ONE OF MY GREATEST HONORS

(Pictured: Jim & Coletta Burns, Beneth Jones, Bob Jones III)

Pastoring God's people in a local church is filled with tremendous blessings. It is also hard work because our sinful nature does not like doing spiritual things. Also,because the Devil is always against you, it can sometimes be brutal. Our pain and pressure as Pastors and Pastor's wives are not like the pain our good people at Liberty Baptist suffered with for nearly three years of striving to physically convert a school building into a church building. Our pain is not like the agony of a broken bone or pulled muscle. Our pain is often invisible to the human eye. Our pain is usually from the temptations of the world trying to pull us away from the will of God, and from a Devil and demons who would be thrilled to see us get washed out.

But the Bible still says, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:9). Satan fought our church's building program about as hard as I have ever seen him fight. He did not want this to happen. He did not want that last drop of paint brushed on. Satan did not want the final light bulb screwed in. He didn't want the pulpit placed on the platform. He didn't want the church choir to sing their first song in our new auditorium. But, Satan lost this battle and Jesus won.

Every now and then, a special gift or event takes place that we know has to be God saying,"You've past another test,so, here's your reward for a good grade." For me as the Pastor here, my reward for what our church has been through these past three years was having Dr. Bob Jones III and his wife, Beneth Jones come to Van Wert to help us celebrate this great victory. This is probably the greatest honor Coletta and I have ever had in 34 years of ministering at five different churches in four different states.

Although hated and misunderstood by many, Dr. Bob Jones, III is one of the most sincere, genuine, compassionate and friendly men I have ever met. Beneth is equally the same as a Christian lady. Let me say the Devil hates this couple also. But Jesus loves them and has used them for many years.

Back in the 80's when a very well known Pastor of a large church fell, I heard Dr. Bob Jones, III say, "Maybe now we have finally learned that in Fundamentalism, our only hero should be Jesus Christ!" Well, Dr. Bob, I know your right about this. But I must confess, I have loved and admired you and your wife as a man of God and she a women of God since the day I met you, and you're still my hero in the ministry!

(Pictured: Me shaking hands with Bob Jones, III in new auditorium).

Thanks to both of you as well as the BJ pilots, Pete and Morgan for coming to our church Sept. 18 & 19, 2010. It made it worth it all. May God bless you.

(BJU Pilots, Morgan and Pete standing with Dr. and Mrs. Bob Jones, III)

AFTER OVER TWO YEARS, FINISHED!

It's almost midnight on Friday night, Sept. 24, 2010, and I'm feeling guilty. Whenever I was out of town, sick, making church visits or entertaining my 3 year old granddaughter on Sat. morning, I would have an underlying "guilt trip" going on for not being at the Sat. work day at our church. I'm sure I can testify for myself as well as about 20 faithful church men and women from Liberty Baptist. "Tomorrow's Saturday and I don't have to go to work on the church building!" It's weird. When you add the hundreds of building committee meetings, praying and working to get needed funds, votes and decisions to make on what to do and "how to do it," (or, what color it should be), we are all drained, beat down and tired. But, as my son Aaron in China would say, "It's a GOOD tired!" And that it is.

There's no way I can thank the hard workers in our church for working on turning the Horace Mann School into a church building to house the Liberty Baptist Ministries. I just pray God will richly reward all of you. Very soon, I will type up a blog post about last week end's ribbon cutting, Dedication Service with Dr. Bob Jones, III and his wife, Beneth as our guests, and how the first two Sundays in our new auditorium went. Officially, this coming Sunday will be my first Sunday to preach behind the pulpit the church bought me 2 years ago. But, that's O. K., cos we saved it for NOW!

So, after over two years of work days, work nights, literal blood, literal sweat, and literal "tears," it's over. But, really, it will never be over until Jesus comes! Cos, we have tons of souls to reach for Christ, and plenty of roof leaks. Maybe doing those two maintenance projects will keep us out of trouble until the rapture!


I'm tired Jim C. Burns, along with a tired wife and a tired church . . . . . AND THAT'S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!

DR. BOB JONES, III COMING TO OUR CHURCH!

Dr. Bob Jones, III, Chancellor and former President of Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC will be the featured speaker at the Building Dedication of the Liberty Baptist Church, 501 E. Third Street in Van Wert. The Dedication Service will be Saturday, September 18th at 2:00 pm in the church’s new auditorium. An open house and reception will begin at 3:30 pm.

Dr. Bob Jones, III and his wife, Beneth will also be speaking at Liberty Baptist Sunday morning, Sept. 19th. At 9:30 am, Mrs. Jones will teach a Bible lesson to the teen girls and adult women in the Youth Department, and Dr. Jones will address the teen boys and adult men in the church’s new auditorium. Dr. Jones’ final message of the day will be during the Sunday Morning worship service at 10:45 am. Liberty Baptist Church is now located at the former Horace Mann School.

You are all invited to come join us for this very special week end!

Jim C. Burns, Pastor - Email: jimmycburns@aol.com

CHURCH PARKING LOT LIKE NEW!

Liberty Baptist Church of Van Wert, Ohio voted on this Sunday night, ordered it Monday, and it was started and finished in six hours on Tuesday! Summer Sealers wanted to do our double sealing and re-striping on Monday, but could not due to a ladies volley ball game our church had on Monday evening. Our parking lot looks like new with twice as many handicap spaces and two new visitor's spaces. This Sunday will be better thanks to Summer Sealers. What a blessing also to know how sharp this will look for our Building Dedication Service on Saturday, Sept. 18!


(Pictured above, Church Member, Larry Nighswander)
Thank you Steve and Ben Laudick and crew for an A+ job!

I'm Jim C. Burns and this is something to think about! Email: jimmycburns@aol.com

SAILING INTO VICTORY HARBOR!

(Pictured above: me at St. Augustine, Florida on Father's Day, 2010)
Our church only has ten weeks to complete our new auditorium in time for our Building Dedication on Sept. 18th. Please pray for us as we sail into Victory Harbor by our church volunteers enduring unto the end of this 3 year project!


(Pictured above: Coletta Burns in front of the Freedom Boat, June 20, 2010)

This is something to think about!

Email: jimmycburns@aol.com

WE HAVE AIR!

(Pictured: Mike Ramser)

Thanks to Mike Ramser, Fred Heimann, Steve Mengerink, and Larry Nighswander our four new auditorium air conditioners are up and running!

As of last Saturday, the former Horace Mann School Gym which was built in 1953 has air conditioning for the very first time! This is the new Liberty Baptist Church auditorium, and this summer, it is all coming together! Today, all 30 of the ceiling light bulbs were installed and the pulpit platform is being built. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the tireless volunteer workers and to all of you who have given sacrificially to see this project through. I really believe we will be worshipping in this beautifully remodeled room by the first Sunday of September,2010.


(Pictured: Steve Mengerink, Project Manager)

Stop by and take a look! It's not only exciting, it's "something to think about!"

(Pictured: Larry Nighswander, and Fred Heimann, Building Supervisor)

Email: jimmycburns@aol.com

PS. Another big thanks goes out to Mark and Chris Bayus of M & M Sound from Ohio City for running the wires and hooking up the electricity for our new lights.
(Pictured: Mike Ramser outside of auditorium)

FIRST SUNDAY SUCCESS!

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9).

God did it!

Yesterday was one of the most victorious days I've ever experienced in 33 years of ministry. Our church people and even a couple of guest volunteers worked tirelessly last week to move "stuff" from our old church building into the new building. Many took vacation days to help, and others worked some nights till midnight to make things ready. I was so excited, I got up at 5:45 Sunday morning, drove "up" to our new building and called Travis Kittle at 6:28 am to see if he could clear the snow off the parking lot. (Sorry Travis). I then walked into our new building and broke down. With nearly a year from the purchase date and seven months of hard work from our wonderful church family, we are now "in!"

On our first Sunday in our new building, we saw our Sunday School record broke with 102 in Sunday School, and we were blessed with 162 total for our morning worship hour. It was so "awesome" having all the extra space! I could stand at my new pulpit from our big blue adult classroom we are using for our make shift sanctuary and see kids walking to their new classrooms with big smiles on their faces. And, the teachers were smiling too! For the first time in 15 years, our children's Sun. School Teachers got to use a classroom with real walls and real doors! We had ample parking space on both sides of the building, and a new lobby about three times the size of our old one!


God has been so good to us, and we are just praising His name for how He gave us such a tremendous first day in our new church building!

That's Something to Think About!

CHURCH MOVE ON DEC. 7, 2008

Pictured above: Church Member, Jerry Miller with granddaughter, Cheyenne, and daughter, June Clutter in front of a handicap hallway installed west of the future worship center.

After over seven months of hard work from over 40 different volunteers who have given over $60,000.00 worth of donated labor, Liberty Baptist Church of Van Wert will be moving into the former Horace Mann School Building at 501 E. Third Street. Dec. 7th will be our first Sunday with Sunday School starting at 9:30 am and the Morning Worship time being changed to 10:45 am. Our biggest challenge after purchasing the school last December at the auction was to meet the new state codes for fire protection. Securcom from Minster, Ohio won our bid for our fire and burglar alarm system, and Armor Fire Protection in Lima has successfully installed our new fire/water sprinkler system.

I am also very happy to announce that as of Thursday, Nov. 20th, the State of Ohio electrical and structural building inspectors along with Van Wert City Fire Marshall, Bill Green have approved our entrance for worship and ministry into our new facility. Most all of the classrooms are already finished and ready to go, and we are now putting finishing touches on floor waxing, and finish carpentry work. The new Liberty Baptist Church is also now completely handicap accessible according to the Ohio State codes. For this winter, we will be meeting in the educational part of the building. We still have much work to do on the gym, which will be worked on this winter and open in the spring of 2009. We will then have our open house and building dedication after the gym has been remodeled as our worship center.

Pictured below: Church Member, Mike Ramser installing our final Exit light!


This sure is something GREAT to Praise God about!!

jimmycburns@aol.com

NEW PASTOR'S STUDY FINISHED!

Tonight, we put my books in the pastor's study in our school building that we are converting into a church. Add a couple of chairs for visitors or counselees, some pictures, heat, a door, and state approval for entrance, and we will be open for business! Pretty exciting for Pastor Jim! My hat goes off to my lovely wife, Coletta for designing and doing most of the remodelling work. Thanks also to all the church men and women who helped with the drywall finishing, painting, ceiling tile and insulation, electrical work, wood trim, and carpeting. also, a big thanks to the men and teen boys who helped me move my bookshelves and all my ministry books from our house to my new study. It looks great! Come see it for yourself! Granddaughter Miley was with us tonight for my first "desk sitting!" (See pictures below).

CHURCH WORK NIGHT TONIGHT!

Another church building work night is over. We had a great meal served by one of our church ladies, and a great turn out. With late fall temperatures, it was cold in the building tonight, but the spirit was warm. While about 20 of us put some touches on needed projects to meet the demands of Ohio State codes and prepare rooms for practical church ministries, another crew of faithful servants met in our present facility to work with our Awana Clubbers. It is difficult having two different campuses, but we thank the Lord that he has given the Liberty Baptist Church of Van Wert, Ohio a new 4 acres campus with ample space for future church growth.

Today (Wed.) my wife went to Marion, Ohio to help care for her mother who is in a care home recuperating from knee surgery. I did various church business items, worked some on our up and coming week end youth crusade, visited an inmate in the local county jail and went to Haviland, Ohio to try and comfort a dear church family who lost a 28 year old grandson two weeks ago tonight due to a gun shot wound. Tomorrow will hold more church building work and preparation for the week end youth crusade. I will also do my best tomorrow to make some important visits to shut ins and some folks who have visited our church as well as others who have been absent for a while. Sometime tomorrow, I also need to get in some brisk aerobic exercise.

I'm going to bed now. It's just Cabbie (the Scotty Dog) and me tonight. It will be good to have Coletta home tomorrow afternoon.

Good night.

Jim Burns, Pastor
Email: jimmycburns@aol.com

The Pictures Say it All!

Yesterday was a special day for my wife and me at the Liberty Baptist Church of Van Wert, Ohio. It was Oct. 1, 1995 that the church voted to call me to be their new pastor. My official first Sunday to start ministering was Nov. 1st. It has been a wonderful adventure filled with laughter and tears, but also spiritual and numerical growth of which Coletta and I are very grateful. Thank you Liberty family for being so good to the Burns' family! Thank you for taking us in and being patient with us and putting up with my crazy ways for 13 years. May God give us another 13 years!


On a different note, we are making some serious progress at our new building. New sanctuary chairs have arrived, four of our classrooms are ready to go, and it won't be long that the pastor's study, the lobby and hallways and the rest of classes will be completed. Also, a big giant step for our church took place a week ago Saturday with four wall hanging air conditioners being installed. Please pray for us as we ask God for laborers from other churches to come assist us in completing this project. Our biggest giant hurdle now is getting our chapel completed and then our main auditorium. The pictures tell the story.



I'm Jim Burns and that's something to think about! Email: jimmycburns@aol.com

Summer School is Educating our Church!

Gail Alsteiter, a friend from Lima I went to college with stopped by back when snow was on the ground to see the school building our church bought the Saturday after Christmas. As we walked through the building, Gail said, "You're going to be real busy this summer!" I wanted to slap him, because me being the expert in commercial building and school remodelling, I knew he was so wrong. I said, "Nope. We're going to have our first service here Easter!" I didn't tell Gail I meant Easter 2009.
Pictured above is a corner inside the Preschool room at our new building. This is where my wife, Coletta will teach children (Lord willing). Since April 3, the day our church took possesion of the Horace Mann School Building we haven't stopped. We have work nights every night but Fridays, and a workday every Saturday. Today, I walked through the building and across most of the property with Pat Ryan, President of Citizen's National Bank here in Van Wert. He came to give me a $45,000.00 check for the fire/water sprinkler contractor, and to get some "updated pictures." Pat said, "James, this place doesn't look any different than the last time I was here!" I said, "Thanks Pat. But, the sprinklers, fire alarms and burlgar alarms are now completed, and the Fire Marshel and State Inspector will check all that and the electric work next Monday. Once those items are approved, you're going to see some major changes!" Within two weeks, we should have all the ceiling tile back in all the hallways, and most of the classrooms. However, our giants before us are turning the gym into a church santuary, the stage, the nursery, and installing air conditioners. I was a bit discouraged with the project yesterday, just like most of our volunteers. So, I got out of town for the afternoon and evening,and it helped! I feel better today. I am NOT discouraged with our church volunteers! The ones that come work, work hard and tirelessly, and Coletta and I deeply appreciate your labors of love!

This project will be completed and a building dedication ceremony will be scheduled exactly according to God's timing! We are running thin in the finance department, so, we are down to faith and prayer. Please pray that our old building will sell soon, and that the needed funds will come in to complete this project. God has given us a beautiful 4 acre campus, a 40 place parking lot, a playground, a ball diamond, a front yard with trees, 11 large classrooms, offices and an auditorium. All of this is easily 4 times bigger than where we are now and we are so thrilled with what the Lord has given us at 501 E. Third Street here in Van Wert.

And about the "Summer School" educating our church? This too shall come to pass!

I'm Jim Burns, and that's something to think about! jimmycburns@aol.com

It is a Good Tired!

Last Thursday, April 3, 2008 our church officially took possession of the 3.6 acres of the Horace Mann School Property here in Van Wert. From early Thursday morning until Saturday evening, the good people of Liberty, Dick and Sam from Dillon Road Baptist Church of Fostoria, Ohio, and three different construction High School groups from Vantage Career Center along with their Instructor, Larry Mengerink never stopped working. All the ceiling tile was removed along with the insulation above, three storage room walls were removed and several table holders, tables and benches were removed from the cafeteria to make way for sanctuary seating and new carpet. Of course, we had to cut three trees down just to "mark" our new territory! As I came home from the Saturday work day to finish my Sunday morning sermon on my laptop, I was exhausted. I am exhausted again from ministering at church today. But, when our adult service was over at our old church building tonight, I hitched a ride with the guy pictured here cutting down the tree to see how the teen service and scavenger hunt activity went at our new building. Love, excitement and enthusiasm permeated the dusty air as the teens and our dedicated youth workers ate pizza, cookies and drank colored syrup for refreshments. I sampled a little of each, laughed and rejoiced with the workers and good kids who make up our church youth group. Tony and Lisa Crawford, our youth director and his wife helped turn out the lights and lock the doors. Although I was asked for a ride home, I needed the five block walk in the crisp, spring, fresh Ohio air to unwind. I said to myself what my missionary son, Aaron in China once said after he directed a Neighborhood Bible Time here. "I'm tired, but, it is a good tired!" Why so good? The guy who took me to the youth activity (pictured above cutting down the tree) is Terry Reynolds, who lives just 3 blocks West of our new building. Seven months ago, Terry and his family were not Christians. But on the last week of September, 2008, after attending our church for several weeks, Terry, his wife Deb and their oldest child, T. J. accepted Christ in their own home. They also have a younger daughter named Jessie who just accepted Christ into her life last Sunday night. I was honored to be with them to show them the Bible verses about salvation and pray with them in their living room as they were saved that night. And that, my friend is what this building project is all about! And that makes it a "good tired." The Reynolds are now faithful members of our church, and Terry is one of our new "tree cutters!" Let's get tired more often in leading more people like the Reynolds to Jesus Christ.

That's Something to Think About! jimmycburns@aol.com