February 12, 2008

Dear Antioch Leaders,

I wanted to let you know that we are moving to the Tacoma area in a few weeks and won't be able to continue attending Antioch - our church for more than 5 years.  It is hard for us to leave and we will miss Antioch so much.  Being a part of this church has been an amazing blessing. I want to thank you for your leadership and your hearts for serving the Lord. We are so blessed! We have our salvation, our marriage, our child (and another on the way).

For me, Antioch began with a tour of Israel where I saw the heart of our senior pastor. He was most concerned with the salvation of our bus driver who eventually did believe and confess Christ. Since then, I have seen my wife baptized, my firstborn dedicated to the Lord, and lives changed for His glory. All of you have touched our lives either by your example or action, and the "fruit" of your labor is all around you. Please know that wherever God leads our family we will continue to wage the same war. Perhaps God will bring us back to the eastside someday, but if that doesn't happen know that all over the world there is a remnant of believers on different battlefields fighting the same war. It has been a privilege to stand and serve, we love you! 

Jon, Tessa and Elijah Wimmer

 The following letter was written after a heated school board meeting in the Snoqualmie Valley:

February 8, 2008

At the Snoqualmie Valley School District board meeting last night, I was amazed at the vitriol and hatred shown by several pro-gay rights teachers toward us as Christians. They hate our guts.  To illustrate the level of their commitment, one math teacher told everyone that it was her duty to teach the kids about more than math.  In other words, promoting equality for "all people" (i.e. complete acceptance of homosexual behavior and gay marriage) is part of the curriculum in the math class. This attitude is as natural to them as breathing.  From their point of view, to get them to think otherwise is like asking them not to breath.  I'm not kidding.  

This analogy seemed to pop into my head this morning while I was thinking about this.  Maybe I heard something like this a long time ago and had forgotten.
 
When you say you are a Christian, it's like standing in the middle of a ring with a bull and waving a red flag.  After a minute or so, all the bull wants to do is run over and stomp on that red flag, along with anyone near it.  The bull wants them to drop the red flag and run.
 
But what the bull doesn't understand is that the red flag was given to them to sew back together the insides of the person who's holding it.  The person would die without the red flag, for the red flag has become the only reason and only means to live.  But, some drop the red flag and run, not knowing that they've run away from the only thing that has held them together. The one who sewed them back together and saved their life is the one who gave them the red flag.  But they are also the one who put them inside the ring with the bull, in ORDER that they may hold up their red flag anyway. Maybe there is a bull out there who may be transformed into a sheep, if only someone would be faithful in holding up their red flag..
 
A few people pull out their red flag to show the bull, but when the bull looks at the flag, the person says that their flag isn't really red at all, and it quickly fades to another color that doesn't offend the bull.
 
Those who continue to hold their red flag are run over and stomped by the bull.  The bull wants these people to know that they are being intolerant toward them, and that the intolerance has to stop.
 
How about Pastor Hutch?  He is lying in the middle of the ring, broken but still breathing, holding his red flag up in his hand somehow.  He isn't telling the bull very often that he needs the red flag to live, though the bull doesn't seem to care anyway.  But Pastor Hutch is doing something more than holding up his red flag.  He is also calling out to the owner of the bull, asking him to keep the fence up around the ring.
 
God Bless,
Steve Dudgeon