Luther's 95 Theses

While most folks associate October 31^st with the celebration of Halloween, historians remember the day as the occasion on which Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Chapel in 1517, launching the Protestant Reformation.  Luther, an Augustinian monk within the Roman Catholic Church, had become disenchanted with the Church’s internal corruption.  One practice in particular prompted his revolt—the selling of indulgences.  The Catholic Church offered to sell forgiveness for sins for a price—an indulgence.  The notion that forgiveness could be purchased prompted Luther to compose the 95 Theses to debate this and other issues with the Catholic hierarchy.  It was the study of Romans that proved to be the deciding factor in Luther’s conversion to the gospel.  As he read “the just shall live by faith,” Luther discovered that his previous attempts to appease an angry and wrathful God (as he conceived Him) through his own efforts were misguided.  He was convinced that one is made right with God through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross and not through any human works.  Luther’s break with the Catholic Church and proclamation of the gospel in Germany would be followed by other Protestant reformers—Calvin in France and later Switzerland, Zwingli in Switzerland, John Knox in Scotland, and numerous lesser known Anabaptists who took the additional step of denying the legitimacy of infant baptism and insisting on believers’ baptism.  The Anabaptists went beyond Luther in insisting on religious liberty and the separation of church and state, major emphases that their Baptist successors would also champion.

Neat Devotional Thought

I was blessed this morning by a devotional thought that Brian Abel shared in Passport's 365 daily devotional series.  Here's what he wrote in part:

"Hold hands." We felt someone grab our hands to cross the street or form a circle. This instruction from childhood presents a big challenge as we get older. It’s hard to hold hands with someone if we’ve made a fist or insist on pointing fingers. Loving our neighbors requires us to reach out. Long before Facebook encouraged us to “Like” or “Unlike,” God asked us to “Love.” The choice to “Unlove” doesn’t show up anywhere.

That last line really grabbed me when I read it.  I read several blogs, many featuring Baptist pastors and laymen as contributors and commenters.  One of the things that frequently seems most noticeable by its absent in these discussions is the most basic command that Jesus left with His disciples of loving one another.  There are a couple of frequent commentators on these blogs that cause me to wince as soon as I see their name appear, even before reading the contents of their comments.  That's because invariably their message is one of hatred and rejection of anyone who fails to interpret the Scripture exactly as they do--the classic example of a fundamentalist mindset.  It makes me wonder how they can read the same New Testament I do and overlook or neglect Jesus' repeated emphasis on love and His statement that the world will know that we are His disciples by the way we love one another.  When rabid zeal for orthodoxy as one understands it completely blots out any demonstration of Jesus' ethic of love, something is dangerously amiss.

Mom's Eulogy

As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to pass along the eulogy that I shared at Mom's funeral service on Saturday afternoon.  It was really a beautiful service.  Jason, our eldest, shared some reflections.  We sang a couple of favorite hymns together; I shared the eulogy; and Bro. Glenn Ward brought the message from Romans 8.  Our youngest son, Jonathan, sang a beautiful arrangement of "Give Me Jesus."  As we were wrapping up at the graveside, a few drops of rain began to fall.  Shortly thereafter, the rains really began in earnest and it rained all night and was still raining as we drove to DFW airport.  I'm sure the folks in Texas were thrilled to get a break in the drought.  Here's what I shared about Mom's life.  It's rather lengthy, but hopefully it will give some insight into her character.

We gather here this afternoon to celebrate the life of Virginia Snowden and to honor one who lived her life well in the service of God, her family, and others.  I’m very grateful to Bro. Glenn for allowing me the privilege of sharing this eulogy about Mom.  When Dad passed away in January 2004, his death was so sudden and unexpected and I was still so overwhelmed by the emotion of loss that I didn’t think I could manage to say anything at his funeral without completely losing it emotionally.  Glenn was gracious enough to allow me to write some words of tribute to Dad that he read during the service.  Mom’s homegoing wasn’t sudden or unexpected, as her health had been declining for quite some time now, so I think with the Lord’s help I’m going to be able to manage to share some thoughts about her life.

Mom was born on April 18, 1929 in Alice, Texas to Oscar L. and Eavie Blankenship White.  Alice was the nearest hospital to the farm and ranch that my grandparents owned in the small community of Clegg in Live Oak County.  Mom was the middle of three daughters born into the family.  All three girls pitched in to help with the chores around the place, including gathering eggs, milking the dairy cow, working in the garden, and even helping round up the cattle on horseback—not an easy feat in the brush and cactus-covered South Texas landscape.

After graduating from high school, Mom attended business school where she acquired additional skills as a bookkeeper.  It was about this time that she met my Dad, Robert Snowden, who was working for Southern Pacific Railroad in Beeville, TX.  Mom’s younger sister told me the other day that Mom was actually working at FBC Beeville when she met Dad.  Love blossomed between them and they were married by Bro. Lunsford, the pastor of the FBC there, who later served as the administrator of the South Texas Children’s Home. 

Dad’s work with Southern Pacific took him and Mom to many towns in Texas in their early years of marriage.  It was while they were living in Victoria that my older brother Steve and I were born.  Later moves with the railroad involved relocating to Brownsville, Halletsville, Yorktown, Wharton, and San Antonio before Dad was assigned to work in Alice in 1959.  Our family moved back to the ranch where Mom had been raised, living in a house about 100 yards down a sandy lane from my grandparents’ house. 

Mom and Dad would get us up about 6:00 each morning and breakfast would already be prepared and on the table.  They would head off to work in Alice as we caught the bus about 7:00 for the hour ride into George West where we attended school.  Those years on the ranch are filled with wonderful memories.  Our immediate family would gather around the piano that Mom would play as we sang 4-part harmony together on the great old hymns in the Broadman and later the Baptist hymnals.  Sunday morning always involved a trip into George West where we attended First Baptist Church.  Mom and Dad were both active—singing in choir and serving on various committees.  Mom would typically put a pot roast in a big, cast-iron skillet in the oven before we left for church.  Over Sunday lunch, we would always jokingly remark that we were having a good meal for a change.  The truth is that Mom was a great cook and everything she prepared was delicious and tasty, but the Sunday roast always elicited that humorous back-handed compliment. 

Mom worked for a number of different firms in those years in Alice, including the A. Y. McCallum Construction Co.  I think he actually did more land-clearing than construction, but we were really grateful that he gave us access back in those years to the best private fishing lake I’ve ever found.  Mom would occasionally accompany us on those outings, but often she let the male members of the family go fishing while she enjoyed some antique shopping with friends.  Mom loved to go antique shopping.  One of her prize purchases was an old pump organ with two pedals you alternately depressed to provide air for the bellows.  It also featured numerous knobs you could pull out as stops for the different pitches and voices.  Mom would later go to work for Lloyd & Lloyd Attorneys at Law in Alice.  Still later, she went to work for the Guaranty Title & Abstract Company, working her way up in the organization until she eventually retired as a vice-president. 

As my brother and I got closer to junior high age, Mom and Dad decided to move from the ranch into George West to allow us to participate more fully in sports and after-school activities.  Mom had carried around some house plans for many years, and in 1964 she was able to see those plans come to fruition in a new house that was built in the Streibeck addition on the north side of George West.  Mom and Dad were really proud of that house.  The relocation to George West meant that she and Dad would now have to commute 40 miles rather than 35 each way to work, but it was a sacrifice they gladly made to allow us to stay in a great school system where we had our friends.  I don’t know many parents who would have made such a commitment, but I’m so grateful that Mom and Dad were willing to do so.

After I graduated from high school, they did move to Alice to save on the wear and tear on vehicles as well as to cut down on the time spent on the road each day.  There they made a new set of friends as they joined the First Baptist Church of Alice.  They continued to serve in many capacities, including participating in missions trips to the border as well as assisting a local Hispanic mission congregation.  Mom’s involvement in WMU deepened in those years as well.  When Dad’s work transferred him once again, this time to Gregory, TX, they decided to continue living in Alice rather than moving again. 

A part of that decision was also due to Mom’s desire to help take care of her aging father.  After Little Granny (as we called her) died, Granddad needed additional care and he was moved to a care facility in Alice.  Mom would stop by before work, at lunch, and in the evening again as well to help him eat and spend time with him.  In doing so, she was carrying on a life-long pattern of caring for others.  When we lived in San Antonio, she cared for her aging Aunt Cora.  When she and Dad moved to Alice, she cared for Granddad’s sister, Aunt Clara, who still lived in her own home but needed someone to check in on her, purchase her groceries, take her to the doctor, etc.  Even after Mom moved here to Granbury, she continued to adopt “little old ladies” as she affectionately called them who needed some love and compassion extended to them.  The Scripture speaks in James 1 of pure and undefiled religion as caring for orphans and widows in their need, and Mom certainly exemplified that all of her life.

In addition to caring for widows, Mom had a special place in her heart for the fatherless.  I mentioned that she and Dad had been married by the administrator of the South Texas Children’s Home, a Baptist agency caring for orphans and those from broken homes.  Mom always took a genuine interest in the work of the home, contributing financially for its support, but also opening up our home around the holidays to host a child from the Children’s Home.

After they both retired, Mom and Dad moved here to Granbury and bought a home in DeCordoba Bend Estates.  They loved their home and Dad loved going golfing almost daily, but mostly they loved the new friendships they made here at Acton Baptist Church.  I cannot say thank you enough to you all for the warm hospitality and Christian love you extended to them as they moved here from South Texas.  With more time on their hands in retirement, they both found meaningful places of service and ministry in the life of this great church.  Mom was active in choir, WMU, missions projects and trips, and as a money counter on Monday mornings to tally the Sunday offerings.  I know that she was excited and counted it a privilege to have a part in the construction of the new sanctuary and the celebration of the church’s 150^th anniversary a few years ago.

Mom fell a little over three years ago and fractured her pelvis.  That accident seemed to trigger the onset of her overall decline in health.  After a few months in a rehab facility, the family determined that she needed a little extra care and we decided to move her up to live with my family in Lee’s Summit, MO.  She joined the FBC there where I serve as associate pastor, but her declining health meant that she wasn’t able to attend but a few times before she basically became homebound.  She might have officially transferred her membership, but I can assure you she never lost her love for this wonderful congregation here.  Several close friends continued to call her—typically on Sunday afternoons to check up on her and fill her in on how things were going in the life of Acton Baptist Church and among her circle of friends here.  I want to thank you all for continuing to reach out to her in Christian love and fellowship, even after she had moved to Missouri. 

It meant so much to my family to have Mom with us these past three years.  She was as gracious as she had always been throughout her life—never making any demands on others and always demonstrating the same sweet, gentle spirit that she had consistently displayed.  Her love for family never waned.  She looked forward to Steve’s phone calls each week (often 2-3 times in the course of a week).  She relished the visits that Jason and Jen made with the oldest of the three great-grandchildren.  Last year, she accompanied me on a visit back here to Texas to see her sisters, to visit Steve, and to meet her latest great-grandchild, little Jonah, who was born on August 14^th of 2010.  I’m so grateful as well that she felt up to a trip back to Texas this past summer to see her sisters once more and to visit her church family here on July 3^rd.  Mom certainly loved her extended family.

I think I can safely affirm that Mom was the ideal mother.  She modeled Christ-like love and concern for others on a daily basis.  She obviously loved and respected Dad throughout the almost 54 years they were privileged to share as a couple.  I cannot ever recall seeing them even engage in an argument in all the years they were together.  They each sought to make Christ the central part of the home, and that was reflected in their relationship with each other and with us as children.

Mom’s death leaves a big void in our household.  Annetta Marie and Jonathan and I have been greatly blessed to have had the privilege and joy of sharing life with her in these recent years.  Her passing will require a lot of time to process as we grieve and mourn her physical absence from us.  But we take great consolation and comfort in knowing that she has been made whole and is enjoying the wonders of heaven today in the presence of her parents and Dad and so many others who have gone on before us.  Most of all, we take comfort in knowing that she’s been welcomed into her eternal home by the One whom she loved and lived her life for—her Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Virginia Mae White Snowden went home to be with the Lord on October the 2^nd, 2011, at the Kansas City Hospice House.  Virginia was preceded in death by her parents and by her husband, Bob, in 2004.  She is survived by her two sisters: Joyce McNeill and husband Joe of Bryan, TX; Gwen Norris and husband George of George West, Texas; by her two sons: Steven R. Snowden and wife Charlotte of Granbury, TX; Gary L. Snowden and wife Annetta Marie of Lee’s Summit, MO; by five grandsons: Bryan, Jason and wife Jennifer, Joel and wife April, Joshua, and Jonathan; by four great-grandchildren: Kelsey, Andrew, Nathan, and Jonah; and by numerous nieces and nephews.  

A Long Blogging Drought

I haven't been on Blogger for almost a couple of months now.  I thought I'd give a quick explanation for my absence.  My mother who has lived with us since January 2009 had been experiencing poor health for quite some time.  She went into the hospital on September 1st and was there for 11 days.  The doctors determined that her digestive system had simply shut down and was no longer functioning.  She had been battling digestive problems for many months, but we didn't suspect that her system was shutting down.  She was transferred to the Kansas City Hospice House on September 12th and received outstanding, compassionate care from a wonderful staff of nurses and doctors at that facility.  I spent the last three weeks there with her, and my wife took a couple of weeks of leave from her teaching to also accompany Mom in her final days.  Our youngest son, Jonathan, also spent a great deal of time with her during these days.  Mom went home to be with the Lord this past Sunday afternoon in a very peaceful death.

I'm grateful to my church family and the staff for their prayer support, visits, cards, calls, etc., and for permitting me to share this time with my mother.  We'll be traveling to Texas this weekend for a Saturday afternoon funeral at the Acton Baptist Church near Granbury.  Mom and Dad had been members of that wonderful congregation since their retirement in the early 90s.  Dad's funeral was held there in January 2004 and he's buried a stone's throw from the widow of Davy Crockett in the Acton Cemetery.  Mom will be laid to rest beside him.

Mom was a remarkable woman, a godly Christian who faithfully served the Lord throughout her life.  It will be my privilege to share the eulogy in the service while her former pastor, Bro. Glenn Ward, brings the message.  I'm thinking about sharing that eulogy here after the services are completed.  I'd love for others to know what an outstanding mother the Lord blessed my brother and me with and what a wonderful person she was.

Reflections from the Global Leadership Summit

I've been reviewing some of my notes from the GLS that I attended last week and thought I'd share a few of the great one-liners that I heard.

These first three come from Bill Hybels whose church, Willow Creek, organizes the event each year.
“Swing hard or surrender your bat.”
“Churches are in the life transformation business.”
“Don’t go out with a whimper.”

The next comes from Corey Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey who sounds more like an evangelist.  I think he attributed the quote to Abraham Lincoln, but I'm not 100% sure on that. 

“Everyone is born an individual, but sadly most die as copies.”

The next four all come from a message by Steven Furtick, pastor of the Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C.  His text was 2 Kgs. 3:9-20 about Elisha’s meeting with King Jehoshaphat. The context was a desperate need for water for the army and the cattle. Elisha’s word from the Lord was, “Make this valley full of trenches.” Steven’s paraphrase, “If you want to see the land filled with water, dig some ditches.”
His other one-liners that I noted were these:
“Just having good ideas doesn’t make you a visionary but a daydreamer.”
“If the size of your vision isn’t intimidating to you, it’s probably insulting to God.”
Speaking of our tendency to be discouraged as we compare ourselves to others, he said, “We compare our behind the scenes work with others’ highlight reels.”

The final set of these come from Erwin McManus from Mosaic Church in Los Angeles.
“The extraordinary nature that God puts in each person at birth is beaten out of us by life and most die very ordinary.”
“Our churches are full of folks who are filled with dreams that will die in them if we don't liberate them.”
“You at your best are not in the slightest way intimidating to God.”
“We must tell the human story with authenticity.”
“Whoever tells the best story shapes the culture.”

Global Leadership Summit

I spent a very enjoyable two days at Willow Creek Association's Global Leadership Summit, attending the simulcast of it at Pleasant Valley Baptist in Liberty, MO.  It was an interesting line-up of speakers again this year.  I really wasn't disappointed by any of the speakers, but felt that a few of them really hit home runs.  Steven Furtick did a great job of preaching a message about Elisha's audacious faith.  The demeanor and spirit of Mama Maggie Gobran as she shared about her work among the least of these in Cairo's slums was riveting.  Patrick Lencioni, a last-minute pinch hitter substituting for Starbucks CEO Schultz who withdrew, was absolutely hilarious but powerful at the same time.  I also enjoyed Erwin McManus of Mosaic and his emphasis on getting back to telling the truth and communicating the gospel story in its power and simplicity.  Hybels as usual was great as he echoed a similar theme of McManus.

If you've never attending a GLS, I'd encourage you to think about doing so next August.  It's an outstanding two-day event bringing together Christian leaders as well as prominent business leaders to address the broad question of improving our leadership skills.

Wedding Vows or Miranda Rights?

Our church's administrator shares humorous cartoons and stories each week from Christianity Today.  This week's was priceless.

Weddding Vows or Miranda's Rights?


I was watching my 5-year-old granddaughter Christy play with her dolls. At one point, she "staged" a wedding, first playing the role of the bride's mother who assigned specific duties, then suddenly becoming the bride with her "teddy bear" groom.

She picked him up and said to the "minister" presiding over the wedding, "Now you can read us our rights." Without missing a beat, Christy became the minister who said, "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be held against you, you have the right to have an attorney present. You may kiss the bride."

—Sonja R. Ely, Dallas, Oregon. Christian Reader "Rolling Down the Aisle."

Willow Creek Leadership Summit

I'm excited about the opportunity of attending on Thursday and Friday of this week the Annual Leadership Summit sponsored by Willow Creek.  Last year was my first year to go and I enjoyed it and was challenged by a great deal that I heard regarding leadership.  I'll be attending again this year at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty.  They do a wonderful job of hosting events like this.  Our pastor and our minister of discipleship are also both going this year.  Should be an exciting couple of days of worship, inspiration, and information.

A Good Week in Guatemala

I returned on July 15th from a week-long trip to Guatemala with my colleague, Verlyn Bergen.  We enjoyed the fellowship and teaching time that we shared with a group of 74 pastors and leaders at a two-day training event in Quetzaltenango.  It's the rainy season there now and the rain, coupled with the altitude in the mountains, kept the temperatures quite comfortable.  We enjoyed weather in the 60s and 70s before arriving back in the middle of an extended heat warning of several days here in Missouri.

We were able to visit several places where Verlyn is considering bringing one of two missions teams he'll be heading up to Guatemala this coming year.  On Thursday, we paid a visit to the Tabitha Ministry near the city dump in Guatemala City.  They have managed to enclose what was an open patio on the roof, affording them an additional closed-in space for an expanded number of children for whom they are caring.  The ministry currently ministers to about 85 children in this facility.

There is a need for prayer for this ministry as the owner of the building they are occupying wishes to sell it by the end of the year.  They must determine whether or not to stay and come up with funds for purchasing the building, or find other suitable accommodations.

Safely Home from Texas

Enjoyed a week of visiting with family members in Texas.  I took my mom to see her two sisters (and their husbands) who live in Bryan and George West.  We also visited with my brother and his wife in Granbury and were able to attend Sunday morning worship at Acton Baptist Church where mom still has many good friends.  I was able to visit with a couple of cousins on the trip as well, plus we made a quick trip out to the ranch where I lived for 6 years.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip.

I've got a couple of days to take care of some things at church and around the house before I head out again to Guatemala on Monday.  A colleague and I will be leading the latest round of leadership training conferences in Quetzaltenango.  It promises to be another great two-day event with the pastors and leaders.  This is the fifth year that we've been providing these training events.

Sermon from the 10 Commandments

Our pastor and his family headed to Houston for a few days so I had the opportunity to preach this past Sunday morning.  He began a series on the 10 Commandments the week before so I was privileged to share a message based on the second commandment about not worshiping an idol or image of the true God.  The actual title was "Don't Settle for Homemade gods."  If you have some time and are interested in hearing it, here's the link to the audio file.

Checking In

Just a quick post to say that I'm still alive, though I've been very remiss about posting an entry to this blog in quite some time.  In the interim, we've celebrated our youngest son's graduation from high school and the third son's 23rd birthday.  Had a busy time this past weekend with Lee's Summit's annual Downtown Days Festival.  Our church manned a booth downtown from which we dispensed over 1000 frozen flavor-ice popsicles, entertained children with some games and prizes, and distributed promotional literature about our church and its upcoming Vacation Bible School, scheduled for July 11-15.  Those same dates happen to coincide with my next trip to Guatemala for a leadership training conference with pastors and leaders.  In addition to our booth downtown, we also opened up our parking lot to the community for free parking and distributed free water to those who chose to park there.  With the weekend highs hovering in the mid 90s and high humidity as well, the water was a welcomed item by most.  We passed out around 600 bottles of water on Friday and Saturday.

This weekend I'll have the opportunity to preach the second in a series that our pastor began last Sunday on God's Top 10 Relationship Rules--better known as the 10 Commandments.  I'll be addressing the second of these with the title, "Don't Settle for Homemade gods." 

Our youth are gone this week to camp at Falls Creek Assembly in Oklahoma and have a one-week break after they return before they head to Joplin, MO to assist with some of the debris removal and minister through multiple choir concerts at churches in the area.  Their original plans were to go to Chicago this summer, but the Joplin tornado brought a new and pressing need to our state and a great chance to share Christ's love in some tangible ways with folks in that city.

Lightning in a Bottle

On June 10, 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous experiment of flying a kite in a thunderstorm and capturing an electrical charge in a Leyden jar. I suspect that this historical event in some way gave rise to the expression of “catching lightning in a bottle.” The phrase itself communicates the idea of the difficulty of accomplishing some elusive or hard-to-reach goal. Franklin’s life is a great illustration of one who achieved some remarkable goals, overcoming significant obstacles in the process.

Benjamin’s father, Josiah, a soap and candle maker by trade, had 17 children by two wives. Benjamin was the 15th of these and the 10th and last son. His father could only afford to send him to school for two years, so by the age of 10, Benjamin was a dropout. A voracious reader, Franklin devoured books and epitomized the self-educated man. He was apprenticed to an older brother at the age of 12 where he learned the printing business. Franklin would go on to distinguish himself in multiple arenas as a publisher, philanthropist, civic leader, and a statesman. Perhaps he is best remembered for the witty sayings published in Poor Richard’s Almanac and as a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

When we face adverse circumstances and challenges in life, far more encouraging to us than the example of a self-made man like Benjamin Franklin is the strength we find to persevere through God’s Word and the support and prayers of fellow believers. The writer of Hebrews challenges us to run the race set before us with endurance, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). Hope fixed in Him will not leave us disappointed.

Staff Retreat

The next couple of days our ministerial staff will be participating in a retreat in Concordia, MO.  Our men's ministry has held a retreat there the last couple of years and it's a nice setting to get away and do some reflecting.  Last year's retreat, held just a few short months after our new pastor had arrived, was an extremely productive time together and I'm trusting that this one will be as well.  Easter services this morning were a real blessing with great attendance, wonderful music, and a clear biblical message from our pastor.

Homebound Lord's Supper

One of the things that I most enjoy doing in the area of senior adult ministry is helping organize and participate with teams of deacons that go out to serve the Lord's Supper to our homebound members.  The majority of these are living in institutions that provide extended care for the elderly, but several are still able to live at home.  They just aren't sufficiently mobile or strong enough to attend church services regularly as they once did.

This morning I joined an 88-year old deacon (I think the oldest of the total of 14 who participated) and we went to two different homes.  In the first one lives a couple who has been married for 70 years.  The wife told us that they'd never had a fight in their entire marriage and seemed a bit surprised at our own expressions of incredulity and surprise at that statement.  She asked us rather matter-of-factly if we had experienced fights or disagreements with our spouses, to which we both responded affirmatively.  I hope we didn't burst her bubble.  Her husband is 93 and she is soon to turn 89.  We had a wonderful visit off almost an hour, sharing conversation and prayer concerns (including a 25-year old granddaughter who is battling cancer), before we concluded by observing the Lord's Supper together.

In the second home, we visited a lady who is 96 and lives with an almost 70-year old nephew who is rarely at home.  We've been the team that has taken the Lord's Supper to her for the past few years now so she has gotten to know us fairly well.  She expressed as she often has how lonely she feels at times.  I assured her that we were in the process of reorganizing our deacons' ministry to provide a more frequent and ongoing point of contact with her for fellowship and prayer support and to attend to any needs around that house that she might have.  James' words about pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father consisting in visiting the orphans and widows in their distress (Jas. 1:27) came to mind as we conversed.

I'm grateful for a deacon body that is committed to addressing the needs of our senior adults--especially those widows living on their own.

Tabitha Ministry Video

As promised in the previous post, here's a link to the longer YouTube video that features interviews with women who've been helped by the Tabitha Ministry in the area of the Guatemala City dump.

Weekend Wrap-up

Well, it's a bit beyond the weekend it's true, but I'm just now getting around to sharing a report on Carol Bercian's visit to Missouri.  She arrived safely last Thursday evening and we headed off to Windermere for ChurchNet's Share Hope Summit on Friday and Saturday.  Carol did an outstanding as our missions banquet speaker, describing our ongoing partnership efforts in Guatemala.  She presented a wonderful challenge and those present responded with a very generous offering as well as some additional pledges.

We had a good day Sunday, visiting with the fine folks up at Wyatt Park Baptist in St. Joseph in the morning.  Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious meal at the pastor's home with several other friends and family members.  The evening service at our church was down a bit in attendance (perhaps due to being an hour earlier than normal to accommodate the benefit concert that followed).  I was a little disappointed that more of our members didn't hear Carol's presentation which focused predominantly on the Tabitha Ministry.  She is such a passionate speaker when it comes to her ministry among the children living in and near the city dump in Guatemala City, as well as with their mothers.

On Tuesday evening, Carol spoke with our church's missions committee to outline some possible future projects for teams going to western Guatemala from our church.  Earlier in the day, she spoke to a WMU group at John Knox Village.  We managed to keep her pretty busy while she was here, though she did find some time to do some shopping and sightseeing on Monday and Tuesday.

I'm providing a link for some brief video footage that I shot during our most recent visit there in February.  Brian Kaylor who handles the communication stuff for ChurchNet did some editing of it and it's been uploaded to YouTube.  You can find it here.

Carol brought a more extensive video that includes testimonies by some of the women who actually live in the dump and have been assisted by the Tabitha Ministry.  That too has been uploaded to YouTube but is still awaiting being made public.  I'll share it as well as soon as it's available.

Carol left this afternoon to return to Guatemala.

Busy Weekend Ahead

This is stacking up to be a busy (and prayerfully a blessed) weekend.  Carol Bercian, our missions partnership liaison in Guatemala and director of the Tabitha Ministry in Guatemala City, will be arriving in Kansas City tomorrow evening.  She will be the featured speaker at ChurchNet's missions banquet, a part of the larger Share Hope Summit, taking place at Windermere Baptist Conference Center on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Following the conclusion of the Summit, we'll be driving back to Lee's Summit (about 3 hours) and will have a get-together that evening for all of those who have participated from our church on missions trips to Guatemala.  On Sunday morning, I'll be driving Carol up to St. Joseph where she will speak at Wyatt Park Baptist Church.  Wyatt Park has partnered with us on our last two trips as a church to Guatemala and their pastor, Josh Stowe, was one of the conference leaders at the training seminar in January of this year.

On Sunday evening, Carol will be speaking at our evening service (an hour earlier than usual) and afterwards there will be a benefit concert for the Tabitha Ministry that will also serve as a wrap-up to church's youth group's Disciple Now Weekend.  Three different bands will be playing and there will be an art auction as well to benefit the Tabitha Ministry.  The concert, advertised here on Facebook, has also been featured on K-Love's concert announcement listing.

It should be an exciting weekend that will hopefully be a strong promotion for ChurchNet's Guatemalan missions partnership and the Tabitha Ministry specifically.

Lee Trevino's Influence and Ours

At the height of his popularity on the PGA tour, Lee Trevino once remarked that there were two things that weren’t long for this world—dogs that chase cars, and professional golfers who miss the green with their second shots. Trevino had a knack for off-the-cuff quips that left the spectators positioned close enough to hear them chuckling in amusement. Growing up as I did in South Texas where I golfed occasionally with my dad, I noticed that Trevino’s notoriety as one of the first Mexican-Americans to achieve success on the PGA tour inspired a lot of other Hispanics to take up the sport. Golf has often been viewed as something of a rich man’s game—given the high costs of clubs and equipment, cart rentals, and green fees—not to mention the exorbitant membership dues of private clubhouses. The economics of golf also dictated that it was predominantly a white man’s sport.

Trevino played a major role in overcoming the racial barrier in golf. He had dropped out of school at 14 to work as a caddy at golf courses in Dallas in addition to shining shoes. After a four-year stint with the Marines, Trevino became a golf pro in El Paso, TX. He won the U.S. Open his second year on the tour and would eventually win 29 PGA events. “Supermex,” or “The Merry Mex” as he was known, was likeable and good-natured, inspiring many young Hispanics to take up golf.

Trevino’s life story prompts me to ask the question, “Whom are we influencing and inspiring by the way we live?” “Are our lives serving as an example to challenge others to achieve greatness?” That greatness hopefully isn’t measured by tournaments won, trophies amassed, or bank accounts enriched, but by faithful service to others in Christ’s name.

An Excellent Blog Post

One of my favorite bloggers, Alan Cross, has written an excellent post that asks the question, "Are Southern Baptists Capable of Being Missional?"  His historical analysis of what has brought the SBC to where they are today is especially insightful. 

Associated Baptist Press article

Vicki Brown of Word & Way interviewed me last week for an upcoming article in the paper.  She emailed me yesterday to say that Associated Baptist Press had picked up the article.  Here's a link to it.

ChurchNet Board Meeting

One of the really positive things to come out of yesterday's ChurchNet board meeting was a very good discussion by two of our teams (Missions Mobilization, Resources and Relationships) with Roger Hatfield, executive director of Future Leadership Foundation.  FLF was founded in 2002 and has concentrated its efforts predominantly in Eastern Europe to this point.  They respond to requests from national entities in several of those countries to provide leadership training events.  Their philosophy and approach to doing so matches quite closely the approach that we have taken as an organization, so there is lots of potential for shared ministry.  I foresee that an eventual partnership between our groups will be a boost for each of us--providing synergy and helping both organizations to maximize resources. 

Fresh Appreciation for Bible Translators

I’ve done something unique the last couple of weeks in the Wednesday night Bible study time.  I typically prepare an outline for the study each week with a summary of the major truths and insights found in the passage.  The past two weeks I’ve tried my hand at offering a paraphrase of a number of the key verses in the chapters we’ve examined.  That’s a far different exercise than engaging in translation from the original biblical languages, but it has caused me to grow in my appreciation for the work of Bible translators. 

Translators are faced with the daunting task of faithfully expressing the meaning of the ancient biblical text in a manner that communicates in our contemporary language and culture.  While many still read the King James Version of the Bible (originally translated in 1611), it’s safe to say that none of us speak 17^th-century English.  Many of the words and expressions from that era would need to be translated into modern lingo for us to grasp their meaning today.

In a sense, that’s the challenge we all face as Christians.  We’re to take the unchanging truths of Scripture and contextualize them in a world that is becoming increasingly biblically illiterate.  To a world that deems the message as archaic and mythical, we have the privilege and responsibility of communicating the Bible’s relevance in a clear and penetrating fashion.  A transformed life goes a long way toward underscoring the legitimacy of the message and the messenger.  Let’s live the truth daily.

ChurchNet Meeting tomorrow

Looking forward tomorrow to our quarterly board meeting of ChurchNet (formerly known as the Baptist General Convention of Missouri).  I'll have the opportunity of giving an update on the recent trips to Guatemala.  In addition, Roger Hatfield of the Future Leadership Foundation will be meeting with us to consider and explore some ministry partnership opportunities in Latin America.  FLF has a long history of providing leadership training events in Eastern Europe, but they're looking to expand and/or re-focus on our southern neighbors.  It should be a great meeting as we prayerfully seek direction about possible collaboration between our two organizations.

Guatemala Wrap-up

We made it safely to Antigua late yesterday afternoon after stopping to visit Lake Atitlan and taking a boat ride there. We got settled in to our hotel and then went exploring a bit in the evening, enjoying a typical Guatemalan restaurant just off of the central plaza.

Today we'll explore some more of the city before returning to Guatemala City after lunch to visit the Tabitha ministry. After that, it's winding down a bit this evening and getting ready for an early departure tomorrow.

It's been a wonderfully blessed week. I don't think I ever commented on the final day's activity after the trip up to the mountains to distribute food on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we split up into 4 or 5 teams (can't remember which right now) and were joined by Mary Wood [former children's minister at our church now serving as a volunteer in Guatemala with her husband Joe] as we delivered bags of food to needy folks in the neighborhood of the church. Several decisions for Christ were made among those who received the food. That afternoon, we went to an institute with young people between the ages of 12-18. We again split up into multiple teams to share the gospel with the students. I translated for Jeff who did an outstanding job of presenting his testimony and the gospel. Again, many indicated by their responses that they had accepted Christ.

That evening, we met at the church for a farewell gathering and were blessed by their words of appreciation and some souvenirs that they gave us to remember them by.  The youth did a skit in which they recounted the areas in which our team had ministered there during the week.  Lots of hugs and tears as we said farewells to some folks we had learned to love in the space of a few days.

Tuesday in Guatemala

Tuesday was an exciting day for the team.  After spending some additional time on Monday weighing more rice and beans in 5 lb. bags and packing those up along with sugar, flour, and powdered milk, we headed out Tuesday morning for a village named Tierra Colorada on the side of a mountain southwest of Quetzaltenango.  We had been forewarned that we might have to hike a good bit of the way as the road was steep and winding.  Fortunately, the van was able to make it all the way to the top.  We were grateful as we probably climbed between 800 and 1000 feet higher than the 7500 feet altitude or so that Quetzaltenango is situated at.  Our first activity there was speaking to the kids in a community school.  There were very well-behaved and paid close attention to the Bible stories and the presentation of the gospel. 

After concluding the presentations in each class, we were invited for a typical lunch (chicken and rice) with some tamales as well at the home of the president of the parents' association.  It was a few hundred yards down the mountainside to the home and the hike back up after lunch was breathtaking--literally.  We were all pretty winded from the thin air by the time we got back up to the school. 

There, we waited as the mothers of the children gathered to receive the bags of food that had been taken up the mountain in a truck (which gratefully also successfully climbed all the way to the village).  Jeff Arnold, our youth minister shared a testimony followed by a testimony from Martha Wakely.  Martha is bilingual so I didn't have to translate for her.  Then Josh Stowe, pastor of Wyatt Park Baptist, shared the gospel utilizing the story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Afterwards, the pastor of the Judah Baptist Church (our host church for the week) shared an invitation and several of the women responded.

We learned afterwards when we visited a neighboring church a few miles from this village that earlier evangelical groups that had attempted to share the gospel in Tierra Colorada had been run out of the village with stones.  The principal of the school is a believer and is trying to share the love of Christ with the families who attend there.  She was present on Sunday morning for the worship service at the Judah Baptist Church and returned on Wednesday night for the farewell service to express thanks for the inroads that the gifts of the food bags had made in the community.

We wrapped up Tuesday evening with the final night of leadership training at the Judah Church with representatives from three different churches present. I don't think anyone stayed up too late that evening after we got back to the hotel and had dinner.  It was an exhausting but fulfilling day.

Guatemala Reports

I failed to do any further posting about out recent Guatemala trip while there, though I did manage to send a few brief email updates to the church during the course of the week.  I thought that I'd post those in the next couple of days to give some insight into some of the things we did.

Here's a report I sent on Monday the 14th:

We've had another good day with a few changes of plans. We were going to distribute bags of food in the area of the church this morning but did a quick change of plans when we learned that the school we were planning on visiting on Wednesday was going to have teacher training sessions that day rather than classes. We went and had a great time with about 400 kids (I think) in all. Afterwards, it was lunch time at church, followed by VBS, packing more bags of food for the families tomorrow, and then training tonight.

It turns out that we're delivering almost 200 bags of food at one time rather than individually tomorrow. I had been wondering how we were going to manage time-wise to deliver that many bags. It's a village in the mountains where we're going. Carol has warned us we'll probably have to hike the last part of the way up there. The other warning she gave us was that there are no bathroom facilities there and we're going to be there for a good part of the day. We'll be speaking in a smaller school there in the morning with about 250 kids, and then after a lunch of sandwiches that the church is preparing, we'll be sharing testimonies and a message with about 200 Mayan families who live there. Then we'll deliver the food. Because there are so many families, the food (beans and rice at least) were purchased in bulk (100 lb. bags), so we've spent a good deal of time with the help of church members weighing and packaging the food for delivery.

Also got to see Pastor Santiago from San Marcos today. He's the fellow who has taken in so many homeless kids and is teaching them carpentry skills and helping them with an education. He has a new young man with him named Sergio who's 18 whose parents were killed. He has never attended school in his life until now.

Had a good visit this morning with the leaders of the local pastors' association to assure them that Carol's departure from the convention and Roger's return to Nicaragua wouldn't curtail the BGCM's partnership with this area but that we would be working directly with the association rather than the convention.

A Busy Day

We had a good first day of ministry on the missions trip to Guatemala.  One of the most interesting things about the worship service this morning was having the music and praise time led by a group from the Guatemalan National Police.  They had a drummer, guitarist, keyboard player, and several singers.  When one hears so much about the corruption in the police departments across Latin America, it was very refreshing to see this group lead an impassioned time of worship.  I had the chance to preach to the adults afterwards while other team members taught Sunday School classes for the children.

After lunch which the church provided for us, we weighed and packaged black beans and rice which had been purchased in bulk (100 lb. bags), as well as cooking oil, sugar, and powdered milk.  After doing this with lots of help from the church members, we played a little stick-ball with some of the kids before beginning VBS with about 40 kids in all.  When we finished VBS, we packed 60 backpacks with school supplies that our church members had donated for the children of the church.  We had some extra supplies which we'll be taking to a public school later in the week.

We made a quick trip back to the hotel to refresh for a half hour or so before returning to the church for leadership training.  Our children's minister led a session for children's workers while our youth minister did likewise for youth workers.  Josh Stowe, pastor from Wyatt Park in St. Joseph, led a session for the adults which I translated.  After that it was back to the hotel for a rather late spaghetti dinner.  I think everyone is pretty exhausted after a busy day on the heels of a long travel day yesterday.  Hopefully we'll catch up on some sleep tonight.

Arrived Safely in Quetzaltenango

After a long day of travel (awakened at 4:00 a.m.), we arrived this evening about 9:00 in Quetzaltenango.  Tomorrow morning we will worship with the Judah Baptist Church in the morning, have VBS for their kids in the afternoon, and host a leadership training event in the evening for the area churches here.  I'd give a longer update, but my body is saying it's time to go to sleep.

Guatemala Beckons Again

It seems like I just returned from Guatemala (which I did last month) and now I'm off again this Saturday.  This will be our church's fourth missions trip to the western part of the country.  Our previous trips took us to Cantel, San Marcos and Tejutla, and Totonicapan.  This time we'll be working with the Judah Baptist Church (no h on it in Spanish however) in Quetzaltenango.  That's the same city where we host the leadership training conferences each six months so we'll be staying in the same hotel we do for those trips--the Bella Luna (beautiful moon). 

We had seven from our church slated to go, but one of our ladies wound up in the hospital today with a collapsed lung and won't be able to travel with us.  Two of our number are traveling down early tomorrow (Wednesday) to spend a couple of days training the workers at the Tabitha Ministry near the city dump in Guatemala City.  They will join us at the airport when we fly in on Saturday to make the trip out west to Quetzaltenango.  We're slated to speak in a few public schools, to lead a VBS at the Judah Baptist Church, to spend a day doing outreach and providing fund for hungry families at a mission of the church in the mountains, and to offer leadership training classes for the local Baptist churches in Quetzaltenango in the evenings. 

We'll be joined by Josh Stowe, pastor of Wyatt Park Baptist in St. Joseph, MO and his wife as well as a third member of their church who is bilingual and will help with the translation duties.  It's always a wonderful blessing to be able to spend a week in Guatemala serving alongside some wonderul folks.

Reflections concerning Groundhog Day

As a youngster, I used to receive a good deal of razzing from my fellow classmates about being born on Groundhog Day, February 2nd. That, of course, was long before Bill Murray starred in the movie about a TV weatherman covering the annual forecast of the famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania. The weather forecaster becomes mysteriously mired in a cycle in which his life activities are repeated identically each day. Murray’s character ingeniously devises some elaborate schemes to exploit the situation, since he knows exactly what to expect at every minute of the day from the time his alarm clock first sounds in the morning.

Perhaps for some people, such an absolute sense of utter predictability would symbolize comfort. Knowing exactly what was going to transpire every day might seem to offer reassurance and stability. I strongly suspect though that for most of us the invariable sameness of each new day would rapidly become maddeningly frustrating. It would also undercut any sense of excitement and anticipation about the new adventures that each day holds, given that none of us has a crystal ball that accurately predicts the future.

I’m grateful that God allows us the privilege of awakening each day to a clean slate of opportunities and possibilities to love Him and to love others. Rather than living in some kind of a rigidly controlled environment, He affords us the chance to fully experience life with all of its complexities and risks. That being the case, we really do have to learn to walk by faith and not by sight, trusting God for the strength and wisdom to live each day to its fullest.

Guatemala update

We arrived back in Guatemala City this evening after a couple of really good days of leadership training conferences in Quetzaltenango.  We had 72 pastors and leaders in attendance, including some for the first time.  Josh Stowe and Ann Pittman did a great job leading in the workshops and I was able to take a break from my normal translation duties as a result of Steve Mines accompanying us and handling those responsibilities.  Steve's folks were our big brothers who welcomed us to Argentina in 1988 as we arrived there as new missionaries.  It's been good to catch up with him in these days.

It's been cool here with temperatures in the middle 30s in Quetzaltenango at night, but that's a lot better than the weather I left in Missouri with several inches of snow on the ground and chill factors of -20.  We'll visit the Tabitha Ministry tomorrow morning before doing some sightseeing in Antigua later in the day.  After that, it's an early morning departure on Friday as we head back to the States.

As always, the conference participants were extremely gracious and affirming of our presence and contributions in making the training event a reality.  We were also able to visit the Judah Baptist Church there in Quetzaltenango where our church will be sending a missions team next month.

I was also able to visit with Mary and Joe Wood who are volunteering in Guatemala for a year.  Mary was our church's children's minister a few years ago before becoming the minister of education at another church in the Kansas City area.  It was wonderful to spend some time with them today.

Pastor's Daily Devotions

Shortly after Dr. Blake McKinney began his ministry with us as our senior pastor a year ago, he began publishing a series of daily devotions that can be received via email.  They have consistently been outstanding in terms of their quality and focus.  They are brief, to the point, and always extremely practical.  I'm not sure why I have waited until this point to mention them, but I'd encourage anyone who is looking for a challenging and encouraging word from the Lord each day to subscribe to Blake's devotions.

Here's a link if you're interested in signing up for the free email devotions.

The KJV and Change

(I shared the following reflections in our church's newsletter this week).

With the arrival of 2011, we will find ourselves celebrating the 400th anniversary of the printing of the King James Version of the Bible. Shortly after his ascension to England’s throne, James I convened the Hampton Court Conference in January 1604 that called for a new translation of the Bible. Seven years later, the forty-seven biblical scholars assigned to the task had finished their work and the new version had been printed by Robert Barker.

I suspect that many of you grew up reading and studying the King James Version. It really wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that other English versions began to appear that would eventually dethrone the KJV as the most widely sold and read of all Bibles. Most of us heard the KJV preached from on Sunday mornings and studied it in Sunday School. It was the version from which we memorized our favorite verses. Many still love the old English language of the KJV and continue to use it today. For others, the KJV language sounds foreign to their ears and is a hurdle to understanding the meaning of the biblical text.

The lesson I take from this is that the only constant in life (including our Christian experience) is change. Many opposed the appearance of new English translations and branded them as heretical. There are still some fundamentalist churches today who insist on the use of the KJV in their services. Most of us have moved on to other Bible translations that help us to better understand God’s message for our lives. We’ve been blessed by the labor of biblical scholars working with more accurate Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. As we begin a new church year with new worship schedules and a host of new Bible Fellowship classes, I pray that we’ll do so with excitement and enthusiasm, realizing that while change can be unsettling for a while, great good and benefit can come from these new experiences.

New Sunday Schedule

I mentioned in my previous post that today we would be launching a new Sunday morning schedule with three different worship formats.  I'm delighted to say that despite pretty frigid temperatures here in the Kansas City area this morning (about 14 degrees I think earlier) and the fact that we're still kind of in an extended holiday weekend mode, we had a great response to the three different services.  We had around 120 in the 8:00 a.m. traditional service, over 500 in the blended service at 9:30, and 180 or so in the contemporary service at 11:00.  I was also very pleased with a turnout of 24 in the new Sunday School class that I began teaching this morning during the 9:30 hour. I haven't heard the reports yet from the other new classes that were started, but it was encouraging overall to see a good response to these new initiatives. 

This week I've got to catch up on some stuff in the office after being on vacation, especially with regard to our Free Community Garage Sale that we'll be hosting on January 15th.  We've been doing a monthly "First Serve" community service project since June or so of this past year and the "free garage sale" will be our kickoff event for 2011.

Family Time

I found myself at the end of the year with quite a bit of unused vacation days which I would forfeit if not used, so I've been enjoying some extended family time since around the 20th of December or so.  I made a quick trip down to Texas (Dec. 16-18) to see my second son before his overseas deployment and had a great time with him and his wife and our newest grandson, Jonah.  Since then, it's been hanging around the house with my wife and youngest as well as our second son who is home from law school at Ohio State Univ.  We've also had our oldest and his wife over with their three children on two occasions.  Throw into the mix my mom who lives with us permanently, my wife's mom who has been staying with us for a week, and my wife's sister who also spent a few days here and we've had a houseful of company. 

It's almost Guatemala travel time again for me as I'll be heading down there the second week of January for another round of leadership training conferences.  The day after I return, our church is hosting a "free garage sale" for the community.  It's something that we've done in the past and this year we're linking it to a bunch of other civic and non-profit organizations' efforts in conjunction with a week of service for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  In mid-February, it will be back to Guatemala again for a missions trip with our church.

Beginning this Sunday, we're also totally revamping our Sunday morning worship and Bible Fellowship schedules.  We've had two identical blended services to this point (at 9:30 and 10:45).  Our new schedule will begin with a traditional service at 8:00, the blended service at 9:30, and a contemporary service at 11:00.  We're beginning a number of new Bible Fellowship classes to accommodate the worship schedule changes.  I'm looking forward to teaching a coed class of 60-somethings during the 9:30 hour.  We'll be using the Smyth and Helwys Formation curriculum.

There's a certain amount of apprehension on the part of some with the new scheduling (change is always threatening), but there's a great deal of excitement as well about the chance to reach some new people we're currently not impacting with the gospel.  Life is good!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

One of the popular Christmas carols you hear on the radio frequently these days begins with the line, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” For Christians, it certainly should be one of the highpoints of the calendar year as we pause once again to reflect on the incredible truth that God became a man in the person of Jesus. A miraculous birth was accompanied by miraculous signs. Angelic choruses sang to shepherds. A guiding star led wise men from afar to visit the young child. An angel warned the family to flee to Egypt from Herod’s wrath.


The greatest miracle of all though was that Jesus was willing to give up His eternal glory with God the Father and come into this world in the most humble of circumstances. He who had existed with God from all eternity stepped into time and space. Why did He come? The angel said it best when he told Joseph that the baby was to be named Jesus, for He would come to save His people from their sin. In the midst of gift giving and receiving this Christmas season, don’t forget that we’ve been given the most indescribable gift imaginable—forgiveness of our sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

The True Origin of the Internet

Couldn't resist passing along this account of the origins of the internet in biblical times that I received from one of our church's senior adults.

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had been called 'Amazon Dot Com.'

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why doth thou travel far from town to town with thy goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?"And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale and they will reply telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever moving from his tent.

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and was accused of insider trading. And the young man did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites, or NERDS for short.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates, who bought up every drum company in the land. And indeed did insist on making drums that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or as it came to be known "eBay" he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."

"YAHOO," said Abraham.

And that is how it all began. It wasn't Al Gore after all.

Grace versus Un-grace

I was re-reading Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth this week in preparation for Advent and the celebration of Christmas. A verse I had read dozens of times spoke to me in a new way. Matthew 1:19 describes Joseph’s planned response when he learns that Mary is expecting a child. He clearly knows that he isn’t the father, and the law of Moses would have allowed him to have her publicly shamed and stoned to death as an adulterer. He would have assumed of course that the child had been fathered by another man as there was no other logical, human explanation for her pregnancy. The Bible says that because Joseph was a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, he decided to send her away secretly.


That statement prompted me to think about how true righteousness impacts the way we live. Far too often, the pharisaical kind of self-righteousness that so many practice leads to condemnation and harsh judgment of others who fall into sin. Joseph’s righteousness prompted him to exhibit grace toward Mary—not “ungrace,” to borrow a term from Phillip Yancey. Even as heartbroken as he must have been at the thought of her infidelity, his love for Mary prompted Joseph to show grace and protect her from both shame and death. His actions strongly suggest those that his earthly son Jesus would later take when confronted with the woman caught in the act of adultery.

The passage suggests that true righteousness isn’t displayed most clearly by the visible sins that it is willing to denounce, but by the love and grace it shows toward those who stumble and fall. The Christmas message is that God’s love and grace led Him to give His Son for a stumbling and fallen humanity—each and every one of us.

A Busy Weekend

This was one of those extremely busy weekends for me and the family.  It started on Saturday morning with officiating at the funeral for a long-time member who passed away this past Tuesday.  I had been with her at the care center and had prayer with the family just a half an hour before she passed away.  The couple had lived here in Lee's Summit for more than 60 years and the crowd at the visitation and the funeral home was huge.

That evening I attended Lee's Summit North's production of "The Producers" in which our son plays the leading role of Max Bialystock.  He did an outstanding job with his performance.

Sunday morning it was my privilege to baptize a young man whom I recently led to the Lord after he just showed up one evening on a Wednesday night.  Several of our staff had spoken with him on different occasions, and I had the opportunity to lead him to Christ a couple of weeks ago.  I also had the chance to preach yesterday as our senior pastor was leading a marriage enrichment retreat in Branson for about 20 of our couples.  I preached from John 4 and the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.  If you're interested in hearing the sermon, it's available here.

I attended a matinee of The Producers yesterday afternoon again before heading back to evening services at church where we had a preview of our new contemporary service set to begin on January 2, 2011.  We'll be offering a traditional service at 8:00, the blended service we currently have at 9:30, and the contemporary service at 11:00.  Finally, I wrapped up the weekend with deacons' meeting after the evening service.  It was a busy weekend, but wonderfully enjoyable.

The Need for Humor

My recent post with the Christian cartoons has drawn more traffic to my blog than I've ever had I think, with the possible exception of one or two posts that focused more on denominational strife and turmoil and thus served to attract folks with those interests.  I think that probably says something about our need to laugh and engage in some humor more often than some of us do.  There's far too much bad news and serious stuff out there that we're exposed to on a daily basis, so a little levity and light-hearted humor can be a sweet elixir for our souls. 

I've had the privilege of leading the Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study at our church almost from the time I joined the staff over seven years ago.  I really look forward to that time each week of sharing prayer concerns as a family of faith and then delving deeper into a passage of scripture together.  We've done some pretty lengthy studies over these years--spending some 15 months in Mark, a year or so in Acts, and some other protracted book studies as well.  One of the highlights each week though is when the lady who leads us in singing a couple of hymns before we pray and study takes a few minutes to share some funny jokes.  Frequently these are church-related jokes, so we have a great time laughing at ourselves in a sense. 

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that among many other things that there is time for in life, there's a time to laugh.  I'm grateful for at least one time a week on Wednesday evenings when someone purposefully prompts me to laugh by telling some good jokes.  There's plenty of news out there that saddens us, angers us, moves us to cry, or leaves us shaking our head in amazement at man's capacity to do evil.  Some much-needed laughter can be a good antidote for some of the news that poisons our soul.  Here's hoping that you find something to laugh about today.

Hilarious Christian Cartoons

Civil Discourse

I can’t say I won’t be happy when the mid-term political election season finally ends after the voting on November 2nd. It seems that with each successive year, candidates from both major parties are increasingly guilty of engaging in personal attacks on their opponents rather than debating the issues themselves or stating in a positive fashion what they hope to accomplish if elected. What ever happened to civil and respectful discourse? Is waging a campaign of non-stop attack ads the only way to seek election to public office today?

Perhaps the negative example of politicians can serve as a positive reminder for us as followers of Christ to be especially careful about our speech and how we choose to communicate with others. We’d be hard pressed to improve upon the exhortation of the apostle Paul in Eph. 4:29 where he writes, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Our world could certainly profit immensely from some grace-filled, edifying speech. We may not be able to censor or control what the politicians are saying, but we certainly can and ought to ensure that our own speech reflects the presence of the Christ who dwells within us.

Combatting Acedia

I learned a new word this week as I was reading a daily devotional that I receive via email on my computer each weekday. The writer quoted another author, Kathleen Norris, who has written a book entitled Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life. I had to look up acedia to ensure that I understood it correctly. The dictionary defines it as spiritual sloth, or laziness and indifference in religious matters. A quote from Norris’ book stirred my thoughts even further when she writes:

"It is indeed apathy's world when we have so many choices that we grow indifferent to them even as we hunger for still more novelty. We discard real relationships in favor of virtual ones and scarcely notice that being overly concerned with the thread count of cotton sheets and the exotic ingredients of gourmet meals can render us less able to care about those who scrounge for food and have no bed but the streets."

The quote in turn brought to mind the title of a book I’m currently reading—Adventures in Missing the Point. The constant pursuit of the new and innovative and the deluge of choices that we face daily can certainly cause us to miss what matters most. Norris’ statement about discarding face-to-face relationships with people in our quest to expand our list of “virtual friends” via Facebook and other social networks is convicting. So, too, are her comments about getting hung up on dietary labels of food packages when we’re surrounded by folks who are hungry and homeless.

We can’t meet all of the world’s needs, nor solve all of the crises that arise, but by the grace of God we can do our part to make a difference and alleviate the suffering of others. We need to take our cue from the Lord Himself who seeing the multitudes as distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd, was moved with compassion for them. Let’s resolve not to let acedia win the battle.

Visiting Wyatt Park Baptist in St. Joseph

Life has been fairly busy lately, hence the lack of blog posts. Our senior pastor was attending a course this past week at Fuller, so I had the opportunity of preaching on Sunday evening the 3rd as well as in both services on Sunday morning the 10th. This week I'll be traveling northward to St. Joseph to meet with the good folks at Wyatt Park Baptist Church. They've invited me to share about ChurchNet (the new operating name for the BGCM) and its ongoing partnership with Guatemalan Baptists. Two of their members participated with us last February in our missions trip to Totonicapan and more recently they sent a suitcase full of shoes for the children of the Tabitha Ministry in Guatemala City.

I'm looking forward to meeting with the adult Sunday School classes to share about the partnership and then challenging the church in the morning message to an even greater level of commitment to the work in Guatemala. I'm excited that my weekly prayer partner, a young-at-heart 84-year old,
will be accompanying me. He has also traveled with our church previously to Guatemala.

The day promises to be a busy one as we'll have to hustle back so I can fulfill my responsibilities leading worship and a Bible study at a local care center at 3:00 p.m. After that, it's a missions committee meeting at church at 5:00, followed by worship at 6:30.

Humorous theology video

I saw this video on a friend's Facebook page and couldn't resist sharing it.

Learning a Lesson from Tylenol

In late September and early October of 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking extra-strength Tylenol capsules that had been tampered with and subsequently found to contain cyanide. The criminal behind these deaths was never identified and brought to justice. On October 5th, the parent company Johnson & Johnson took the unprecedented step of recalling some 31 million bottles of Tylenol in circulation with a value of more than 100 million dollars. They did so even though it had been clearly demonstrated that the poisonings were the result of deliberate tampering with the bottles and not a consequence of a production error. In the aftermath of these deaths, Tylenol introduced a new triple-sealed package to prevent such crimes in the future. While in the short-run, Tylenol’s market share dropped from 35% to 8%, before the year was out it had completely recovered, and Tylenol would later become the country’s most popular pain reliever.

I think there are some valuable lessons to be learned from the way Johnson & Johnson handled this crisis. Even though they were not directly responsible for the deaths of those who swallowed the tainted capsules, the company willingly incurred a massive financial loss by recalling all of the existing stock to ensure public safety. Furthermore, they changed their packaging (which also undoubtedly represented an additional outlay of capital) because they were intent on regaining the public’s confidence.

There will be times when we are unjustly accused of wrongdoing. At other times, suspicion will be cast on our motives. It is then that we need to be willing to go the extra mile to demonstrate that we have the other person’s best interest at heart. If a secular company can right the wrongs committed by another, surely we as Christians can do likewise.

Reggie McNeal's Conference

I thoroughly enjoyed the day yesterday at Pleasant Valley Baptist in Liberty, MO listening to Reggie McNeal expound on missional living. He's an extremely engaging communicator who mixes in lots of humor along the way with his critique of the established church for going about business as usual and allowing programs to drive us rather than passionately engaging those outside the walls of our institutions. He sprinkled in lots of statistics and stories of individuals and churches that are "getting it" in terms of the shift to living missionally.

His presentation pretty well mirrored the contents of his recent book, Missional Renaissance, with its insistence on the need to change the church's scorecard in terms of what we count and celebrate. Reggie did a great job yesterday of addressing two of the three shifts he talks about in that book (from an internal to an external focus, and from running programs to developing people). He didn't really discuss at any great length the third focus the book mentions which is the shift from professional leadership to leadership shared by everyone in the community. I suppose he was alluding to this when he did answer a question about the future of the ministry as we've known it in the past.

He made an excellent point when he stressed that leaders are often too quick to sell solutions to problems before they've sufficiently convinced people that a problem exists. I think that's why the majority of our churches find it so comfortable to continue sustaining traditional programs rather than asking the hard questions about which programs really deserve to be maintained and which ought to be allowed to die a merciful death.

I'm glad that several from our staff were able to attend the conference together because it gives us a common framework of experience to discuss these issues. I expect it will provide some great fodder for thought in the coming days.

Good weekend at Windermere

I returned this afternoon (Saturday) from an enjoyable time the past couple of days down at Lake of the Ozarks at the Windermere Baptist Conference Center. The BGCM had scheduled a two-day retreat as a part of our quarterly board meeting. The additional time gave us the opportunity yesterday to do some team-building exercises. We viewed and interacted as a group with a training DVD produced by Franklin Covey entitled "The Speed of Trust." We spent time conversing about what it means to build a high-trust organization and the means of doing so. I thought it was a very productive time and we had some outstanding fellowship as always when we gather.

Today we met with our individual teams to engage in some planning and strategizing before meeting as a group to conduct business and hear the insights and ideas of the other teams. The Missions Mobilization Team that I lead talked about our ongoing partnership with Guatemalan Baptists and ongoing opportunities for ministry there. We continue to explore ways to engage the Lakota Indians living on the Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota where our church's youth have traveled the past two summers.

One of the major initiatives we're undertaking involves the official launch of ChurchNet, our organizational name and identity. The BGCM remains committed to serving churches as our first priority and the goal is to do so much more effectively as we roll out a new website that will offer a much more interactive approach than our current site. It will feature an extensive resources database that will help churches find the assistance they need as well as allow members to suggest, identify, and contribute resources to the site. The website will also contain links to training opportunities that we ourselves will be leading or that other groups are conducting.

I'm excited about what the future holds for ChurchNet as we move forward with the implementation of our new five-year strategic plan. It's great to be a part of a Baptist group that isn't squabbling and fighting internally and whose focus is on helping churches accomplish their ministries more effectively.