Merry Christmas to All!

It’s the end of the year and Christmas is only days away. We’re having Christmas Eve services this year and right after that my wife and I are leaving for Savannah, GA where we’re meeting both sets of parents. We’ll spend a couple of days in Savannah, then an overnight stay in Charleston, SC, a day of driving to Richmond - where I might stop in to the IMB - some time in Williamsburg, VA and Washington, D.C. and back home in time for New Years Eve services!

Needless to say, by blogging will be limited if any during that time, but coming back I’ve got several things to share with you.

Have a blessed CHRISTmas!

The PromiseKeeper

Baby. Mother, Son, Father. Poor. Afraid. Scared

Little boy. Just walking, just talking. Stumbling, playing. Dependant on mom and dad for everything.

“Don’t Touch That!” “Don’t put your finger in that!” “Not again!”

Unsure. Uncertain. Disconnected from family and friends. Having to make new friends. Looking for work. Looking for a place to live.

Always on the run. Can’t settle down. Always looking over the shoulder, wondering. “Is today the day?” “Is now the time?”

“Where do we go from here?” “Egypt?” “Why?” “An Angel?” “Not again!”

Matthew 2:14-15
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,
15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

What are you doing that is reaching your community?

How are you reaching your community? Are you using servant evangelism? Are you doing some type of daycare or after school program? Are you simply building relationships and inviting people to church or sharing your faith with them before asking them to attend?

What are you plans in the summer for ministry?

A Challenge to us Younger SBC pastors.

I’ve been thinking since late last year that if I am going to expose our people to missions and talk about the kingdom, then I must model this behavior. I have looked over the year for opportunities for our people to get involved in going and doing missions. Quite frankly, many of them are unsure of doing this. They would rather do something close by - understandable. I would like for them to experience missions as part of a different cultural experience.

So here’s my challenge. I would like to put together a missions team of young SBC pastors to go overseas, serve for a week, and come back and share with our churches. Heck, with the power of technology, we could even do some type of webcast with the other churches, or at least create a video that could be part of our churches describing who we are, where we came from, what we did, etc.

We complain about the SBC and the frustrating state of our IMB trustees. We talk about being missional, doing missions, supporting missions, etc. Let’s start walking our talk and go and help our SBC Missionaries overseas.

I’m open to a variety of places and opportunities and times right now. Go here to the IMB Volunteers In Mission project search and come up with some ideas. I say we go as a group and help in pastoral development or theological teaching/training. Heck, I’ll make a quilt (scary proposition) if necessary.

Anybody ready for the journey?

Morris Chapman Weighs in On IMB Action

Ok, so I stole Marty Duren’s teaser line from his blog…He has a great reminder from Morris Chapman’s SBC Convention speech in 2004 about the need for cooperation and the rejection of political rangling. Here’s a quote from the sermon that I find entirely appropriate and poignant:

Chapman offered that there are those who reject biblical fidelity and exclude themselves from that pledge. But, he shared his concern that he and subsequent presidents have not “executed to the fullest extent” the opportunity to be more inclusive. He also cautioned that in rejecting the liberalism that once threatened the convention, Southern Baptists must be on guard as well to avoid the equally wrong practices of political exclusion.

“We must never cease to be vigilant against heresy,” Chapman said in his address, The Fundamentals of Cooperating Conservatives. “However, crusades cannot last forever. Again and again we have debated vigorously that the conservative resurgence was theological, not political; that our objective was doctrinal purity, not political control.”

Chapman said if this is true, then the stated goals of the conservative resurgence have been achieved, and it’s time for Southern Baptists to show they not only believe the Bible, but also are compelled to live by it.

“If our struggle for the authority of God’s Word does not lead us to a spirit of humility and holiness, we’re already going in the wrong direction, destined to lose our way in the wilderness.”

Expressing a concern that Southern Baptists, having affirmed their faith in the Bible, “will develop a censorious, exclusivistic, intolerant spirit,” Chapman warned there is a real threat that the convention might “end up on the road of separatism,” a direction equally as disabling as liberalism.

Thanks Marty for the post. Also to note: IMB trustee has started a blog and he has a great post entitled, “Crusading Conservatives vs. Cooperating Conservatives: The War for the Future of the Southern Baptist Convention“. Give it a read…

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