"Changing an image - for the good or bad" - From the Field and around the WWW
I used to work with a man that would change his image every few years.
When I first met him, he drove a big ole pickup truck with an air horn and bull horns as a hood ornament. He wore a big cowboy hat, sometimes a bolo tie, worn cowboy boots, and a huge western belt buckle.
Over the course of a few years, I witnessed this man, who became one of my best friends, change from the "rodeo supporting" Texas cowboy to a "new age" Birkenstock wearing yuppy sort of guy.
His son, who also worked with me for a few years, told me that he had "worn" several images over the years. From business suit professional to leather wearing motorcycle rider, to western rodeo promoter to Reiki instructor. He wasn't trying to be someone that he wasn't. He was living the image that he was.
My friend passed away a dozen or so years ago, but his image is in my memory for as long as I will remember. He was a joy to know, and a true friend. He taught me a lot about life, and I enjoyed every day that I spent around him.
You know, I don't think I have ever met anyone that truly lived out the image that they took on as much as my friend.
Moses wrote these words from God in Genesis 1:26-27 -
"Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
God made us in His image. To be like Him - not physically, but spiritually. You see, the image of our lives, and how we live should reflect the image of God every day. While our lives are not perfect, and sometimes our image changes for the not so good, we will always have an image. The choice of whether our image is reflecting a spiritual picture of God is what should make a difference.
Much like when my friend "changed his image," when we "change our image" in becoming a Christian, we remove any recognition of the old image (of a sinful being) and replace it with something that is completely different. Paul writes in Ephesians 4...
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
It has been said that "image is everything." While the statement may not be completely accurate that image is everything, we should realize that the image that we profess is the image that we are living. Is your image what you really want it to be? If not, there is opportunity that exists to make that change...please consider this opportunity with all your heart.
"Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—" Colossians 3:9-10
*All scripture quoted from New American Standard Bible
As you may recall seeing last month’s newsletter, or maybe you have followed our move on social media and seen that we certainly have “changed our image” at The Gospel of Christ. Our image change was a physical one. It has been such a blessing to complete this move and to build a new studio along with offices that are so roomy and practical for us to work with every day.
Nearly every part of this work was performed by volunteers, friends and staff of The Gospel of Christ, helping to keep expenses to a bare minimum. We also had several donations to help cover some of the expenses; however, as you can imagine, we did have some expenses that we had to incur for materials, technology, and so on. We are so thankful to those that have already asked how they can help with that…or just sent financial support knowing that we needed it!
Our goal and focus isn’t to spend money on fancy buildings and offices. We do feel that this was a very beneficial move and with a lot of prayer, sweat, and even a lot of fun…we transformed the image of this building into our new home.
I cannot take the time to name everyone that has helped in one way or another, but I am especially thankful to those that put in so much effort - and still do. I do want to personally thank a few people specifically that not only were very supportive, but also became an encouragement to me more than they were before. The board of trustees and overseeing eldership of TGOC allowed us to make most of the decisions on how to renovate and the pace in which it was done.
First off, I want to thank those men - Chuck Taylor, Dale Philpott, William Ramsey, Steve McGregor, & Larry Smith. Secondly, I want to show my thankfulness and love for Ben Bailey who I consider one of my greatest friends and encouragers in the faith. He was here every chance he could be and we did some amazing things with construction that neither one of us knew (and maybe we still don’t!) we could do. William Ramsey and Steve Stubblefield were some great carpenters. William and Beverly Ramsey have been so incredible during the renovation and move as well. Lynn Turner from East End church of Christ and WSOJ came and helped run wiring for the studio, taking a vacation day from work to do so. Rebecca Averitte (and her boys), Helen Underwood, Treva Moss, my wife Kristie Ferrell and several others all had part in helping to clean at times before, during, and after the move. Eldie and Janice Ferrell worked for hours and days on cleaning out the space before we began working on it as well. There were several others that helped in many ways, and we at The Gospel of Christ are so very thankful to God’s people who want to see this program do all that it can.
Excitingly, we have recorded a few things in the studio, including a session for virtual PTP with Celine Sparks. We hope to begin recording fully in the studio very soon.
Since this is the final newsletter of the year, we also want to take the time to thank all of our supporting congregations, as well as individuals that do so much for us and with us to Take the Whole Gospel to the Whole World. We certainly could not do it without you.
What does 2021 have in store?
Well…we are ready to go back into some local markets. OKC is the first, then we are targeting Huntsville and Atlanta. We do need supporting congregations in these areas to sponsor the program.
www.findthelordschurch.com launched this past week to point to our church finder.
www.gettheapp.org launched this past week giving easy access to our apps.
Our website is continuing to grow and we hope to add some more articles this next year as well.
Much more to come. And we want to share more. If we can come and meet with you for a presentation on the program at your congregation, we would love to do just that. Give us a call at 931-492-9566.
Until next time…may God bless you and yours with good health and spiritual blessings.
~Joey Ferrell
Director of Operations
Public Relations
Field Rep program/evangelist