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by Greg Frizzell
"Because pastors are facing unprecedented pressures, I sense this article should be a testimony of encouragement and practical help.
"It is the story of how God’s grace transformed my life and ministry at a time of devastating difficulty and impossibility.
As the church entered into a continuous five year nightmare, the circumstances were far worse than I could ever describe in any article. In the first three years, the battles were so intense my life was actually threatened for trying to help “that” church. A seminary professor told me in forty years of teaching, he had never heard of anything so extreme. He said, it was essentially the “Chernobyl” of the church world. (Not exactly a title you desire.) Yet, the core people of the church truly loved their Lord, their church and their inexperienced young pastor. I owe them a debt of gratitude I could never repay.
So for five years, we aggressively used the best evangelism, discipleship and growth programs in existence. I sought to faithfully preach the whole counsel of Scripture and we even had weekly church prayer meetings. Toward the end of the fifth year, church decline was bad enough that things were getting really desperate...."
