“A Spiritual Tauberbischofsheim”
Hillcrest Church Office
June 25, 2003

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“A Spiritual Tauberbischofsheim”
by Tom Goodman

Some of the world’s greatest fencers come from a town in southern Germany called Tauberbischofsheim.  For at least twenty years, the most formidable swordsmen in the Olympic games came from the training center based in this town.  The center was the dream and creation of an obsessive red-faced coach named Emil Beck.

The sprawling complex was built for the exclusive, singular purpose of training people to use swords.

It had a cafeteria, weight room, physiotherapy department, photographer’s lab, football pitch, basketball and tennis courts, sauna, massage room, a weapon repair shop, and a computerized Cybex and pulsimeter to monitor the condition of the athletes.  A fleet of thirty Mercedes are provided for the fencers to use for transportation.  A dormitory and school teachers are provided because most of the fencers in times past came to Coach Beck when they were very small.  World champion Matthias Gey began his training at two-and-a-half years of age.

Imagine the commitment, the time, the expense, and the drivenness of Emil Beck that is represented by Tauberbischofsheim.  And it’s all simply to train men and women to win contests with swords.

The Bible says that we are to wield “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17).  Hillcrest Church must become a sort of spiritual Tauberbischofsheim when it comes to training people to use the divine sword.  We must be willing to commit the time, the expense, and the heart to make Hillcrest a place where swordsmen are developed.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “A Bible which is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”  Come this Sunday and learn how to put your Bible to work!

See you at 8:30 or 10:45!

– Tom

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