Resources by Charlie Wingard
Thirty years ago today I was ordained to the gospel ministry at Faith Presbyterian Church in Morganton, North Carolina. You only get one first church, and this one couldn’t have been better. Loving and caring and encouraging, its members will forever hold a special place in my heart. Apart from my sons’ and grandchildren’s birthdays and the anniversary of my marriage to Lynne, my ordination day is the most memorable and important date in my life. Lynne makes the day special – a card, gift, and dinner – just one example of the many ways she stands beside me in my work. My interest in the ministry began long before I ever preached. Since I was a teenager, I wanted to to be a…
Read MoreBefore you speak ill of others, consider Charles Simeon’s wise counsel: “The longer I live, the more I feel the importance of adhering to the rules which I have laid down for myself in relation to such matters. “1st To hear as little as possible what is to the prejudice of others. “2nd To believe nothing of the kind till I am absolutely forced to it. “3rd Never to drink into the spirit of one who circulates an ill report. “4th Always to moderate, as far as I can, the unkindness which is expressed towards others. “5th Always to believe, that if the other side were heard a very different account would be given of the matter. “I consider love…
Read MoreO GOOD LORD, who willest all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of thy verity, show thy power and excellent Majesty unto the whole world, that everyone may sing thy praises, yea, and show forth thy salvation, which thou has promised to all them that dedicate themselves to thy service; that thou mayest be praised in all thy creatures, by means of Jesus Christ thy Son. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 108.
Read MoreO LORD, the only protector and stay of all thine, who guidest thy children as the sheep of thy fold, extend thy goodness to us, and so sustain our hearts, which by nature are harder than any flint, that we be not hardened or obstinate through any incredulity against thy holy Word, but we may serve thee in true and living faith, so that in the end we may enter into thy heavenly rest, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 107-108.
Read MoreIndomitable physical courage, moral strength, and Christian conviction marked the life of Fannie Lou Hamer. Yesterday Lynne and I visited her gravesite at Ruleville in the Mississippi Delta. Mrs. Hamer came to national prominence when she addressed the 1964 Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee. She described the imprisonment and brutal beating she endured during the 1963 summer voter registration drive. Watch a brief historical introduction and then listen to her eight minute speech. The youngest of twenty children, her family were sharecroppers. Her attempt to register to vote in 1962 led to the firing of her and her husband from the plantation where she had worked for eighteen years. Her gravesite is located in the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden. A few hundred yards to the west is the Fannie…
Read MoreMOST POTENT KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, whose glory is incomprehensible, whose majesty is infinite, and whose power is incomparable, maintain thy servants in quietness; and grant that we may be so settled on the certainty of thy promises that, whatsoever thing come upon us, we may abide firm in thy faith, and may live uprightly and without reproach in the midst of thy church, which Jesus Christ thy Son hath bought with his precious blood. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 106.
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