The Liberal Soul By Evangelist Gordon Silcox

THE LIBERAL SOUL Proverbs 11:24-26: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.   The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.   He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." On The Care of The Church's Visiting Evangelist In Proverbs 11:24-26, we see a Biblical principle on giving.   There is a way of giving that will enrich the giver.   There is also the contrast taught here of the one who withholdeth and the consequences of withholding.   The generous giver is rewarded and the giver who withholdeth shall be impoverished.   The liberal giver is like a sower who scattereth the seeds of kindness in all directions.   The other keeps back what is needed.   The one who is caught up in greed and miserliness is always the loser. The liberal soul shall be made fat.   The Bible speaks much about the covetous.   These verses in Proverbs tell us that every effort or influence has a reaction.   The scattering increaseth, the liberal soul gets fat. Generous men and churches are rewarded with many blessings from God.   It also brings wealth of soul.   Luke 6:38 teaches the same principle.

Luke 6:38: "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.   For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." To withhold always tends to poverty and most often to moral poverty.   The man or church who receives but does not give liberally will gradually sink into spiritual poverty. God loves a cheerful giver. II Corinthians 9:7: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." To withhold when there is a need brings a curse on the head of the one who withholds. There is an old proverb which does apply to churches and pastors who are generous in their care of visiting evangelists and speakers.   It goes like this: "The truly generous is the truly wise; and he who loves not others lives unblest." Galatians 6:7-8 tells it plainly. Galatians 6:7-8: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.   For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the

flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Churches need to learn this principle of divine giving.   That is why we feel led to write this message.   "The liberal soul shall be made fat[.]"   With the above text in mind we will consider the proper care of the visiting speaker in the church of divine origin.   The church of divine origin is an independent Bible practicing Baptist church. It is the church that Jesus built in Jerusalem during His own personal ministry. It is the church that He promised perpetuity to in Matthew 16:18.   This is the kind of church that all the apostles built and preached in during their own ministries on this earth.   In Ephesians 4:1-12, the apostle Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus.   He encourages them to walk worthy of the vocation whereby they were called. He wanted them to continue on in the life they had professed in Christ.   To Paul it was a divine call for these saints to continue on serving the Lord in the particular office which the Lord had placed them.   He then encourages them to keep the unity of the spirit.   He reminds them that there is only one body, spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism and God and Father of us all. In Verses 11 and 12, he mentions some of the offices of the church and reminds them that these particular places of service are for the edifying of the body of Christ, which is the assembly of the saints. Colossians 1:18: "And he is the

head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." Ephesians 1:22-23: "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." One of the offices he mentions is the office of evangelist.   The evangelist is a missionary who goes from place to place and country to country edifying the churches and establishing churches.   Paul writing to Timothy in II Timothy 4:5 encouraged him to do the work of an evangelist.   There is little difference between an evangelist and a missionary.   They are messengers of good news, they proclaim glad tidings.   They preach, teach and evangelize the churches they are invited to.   The work of an evangelist is a scriptural work and the evangelist must be under the authority of a local church which sends him.   Some churches have staff evangelists and missionaries who go out under the authority of that particular church.   We believe this is the scriptural and proper procedure that is found in the New Testament. It is, therefore, a special office of edifying churches that God gives to certain men.   It is, therefore, vital that both parties conduct themselves in an ethical and scriptural manner in their relationship to each other.   The visiting speaker, whether

a full time evangelist, a foreign missionary, a youth evangelist, or a conference speaker, etc., must conduct himself in a proper and ethical manner. Likewise, the churches which host these speakers must also be ethical and scriptural in their care of the visiting speakers.   The apostle Paul commended the saints in Philippi for their good care of him. Philippians 4:10: "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." It has been this writer's observation that many churches and visiting speakers do not understand what proper care and conduct is. It is because of this lack of understanding that this writer has been prompted by the Holy Spirit to write on this subject.   The visiting speaker needs to leave a good testimony behind when he leaves town after the meeting.   The church also, if it is to have the blessing of God upon its ministry, must learn to properly care for the servants of God that the Holy Spirit leads to their church.   The liberal soul will be blessed of the Lord.   The law of sowing and reaping does apply.   We will look at several areas that concern both the church and the visiting speaker. The Invitation To The Visiting Speaker It is always important that any invitation to a speaker to come to a church be bathed

in prayer.   No invitation should be extended without both parties being led of the Holy Spirit.   Only prayer can determine this. The pastor should ask his church to pray for him as he seeks the Lord's will in what missionary, evangelist or speaker of any kind he is considering.   The more prayer that is given the better the speaker and the meeting will be.   The pastor may call the speaker he is considering and set up the meeting.   He, however, needs to also send a letter of confirmation to the speaker.   The speaker should then, before he replies in the affirmative, pray also about going to the church.   This is especially important in the area of revival and missions conferences.   Then the speaker should send a letter, not a phone call, of confirmation. There have been some embarrassing moments with some churches and speakers when dates were different or the speaker came at the wrong time or did not even show up.   Both parties should not be slothful in these business matters.   No church should ever cancel a speaker when a more famous one becomes available.   If prayer has been made and the Holy Spirit has led, leave it as it is.   No speaker should cancel a meeting in a small church where the honorarium will be small for a larger church which will give more.   If God led in the selection, then the church and speaker should leave it that way. Sometimes a call comes like this, "Hello brother, I have been planning a revival meeting in our church and I have called several men and none are available.   Can you come these dates?"   Special prayer is needed before the speaker says yes or no under these circumstances!   No evangelist really

wants to be "the only one we could get."   It is more important that it be "the Lord led us to bring our brother in for this meeting." Preparation For The Meeting The evangelist needs to begin early seeking the leadership of the Lord in his selection of messages.   Prayer and meditation is very important in this area.   This writer does not want to know the condition of the church as he selects his messages.   The church should also begin having prayer meetings long before the speaker arrives.   Even before the invitation is extended to the visiting speaker, the pastor should determine if the church can afford a meeting.   No speaker should be brought in without proper prayer and preparation for his care.   Some pastors bring in speakers to take care of unpleasant things they themselves refuse to speak on or deal with. No visiting speaker wants to be the disciplinarian for the week of meetings. The expense for the meeting should, if possible, be raised before the meeting begins.   In a lot of churches the last one to get paid is the speaker.   He often gets what is left over.   Most churches have little understanding of the expense a traveling speaker has.   His travel expense should be paid to him in advance of his arrival.   If he flies to a meeting, he often must purchase the tickets in advance to get the lowest fare.   Sometimes he must pay the travel agent or the charge card banker. This can mean extra charges including interest.   If he drives to a meeting, he

will have a great deal of expense also.   See that the expense check arrives on time so he can properly prepare for the meeting.   If he has a secretary, he has that additional expense also.   The traveling speaker also has a tremendous phone bill, much more than a pastor of a church.   His car expense incurred does not cover it all either.   Cars do wear out.   A church may pay for his gas, oil, meals, motels, etc., but what about that expensive car he wears out in three to four years of driving 40,000 miles per year? Many times I have been handed a check at the end of a meeting.   This check was to cover the expense and the honorarium.   When the expense were paid, little or nothing remained.   No speaker will long survive under those conditions.   Sometimes a pastor will say at the close of a meeting, "Preacher, this is all we have at this time, but we will send more later."   Then he never sends it.   He has more speakers in, but he should never bring another one in until the first one is properly cared for.   I have been in meetings where the check did not cover the expense of getting to the meeting. Remember the visiting speaker has expenses at home to cover in addition to the ones he incurs on the road.   I realize that sometimes last minute problems can occur which hinder the church in its giving.   Yet, in time that should be corrected.   I once held a meeting in a church and drove 150 miles to get there on a Saturday evening. I had to drive home that night to be in my own pulpit the next day.   At the close of the service an offering was taken for the visiting speaker.   I overheard the treasurer ask the pastor what to do with a check put

in the offering made out to me.   He told the treasurer to have the person make out another one to the church and they would give me one check.   That is fine and proper. However, upon leaving the pastor said, "We will send you a check."   I never received one.   Will God honour such a practice?   No. That preacher is out of the ministry and ought to be. The Honorarium Some prefer to call it a love offering.   I personally feel a more accurate title is honorarium.   The love offering is a gift. Any speaker who gives his best earns his honorarium.   The laborer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7).   It is in fact his pay for that week.   The traveling speaker has expenses that few people think about.   His expenses such as postage, phone, gas, etc. must be paid on time also.   If he has two or three small honorariums in a row, he has great difficulty paying these bills.   He must go home once in awhile and those days or weeks he does not get paid.   He will also have last minute cancellations which are often to late to fill.   Sometimes he is asked to preach at preacher fellowship meetings where many speakers attend - none of which get any love offering.   However, the visiting pastors are paid that week but the visiting evangelist is not.   It is impossible for an evangelist to attend very many of such conferences, he can not afford to.   It is a blessing when some pastors give an offering to the traveling speaker to help defray his cost of coming to the meeting.

So, what is a good honorarium?   This can vary depending on the location of the church hosting the meeting.   However, a good criteria is as follows.   In the last church I pastored for 24 years, we began in 1966 giving $25.00 for each time the visiting speaker spoke.   We also paid his expenses. When I resigned that pastorate in 1990, we were giving a minimum of $100 for each service preached, plus expenses.   That is not any too much.   At this writing, I believe it should be even higher.   If a church has a pastor of another church in who does not give up any salary to come, the amount may be lower.   The traveling speaker does need a higher amount in his honorarium than a visiting pastor will need.   Yes, I believe a God called evangelist should be properly cared for in the honorarium.   Yes, they could be paid too much.   If that were the case in all of the churches there would be men in evangelism who were not God but financially called.   I do think we who travel as evangelists need to exercise faith in the area of finances as well as other areas.   However at the time of this writing, there are not as many evangelists as there once were and part of that situation results from poor financial care by the churches. Evangelists should be properly and prayerfully paid. No visiting speaker should ever receive or keep money from members that has not first of all gone through the offering plate.   If someone slips me money, I always go immediately to the pastor, tell him and give it to him.   It is unethical for an evangelist to not only keep such money

without the pastor's knowledge, but also taking anything without the pastor's knowledge.   No speaker should write to members of other churches without the pastor's knowledge.   Tape ministries have also caused much distress.   I do not sell or give my preaching tapes to members without the pastor's knowledge.   They need only one pastor.   I am not that pastor.   Tape ministries improperly conducted have caused countless problems in churches across America.   No evangelist should ever leave a church with a mailing list of the church's members.   No tapes, books or tracts should be sold, sent or given to church members without the pastor's approval.   Some evangelists sell tapes, books, etc. from necessity.   It keeps them in the ministry of evangelism because of the income it generates, but it should never be done without the pastor's approval. Accommodations For The Visiting Speaker I do not recommend putting the visiting speaker in a home of any of the members of the host church.   There will be times when it will be necessary, but it is not always the best way to house a speaker.   The speaker needs privacy.   He does not always get it in a home.   He is constantly before churches and people.   He needs a break from the constant hand shaking, questions, calling, preaching and teaching.   Some pastors keep him up late asking questions and fellowshipping.   So, he needs a place and a time to rest and catch his breath.   In a home he often may share a bath, put up with cats, dogs or other pets.   Phone calls

sometime need to be private and in a home that is not always possible.   Putting the visiting speaker in a home often puts him between problems in the church.   I do not want to run the risk of staying in a home of a member of a church and end up being in the middle of some controversy or having some problem develop later with that family and then be accused of starting it when I stayed in their home.   Many years ago visiting speakers did stay mostly in homes because that was about the only place they could stay.   Today, however, we see a totally different condition of our churches and families.   I do not recommend putting the speaker in the member's home in these days in which we live. The visiting speaker should be put in a decent, clean motel or hotel where he is comfortable.   Just because a motel is cheap does not assure his comfort or cleanliness. Wherever he stays, put him in a good bed. Roll-a-way beds are killers.   The couch bed is even worse.   He changes beds a lot and needs a good one.   Sometimes I have stayed in homes where the pastor gave up his bed and private bath for us.   That is nice, but the pastor needs rest too.   There is one good advantage of staying in a pastor's home.   The speaker and the pastor and his family will know each other better.   Often this leads to more prayer and better meetings.   If he does stay in a home, make sure it is private, quiet, clean and large enough (get him a small desk), and what any member would be proud to stay in themselves. Some pastors work and must leave early. That means the speaker must get up early and

leave with the pastor.   Some pastors never think of the testimony of trying to allow a speaker to stay in a place where a wife or daughter is home alone with the speaker. That is pure ignorance and ought never to happen.   Always check the speaker's dietary needs ahead of time.   Honor his requests as to the type and volume of food he can partake of.   No special week of meetings should develop into a cooking and eating contest with the ladies of the church.   Put a fruit basket in his room and give him some spending money so he can go out to eat with his wife in private once in awhile.   The thoughtfulness of those who have done this for us has meant much and added to the blessing of the meeting.   If the speaker flies to a meeting, provide some transportation for him, either some member's extra car or a rental car.   Some churches have what they call missionary apartments, most of which are very inadequate.   It is either up a long flight of stairs, has no bath, or is so small you have to fold the bed up during the day.   Often there is no desk, no windows, no phone and a very lumpy bed.   Few missionary apartments are fit for more than an overnight stay.   I recommend that all pastors whose churches have missionary apartments stay in their own missionary apartment for one full week with their family.   This, I think, will improve many such apartments. The Visiting Speaker's Ministry in The Church The visiting speaker is there to preach and teach.   Some pastors work him to death. They call with him all day and then give him little time for study, prayer and rest.

Some pastors appear to be trying to prove to the speaker what a great door knocker they are.   Give him at least his mornings or afternoons free.   He is not there to do the work of the pastor.   He is the evangelist. He may help you do some worthy things, but do not wear him out.   Give him time before the evening service to rest and prepare. Traveling is a very tiring thing and he needs to be fresh for the preaching services.   I enjoy calling and helping the pastor, but I am not able physically to go from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. week after week.   My teaching and preaching is the most important thing I do. Ethics No evangelist should council any church member without the pastor's approval and presence.   Personally, I would never use any evangelist who had not had some pastoral experience.   He must always have the pastor and his church in mind in whatever he says or does.   The vineyard should be better because he was there.   The pastor's position should be enhanced and the church edified. He should send a thank you note for each church he speaks in.   These are God's churches and God's shepherds.   They must be treated properly. May the Lord bless this writing to improve the relationship between the churches and the visiting speakers. Evangelist Gordon Silcox Larimore, North Dakota   58251 701.aaa.aaaa

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