by Randy Harp
The Resurrection changed everything! Do you believe that? As Christians, it is the foundation to all we believe. H. A. Ironside stated, “The Gospel is the Gospel of the risen Christ. There would be no Gospel for sinners if Christ had not been raised.” R. A. Torrey says, “The crucifixion loses its meaning without the resurrection. Without the resurrection the death of Christ was only the heroic death of a noble martyr; with the resurrection it is the atoning death of the Son of God.” We dedicate this issue of the Tribune to making much of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
To do this, I purposely chose three approaches to Easter for our features — future issues may follow the same pattern — an inspirational piece, a theological writing, and some practical advice for pastors and their staff. Our regular features also address Easter from various perspectives and the “AfterWords” is a personal application page. Jon Konnerup also recently took a trip to Costa Rica. He reports about it in this issue. There is a lot of exciting Fellowship news to share! I am still amazed at how much content we can squeeze into 32 pages.
I look forward to the next few months. Our theme for April is a follow-up to Easter called, “Next Step.” It will include different areas in which pastors, churches, and church members can take the proverbial next step. The theme for May is “The Fellowship.” We will include history of the BBFI, highlight its multiple entities and ministries, and share some of our vision. In June we will focus on “Communication.”
In this issue, I also need to take a few moments to express my apologies. In the February magazine, we overlooked a typo of epic proportion. Not only was it the largest word on the cover; it was our theme word on the cover. I wrote an apology on the Tribune Facebook page I would encourage you to read, but I want you to know I take full responsibility for this mistake and we are putting additional measures in place so this doesn’t happen again.
Once again, I encourage you to partner with us in this vital ministry of the BBFI. By the time you read this, February has come and gone, but we still need your participation in our annual February Tribune Offering. There is more information on page 21 that helps explain the purpose of this offering. You can communicate your commitment either to your state chairman or directly to our office for this special offering. We have already begun to expand our ministry through our monthly BBFI Leadership Podcast and initial steps toward a BBFI mobile app, but we need your support to fulfill the vision for our expansion.
As always, thank you for allowing me to serve Christ as I serve you. If I can ever be of service to you, please let me know.