Last night was the first night of our VBS, Son Rock Kids Camp. We had a good open with many umchurched kids in Attendance. Pray that hearts will be changed by Christ.
Blogroll
church
education
pastoral ministry
SBC Voices Badge
Amazon Widget
Meta
The Pastor’s Call: to Equip
This past Sunday I preached a message from Ephesians 4:11-13 focused on the pastor’s call to equip the church. There is an interesting progression that Paul lays out here. He calls pastors (specifically, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and/or teachers) to equip the saints. It is our responsibility as pastors to equip, that is to train, to prepare, to lead the people of God to do what? To do the work of the ministry.
I made the illustration that within a 5-mile radius of our church in beautiful Hickory Tavern, South Carolina, live an estimated 6500 people. Assuming average households of 4, if I visited each home, averaging 1 per day, it would take me by myself 5 years to make contact with each person just in this small radius. Now, if our entire church was equipped and set out on the same goal, averaging one visit per day, we could make a personal visit to each person in our community in less than 1 month. Truth be told, if our entire church got on fire in doing the work of the ministry, it probably wouldn’t take even that long.
Paul then gives us the result of when the people of God are equipped to do the work of the ministry, that the body of Christ (the church) will be built up. It will be strengthened, enhanced, and it will grow. It will grow deep and it will grow wide. Lest we think we have arrived, Paul finally gives us the time-frame. How long are we do be at this work? Until we all reach maturity! Our country’s education policy is called “No Child Left Behind” May that be our cry! Though appearing to be mature adults on the outside, many of us are still immature spiritually. May we never stop growing, never stop seeking, never stop serving, never stop worshipping, never stop drawing closer to the Lord.
I told our church that I wanted to be a player-coach. I wanted to keep my responsibility to coach them, to equip them to do the work of the ministry, and then when it is time to work–to go suit up in my uniform and get out and get dirty for the Lord.
The National Day of Prayer
National Day of Prayer - Laurens, SC - May 7, 2009
Today I enjoyed my first observance of the National Day of Prayer by joining with about 15 local pastors and a small crowd of about 45 on the steps of the historic courthouse in beautiful downtown Laurens, South Carolina. The rally was led by Laurens Baptist Associational Missionary Reiny Koschel (pictured). What surprised me the most was that apart from the lone Presbyterian and Methodist, it was largely a Baptist gathering. I know that I’m now living and serving in Southern Baptist-land, but this was more like going to a Baptist convention than a cross-section of evangelical Christianity. Maybe standing on the courthouse steps in the center of town and publicly practicing Romans 13 by praying for our President, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Governor, all the way down to the local School Board is out of fashion. It might not be in the too distant future that public displays of faith like the one we partook in today might be considered bigotry and hate-speech. In the mean-time I’m going to continue to take a public stand for the truth of the Gospel.
A Pastors Call: to Worship – and a Great Commission Resurgence
I’m starting my first sermon series as pastor of Henderson Baptist Church called “A Pastor’s Call.” Each week I will be focusing on a different passage and aspect of the call of the pastor. Last week, my first sermon was from Isaiah 6:1-8 entitled “A Pastor’s Call: to Worship.” This is one of my favorite passages from the Old Testament, and one in which I have preached several times before. My premise is that the pastor’s primary call is to worship and to lead the people of God to worship. I was struck with the emphasis in Isaiah 6 upon entering God’s presence how Isaiah first saw the glory of God, was struck with his own sinfulness, confessed his sin, and then received forgiveness. One part of this passage that hadn’t really struck me until just this week was that it wasn’t until Isaiah had dealt with his sin and received forgiveness that he heard from the Lord. Finally, the call to worship leads to mission–with the Lord saying “Who will go” and Isaiah saying “Here am I, send me.” This week I signed a statement calling for a Great Commission Resurgence. What many across the SBC are hoping for is a resurgence in churches, pastors, and people all being involved in fulfilling the great commission in a greater way than ever before. I believe that we are all called to be missionaries-starting right where we live. May a Great Commission Resurgence begin, and may it begin with me.
DSL
Many thanks to PRTC for hooking us up to DSL service. Since late 2007 we’ve been connected to the internet using a Verizon Wireless EVDO connection. While handy to have while traveling, and better than dialup, it was still slower than a typical broadband connection. Once we moved to SC we also discovered that our location had spotty coverage, at best. That left us with only intermittent internet access (Just try accessing the internet with a on-again-off-again connection and see how much you can get accomplished!). Well, we’re now cruising along at a more typical 3.0 Mbps, which seems lightning fast in comparison.
A Pastor’s Priorities for Day One
Though I wouldn’t classify myself as a 5-point Calvinist, I do appreciate the work of Mark Dever and 9 Marks Ministries. I happened upon the 9 Marks website this afternoon and found quite a timely article by Rev. Bob Johnson from Roseville, MI, entitled, “A Pastor’s Priorities for Day One.” In this article, Pastor Johnson shares five principles a first-time pastor should focus when beginning at a new church. While these principles could transfer to most any person serving in most any area of ministry or leadership, it comes quite timely for me, as I am beginning my first full-time pastorate at Henderson Baptist Church in Hickory Tavern, SC. I hope to put these into practice as I get started this week.
Click here to read the full article.
Planning Your Preaching
I did my M.Div. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in historic Wake Forest, NC. While there I took preaching classes (homiletics) from Dr. Stephen Rummage, who is now the preaching pastor at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Rummage taught us much about the benefits to expository preaching, to ministry, and to life. He was one of the most gracious men I have ever met, you know, the kind that would never say a negative or derogatory comment. I remember one class, right after a chapel when I think the visiting speaker actually read a couple of verses from the Bible to which he then gave us “7 Things. . . ” a collection of his personal opinions. One seminarian asked, “Dr. Rummage, was that an expository sermon?” To which, he replied, “Well brother . . . (pregnant pause) it was biblical! . . . but that just wasn’t an expository sermon.” Besides pouring a dash of his rhetorical skill into our eager minds, Dr. Rummage left us with one great resource before he left the Seminary for the pulpit (his true calling), that is Planning Your Preaching: a step-by-step guide for developing a one-year preaching calendar.
This week/weekend I have been working on putting together a preaching calendar for the remainder of this year. While what I preach from week to week is definitely not set in stone-and the Spirit usually has a way of redirecting my path–it is definitely a stress reliever to have a plan. A plan that is flexible enough to allow for freedom, but organized enough to give meaning, purpose and help. Before I even met Dr. Rummage I was already a convert to the expository method. My problem in expository preaching, however, is that without putting together a plan, I can’t see the forest (big picture) for the trees (the details). That’s where this book comes in. It gives the unorganized a little organization. It also gives direction to different Scriptural texts that are appropriate for different holidays and special emphases.
Though it has been a while since I’ve seen him in person, Dr. Rummage’s contribution in Planning Your Preaching is one that I’ve read, re-read, lent out, and given away. If you’re a preacher, or you know one, you should buy this book.
Yesterday I was watching Alvin Reid twittering Ed Stetzer’s chapel message at SEBTS. The points were so strong and timely, that I downloaded the message today to watch (it’s available as a video or audio-only). Stetzer preached a message from Titus 2:1-8 on “Generational Change.” I think his message speaks to what is happening in churches all across our country as well as with the Southern Baptist Convention’s leadership structure as a whole. I believe it was a balanced messaged that sought to speak to both sides of the generational divide.
Here are some of the highlights:
Stetzer-we are the first to worship in 3 gens- builders in suits/hymns. Boomers with prom songs to Jesus. Now a new gen in thick glasses…
Stetzer-fundamentalist warriors tend to eat their own young-they must have a cause to fight. But we must honor those before us.
You will face cross generational issues in the churches serve…older men are to be self controlled…
Stetzer: there is a mutual accountability-just because u r old does not mean u r godly. But young men’s jdgmt is often suspect (rehoboam).
Stetzer-if satan can’t get God’s people not 2 love Him or His truth, he can get them not 2 like each other.
Stetzer-younger today need to say to older-we know the battle was about the Bible. Let’s not make it about other things today.
Today many SBC leaders met in Atlanta, and I hope that this was part of the discussion. I want to be a part of helping not only our churches survive generational change, but our convention as well. I see some rays of light with the addition of guys like Francis Chan at the 2009 SBC Pastor’s Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. I’m thinking about making my first trip to the convention (driving 1 hr. to my hometown of Greensboro in 2006 doesn’t really count).
LG BD300 – Service With A Smile
In an earlier post, I posted a short review of my Christmas present this year, an LG BD300 Blu-Ray player. After successfully hooking this unit up and getting it to work with Netflix, I started noticing a problem. Like most people, the majority of my video collection is still in DVD (I actually own only 1 Blu-Ray disc at this point). My wife started complaining that her Gilmore Girls DVD’s were skipping, and at one point, the player stopped recognizing DVD’s altogether. My theory is that I purchased a bad apple that eventually went bad. I purchased the unit as an “open-box” player at Best Buy. What probably happened was the original purchaser had some of the same problems I did (skipping, etc.) and returned it to the store. If Best Buy did any testing on it at all, they probably popped a Blu-Ray disc in and let it roll for 30 seconds before putting the unit back out on the floor. If I lived closer to the store, I might have returned it myself.
As far as I could tell Blu-Ray was not affected-but considering my earlier point that out of my whole video collection that left me with a total of 1 possible video that I could watch using this player. I tried doing a factory reset on my own as well as making sure I had the most recent firmware–all to no avail. When I finally had enough, I pulled out my receipt and noticed that I was 4 days beyond the 30-day return policy of Best Buy. Not being dismayed, I picked up the phone and called LG’s customer service line. Within 10 minutes the rep had approved factory service on my unit. In two days I had received the return labels and LG paid to ship the unit back via FedEx. Exactly 2 weeks after my call to customer service my unit had been returned. They noted that they “replaced the drive.” Upon re-installation, I noticed that on the home screen, not only was Netflix one of the options, but YouTube had been added as well.
The YouTube feature lets you browse and watch YouTube videos on your tv (internet access required). I was able to successfully log in to my YouTube account and watch “My Favorites.” I named this post, “Service With a Smile” as I was quite pleased with how LG handled my problem. They didn’t make me waste time and go through some pointless troubleshooting–they immediately authorized a return. The turnaround time (i.e., the wait) was acceptable. It was right in line with the amount of time I expected to be without the unit. Not only did I get my machine back in working condition at no cost, but received an added feature.
The integration of the internet with our television is finally starting to happen. We now have multiple machines that allow us to access the internet (in our house, the LD BD300 as well as the Nintendo Wii). The newest televisions are starting to ship with integrated internet capabilities similar to those offered by this Blu-Ray unit. The “convergence” that had been talked about for the past 12 years is starting to take hold on the popular level with many different devices being able to talk to each other.
Anyway, thanks, LG, for making right on a bad situation. You saved me as a customer.
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments