2 - RUSTY TOOLS
It was a sight to behold. Even the ladies thought the screwdrivers looked kind-of pretty. Jake was a retired airplane mechanic. He'd probably tell you that tools were his bread and butter. Pointing at that wrench over there, he'd tell you, “See that monkey wrench there? Well, with one just like that I used to help save a couple lives in my airport maintenance shop, 4 years back... I mean it! I guess up-town folks would call it an 8 inch adjustable wrench. It's actually just a store-bought, off-the-shelf tool. And this one here, I replaced the hot water pressure valve over there next to the church furnace.
Jake Benson's maintenance bench at church had all the tools arranged in their place. You'd never have to dig for the tool you needed, especially if there was a life saving something to fix, like the ceiling tile that came loose in the nursery, last February. More than that, you couldn't find a speck of dirt or rust on any of Jake's tools... no sir. He figured God gave him the tools and the important church job of keeping things safe and secure.
No one ever found out that Jake often envisioned himself as training here on Earth, to become a maintenance man in the Tabernacle in Heaven. Maybe that's why he always had his 'tool-box Bible' opened, ready to share principles for young hearts and minds who'd come help polish his tools.
It Was Quite A Different Story Up In The Sanctuary.
The tract rack in the sanctuary holds tools even more powerful than Jake's workbench. Those tools of words and truths need just as much attention – maybe even more, in the purpose they are designed for – repairing lives. It would send very bad signals to the mind of someone looking through the variety of tracts and see most all of them have the name of the previous pastor or wrong times for services printed on them. But I agree with most folks, there seems to be something terribly wasteful in throwing away tracts that have the Gospel message and other Bible truths that are just as accurate as they were, when God breathed them.
The exciting answer to their use, is to box them up and send them to missionaries often overseas. To that end, there are many ministries that regularly ship them overseas for you. Not only that, but you can send your box of tracts to one of those state-side ministries at 'Library' postal rates, along with old Bibles, Bible lessons etc.
Creating your own tracts and first-contact brochures is a lot of fun and puts to use talents God has put in the hearts of adults and youth in your church. Tracts should use fairly large type with simple words and not a lot of them. Include images. The first-contact brochures should include a map, image of church, service times, and contact information.
Interest can be created by having a contest that youth compete in creating a tract... maybe even put it on Facebook. [~]
