Blog https://www.riverviewtoday.org Tue, 19 Mar 2024 04:25:53 -0400 http://churchplantmedia.com/ Statement on the Kidnapping of Noah Trout https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/statement-on-kidnapping https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/statement-on-kidnapping#comments Mon, 03 May 2021 17:00:00 -0400 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/statement-on-kidnapping STATEMENT OF PASTOR MIKE MITCHENER AND
RIVERVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH

RE: KIDNAPPING FROM CHURCH CAMPUS

(Issued on May 3, 2021)

The last twenty-four hours have been a nightmare for our entire church family. It is now that we can rejoice that the child that was kidnapped from our campus yesterday has been safely returned to his parents. We commend law enforcement for their excellent work, and we praise God for answering our prayers.

Riverview Baptist Church values the safety and protection of every child. As a matter of policy, we fully cooperated with law enforcement. We are immediately examining ways to make our campus and facilities even more safe and secure for families wishing to come worship with us. We hope that this criminal act on our campus allows other churches to evaluate their own childcare safety procedures.

We believe that transparency, child safety, and accountability are essential for successful ministry, and we are fully committed to ministering to your children in a safe and responsible manner. As we do not want to interfere with the on-going work of law enforcement in this matter, this will be our only public statement at this time.

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STATEMENT OF PASTOR MIKE MITCHENER AND
RIVERVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH

RE: KIDNAPPING FROM CHURCH CAMPUS

(Issued on May 3, 2021)

The last twenty-four hours have been a nightmare for our entire church family. It is now that we can rejoice that the child that was kidnapped from our campus yesterday has been safely returned to his parents. We commend law enforcement for their excellent work, and we praise God for answering our prayers.

Riverview Baptist Church values the safety and protection of every child. As a matter of policy, we fully cooperated with law enforcement. We are immediately examining ways to make our campus and facilities even more safe and secure for families wishing to come worship with us. We hope that this criminal act on our campus allows other churches to evaluate their own childcare safety procedures.

We believe that transparency, child safety, and accountability are essential for successful ministry, and we are fully committed to ministering to your children in a safe and responsible manner. As we do not want to interfere with the on-going work of law enforcement in this matter, this will be our only public statement at this time.

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e-Invitations to Share with Friends and Family this Easter https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/f https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/f#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2021 14:00:00 -0400 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/f Pastor Mike has encouraged us to share the love of Christ with friends and family this Easter.  To help with that, we've prepared two e-invitations to Easter events we'd love to have as many as possible attend.  The first is the wonderful Easter Experience Egg-Hunt we've planned for kids ages 3 to 13 on the Saturday before Easter, and then there's also our Easter Sunday services where the focus once more will be on the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, made possible by His death and resurrection.

Click on on this link to access our Easter Experience invitation, and on this link to access the Easter Sunday invitation file.

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Pastor Mike has encouraged us to share the love of Christ with friends and family this Easter.  To help with that, we've prepared two e-invitations to Easter events we'd love to have as many as possible attend.  The first is the wonderful Easter Experience Egg-Hunt we've planned for kids ages 3 to 13 on the Saturday before Easter, and then there's also our Easter Sunday services where the focus once more will be on the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, made possible by His death and resurrection.

Click on on this link to access our Easter Experience invitation, and on this link to access the Easter Sunday invitation file.

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Covid-19 Protocols https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/covid https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/covid#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2020 16:00:00 -0500 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/covid Since we have returned to in person church services, we have endeavored to address the reality of COVID-19 in ways that are cautious and practical. The leadership of the church has stayed in close communication with the local health department. We have voluntarily used the following protocols to provide a safe experience here at church:

  • We offer live streamed services on the church website, Facebook, and Twitter for Sunday morning at 11:00 A.M., Sunday night at 6:00 P.M., and the Wednesday night Bible study class at 7:00 P.M. for all who feel safer staying at home.
  • We have two church services on Sunday morning (8:45, and 11:00 A.M.). This provides the congregation options for attendance. We also offer overflow rooms where the live stream can be viewed, including a mask-only overflow room.
  • Sanctuary seating is managed to allow reasonable social distancing.
  • Common touch surfaces are sanitized after each service.
  • Hand sanitizer is provided at multiple locations around campus.
  • We strongly encourage you to wear masks from your vehicles to your seats, and back. As much as possible, please wear a mask.
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Since we have returned to in person church services, we have endeavored to address the reality of COVID-19 in ways that are cautious and practical. The leadership of the church has stayed in close communication with the local health department. We have voluntarily used the following protocols to provide a safe experience here at church:

  • We offer live streamed services on the church website, Facebook, and Twitter for Sunday morning at 11:00 A.M., Sunday night at 6:00 P.M., and the Wednesday night Bible study class at 7:00 P.M. for all who feel safer staying at home.
  • We have two church services on Sunday morning (8:45, and 11:00 A.M.). This provides the congregation options for attendance. We also offer overflow rooms where the live stream can be viewed, including a mask-only overflow room.
  • Sanctuary seating is managed to allow reasonable social distancing.
  • Common touch surfaces are sanitized after each service.
  • Hand sanitizer is provided at multiple locations around campus.
  • We strongly encourage you to wear masks from your vehicles to your seats, and back. As much as possible, please wear a mask.
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A Mask-Only Overflow for Covid Cautious Persons https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/mask-only- https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/mask-only-#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2020 18:00:00 -0400 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/mask-only- New Format for Sunday Morning Worship:

TWO one-hour Worship Services: 8:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

ONE forty-five minute Sunday School from 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

The new format seeks to enhance our ability to worship the Lord together while being considerate of those who desire to practice social distancing in several new ways.

The most significant improvement is the addition of two overflow rooms. The Africa Room will be designated a mask-only overflow room for those of us still needing to be conscientious of COVID 19. The Australia Room will be designated general overflow. We will live-stream each worship service to both overflow rooms.

Greeters will be serving alongside our ushers to seat folks in the sanctuary and overflow rooms when necessary.

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New Format for Sunday Morning Worship:

TWO one-hour Worship Services: 8:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

ONE forty-five minute Sunday School from 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

The new format seeks to enhance our ability to worship the Lord together while being considerate of those who desire to practice social distancing in several new ways.

The most significant improvement is the addition of two overflow rooms. The Africa Room will be designated a mask-only overflow room for those of us still needing to be conscientious of COVID 19. The Australia Room will be designated general overflow. We will live-stream each worship service to both overflow rooms.

Greeters will be serving alongside our ushers to seat folks in the sanctuary and overflow rooms when necessary.

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A Less Common Perspective on Blacks and the Inner City https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/ToddJohnson https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/ToddJohnson#comments Tue, 18 Feb 2020 10:00:00 -0500 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/ToddJohnson I got to know Pastor Todd Johnson a little bit for the first time several months ago. We were both guests at the home of mutual friends, Don and Sara Cumbee, where we spent some time together enjoying excellent food and some wonderful Virginia hospitality. He was in town to speak at Riverview Baptist Church, as he has from time to time. Picture an imposing and gifted black preacher from the inner city of Philadelphia with a fiery passion for God and read on.

Todd used to be bigger in size than he is these days. He’s quite happy to have lost significant bulk in the last year, yet he remains a man of impressive magnitude in other ways. You’ll soon understand what I mean. Todd would be preaching at the RBC Homecoming service this Sunday, so we thought it fit to feature Todd this week. I caught up with him by phone on Monday evening for this interview.

ToddJohnsonFeature"So, my friend," I began, "could you give our readers a little bit of background on how you came to Christ?

"Sure!" He answered. "I came to know the Lord when I was twelve years old. I remember I was listening to the radio.  I was trying to turn to a secular station to listen to some music, and I turned down too far and got a Christian broadcast. So, I didn’t touch the dial and I listened to the gentleman who was preaching the Gospel, and at the end of that radio broadcast he said 'if you want to receive the Lord Jesus Christ then pray this prayer.' I knelt beside my bed and prayed that the Lord would come into my heart and be my Savior. That’s how I got saved."

"Do you remember the title of the radio program or who the preacher was?"

"I don’t recall the name of the preacher, but I do remember the station. It was Family Radio and at that time it was 107.9fm in Philadelphia. I was trying to turn to 105.3 but like I said, I turned down too far."

I detected a chuckle in his voice. "So, how long did you listen?" I'm sure there was a detectable smile in my voice as well.

"It was about a 15-minute message. Interestingly enough, I was already a member of a church, but I wasn’t saved. I had gone to church for about a year prior to this. I was singing in the choir and all that, but I’d never asked Christ to come in and save me."

"Interesting! So was the message a salvation message then?"

"Yes it was. Straight up salvation!"

"So, I repeated out loud, "you accidently turn to this station…"

Todd interjected. "Well, I say accidentally, but really it was the grace of God. It wasn’t my intent. I won't lie and say it was my intention to turn to this Gospel station, because it wasn’t. I was trying to turn to a secular station that I would listen on Sunday evenings because they’d play secular music."

"So, up until this point had you ever heard the Gospel clearly presented, or was it just that this time God got your attention?"

"I’d heard the Gospel before that, when I was in church, but I wasn’t really listening. I was a rambunctious kid. I would sit there with my friends in the back of the church and talk and pass notes to one another and eat candy. I really wasn’t very attentive. The difference was that that night I was listening to this radio broadcast and it had my full attention."

"So, let’s wind the clock back a little." I said. "You’re from Philly and in the city no less. Are you a son of the soil?" “Son of the soil." Was that even an American expression? I didn’t know, but Todd clearly understood what I meant.

“Yes!” He answered. “Born and raised right here!”

“And your parents,” I asked, “were they religious at all?”

"They were somewhat religious, I’d say. They were nominal Christians. They were SMO Christians." SMO is preacher-speak for Sunday Morning Only. "They would attend on occasions like Mother’s Day, Christmas, Easter, but I didn’t grow up in a quote-unquote Christian home. It wasn’t until I asked the Lord to come into my life that my parents rededicated their lives. Usually, it’s the other way around - the parents influence the children. But in this particular case, my parents were influenced by my coming to know the Lord, and then they became active participants in the church I’d been attending for almost a year.

"So, what was your youth like? I know you were unsaved and all that: were you like a little angel?" I asked with mirthful scarcasm.

"No, I was not. I received Christ at twelve, and before that I wasn’t what you may call a felon or a demon; just your typical rambunctious child. I got into trouble – not serious trouble – but a fight here and there, not telling the truth, doing stuff that wasn’t right. I wasn’t stealing cars, but we might go to the store and I’d steal a piece of candy. That’s still stealing and those are the things that lead to bigger things."

"So, had you not gotten saved, you might have gone down a darker path." My comment was an invitation for elaboration if not exactly a question.

"I could have." He offered. "I grew up in the inner city here in Philadelphia and I knew people like that in my neighborhood. I knew kids who were committing much more serious crime, so I could have been influenced to get into that kind of thing."

"That intrigues me." I said. "I grew up in the Caribbean, and its nothing like the concrete jungle of the inner city. That’s a pretty tough environment, and you’ve chosen to remain and minister to the people there. So, tell me the story. After you got saved, what happened next?"

"I began to grow as a Christian. My father and mother started going to Bible study and that influenced me to attend as well. One of my father’s favorite preachers was Charles Stanley, and so I’d sit and watch his 'In Touch' program with my parents. That was my first exposure to Biblical teaching. My parents went from being more or less nominal to becoming really dedicated believers. By the age of 14 or 15, my home took on much more of a Christ-like tone: no cursing in the house, no smoking in the house, you can't bring your friends in here if they’re going to be using profanity, you have to be in at a certain time before nightfall, and so forth. So, that structure and that discipline helped me tremendously especially through my high school years."

"So, you had both parents in your home. Your home was not broken." This was another of my invitations for elaboration.

"No! I grew up in a home with a mother and a father and I had three older sisters - I’m the only boy and the youngest in the family. The day that my father died my parents were together. I didn’t grow up in a home with divorced parents or with parents who were estranged or in a single parent home. I didn’t have that experience."

"Is that pretty unusual in your neck of the woods?"

"At that time it was not because I grew up in the 70s, so most of the families in the inner city were intact. Most of my peers grew up in a dual-parent homes. You didn’t start seeing see a lot of the single parent homes until the late 80s and 90s. That's when you started seeing it everywhere, and that was a direct result of some of the policies from the 60s with the welfare and those kinds of programs. Up until the early 70s about 70 percent - or maybe even higher of the homes in the African American community had both parents. That changed with the welfare system and some of the liberal programs that were introduced into the big cities. That started to change in the middle and late sixties. We started seeing more and more single parent homes, and now it is totally reversed. Now, over 70 percent of the homes in the community where I live are single parent homes. They’re very few dual-parent families."

"So, I want to delve into that for a little bit. Why did the New Deal kind of programs have this kind of impact on the black community?"

"From what I can see, the impact was that it drove more and more people toward the social programs because they were offering free stuff: free welfare, healthcare, free food stamps, free this free that. And so you had all this stuff that the government began to offer while that same government did not advocate, nor want, dual-parent homes. A lot of the homes where the father was there were penalized, you know. It’s like 'you can’t have a man in the house if you’re going to be eligible for these food stamps or any cash assistance or assistance programs for women with infants.' The black male was pushed out off that system and you started having more and more homes headed by only black women."

"Wow! So, what you’re saying is that the government provided an incentive for women to have kids outside of stable relationships, then?"

"That’s correct! He emphasized. "That’s exactly correct! That’s what the New Deal did to us."

"So, let me ask you this question, then. Think back, if you would, to what it used to be in the inner city there in Philadelphia in the 70s when you grew up. The New Deal comes in and as you’ve said, broken homes are incentivized. Does that then translate to increased juvenile delinquency and therefore crime?"

"Yes! There’s a direct link between single parent homes and crime. When a father is absent from the home, that kid is more likely to drop out of school, more likely to become a delinquent, more likely to end up in the prison system, and more likely to not be able to have gainful employment."

"So, things are not what it was when you were growing up."

"There’s been a huge spike in crime, a big spike in the lack of respect for authority, and there’s been an adversarial relationship between the community and law enforcement."

"Todd, I’ve got to say something here. What you’re saying to me today is not in harmony with what we hear from a lot of black activists and political figures. You’re diverging from the script. You’re a bit of an anomaly. Do you get push back for saying these things?"

"I speak very openly about these things, Brother James, and I get push back! I’ve been called an Uncle Tom, a sellout, and every name in the book, because of my conservative values. I’m pro-life and very outspoken about it, I preach about being pro-life. I preach that marriage is between one man and one woman. I preach that there are only two genders: male and female. And most of our urban cities, whether its Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, or some of your other big cities like Phoenix or large metropolitan cities like St. Louis or Miami, most of our cities are sanctuary cities, and most of them are run by liberals. So, I am an anomaly. I am a conservative and someone who unashamedly pushes back against the liberal agenda. Most of our black leaders who come out of the inner city, or reside there, are lock, stock and barrel with the liberals. We stand at opposite ends of the fence with those liberal ministers."

"Wow!" I exclaimed. 

Todd continued without skipping a beat. "I’ve been very outspoken and I’ve been called out by some in the LGBTQ community. I’ve spoken at City Hall here, I’ve spoken at the state capital at Harrisburg when they wanted to bring gambling and casinos to Philadelphia, I went up to Harrisburg and I spoke against that and I was vilified for that because a lot of people thought that it was a good thing. They figured it would bring jobs and money into the city, but I spoke about the moral decay it would bring. When you have casinos and gambling you have prostitution and despair and hopelessness. Our cities are already full of that, so why would we bring more of it, and the kind of people it would attract? I teamed up and other ministers who were conservative and we pushed back, and they did not bring the casinos to Philadelphia. We won! We have a casino, but they wanted to bring a more."

"So, you don’t mind being a little bit unpopular sometimes?"

"Well, sometimes I mind it because I’m human. Everybody would like to be liked by other people, but I’ve grown accustomed to standing on morals and principles, and that’s why being friends with Shahn Wilburn and ministers like him has provided me partnerships outside of my own city. Partnering with people who are conservative and who believe in the Scriptures as I do is of great help to me. I have a circle that’s larger than just the urban ministers who are overwhelmingly liberal."

"So, you’ve had some civil successes, but how is your message resonating with the people in your community? How is your church doing?"

"My church is in a very impoverished area, so we have small victories, mostly as a result of one on one contact doing personal evangelism, knocking on doors and inviting people to come and hear the Gospel. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do as much as we would like because of a lack of financial resources to do ministry on a larger scale because we are a small congregation. But if we had a few more partners we could have much greater impact."

"Well, I can certainly see why there's a strong relationship between you and Riverview Baptist Church."

"I cherish that! The folks there have been a wonderful encouragement to me, and I hope we'd continue to have that relationship. Every time  I come down there I get refueled. It's like going to a pit stop and getting serviced and then getting back on the track so I can race."

"One last question, Todd. I can hear your passion inspite of being, quite clearly, a fish swimming against strong tides. You're doing a tough job in a tough neighborhood. What keeps you going?  What is it that drives this passion of yours?"

"What keeps me going, Brother James, is getting up in the morning and when I thank the Lord for my blessings and I begin to see the few people in the neighborhood that I've been able to see come in and hear the Gospel, and get it, and their lives are changed; that's what keeps me going. We don't have great numbers, but it's those one-on-one victories that make it worth it. Every soul that comes to Christ keeps the fire burning."

Todd Johnson is pastor of First Emmanuel Baptist Church, 2438 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19121.  His email is: ToddJohnsonJ@gmail.com

On February 15th 2020, Pastor Johnson was interviewed on Fox & Friends.

 

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I got to know Pastor Todd Johnson a little bit for the first time several months ago. We were both guests at the home of mutual friends, Don and Sara Cumbee, where we spent some time together enjoying excellent food and some wonderful Virginia hospitality. He was in town to speak at Riverview Baptist Church, as he has from time to time. Picture an imposing and gifted black preacher from the inner city of Philadelphia with a fiery passion for God and read on.

Todd used to be bigger in size than he is these days. He’s quite happy to have lost significant bulk in the last year, yet he remains a man of impressive magnitude in other ways. You’ll soon understand what I mean. Todd would be preaching at the RBC Homecoming service this Sunday, so we thought it fit to feature Todd this week. I caught up with him by phone on Monday evening for this interview.

ToddJohnsonFeature"So, my friend," I began, "could you give our readers a little bit of background on how you came to Christ?

"Sure!" He answered. "I came to know the Lord when I was twelve years old. I remember I was listening to the radio.  I was trying to turn to a secular station to listen to some music, and I turned down too far and got a Christian broadcast. So, I didn’t touch the dial and I listened to the gentleman who was preaching the Gospel, and at the end of that radio broadcast he said 'if you want to receive the Lord Jesus Christ then pray this prayer.' I knelt beside my bed and prayed that the Lord would come into my heart and be my Savior. That’s how I got saved."

"Do you remember the title of the radio program or who the preacher was?"

"I don’t recall the name of the preacher, but I do remember the station. It was Family Radio and at that time it was 107.9fm in Philadelphia. I was trying to turn to 105.3 but like I said, I turned down too far."

I detected a chuckle in his voice. "So, how long did you listen?" I'm sure there was a detectable smile in my voice as well.

"It was about a 15-minute message. Interestingly enough, I was already a member of a church, but I wasn’t saved. I had gone to church for about a year prior to this. I was singing in the choir and all that, but I’d never asked Christ to come in and save me."

"Interesting! So was the message a salvation message then?"

"Yes it was. Straight up salvation!"

"So, I repeated out loud, "you accidently turn to this station…"

Todd interjected. "Well, I say accidentally, but really it was the grace of God. It wasn’t my intent. I won't lie and say it was my intention to turn to this Gospel station, because it wasn’t. I was trying to turn to a secular station that I would listen on Sunday evenings because they’d play secular music."

"So, up until this point had you ever heard the Gospel clearly presented, or was it just that this time God got your attention?"

"I’d heard the Gospel before that, when I was in church, but I wasn’t really listening. I was a rambunctious kid. I would sit there with my friends in the back of the church and talk and pass notes to one another and eat candy. I really wasn’t very attentive. The difference was that that night I was listening to this radio broadcast and it had my full attention."

"So, let’s wind the clock back a little." I said. "You’re from Philly and in the city no less. Are you a son of the soil?" “Son of the soil." Was that even an American expression? I didn’t know, but Todd clearly understood what I meant.

“Yes!” He answered. “Born and raised right here!”

“And your parents,” I asked, “were they religious at all?”

"They were somewhat religious, I’d say. They were nominal Christians. They were SMO Christians." SMO is preacher-speak for Sunday Morning Only. "They would attend on occasions like Mother’s Day, Christmas, Easter, but I didn’t grow up in a quote-unquote Christian home. It wasn’t until I asked the Lord to come into my life that my parents rededicated their lives. Usually, it’s the other way around - the parents influence the children. But in this particular case, my parents were influenced by my coming to know the Lord, and then they became active participants in the church I’d been attending for almost a year.

"So, what was your youth like? I know you were unsaved and all that: were you like a little angel?" I asked with mirthful scarcasm.

"No, I was not. I received Christ at twelve, and before that I wasn’t what you may call a felon or a demon; just your typical rambunctious child. I got into trouble – not serious trouble – but a fight here and there, not telling the truth, doing stuff that wasn’t right. I wasn’t stealing cars, but we might go to the store and I’d steal a piece of candy. That’s still stealing and those are the things that lead to bigger things."

"So, had you not gotten saved, you might have gone down a darker path." My comment was an invitation for elaboration if not exactly a question.

"I could have." He offered. "I grew up in the inner city here in Philadelphia and I knew people like that in my neighborhood. I knew kids who were committing much more serious crime, so I could have been influenced to get into that kind of thing."

"That intrigues me." I said. "I grew up in the Caribbean, and its nothing like the concrete jungle of the inner city. That’s a pretty tough environment, and you’ve chosen to remain and minister to the people there. So, tell me the story. After you got saved, what happened next?"

"I began to grow as a Christian. My father and mother started going to Bible study and that influenced me to attend as well. One of my father’s favorite preachers was Charles Stanley, and so I’d sit and watch his 'In Touch' program with my parents. That was my first exposure to Biblical teaching. My parents went from being more or less nominal to becoming really dedicated believers. By the age of 14 or 15, my home took on much more of a Christ-like tone: no cursing in the house, no smoking in the house, you can't bring your friends in here if they’re going to be using profanity, you have to be in at a certain time before nightfall, and so forth. So, that structure and that discipline helped me tremendously especially through my high school years."

"So, you had both parents in your home. Your home was not broken." This was another of my invitations for elaboration.

"No! I grew up in a home with a mother and a father and I had three older sisters - I’m the only boy and the youngest in the family. The day that my father died my parents were together. I didn’t grow up in a home with divorced parents or with parents who were estranged or in a single parent home. I didn’t have that experience."

"Is that pretty unusual in your neck of the woods?"

"At that time it was not because I grew up in the 70s, so most of the families in the inner city were intact. Most of my peers grew up in a dual-parent homes. You didn’t start seeing see a lot of the single parent homes until the late 80s and 90s. That's when you started seeing it everywhere, and that was a direct result of some of the policies from the 60s with the welfare and those kinds of programs. Up until the early 70s about 70 percent - or maybe even higher of the homes in the African American community had both parents. That changed with the welfare system and some of the liberal programs that were introduced into the big cities. That started to change in the middle and late sixties. We started seeing more and more single parent homes, and now it is totally reversed. Now, over 70 percent of the homes in the community where I live are single parent homes. They’re very few dual-parent families."

"So, I want to delve into that for a little bit. Why did the New Deal kind of programs have this kind of impact on the black community?"

"From what I can see, the impact was that it drove more and more people toward the social programs because they were offering free stuff: free welfare, healthcare, free food stamps, free this free that. And so you had all this stuff that the government began to offer while that same government did not advocate, nor want, dual-parent homes. A lot of the homes where the father was there were penalized, you know. It’s like 'you can’t have a man in the house if you’re going to be eligible for these food stamps or any cash assistance or assistance programs for women with infants.' The black male was pushed out off that system and you started having more and more homes headed by only black women."

"Wow! So, what you’re saying is that the government provided an incentive for women to have kids outside of stable relationships, then?"

"That’s correct! He emphasized. "That’s exactly correct! That’s what the New Deal did to us."

"So, let me ask you this question, then. Think back, if you would, to what it used to be in the inner city there in Philadelphia in the 70s when you grew up. The New Deal comes in and as you’ve said, broken homes are incentivized. Does that then translate to increased juvenile delinquency and therefore crime?"

"Yes! There’s a direct link between single parent homes and crime. When a father is absent from the home, that kid is more likely to drop out of school, more likely to become a delinquent, more likely to end up in the prison system, and more likely to not be able to have gainful employment."

"So, things are not what it was when you were growing up."

"There’s been a huge spike in crime, a big spike in the lack of respect for authority, and there’s been an adversarial relationship between the community and law enforcement."

"Todd, I’ve got to say something here. What you’re saying to me today is not in harmony with what we hear from a lot of black activists and political figures. You’re diverging from the script. You’re a bit of an anomaly. Do you get push back for saying these things?"

"I speak very openly about these things, Brother James, and I get push back! I’ve been called an Uncle Tom, a sellout, and every name in the book, because of my conservative values. I’m pro-life and very outspoken about it, I preach about being pro-life. I preach that marriage is between one man and one woman. I preach that there are only two genders: male and female. And most of our urban cities, whether its Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, or some of your other big cities like Phoenix or large metropolitan cities like St. Louis or Miami, most of our cities are sanctuary cities, and most of them are run by liberals. So, I am an anomaly. I am a conservative and someone who unashamedly pushes back against the liberal agenda. Most of our black leaders who come out of the inner city, or reside there, are lock, stock and barrel with the liberals. We stand at opposite ends of the fence with those liberal ministers."

"Wow!" I exclaimed. 

Todd continued without skipping a beat. "I’ve been very outspoken and I’ve been called out by some in the LGBTQ community. I’ve spoken at City Hall here, I’ve spoken at the state capital at Harrisburg when they wanted to bring gambling and casinos to Philadelphia, I went up to Harrisburg and I spoke against that and I was vilified for that because a lot of people thought that it was a good thing. They figured it would bring jobs and money into the city, but I spoke about the moral decay it would bring. When you have casinos and gambling you have prostitution and despair and hopelessness. Our cities are already full of that, so why would we bring more of it, and the kind of people it would attract? I teamed up and other ministers who were conservative and we pushed back, and they did not bring the casinos to Philadelphia. We won! We have a casino, but they wanted to bring a more."

"So, you don’t mind being a little bit unpopular sometimes?"

"Well, sometimes I mind it because I’m human. Everybody would like to be liked by other people, but I’ve grown accustomed to standing on morals and principles, and that’s why being friends with Shahn Wilburn and ministers like him has provided me partnerships outside of my own city. Partnering with people who are conservative and who believe in the Scriptures as I do is of great help to me. I have a circle that’s larger than just the urban ministers who are overwhelmingly liberal."

"So, you’ve had some civil successes, but how is your message resonating with the people in your community? How is your church doing?"

"My church is in a very impoverished area, so we have small victories, mostly as a result of one on one contact doing personal evangelism, knocking on doors and inviting people to come and hear the Gospel. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do as much as we would like because of a lack of financial resources to do ministry on a larger scale because we are a small congregation. But if we had a few more partners we could have much greater impact."

"Well, I can certainly see why there's a strong relationship between you and Riverview Baptist Church."

"I cherish that! The folks there have been a wonderful encouragement to me, and I hope we'd continue to have that relationship. Every time  I come down there I get refueled. It's like going to a pit stop and getting serviced and then getting back on the track so I can race."

"One last question, Todd. I can hear your passion inspite of being, quite clearly, a fish swimming against strong tides. You're doing a tough job in a tough neighborhood. What keeps you going?  What is it that drives this passion of yours?"

"What keeps me going, Brother James, is getting up in the morning and when I thank the Lord for my blessings and I begin to see the few people in the neighborhood that I've been able to see come in and hear the Gospel, and get it, and their lives are changed; that's what keeps me going. We don't have great numbers, but it's those one-on-one victories that make it worth it. Every soul that comes to Christ keeps the fire burning."

Todd Johnson is pastor of First Emmanuel Baptist Church, 2438 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19121.  His email is: ToddJohnsonJ@gmail.com

On February 15th 2020, Pastor Johnson was interviewed on Fox & Friends.

 

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Is Salvation Eternal? https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/eternal-security https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/eternal-security#comments Sat, 11 Jan 2020 21:00:00 -0500 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/eternal-security A question was submitted to us that we're delighted to answer.  The query was this: do we as a church family believe that once a person is truly saved (see the link) that they will always be saved? Does an individual's sins subsequent to their salvation somehow render God's saving grace null and void? Can one who was once truly born again end up lost at some future point?

Different people think different things, but the correct answer to this question is found only in God's infallible Word. There are several passages that address this very issue in extremely clear ways. Let's have a look at a few. Ephesians 2:8-9  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast."

The Bible makes it very clear that we can’t do enough to earn salvation because we are born with a sin nature. and have no ability to pay for our sins Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Hebrews 9:22b: "without shedding of blood is no remission. (or forgiveness of sin) But not just any blood Hebrews 10:4-5 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5  Wherefore when he (Jesus) cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. (Jesus)"

Salvation is a gift that was purchased at great cost, the sacrificial death of Jesus God’s only Son, His blood was required to pay the sin debt of man. The gift he purchased is eternal. The Word of God states the duration of the gift as eternal or everlasting.

John 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 3:36   "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

John 5:24  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

John 6:37-39  "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39  And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

John 10:28-29  "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

There are a few things we know about a gift. The purchaser determines the gift to be given.(its value etc) In this case Jesus purchased the gift of salvation and states it is eternal and all who come to him will never be cast out. This is how we overcome one of the greatest tools of the devil..doubt. For a Christian doubt will cause them to hesitate to share their faith. But to know our salvation is secure gives us boldness to share with other how they too may receive this eternal gift, which is exactly what the Bible teaches.

1 John 5:10-13  "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

In vs. 13 the word “know” is the Greek word that means absolute knowledge, you know without a doubt. It’s like being married you either know you are or you know you are not. But what do we absolutely know in vs. 13? We have eternal life (which by definition means forever) It’s like a child being born into a family, his birth established him forever as a child to his parents. His position is secured by birth. A Christian’s position is secured by his new birth in Christ.

The confusion comes in our fallen thinking: surely if I do something “bad enough” God won’t let me into heaven..but then we would have to define “bad enough” if we say that’s “sin” then what kind and how much. James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Do we always do all known good? Do we always abstain from all know evil... if we’re honest we have to say no. In fact 1 John 1:8  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." That’s why God deals with us as children once we trust Him as savior, because we become his child and he deals with us accordingly. Every parent wants his child to admit their wrong 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

However, God being our perfect parent has his means of correcting us as his child. Hebrews 12:5b-8.. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."

One of the evidences of our salvation is the correction by the father. One of the evidences that my dad was my dad was the correction he gave me when I needed it as a child. You see even God’s children sin. But salvation gives us a reason not too and a new nature (empowered by the Holy Spirit) that helps us over come our fleshly desires. Some will say; “if I’m saved” I’ll just sin all I want? Really? If one is saved he should not want to sin, certainly the new nature doesn’t want him to, but if he does there will be consequences Galatians 6:7  "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Discipline is never enjoyed, and as a child of God why would we want to disobey and displease our father who purchased our salvation at the price of his Son.

When we sin God gives us the opportunity to confess it so our fellowship with him will not be broken  1 Corinthians 11:31-32  "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (however, if we refuse he begins the correction process) 32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

However, for those who are “in Christ” there is no condemnation. Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus...

Salvation is a marvelous gift for which we are, though undeserving, truly grateful.

]]>
A question was submitted to us that we're delighted to answer.  The query was this: do we as a church family believe that once a person is truly saved (see the link) that they will always be saved? Does an individual's sins subsequent to their salvation somehow render God's saving grace null and void? Can one who was once truly born again end up lost at some future point?

Different people think different things, but the correct answer to this question is found only in God's infallible Word. There are several passages that address this very issue in extremely clear ways. Let's have a look at a few. Ephesians 2:8-9  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast."

The Bible makes it very clear that we can’t do enough to earn salvation because we are born with a sin nature. and have no ability to pay for our sins Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Hebrews 9:22b: "without shedding of blood is no remission. (or forgiveness of sin) But not just any blood Hebrews 10:4-5 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5  Wherefore when he (Jesus) cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. (Jesus)"

Salvation is a gift that was purchased at great cost, the sacrificial death of Jesus God’s only Son, His blood was required to pay the sin debt of man. The gift he purchased is eternal. The Word of God states the duration of the gift as eternal or everlasting.

John 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 3:36   "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

John 5:24  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

John 6:37-39  "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39  And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

John 10:28-29  "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

There are a few things we know about a gift. The purchaser determines the gift to be given.(its value etc) In this case Jesus purchased the gift of salvation and states it is eternal and all who come to him will never be cast out. This is how we overcome one of the greatest tools of the devil..doubt. For a Christian doubt will cause them to hesitate to share their faith. But to know our salvation is secure gives us boldness to share with other how they too may receive this eternal gift, which is exactly what the Bible teaches.

1 John 5:10-13  "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

In vs. 13 the word “know” is the Greek word that means absolute knowledge, you know without a doubt. It’s like being married you either know you are or you know you are not. But what do we absolutely know in vs. 13? We have eternal life (which by definition means forever) It’s like a child being born into a family, his birth established him forever as a child to his parents. His position is secured by birth. A Christian’s position is secured by his new birth in Christ.

The confusion comes in our fallen thinking: surely if I do something “bad enough” God won’t let me into heaven..but then we would have to define “bad enough” if we say that’s “sin” then what kind and how much. James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Do we always do all known good? Do we always abstain from all know evil... if we’re honest we have to say no. In fact 1 John 1:8  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." That’s why God deals with us as children once we trust Him as savior, because we become his child and he deals with us accordingly. Every parent wants his child to admit their wrong 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

However, God being our perfect parent has his means of correcting us as his child. Hebrews 12:5b-8.. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."

One of the evidences of our salvation is the correction by the father. One of the evidences that my dad was my dad was the correction he gave me when I needed it as a child. You see even God’s children sin. But salvation gives us a reason not too and a new nature (empowered by the Holy Spirit) that helps us over come our fleshly desires. Some will say; “if I’m saved” I’ll just sin all I want? Really? If one is saved he should not want to sin, certainly the new nature doesn’t want him to, but if he does there will be consequences Galatians 6:7  "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Discipline is never enjoyed, and as a child of God why would we want to disobey and displease our father who purchased our salvation at the price of his Son.

When we sin God gives us the opportunity to confess it so our fellowship with him will not be broken  1 Corinthians 11:31-32  "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (however, if we refuse he begins the correction process) 32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

However, for those who are “in Christ” there is no condemnation. Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus...

Salvation is a marvelous gift for which we are, though undeserving, truly grateful.

]]>
Inventory Time https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/inventory-time https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/inventory-time#comments Sun, 05 Jan 2020 06:00:00 -0500 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/inventory-time “I’m a member of Riverview Baptist Church; I’m saved, baptized and excited about this new chapter in my life.”  That was my thought and yours, no doubt, when we first joined the congregation at Riverview.  But what about now… is the excitement there?  Are we praying for the needs that are shared each week?  Are we supporting our missionaries and outreach both home and abroad, are we exercising our spiritual gifts to build up the body of which we are a part?  Do we encourage our church family with a greeting and a smile and help bear their burdens and at times share our own?

I am reminded that Peter tells us we are to be vigilant because Satan is like that roaring lion and he is seeking to devour us.  (1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour).

This year will bring lots of changes to our lives, it always does.  Babies will be born, children will grow, challenges will be faced, opportunities will arise, others will become shut-in’s and yes, some will go home to be with the Lord having finished their race.  But how will we finish?  It will depend on the decisions we make, and the actions we take. 

Inventory time is often dreaded by businesses, but it helps to give them a clearer picture as to where they are.  Our spiritual inventory can do the same for us in the New Year.  This year I want to pray more, study more, be a better steward of my time, to witness more, (lose weight…you smiled!) and grow even closer to the Lord as I get closer home.  What will your inventory reveal? 

- Pastor Shahn

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“I’m a member of Riverview Baptist Church; I’m saved, baptized and excited about this new chapter in my life.”  That was my thought and yours, no doubt, when we first joined the congregation at Riverview.  But what about now… is the excitement there?  Are we praying for the needs that are shared each week?  Are we supporting our missionaries and outreach both home and abroad, are we exercising our spiritual gifts to build up the body of which we are a part?  Do we encourage our church family with a greeting and a smile and help bear their burdens and at times share our own?

I am reminded that Peter tells us we are to be vigilant because Satan is like that roaring lion and he is seeking to devour us.  (1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour).

This year will bring lots of changes to our lives, it always does.  Babies will be born, children will grow, challenges will be faced, opportunities will arise, others will become shut-in’s and yes, some will go home to be with the Lord having finished their race.  But how will we finish?  It will depend on the decisions we make, and the actions we take. 

Inventory time is often dreaded by businesses, but it helps to give them a clearer picture as to where they are.  Our spiritual inventory can do the same for us in the New Year.  This year I want to pray more, study more, be a better steward of my time, to witness more, (lose weight…you smiled!) and grow even closer to the Lord as I get closer home.  What will your inventory reveal? 

- Pastor Shahn

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Christmas Thoughts and Thanks from Pastor Shahn https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/christmas-thoughts-2019 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/christmas-thoughts-2019#comments Mon, 23 Dec 2019 15:00:00 -0500 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/christmas-thoughts-2019

When we think of Christmas, we think of giving. Why? Because it’s at Christmas we celebrate the greatest gift of all, God sending his son to earth to be the ultimate gift.

Today, however, I want to thank you for your giving! You have faithfully given through many years, that God’s work could flourish not only here but around the world through our mission endeavors. Giving is not just financial; it is giving of oneself, in service to the Lord. You have done that well. There has been nothing too large or small that you have not accomplished.

This past Sunday we shared the thought that is so fitting for our church family; “The servant who sees service as a privilege isn’t bothered by the particulars of the task.” What a privilege we have of being stewards of all God has entrusted us, and we’re not done yet! Many around us still need the gospel, our missionaries are reaching into areas where hearing the gospel is a rarity, and we all need to grow in our walk with the Lord until he comes or calls us home. These past few months the words of James and the Psalmist have been a constant meditation;

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. James 4:14

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

James reminds us about the uncertainty and brevity of life, while the Psalmist says we are to learn to use each day we are given in a way that will glorify the Lord...that’s using them wisely. We must learn because it doesn’t come naturally to us in our Adamic nature. Our fallen nature is focused solely on self, that’s why we often struggle with faithfulness. Consistency in studying the Bible, praying, witnessing, church attendance, giving, and serving are just some of the areas in which we battle at times. Thank you for your faithfulness and may we encourage one another with thanksgiving as we celebrate God’s gift to us!

- Pastor Shahn & Juanita

]]>

When we think of Christmas, we think of giving. Why? Because it’s at Christmas we celebrate the greatest gift of all, God sending his son to earth to be the ultimate gift.

Today, however, I want to thank you for your giving! You have faithfully given through many years, that God’s work could flourish not only here but around the world through our mission endeavors. Giving is not just financial; it is giving of oneself, in service to the Lord. You have done that well. There has been nothing too large or small that you have not accomplished.

This past Sunday we shared the thought that is so fitting for our church family; “The servant who sees service as a privilege isn’t bothered by the particulars of the task.” What a privilege we have of being stewards of all God has entrusted us, and we’re not done yet! Many around us still need the gospel, our missionaries are reaching into areas where hearing the gospel is a rarity, and we all need to grow in our walk with the Lord until he comes or calls us home. These past few months the words of James and the Psalmist have been a constant meditation;

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. James 4:14

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

James reminds us about the uncertainty and brevity of life, while the Psalmist says we are to learn to use each day we are given in a way that will glorify the Lord...that’s using them wisely. We must learn because it doesn’t come naturally to us in our Adamic nature. Our fallen nature is focused solely on self, that’s why we often struggle with faithfulness. Consistency in studying the Bible, praying, witnessing, church attendance, giving, and serving are just some of the areas in which we battle at times. Thank you for your faithfulness and may we encourage one another with thanksgiving as we celebrate God’s gift to us!

- Pastor Shahn & Juanita

]]>
William A. "Bunk" Austin: WWII Marine https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/bunk https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/bunk#comments Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:00:00 -0500 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/bunk BunkWilliam Albert “Bunk” Austin was born in 1925, so I was sitting once more with an almost 95 year old World War II veteran for this interview. Not everyone gets to meet living WWII heroes, and this was my second such meeting after Riverview’s very own Billy Via.

Bunk volunteered for the Marine Corps while a senior at Radford High School. I decided to begin my probing there. “So, why did you decide to become a Marine?” I asked.

“About four or five Marines came to my high school and they were trying to get people to join up, and I joined when I was a senior. I was in the pacific by the time I was 18 years old. Of course, everybody lied about their age to get in the service.”

"So, you wanted to serve."

“That’s right!” He said. “You wanted to get in to do something.”

“The country was at war.” Pastor Shahn commented with a knowing smile. The three of us were sitting on the back porch of Bunk's home in Radford.

I probed some more. “So, you’re a young man in high school with your whole life ahead of you and you weren’t concerned about getting married and all that good stuff?”

“No!” He replied simply. “You didn’t even think about that. All you wanted to do was just get in and do something.”

“That’s not as common a mindset these days” I opined.

“You just wanted to do something.” He said again. The sentiment was clearly important to Bunk. “I went through boot camp and in a few days I was in the Pacific. They just sent you right on over. They wanted people over there and they got you over there. They didn’t fool around.”

“So, we're talking about war.” I continued, “Tell me, what was that experience like?”

“Well, I went to Parris Island for Boot camp, and from there I went to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. We formed an outfit there and the same guns we trained with at Camp Lejeune, we used in the pacific. We loaded them unto a troop train and took them to California with us and from there to the Pacific.”

“What caliber guns were they?” the preacher quizzed.

“90 millimeter. The shells were about about 37 inches long.”

“That’s some serious hardware,” I thought. I did some light homework. The 90-mm guns were designed for seacoast defense, as artillery for supporting ground troops, and as antiaircraft guns. The 90–mm Gun M1/M2/M3 had a 3.5in (90 mm) diameter bore, and a 15 ft (4.6 m) barrel, giving it a 50 caliber length. It was capable of firing a 3.5 in × 23.6 in (90 mm × 600 mm) shell 62,474 ft (19,042 m) horizontally, or a maximum altitude of 43,500 ft (13,300 m). The M1 was capable of piercing 9 inches (228.6mm) of armor at 1,000 yards with armor piercing ammunition.

“They weighed a whole lot.” He finished.

“So, did you serve with others who got injured?” I was asking for the sake of the record; not because I expected a different answer than I got.

“Oh yes! There were guys who got shrapnel in them and got sent home. We would sometimes get letters from some of those guys, but it would take three or four months to get a letter.”

“Did you ever have a close call yourself?”

BunkWWII“Well, in war you never know. Going from island to island and hitting every island…” He left the statement unfinished. I knew what he was saying. “I was on four different islands. Every time you go to an island, you have to invade it.  So, there were guys who got wounded and sent back to the States. We had one guy who was on guard duty at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. He got sent to Guadalcanal, then back to the States, then joined our outfit and went back overseas with us. I get my pictures out and look at some of these guys every once in a while. I got my address book out the other day and wrote to four guys and I heard back from one of them.”

Bunk was featured in the WWII book, "Heroes Among Us" by Gene Morrell.  Bunk's duties were described this way:

Austin was primarily trained as a fuze setter. He explained the fuzes were a certain length, and the shorter they were cut, the fewer seconds the shell took to explode once it left the barrel of the gun.

For example, he explained, on board a ship, the radar operators would pick up incoming enemy planes, and with their positions and speeds, the operator would estimate how many seconds away from the ship the planes would be in a given length of time.

The shells would be passed through the ammunition bay, and then, the shell would be put in a fuze cutter. The fuze was cut down to the right length to make the shell explode in the air within a given number of seconds so when it exploded, it would be at or near incoming enemy planes.

...

Austin was on Tinian when a B-29, nicknamed the Enola Gay, took off on Aug.6, 1945, and headed for Hiroshima, Japan, where the plane dropped the first atomic bomb onto the city. “It left from the north (air) strip, and we were on the south strip,” Austin said.

new doc 2019-10-22 17.04.29_1On August 9, a second B-29 took off from Tinian and headed to Nagasaki, Japan, where it dropped the second atomic bomb. “Everybody remembers what the name of the first plane was but not many know what the second one was called. It was named Bockscar,” Austin said. (According to information on the website at www.atomicmuseum.com, that plane took its name from the command pilot, Fred Bock. The command pilot, Col.Paul Tibbets, named the Enola Gay after his mother.)

Following the destruction wrought by the two atomic bombs, on Aug.14, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender, and World War II came to an end.

Austin remained on Tinian after the war was over and later went to Guam to await transport back to the U.S.

"Some debate whether it was the right move to bomb Japan." I said. "How do you feel about that?"

"Well, I'll tell you." He said. "I was getting my shots to go invade Japan. Now, if you're sitting there knowing that you're going to go invade Japan, how would you feel about it?"

The point was made.

"I go to schools all the time talking to the kids." He continued. "I talk to the kids and it's hard to tell them. When the atomic bomb comes up it's hard to explain to them that you got out there and killed people, because you're not supposed to do it. But you do it because you either get killed or you kill somebody. There's no two ways about it."

"Well, war is never a pretty thing." I said.

"I was watching a film just the other day." He said. "It was about some military ship that they thought the United States could never destroy.  It was supposed to be the ship of all ships, and of course, the US bombed it. And I sat there watching this movie and I thought to myself 'how did I ever get back?' So many didn't come back. War is a hard thing. You're there and you do what you can."

"You've seen as lot of suffering up close and personal." I said.

"It's like I told my wife. I've seen things that if I live to be 100 years old I'd never forget."

We sat for a while going through his cardboard boxes and manila envelopes looking at pictures from the war. There were quite a few. Among the stack of papers, Bunk pulled out a sheet that bore a poem he'd written on behalf of his siblings when his mother died. The poem was called "The Swing."

Life is a challenge we all must go thru.
You are measured by that challenge, whatever you do.
The love you give, the love you receive;
The friends that you have, and what you believe.
The things that you do, your work day by day;
To raise your family in just the right way.
To be loved by so many is a tribute to you;
And to live a life so long, that's reserved for a few.
We'll never forget the memories these bring,
Of the "Little Old Lady" who sat on the swing.

I gave it back to him and watched him thoughtfully as he rumaged through his things. Here was a soldier who obviously knew how precious life was and yet, the bloodiest conflict in human history was what defined him. Here was a Marine who willingly put his life on the line to serve his country out of a sense of sheer duty. Again, the stuff heroes are made of.

I asked Bunk whether he was saved, and he assured me that he was. The last thing I noted as I prepared to leave was his RV parked in the yard.  There was a sign on the back of it that read: "when the last trumpet sounds, I'm outta here!"

Below is an excerpt from Pastor Shahn's interview with Bunk:

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BunkWilliam Albert “Bunk” Austin was born in 1925, so I was sitting once more with an almost 95 year old World War II veteran for this interview. Not everyone gets to meet living WWII heroes, and this was my second such meeting after Riverview’s very own Billy Via.

Bunk volunteered for the Marine Corps while a senior at Radford High School. I decided to begin my probing there. “So, why did you decide to become a Marine?” I asked.

“About four or five Marines came to my high school and they were trying to get people to join up, and I joined when I was a senior. I was in the pacific by the time I was 18 years old. Of course, everybody lied about their age to get in the service.”

"So, you wanted to serve."

“That’s right!” He said. “You wanted to get in to do something.”

“The country was at war.” Pastor Shahn commented with a knowing smile. The three of us were sitting on the back porch of Bunk's home in Radford.

I probed some more. “So, you’re a young man in high school with your whole life ahead of you and you weren’t concerned about getting married and all that good stuff?”

“No!” He replied simply. “You didn’t even think about that. All you wanted to do was just get in and do something.”

“That’s not as common a mindset these days” I opined.

“You just wanted to do something.” He said again. The sentiment was clearly important to Bunk. “I went through boot camp and in a few days I was in the Pacific. They just sent you right on over. They wanted people over there and they got you over there. They didn’t fool around.”

“So, we're talking about war.” I continued, “Tell me, what was that experience like?”

“Well, I went to Parris Island for Boot camp, and from there I went to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. We formed an outfit there and the same guns we trained with at Camp Lejeune, we used in the pacific. We loaded them unto a troop train and took them to California with us and from there to the Pacific.”

“What caliber guns were they?” the preacher quizzed.

“90 millimeter. The shells were about about 37 inches long.”

“That’s some serious hardware,” I thought. I did some light homework. The 90-mm guns were designed for seacoast defense, as artillery for supporting ground troops, and as antiaircraft guns. The 90–mm Gun M1/M2/M3 had a 3.5in (90 mm) diameter bore, and a 15 ft (4.6 m) barrel, giving it a 50 caliber length. It was capable of firing a 3.5 in × 23.6 in (90 mm × 600 mm) shell 62,474 ft (19,042 m) horizontally, or a maximum altitude of 43,500 ft (13,300 m). The M1 was capable of piercing 9 inches (228.6mm) of armor at 1,000 yards with armor piercing ammunition.

“They weighed a whole lot.” He finished.

“So, did you serve with others who got injured?” I was asking for the sake of the record; not because I expected a different answer than I got.

“Oh yes! There were guys who got shrapnel in them and got sent home. We would sometimes get letters from some of those guys, but it would take three or four months to get a letter.”

“Did you ever have a close call yourself?”

BunkWWII“Well, in war you never know. Going from island to island and hitting every island…” He left the statement unfinished. I knew what he was saying. “I was on four different islands. Every time you go to an island, you have to invade it.  So, there were guys who got wounded and sent back to the States. We had one guy who was on guard duty at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. He got sent to Guadalcanal, then back to the States, then joined our outfit and went back overseas with us. I get my pictures out and look at some of these guys every once in a while. I got my address book out the other day and wrote to four guys and I heard back from one of them.”

Bunk was featured in the WWII book, "Heroes Among Us" by Gene Morrell.  Bunk's duties were described this way:

Austin was primarily trained as a fuze setter. He explained the fuzes were a certain length, and the shorter they were cut, the fewer seconds the shell took to explode once it left the barrel of the gun.

For example, he explained, on board a ship, the radar operators would pick up incoming enemy planes, and with their positions and speeds, the operator would estimate how many seconds away from the ship the planes would be in a given length of time.

The shells would be passed through the ammunition bay, and then, the shell would be put in a fuze cutter. The fuze was cut down to the right length to make the shell explode in the air within a given number of seconds so when it exploded, it would be at or near incoming enemy planes.

...

Austin was on Tinian when a B-29, nicknamed the Enola Gay, took off on Aug.6, 1945, and headed for Hiroshima, Japan, where the plane dropped the first atomic bomb onto the city. “It left from the north (air) strip, and we were on the south strip,” Austin said.

new doc 2019-10-22 17.04.29_1On August 9, a second B-29 took off from Tinian and headed to Nagasaki, Japan, where it dropped the second atomic bomb. “Everybody remembers what the name of the first plane was but not many know what the second one was called. It was named Bockscar,” Austin said. (According to information on the website at www.atomicmuseum.com, that plane took its name from the command pilot, Fred Bock. The command pilot, Col.Paul Tibbets, named the Enola Gay after his mother.)

Following the destruction wrought by the two atomic bombs, on Aug.14, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender, and World War II came to an end.

Austin remained on Tinian after the war was over and later went to Guam to await transport back to the U.S.

"Some debate whether it was the right move to bomb Japan." I said. "How do you feel about that?"

"Well, I'll tell you." He said. "I was getting my shots to go invade Japan. Now, if you're sitting there knowing that you're going to go invade Japan, how would you feel about it?"

The point was made.

"I go to schools all the time talking to the kids." He continued. "I talk to the kids and it's hard to tell them. When the atomic bomb comes up it's hard to explain to them that you got out there and killed people, because you're not supposed to do it. But you do it because you either get killed or you kill somebody. There's no two ways about it."

"Well, war is never a pretty thing." I said.

"I was watching a film just the other day." He said. "It was about some military ship that they thought the United States could never destroy.  It was supposed to be the ship of all ships, and of course, the US bombed it. And I sat there watching this movie and I thought to myself 'how did I ever get back?' So many didn't come back. War is a hard thing. You're there and you do what you can."

"You've seen as lot of suffering up close and personal." I said.

"It's like I told my wife. I've seen things that if I live to be 100 years old I'd never forget."

We sat for a while going through his cardboard boxes and manila envelopes looking at pictures from the war. There were quite a few. Among the stack of papers, Bunk pulled out a sheet that bore a poem he'd written on behalf of his siblings when his mother died. The poem was called "The Swing."

Life is a challenge we all must go thru.
You are measured by that challenge, whatever you do.
The love you give, the love you receive;
The friends that you have, and what you believe.
The things that you do, your work day by day;
To raise your family in just the right way.
To be loved by so many is a tribute to you;
And to live a life so long, that's reserved for a few.
We'll never forget the memories these bring,
Of the "Little Old Lady" who sat on the swing.

I gave it back to him and watched him thoughtfully as he rumaged through his things. Here was a soldier who obviously knew how precious life was and yet, the bloodiest conflict in human history was what defined him. Here was a Marine who willingly put his life on the line to serve his country out of a sense of sheer duty. Again, the stuff heroes are made of.

I asked Bunk whether he was saved, and he assured me that he was. The last thing I noted as I prepared to leave was his RV parked in the yard.  There was a sign on the back of it that read: "when the last trumpet sounds, I'm outta here!"

Below is an excerpt from Pastor Shahn's interview with Bunk:

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Why So Much Effort to Minister to People in Other Lands? https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/why-foreign-missions https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/why-foreign-missions#comments Tue, 22 Oct 2019 22:00:00 -0400 https://www.riverviewtoday.org/blog/post/why-foreign-missions A question was submitted to us on social media while we were on our most recent missionary trip to Guatemala. The essence of the question was this: why can’t we as Americans take care of our own country first when we have homeless and needy people right here? Why do we exercise such effort to minister to the people in other lands when others don't necessarily spend those sums ministering to us?

First of all, I'd like to make it clear that I really do appreciate the question and here's my answer. Jesus, after his resurrection, gave us our marching orders. We call it the Great Commission. On resurrection day he spoke to the disciples in the upper room and said this:

Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. (John 20:21)

The following week, again in the upper room, He added:

...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15).

In Matthew 28:19-20 on a mountain in Galilee he told his own disciples that they were in turn to make disciples, baptism them, and teach them. As Jesus ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives, these were his parting words:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Ten days later on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to indwell and empower the believers to fulfill that very command. These injunctions laid upon us by Christ himself are not optional. Christians are called to witness, and at Riverview, we take the obligation to carrying out this Great Commission very seriously - as we should.

Locally, we set aside funds each year to help our community. We support the local Christian mission and food bank, the Bible Bus, and Gideons International. We have had coat drives for needy families and last year we held a Christmas bazaar so children and families could have something for Christmas. We engaged in summer feeding programs, and just recently we helped feed the homeless. While we do these things, we share the Gospel. Our minsitry begins here at home. This is our Jerusalem.

However, the Lord commanded that we go beyond our "Jerusalem" to the ends of the earth. Thus, we are happy to report that we support forty plus missions and missionaries both at home and abroad, and have had literally hundreds of our church family to go throughout the world as well. This year alone teams and individuals have been, are now, and will be in: Barstow, California, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Guatemala (twice), Guam, Haiti, Costa Rica, Uganda, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Why do we do all these things? Because we love people and we wish to demonstrate the love of God to all. More than that, though, we do it because we are commanded to. It is our responsibility.

Again, we are grateful for the question and the opportunity to respond that it has provided us.

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A question was submitted to us on social media while we were on our most recent missionary trip to Guatemala. The essence of the question was this: why can’t we as Americans take care of our own country first when we have homeless and needy people right here? Why do we exercise such effort to minister to the people in other lands when others don't necessarily spend those sums ministering to us?

First of all, I'd like to make it clear that I really do appreciate the question and here's my answer. Jesus, after his resurrection, gave us our marching orders. We call it the Great Commission. On resurrection day he spoke to the disciples in the upper room and said this:

Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. (John 20:21)

The following week, again in the upper room, He added:

...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15).

In Matthew 28:19-20 on a mountain in Galilee he told his own disciples that they were in turn to make disciples, baptism them, and teach them. As Jesus ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives, these were his parting words:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Ten days later on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to indwell and empower the believers to fulfill that very command. These injunctions laid upon us by Christ himself are not optional. Christians are called to witness, and at Riverview, we take the obligation to carrying out this Great Commission very seriously - as we should.

Locally, we set aside funds each year to help our community. We support the local Christian mission and food bank, the Bible Bus, and Gideons International. We have had coat drives for needy families and last year we held a Christmas bazaar so children and families could have something for Christmas. We engaged in summer feeding programs, and just recently we helped feed the homeless. While we do these things, we share the Gospel. Our minsitry begins here at home. This is our Jerusalem.

However, the Lord commanded that we go beyond our "Jerusalem" to the ends of the earth. Thus, we are happy to report that we support forty plus missions and missionaries both at home and abroad, and have had literally hundreds of our church family to go throughout the world as well. This year alone teams and individuals have been, are now, and will be in: Barstow, California, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Guatemala (twice), Guam, Haiti, Costa Rica, Uganda, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Why do we do all these things? Because we love people and we wish to demonstrate the love of God to all. More than that, though, we do it because we are commanded to. It is our responsibility.

Again, we are grateful for the question and the opportunity to respond that it has provided us.

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