Tonk Talk

It is that time of year again! Time to have a great Gospel Meeting. It is not every week that we have an opportunity to meet outside of Sunday worship and Wednesday Bible Class as  Christians and learn more about God’s Word. This special week will be an excellent week to learn from the Bible and be motivated by the preaching of God’s Word. We need to remember that the devil is going to try to delay you in coming to our Gospel Meeting on Oct. 3-6. Please do not cooperate with him. Make it your goal to not only not cooperate with the devil but also  be proactive about the meeting by doing the following 10 suggestions: 

• Pray for the success of the meeting. 
• Plan to be here every service. 
• Invite your friends, neighbors, unfaithful members, and past members. 4. Sit upfront and close together so that any late visitors can find a seat quickly. This will also help our singing as well. 
• Greet guests with a warm welcome. Smile, be friendly and invite guests to sit with you. 
• Make sure you invite guests back to our regular times of worship and Bible  Study. 
• Sing with the spirit and from your heart. 
• Help keep the building and the grounds clean, pick up trash and belongings around you after each service. 
• Be positive about the meeting. 
• Bring your Bibles, pen, and paper so you can follow along with the preacher and take notes. 

 Church, David Price is going to give his best to help us have a great Gospel Meeting. I  know that the Lord will be doing His best to help all of us to have a great Gospel Meeting. Will you as a member of the congregation give your best? I hope so! May God bless us as we plan to make the Gospel Meeting Oct. 3-6 a great success!

Mark T. Tonkery

“For I know the plans I have for you and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

The new minister in a small town spent the first four days calling on all the members, trying to get them to come to his first service. He failed. They didn’t come. So he placed a notice in the local newspaper stating that, since the church was dead, it was his duty to give it an appropriate burial. The funeral was to be held at 2 o’clock on the following Sunday.

Morbidly curious, the whole town turned out. In front of the pulpit, they saw a coffin covered with flowers. The minister read the obituary and delivered a eulogy. Then he invited the congregation to step forward and pay their respects to the departed. The long line filed by. Each one looked into the casket and then turned away with a sheepish guilty look. In the coffin was a large mirror, tilted at just the right angle so that anyone who looked would see himself.

No doubt the story is apocryphal [fictional]—No preacher would dare to do it. But I know a few preachers who would like to do it and quite a few folks for whom it might be appropriate.

-Bulletin Digest via Marion, IL-

Tonk Talk 

                On Oct. 3-6, Camden Ave. will be having a Gospel Meeting.  We must remember that the main goal of having a Gospel Meeting is to invite our friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and family members to hear the word of God.  In my sermon last week, I gave some practical ways we can invite people to study the Bible with us, which can also be used to invite people to our Gospel Meeting.  So here are some of those ideas repeated and other creative ideas we can do to invite people:

• Give a neighbor who is moving into your neighborhood free lightbulbs or a flashlight (with batteries).  Say something like “You’ll probably have a lightbulb go out some time, so here’s one,” or if it is a flashlight say, “if the electricity goes out this might come in handy.”  Then say. “By the way, did you know that Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12)?” You can learn more about Him at our Gospel Meeting we are having, why don’t you and your family come with us.”
• Bake some bread and give it to someone, and say something like, “by the way did you know Jesus is the Bread of life” (John 6:35)? “You can learn more about Him at our Gospel Meeting we are having, why don’t you and your family come with us.”
• Give out water to the people in your neighborhood or local park and as you give the water to them say something like, “did you know that Jesus can give us spiritual drink” (John 7:37-38)? “You can learn more about Him at our Gospel Meeting we are having, why don’t you and your family come with us.”
• Go to the laundromat or carwash and feed quarters into the machine, and say something like, “have you been washed by the blood of Christ” (1 Cor. 6:11)? “You can learn more about Him at our Gospel Meeting we are having, why don’t you and your family come with us.”
• Give someone a nice flower, and say something like, “did you know Jesus is like a plant (vine)” John 15:1-7?  “You can learn more about Him at our Gospel Meeting we are having, why don’t you and your family come with us.”
• Pass out microwave popcorn or a can of soda pop with a note attached that says, “Pop into our Gospel Meeting.” Include your name and information about our Gospel Meeting.

Can you think of other creative ways of inviting people to our Gospel Meeting?  All these ideas are to help build friendships and to show we are servants of Christ trying to share our faith in today’s modern world.  It is amazing to see how responsive people become as the result of a simple gift or act of servanthood. 

Will you do something that will show people we care and use that as an opportunity to talk to them about Christ and invite them to our Gospel Meeting and other services?  In Christ, Mark T. Tonkery

On August 28, 2021, wonderful tributes were made to a man who impacted thousands of people for good and for God.  Jack Zorn was the man who was memorialized that day with glory to the God that he served.

One of the people who spoke at Dr. Zorn’s funeral was a distinguished African American man in uniform.  The uniformed man may not have been known by many in attendance at the funeral, but this man knew and deeply appreciated Dr. Zorn.  He shared that day and also on Facebook how Dr. Zorn had impacted his life.  Here is his Facebook post:

I've always wanted to be an aviator since age six… When I was about 13, I would ride my bicycle from Mobile Hwy to Dannelly Field Airport [in Montgomery, AL] just to hang on the gate all day long watching F-4 Phantoms takeoff and land.  One day a wonderful man named Dr. Jack Zorn (Lads to Leaders founder) saw me hanging around the fence at Montgomery Aviation and asked if I wanted to come inside and get a close up of his Cessna 182 (N1444S).  Of course I accepted because I had never seen the inside of a cockpit up close.  Later he received permission from my mother and we actually went flying on several occasions.  I initially got in trouble because my mother didn't know her son was riding a bicycle on Highway 80 chasing F-4's, but she knew my passion.  I thank the Lord for allowing our paths to cross, and I pray that he knows that it was an ordained meeting that I will cherish for the rest of my life.  I now pay it forward to the youth in hopes that I may impact a young life the same way he impacted mine.  I will forever miss him!  To God be the glory!

Thomas Day, First Officer
ATP, CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, IGI
Birmingham, AL

Because of Dr. Zorn’s encouragement, Thomas Day fulfilled his dream of becoming an airplane pilot.

A good friend of mine, Steve Phillips, shared Day’s Facebook post on his page.  Dr. Zorn’s daughter, Rhonda Fernandez, posted a comment thanking Steve for sharing the information and included these words of reflection: “[I’m] so proud of Daddy.  [Here was] a little boy – many days a week for a very long period of time [with] his nose in the chain link fence, invisible to all except Daddy.”

That young teen, Thomas Day, is forever grateful that Dr. Zorn noticed him, befriended him, and encouraged him to fulfill his dreams.

Dr. Zorn “noticed” many young people throughout his life and encouraged them to become Christians and leaders in the church.  By his example, his influence, and the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes Program that he began, my children, many children at Creekwood Church of Christ, and thousands of children throughout the world have been impacted and challenged to become Christian leaders.

I think Dr. Zorn “noticed” people because every soul is important to God.  Every person has sinned (Romans 3:23) and desperately needs a Savior.  God loves every person so much that He gave His one and only Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2).  God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).

Dear reader, God has “noticed” you and wants to save you for an eternity.  Won’t you accept His loving offer by trusting and obeying Jesus?

-- David A. Sargent

P.S. With love, appreciation, and admiration for Dr. Jack Zorn (1934-2021) for his love for God, Jesus, the Word of God, and for his passion to teach and train young people to become Christian leaders.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Imagine what you and I would miss if we were to move from our country to any of the world's poorest countries… like Laos, Paraguay, Chad, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh.  Can you imagine it?  Someone has shared the following:

·Your home would be approximately as large as an American garage if you had a home.

·Your family wardrobe would consist of one outfit per person, shoes for the head of the family and no shoes and few worn garments make up the rest of your wardrobe.

·In your pantry, if you had food you'd probably have dried meat and a few vegetables a little flour, salt and sugar, moldy potatoes, dried beans, onions only rice dried meat, vegetables, powdered milk.

When reading this, our worries are a little less worrisome, our cares are not as concerning and our wants are humbled and our needs are more focused.

When comparing our lives to others we are very blessed.  We have food to spare and even throw away, we have a wide selection of clothing and shoes.  Our homes are warm and our cars are too!  Then when it comes to the church we are even more blessed, we have many wonderful people we worship with, talented people that lead our worship and teach our Bible classes.  We can look at our bulletin and bulletin boards around the building and there are many opportunities to continue to grow in our faith and to fellowship with other Christians.

With all these comforts and eases it is easy to take for granted the blessing we receive.

But we have these blessings for a reason.  They are there to remind us that God is good and that he has provided for us.

Ezekiel 34:26- 31 states, “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen anymore. Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD.”

We often sing the hymn “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done!”  Have you ever really counted your blessings and really see what God has done for us?

The next time you start to criticize, grumble, or complain remember how blessed you really are!  Think about it! Mark T. Tonkery