This is probably our last Word of Truth (WOT) Conference.  It also will not be normal.  We are ordaining two men from Bethel Baptist Church to the office of the bishop.  They are both qualified.  You are still welcome to come, but it won’t be the same.  We will keep you updated about what will be occurring instead of the WOT Conference.  It might be something you’re still interested in.

I want to remind you that I am not in California now.  I am in Oregon, as a missionary and starting a church.  For a short transition period, I am still the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, while Pastor Sutton recuperates from his cerebral hemorrhage.  He is recovering, which is good, because that is only about a third of the people who have one of those.  He is in California and getting better, but we are not requiring anything of him until reevaluation in January.  We expect him to be ready to get started in January, and then he will become pastor of Bethel Baptist Church.

In the meantime, Jerad Stager is intern pastor of the church.  He will be ordained in November, but we think he is qualified already, just hasn’t had hands laid on him yet.  To do this, he has taken a leave of absence from a high paying job.  David Warner is principal of the school, Bethel Christian Academy.  He was going to train for a year under Pastor Sutton, but that plan was scrapped due to the information of paragraph two.  Both of these men, who are doing a great job, will be the two ordained.

The conference this year will be, as usual, the second week of November (11-15), Wednesday to Sunday.  I will be there.  The first night, I and some other preacher will preach.  Thursday morning, David Warner will present his doctrinal statement and be examined.  Other men will be there to help with the examination and to witness this.  Thursday night first a charge will be made to David Warner by his father-in-law, Jerry Wilhite, followed by a sermon by David.  Friday morning, Jerad Stager will present his doctrinal statement and be examined.  Friday night first a charge will be made to Jerad Stager by his father-in-law, David Costantino, followed by a sermon by Jerad.

Saturday morning, the theme will return to that of the last two years of the WOT conference:  sanctification.  We are still preparing to publish a book on the gospel and then on sanctification.  A lot of work still needs to be done for both of these.   That morning, the 14th, Saturday, Thomas Ross and myself will cover two sessions on sanctification.

Sunday morning, for Sunday School and the morning service, the two above newly ordained men will finish presenting their doctrinal statements.  One of the visiting preachers will preach the afternoon or evening service afterwards.  That’s the conference for this year.  You can still come if you’d like, but it’s not in general the type of conference we’ve had, so we understand if you wouldn’t come this year.  We wanted you to know though.