply, they are wrong. (We once even had an IRS employee tell us wrongly about this matter.)

How can we say so with such authority? Because official IRS statements back us up on the matter.

According to IRS documentation (here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i990.pdf) churches don’t ever need to file Form 990.

The question of whether to file can seem confusing, because at first the document sounds like the answer is based solely on how much revenue a non-profit entity gets in a year, and its overall holdings in a year, but those criteria don’t even apply whenever the entity is listed among those that are completely exempted from filing Form 990.

To verify what we’re saying here — to confirm that your church does not need to file Form 990, just click the above link to access the IRS documentation in PDF format. Then scroll to page 3, and look at Section B, which is quite unambiguously titled “B. Organizations Not Required To File Form 990 or 990-EZ.” There you will see that a church or church-related or religious type group does not have to file form 990.

Being that is the case, why is there all the earlier wording, explaining that a non-profit organization is exempted from filing only if certain conditions are met? It’s simple: that other wording applies to non-profit entities other than the exempted ones, such as a Food Pantry that has its own EIN (tax number).

Why would a Food Pantry operated under a church need or want its own EIN? Because of external donors potentially having their own privately-established rule that they won’t donate to an entity or ministry unless it has its own EIN, separate from a host church’s EIN—which is the case for our Food Pantry ministry. Each year, a private individual makes a sizable donation to our Food Pantry ministry, and their employer matches their charitable giving. However, that employer has its own policy in place requiring the ministry receiving the matching funds to have its own EIN and be listed in a federally maintained list of non-profits.

Our Food Pantry ministry (which has its own EIN) does not have to file Form 990 because it has less than $200,000 received in a year, and is not ever worth more than $500,000 at the end of the tax year. Instead of filing the tedious Form 990, our Food Pantry files a very short, very easy “e-postcard” version, which allows the ministry entity to keep its own EIN, even though it does not file the full Form 990.

Recently, one of our churches that operated a TNT fireworks tent as a fundraiser last year, was misinformed by their accountant, who said that because their overall revenue (note: not proceeds after paying for fireworks product, but all incoming revenue) put them over an arbitrary line, they supposedly had to file Form 990. The accountant is wrong. Because the entity in focus is a church, it does not matter how much revenue is received in a year’s time, the church still is not required by the IRS to file a Form 990.

Note: This article is not intended to serve as a replacement for tax advice by a professional, nor as legal advice. It is written by a pastor and presbyter, citing a clearly stated policy of the IRS. The weight of the statements here is simply the strength and clarity of the IRS statements in the service’s own documentation, linked above.

Church, Ministry, Praise Reports

Mama’s Pastor prayed for peace in her journey, and instantly….

Dear friends:

She was hanging on by a thread, but knew she wanted to get that Last Will and Testament finalized, so she rallied yesterday, and God gave her the strength to last long enough to scrawl a weakly signature a bunch of times before an attorney and witnesses, and to love on her family and kiss her kids, grands and greats.

Yesterday evening the nurse asked if she wanted any medicine to “calm” her slightly elevated breathing, which was labored.

She said, “No, I’d like to try to avoid that if I can.”

“Ok.”

(Throughout the whole process, whenever she was asked if she had pain, she always said, “No, I’m OK.” Regarding pain medicine, she was this way the whole while as a massive lymphoma onset escorted her from this life to the next.)

During the night she weakened. This morning when she was called upon, she opened her eyes, yet was too weak to respond. As the day wore on, she could not manage to open her eyes.

A social worker came in this morning and announced that her status has officially been changed from “respite care” to “hospice care.”

Today at about 2:30 pm (central time), her dear under-shepherd, Pastor Jerry Dean, walked into the room. He was given a brief update, stepped to her side, and prayed, “Lord, give her peace in her journey.” Instantly her mortal frame stopped breathing, and our dear Mama started dancing on streets of gold. God is good — all the time.

Her estate is quite modest. The family is asking for memorial gifts in lieu of flowers. Any surplus beyond funeral costs will go to missions through her local church…

http://cac.wvupci.com/give/memorial/

With mixed tears of sorrow and joy,
Pastor Doug Joseph

Bible, Church, Doctrine, Marriage, Ministry, Theology

Tithing: 5 Key Answers | Interview with IBC Perspectives Magazine

Read more helpful content at IBC Perspectives Magazine.

IBC: Why is it so important for Apostolic Christians to tithe?

DJ: The Bible is clear that believers are to dedicate every aspect of their lives to the Lord. Dedicating all except the financial aspect is not all; it’s excluding something. While Christians disagree on what submission in this aspect may look like, the most common error by those who are against tithing is to mistake New Testament passages about “Emergency Relief Effort” type giving as supposedly being how all giving should be done by Christians, yet that type of giving is but one layer in a biblically modeled approach. One cannot ignore tithing and have a truly complete biblically modeled approach.

IBC: What happens if a Christian fails to tithe? Are they lost?

DJ: To presume to declare all such people as either saved or lost is to place oneself in the Lord’s place as judge. We can envision situations in which a believer knows better and willfully disobeys, and in which they don’t know better and are not willfully disobeying. The default position of fallen humanity is lost and cursed. If a believer is himself redeemed, yet he allows an existing curse to abide on his personal finances, might God allow that level of granularity? Save their soul even while their financial life is still cursed? He may well allow it in some and disallow it in others. He’s the Lord who knows the heart and judges rightly.

IBC: Should we tithe on our gross income or net income? Why?

DJ: The biblical answer, which is that tithing is to give 1/10 of all my “increase,” leads to a lot of sticky questions that various believers approach differently. In addition to gross v. net, what about inheritances, insurance settlements, birthday and anniversary gifts, or a litany of other windfalls? Consider Luke 6:38. Generally, the more I include as realized increase, the more room I grant in the “bucket” that God uses when causing future increase to come. Based on Romans 14, I grant fellow believers liberty in how they decide such matters, but I personally tithe on my gross. God has blessed us for it. In our assembly, saints tithe on their home garden’s produce. Our family enjoys every bite. Bottom line: tithing is to be based on all “increase.”

IBC: Offerings are given in addition to the tithe. What should a faithful Christian consider giving for offerings?

DJ: Since the needs vary, the amount or percentage could also vary. The New Testament indicates saints were called upon for longterm sacrificial giving due to needs as a result of emergencies, such as fellow believers starving in another region due to famine. Yet how much is too much? Each believer is free to make up their own mind on their gift (2 Corinthians 9:7). Both willingness and abundance are prerequisites for acceptance of offerings (2 Corinthians 8:12). One should avoid going into debt to give to other believers’ needs. A believer should not reduce himself to being in need while trying to meet another believer’s need.

IBC: How has tithing blessed you?

DJ: From my youth up I have always been as faithful as possible regarding tithing. God has honored His promise and has blessed me and my family abundantly. I am a genuine “testimonial” advertisement for the success that comes when adhering to a biblical model from God’s word for submitting the financial aspect of my life to Him.