Always Abounding - Fall 2018 - Volume 3

FUNDAMENTALIST
Always
Abounding
Fall 2018
FBC | FAIRHAVENBAPTIST.ORG
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CONTENTS
4 FBC Alumni
Courtney (‘00) & Portia (Wallace ‘07) Lewis
12 Gone Contemporary
by Pastor Dave Mallinak (‘93)
6 Patience in Missions
by Missionary Dan Canavan (‘97)
8 Accreditation for Ministry Training?
by Pastor Steve Damron
14 Modify Music?
by Dr. Jeremiah Mitchell
BIBLE TRIVIA - Who is the high priest of
Jerusalem who put Jesus on trial?
(The first five people to email the correct answer to
trivia@fbcmail.net will win a gift card!)
©Published by Fairhaven Baptist Church. For correspondence or changes in subscription
information, write: Fairhaven Baptist Church, Always Abounding - The Fairhaven Fundamentalist,
86 East Oak Hill Road, Chesterton, IN 46304, U.S.A. For more information, call (800) SEE-FHBC.
2 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

April 21-25, 2019
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throughly furnished unto all good works."
II TIMOTHY 3:17
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April 22-24
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April 24
REGISTER TODAY AT
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www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 3

FBC ALUMNI
Courtney (‘00) & Portia (Wallace ‘07) Lewis
By the age
of eleven,
I had
not only been
expelled from
three Chicago
public schools,
but managed to
get tossed out
of class on my
first visit to Vacation Bible School! This VBS
was held at Garfield Ridge Baptist Church
near Midway Airport in the “Windy City.”
After that Vacation Bible School in 1990,
I immediately started riding the church
bus every Sunday. Pastor Gary Zdziarski,
a 1989 Fairhaven Baptist College graduate,
invested literally thousands of hours into
my life fulfilling the roll of the father I
never had. Because of being mentored
by an alumnus, I can honestly say that
Fairhaven has been an integral part of my
life since I was eleven years old. At the age
of twelve, I made the decision to one day
attend Fairhaven Baptist College.
In 1993, I had been attending church
almost three years (only missing one
Sunday), and, although it was good to be
in church, I was not yet in Christ. On April
22, 1993 at Fairhaven’s annual Preaching
Conference, I settled all my doubts and
received Jesus Christ as my own personal
Savior. From the day I was saved, I knew
that there was a calling upon my life to
preach the gospel. In the fall of 1996,
my dream of attending Fairhaven Baptist
College became a reality. During my
freshman year, God began calling me to
plant a church in Chicago.
Portia’s journey was similar to mine.
She started riding the church bus to West
Coast Baptist Church in Vista, California,
at the age of twelve. In sixth grade, at
Reynolds Elementary School, she was
given the opportunity to read stories once
a week to some of the younger elementary
students. The girl she was paired up with
was in second grade and, at that time,
rode the bus to West Coast Baptist Church.
One day while in a reading session, this
girl invited Portia to church. As the school
year went on, they became friends. One
Sunday, Portia decided she would ride
the bus to church with her friend. This
changed both Portia’s temporal and
eternal destiny. A few years later Portia
was at home reading the Bible and a
church tract. The Lord broke her will, and
she accepted Christ there at her bedside.
Through the efforts of her bus captain and
caring church members, Portia was able to
attend Fairhaven Baptist College in the fall
of 1999.
I finished my time at Fairhaven with a
bachelor’s degree in pastoral theology and
a master’s degree in Bible. I then had an
opportunity to intern at Fairhaven for one
year. We were married in August 2004.
Portia finished her teaching degree in
elementary education. By God’s grace, we
were sent out of Fairhaven Baptist Church
to begin our inner-city work. Portia and I
left Fairhaven in the spring of 2008 with
the vision of seeing God begin Cornerstone
Independent Baptist Church “from
scratch” on the southside of Chicago.
Forty other churches supported our
work, allowing us to start full time. We
met on Sundays in two locations for
seven years. In 2015, God gave us the
opportunity to purchase an existing
church building complete with offices,
4 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

classrooms, commercial kitchen, and a
gym! In February 2017, we transitioned to
become fully autonomous and financially
independent.
Our church folks have a true love for
God, the Bible, and strong preaching.
The church is growing, averaging 120 on
Sunday mornings. Some of the ministries
include intense discipleship, door-to-door
soulwinning, John/Romans distribution,
bus, VBS, Sunday school, junior church,
and street preaching. Believing that new
churches grow best with new converts, all
of the ministries at Cornerstone are run
by believers reached by this local church.
Thirteen of our own church children are
enrolled at Fairhaven Christian Academy.
There is a great deal of talk about church
planting, but it is time to start getting
involved in actually planting churches and
seeing them established.
Fairhaven was instrumental in pointing
this young preacher in the direction of
church planting and gave us the education,
tools, and support needed to succeed for
God. The Lord has also blessed our family
with three spirited daughters (Lois, April,
and Justine), who have each professed
Christ. The blessings of a good family and
the privilege of serving the Lord in ministry
are far greater rewards than we deserve.
www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 5

PATIENCE IN MISSIONS
by Missionary Dan Canavan (‘97)
“For ye have need of patience, that, after
ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise.” (Hebrews 10:36)
Our task as missionaries is to leave
behind a self-supporting church
and self-governing church. This
is accomplished through soulwinning
and preaching until a saved, separated
congregation is established and built.
This building on the missionary’s part
continues until it can be led by a Godcalled,
biblically qualified national pastor.
It is my understanding that we have not
completed this task until the mission
church’s giving enables the church to pay
all of its own expenses and a majority of a
pastor’s living expenses in that area.
It takes at least a few years for
missionaries to adapt to the language,
culture, methods, and thoughts of a foreign
country. The further the missionary’s
adaptation advances, the more effective
and valuable the missionary’s work is on
the mission field.
God sometimes leads good men
off the mission field for His sovereign
purposes. However, I have observed the
huge loss of many highly adapted, godly
families because they lacked patience in
preparing. Most lacked the patience to see
a work through to the self-governing, selfsupporting
stages.
When churches support the ministry
of deputation and the early years on the
field, they are primarily supporting the
missionary as he prepares for greater
usefulness in the coming years. It is after
a period of adaptation and ministry
experience in a foreign context that the
missionary becomes most effective.
America is a country of immigrants
from widely differing backgrounds, who
have melded into a disparate group
where the rights of the individual are the
cornerstone of society. In Ireland, to a
much larger extent, the rights of society
trump the needs of the individual. The
Irish are primarily guided by “group think.”
For example, most houses in a subdivision
are exactly the same. One-off houses are
the exception. Over 40% of Europeans live
in apartments or condominiums, and the
vast majority of the rest of the people live
in duplexes. Almost half of the Irish people
get some form of government assistance,
leading to much higher taxes and cost of
living to support the social fabric of their
society. Americans have traditionally
chaffed against this socialism and demand
that the individual make his own way or
suffer the consequences.
Irish and most European societies have
existed in continuity for a few thousand
years. The roots are deep and things
change slowly. In Ireland, they still speak
of Oliver Cromwell’s destruction of Roman
Catholic institutions as if it were yesterday.
When a European missionary attempts
to convey the truths of the gospel to this
deeply ingrained, socialistic society largely
6 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

governed by consensus, he is viewed as
profoundly foreign and, thus, excluded.
It takes great patience for a missionary
to continue preaching from the outside
margins, reaching in through the cracks.
The missionary must patiently and
personally disciple the new believers. It
takes courage for those reached to break
out of the social norms of their community.
It is hard to be the only one you know to
be so very different from everyone else in
such an interdependent society.
It often takes years of work by diligent,
godly men and women to gain observable
fruit. They must pray and work through
the seemingly meager results, negative
feedback, and inner frustration.
However, as they patiently continue on
the path God has given, fruit does follow.
As they learn the methods and mind-set of
the people, they make fewer mistakes and
become more proficient. They connect
better with the people around them. The
patience has often brought about a unique
maturity in the missionary himself that is
helpful in a slow European context. If they
will patiently persevere, God can make
a work through them among hardened
European hearts. But they must patiently
press forward, refusing to quit, refusing to
be quiet, continuing to boldly preach the
gospel, and trusting God for the victory to
come.
Jesus said that He will build His church,
and Europe is part of that vision. Victory
can and will come as we patiently follow
His plan to do the work God has given
us to do! May we, as missionaries and
supporting churches, have the patience
to persevere until a self-governing, selfsupporting
work is truly established.
Without this patience, God’s kingdom
is not furthered. Souls remain eternally
lost that could have been reached with the
gospel. The loss of patience in missionaries
means a massive loss to the world-wide
evangelistic attempts of local churches in
the USA.
(Dan (‘97) and Beth (Crego ‘89) Canavan have been
serving the Lord as missionaries in Ireland for the
past 19 years. In their first year alone, they passed
out 100,000 John/Romans and tracts not seeing many
results, but the Canavans resolved not to quit.)
Hope Baptist Church - Dublin, Ireland
Church Members
Exterior of Church Building
Interior of Church Building
www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 7

ACCREDITATION FOR MINISTRY TRAINING?
by Pastor Steve Damron
Among many articles
about a recent ruling
by the Supreme
Court of Canada is
this, from the June
2018 edition of
Christianity Today.
“Trinity Western
University has lost a years’ long legal fight
to launch what would be the only Christian
law school in Canada. The Supreme Court
of Canada considered a pair of appeals
cases involving regional law societies that
refused to accredit the Trinity Western
program due to the evangelical institution’s
student covenant, which prohibits sex
outside of traditional marriage. In Trinity
Western University v. Law Society of Upper
Canada and Trinity Western University
v. The Law Society of British Columbia,
justices sided 7-2 against TWU, calling it
“proportionate and reasonable” to favor
the rights of LGBT students over the
school’s religious convictions. Some legal
experts say Friday’s decision has essentially
“gutted” religious freedom protections.
It also quashes the future of the school,
which was slated to open as early as 2019
if the ruling had been in its favor, since
Canadian law schools require the approval
of provincial law societies to operate.”
While this was not really a surprising
decision to most since Canada has been
on a slippery slope in this area for nearly
a decade, it does bring up an interesting
discussion I have had with numerous
pastors over the past several years. The
issue is regarding accreditation for Christian
universities and colleges, specifically those
geared to train full-time servants for the
ministry.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
The first question that comes up is
this, “Why is accreditation considered
necessary for a Christian institution training
for full-time service?” Several reasons are
offered in response. First, an organization
seeks approval by an accrediting agency
so that their students can transfer credits.
Second, an organization wants approval by
secular institutions so that their students
can get funding offered through banks and
loan companies. Third, an organization
wants approval by secular institutions so
that their students’ parents can get the
tax benefits from paying tuition to their
schools. And fourth, an organization seeks
agency approval so that their faculty can
receive grants and other government
subsidies available to educators. There are
probably other reasons for accreditation,
but these address most that I have heard
recently.
The most important question to ask
is, “Does the Bible address this issue?”
I believe it does, but most have either
ignored the issue or they want more
Christian ministry training institutions to
accept accreditation, thus creating a sort
of “peer pressure” which marginalizes nonaccredited
institutions as being archaic.
SCRIPTURE
Let’s consider some verses to help us
get the right mind-set of the world and its
philosophy.
8 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is
the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth
to destruction, and many there be which
go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13).
“No man can serve two masters: for
either he will hate the one, and love the
other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
“I am come a light into the world, that
whosoever believeth on me should not
abide in darkness” (John 12:46).
“If the world hate you, ye know that
it hated me before it hated you. If ye
were of the world, the world would love
his own: but because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you,
The servant is not greater than his lord. If
they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you; if they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also” (John 15:18-20).
“And be not conformed to this world: but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”
(Romans 12:2).
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove
them” (Ephesians 5:11).
“Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians
2:8).
“Let your conversation be without
covetousness; and be content with such
things as ye have: for he hath said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee”
(Hebrews 13:5).
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know
ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? whosoever therefore
will be a friend of the world is the enemy
of God” (James 4:4).
“Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever” (I John 2:15-17).
“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world
hate you” (I John 3:13).
Some naysayers will cry, “Foul!”
at these verses saying (1) they do not
apply; (2) they are not talking about
accreditation; (3) they have nothing to
do with Christian education. My question
then is, “What are these verses talking
about?” God is addressing our relationship
with the world’s philosophy. He gives clear
instruction on how we should operate
with the world. We often have a “pie-inthe-sky”
mentality with the Scriptures.
We read and preach these passages but
avoid practical application to the principles
drawn from them.
FURTHER QUESTIONS
Let’s consider other concerns
about accreditation. Does recognition
by the Department of Education give
an institution more validity in training
preachers for the ministry? Does it mean
(cont., pg 10)
www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 9

that they can approve or disapprove of
material that is being taught in the school?
Will they regulate the higher education of
the faculty or monitor such endeavors?
Has there been a trend for fundamental
institutions of learning to become stronger
in their Biblical stand after achieving
accreditation status? There are other
issues that may also be addressed, but
these are legitimate concerns.
I have talked with some pastors and
read other institutions’ explanations, but
they don’t address these issues head on.
They say, “Obviously, we would never
compromise!” That does not answer these
questions. One pastor that has a very close
knowledge of some of the institutions that
have been accredited indicated that he
knows for a fact that handbooks, policies,
and even hiring practices were adjusted to
help retain accreditation. Yes, there are
results from having big government look
over your shoulder. I know this personally
from living in the great state of Indiana.
Indiana is considered to be in the top
tier of conservative states in the Union.
For this reason, our state’s education
department has been very involved in the
school choice voucher program. At first
glance, this program appears beneficial.
The premise is that the money designated
for public education “follows the student.”
So, if a parent wants his children to get a
private education, they should be able
to get state funding for this education.
However, a school has to go through a
couple years of rigorous paper shuffling
with the state’s department of education
in order to get this accomplished. As
a staff, we prayed and thought on this
option. We then sat down together with
the church leadership and prayed through
this option. We could not get peace about
pursuing this avenue.
Over the past couple of years, our
principal has attended multiple meetings
with our state’s AACS group. At one
very interesting meeting, a senator from
our state legislator spoke to some of the
principals. This man held a chair in our
state’s department of education. He is
strongly in favor of Christian education,
and he himself has home-schooled his
own children. He told the principals that
they should have a plan in place to fund
their school without government funding.
He continued, saying that he loves helping
their Christian schools, but he also said,
“If you think that there are not strings
attached to the government funding, you
are fooling yourselves.”
CONCLUSION
As a Christian academy and as a
Christian ministry college, we have decided
not to pursue accreditation of any type.
We believe that this falls in line with the
historic Baptistic principles of autonomy
and individual soul liberty. I love to discuss
topics with good pastors, including ways to
help improve the education of our pastors,
missionaries, and full-time servants.
However, God will direct individual local
churches through their pastors, staff, and
church leadership. We somehow have
gotten away from the Biblical idea of
separation from the world, so now some
seek outside approval for the training
of God’s servants. Let’s hold fast to the
doctrines that have been established
through Scripture.
(Steve Damron is the pastor of Fairhaven Baptist
Church and president of Fairhaven Baptist College.)
UPDATE: Trinity Western University
changed its policy banning same-sex
relationships after it lost a Supreme Court
case after being denied accreditation for
its law school. (“Christian College Under
Fire for Turning Away Gay Student Who
Only Needed 6 Credits to Graduate” The
Christian Post September 14, 2018.)
10 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

AN AMAZING STORY OF SALVATION
Pictured with Pastor Damron are
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mwale. How our
church came in contact with them is
an interesting story of God’s providence.
The Mwales live in Lusaka, Zambia.
Joe is 76 years old (which is quite old for
a Zambian). They came to the States to
visit some of their children who live in the
Chicagoland area. Their daughter helped
them get an apartment in Valparaiso,
Indiana for their stay. Marvin Miller, one of
our members, was canvassing this summer
with his wife. As Marvin tells it, they
both were pretty discouraged and were
almost finished for the evening, but they
decided to knock on a few more doors.
They knocked on the apartment that the
Mwales had rented. The Mwales’ niece
came to church for the next two weeks.
Through continued visiting, Mr. and Mrs.
Mwale found out about Fairhaven, and
they started attending in early August.
They attended a few weeks, and then
on our Teen Friend Day, Pastor Parrish
preached on the love of God and how it
changes people. Mr. Mwale was brought
to tears during the service. Dave Olson
presented the gospel to him over lunch for
three hours. Since Joe was not ready to be
saved, Dave left him with a tract and asked
him to read it. Later that week, Mr. and
Mrs. Mwale went to the Olsons’ house for
dinner. They discussed the gospel again at
length, and Mr. Mwale trusted Christ as his
Savior!
So, what makes this even more
amazing? Dave and Joe Mwale had both
lived in Africa for the whole time that
the Olsons served as missionaries there.
However, Mr. Mwale lived in Lusaka and
was very involved in politics. He has
been an ambassador to Russia, Japan,
and Sweden, and is an advisor to one of
the presidential candidates. Dave Olson
would have never been able to meet
this man or have an audience with him.
However, since Dave had been there for so
many years, there was a kinship being here
in the States together. God is amazing in
His providence. Mrs. Mwale gave a clear
testimony of being saved three years ago.
They were baptized on September 23, and
they headed back to Zambia the following
week. Pray that they will grow in the Lord.
REACHING FORTH UNTO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE...PHIL 3:13
2 0 1 8
GOING
GOING
BEYOND
BEYOND
God's Call ... My All
NOVEMBER 5-8
www.fhbc.me/ey
www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 11

GONE CONTEMPORARY
by Pastor Dave Mallinak (‘93)
For quite some time, independent
Baptist churches have been
“modifying” contemporary worship
music. More recently, some have stopped
concealing their whole-hearted embrace
of this music. They have now launched a
campaign to correct what they see as the
“unscriptural” view of worship held by so
many stodgy independent Baptists. While
I find their position appalling, it at least has
the advantage of being honest.
In response, here are seven brief
observations, followed by a longer
response.
Observations
1. These men represent a growing
movement among independent Baptists.
2. They like to remind us that they are
independent Baptists.
3. They do not like the fact that some
separate over music.
4. They argue for the use of electric
guitars and trap sets because the book
of Psalms includes Philistine guitars and
Egyptian instruments.
5. Their main premise is that musical
style is a preference.
6. They take the same approach to
platform and clothing style as they do to
musical style.
7. They think worship is about stirring
up their own passion for God, rather than
about giving God what He wants.
Responses
1. The contemporary music push is the
death rattle of a dying church. In our
attempt to pander to the audience, we
have forgotten that God is the audience.
The more Christians use contemporary
worship, the more we lose the very heart of
worship. Contemporary worship turns the
audience into spectators and the music into
a performance. It produces a low view of
God, a delight in the experience of worship
rather than the God we worship, a superficial
sense of passion that loses the passion of
true worship, a growing dependence on the
experience produced by the music itself,
and the false idea that worship is easy—that
devotion can be whipped up in a couple of
choruses. True worship requires focused
vigor.
2. Our objections to contemporary
worship styles are not an attempt to deny
any church their autonomy. But autonomy
in church government must not be confused
with autonomy with God. God’s Word sets
standards for music and worship (Hebrews
12:28-29).
3. We have a responsibility to follow
Scripture in fellowship and cooperation.
Scripturally, we cannot pretend to be in
good fellowship with churches who have
chosen relevance over reverence. Some
have argued that separating over musical
style places style on the same level as
essential doctrines. This is a sleight-of-hand
argument. They assume that the worship
debate is about style rather than substance.
Worship is a major doctrine, and reducing
God to the level of the common is a serious
slight against Him. We strongly urge faithful
independent Baptist churches to separate
from those churches who make profane
what is holy.
4. It is one thing to play a Philistine guitar.
It is quite another to play that guitar like a
Philistine.
5. Those who use contemporary worship
12 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

music ignore the clear message musical
style sends about the occasion of worship.
Style informs us about the meaning of
the occasion. We see this in movies,
weddings, funerals, classy restaurants,
military parades, and basketball games.
We cannot redeem a carnal style of music,
regardless of how sacred the lyrics might
be.
God gave us the book of Psalms to
serve as a guidebook for style. The dignity,
reverence, majesty, and solemn joy that
permeate the Psalms show us clearly what
God wants from us (see Psalm 66:2; 92:1-
3; 95:1; 96:3-10). God wants to be praised
and worshipped. We think we need
the experience of contemporary music
because we stopped praising God within
Scriptural confines.
6. Style is the meaning. The music, dress,
and trendy look of the contemporary
independent Baptists say less about their
view of style and more about their view of
God. The missing pulpit, the stage lighting,
the skinny jeans, the electric guitar, and
the trap set, all clearly communicate what
they believe worship to be about. Worship
is trendy. God is casual.
7. The contemporary independent
Baptists have extended to their logical
conclusion the worship experience in most
independent Baptist churches. Churches
design the service around the worshipper,
rather than the One worshipped. We sing
more about ourselves and our feelings
for God, not about God. We please the
audience instead of God. We are too busy
touching emotional chords to really sing
to the Lord. Worship is about God, not
about feeding my passion for God. When
we delight in the Lord, we don’t need to
create a worship experience.
Some Final Thoughts:
Style in worship both reflects our view
of God and shapes our view of God.
Contemporary music shows that in our eyes
God is degraded. True worship music must be
transcendent, majestic, glorious, solemn, and
full of joy. The debate here is not between
“traditional” and “contemporary.” The real
conflict is for the heart of worship. That
conflict will be settled when we stop playing
for the audience in front of us and remember
Who the real audience is—because God
Almighty is our true audience.
(Dave Mallinak (‘93) is the pastor of Berean Baptist
Church in Ogden, Utah.)
Read the entire article at
www.fhbc.me/gonecontemporary.
dr. david sorenson
module course
may 20-24, 2019
www.fhbc.me/modulecourses
www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 13

MODIFY MUSIC?
by Dr. Jeremiah Mitchell
If you’ve spent
much time in a
church music
ministry, chances
are that, here
and there, you’ve
adapted a song for
your needs. It could
be as simple as singing a four-part song
as a duet or as complicated as tweaking a
song’s harmonies and/or rhythms to bring
it within the general music standards of
you or your church’s music philosophy.
When you start “cleaning up” music, the
question comes up: How much cleaning up
is too much? Aren’t there songs that don’t
need any cleaning up at all? Shouldn’t we
just stick with those?
Obviously, we don’t want to get to the
place where the music that the “Christian
Rock” industry is putting out finds its way
into our churches, minus the trap set (as
a fanciful means of “cleaning” it up). But
there is some wonderful music out there
that can be a blessing with some minor
alterations. So, where do we draw the
line?
Let me start with an analogy. Years
ago, in a library, I once saw a lovely oil
painting of a hulking old sea vessel making
its way through a powerful sea. It was
so full of detail that my imagination was
immediately drawn in as I studied the sails
and all the lines attached to them. Then,
to my shock, in one of the lower corners
I saw a tiny figure floating on a piece of
driftwood. It was a mermaid! And in
typical mermaid fashion, she was not
decently covered. I thought to myself, with
a small dab of paint, no one would ever
know she was there. This was a painting
that, I believe, once modified a bit, could
adorn a preacher’s study.
I think we do this type of thing more
often than we think. My wife will find
a dress of modest length and possibly
make some adjustments to the slit at the
bottom to make it a bit more modest. I
don’t believe there is a problem with this.
Another example—my son loves WWII
history. So, from time to time, my wife
and I will find a book for him to read; and,
after my wife checks it for such things as
immodestly attired females on the nose
cones of the old bombers and “alters” the
book, we let him study that part of history.
Now, let’s look at this from another
angle. What if the aforementioned
painting was of a mermaid as the
prominent focal point and the sailing
vessel was small—possibly way off in the
distance? That would be a different story.
To get one of the ladies to try to paint some
decent clothing onto her would only turn
an ungodly painting into, at best, a strange
one. The same is going to be true of trying
to clean up a song that is predominately
flesh-centered. Instead of ending up with
a “cleaned up,” ungodly song, you would
have a strange one that leaves the listener
annoyed and craving the “real” thing.
In other words, taking a mostly decent
song and adapting it a bit (i.e. “cleaning
it up,” if you will) is simply part of church
music. I don’t believe there’s a Christcentered
music ministry that hasn’t made
some sort of alteration to the music that
it has used. Whether tweaking words,
rhythms, or harmonies, our constant goal
should be to make our music better for
14 | ALWAYS ABOUNDING

the glory of the Lord. The person who
is looking for opportunities to slip the
world’s sound just under the protective
standards of a church has an appetite that
is not under God’s control. Galatians 6:8 is
a powerful warning, “For he that soweth to
his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the
Spirt reap life everlasting.”
(Jeremiah Mitchell is the Dean of Music at Fairhaven
Baptist College.)
MAY
20-24
AUG
19-23
Stringhaven
UPCOMING EVENTS
November 5-8
Empowered Youth
December 18
Glory of Christmas Concert
January 22
Children’s Ministry Workshop
with Abb Thomas
February 22
Mother/Daughter Banquet
March 8
Men’s BBQ
March 15
Conquerors’ Challenge
Basketball/Volleyball Tournament
Men’s Quartet
Fairhaven Brass
2018-2019 Fairhaven Baptist College
Traveling Groups
Contact us now to schedule:
info@fairhavenbaptist.org
1-800-SEE-FHBC
www.fairhavenbaptist.org | 15

86 East Oak Hill Road
Chesterton, Indiana 46304