Christmas Reflections

I thought I might share a few Christmas reflections in the coming days, recycling some articles from previous years that I've written for our church's monthly senior adult newsletter entitled "Joyful Tidings."  That seems like a pretty fitting name for Christmas news if we think about the angels' message to the shepherds.  I haven't shared these on this blog, so hopefully they will spark some interest.  This first piece dates way back to 2005.

I was reading recently in the Word and Way a devotional thought by Rudy Pulido, a pastor in the St. Louis area, about a memorable Christmas when he received a bicycle as a gift. It stirred my memories to a Christmas long ago when I too received my first bicycle, a Schwinn. My family was living on my grandparents’ ranch in South Texas at the time, and the mailbox was located almost three miles away over a dirt road. While my granddad usually drove up to the mailbox each day in his pickup to get the day’s mail, on occasion I would volunteer to ride my bike there and bring the mail back. That was quite an adventure for a second grader.

What was your favorite or most treasured Christmas gift as a child? For many of our senior adults, your childhood years were spent in the Great Depression and undoubtedly gifts were scarce at times. Perhaps your parents wanted to give you what you were most hoping to receive at Christmas, but the funds simply weren’t there to do so.

At this season of the year we celebrate the fact that God gave us the most valuable and costly gift that any of us could ever receive—the gift of eternal life through the entrance of Jesus into this world. God sent His Son, and Jesus willingly came, knowing that it would ultimately cost Him His very life to bring us salvation and forgiveness. In the midst of giving and receiving gifts, let’s remember and say thanks to God for His indescribable gift of love, born in a humble manger.

Senior Adult Ministry Conference

I enjoyed the opportunity this past week of spending three days in Anaheim, California at a conference focusing on senior adult ministry.  I found it both inspirational and informative.  Much of the content focused on the theme of intergenerational ministry, and a related theme was the need to minister through seniors and not merely to them.  We heard some eye-opening statistics about the aging population of the U.S. and the challenges and opportunities that this reality affords to our churches.  One of the most encouraging things was the passion with which the presenters and the participants spoke of the urgent need to reach senior adults with the gospel--not assuming that this sector of the population has already been adequately evangelized.

I'm still processing and sorting through the stack of notes I took from the plenary sessions and workshops that were offered, but one thing is readily apparent--a once-size fits all approach to ministry with maturing adults simply won't cut it any longer if it ever really did.  There's far too much diversity in interests, backgrounds, and experiences in this burgeoning slice of the population as the first baby boomers reach 65 this year for a single model or approach to ministry with them to do the job.  I'm meeting tomorrow with some peers in the area to discuss a Planned Aging conference that our 4 churches will be sponsoring next June, and also to talk about some of the nuts and bolts of senior adult ministry.  We'll be joined by Frank Fain of The Baptist Home, a recognized authority in this field.  It promises to be a great meeting.

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.