Tag Archives: Herald of Truth

Seminar at Brooks Avenue

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859499_10151318165338191_1846126711_oI was privileged to be with the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, this past weekend. They invited me to come and present the “Christ and Culture” seminar that I do as part of my work with Herald of Truth. I’ve talked about doing such seminars in the past… but this time I’ve got pictures to prove it. Here’s a few:

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Ok, so I talk with my hands.

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Technology was extremely helpful this time. I used an iPad to control the presentation that was running on my laptop. Allowed me to see the slides as well as some notes.

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Some of the material that I present during the seminar is from Ray Vander Laan’s www.followtherabbi.com.

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I presented the final session during morning worship on Sunday. That meant that I had to take a 45 minute session and present it in 25 minutes. Talking fast is good for the soul!

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I told some friends on Facebook that every preacher secretly dreams of having Michael J. Fox playing guitar behind them as they preach. I used some still photos from “Back To The Future” to make a point about contextualization.

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I hope that everyone took away that main point. As Christians, we are foreigners and aliens in this world, but we’re not mere refugees… we’re on a diplomatic mission!

Trips to California and El Salvador

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Well, it’s been a busy month for travel. After returning from Argentina, I had the privilege of traveling to Sanger, California, to present a “Christ and Culture” seminar on behalf of Herald of Truth. The Sanger congregation is a healthy one, and they were very interested in the material I was presenting. It’s always fun to teach a group that’s interested in learning.

Last week, Steve Ridgell and I traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador. Herald of Truth is doing a media project there, and we went to help with an evangelistic campaign as part of the project. Twelve different congregations held simultaneous meetings, then came together for a combined worship service on Sunday.

I’m doing two radio programs that are currently airing in San Salvador: Lea La Biblia, the 15-minute program I’ve done for years, is on once a week on a Christian station there; and Esperanza Para La Vida, a two-and-a-half-minute spot aimed at outsiders, airs Monday through Friday on a large, national radio station. We were able to be interviewed on three stations during the days we were there, discussing the programs and inviting people to the activities held that weekend.

Over 40 people began Bible studies while we were there. There were several baptisms. The combined service, which was planned for about 500 people, had 750 in attendance. The radio programs have a growing listenership, both among church members and non-Christians. All in all, we were very pleased with what the church there has been able to do with the tools we provided them.

Trip to Argentina

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I’m still trying to get my ducks in a row after a 10-day trip to Argentina; turns out I have some pretty rebellious ducks. But I’ll get things together.

Herald of Truth allowed me to accept an invitation to return to speak at the Caballito church of Christ in Buenos Aires. They had asked me to come in 2011, but it just wasn’t possible at that time. The church in Córdoba had also expressed interest in my coming, so I was able to fulfill two requests in one.

I spent the first weekend in Córdoba, doing some lessons on the book of Ecclesiastes. The Córdoba church is in a rebuilding mode; Hugo Fuente, the missionary there, has been working with the congregation for about a year and a half. He and his wife Judith are really doing a good job. They had several visitors, including a few that were there for the first time.

I also spoke at two of the three small group studies that they have in Córdoba. They stream the Wednesday study on the Internet, allowing some of their members who can’t attend to participate via the Internet.

Last weekend, I was in Buenos Aires, at the Caballito church, doing some lessons on “Too much religion!” (that really doesn’t translate well; in Spanish, it basically means “stop all the religion!,” based on Isaiah 1:11-18); it was an examination of the difference between religiosity and faith. It seemed to go over well.

I find myself doing more and more “mentoring” work with missionaries; am I getting that old? I’m glad to be able to share the things that I’ve learned from others and lived myself. I guess that’s what we’re all supposed to do, right?

Men’s retreat in South Carolina

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This past weekend I got to travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina, on behalf of Herald of Truth. I presented my seminar on “Christ and Culture” to a men’s retreat from the Central Church of Christ in Spartanburg, then taught Bible class and preached on Sunday morning for the whole congregation. Great weekend, with a group of guys that were interested and engaged. Made for some great discussions. And, as I told them, not only did I get to do my seminar in jeans for the first time, I even wore shorts on Saturday. (That’s significant not just from the point of view of doing the seminar in shorts, but also because my legs hadn’t seen the sun in years! :-)

The retreat was held at the Palmetto Bible Camp. It’s an amazingly beautiful camp run by the churches of Christ in South Carolina. Great setting for a retreat.

I’ve added to the seminar some excellent material by Matt Dabbs on ministering to adults in their 20s and 30s. It’s material that he presented this year at the Tulsa Workshop, and I’ve found it to be very helpful. I placed it at the end of the seminar, watching the time to see whether I could present that extra material or not. Had to rush through it a bit, but I think it was worth it.

Had an interesting trip home. After a significant layover at the Greenville-Spartanburg airport, I was anxious to get to Dallas, hoping to catch stand-by on the 8 p.m. flight to Abilene rather than waiting for the 10:05 flight that I was ticketed for. I set up a notification on American’s website so that they would send me text messages with the gate information for that earlier flight. Unfortunately, we took off late and landed even later; it was 7:40 when we got to Dallas. I sent Carolina a text telling her that I probably couldn’t make that flight. Then I saw the texts from American and realized the flight was delayed and was leaving from a gate just seven gates down from where I was arriving.

I hurried to that gate and spoke with the gate agent about getting on stand-by. He said, “We’ve given away the stand-by seats we had, but you can wait and see if someone fails to show up.” I found a place to stand in view of the counter and returned to reading on my iPhone. (The Betrayal (Precinct 11), a mystery by a Christian author. Not bad, especially since I got the Kindle version for free)

The gate agent came up to me with a boarding pass, saying, “Good news, Mr. Archer… we had a no show.” I texted Carolina and let her know the good news.

After the plane came in, though, the agent approached me again with a chagrined look and apologized. “I’m so sorry… one of the seats is broken on this craft, and I’ve got to take back your boarding pass.” Ouch! That had never happened to me before. However, he did say that I could stay around to see if anyone else failed to present themselves.

Again, I communicated with Carolina, telling her the good news turned sour. They kept paging one passenger who was #3 on the standby list. Since I was #1, I wasn’t real appreciative. However, at the last minute the agent said, “OK, I’ve got a seat for you. Go ahead.”

With the delay, I only got in an hour earlier than I would have, but 10 p.m. is better than 11 p.m.

All in all, a great weekend.

Six years with Herald of Truth

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Today I finish up my sixth year with Herald of Truth Ministries. Herald of Truth began in 1952, so Herald of Truth has been around for 60 years; my time here has been only a fraction of that.

I’ve been blessed to do a lot of things with Herald of Truth. I’ve recorded 1385 full-length radio programs, as well as some shorter ones. I’ve co-authored two books and more are in the works. I’ve written over 100 articles for the Internet, helped develop several websites, and authored a few tracts.

I’ve been allowed to develop a seminar on “Christ and Culture” which I’ve presented in Florida, South Carolina, New Jersey and Texas. I’ve spoken on behalf of Herald of Truth at ACU, Lipscomb, Harding, the Tulsa Workshop, the Orlando Spiritual Growth Workshop, the National Hispanic Leaders Conference, the Caribbean Missions Forum, the Seminario Baxter in Honduras and the Global Missions Conference, as well as churches in Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, California, Florida and Texas.

During my time at Herald of Truth, I’ve been privileged to preach countries like:

  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Chile
  • Cuba
  • Ecuador
  • Honduras
  • Mexico
  • Nicaragua
  • Spain

I’ve also had the satisfaction of knowing that I’m helping provide evangelistic tools that can be used by local churches here in the States and throughout the world. I’ve gotten to work with some great people in this country and others. Thanks to all the churches and individuals that have given sacrificially to allow me to dedicate myself to this work. I love what I do.