MalcolmDow.com

Jim and Mavis Dow have been synonymous with Williamstown Baptist since 1968. Their daughter, Pam, married Denis Merrett, the church organist,  in the old building in Cecil Street on 24th December 1966. Denis and Pam were youth leaders and Malcolm Dow succeeded them as youth leader as well as organist. He was secretary at one stage too, and since 1998 he and I have been pastors.

Mavis died on 20th January 2009, aged 88 years, and Jim on 23rd March 2010, aged 91 years. Jim had retired as church secretary in 1988 and they had enjoyed many trips through the Outback and around Australia. In 1990 they came out of retirement to live in the house we use for ministry and meating (Wolfgang Simson’s spelling of a meeting around food) now, “Beth Tephillah”. Friendships made at that time with our neighbours have grown and developed. Jim was the speaker at the monthly Sunday Singalong which began at Wintringham Hostel in January 1994 until his first cancer treatment in September 1998. 

Jim and Mavis Dow at 140th Anniversary

Mavis and Jim were hosts of the Afternoon Teas held at “Beth Tephillah”. They celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary there in 2002. In October 2008 they together cut the cake to celebrate the 140th Anniversary since the beginning of Williamstown Baptist Church.

A tribute at Jim’s funeral quoted a message from the Rev Alan Marr, Director of Ministries of the Baptist Union of Victoria,

Jim was one of a kind. His faithfulness to God and the church were exemplary. He stuck to his calling as a leader in the church in very difficult times with grace and perseverance. I loved yarning with him about a vast range of topics. He will be greatly missed. Well done good and faithful servant.

Alan had written to Jim, commenting warmly about Mavis, and her faith and life and gentle witness through the years. Together they contributed so much to the church family.

The church has decided that gifts in memory of Jim and Mavis Dow will be received in recognition of their love of the Outback and the Yapa people.. They will be forwarded to Global Interaction (formerly the Australian Baptist Missionary Society) whose cross-cultural workers with the Warlpiri people of the Tanami Desert were supported by them in prayer and with finance for years.

After many months of problems it is great to be able to post some news from Beth Tephillah.

In March 2009 we shared the great news that Ray had accepted Jesus. We had the great joy of witnessing his baptism at Beth Tephillah on 4th December. He and Heather had been adjusting to life in a nursing home together, which was not without its challenges. When speaking about Ray’s desire to be baptised, the Director of Nursing said, “Ray isn’t the same man who moved in here last year.” What a difference Jesus makes when he is invited to share our lives. Ray’s physical health was a daily challenge, but he participated each Friday with us, endearing himself to all.

Ray and Heather were able to join our Christmas dinner with another 10 friends. On the 10th January 2010, Ray died with the assurance that Jesus had accepted him. He had told the caring staff that he was going to be with Jesus.

As we sang at his baptism, and again at his funeral on 14th Jan, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.” Heather continues to rejoice in the grace of God and the answer to her many prayers through the years.

We have just returned from a 9-day trip to Tasmania with Funtastic Christian Tours. A really well organised tour, taking in sights from Launceston to Freycinet National Park, Richmond, Bothwell, Mt Field National Park and Hobart. Kerry, the coach captain, drove well and entertained us with background to all the places along the routes we travelled, including some gravel roads through wonderfully green hills and valleys. We had a great lunch prepared by Geeveston Community Church and enjoyed singing in their picturesque church. There has been a worshipping community there since the 1880s. Travelling with a bunch of believers from a number of different traditions made for a stimulating time with lots of laughter. The accommodation was first rate and the the tour well paced so we returned home refreshed. Well done Kevin and Judy.

We completed the Baptist World Aid Australia five week 5050 program looking at poverty alleviation, and our role in bringing justice in the world. It was challenging, but also encouraging to know the value of our prayers and involvement.

God hears the cries of the poor and oppressed. We’re going to be looking at how we can hear God’s voice and live more closely to him in daily life. As followers of Jesus we want to learn to listen to the Father and obey him as Jesus did.

Our KYB study of Psalms of mercy and hope reminds us, “It is good to praise the LORD” (Psalm 92:1) and, “declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples.” (Psalm 95:3). There are some good things happening at Beth Tephillah which are worth sharing:

When we returned to the KYB group in January, Heather did just that. She had been bursting to share with the ladies the good news, that just before Christmas her husband, Ray, had accepted Jesus. It encouraged other wives to continue praying that their husbands might too come to know the love of God for themselves.

We have been happy to welcome Ray to the gatherings on Friday evenings and he is obviously taking in a great deal as he makes comments and asks questions. This Friday we will celebrate his 78th birthday with him.

Speaking of birthdays, we celebrated 100 years on 31st January – not the church (we’re 140 now) – but Mal was 60 and Kev 40 in January, so they had a combined party. It was a bit of fun to start the year.

Last Friday night we were pleased to welcome Steve into membership. He’s endeared himself to us since he started coming last year. He’s already shown himself really good at washing dishes, and we’re discovering his other gifts as we get to know him better.

Before Easter Beth Tephillah is being used by one of the interchurch Lenten study groups. Great to be sharing with others of the Body of Christ in the Williamstown and Newport areas. Our facilitator is Peter Clark, the pastor from Newport Baptist Church. Peter’s also a CFA chaplain who has been involved in the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires. Many harrowing stories but also amazing deliverance, courage and generosity, showing that God is bringing good out of this most terrible devastation.

Having spent 2008 considering the glory of God and how we live to bring him glory and share his glory, we have begun to explore worship together on Friday nights. Using a Vineyard DVD to aid us we are wanting to learn how all of life becomes a spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).

While trying to think about what I might write about in this blog, I discovered it can be quite hard to prioritise one’s passions. I should talk about my faith, because my walk as a follower of Jesus Christ is most important to me, around which everything else revolves and has meaning. However, I then risk devaluing other things, such as family, work, education, aspirations and hobbies. All of these things are important parts of who Malcolm Dow is.

The solution is obvious. I’ll write about them all, and more, as each seems significant at the time.  So, what are some of the main themes you will find here?

As I have already mentioned, I am a Christian, but it will soon become evident that I do not like the term “Christian” very much, for many of the same reasons I dislike the phrase “going to church”. Not that I discount the value of the Church. On the contrary, it is extremely important to me (after all, my wife and I are pastors!) but the words I have mentioned no longer convey the meanings to the world that they once did. I prefer to describe myself as a follower of Jesus. I don’t “go to church” – this has always been a nonsense phrase. Church is something I am a part of, not a place or building or organisation one can attend but an organism. More of these ideas later.

Another theme I will write about is my passion for effective use of the World Wide Web. Many years ago, when I learned how to build websites, I sought a less expensive way of having a number of sites. The result was the establishing of a small business through which I provide low cost web hosting and design. When I discovered blogging as an efective way of producing easily maintained sites which can more easily attract viewers, I began to generate some income using Google AdSense. This enables me to presently host 50 websites which pay for themselves, enabling me to provide sites for churches and community groups. This was the motivation for the business name Roaring-Mouse.com, derived from Leonard Wibberley’s book The mouse that roared. The idea is power for the little guy, as anyone who has read the book or seen the film by Peter Sellers will realise. The online publishing and web hosting section of Roaring Mouse is Roaring Mouse Publishing. This also focuses on optimising websites for the purpose for which they are intended.

A glance at the range of blogs I own (and there are too many of them, which makes it hard to keep them up to date) will indicate the breadth of my interests, both religious, philosophical, and technical.

I love books and reading. I’ve confessed elsewhere to being a full time student since the age of five (1955), and I have no intention of ceasing to explore and learn new things in a wide range of fields. In my early days I was more of an analyst, but in more recent years I have found the joy of taking all of those bits and pieces of knowledge and synthesising something new out of them. This has been especially true in the prayer counselling and training my wife Diana and I carry out through Williamstown Baptist Church and Beth Tephillah Ministry Centre and Roaring Mouse Counselling. As we try to bring healing to people Jesus teaches us new and more effective ways that bring more peace in a shorter time. It’s exciting, and as Dr. Charles Kraft says, “You can get addicted to the smiles on people’s faces”. You can read more about this in some of my other websites: Prayer Counselling, Listening to God, Intimacy with God and the Healing Prayer Ministries Network.

Then there is the more philosophical side of this, seen in A Reasonable Mystic, Mal’s Meanderings, Controversial Christian, Dark Night of the Soul, Godly Science, and Speak in Tongues. Or, if you just love books, as I do, there is A Book About.

Another of my lifelong passions is amateur radio and electronics, and I have a few websites and blogs under construction about these. I’ve held an amateur radio licence, with the callsign VK3ZDD since the early 1970s, and now hold VK3HL. I designed my first minicomputer long before the PC became a household appliance, and taught propgramming and computer technology at university for many years. Even now i still prefer to build my websites using real code, not the bloated website generating packages common today. One of my blogs, The Blog Works, is intended to help people master blog design and construction and use blogs effectively. The radio and electronics is covered by VK Web, Ham Search, Free Electron, and the Antenna Blog which is being rebuilt at present. The business side of this will use Roaring Mouse Electronics.

There are numerous other fields of interest and related websites which I will write about as they arise. Enjoy!

A full day, in more senses than one, with 41 people at Beth Tephillah today for our Generational Healing seminar. Our publicity says “places are limited”, so the 5 who left it to this morning were fortunate that 4 who had booked were late cancellations.

It was cosy, but the buzz developing through the day indicated the good atmosphere we enjoyed together. Lots of interesting comments and questions as we explored our part in bringing healing to the unresolved sin issues in our family history. The use of genograms as a tool to identify patterns through the generations was new to some, and for some, just looking at their family tree brought understanding of issues they face, and why their life has not gone well.

In preparing the teaching, I was again struck by the immensity of God’s grace that the blessings of obedience to His ways is to a thousand generations of those who love Him, while the consequence of disobedience is generally limited to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. (Exodus 20:4). Also, as the Sandfords put it so well, “Wherever men will let Jesus Christ reap the dire effects of the law through forgiveness and atonement on the cross, God can prevent tragedy. (God) has set Himself to obey His own laws. So whenever men will not repent, and by that fail to give Him access, men must reap, generation to generation, whatever is sown, however unfair that may be to the unborn and however much our loving God doesn’t want that to happen.” (John and Paula Sandford, Transforming the Inner Man: God’s Powerful Principles for Inner Healing and Lasting Life Change, p. 188-189).

So we see that the atoning death of Christ is always effective for personal sin, and when applied to corporate sin, is equally effective to bring healing to generational lines. How wonderful is the blood of Jesus to deal with all sin and bring us into all the freedom of the children of God.

Hearing some of the family inheritances that people have, makes me very grateful for my own heritage, and full of admiration for those, who in spite of the generational iniquity have, by their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, brought blessing to their family line.

As Mal concluded today, “If done well, dealing with generational iniquity not only brings a great amount of healing to the person receiving ministry, but also to their children, and often also sideways to other members of their family.” We trust that for the families represented at Beth Tephillah today, this will prove true.

By the way, we’ve changed the date of the 4th seminar, on dissociation, to 24th November. Places are being booked much earlier for this than for our other seminars, so we expect another “full” day in November.