What's In A Name?

LAYING IN BED THIS MORNING, the question, "What's in a name?" popped into my thoughts - and laying there, the answer almost composed itself.  So I had to get up and start writing it.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?  I guess it all depends upon the name and the purpose behind that name.  In 1987 I became a born-again Christian believer under the tutelage of Pastor Sam Lacanienta at the Fil-Am Church of Irvine (CA).  And through his encouragement, I began doing Christian writing.  In the early 1990s I began to write, publish, and mail a Christian newsletter, The Good News.  I did that, mailing it to about 400 homes across America and to about 60 homes in 12 other countries, for as long as I could afford to do it on my own financially. 

Then the computer company I worked for closed our division, and after a while I had to stop publishing the newsletter, for I was in a period of unemployment.  And I have never, not then and nor now, felt right about asking others to pay or help pay for what I write.  I felt, and still feel, that God gave me a writing ministry and He gave me the knowledge and understanding to do that writing.  How can I ask folks to pay for what God had given me freely?  I have seen some get very wealthy writing and selling Christian books, but that is beyond my comfort zone.

For several years I did the Christian newsletter and church bulletins.  This I did using the name Bill & Dory Gray.  Later Dory and I, believing God would make an extended ministry possible through her international transactions - we made plans to expand our Christian ministry beyond just my writing, to include programs to help the homeless, to create jobs for the homeless, and through other Christian ventures.  For that we needed a name, so we chose the name "International Christian Fellowship" - and at that time it most definitely was a non-profit venture.

Circa 1998/99 we moved to Riverside, California, and in 1999, I became one of three elders for the Fil-Am Church of Corona, a church planted by our senior pastor, Pastor Sam Lacanienta, and for the past 24 years, Pastor Ed Dacio has been the senior pastor in Corona.  In the early years, he was a full time pastor while attending Talbot Seminary at Biola University and working as an OR nurse.  Pastor Ed appointed three elders for our first Corona church elder board: Ferdy Cancino, Tony Alagao, and myself.

One Sunday morning, as I was getting dressed to attend our worship service, which has always been at 1:30 PM, I was listening to KWVE Christian radio.  At a church in Yorba Linda, the pastor, to emphasize the diversity within their fellowship was asking the congregation to tell him the country where they were born before immigrating to America. For a few minutes, folks would raise their hands and call out their country of origin. When it got to about 25 countries other than America - the pastor stopped the counting, telling them, "You can see that our Christian faith, and our local church - truly extends to all people, worldwide."

I was so impressed by what I heard in that Yorba Linda church service, that later at our church I told Pastor Ed about it.  And I suggested that maybe we should consider a name change to reflect our desire to include folks from other countries and other cultures in our fellowship - but still maintaining our Pinoy heart.  A couple of weeks later, we had an elder meeting to discuss a name change.  In the meeting were we three elders, Ferdy, Tony, and myself, Pastor Ed, and our elder board secretary, Venny Camino.

Looking for a name which would reflect our desire to be inviting to all people, I suggested the name "International Christian Fellowship of Corona" - to follow the pattern of our current "Fil-Am Church of Corona."  Pastor Ed suggested we rearrange it a wee bit and call it the "Corona International Christian Fellowship."  We all liked that name, so that name was adopted.  Thereafter our church bulletins reflected our new name "Corona International Christian Fellowship" with the tag line, "A Filipino-American Christian Outreach Ministry" - just to make sure that folks know we are a church with a Pinoy Heart, but welcoming to all people.

At that point I knew that I could not keep using the name International Christian Fellowship for our personal Christian ministry - so I changed it to World Christian Fellowship.  That went well for a time and I used it in my Friends Ministry eNewsletters, on other venues such as the TimesDaily Religion Forum, The Conservative Voice, and other venues where I had opportunities to post my writings.

One day I received an e-mail from a gentleman in Africa telling me that he had been ordained through my World Christian Fellowship.  I wrote back that I could not ordain him, for I was only a Christian believer and not officially ordained myself.  About six months later, I received an e-mail from another gentleman in an African country telling me he had been ordained in my ministry.  I sent him the same reply - but decided to do some investigating to see who was using the same name and selling ordinations.

I found a fellow near Fresno, California, who was using the name World Christian Fellowship and selling ordinations for $75 to any and all who wanted to perform weddings and do other "for pay" activities that were specific to ordained pastors.  Realizing I could not sue him, for I had only unofficially coined the name - my only alternative was to do another name change.  But this time to a name reflective of Dory and me, but less likely to be chosen by anyone else.  Thus the name Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries.  At first Dory resisted, not wanting to use our personal names, and in her typical Pinay mindset, she did not want folks to think we were trying to personally declare ourselves to be self-righteous. 

But over years, she has mellowed on accepting the name. So our Christian ministry business card carries the logo:  "Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministry, A Non-Profit Christian Ministry."  Am I claiming to be a 501c3 non-profit ministry?  No, only reflecting the truth - that in over 30 years of doing the Christian writing ministry which God gave me - I have not received any money nor any other financial support nor profit from it. 

Only one time have I been given any financial help - and that was from a Christian sister, Bles, in our original home church, the Fil-Am Church of Irvine.  One Sunday Bles gave me 30 postage stamps to help us with the cost of mailing our Friends Ministry Newsletter via snail-mail to over 400 homes in America and to 60 homes in 12 other countries. Considering that I have been doing the Christian writing ministry for over 30 years - that equals one postage stamp per year.  Not a great profit.  But then the only real profit I have ever wanted is from God, a heavenly mansion one of these days.

But I will be honest.  I can only imagine the glorious feeling if, one day when I am in heaven, and someone comes to me and says, "Thank you. For your witness in your blog, newsletter, etc., made me want to know more about Jesus Christ."  Wow!   All of Bill Gates money could not equal that reward.

So Dory and I can wear the tag line:  "A Non-Profit Christian Ministry" with no legal worries - for we most certainly are non-profit.

During the years, 2007-2015, when I was posting on the TimesDaily Religion Forum, the atheists, agnostics, and other vanilla-flavored non-believers used to accuse me of making money off what they wrote in response to my blogs on that forum.  Yes, I often did post the same blogs on The Conservative Voice online newspaper and in my Facebook Notes - but never for profit.  But trying to tell that to the Liberal Anti-God crowd on the forum was like spitting into the wind.  So when I did repost a blog on another venue, I changed or deleted the pseudonyms the detractors on the Religion Forum were using - to protect the privacy of the not-so-innocent.

So, what's in a name?  That all depends upon your reason and purpose for the name.  For Dory and me, we just want to share God's Word with as many people around the world as possible - and pray that we do it in a manner which glorifies His name.  

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge: