Monday Reflections

Florida!

2010-08-30T18:23:00.016-04:00

I love Florida.

We have a great state and have been blessed with awesome geography, mostly good weather (humidity and hurricanes aside), and a diversity that won't quit. Opportunity and geography have always been the motivations for settling this peninsula.

Whether you were an ancient Caloosa Indian drawn to the shell fish, a Spaniard in search of a fountain, a Huguenot fleeing persecution, a Scotch-Irish family looking for farmland, a Carpetbagger entertaining the idea of instant profit, a post-war GI hoping to start a family, a Cuban needing a home away from home, or a retiree looking for a shuffleboard court and the early bird special: everyone has seemingly found what they were looking for in Florida.

But look just a little closer. In a state with 18.5 million persons, ranked fourth among the states in population, and rarely impeded growth for the better part of the last 5 centuries, there is a deficit.

No, it's not to be found in our lackluster Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, or high unemployment rate, or record foreclosures. Those are measureable statistics that rise and fall, wax and wane. The deficit with which we grapple is our embrace of Truth. 77-percent of Floridians do not claim Jesus as their Savior. That's a significant statistic if Jesus is who He says He is. If, in fact, Jesus is the totality of the Truth we need to know - and 14.8 million people have no relationship to this Truth - the storm clouds start gathering on our picturesque view of the Sunshine State.

But recognize this: the preceding paragraphs would only be anecdotal mentions around our church water-coolers were it not for the fact that each percentage and numerical statement of population represents people - people with and for whom we work, go to school, live near, drive past, eat with, and live. They are grandmas, grocers, garbagemen, and guards. They are fishermen, firefighters, and friends.

If they had a truth that was not only life-changing, but eternity-altering, and held it from me like a secret never to be shared, I would think them to be despicable. Possessing a recognition of and relationship with Truth incarnationally, we are men and women most blessed. To withhold this from the state that we cherish would be a tragedy.

I love Florida. Enough that I want Floridians to know Truth.

Do you?

"We can be admonished by a changeable creature. But the best a man can do is lead us to the unchangeable Truth." - Augustine

Worldviews Collide...at Church?

2010-08-23T16:58:00.003-04:00

This Sunday, we'll be joined by Bob Swinson, a former pastor, who seeks to outfit Christians with basics about the worldview we possess, namely when it comes to the basic question of our origin. After all, isn't that where most worldviews are founded? He'll be speaking on the Biblical concept of creation and its antithesis, evolution.

I don't write this as a plug for your attendance, so much as I do to share why this is a timely resource for our church and those who may not think it to be the most pressing topic. The world has always challenged the revolutionary concepts of Biblical Christianity. But it seems these days that the Biblical worldview is not only being challenged from without, it also comes from within.

A short time ago, we began to search out the possibilities of partnering with Brian Conyers and his wife, Allison, as they felt led to plant a Southern Baptist church in Waterbury, Vermont. Like the Conyers, many of us were impressed with the lostness of Vermont and New England in general. Brian shared his heart that the community of Waterbury might be a location where an evangelical witness was desperately needed.

An article appearing in an area newspaper (that you must read!) detailed the efforts of a local church in Waterbury and its pastor, to celebrate evolution, Darwin, and the uprooting of children's basic notions of the Genesis account of creation.

In a state where few are found in any church on a given Sunday, it should burden our hearts to know that even when church-goers are found, their pulpits may be filled with secular worldviews that chuckle at the notion of the Genesis creation account, or an ark, or a burning bush, or even an atonement accomplished on a cross.

Said Brian: This is the reason why we should be praying for Waterbury!

I agree. Take a few minutes to pray for the lostness in Waterbury, within churches and without.

Clue!

2010-08-17T13:43:00.001-04:00

I enjoy a good mystery. The intrigue of a who-done-it leaves us on the edge of our seats, awaiting the next clue that will help piece together the puzzle before our eyes. The boardgame Clue has those elements. Was it the butler? with the candlestick? in the dining room? Questions lead to predictions and hunches draw upon suspicions.

If we're not careful our armchair sleuthing can become something of a distraction. We start digging for motives in what people say, and begin finding clues that lead us in search of mysteries that really aren't. Our suspicions start playing upon worst-case scenarios, and we make conclusions that feed our hunger for the sensational.

Take most any natural disaster, or example of human tragedy. In the aftermath, our human thirst for explanation and reason in the face of inexplicable calamity heads for the hills. With the confidence of Holmes and Watson, we set about prognosticating God's motive and pointing out the blatant sins of the impacted population that MUST have required His divine intervention (and quietly overlooking our own).

Let's make mention of a few:

When terrorists struck on 9-11, prominent Christian leaders surmised that God was allowing America to be punished for collective disobedience and moral lapses.

When the tsunami hit southeast Asia, prominent Christian leaders proposed that expanding Muslim influence in the region was the cause.

When New Orleans was flooded in Hurricane Katrina, prominent Christian leaders made the easy connection that the city's debauchery had finally caught up with her.

When Haiti was struck with a massive earthquake, prominent Christian leaders let us know that it was probably because of pacts with Satan allegedly made 300 years ago.

Biblically, we also know that God has control over the entire universe. We also know that God will sometimes use a specific tragedy, calamity or natural disaster to exact punishment for collective or personal sin. But the very reason we can cite these specific occurrences is because we are given scriptural direction. We don't have to guess or piece together clues to fit our thesis: the Bible plainly tells us. What we lack in the wake of a tsunami or an earthquake or a flood in 2010 is codified scripture delivered to us by the Holy Spirit to confirm what we thought.

But here's what is super-cool about Scripture: it has answers to questions before we even ask. Jesus responded to people in Luke 13:1-6 who were amateur sleuths hoping to link the recent death of some Galileans to some ulterior sin that brought God's wrath (v. 2). Unwilling to let them become the mouthpiece of God and connect dots for which they had no insight to draw, he put a precise, personal, and particular task before them: "unless you repent, you likewise shall perish" (v. 3)

He did the same regarding the loss of life in a tower that fell at Siloam (v. 4): "unless you repent, you likewise shall perish" (v. 5)

What should be our response in times that shake our foundations? Quick, from-the-hip crystal-balling of God's will? Or personal and corporate reminders that every person on planet earth is in need of a right relationship with God before eternity envelopes us and He judges all individuals and nations? That's the precious priority, whether we are victims of tragedy or not. God hardly needs more soothsayers of His wrath working independent of divine revelation. Instead, He desires Gospel-bearers who will carry the simple, unchanging call that Jesus issued in Luke 13 and died to make freely available on Calvary's tree.

Personally rejecting Jesus Christ is not only the greatest crisis that will affect mankind, it is the mystery most easily solved by accepting His forgiveness for the sin that defines us.

Let's rest all of the guesswork in God's providence and plan...and save the sleuthing for our next game of Clue!

They're (Almost) Baaaaack!

2010-08-09T18:31:00.002-04:00

It's that time of year.... In the weeks ahead, upperclassmen will be hurtling back into town from well-worn summer days, and nervous, wide-eyed freshmen will be here for their first experience of life without mom and dad. College years are inevitably tough, and the influences that capture the minds and hearts of young adults are overwhelming.

On top of that, students who see the church, and Christianity as things their parents forced upon them (if at all), will now have the freedom to disassociate themselves and mark their independence. And, sadly, many will. But as this burgeoning mission field relocates to our Jerusalem, we are obliged to bear witness of the Christ and His transforming proposition to all.

You can help us do this in the days ahead. In fact, as we gear up for the Fall, here are 7 ways you can be involved in our work with college students!

1 - Check out the church's college website...new and improved!

2 - Volunteer to help us serve lunch at the BCM on Thursday, September 23

3 - Donate furniture to international students by calling 222-4444.

4 - Extend your Christian influence by "adopting a college kid" (email Matt for details).

5 - Help us invite students to Overflow at 7 p.m. on Wednesday nights.

6 - Join the Overflow group on Facebook

7 - Most of all: Pray for young men and women to be impacted by the Gospel this Fall.

"Go with God"

2010-08-02T13:10:00.018-04:00

Last week, a team from our church served in Guatemala at the Malnutrition Center near San Juan Sacatepequez. The center has seen many changes since we were last there a year ago. A couple of faces among the children were familiar, holdovers for lack of improvement. New faces - twice as many as before - scurried to see the "gringos" arriving at their front door. In all, 67 children are now being served. Children with gaunt faces, emaciated bodies, but newfound hope.

The washing machine and dryer we purchased for the center last fall have made a big difference. For your generosity, words go lacking. Without the machines, the practical ability to house 67 children and the soiled clothing that follows would have been impossible. A team from a church in Naples is purchasing a larger industrial refrigerator this week while in-country. Again, practical support if the goal of serving 200 children is to be realized.

We celebrated reports of weight-gain among the worst cases. We rejoiced when we heard that most of the staff had made professions of faith in Christ over the last several months. We became prayer-warriors for the newborn twins that arrived following their mother's death while giving birth. We prayed and cried with the family for whom we built a simple 12'x18' tin-covered home - a mansion in their estimation.

Show me the worst-off among us in America, and I'll show you worse than that in places like Guatemala, and India, and the Sudan. The blessing of increase that God provides to most American Christians is not without responsibility. But to what end?

The sincerest expressions of our redemption story will not be understood in the ears of the unregenerate until it is seen in their eyes. Telling the story of Jesus is only possible when Jesus is made manifest in the teller.

I'm praying that our team heading there this Fall will include those who yearn for Jesus to have complete control of their lives. I challenge you to see what God is doing by letting Him use you to do it.

http://orphansheart.org

"What's In Our Wallets?"

2010-07-26T07:25:00.000-04:00

Quite a lot of Scripture, especially when Jesus speaks, is focused on the priorities of our plenty. As God increases our material lot in life, what are we doing with what He gives to show that we're His? Whether it's a bag of money, a garden of grapevines, or a single mite, everything that we "earn" has come through His generosity, not our abilities. Such a thought strikes at the heart of our braggadocios boot-straps. God is really in control. Really.

That's most easily seen in the collective finances of our churches. It's all His. And yet, our budgets will sometimes reveal a sinister, yet smooth belief that it's ours. When more and more of our God-given giving is spent on marketing to convince the world we're holy and loving and lovable even though we're mostly not, how have we been stewards? When a huge chunk is spent on lavishing conveniences upon ourselves, where is our sense of sacrifice? When we devote ourselves to drawing men with honey on a stick, than with the Gospel on our lips, why are still allowed to be called His church? When a scarce two-percent of all tithes and offerings our Southern Baptist churches receive in a year get devoted to impacting lostness outside the US, where is our commitment to the Great Commission? When 600 missionary positions will be pared from the IMB budget, why are we busy adding extra stuffing to our padded pews, or ratcheting up our steeple's height to out-pace the Presbyterians down the road?

Take that same sharp analysis and put it on your own personal budget and lifestyle. Is your slick cable service with 100 movie channels calming your worries and helping you get over the fact that India is almost completely hell-bound, or that Islam is the fastest growing religious belief system in the United States, or that Mormons are taking their message to each of those nameless neighbors you keep refusing to befriend? Is your neglect of the tithe as a base standard of giving just a symptom of your deeper neglect of God in all things? And isn't what we give just a effect of what is or isn't happening in our spiritual development?

Our checkbooks really do reveal our priorities. That goes for churches and the people who are the church.

So, what's in your wallet?

Taught to Pray

2010-07-19T17:25:00.001-04:00

Since 1994, I have served annually as a counselor in the Florida Boys State program, an invitation-only leadership program for rising seniors from across the state. I have always enjoyed the worthwhile experience the program affords 525 of Florida's brightest young men. While Boys State does not present an overtly religious theme, student-led prayers begin each day's affairs, couched in the theme, "For God and Country."

As we began last Monday, the student-chaplain offered his opening lines of prayer and then invited the auditorium to join him as he closed in the Lord's Prayer. As he requested their recitation, I thought to myself, No one will join him. Who's going to know the words? None of these guys will know what the Lord's Prayer is!

But as the student started his recitation, Our Father who art in heaven..., the room instantly filled with a chorus of 17 year-olds sharing together in the words of Jesus Himself. I stopped just to listen. The sound was bold, confident, yet humble.

Now I'm not suggesting that the room was filled with 100-percent participation. After all, many Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and irreligious were also in the crowd. But for a few moments, I was gently reminded that there is power to be found in the words of God...the Word of God. At some point in each of their lives, several hundred of those young men had been individually challenged to memorize words intended to be called to their remembrance all the days of their lives: words that position each of us under the authority of a personal God who inclines Himself in order to reconcile each of us on His gracious terms.

So it is: As we seek to instill leadership skills in our youth, we are remiss if we fail to show them how to submit to the leadership of the One in whose name we are taught to pray!

Our "Home" Mission Field

2010-07-05T20:36:00.002-04:00

Our church has been passionate in ministry to children. We try to be the best servants we can be in our stewardship of those in our church family on Sundays. We provide security checks for our volunteers and organize each week to bring the best we can to the hearts of those who come our way.

We have placed a great priority in our budgeting to support the Florida Baptist Children's Homes, Lighthouse Children's Home, and Taunton Children's Home. We are halfway through a 3-year partnership to improve a children's malnutrition center in Guatemala that was about to permanently close its doors.

So we might be able to make a great case that we're doing enough, right? And yet when hearts are aflame with vision to care for the most vulnerable and put the Gospel to work, enough is a word that just doesn't come to mind.

Even in our small congregation, we have a number of resources often left untapped. How many empty bedrooms do we collectively have in our homes? How many of us have experience raising children? How many to stem the tide of lostness in younger generations?

Here's the point: God has greatly increased a number of us and blessed us with homes that sit unused except at occasional holidays. Why couldn't we put orphans in these rarely used homes of ours? Many of us have been blessed with children of our own and we know the challenges and joys of raising a child. Could an orphan be the beneficiary of that child-rearing skill with which you have been equipped? We have all been redeemed by Christ and made joint-heirs of grace. Why shouldn't we bring orphans into our homes to be introduced to that same saving grace?

Consider this: there are at least 19,000 children in foster care in Florida today. Hundreds are available for adoption.

The Christian community should be cornering the market on foster care in Florida. There's no reason for parentless children to learn about Jesus from a prison chaplain while serving 5-10. Why shouldn't we bring rescue and redemption to the hearts of children before its too late?

You could serve as a foster parent, short-term or long-term. You could adopt a child. Through Florida Baptist Children's Homes, you could be a Visiting Sponsor, tutor, or mentor.

Here is a mission field that goes unnoticed every day, and missionaries like you and me are needed.

Later this year, I will be asking our Budget Committee to consider making funding available to financially assist Chapel Hill couples and families who commit to becoming foster or adoptive parents. The culture of loving children is one of the best things about our church, and extending that Gospel-granting love to the unloved orphan is a powerful kingdom-investment.

Pray with me about how our homes might soon become fields of service in His name!

Lamenting for His Presence

2010-06-28T17:13:00.001-04:00

The beauty of sorrow is the presence of Christ.

In sorrow, the sharp contrast of hurt and pain and persecution are inconsequential when our supplicating Jesus splashes across the canvas with mercy and love. Do we beg for reasons to be sorrowful? Hardly. But the unlikely place where God most acutely shapes His disciple is in the crucible of crisis – when all bets are off, and the path is darkest.

In our furtive search for answers, darkness is the place where we most welcome light. Someone once said that until a man is hurt deeply, he cannot be fully used by God. Only in darkness can light do its work most fully. So it is, in times that try men’s finite souls: we long for His infinite presence. We lament.

The Bible is full of laments. An easily overlooked discipline that God will use to shape His own.

It’s the cry that recognizes God when humanity’s flesh writhes in the defeat and agony of hurt. It’s our recognition that God is still the overshadowing omnipotence that far outshines our worst days and thoughts. It’s the invitation for God to occupy the ground that Satan has sought – to be at the heart of the matter, and in the heart of the believer. It’s the recognition that our turn at the helm is running the ship nearer the rocks than is safe, and our rescue is critically linked to the Captain of our Salvation.

Lament is the tear of the soul: the place of recognition and repentance and repair:

David cries out. (Psalm 22, 23)

Jeremiah cries out. (Lamentations 3:17-18, 22-24)

Paul cries out. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

When God’s saints cried out, their laments were followed by God’s handiwork: hope arrived, God worked, and the kingdom was advanced.

Now what about you and me? Will we let our prayers be seasoned with lament? Will we yearn for an overpowering vision of His might in the midst of our weakness? Will we lay aside self and pronounce the bankruptcy of our efforts and immediate need for His?

Lament by stacking-up all of your hurts and fears and trials, one on top of the other, and then invite Christ to stand beside them. Soon, the stack "will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

BBQ, GCR & SBC

2010-06-07T21:42:00.010-04:00

I am creature of habit when it comes to my BBQ. I like it cooked a certain way, with a certain sauce, and eaten in a precise kind of way. Nothing better than a slab of ribs done just right!

When it comes to habit and the accompanying comfort, we're all that way at some time or another.

But I'm afraid that Southern Baptists, as an overarching collection of Christians, could be taking habit and comfort zones to an unfortunate level: Our Baptist forefathers reared their heads against formalism, but we've now cornered the market on it. Our forefathers imbibed a heart for the nations, but we've become eerily comfortable just ministering to ourselves in the South. Our forefathers pioneered North America for the sake of the Gospel, but we get uneasy just befriending our neighbors. That said, I still love Southern Baptists because, in spite of our shortcomings, we have a heart for God's Word and a missionary potential unlike any evangelical effort in the world today.

Key word: potential.

The laurels of Southern Baptist domestic and worldwide evangelism in the 1950s has found little replication in the better part of three-score years. In a nation with burgeoning population growth, we baptized fewer in 2008 than we did in 1950. Laurels are great. But they are meant to be remembered, not rested upon.

I support a series of modest proposals offered by a task force of Godly men and women who worked for nearly a year to reshape a few processes in order to make the Great Commission the natural priority for a convention of people who embrace the literally-interpreted Word. If you haven't, you need to read the report of the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force. When you do, you'll find modest structural changes. For a convention of holy potential, that is only half of the need. The real lift must be Holy Spirit-driven in the hearts of our people, generosity of our cooperating churches, and the commissions of the called.

Now get ready: the plan has drawn the ire of some.

Shocking.

In fact, the litany of horror stories cued up in recent weeks involved white elephants, gored oxes, camels' noses, and red herrings: things best viewed in zoos, not in wordy defenses of the mundane from Mount Nashville or from ax-grinding religious news services (Florida Baptist Witness is a refreshing exception).

In my previous career, I worked in Florida politics. Can I say that some folks in Baptist life treat those with whom they disagree with less dignity than a room full of politicians? Must "slash-and-burn" always be the way Baptist brothers dissent?

Shocking.

Personal comforts may be fair game for a slab of ribs, but not the Kingdom of God. If we must die, let it be on a hill of passion for the nations. If we decide to rest on laurels, may God forgive us.

A 5-Minute Video To Watch

A Straightforward Analysis of GCR

FBW Coverage and Compilations of GCR news stories

When God Writes the Story

2010-05-31T14:52:00.004-04:00

We sent a team off on Friday morning full of energy and expectation. They were on their way to San Juan, a village outside Guatemala City where the Florida Baptist Children's Homes has been working to restore a malnutrition center for children and have it operating at capacity in the near-future. Our team would augment that on-going work, in addition to a home-build for a family with a disabled child. Quite a task was before them.

Unknown to us and swallowed up in oil-spill reporting was news that Pacaya volcano, an active volcano about 70 miles from Guatemala City (and that some of us had trekked up last year) had erupted leaving the countryside and capital city covered in inches of ash. With the airport's safety in doubt, the government ordered it closed for clean-up, leaving our team waiting pensively in Miami through the weekend.

With plans adjusted, news came Saturday morning that Tropical Storm Agatha had formed just off the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Over the course of the weekend, the country was pelted with rain, winds, landslides, and flooding.

Wow.

This (Monday) morning brought news that the airport would likely not reopen until Thursday at the earliest, thus ending our team's effort. They will return home tomorrow (Tuesday).

I will suggest to them and to all of us, that nothing ventured in the furtherance of God's Kingdom is unsuccessful. In fact, God will bless their obedience regardless of our human success factors. Any time you and I step out with reliance upon God, we learn and we grow closer to Him and His church. The joy of following Christ is not just the destination, but the journey as well.

God is more interested in our availability than our itineraries. When we open ourselves up to God's will, He doesn't just utilize us, He seeks to teach us something. Instead of tasking us to do things, God eagerly yearns to shape us!

I suggested to some on the team that flexibility has more to do with faith in what God will do with us, than flight schedules that take us places. When's the last time you let Him flex you? Let Him shine and show forth when everything was turned upside down?

What a great host of stories we will hear from our friends when they return from Miami! Why? Because they haven't written this narrative. God has!

Victory and Defeat

2010-05-24T21:26:00.009-04:00

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. - Romans 8:37

In daily life, we often feel overwhelmed. Sometimes, we even get a little defeatist as we assess life. We feel like those people in those Maalox commercials: emotionally bloated and in need of relief.

For me, that's not an admission, it's a confession! I sometimes want to arm myself with a bevy of white flags ready to be hoisted as the day goes by, surrendering to the forces of futile failure. Dashed hopes. Unintended consequences. Missed opportunities. They start racking up a tally on the scoreboard that makes me feel like the Magic in a play-off game with the Celtics.

But wait. As noble as it sounds for me to climb my Little Big Horn and await martyrdom, I have to ask two pertinent questions: (1) How am I approaching each day's battles? and (2) Is my approach biblical?

Adrian Rogers used to say, "We don't fight for victory, we fight from victory! The victory was won at Calvary."

If you're like me, you find yourself trying to fight the good fight nobly, but alone. And in the loneliness of the fight, we arm ourselves with humility in one hand and pride in the other. Think about it: we want to serve God, but only on our terms. So our faux version of humility is just meant to impress Him, not actually submit to Him. That's called self-serving. If we truly submit, pride cannot remain. It has to take a hike!

We're hardly flung to the wolves and left by God to fend for ourselves in our mortal strength. For every mind-numbing trial or temptation, there is grace and power and authority launched from the heart of God to give just cause for their rejection. So you want true humility? You want to stay in the battle with Him? Then here's the best part: it's yours for the asking, as you rightly relate to Jesus Christ. In fact, the Holy Spirit will give us the super-human capacity to truly submit/be humble if we're willing to lay aside our self-styled tools. (Clue: humility is a fruit that comes from His presence in us.)

Our own Savior was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. (See Hebrews 4:15) He overcame, embodied victory, and joined His heart to ours for every occasion of life. He knows our intimate struggles aren't occasional, but relentless. Better than us, He knows that we are too weak to overcome them. And when we acknowledge our weakness, He floods the scene with His unmistakeable presence. Funny, isn't it? Admission of our weakness and shortcomings is hardly the place our built-in bravado would expect to find God's provision!

Give Him the place of prominence in your life: selfless submission to His authority and glory and grace. Instead of mounting Little Big Horn, let the One who claimed victory on a hill called Calvary take up your fight.

That's where our victory is found.

A Real Bucket List

2010-05-17T20:32:00.003-04:00

In the movie, The Bucket List (has some foul language, so be careful), Morgan Freeman inspires the ascerbic character played by Jack Nicholson to pursue a list of life-long desires before he meets his cancer-driven demise.

And these days, many folks make reference to their "bucket lists" - things they want to do, accomplish, or be before their end of days.

In that spirit, I've got a bucket list to share regarding... well...buckets.

In February and early March, we worked together as a church to assemble what amounted to 15 buckets filled with staples and food items. The bucket's contents would feed a Haitian family of four for a week, not to mention the useful bucket they could keep. In the aftermath of the January earthquake when we all felt helpless, it was our reasonable service.

To date, over 152,000 of these buckets have been filled, collected, staged, and are being systematically freight shipped to Haiti by Southern Baptists. (Doing more together than we could never do apart!)

Then came the bad news in recent days: the Haitian government was acting like Haitian governments seem predisposed to doing: corruptly, indiscriminately discriminatory, and outright hostile. We are told that a substantial number of our Buckets of Hope now sit in a Haitian port with a status called "limbo".

The Haitian authorities have demanded that the buckets be turned over to them for distribution to those they "select." In addition, under-the-table bribes have been subtly suggested as a way of releasing the buckets into the country. In short, the Duvalier legacy is alive and well.

As they are gifted by God to do, our Southern Baptist missionaries have been relentless in their negotiations to see the mission through to its goal. They know that if left to the whims of mid-level authorities, these buckets will never see the homes (or tents) of those most desperate for support.

In calamitous times, the best and worst arrive on the scene. So it is here. The best: reports by Haitian Baptist pastors that 87,000 professions have been made in our 800 sister churches since January! A sense of revival among evangelical Christians has reached new heights in a country of many lows.

But the worst always nags and nips and seeks to nullify what God is doing. That's why our thousands of buckets and the God-driven hope attached to them sit tenuously in a make-shift port.

Join me in praying for the release of those buckets and the subsequent ministry our brothers and sisters will accomplish with them.

Sure, our bucket lists could be about fame and fortune. But, today, let's make them about buckets.

A Case for Knowing God's Word

2010-05-10T18:30:00.002-04:00

We need the Word of God.

Hardly any Christian would be hostile to those words. Yet, as truthful as we realize them to be, we are scant in our willingness to be immersed in Scripture.

In my random reading (I am currently reading four books at the same time), I came across an interesting narrative that I had not heard about until now. It was nestled in Lisa Beamer's Let's Roll, an autobiographical account of 9-11 and her husband, Todd's, courageous leadership on United Flight 93 which crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, missing its targeted destination in Washington, D.C.

Commandeered by four terrorists, the passengers on the Newark-to-San Franciso flight became unwilling participants in a kamikaze effort to crash into the White House, U.S. Capitol building, or other notable target. Around 10:03 a.m., the terrorists were rushed and stymied from their mission as the plane met a fiery end in a nondescript western Pennsylvania field.

In the final minutes of life, Todd spoke with an operator on the ground using an in-flight phone. Todd made the operator, Lisa Jefferson, promise to share comforting words of love and strength with his wife and children. The two recited the Lord's Prayer together. She reported hearing him recite Psalm 23 with other passengers about to charge the terrorists with him. Finally, she overheard his final words, "Let's roll."

What struck me about those involved in those final moments, bravery notwithstanding, is their ability to recite Scripture!

The fact that they COULD and they DID!

The interlude called life was coming to a close, and where did Todd turn? To Scripture. In fact, Ms. Jefferson noted that Todd asked Jesus to be with him in the effort they were undertaking.

Lisa Beamer observed in her book:

"Interestingly, Psalm 23 wasn't a mantra Todd recited often, but it was resident in his spirit because he had learned it as a child. When the crisis came, Todd was able to tap into a deep reservoir of faith that he'd been storing up for years."

Is there not a better case for the memorization of God's Word in the lives of young and old? Is that not simply the only resource we have left when everything else in life becomes shifting and fleeting? Todd ran to the Word of God for His only sure foundation.

Many reasons to read, study, and memorize God's Word. But that's about the best one I've heard in a while!

Let's roll!

Do We Have Enough Churches? (Part II)

2010-04-19T16:08:00.000-04:00

As promised, I want to outline steps our church can take to plant new churches. Last week, I shared my belief that new churches are not only a pragmatic necessity, but a Biblical priority. And if we know that the core process of planting churches is accomplished by churches, then what can we do as the church called Chapel Hill?

(1) Find ways of partnering for this purpose. Apart from the resources of a mega-church, many smaller congregations are prone to see church-planting as a far-and-away process outside their reach. Not so! We are poised to partner with other churches who share the vision for reaching a locality with a new church. We have budgeted specifically for this purpose in our missions effort and have discussing possibilities with state convention church-planters about our Judea mission field. I have personally been praying about how we might be involved in possible partnerships in New England. (I hope you will join me in seeking God's will for that particular question.) Not only would these necessitate a level of financial support, but we could be effective prayer supporters, and send teams to bring encouragement and extra hands for surveys, block parties, etc.

(2) Incubate a plant within our church for eventual launch. In fact, that is a long-range goal for our Hispanic ministry. I am prayerful that Juan and the core group who make-up our Cristo Fusion worship service will, in God's timing, be able to stand as a church plant. The investment and resource-sharing that we currently provide is a perfect way to birth a strong, vibrant new work. Pray, especially, for this ministry within our fellowship! Could their be other opportunities to plant churches in our Jerusalem? Of course!

We should even be open to having our members serve in new fellowships that God may lead us to help plant locally. We can hardly afford to jealously guard our own numbers when the Kingdom's cause comes first.

(3) Financially support the Cooperative Program and pray for an increased emphasis on church planting. Since 1925, the Cooperative Program has been Southern Baptist's mechanism for pooling resources and doing together what few could do alone. Our ability to plant churches in North America and around the world is facilitated by this awesome effort. Are the allocations perfect? No, but we can be prayerful that more and more of the average dollar we contribute will steer beyond yesteryear's white elephants and be used for the basics once again: face-to-face missions, on-the-ground missionaries, and intentional church-planting outside the Baptist Belt.

So if our church is only four-years in the making, why should this be a priority? Why shouldn't church-planting be the focus of already-established churches?

(1) Because we are a plant ourselves, we get it: we see the value in new congregations. Who better to carry the banner?

(2) We also know that long-established churches tend to become insulated. Not a pot-shot. Just a trend we know is true. The culture in these churches sees little imperative outside themselves, and can be resistant to building churches they quietly perceive as "the competition".

After World War II, a lot of Spirit-driven young men came home from war with God-given visions of reaching the lost. They planted churches with little money in their pockets, but a lot of Great Commission power and authority. Many of us were reached for Christ in these churches and have been passed the torch of responsibility.

Are we willing to do the same today?

Do We Have Enough Churches?

2010-04-12T15:16:00.001-04:00

In the four years since we began our church, one of the quizzable questions I have fielded from people is this: "In a city with churches are everywhere, and certainly enough Baptist churches, why did you all need to start a new one?"

That's a great question. But it assumes that churches are like the other institutions in one's community. As such, the church must reflect modern efficiencies, consolidation and streamlining.

Should we be satisfied with the number of churches that exist? We're pretty much happy with the number of hospitals we have, and the number of libraries that dot our community. Why not be okay with the churches we have?

Here are some basic facts that we know:

The longer a church exists, the less they tend to win souls to Christ. Churches can become set in their ways, reluctant to change, and complacent about the priorities of a New Testament church. Just because a number of churches actively gather in buildings that dot the landscape is not a sure-sign the community is being exposed to the Gospel.

The priority of planting churches is biblical. That can hardly be argued against, bolstered by the compelling Commission Christ gave to share the Gospel. If new churches effectively share the Gospel, then the question is answered.

The multitude of reasons NOT to plant churches has plagued evangelicals of the last century. Try a few on for size:

• If we're interested in growing our own kingdoms, then we hardly want to plant churches that might pull from our "flocks".

• Maybe we could spend countless years trying to rehabilitate the made-up minds of churches not willing to budge from their traditions, and too caught up in yesterday's memories to think about today's missionary call.

• Because churches get as territorial as roosters with their hens, we probably shouldn't plant churches in neighborhoods with existing churches, since they reserve the right to evangelize there (even if they don't).

Obviously, none of the above make sense. What does is the clear command of Christ that He would grow His church. As much as he has equipped the saints and birthed Kingdom vision in our hearts, we are compelled to plant churches, expand the Kingdom's reach, and be relentless in our efforts until He comes.

Next Week: Some ways Chapel Hill can help plant churches...

Easter's Remembrance

2010-03-29T14:04:00.012-04:00

This week brings special recollection to the minds of Christians.

The object lessons are plentiful: palm branches laid in the street, an unbroken donkey, a prepared upper room, pieces of silver dripping with betrayal, an old-rugged cross, and a rolling stone.

The sounds are varied: shouts of Hosanna, a rooster piercing the morning mist, calls for crucifixion, the earth's rumble, and the curtain ripping.

The scenes are many: prayer in Gethsemane, the trial at Gabbatha, rocky Golgotha's last stand, and the Garden Tomb's early release program.

The hurt is gripping: great drops of blood on the brow, the spitting soldiers, the lashing whip, barbing thorns on the brow, the nails in hands and feet, and the thrust of a spear.

The grace is extraordinary: Inflicted with every means of damage to be had, He endured. Facing doubt and denial from his closest disciples, He would hardly flinch. Looking upon his executioners, He plead their case. Alongside rotten criminals, He made preparation for paradise. Taking sin upon Himself, He loved you and me.

The depth and breadth and height of the Passion Week is found in Jesus Christ. Take the God-Man from the account, and it withers. But with Him at its center, we find the only hope to be found this side of Eden's fall.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Oyster-Aid

2010-03-23T11:32:00.000-04:00

Many in our fellowship enjoy spending time on the placid (sometimes, not) waters of Apalachicola Bay. We fish its waters. We enjoy St. George Island and the beach. Even those who rarely make it to the coast enjoy the harvest of oysters that come from its waters. Those oysters, a delicacy that is distinctly Floridian, are the fruit of the labor of oystermen who live and work around the Bay. With too much freshwater going to tide, the Bay was recently closed to oyster harvesting. This has left many out of work and shocked the entire community.

Last week, Pastor Mark Mercer of First Baptist Church in Carabelle, shared about the hardships being experienced by families whose livelihoods are linked to the oyster beds. In what speaks to the mission of the church, First Baptist has determined to be a lighthouse in a community with dim economic hopes. The church has been proactively reaching out to those families in the worst of all cases. They have paid electric bills, bought groceries, and even repaired one oysterman's disabled boat.

In each case, these extended hands of compassion have opened the way for the Gospel to be shared with men, women, and young people. Sure, this church could have said "let the government take care of them" or "we've got our own bills to pay" or "they aren't members of our church". But thanks to a pastor with a Great Commission vision and a church ready to live it out, Carabelle and Franklin County are seeing Christlike love pointing them to a God-given eternity in uncertain times.

The Bay and Franklin County are part of our Judea mission field. Later this week, we will be delivering a check from our congregation to assist in what Pastor Mark is calling "Oyster-Aid". Together with support from churches, the Florida Baptist Convention, and others, we're determined to partner for the sake of the Gospel and care for the least of these during difficult times.

When we talk about a Great Commission Resurgence, this is another great glimpse!

A Great Commission Resurgence

2010-03-15T22:27:00.000-04:00

"God had only one Son and He made Him a missionary." - David Livingston

In recent months, a discussion has been circulating about how best to focus the missionary power of Southern Baptist churches in reaching our communities and the world.

A report from the Great Commission Task Force last month gave encouraging emphasis to structural ways our Convention's agencies can and should be realigned to meet the challenge. And while there are certain to be discussions about what gets cut, who gets more money, and where responsibilities get assigned, there are a few concrete reminders that rest at the door step of every church and the heart's door of every believer:

The Great Commission is not optional.
Sharing the Gospel is power-filled when appropriated.
The church is assigned the task of reaching-out to all of the world, as well as planting other churches.
We must be willing to make an unprecedented priority of missions, both in giving and going.
The task will not be fulfilled when a scarce 1 in 5 are actively sharing their faith with the unsaved. (1 in 5 may even be a generous number.)

Last year, our church joined a partnership with the Florida Baptist Children's Homes to rehabilitate a children's malnutrition center in Guatemala. Working with a church plant in Antigua, great strides have been made by the teams, and a great deal of ministry has occurred in the months that have followed. Last August, we were on-site with Dr. Stan Wiggins, a pediatrician from McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers and his wife Amy, together with their two gifted sons, Will and Whit.

Will is an exuberant 12-year-old with a warm heart shaped in a Godly home. Affected by the sights and sounds of the country, the people, and the children, Will returned home, bound and determined not to forget the images God had rested on his heart. He became a tenacious advocate for the children in the center, and for the work occurring there.

Will spread the challenge to family, friends, his church, and others. In the course of a few months, Will raised $6,500! Amazing, isn't it? What's more, a dollar goes a long way in Guatemala - enough, in this case, to salary a desperately needed care-giver for the center, fix doors, and even help repair the facility's security gate. More importantly, according to his mom: "it taught Will that you are never too young to be used by the Lord."

That's the key ingredient to a Great Commission resurgence that sweeps through our churches and community of churches as we awake to the cause before us: obedience and availability to the Macedonian Call - regardless of age, ability, or geography.

Like Will, may God use you and me, and receive every ounce of glory in the process!

Wehadababyitsaboy!

2010-03-10T22:22:00.001-05:00

Lindsey's March 1 due-date came and, like the full moon, faded away. We shifted from gleeful expectation to professional waiting. Why does time seen to stand still when big moments are just around the corner? Then isn't it like everything speeds away so quickly when those moments come?

When the moment finally arrived, the obstetrician jokingly suggested no pain medication. That went over about as well as Obamacare at a Tea Party gathering. She was taking anything they were giving.

At one point, I inquired about getting an epidural of my own. I was willing to pay cash. To anyone.

Sure, there was pain and crying and tears. I'm sure Lindsey went through a lot of the same. But we both survived...and baby makes three.

Can I tell you that the birth of our son was crazy cool? Pretty much indescribable. Makes you want to pull aside every woman thinking about not bringing a pregnancy to term, and instruct them in the awesome experience that they would forever miss. Makes you want to present a swift kick in the rear to every dumb politician that says he is pro-life, but advocates the opposite in the public square. They're not pro-life. They're pro-votes. The undeniable authority of God to command life from the womb and into the world leaves no equivocating fence to straddle here.

Between last week and this week, we became the God-given stewards of new life. And everything that I thought I'd be as a new dad: by-the-book, organized and methodical - has all-at-once been tossed out the window in favor of him and his every need.

The Gaithers wrote a line that, after all these year, has just now made much sense to me - but only because of the last 24 hours.... how sweet to hold a new born baby and feel the love and joy he gives.

So true!

Now for the total rest and relaxation we've been waiting for these long nine months!

Tale of the Tape...
Bryson Andrew Mimbs
Born 3-7-10 at 4:12 a.m.
7 lbs 3 oz - 19.75 inches long

Where God is Working

2010-03-01T10:27:00.001-05:00

One of the exciting parts of our ministry as a church is the ability to come alongside those whom God has already given vision and gifting to reach the least among us. Without reinventing the wheel, we can join them where God is working. How so?

- The Florida Baptist Children's Homes, Lighthouse Children's Home, and Child Evangelism Fellowship are effectively serving children. We are poised to help these organizations do what they do best.

- A Women's Pregnancy Center is bringing together faithful volunteers to minister hope into the lives of young women.

- Folks at the Hope House and Teen Challenge are giving second chances to young men reentering society. Chelsea House and Frenchtown Chapel are doing the same for homeless men and women.

- Baptist Disaster Relief is turning rank-and-file church members into crisis-responders when disaster occurs.

These are just a few.

Whether it's a specific project on one of our GO! Mission Mornings (April 17 is right around the corner), regularly volunteering in church-based ministries, sponsoring a needy child in your home, mentoring a troubled teenage girl, or participating in a Good News Club, the list could go on for a while: exponentially expanding our reach as the body of Christ.

Pray that God will impress some specific commitments for you in the days ahead. Don't pass-up opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ in our community and around the globe!

Grow in Christ!

2010-02-22T13:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we spent our Sunday morning talking about a few nuts-and-bolts of Christian growth. The degree to which our fellowship of believers is willing to pursue Christ will be the measure of our spiritual health.

Embrace a shallow obedience toward Jesus, and we reap shallow religion. Dive into a headlong pursuit of Christlikeness, and we will find ourselves rejoicing in His will.

This must be a personal exercise in order for it to become a corporate one. Weak links in a chain compromise its purpose. When we begin to release our prideful grip on life, Christ can invade and engage us. His Holy Spirit can prompt and provide for us.

Think of how the rich reward of simply serving Jesus Christ can transform our lives, our families, and His church.

In personal habits of holiness, we can linger at personal altars to find encouragement for the race, conviction for our carelessness, and joy in the middle of a storm.

In our families, we can see two becoming one flesh as selfishness and pride run in fear, and our homes become worship centers.

In His church, we can see the Great Commission lived out by means of the Great Commandment.

But how are these things truly possible? Yesterday, we discussed very practical ways that our church body can surround you with resources and opportunities to grow in Christ. Here are just a few:

For Individuals

We are offering free devotional materials, full-use of a library of Christian study resources, counseling options, and guidance in Scripture memorization.

For Families

We're encouraging family worship times at home. Where better to begin worship? Visit Focus on the Family for tons of resources related to this.

We are offering to pay the $60 cost for every couple in our church to attend a Marriage Enrichment Seminar offered by Live the Life Ministries.

We're also providing an excellent resource on Christian stewardship published by the Florida Baptist Convention called "Christian Financial Planning."

We're ratcheting up our efforts to provide instruction for the whole family on Sunday mornings - from a safe nursery to lesson-based preschool church to practical Bible studies for adults.

For the Church

We want to encourage accountability partnerships that can be free-flowing conversations that encourage and exhort. Many of us struggle in our daily walk for Him. Why not let a Christian friend come along side to bear these burdens?

We want to encourage you to eat together! Jesus did a lot of ministry around meals. Why not invite others in the church to eat a meal with you...in restaurants or in homes? It's a great way to get to know your fellow Christian.

We want to encourage you to pray for one another. We have a great system of intercessory prayer. As you pray for your own walk, use the Sunday prayer requests or the urgent needs shared through the calling service to develop habitual and ceaseless prayer for God's will.

There are so many other ways... like becoming involved in small groups for Bible study. Sunday School is the perfect entry point for this. Memorizing Scripture is another.

Make it a point to make much of Christ in your daily life. Let Him take full control of who you, your family, and His church.

You'll find the hand-out we provided in Sunday worship by clicking here.

Protecting Our Most Vulnerable

2010-02-15T17:05:00.006-05:00

We are doing all we can to provide opportunities for ministry and spiritual growth in our church fellowship. Some of those newest developments are being undertaken in our children's ministry. Meeting in a public facility, we have a heightened awareness for the safety and security of our children. Among our recent steps:

We are asking all of our children's workers to wear red lanyards on Sunday mornings. (We're supplying these.) This will help our members and visitors readily identify who's who. This is one visible way of giving parents a level of comfort about who they're handing their kids off to!

Another way we're doing this is by a background check process. We're asking everyone in our fellowship who works with children (under age 18) to undergo a check by filling-out the necessary information at the following link:

http://www.ministryopportunities.org/ChapelHillBC

This will take you to a secure website where you can safely input the needed information. This is the same vendor used by our International Mission Board. If you have concerns about your privacy, printed forms are available. Contact Pat McWilliams or the church office for information.

In the weeks ahead, we're looking into "valet-stickers" for kids as they're dropped off in the nursery and pre-K rooms. This is a simple way we'll keep better track of kids, especially for those who are new to our ministry as they are picked-up.

As always, our ushers continue to be available during services as an extra layer of comfort, as do the TCC Police.

So is there something in particular that prompts our efforts? Thankfully, no! We're just trying to stay ahead of a curve that we wish did not exist. In 2010, we have a better awareness of threats to our most vulnerable and we know that churches are not exempt from these dangers. As unfortunate as these steps are, they are necessary. To do otherwise is poor stewardship of the most precious gifts God provides.

Four Chaplains

2010-02-08T16:27:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I attended a ceremony of remembrance with WWII veteran and 90-year old member of our church, Ed Stearman. The ceremony commemorated the valiance of the Four Chaplains of the USAT Dorchester.

The Dorchester was sunk by a German U-boat in the cold waters of the north Atlantic in 1942. Of the 900 or so aboard the former cruise-liner, fewer than 200 survived. In the accounts of the survivors were countless mentions of four Army chaplains aboard the ship who valiantly went about giving encouragement, reassurance, and assistance.

To some, they gave their personal pair of gloves. To others, their own life-jackets. They prayed with many. They whispered hope. They sang songs of praise. Then, in the last recollections survivors recalled, they propped themselves together on the ship's deck, arms linked, and praying.

The four chaplains went down with the ship. But their blazing examples of selflessness have gone down in history.

In a culture like ours that poorly chooses its heroes, might I recommend some real ones!

More Tragic Than Tragedy

2010-02-01T16:37:00.000-05:00

When times try men's souls, we often reel with questions that beg answers far larger than we are. Why me? Why them? And sometimes, it's simply, Why?

9-11 brought those questions to our hearts. So did the tsunami in 2004. And now Haiti leaves us wondering. We look for causes. There must be explanations that make sense: that the offended deserved tragedy; that they had unmitigated sin or hidden evils making them targets for divine calamity.

In our desire to comprehend the incomprehensible, God's retribution gives us an answer we can get our arms around. But beware: We walk a slippery slope when we attribute the hand of God without knowing His mind.

Lacking divine insight, maybe God has a deeper, more personal response for us in times like these. We find the Christian's appropriate response to tragedy when Jesus was asked questions about tragedy in Luke 13:1-5:

"There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Notice that He makes this statement twice!

When questioners attempted to correlate senseless tragedy with scintillating sin (v. 2), Jesus wouldn't "go there". In fact, He pointed out an additional case of tragedy at Siloam (v. 4) as He directed their attention to the bigger, more penetrating concern: the state of one's soul in the face of eternity.

This is the heart of the matter when we are left with mind-numbing questions: What is the state of our own hearts? Are we ready when tragedy suddenly drops on our front door as it did for these murdered Galileans and the victims of the Siloam tower collapse?

We must be found in right relationship with God right now. That is why TODAY is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). None of us are promised tomorrow whether we are Haitian, American, or European. Our only hope is found in the repentant, redeemed relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ.

What must we do when tragedy comes? Become more urgent in declaring the Gospel to anyone who will listen.

But why such a simple response? Maybe because, from the perspective of Providence, the loss of a soul will always be more tragic than tragedy. (Luke 12:4-5)