Teaching Resources International

Dear family and friends,

We want to let you know how much we appreciate your coming to honor Debbie’s memory today.  We know you are here today because she, in some special way, touched your life.  Anyone who met her knows what a special person Debbie was.  Her kindness, her smile, her generosity, her love for life B all came from a heart full of love for her Savior.   Our memorial services for her were full of music because music was one of the special ways that Debbie expressed her love for her Lord.  We pray that you too will rejoice with us as Debbie is now rejoicing in that great heavenly chorus.

As we reflect on the last 12 years that Debbie has battled with cancer, we have been overwhelmed with the wonderful grace that God has shown to our family.  Although we have faced many difficult days together, we would not trade any of them B they were all precious in their own way, and everyone of them provided opportunities for us to see how wonderfully sufficient our God is!

More than anything, Debbie would want everyone to know that her strength was not hers B it came from her relationship to Christ.  If Debbie could summarize the last twelve years of her life in a song, she would tell you that the source of her joy and strength was not in herself, but in God:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone,

Because I know, He holds the future,

And life is worth the living, just because He lives.

Debbie’s testimony is ours also!  And we pray that it will be yours too, if it is not already.  Nothing would make Debbie happier than to know that her family and friends had come to know that life is ‘worth the living’ because of Jesus Christ as the Savior of their lives.

Again, we thank you so much for your love, prayers and support for us during these many years.  We will all miss Debbie dearly, but our lives have been changed forever by God’s gift to us in allowing Debbie to be such a part of our lives.  We do grieve, because she is not presently with us.  But we also rejoice, because she is with the Lord, and because we will be together again with our Lord in glory.  Thank you again for all your love and prayers for us.

Sustained By His Grace,

Jim, Joy, Meredith, Joel and Todd Ehrhard

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Here are some prayer needs for March:

1. Pray for me as I prepare two lectures on Jonathan Edwards to be given at the Southern Baptist Founder’s Conference in St. Louis, March 11-13. Also please pray for Debbie’s strength. Right now she is planning to go with me. Pray that she will be strong enough to go.

2. Be praying for me as I finish work on the next issue of Teaching Resources. It is on the Resurrection and I need to get it completed and to the print ASAP so it can be sent out in a few weeks.

3. Starting March 2nd, I will be preaching a 3 sermon series on Suffering for the Glory of God. I will be condensing 8 messages that I preached in a Bible Conference in St. Louis last month. Pray that I can be clear while being “brief.” Also pray these messages will be helpful to people at the Bible Church. We have 5 people dealing with very serious cancers at the church.

4. Pray for me as I work to put together our summer Youth Missions trip to Reynosa, Mexico, June 22-29. We will be going with Missions Discovery. This will be the first ever trip for the Youth at Cabot. Pray for participation and support for these young people, and that some will gain a heart for missions from the trip.

5. I’m working on plans for my return to Ukraine in April and to Belgium in May. I’m also in the process of selecting school to teach at next year. Pray for me during this process. I like going back to the same schools but I always want to be sensitive to the Lord’s leading. Also pray for my time. As you can see, I’m quite busy.

6. Also continue praying for Debbie. Her latest scans were inconclusive–some the same (no growth) some not so good (but not terrible). She began a new treatment on Monday (Feb. 24th) to hopefully slow the cancer growth. She is increasingly weak. It is hard to plan not knowing what her condition will be, but we feel I need to continue to minister as long as the Lord keeps the door open. I always pray (and ask you to do the same) that I will be able to be home when she is the sickest. So far, God has always granted that.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

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Update for February

At the end of January, I traveled to Kiev again to teach for two weeks at Kiev Baptist Theological Seminary.  This time, I actually had the opportunity to teach two courses.  In the mornings, I taught the Masters of Ministry class on Issues in Church History.  The focus of the seminar was a biblical/historical examination of Revivals.  For the class, I had a number of resources translated into Russian for them to read.  These included my article on Asahel Nettleton, Jonathan Edwards’, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” and a number of articles by Jim Elliff including “Five Resolves for Personal Revival,” “Dull Preachers,” “Serious Preaching,” and “Returning to Your First Love,” and “Gospel Preaching” by A. W. Pink.  I had also scheduled for them to read sections from Jonathan Edwards, “The Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God,” and “Lectures on Revival,” by Charles Finney (both translated into Russian) but, for some reason, we could not find the books in the library.

The class lectures went extremely well and were full of great, practical questions.  But most exciting was reading the papers that reviewed the readings.  Most of the pastors were impressed with the ministry of Nettleton compared to that of Finney and they desire to change their ministries to be more like Nettleton’s. They were also impressed with Edwards’ sermon and the ways that doctrinal truth can be preached and lead to revival.  All of them were personally impacted with Jim Elliff’s writings and one pastor even made copies to share with his church on Sunday.  He is asking them to pray for revival and to seek personal revival and renewal in their lives.  One of the pastors even preached Edwards’ sermon (with modifications) on Sunday and he said the response was very good.

This week, I will also be traveling to St. Louis to lead a conference at Rockport Baptist Church near St. Louis.  I will be preaching about 6 times on Saturday and Sunday on Suffering for the Glory of God (Feb. 10-11).   On Monday (Feb. 12), I will be teaching a group of pastors a four hour seminar on Suffering and the Problem of Evil. Please be praying that these lessons will be useful in helping believers trust God in all situations.

I’m also continuing to work on the next issue of Teaching Resources on the “Resurrection,” and preparing two essays on Jonathan Edwards to be presented at the Southern Baptist Founder’s Conference in St. Louis in March. Debbie has more test this Wednesday that should give us some direction as to the next stage of treatments. We certainly appreciate you all and all your prayers of us.

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New Year’s Update 2003

As we begin 2003, we continue to be amazed at how much the Lord has allowed us to do through the ministry of Teaching Resources. Since 1997, Jim has been able to teach in 7 different countries including Ukraine, Belgium, Russia, the Netherlands, France, Haiti, and Bulgaria. Most of his time has been spent in teaching at Kiev Baptist Seminary in Kiev, Ukraine where he usually teaches 2-3 times each year. (Some of the full-time professors there joke that he has taught more classes than they have since the school opened in 1997.) He will be teaching there three times again this year to help fill for missionaries on furlough.

This Spring, Jim will be teaching “Biblical Revival and Evangelism” in Kiev, January 20-31 in the mornings to the Masters of Ministry program (similar to Th.D.) and teaching “Ministerial Ethics” in the afternoon to the M.Div. students. Then he will be doing a church conference on “Suffering for the Glory of God” at Rockport Baptist Church in St. Louis, February 7-9 and will be speaking at the Founder’s Pastor’s Fraternal in St. Louis on Monday, February 10th. In March (11-13), Jim will be presenting a lecture on “Assurance as Seen Through the Microscope of Jonathan Edwards” at the Midwest Regional Southern Baptist Founder’s Conference. In April 7-11, he returns to Kiev to finish the class on Revival from January. Finally, in May, Jim will be teaching a doctoral level class in Belgium entitled, “The Doctrine of Sin in Contemporary Theology.”

In addition to teaching these classes, we plan to continue producing the monthly “Reforming Reflections” and the quarterly Teaching Resources Journal. The next issue (on “Heaven”) should be out this month. Our website continues to be a great source of ministry outlet with many persons visiting the site to read or download articles.

Janu

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December 2002 Update

In November, I attended the Evangelical Theological Society Meeting in Toronto, Canada. The topic for this year was related to pluralism: Christianity and other religions. Although I went somewhat reluctantly, thinking that the topics would not be especially helpful, I really appreciated the conference and greatly benefitted from a number of the papers presented. I especially enjoyed being part of the Jonathan Edwards Study group meeting where many of Edwards’s assessments of other religions and God’s glory and purpose in allowing them was presented.

Beginning this month, I will be teaching a 5-week, Monday night class in Hot Springs for Hot Brown University (3 weeks in December and 2 in January). Please be praying for me as I teach this class. Normally the majority of students are not evangelical believers and there are a number of opportunities to present the gospel clearly for them. In this class, however, it appears that the majority are at least part of an evangelical church. Be praying that the class will deepen their understanding of the gospel and purpose for Jesus coming to us.

I am finishing editing articles for the next issue of Teaching Resources on “Heaven.” The last issue was especially well received and I have had many requests for additional copies. If we have the finances, it might be possible to consider putting the issues on the “Death of Believers” and “Heaven” into one book. Pray for us as we consider this possibility. Also pray for our year-end giving. Many of the operating expenses, especially travel expenses for the first 6 months of this year, are covered by year end gifts.

In January, I return to Ukraine to teach in the Masters of Ministry program (similar to Th.D.) On Issues in Church History. This year, We will be looking at biblical revival and evangelism through the ministry of Jonathan Edwards and others. Pray for me as I work on these lectures over the Christmas holidays.

Debbie’s health continues to be tentative. She is increasingly weak and her doctor has asked her to begin considering whether the possibility that the chemo is causing more weakness for her than the cancer itself. This will be a major decision and we appreciate your prayers.

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