My Testimony ___ Enjoy a little gospel music

Click on music like with right mouse button and choose opened in new tab.

The unofficial Olivet Baptist Church web page

Welcome Home!

Welcome Home To Olivet Baptist Church

It is our prayer that Olivet will be a spiritual home for everyone who comes through our doors.

Sunday Worship begins at 9:30 a.m. with Connections at 10:40 a.m. followed by Sunday School at 11:00 a.m.

Our purpose, according to God's Word, is to share the Good News of God's love in Christ Jesus with the world, beginning with the people of our community. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will seek to lead people to conversion, baptism, and a maturing relationship with Jesus Christ, through worship, outreach, discipleship, fellowship and opportunities to serve.

Phone: 515-279-3919 Fax: 515-279-2811

Gary Clark, Senior Pastor

Steve Clinkscales, Associate Pastor

Ben Massung, Youth Pastor

Visits Olivet Baptist Church Official Web Site

Olivet Baptist Church

2743 82nd Place

Urbandale, Iowa 50322

From Interstates 80 and 35, exit 86th Street South to New York Avenue. Turn left. New York Avenue becomes 82nd Place. From Interstates 80 and 35, exit Hickman Road East to 82nd Place. Turn left.

From Interstate 235, exit 22nd Street North. 22nd eventually becomes 86th Street. Take 86th to New York Avenue. Turn Right. New York Avenue becomes 82nd Place.

View a detailed map from MapQuest.com. Olivet Map from Mapquest.com (This map will open in a new window.)

Olivet Sunday Service On CD ro DVD* "Recent Messages"

Some material I archive for the church, other material I will download from their website and burned to CD. Visit the Olivet website to see what's available, or e-mail me (Rod Foster) Olivet@fostervideo.com or call 276-2215 * not all materials available on DVD

Foster Video Productions 7321 Roseland Dr Des Moines IA 50322-3155

Note; if you find that you cannot open the Down loaded PDF files, it means that you do not have the Adobe reader program on your computer. The Adobe reader is available free of charge from Adobe's Web site, just click the Adobe Logo and it will take you to the right place. Many software CDs also include this program to print out their manuals, so you can look there also. Just follow the instructions for installing the program, and it runs any time it encounters a PDF file from the Internet or anywhere else.

My Big Regret One of my big regrets in life is that I did not invite Jesus in my life much sooner, I was 60 years old before I received Him by accepting His grace. In the last six years I have undergone some amazing transitions, it hasn't always been easy, but it's always been worthwhile, and I've never regretted the journey. I found myself supporting ministry trips, voluntering my time, and using my God-given talents where ever needed. I guess if I had put it in a few words I would say that I changed from having to giving, and the giving has been much more rewarding than having. There's a line of the song "The Old Rugged Cross": "til my trophies at last I laid down" that has a lot of meaning to me, because when we die we are not taking our material possessions with us. I'd rather be remembered for my good works and not by my trophies. Some of my friends at church go on a mission trip to Haiti every year to see if they can help some of the poorest people on the planet. A couple of years ago someone brought back a videotape of the church services; I removed a portion of the audio of this service. As you listen to the people of Haiti singing about God, you can tell even though they may be poor in possessions, it sounds like they are very rich in the Holy Spirit.

Click this link to hear the people of Haiti

Click on music like with right mouse button and choose opened in new tab.

The letter below was originally written to my brother, after having a few conversations with him, I decided that he wasn't ready. I did share it with members of my church when I gave my testimony.

My Testimony

Now I See After moving back to Iowa about 16 years ago my wife and I would get together with some other couples about once a month for dinner. Some of these people were old school friends of my wife from the '60s. About eight years ago the husband of one of my wife's girlfriends was diagnosed with a terminal disease. I really don't know what his spiritual commitment was before his diagnoses, but after his diagnoses he joined a church and became quite involved especially in the area of youth ministry. The disease took its toll over the course of the next several years finally putting him in a wheelchair. Several times during the final year of his life his wife was unable to be there for him and asked me if I could stop by and help him with lunch. He took advantage of this opportunity to push his Christian faith on me and to say the least I felt a little uncomfortable about it. I guess this is not a surprise due to the fact that I grew up in a household where there was very little or no presence of God although we did go to church occasionally when I was young. Unfortunately when my kids came along I passed down the same family legacy, totally neglected their spiritual life, with a total absence of God in my household. In less than a year of that lunch meeting I had with my friend he passed away and I remember seeing the video at his funeral about the things he had done in his church. Since I work at home I was able to provide day-care for my granddaughter, and in the course of this my daughter enrolled her in a Christian preschool. I would take her and pick her up three days a week, also started attending special services involving the preschool kids. Somewhere in that time frame I started attending the Sunday worship services and found myself being very moved by some of the messages. Eventually I started going to the Sunday school classes after church and slowly becoming involved in other church activities. Our church was involved in building a new church building in a different location, which was a big deal for this small church. One day some of the congregation was walking through the new building writing Scripture on the wall studs before drywall went up. I happened to notice that the pastor seemed very stressed about the new building, and possibly wondering if a small congregation like this one could afford this new building. I felt compelled to go see the pastor to see if there was any way I could ease his mind, God knows he's always been there when people needed him. Our meeting turned out entirely different than I had originally anticipated, and I found myself sitting there with tears running down my cheeks accepting the grace of Jesus Christ. I discovered that this was just another step in my walk of faith and if you leave the door to your heart open a crack God will move in. We finally moved into our new building and several things happened, the pastor approached me to be one of the first baptized in the new church along with several other people. Also my wife and I were voted on to become new members of the church. Slowly but surely I became more involved in some of the workings of the church seeing that there are a lot of people behind the scenes that make it possible for a church to exist, and that just simply showing up on Sunday morning was not enough. The one thing I have discovered is even though we are a small church; our church has a really big heart. As for me personally I don't think I fear God, I simply try to live my life in a way that would please, and we both know when I don't measure up. The words from the Hymn Amazing Grace have great meaning to me, "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". To be a Christian takes a little work and a different way of thinking about things, it's like being on a diet, I am always hungry, hungry for more of the word. I look back on that lunchtime I spent with my friend who was dying and I realize something important about the day. He wasn't trying to sell me anything; he was trying to give me something, the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, God's grace. At that time I didn't understand what it was or what it would eventually mean in my life. I always liked the song Amazing Grace, which was written by a man named John Newton who wrote the hymn after living a very sinful life. When I hear that Hymn "Amazing Grace" I usually end up with tears in my eyes feeling that the song had been written especially for me. I know I'm not that important in the scheme of things. I think there must have been millions of people that felt the same way when they heard Amazing Grace and understood what it meant. One thing I am looking forward to, is that someday I will share another lunch time with my friend so that I can tell him I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I didn't understand, and to tell him that Now I See.

Visits Olivet Baptist Church Official Web Site

Back To Foster Video Productions Home Page