In a post of April 23rd, I commented about the Missouri Baptist Convention's decision to utilize Cooperative Program offerings to fund their ongoing litigation efforts against five Missouri Baptist entities. The argument that MBC Executive Director David Tolliver advanced to justify the use of CP funds to pay for lawsuits against fellow Baptists was that these institutions had been built and sustained by CP funds so it was only right to use CP funds to reacquire control of them.
In an article in the most recent edition of Word & Way, the heads of the Baptist entities in question examine Tolliver's claim about CP funds building and sustaining their institutions and the facts clearly don't bear out Tolliver's assertion. In the year in which Missouri Baptist University received their highest support from the MBC, it represented 3% of their total budget. All of the funds that went to MBU were restricted to scholarship assistance for Baptist students, so cutting those funds merely hindered Baptist young people from pursuing an education.
The Baptist Home existed for 4 years before it received any MBC support and the MBC never owned or purchased any of the properties or assets of the Home, including the expansion to the two additional campuses.
The MBC did purchase the Windermere Conference Center but its level of support was once again only a fraction of the center's operating budget down through the years. The convention budgeted $148,875 in CP funds for Windermere in 2001, an amount equal to 5 percent of the $3 million budget.
In fact, in 2002 when CP allocations for the five were escrowed and never paid, the convention budgeted about $2.1 million for them--less than 5 percent of the combined current operating budgets of the the five.
It will be interesting to see how Missouri Baptists respond to the appeal to officially approve of the use of CP offerings to fund the ongoing lawsuits, now in their seventh year. Hopefully the hollow claims of these institutions being built and maintained by CP funds will be exposed and one more prop will be knocked out from under the MBC's efforts to justify the unscriptural practice of suing fellow believers.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Product Warning Labels and Miscommunication
In 1997, Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch (M-LAW) began a contest to expose how frivolous lawsuits have led to a new cultural phenomenon—weird and zany product warning labels. Some of these are absolutely hilarious.
1. On a fishing lure with 3 steel hooks: “Harmful if swallowed.”
2. On a smoke detector: “Do not use the Silence Feature in emergency situations. It will not extinguish a fire.”
3. On an electric carpenter’s router: “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.”
4. On a baby stroller: “Remove child before folding.”
5. On a hand-held massager: “Do not use while sleeping or unconscious.”
6. On a household iron: “Do not iron clothes while they are being worn.”
7. On a package of shin guards designed for bicyclists: “Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.”
8. On a box of sleeping pills: “Warning – may cause drowsiness.”
The list goes on, but you surely get the point by now. In an effort to avoid liability and avert lawsuits, companies have resorted to writing some pretty strange warning labels for their products—often with some unintended and entertaining results.
Communicating clearly what we intend to say can be a tricky matter. We’ve probably all had the unpleasant experience of being terribly embarrassed at something we accidentally said when we’ve mispronounced something or jumbled our words. Unfortunately, once our words are spoken, they take on a life of their own. It’s no wonder that James, the brother of Jesus, declares that “if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man.” That unfortunately excludes all of us most likely. But by God’s grace, when we slip and say something harmful, let’s have the courage to make it right by asking forgiveness of those we’ve offended. Otherwise, we might need to wear a product warning label on our foreheads, advising others to be cautious about listening to our words.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Measuring Spiritual Maturity
A recent study on spirituality by the Barna Group reported that many churchgoers as well as church leaders have a hard time defining and measuring spiritual maturity. The most surprising statistic to me in the report was that 81% of self-identified Christians endorsed the statement that spiritual health means “trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible.” Even among those surveyed who believe that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works, four out of five concurred that spiritual maturity is trying hard to follow the rules.
I think the survey results reveal that many Christians still have an inadequate understanding of the grace of God and what it means to walk by faith in Christ each day. It’s easier perhaps to fall into the trap of believing one can somehow measure their spiritual maturity by checking off how many of the “do’s” have been performed and how many of the “don’ts” have been avoided. Nevertheless, real spiritual maturity isn’t evaluated by how well we perform a list of tasks on a check-off list.
There are spiritual disciplines which undoubtedly help us to grow in Christ-likeness and we ought to cultivate and give attention to those each day. In fact, we’ve been looking at some of those disciplines on Wednesday evenings in a series of Bible studies on the steps to spiritual maturity. But ultimately our spiritual maturity is a reflection of the character of Christ being built up within us by His indwelling Holy Spirit as we abide in Him. Perhaps the best measurement of our maturity as Christians isn’t the number of check marks on some man-made list, but the degree to which the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is reflected in our lives. That fruit will be evidenced as we focus our attention not on a set of rules to keep, but on living in constant fellowship with Christ, growing to love Him more each day.
I think the survey results reveal that many Christians still have an inadequate understanding of the grace of God and what it means to walk by faith in Christ each day. It’s easier perhaps to fall into the trap of believing one can somehow measure their spiritual maturity by checking off how many of the “do’s” have been performed and how many of the “don’ts” have been avoided. Nevertheless, real spiritual maturity isn’t evaluated by how well we perform a list of tasks on a check-off list.
There are spiritual disciplines which undoubtedly help us to grow in Christ-likeness and we ought to cultivate and give attention to those each day. In fact, we’ve been looking at some of those disciplines on Wednesday evenings in a series of Bible studies on the steps to spiritual maturity. But ultimately our spiritual maturity is a reflection of the character of Christ being built up within us by His indwelling Holy Spirit as we abide in Him. Perhaps the best measurement of our maturity as Christians isn’t the number of check marks on some man-made list, but the degree to which the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is reflected in our lives. That fruit will be evidenced as we focus our attention not on a set of rules to keep, but on living in constant fellowship with Christ, growing to love Him more each day.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Missouri State Supreme Court Decision
Yesterday the Missouri State Supreme Court denied the Missouri Baptist Convention's request to re-hear its case against the Windermere Baptist Conference Center. The MBC has now run out of legal options it would seem in its quest to overturn the decision handed down more than a year ago by Judge Richard Callahan in which he sustained that the Windermere trustees had acted legally in amending their charter to allow the election of their own trustees. ABP has a report here on the latest in the ongoing lawsuits by the MBC against five Baptist agencies in the state.
As of Wednesday morning at 6:30, the MBC's Pathway still hasn't weighed in on the Supreme Court's decision. In every previous defeat suffered in this ongoing legal battle that has consumed time, energy, and resources for the past 6 years, the Pathway has managed to spin some kind of a positive message of reassurance to the MBC faithful that they would ultimately prevail in the court of law. It will require an extra measure of creativity it seems to do so once again in the face of the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case.
It seems that all of their hopes now are pinned on a separate case in Camden County where (contrary to their earlier affirmations that the lawsuits were theologically and biblically permissible because they were suing institutions and not individuals) they are pursuing legal action against certain individuals involved in Windermere's development and financing operations subsequent to the charter change. Most of the cases against the individuals named in those cases have also been dropped, and hopefully the Supreme Court's decision yesterday will accelerate the decision to dismiss the charges against other individuals named as well.
It remains to be seen if the MBC will continue to push forward in its quest to regain control of the other four entities involved--Missouri Baptist University, The Baptist Home, The Baptist Foundation, and Word & Way. Popular opinion seems to indicate that Windermere with its beautiful location and wonderful encampment facilities was the big prize on the table and perhaps the other entities weren't viewed by the MBC as being quite as valuable. That might explain the decision to pursue initially the suit against Windermere rather than the other four agencies.
It will be interesting to see the MBC's response to this latest defeat in the legal battle. Will they doggedly press forward, spending Cooperative Program offering money to try and regain control of the other agencies? They have suggested at every turn of the road that they must do so because they have a mandate from the messengers to the annual MBC gathering to do so. If you'll pardon a biblical analogy though at this point, it seems to me that the situation is not unlike the Jewish authorities in Jesus' day stirring up the crowds to demand the crucifixion of Jesus and the release of Barrabas, only to then argue that they were simply responding to the demands of the people. The consistent push by the MBC leadership to regain control of the agencies is what has fueled whatever vestige of popular sentiment that exists to continue pursuing the lawsuits against fellow Missouri Baptist agencies. Hopefully this latest legal defeat will quell some of the frenzy for further legal action. It's high time to put these issues to rest and get on with the task of sharing the Good News with the state, the nation, and the world.
As of Wednesday morning at 6:30, the MBC's Pathway still hasn't weighed in on the Supreme Court's decision. In every previous defeat suffered in this ongoing legal battle that has consumed time, energy, and resources for the past 6 years, the Pathway has managed to spin some kind of a positive message of reassurance to the MBC faithful that they would ultimately prevail in the court of law. It will require an extra measure of creativity it seems to do so once again in the face of the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case.
It seems that all of their hopes now are pinned on a separate case in Camden County where (contrary to their earlier affirmations that the lawsuits were theologically and biblically permissible because they were suing institutions and not individuals) they are pursuing legal action against certain individuals involved in Windermere's development and financing operations subsequent to the charter change. Most of the cases against the individuals named in those cases have also been dropped, and hopefully the Supreme Court's decision yesterday will accelerate the decision to dismiss the charges against other individuals named as well.
It remains to be seen if the MBC will continue to push forward in its quest to regain control of the other four entities involved--Missouri Baptist University, The Baptist Home, The Baptist Foundation, and Word & Way. Popular opinion seems to indicate that Windermere with its beautiful location and wonderful encampment facilities was the big prize on the table and perhaps the other entities weren't viewed by the MBC as being quite as valuable. That might explain the decision to pursue initially the suit against Windermere rather than the other four agencies.
It will be interesting to see the MBC's response to this latest defeat in the legal battle. Will they doggedly press forward, spending Cooperative Program offering money to try and regain control of the other agencies? They have suggested at every turn of the road that they must do so because they have a mandate from the messengers to the annual MBC gathering to do so. If you'll pardon a biblical analogy though at this point, it seems to me that the situation is not unlike the Jewish authorities in Jesus' day stirring up the crowds to demand the crucifixion of Jesus and the release of Barrabas, only to then argue that they were simply responding to the demands of the people. The consistent push by the MBC leadership to regain control of the agencies is what has fueled whatever vestige of popular sentiment that exists to continue pursuing the lawsuits against fellow Missouri Baptist agencies. Hopefully this latest legal defeat will quell some of the frenzy for further legal action. It's high time to put these issues to rest and get on with the task of sharing the Good News with the state, the nation, and the world.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
My Latest Project
I thought I'd share my latest venture. Our church is celebrating its 150th anniversary next year and I volunteered to write a history of the church for the occasion. The major problem I'm facing quite obviously is having begun about 2 or 3 years later than such an undertaking should have commenced. We're just about one year away now from the anniversary celebration. The church was founded on April 14, 1860 and we'll be celebrating it next year on the Saturday and Sunday following that date--April 17 & 18, 2010.
There is a subcommittee of the larger anniversary planning committee that is working with me on the project, assisting with locating resources and investigating some of those. I've tackled the initial task of reading through 150 years of church business meeting minutes, although the church didn't meet for about 4 years during the Civil War as a terse note following the September 1861 business meeting notes: "No Church in the following months on account of the troubles in the border counties: October November and December 1861 – January February March April and May 1862 – Elder J. J. Robinson preached to the Congregation on the first Sunday in May 1862.” Thos. Best C.C. (church clerk). Following that worship service in May of 1862, the church didn't reunite for worship again until June of 1866.
There is also a gap in the minutes from about 1901 to 1912 due to the fact that the records were at the home of the church clerk and were lost in a house fire. Beyond those gaps though, with the exception of some early business meetings that were cancelled "owing to rain," there are regularly scheduled monthly meetings as well as special called business meetings to wade through and seek relevant information which will shed light on our church's past.
Other sources that we've uncovered include deacons meeting minutes, WMU minutes, trustees minutes, the church newsletters, bulletins, printed programs for special events, the minutes of the Blue River Association, articles in the Word & Way, articles in the Lee's Summit Journal, etc. Once again, the biggest challenge in writing the history will be finding the time to do the necessary investigation, writing, and editing. I'm excited about the prospects though and look forward to being able to have a printed account of our church's long history.
There is a subcommittee of the larger anniversary planning committee that is working with me on the project, assisting with locating resources and investigating some of those. I've tackled the initial task of reading through 150 years of church business meeting minutes, although the church didn't meet for about 4 years during the Civil War as a terse note following the September 1861 business meeting notes: "No Church in the following months on account of the troubles in the border counties: October November and December 1861 – January February March April and May 1862 – Elder J. J. Robinson preached to the Congregation on the first Sunday in May 1862.” Thos. Best C.C. (church clerk). Following that worship service in May of 1862, the church didn't reunite for worship again until June of 1866.
There is also a gap in the minutes from about 1901 to 1912 due to the fact that the records were at the home of the church clerk and were lost in a house fire. Beyond those gaps though, with the exception of some early business meetings that were cancelled "owing to rain," there are regularly scheduled monthly meetings as well as special called business meetings to wade through and seek relevant information which will shed light on our church's past.
Other sources that we've uncovered include deacons meeting minutes, WMU minutes, trustees minutes, the church newsletters, bulletins, printed programs for special events, the minutes of the Blue River Association, articles in the Word & Way, articles in the Lee's Summit Journal, etc. Once again, the biggest challenge in writing the history will be finding the time to do the necessary investigation, writing, and editing. I'm excited about the prospects though and look forward to being able to have a printed account of our church's long history.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Strength for the Journey
One of the downsides of living in the age of instant communications is that we are often inundated by the news of tragedies occurring around the world. In an earlier day, folks might never have heard of some of these events, or news of the disasters would have arrived at best several days or weeks later. With 24-hour news broadcasting, cell phones with cameras, and so many other forms of advanced communication technology, news of worldwide disasters reaches us in minutes. Sometimes the toll in human suffering is so great that we turn off our emotional sensors to block out the pain, steeling ourselves against the hurt and grief that others are enduring.
I recently learned about the worst maritime disaster in American history. I would have suspected that might have been some battleship that sunk during World War II, but in fact it involved a steamboat on the Mississippi River just days after the conclusion of the Civil War. The Sultana was carrying 2100 passengers when it exploded and sank just north of Memphis, TN on April 27, 1865. Only 400 survived the tragedy, most of the passengers drowning in the swollen waters. Of the 1700 that died, all but 100 of these were Union veterans, the majority being survivors of Confederate prisoner of war camps. They had survived the rigors of the battlefield and endured the harsh conditions of imprisonment only to die in an accident on their way home.
The lesson I would underscore from this tragedy is that we never know what lies around the next bend in the river or the next curve in life’s journey. Whether it brings us unexpected joy and happiness or unspeakable sorrow, our calling remains to live by faith each day. May we look together to God’s grace to find the strength to encourage one another along the way.
I recently learned about the worst maritime disaster in American history. I would have suspected that might have been some battleship that sunk during World War II, but in fact it involved a steamboat on the Mississippi River just days after the conclusion of the Civil War. The Sultana was carrying 2100 passengers when it exploded and sank just north of Memphis, TN on April 27, 1865. Only 400 survived the tragedy, most of the passengers drowning in the swollen waters. Of the 1700 that died, all but 100 of these were Union veterans, the majority being survivors of Confederate prisoner of war camps. They had survived the rigors of the battlefield and endured the harsh conditions of imprisonment only to die in an accident on their way home.
The lesson I would underscore from this tragedy is that we never know what lies around the next bend in the river or the next curve in life’s journey. Whether it brings us unexpected joy and happiness or unspeakable sorrow, our calling remains to live by faith each day. May we look together to God’s grace to find the strength to encourage one another along the way.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
MBC Executive Board Makes its Intentions Clear
Well, if there was any lingering doubt as to the resolve of the MBC's Executive Committee to continue the legal battles with the 5 "renegade" agencies as they are fond of labelling them, those uncertainties have all been dispelled by Executive Director David Tolliver's most recent article in The Pathway. The Executive Board voted to authorize an additional $500,000 line of credit to what has already been authorized to fund the ongoing lawsuits against The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, Word & Way, Windermere Baptist Encampment, and The Baptist Foundation. While Tolliver reasserts that no Cooperative Program funds have been tapped to date to fund the lawsuits (an affirmation that is certainly open to question as this article demonstrates) the proposal now is to do exactly that. Beyond extending the line of credit to the tune of an additional one-half million dollars, the MBC is also proposing a new line item in the Cooperative Program budget to fund the lawsuits. The amount of that line item isn't disclosed. [Actually that amount is revealed in a separate article in the same edition. The new budget line being proposed is $469,000, again almost a half a million dollars to sue fellow Baptists].
Through a lengthy bulleted list of what he labels principles that need to be acknowledged, Tolliver cites the example of the SBC itself and other state conventions that have spent CP funds to conduct lawsuits as well as suggesting that using CP funds for all kinds of purposes is just how the MBC does business.
The most disingenuous statement in his article has to be the following quote: "Maintaining, even recovering, lost institutions/agencies is a part of preserving the mission and ministry of that agency." Tolliver completely ignores the undeniable fact that the five named agencies are continuing to conduct their ministries surprisingly well, especially given the fact that the MBC has systematically attempted to undermine their capacity to do so. That of course is especially true of Word & Way where not only were funds cut off from the agency but existing office space was taken away from them and Lifeway and other SBC advertisers were discouraged from using their services. The same could be said of Windermere, where the MBC not only cancelled all of the convention's normal activities there but sought to influence individual churches to not utilize the facilities either. Clearly, the goal hasn't been to maintain the mission or ministry of the agencies but to regain political control of them.
Tolliver claims to be theologically opposed to the lawsuits, but that doesn't prevent him from encouraging churches to support the efforts. He repeatedly makes the claim in the article that the Executive Committee is merely carrying out the wishes of the churches as expressed in the 2001 annual meeting in Cape Girardeau. Tolliver acknowledges that the decision in Raytown this coming fall "will be emotionally charged for all of us" and says that he's praying that Missouri Baptists will lay aside emotions and personal agendas. I wholeheartedly agree with the part about personal agendas, but I pray on the other hand that some emotionally-charged pastors and lay leaders will finally come to their senses and say that enough is enough of suing fellow Baptists and seeking to hinder their ministries. Maybe a bit of old-time emotion might convince those who have quietly acquiesced all along to the demands of a few that it's high time to move beyond partisan politics to Kingdom causes.
Through a lengthy bulleted list of what he labels principles that need to be acknowledged, Tolliver cites the example of the SBC itself and other state conventions that have spent CP funds to conduct lawsuits as well as suggesting that using CP funds for all kinds of purposes is just how the MBC does business.
The most disingenuous statement in his article has to be the following quote: "Maintaining, even recovering, lost institutions/agencies is a part of preserving the mission and ministry of that agency." Tolliver completely ignores the undeniable fact that the five named agencies are continuing to conduct their ministries surprisingly well, especially given the fact that the MBC has systematically attempted to undermine their capacity to do so. That of course is especially true of Word & Way where not only were funds cut off from the agency but existing office space was taken away from them and Lifeway and other SBC advertisers were discouraged from using their services. The same could be said of Windermere, where the MBC not only cancelled all of the convention's normal activities there but sought to influence individual churches to not utilize the facilities either. Clearly, the goal hasn't been to maintain the mission or ministry of the agencies but to regain political control of them.
Tolliver claims to be theologically opposed to the lawsuits, but that doesn't prevent him from encouraging churches to support the efforts. He repeatedly makes the claim in the article that the Executive Committee is merely carrying out the wishes of the churches as expressed in the 2001 annual meeting in Cape Girardeau. Tolliver acknowledges that the decision in Raytown this coming fall "will be emotionally charged for all of us" and says that he's praying that Missouri Baptists will lay aside emotions and personal agendas. I wholeheartedly agree with the part about personal agendas, but I pray on the other hand that some emotionally-charged pastors and lay leaders will finally come to their senses and say that enough is enough of suing fellow Baptists and seeking to hinder their ministries. Maybe a bit of old-time emotion might convince those who have quietly acquiesced all along to the demands of a few that it's high time to move beyond partisan politics to Kingdom causes.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Press Release about WorldconneX
As anticipated, the board of WorldconneX voted this past Friday morning to accept the BGCT's recommendation to dissolve the organization and incorporate its functions within a newly structured Evangelism and Missions Department of the BGCT. All of the details of how that restructuring will take place haven't yet been finalized, but Randel Everett (BGCT Exec. Dir.) and Wayne Shuffield (head of the new Evangelisms and Missions Dept.) were both reassuring in their words about wanting to continue the initiatives that WorldconneX has been able to launch in recent years. The official press release of the BGCT is linked to here.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Dallas-bound
I'm catching an early morning flight tomorrow to head to Dallas for what apparently will be my final meeting as a member of the WorldconneX board of trustees. The BGCT leadership is asking WorldconneX to cease operating as a separate entity and for its functions to be taken over by the missions department of the BGCT. Some of the present staff members will in all likelihood continue to serve in the same capacity as BGCT staff members, but not all of them.
I've enjoyed my time serving as a trustee on the WorldconneX board for the group of trustees is an outstanding bunch of Baptists who are vitally interested in missions and furthering God's kingdom. The association with them has been stimulating and enriching and WorldconneX's legacy will include some very significant accomplishments in a difficult time of transition and troubled denominational relationships.
Our convention, the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, owes a great debt to WorldconneX for helping facilitate our involvement in Guatemala these past few years. That partnership continues to grow and expand and a group of 14 from First Baptist Church of Farmington, MO leaves this Saturday for an 8-day trip to Quetzaltenango where they will partner with the First Baptist Church of that city and its outstanding pastor, Roger Marquez. It's been my privilege in these past several months to serve as a resource person for them as they've planned their trip. We had a special time of prayer tonight in our evening service for their team's efforts this next week.
I'm looking forward to the opportunity of being able to express my appreciation and admiration for the fine work that Bill Tinsley and the rest of the WorldconneX staff have done in these years. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless their vision as it is taken up now by the BGCT's missions department.
I've enjoyed my time serving as a trustee on the WorldconneX board for the group of trustees is an outstanding bunch of Baptists who are vitally interested in missions and furthering God's kingdom. The association with them has been stimulating and enriching and WorldconneX's legacy will include some very significant accomplishments in a difficult time of transition and troubled denominational relationships.
Our convention, the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, owes a great debt to WorldconneX for helping facilitate our involvement in Guatemala these past few years. That partnership continues to grow and expand and a group of 14 from First Baptist Church of Farmington, MO leaves this Saturday for an 8-day trip to Quetzaltenango where they will partner with the First Baptist Church of that city and its outstanding pastor, Roger Marquez. It's been my privilege in these past several months to serve as a resource person for them as they've planned their trip. We had a special time of prayer tonight in our evening service for their team's efforts this next week.
I'm looking forward to the opportunity of being able to express my appreciation and admiration for the fine work that Bill Tinsley and the rest of the WorldconneX staff have done in these years. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless their vision as it is taken up now by the BGCT's missions department.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Baptist Border Crossing Videos
The archived videos from the Baptist Border Crossing Summmit are now available at this link. All of the speakers were outstanding, so it's pretty hard for me to give a recommendation of which one you ought to listen to. If time permits, listen to them all. If you only have time to listen to one, I'd encourage you to listen to Tony Campolo's message from Saturday morning. It's a powerful message for the church in our day. Campolo actually starts speaking at about minute 47:00 so you can drag the slider to there if you want to skip the music, etc., but in doing so you'll also miss a wonderful reading of a Martin Luther King, Jr. speech by Wallace Hartsfeld II, a tribute to Dr. King on the anniversary of his death.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Hillcrest Ministries Open House
Tomorrow is going to be another busy Sunday. We're having a pancake breakfast before services, beginning at 7:30 until about 9:30. After the morning services, there are a couple of things taking place in the afternoon. We're having a visitation at the church for a long-time church member who passed away on the 1st. I'll be doing the eulogy at his funeral service on Monday morning. There is also an open house to invite folks to see the refurbished apartments at the Hillcrest Ministries complex here in Lee's Summit. Hillcrest Ministries has an outstanding success rate in moving people from homelessness to self-sufficiency by employing a 90-day tough love approach, coupled with stringent financial accountability and the support of volunteers and professionals. Our church is sponsoring one of the apartment units and a number of our men have been volunteering their time to fix up not only our own unit but other apartments that other churches are either already sponsoring or will sponsor in the future.
Tomorrow evening I'll have the privilege of baptizing three adult ladies in the service. Their decisions came about as a result of their participation in an Experiencing God discipleship study in our church.
After the evening service, the church's missions committee will be meeting to look at some requests for financial assistance and some missions opportunities we're considering. All in all, another busy day of ministry.
Tomorrow evening I'll have the privilege of baptizing three adult ladies in the service. Their decisions came about as a result of their participation in an Experiencing God discipleship study in our church.
After the evening service, the church's missions committee will be meeting to look at some requests for financial assistance and some missions opportunities we're considering. All in all, another busy day of ministry.
Baptist Border Crossing Event
I had a very enjoyable time these past 3 days participating in the Baptist Border Crossing Summit at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty, MO. The church was an outstanding host for the event and extended wonderful hospitality and assistance. The messages from the keynote speakers were all outstanding. The messages were live videostreamed as they occurred and at some future point are to be available in the archives on the website. I enjoyed each of the sessions, but the highlight for me was hearing Tony Campolo this morning. He definitely fits the role of prophetic preacher when it comes to denouncing systemic sin. The stories of the radical engagement of his students in ministry to the poor and oppressed as well as their work in the Dominican Republic are inspiring and challenging. I'll probably provide a link to this video when it's available as it's definitely worth listening to.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
BGCM Annual Meeting
We had a good meeting of the BGCM at their annual meeting this afternoon at our church, First Baptist Church of Lee's Summit. The crowd wasn't a large one as we had anticipated it might be down due to having moved our meeting up a day in the week in order to accommodate the Baptist Border Crossing event at the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty, MO. That gathering kicked off tonight with an excellent worship experience and a great message by David Goatley, president of the North American Baptist Fellowship and Executive Secretary of the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention. His message centered on the theme of coloring outside the lines and was based on the text in Acts 11 where Peter is initially called before the religious authorities in Jerusalem to account for his action of taking the gospel to the Gentiles in the case of the centurion Cornelius and his family.
The message should be available via archive later to be viewed. Live video streaming will be offered of the sessions tomorrow so if you're unable to attend, you might check out this website. President Carter will be speaking at some point in the morning between 10 and noon and Tony Campolo is scheduled to speak on Saturday morning.
The BGCM will be hosting our annual missions banquet tomorrow night as a part of the event at Pleasant Valley and we'll be highlighting our Guatemalan partnership. I was able to share a taped interview of one of the pastors from Guatemala this afternoon at the BGCM meeting as he expressed appreciation to our convention for what the training sessions we've been conducting have meant to his own life, his church, and the churches of the western region.
The message should be available via archive later to be viewed. Live video streaming will be offered of the sessions tomorrow so if you're unable to attend, you might check out this website. President Carter will be speaking at some point in the morning between 10 and noon and Tony Campolo is scheduled to speak on Saturday morning.
The BGCM will be hosting our annual missions banquet tomorrow night as a part of the event at Pleasant Valley and we'll be highlighting our Guatemalan partnership. I was able to share a taped interview of one of the pastors from Guatemala this afternoon at the BGCM meeting as he expressed appreciation to our convention for what the training sessions we've been conducting have meant to his own life, his church, and the churches of the western region.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Strategy Conference Wrap-up
I really enjoyed the strategy conference this past week. Rodney Hammer did a great job of bringing in some excellent speakers to share from their personal experiences in the area of strategy planning. Mark Aderholt, a former IMB missionary in Budapest, did an outstanding job of emphasizing the importance of prayerwalking and knowing your field in order to be able to hear clearly from the Lord what He is leading you to do in terms of outreach and discipleship. Vince Blubaugh of the MBC shared some great insights from his own experience, especially with a church plant he did in Rockaway Beach, MO. Gus Suarez of Midwestern Seminary also shared some very practical suggestions from his background as a church planter and state convention strategist.
Our ministerial staff was able to revise a bit more the prior work that we had done on a missions statement and some core values and the feedback from the other participants and leaders was helpful at that point. We're seeking to implement some of the insights we learned from the conference and share with the church body some of the convictions that we came away with from the week.
Our ministerial staff was able to revise a bit more the prior work that we had done on a missions statement and some core values and the feedback from the other participants and leaders was helpful at that point. We're seeking to implement some of the insights we learned from the conference and share with the church body some of the convictions that we came away with from the week.
Monday, March 23, 2009
A Week of Strategy Planning
Starting this afternoon, all of our ministerial staff will be attending a week-long strategy planning conference at the associational office, led by the Blue River-Kansas City Association's executive director, Rodney Hammer. Rodney spoke in our church yesterday morning from Acts 1:1-8 and preached a great missionary message. We've been working on our homework as a staff in advance of this week and have crafted a missions statement, identified some core values, and elaborated a plan that to this point includes several priority concerns and goals. We've determined as a staff to move ahead on this project, trusting that it will lay some good solid groundwork for our church in this interim time without a senior pastor. The spirit of cooperation and enthusiasm for the planning process has been outstanding.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Word & Way article on our recent trip
If you don't subscribe to Word & Way, you might have missed a recent article about our church's trip last month to Guatemala. Jennifer Harris has a write up in the most recent edition about our trip.
I hope you'll check it out if you haven't read about it in Word & Way.
I hope you'll check it out if you haven't read about it in Word & Way.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
A Tale of Two Funerals
Involved as I am in senior adult ministry at our church, I wind up doing numerous funerals each year--for more than I'd like to of course because these folks for the most part have been active church members whom I've come to know and love in the time I've served on staff here. I met with the daughter of one such member this afternoon to plan her mother's service for this coming Monday morning. The lady whose service I will officiate that day was 94 years old and had been a member of our congregation for 47 years. It has been my privilege to know and visit her regularly for the past 6 years or so. I'm okay with that kind of a funeral, even though it certainly prompts some feelings of sadness and sorrow at bidding goodby to a friend.
I'm not so comfortable or emotionally okay with the graveside service I was asked to do this morning for a young couple whose wedding I performed a couple of years ago. They lost their first baby this past week when the mother was 8 and a half months along in her pregnancy. That is the kind of funeral that is much harder to accept emotionally than one where the person has lived a long, full life.
What do you say in a situation like this? I'm convinced that what you shouldn't try and do is to answer the inevitable question of "Why?" Why us? Why our family? Why our child? Attempting to answer those questions is pointless and fruitless. It's pointless because we cannot know the mind of God at this point nor His reasons for allowing the child's death. It's fruitless because what this young couple needed this morning was not a logical explanation (as if there were one) but rather a message of hope and encouragement.
I used David's experience with the death of his son and tried to draw some principles from his response--he worshipped God; he recognized that death was a part of life and resumed his normal activities; and he focused on a future hope when he affirmed that while the child could not come back to him, he would go to the child. One of the final things I shared was a statement that I read in a book by Paul Powell that I received back in the dark ages in seminary entitled Gospel for the Graveyard. In fact, the basic outline (though not the thoughts for the message) were gleaned from the book as well.
The quote that spoke so powerfully to me, and I hope to the couple and their extended family as well, came from another couple who had experienced a similar loss of a young child. Their statement was this: "We have determined not to ask why until we get into the presence of the One who can give us the answer."
I'm not so comfortable or emotionally okay with the graveside service I was asked to do this morning for a young couple whose wedding I performed a couple of years ago. They lost their first baby this past week when the mother was 8 and a half months along in her pregnancy. That is the kind of funeral that is much harder to accept emotionally than one where the person has lived a long, full life.
What do you say in a situation like this? I'm convinced that what you shouldn't try and do is to answer the inevitable question of "Why?" Why us? Why our family? Why our child? Attempting to answer those questions is pointless and fruitless. It's pointless because we cannot know the mind of God at this point nor His reasons for allowing the child's death. It's fruitless because what this young couple needed this morning was not a logical explanation (as if there were one) but rather a message of hope and encouragement.
I used David's experience with the death of his son and tried to draw some principles from his response--he worshipped God; he recognized that death was a part of life and resumed his normal activities; and he focused on a future hope when he affirmed that while the child could not come back to him, he would go to the child. One of the final things I shared was a statement that I read in a book by Paul Powell that I received back in the dark ages in seminary entitled Gospel for the Graveyard. In fact, the basic outline (though not the thoughts for the message) were gleaned from the book as well.
The quote that spoke so powerfully to me, and I hope to the couple and their extended family as well, came from another couple who had experienced a similar loss of a young child. Their statement was this: "We have determined not to ask why until we get into the presence of the One who can give us the answer."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Jason & Jen's Medical Missions Trip to Guatemala
I wanted to pass along an email update I received from my son and daughter-in-law, reporting on their trip last week to Guatemala as a part of a medical missions project. I know that many of you were praying for them and wanted to share their report.
Dear Prayer Partners,
First and foremost, thank you to all who remembered us in prayer in our trip to Guatemala this past week. We remained safe and basically healthy in a county where you have to remember to brush your teeth with bottled water and pray constantly while on the highways. Like last year, we had a wonderful experience and probably received just as many blessings as we were able to share with the Guatemalan people. Once again, we were able to see God’s hand at work in all aspects of the trip and in the lives we were able to touch.
Our purpose in going to Guatemala was to support Maya Mesoamerica Mission which was founded by missionaries David and Kathy Doss. Its goal has been to share the love of Jesus Christ through evangelism, church planting and helping establish micro-business opportunities for Guatemalans to provide a living for their families. Our team consisted of several diverse members fulfilling different roles. David Doss led the team having orchestrated the trip and location sites. During clinic days he translated medication instructions to patients in the pharmacy. Harold Harmon is a pharmacist from Alabama. He and his wife Delores operated the pharmacy. Harold’s sense of humor and off key singing served as great entertainment to those waiting to be seen! Chris Hammond, also from Alabama, operated the eye clinic. He worked alongside a Guatemalan translator named David in prescribing reading glasses to patients. A former major league baseball pitcher, Chris joyfully shared his testimony with those he cared for. Pastor Mario, is a local Guatemalan pastor affiliated with the mission. He was key in making contacts in the villages in which we served and would register the patients at the beginning of each clinic day. Kendra Butner, a nurse practitioner, who works in Jason’s office provided medical care, teaching and was able to share Christ with those she served. Sarah Dale, who with her husband John spent the last 6 months serving as short term missionaries with the mission, translated for Kendra. We, Jason and Jennifer, were able to bring medical care, evangelistic outreach and spiritual encouragement to the patients we encountered. As often happens during mission trips, we developed new friendships and deepened old ones with fellow team members while sharing personal blessings with each other.
While there, our team served 400-450 patients hosting five days of clinic in separate rural locations each day. The clinics were located in various church or school buildings. During the clinics we saw a wide variety of medical needs most of which we could address but some severe conditions were beyond our capabilities. We wish that we could share all the touching stories with you, but are unable to fit them on this page. Some of the things that Jason found most rewarding during the trip were the opportunity to pray with every patient seen and distribute Bible’s to those seeking God. Despite the busyness of the day, we make it a point to take the time necessary to share the full gospel message with any non-believer. One young woman prayed to receive Christ and several left with seeds planted where we felt the Holy Spirit was still at work. For Christian believers, we were able to offer prayers of encouragement for them personally and for their churches. Jason also enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside Jennifer and despite language barrier see her provide compassionate care whether in the form of a wound dressing, a hug or a children’s toy. Jennifer truly enjoyed working alongside Jason and watching him share of his love for our Lord to the patients. It was a blessing to see the smiles on the faces of the patients. Some would wait for several hours in hot and dry conditions to be seen, yet they would be so grateful for the care given and never did we hear them grumbling or complaining. They exhibited pure joy despite very difficult circumstances. Jennifer had the opportunity to distribute cloth diapers, carefully made by 2 very giving women from her bible study group, to many deserving babies. Another thing that was very touching was listening to patients in the eye clinic who had been unable to read their Bibles because of deteriorating vision. A simple pair of reading glasses left some with tears in their eyes, a Bible in their hands and the precious gift of being able to read God’s Word.
From the bottom of our hearts we appreciate the generous support of the church making the trip possible, along with faithful prayer partners for safety and success. We would ask you to continue to pray for those we saw including the many people whose names we wrote down who still need to come to know the Lord. Pray others will be placed in their lives to complete the harvest. Pray for those patients with illnesses we were not able to treat including chronic malnourishment, hepatitis, seizure disorders and children with brain injuries. Pray for their healing. Finally pray that God would continue to impress upon our hearts and the hearts of others the need to share Christ’s love.
In His Service,
Jason and Jennifer Snowden
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Off to Windermere
I'll be attending a quarterly board meeting of the BGCM at Windermere encampment the next couple of days. Each spring we have a retreat for our board to help with team building as well as finalize preparations for the upcoming annual meeting of the convention. This year's annual meeting as I've previously posted will be an abbreviated one at our church, First Baptist Church Lee's Summit, in order to facilitate attendance at the Baptist Border Crossing event.
I always look forward to spending time at Windermere. It is such a beautiful facility. I'll be thankful when the litigation brought by the MBC against Windermere is finally finished. Despite repeated rulings by the courts that the MBC has no case against Windermere, the MBC continues to appeal these rulings, spending huge sums of money contributed by Baptist churches for ministry purposes in order to pay the fees of lawyers who continue to insist that the MBC will eventually prevail. Their track record to date hasn't justified their confident assertions.
I'll have the opportunity to give an update to the board on my recent trips to Guatemala as a part of the BGCM's partnership with the Guatemala Baptist Convention. It's always wonderful to be able to report on the good things that the Lord is doing through that partnership.
I always look forward to spending time at Windermere. It is such a beautiful facility. I'll be thankful when the litigation brought by the MBC against Windermere is finally finished. Despite repeated rulings by the courts that the MBC has no case against Windermere, the MBC continues to appeal these rulings, spending huge sums of money contributed by Baptist churches for ministry purposes in order to pay the fees of lawyers who continue to insist that the MBC will eventually prevail. Their track record to date hasn't justified their confident assertions.
I'll have the opportunity to give an update to the board on my recent trips to Guatemala as a part of the BGCM's partnership with the Guatemala Baptist Convention. It's always wonderful to be able to report on the good things that the Lord is doing through that partnership.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Ed Stetzer on Discipleship
Ed Stetzer delivered an outstanding challenge on the topic of rethinking discipleship in a recent church planters' conference. I want to reproduce a portion of it here, especially the last line that walloped me both in the head and the heart.
"For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:9-10).
Notice the progression.
Knowing Being Doing
We can observe from Scripture a clear pattern that spiritual transformation begins with exposure to the truth. As God's revealed Truth (the Word) penetrates the mind it leads to the transformation of heart and character. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way:
"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).
The renewal of the mind, enabled by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, brings about spiritual growth.
Here you can see the pattern of knowledge leads to understanding (knowing), which leads to walking worthy (being), which leads to bearing fruit (doing).
It starts with knowing.
That is why in our research we found that the number one statistical correlation to spiritual maturity was the practice of reading the Bible. There was a strong relationship between those who grew spiritually and the practice of reading the Bible.
You don't need to get your people thinking you are clever, you need to get them thinking that the word of God is sufficient.
"For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:9-10).
Notice the progression.
Knowing Being Doing
We can observe from Scripture a clear pattern that spiritual transformation begins with exposure to the truth. As God's revealed Truth (the Word) penetrates the mind it leads to the transformation of heart and character. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way:
"Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).
The renewal of the mind, enabled by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, brings about spiritual growth.
Here you can see the pattern of knowledge leads to understanding (knowing), which leads to walking worthy (being), which leads to bearing fruit (doing).
It starts with knowing.
That is why in our research we found that the number one statistical correlation to spiritual maturity was the practice of reading the Bible. There was a strong relationship between those who grew spiritually and the practice of reading the Bible.
You don't need to get your people thinking you are clever, you need to get them thinking that the word of God is sufficient.
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