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    Little is Much: Our First Twenty Years
    Little is Much: Our First Twenty Years
    Little is Much: Our First Twenty Years
    Ebook145 pages1 hour

    Little is Much: Our First Twenty Years

    By Nathan Stephens

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    About this ebook

    What began as a house church in September 2001, is now a church body situated on a church campus downtown, Westminster SC. This is Gethsemane Bible Church's story of her first twenty years. Read how she triumphed, again and again, to raise a steeple inside the city of Westminster - how she stubbornly persists to exist to serve her community, but most importantly to name the name of Christ.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateJan 1, 2022
    ISBN9781716054396
    Little is Much: Our First Twenty Years

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      Book preview

      Little is Much - Nathan Stephens

      Little

      is

      Much

      Our First Twenty Years

      Pastor Nathan C. Stephens

      and Congregation 

      Congregation & Friends

      Copyright © 2021 by Gethsemane Bible Church, Inc.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned,

      or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

      First Edition: September 2021

      Printed in the United States of America

      D E D I C A T E D    T O

      Our Father, God

      Our Savior, Christ Jesus

      Our Comforter, The Holy Ghost

      Who have taken our little and made much of it.

      All glory and honor to the blessed Trinity.

      A    S P E C I A L    T R I B U T E    TO

      Mrs. Rebecca Spiva Edwards

      Who, in faith, opened her home September 23, 2001 for worship and the beginning of

      Gethsemane Bible Church, Incorporated

      SHE INVITED US TO CHURCH

      A Loving Tribute to Mrs. Rebecca S. Edwards

      Saturday, October 8, 2011

      10th Anniversary of Gethsemane Bible Church

      My church had disbanded, and the doors were locked shut.

      No longer a church home for any of us!

      Feeling distraught, I’d determined to search.

      Then my phone rang; she invited me to church!

      The work was completed, and our mission was done.

      Where now, dear Lord, must souls be won?

      Your will, oh God, forever be first!

      Then a call came; she invited us to church!

      So often in worship, God’s holy fire did purge,

      But slowly my church to this world did turn!

      Where will I worship? My heart did yearn.

      At that very moment, she invited me to church!

      We moved into town, my husband and I.

      A church like we’d known was our heart’s desire!

      Is there such in this town where we may serve?

      Oh yes! She called and invited us to her church!

      Once I was a little lad with a sinner mom and dad.

      It’s Jesus, I learned, that would make forever glad!

      Such things as that for years I have heard.

      Really it happened ‘cause she invited me to church!

      I was unsaved and Hell, not Heaven, was my end.

      My need was Christ – my life, He would mend!

      I was among the saints when came my new birth,

      Partly due to this fact, she invited me to church!

      All we, on Heaven’s eternal shore, will bask,

      At some time, for her, we’ll inquire; we’ll ask!

      Where is she who prized God’s sanctuary’s worth?

      Our Sister Rebecca, the one who invited us to church!

      T A B L E  O F  C O N T E N T S

      Preface

      Page 1

      Chapter One

      Small Things

      Gethsemane's Genesis

      Page 3

      Chapter Two

      Little Strength

      Gethsemane's Quest

      Page 8

      Chapter Three

      A Little Oil

      Gethsemane's Promised Land

      Page 25

      Chapter Four

      A Little Chamber

      Gethsemane's Labor

      Page 37

      Chapter Five

      Little Benjamin

      Gethsemane's Vision

      Page 52

      T A B L E  O F  C O N T E N T S

      Chapter Six

      Little Bethlehem

      Gethsemane's Persistence

      Page 72

      Chapter Seven

      A Little Sleep

      Gethsemane's Mission

      Page 85

      Gethsemane Bible Church

      Revivalists Through the Years

      Page 92

      Epilogue

      Page 95

      P R E F A C E

      Victory Marches, commonly called Jericho Marches, occasionally occur at Mt. Vernon Holiness Church in Seneca, SC. Many years ago, when I was a teen at Mt. Vernon, the late Hyacinth Gibson spoke near the end of one worship service and said, "Brother Dennis (pastor), I believe we ought to have a Victory March!"

      A Victory March is not a march per se but a single-file walk around the inside perimeter of the church sanctuary during a worship service. Anyone attending the church service can participate, and most often, everyone does; I always empathize with the few who remain seated.  The March, accompanied by music, singing, or both, symbolizes a saint's triumph over a personal difficulty. It can even be a march laying claim to future victories. Too, the March is not always about one person but may be used to encourage the entire Church.

      I do not recall the purpose of Sister Hyacinth's Victory March, but certainly, I remember the song she sang as she led us along, "Little Is Much When God Is In It!" It was a tune that I had not heard before, and what an inspiration it was! It is the hymn that became Gethsemane Bible Church's song and the title, our motto.

      After twenty years, Gethsemane remains little but has been even smaller over its two decades of Christian service to the Westminster community. Therefore, in its very humble beginnings, it made official its motto, Little Is Much If God Is In It!  While these are not the precise words to the song, our slogan refers to it. We sing Gethsemane's hymn with much the same anticipation that Sister Hyacinth Gibson did as she initiated her very own victory laps around the interior of God's sanctuary.  This is our story; this is our song.  Gethsemane Bible Church faithfully looks forward to future victories, for Little Is Much If God Is In It!

      Pastor Nathan C. Stephens

      September 2021

      L I T T L E  I S  M U C H  W H E N  G O D  I S  I N  I T

      In the harvest field now ripened

      There's a work for all to do;

      Hark! the voice of God is calling,

      To the harvest calling you.

      In the mad rush of the broad way,

      In the hurry and the strife,

      Tell of Jesus' love and mercy,

      Give to them the Word of Life.

      Does the place you're called to labor

      Seem so small and little known?

      It is great if God is in it,

      And He'll not forget His own.

      Are you laid aside from service;

      Body

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