Bluminghearts Ministry Report                                    Pastor-Teacher Al Rosenblum

May 2011

Those of you that know me, understand that reaching out with reports of my work does not come easy for me. As a big time introvert by personality, I normally do not talk to people unless it is absolutely necessary. I remember my mother talking about this trait when I was a small child, saying “son, you don’t say much but when you do, it something worth hearing”. To this day, I try to keep my communication to a word worth hearing.

Recently I was talking to Dr Jim Brettell about whether I should write a report to inform my family, friends and ministry associates about what I am doing in my ministry. His words were very helpful as is often the case. He said, “Al, people cannot pray, give or listen to your messages if they don’t know about you and they normally won’t know to help out unless you let them know you need help”. That made great sense to me and so I have committed to periodically writing a report to inform you about the progress of my ministry efforts.

Also, recently I was sending out e-mails, seeking your prayers, and a man wrote back and asked to be removed from the list. Please! If you are receiving my e-mails and do not want to be on my list, let me know and I will remove you from my e-mail list. I understand not wanting to get e-mails from people with whom I am not involved, so don’t hesitate to request to be removed.

Also, if you know people who would want to be informed about our ministry efforts, please have them send a note to al@bluminghearts.com and I will add them to the e-mail list.

Ministry Report:

Writing

I am very busy writing and speaking weekly. I am in the process of writing a book dealing with belief systems, especially as they pertain to the Old Man belief system we all build before we find Christ. The work is slow as I have never written a full-blown book but it is coming along. I hope to have it out soon.

I have a blog where I write articles about the Christian faith. I have over 100 articles on the site for your edification. You can go to the site www.bluminghearts.com and read until your heart is full. While I have slowed down considerably from the pace with which I began, I still post articles there.

Old Man – New Man

Every Sunday night for over a year, I have conducted an online bible class dealing with the Old Man – New Man topic in conjunction with Dr. Brettell and Pastor Steve Ellis. (For those of you who pray, Steve’s wife, Sharon has suffered with serious health problems and we would appreciate you asking our heavenly Father for her complete healing.) This bible study has been eye opening for me, giving evidence to the validity of the internet to reach people we might not ever touch. We have regular listeners from the Philippines, a man from Ireland, a missionary from Korea and then from all over the USA. Quite a few of the regular listeners are pastors of churches, learning about why all believers struggle to apply the word to their life and what God has provided to free us from our old beliefs. These sessions have all been recorded and are available on Dr. Brettell’s web site. If you want to hear them, shoot me an e-mail and I will hook you up. In my opinion, these lessons are the best bible studies I have ever done and are worth your time to listen.

In March, I traveled to Little Rock Arkansas, to speak at a conference for those who had been involved in the internet bible class. We had 42 who made the trip, some from as far away as Las Vegas and many who were local. I spoke most of the day about belief systems and the Old Man, giving a summary of what we had been discussing all year. While it is difficult to summarize a year’s worth of teaching in one day, it seemed that many were helped with their understanding of the issues involved in being transformed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Radio Ministry

Every Wednesday afternoon, I am co-hosting a local radio program with Quentin Swafford, discussing issues related to the family. With his many years at Glenhaven Youth Ranch, Quentin has become quite the expert at helping hurting and confused families. We talk back and forth for an hour, discussing problems all family’s experience and offer spiritual solutions in basic terms. My years of counseling and especially my experience with marriage counseling, has prepared me to share important biblical concepts with the community and with those listening via the internet. In the near future, we will be airing the show over internet radio as well.

Spiritually Raw

As many of you know based on the e-mails I sent out, I was interviewed by an internet radio show titled “Spiritually Raw”. The show is the work of a married couple whose goal is to air all kinds of views about spirituality. They interview a wide variety of people such as spiritualist, seers, those who speak with spirits and even those who communicate with other dimensions. Of course, I believe that all of these people are speaking with demons deceiving them. I went on their show for a brief discussion about belief systems and we discussed the Christian faith for a time. I was able to convey my belief that Jesus is the only way to God and that without faith in Him, no one can have a relationship with God. They and their average listener struggle with this view as does most of the unbelieving world. This was a great learning exercise for me and I appreciate your prayers for me.

Internet Radio

On May 1, my recorded studies began playing over the Brettell Broadcasting Network, an internet radio network. I have 4 one-hour slots, playing at different times every day on a program hosted by Dr. Brettell. He has hosted his own local radio program for years and has decided to go to internet radio to get his message out. It appears that the internet is the wave of the future even for radio. During this initial phase I will be uploading recorded studies and later will be adding live 1-hour discussions of real life issues through a biblical viewpoint.

Local Church

I am still serving as the Associate Pastor of Doctrinal Studies Bible Church here in Birmingham, serving with Pastor Ron Adema. Ron is still going strong into his 70’s and provides the lion’s share of the bible teaching with me filling in as needed. My primary role is a supportive one, as a counselor and encourager within the congregation. I have been a member of DSBC off and on between assignments for 28 years now and this is mine and Rhonda’s home church. We have a great and enduring love for the people here and will continue to serve their needs in any way we can.

Marriage Ministry

This summer Rhonda and I will be resuming our monthly marriage ministry for believers in our local church as we believe that keeping the marriages strong is the key to keeping the families and ultimately the church strong. Literally, as go the marriages, so goes the church.

School of Biblical Theology

I will also be teaching in the School of Biblical Theology, preparing the ministers of the future. I can think of no greater privilege than contributing to the minds of our future pastors and leaders. Educating them so that they can open the scriptures and study them for themselves is an honor and an opportunity to return what the school gave to me. Having been trained by the late Dave Whisenant in the languages, Kirk Kniep in the historical perspective, Carol Davenport in methods of communication and Ron Adema in theology and Pastoral Theology, I was imminently prepared to go out on my own and teach the bible, verse by verse and categorically. I am so grateful for these believers who contributed to my soul and for giving me the capacity to stand on my own as a pastor.

Counseling

My counseling ministry continues to grow, but very slowly it seems. Then, all at once, I will have more than I can do and fit it all in. As some of you know, I attended UAB’s M.A. counseling program, graduating summa cum laude while working a full time job, a part time job, with a wife and 4 kids. When it was over, I was very tired to say the least. After graduation, I thought it would be easy to get a job as a counselor in a local, secular program and began to make applications whenever I got wind of an opening. To my surprise, after sending out about 200 resumes, I have never gotten a phone call from any of those job openings. My conclusion after a time was that the Lord didn’t want me in the secular counseling business but wanted me to be open and available to help any believer who was in need of the skills I had gained. I have taken a ministry minded approach, not charging a fee, but trusting the Lord who is truly faithful to provide what we need.

Podcast

In my last letter, I indicated that I was in the process of putting together a podcast, which is where a person speaks live or in a recording over the internet. The internet is becoming more and more like live TV or live radio, because so many people are using it to meet all of their communication needs. I am still working on this but it is going slower than expected because of my own ignorance of the tech aspects of it and my dependence on others who are busy also. I do expect to have this up and running soon and will begin publishing short bible messages weekly. Stay tuned!

Internet Church

Dr. Brettell is so convinced that the internet is going to be the future, he is building an internet “virtual” church. The virtual church will function much like the local church, but over distance using live internet. This is a fascinating concept and I am helping him with this effort.

As you can see, I have been keeping myself busy in the Lord’s work. I am not maxed out by any means. I plan on continuing to grow in my efforts to get His word out to the world. I will use any means I can find and will teach any and all who will listen. I appreciate those of you who have an interest in my work and participate through prayer and financial support. By entering into the work through your prayers and giving, you are just as much in this ministry as I am. As Paul said to the Thessalonian churches

2 Thessalonians 3:13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

It is no mystery that every ministry needs prayer support and financial support. Also it is no mystery that ministers send out these reports to remind you to pray and give if you believe in what they are doing. This letter is no different. We truly need your prayers and your financial support so that I can devote myself to prayer and the ministry of the word as did the Apostles (Act 6:4).

I truly believe that the specific message the Lord has given me is what the church desperately needs as our nation continues to decline, as marriages and families fall apart and as children are exposed to immorality at earlier ages than ever before. My work is focused on teaching God’s solutions for the ever increasing soul problems that develop because our families are falling apart and our children are being abandoned to the world before they become children of God. Many who become saved now, come into the church with tremendous soul problems that must be addressed if that person is to grow and become a credible witness for Christ. If you too believe this kind of ministry is important, then help us continue to reach out with the hope and love of God.

Your Friend in Christ,

Al

Send contributions to:

Doctrinal Studies Bible Church

C/O Al Rosenblum

5216 Chestnut Ln

Pinson Al. 35126

This Saturday March 19, I will be teaching an all day conference in Little Rock Arkansas. Click on the OM-NM conference to see the notes. I hope to have the audio to go with it soon.

Recently I have been privileged to participate in an unusual online bible study.   The format is question and answer about specific biblical principles and passages.   Dr. Jim Brettell is leading the studies and dialoguing with Pastor Steve Ellis and myself.    We have been discussing Romans chapter 6 & 12 and drawing out principles for Christian living.   I must say that these discussion have been excellent and would be helpful to any Christian trying to live the Christian life.   Following are links to the audio recordings of the studies. I suggest that if you are interested in growing in your Christian walk that you catch up through the recordings and then tune in live on Sunday evenings at 7PM (central time).

Recording Links: http://brettell.org/webex.htm

Listen live:   E-mail Dr. Jim Brettell and ask to be put on the list.  His e-mail is   brettell@sbcglobal.net

Remember to support your Pastors & leaders with your prayers, loyalty &  financial giving.

My good friend Richard Statham, an excellent Pastor-Teacher at Palmerdale Baptist has published several articles in a blog. He and I are working together to publish some biblical literature to edify the church at large. Check out his work.

http://www.richardstatham.blogspot.com

Al

If you have been reading my articles and you are wondering why they stopped coming, they haven’t stopped, just slowed way down for the moment. I am just resting, digesting some new lessons from the Lord. When I am finished with my rest phase I will cycle back to writing phase again, so please be patient. We are learning many things at many levels and have many new challenges coming faster than we can handle.

If you want to help, ask the Lord Jesus to bless us with more energy and more finances. These 2 areas are what steal us away from the ministry, especially when I have to use my time and energy to make money to support my wife and 4 kids.

Thanks for reading and for those who have sent financial support. Rhonda and I are very grateful for your partnership with us in ministry. As Glen Cunningham said in the title of his inspiring book, Never Quit!!

Al

A preacher telling us Charles Stanley’s Prophecy at the 1979 SBC:

This is exactly what the preacher said:

Charles Stanley told us a prophetic warning at the SBC in 1979. He told us that in 40 years the churches and pulpits would be more interested in big buildings rather than good preachin’! . . . guess what this coming June will be? that’s right . . . it will be 40 years! (This was sent to me via e-mail & I don’t remember by who and I don’t vouch for its accuracy).

I pastored a wonderful bible church some years ago in a small city of about 50,000 people. Recently I spoke to a friend who still lives there who told me that in the last 5 years, the 3 largest Baptist churches in the city had spent somewhere around 50 million dollars on new buildings and/or additions. That equals out to $1,000 per person in this small city.

Now in defense of these churches (if this is defensible) this was probably considered a 100 year investment in the community. I do believe that the church needs decent facilities and even attractive, God honoring facilities. However, I can’t help but wonder how many pastors in America and missionaries abroad who have devoted their every breath to proclaiming the gospel, are living below the poverty line. I also wonder how many pastors this year will have to tell their children, “I’m sorry honey, I know you want that gift but we just can’t afford it this year. Maybe next year”. Tough duty that!

God provides the needs of His children. Sometimes He sends a bird to steal a steak off of someone’s grill to deliver it to Elijah (cooked just right too). At other times, He causes the flour and oil to last beyond what is possible. Most times though, He provides through us, His children giving their excess to other Christians who have little. I can’t help but wonder what kind of response these 3 churches would get if they knocked on an unbeliever’s door with the gospel and a $1000 grace gift that said Jesus loves you for real.

Radical I know! Just musing here. It is my site so I am allowed to muse here. Think about what God has given you and what you really need this year. If you discover that you have extra, I know a youth ranch that could use some help and some faithful pastors with children who are barely scraping by. If this doesn’t appeal to you, I am sure there is a church in your city with a building fund.

I apologize to those of you who have been reading these articles regularly. Like all of us, my life has its complexities and sometimes I don’t have the time or energy to write as often as I would like. If, and as support for this ministry grows, I will have more time to devote to writing these articles. As it stands today, providing for a wife and 4 children requires a great deal of my time and sometimes my energy to think and write. God is in control.

If you have never written an e-mail to me through the contact page, I wish that you would do so. I would like to get to know you if you are enjoying these articles so I can pray for you and contact you by e-mail when a new one is published.

Love in Christ,

Al