Luther Osment was an area missionary for western North Carolina. The service opens with a presentation of special guests from Norway (00:00-00:54). Luther Osment reads from John 13:13-17, and he introduces the worship leaders (00:55-02:13). The audience is led in two songs of worship (02:14-09:41). Osment opens his sermon by sharing about the realities of mission work in the poverty-stricken region of western North Carolina (09:42-15:05). He appeals to 1 Samuel 17 where David is given Saul’s overweight armor and sword rather than the slingshot he is comfortable using as an illustration to show that churches in western North Carolina have a unique ministry, but they have been using methods that do not fit the way God made them to reach to their community (15:06-18:24). The remainder of Osment’s sermon are what he calls “smooth stone” stories of ministry in the mountain churches. His overarching theme for these stories are ministers in this region must give one hundred percent of themselves to caring for the people to be effective (18:25-29:19). Osment ends the service with a prayer (29:20-30:01).
