What happens in Africa, stays in Africa...

I know that's what is said about Las Vegas, but it's certainly true about what is happening in Central Africa. Our church has a personal interest in that region. But apparently no member of our government does. We sat and watched genocide in Rwanda... we are sitting and watching in the Darfur region of the Sudan and now the fighting has spilled over to Chad, as rebels forces from the Sudan begin their march towards Chad's capital of N'Djamena.

Here's a news article from the Houston Chronicle that gives both what is happening as well as a background on the situation.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4361774.html

In 3 years over 200,000 people have been murdered in Darfur... but what happened in Darfur won't stay there. The reason: OIL.

Oil has been discovered in the predominantly Christian southern portion of Chad. But this is not just a Muslim vs. Christian issue. When this sort of conflict broke out in Bosnia, the world was alarmed and military force came to the rescue of mostly Moslem victims. But that was Europe.

And this is Africa and no one really cares what happens in Africa. But we should. We must. We must write to our elected leaders and demand that intervention occur. We will have blood on our hands if we fail. And it won't only be on the hands of the present administration. It will be on the hands of every single one of us. It is not just the Christian thing to do. It is the human thing.

What are we waiting for? Write now!

More to be Thankful for

I am thankful for ...

• ... some men I have never actually met except through bulletin boards where Pastors chat.
• ... David Wilson who is both the crabbiest guys I know and the guy with the softest heart for the ministry of his local church.
• ... Henry Harris who can quote Uncle Remus in context as well as give sound Biblical advice.
• ... Wes Kenney who stands for our denomination and loves pro football.
• ... Kevin Bussey who punches holes in the "sacred balloons" the SBC seems to have erected.
• ... Tom Ascol who loves Jesus and His Word and always makes me think.
• ... some of my favorite verses that God has used to guide.
• ... Luke 4:18 that God used to call me to full time ministry.
• ... Philippians 1:6 that God used to teach me that He was always going to work in me until I got to Heaven.
• ... Psalm 34:8 that reminded me to keep tasting how good God is.
• ... Genesis 1-2 shows me that this is God's World under His rules and created for His glory.
• ... 2 Samuel 23 when David pours out the water his men had gotten for him from the well in Bethlehem, that God used to show me that friendship is more important than comfort.
• ... Micah 6:8 that God used to show me that He is interested in Justice AND mercy.
• ... The Gospels have told me that Jesus is all that I could ever want or need.
• ... Romans showed me that intellect and logic could and should be used in sharing the Gospel.
• ... Revelation revealed that God will work out everything in His own time.
• ... for godly writers who have challenged and helped me.
• ... Chuck Swindoll whose sense of humor and Bible based sermons gave me an example of what preaching could be.
• ... Max Lucado who writes so simply and devotionally that I feel closer to the Lord Jesus.
• ... Jim Cymbala who challenged me and out church to become a house of prayer.
• ... Rick Warren whose book on the Purpose Driven Church gave me so much to aim for.
• ... Warren Weirsbe who takes a text, preaches it but never forgets that Biblical preaching must include a change in lifestyles.

The more I write, the more I know that I have much to be thankful for. I keep remembering people, events, places that I am thankful for. John said that if he wrote about everything Jesus did and said, the world couldn't contain the books. In the same way, if I could remember the goodness of God and the people God has used to help me, be a blessing to me and in whom I have seen glimpses of Jesus, the blog world couldn't contain the number.

More Thanksgiving Items

• ... the beautiful house the Lord has given us.
• ... the wonderful home my wife has made of it.
• ... the friends I have made at this church who allow me to be not just their pastor but their friend.
• ... God's Holy Spirit who takes my twisted words of prayer and presents them to the Heavenly Father.
• ... the privilege of preaching and teaching God's Word.
• ... the freedom of living in America.
• ... area Pastors who continually challenge me to serve the Lord
• ... Dr. Michael Landry at Sarasota Baptist, who is so unselfish in opportunies to go on mission trips.
• ... Dr. Gary Roy at Colonial Oaks Baptist, who so unselfishly gave leadership to our association during a rough time.
• ... Dr. Charles Solomon, retire, who served Bee Ridge Baptist for so many years and taught me to stay.
• ... Dr. Rick Nations who builds bridges rather than walls.
• ... Godly lay people who allow me the privilege of knowing them.
• ... Vince Collier who lets me talk to him as a friend knowing that nothing will be repeated.
• ... Joe and Joyce Cyprinsky who have let Sara and I be just another couple in our trips to Dairy Queen.
• ... Don Baugh who walks with me as we prayer walk every Monday, and his wife Vanessa who is an encourager to my wife.
• ... John and Beverly Hilton who have been a breath of fresh air to our church and to me.
• ... Jim and Ida Deeley who taught us to play dominos and who made everyone switch seats one sunday morning to get us out of our ruts.
• ... Jan Kostrzewski who is so much help around the office and gives of herself so unselfishly.
• ... Marilynn Draggoo who plays the organ, the piano and is the most positive of people.

There are more... I'll add some more later. My wife has some work for me to do.

What Are You Thankful For?

My bride is the list maker in the family. I tend to wing it. But God has given me, my family, my church so much to be thankful for. So I am starting my list. Feel free to join in. I'll write more as the week goes by.
I am full of gratitude for...

• ... the Lord Jesus saving me
• ... His work being done in me
• ... His wonderful Word
• ... my wonderful wife, Sara, who has given me a life and happiness that I never thought possible this side of heaven. She keeps me grounded when I float away and gives me wings when I am discouraged. I never knew it was possible to love someone like I love my bride.
• ... two wonderful children, Rachel and becky
• ... a godly mom and dad who went with me to church, even though I hated it then, I am thankful now.
• ... calling me into the ministry.
• ... allowing me to pastor two wonderful churches: West Charlotte Baptist Church and FBC, Osprey.
• ... a godly pastor and first patient mentor in the ministry: Pastor A.W. Jackson. He is still the only man I ever knew that I never saw do anything wrong. I know he had a sin nature, but I never saw it in action.
• ... Pastor Gary Wilson who taught me that I could be a pastor and still be myself.
• ... Pastor Jack Gambill who had a passion for ministry to people.
• ... Pastor Wally Metts who never quit wanting to do great things for God.
• ... Pastor Wayne Briant who has been my friend in the ministry for 15 years. When I went to work for him at a difficult time in my life, he told me that we were friends before and we would be friends after that experience. And we have been.
• ... Godly deacons who have helped me minister and serve our congregations.
• ... Sunday School teachers and small group leaders who have joined together to help disciple the people we serve together.
• ... the staff men with whom I have enjoyed ministry: Ed Barham , Joe Herrera and Nathan Murray

That's it for now. I have a much larger list and will add as the week goes by. Tell me who you are thankful for.

Florida Baptist Convention

I just got back from the convention held at the McGregor Baptist Church in Ft. Myers. I was especially looking forward to this meeting because I was part of the planning process as a member on the Committee on Order of Business. Under the direction of Convention President, Dr. Hayes Wicker, and supported by the Convention staff headed by Don Hepburn, I thought God had something special planned for us. And He did!

The preaching was really outstanding. The lineup of preachers did what Dr. Wicker had asked them to do: to preach expositionally around the theme of "Rivers of Revival". Dr. Voddie Beaucham, Dr. Fred Wolfe, Dr. Craig Connor, Dr. Mac Brunson, Dr. John Sullivan, Dr. Tom Eliff and Dr. Wicker preached from passages of Scripture to build on the need of repentence, and restoration among our churches and pastors.

There was also another trend that I enjoyed also. It showed that there is a maturing process in our convention. The past 25 years have been marked by a battle for the inerrancy of God's Word. So, in the past, speakers would have to show that they were clear about the Bible's absolute accuracy. But that battle is over. Inerrantist are in control of the convention. But too much of our preaching has been a holdover of that.

Not this year. This year speakers took for granted that we believed the Bible to be inspired by God and moved on to, what I believe is a real need among churches in the SBC, Biblical living.

Another trend was that we quit talking about other Southern Baptists who might disagree in one area or another. Too much time has been spent in kicking Calvinists and bashing bloggers. I blog... not very well... but I am very Southern Baptist. And some of my best friends are Calvinists. One of the personal highlights for me was meeting Dr. Tom Ascol who has prodded our convention with the importance of a regenerate church membership that is accurately portrayed in our reporting numbers. He's a Calvinist and I'm not, but I appreciate his ministry and went to the convention hoping to meet him.

I also want to say how thankful I was to be able to see behind the curtain. I ahve been part of other meetings and been in the "Green Room" that serves as a staging area. There is always activity going on because you have to get ready for the next part of the program. In other groups, I have watched as prayer meetings take place in the auditorium and the preachers are in the back talking, laughing and catching up on the news.

Not in this backstage area... when prayer meetings were occurring in the auditorium, the leadership was praying in the back. When we were being led in worship, people in the back were singing and worshipping also. When preaching was going on, men had their Bibles open and were following and agreeing. That was refreshing to see and caused me to thank the Lord for allowing me to be a part.

Pray for our Convention. We still have much to improve upon. But I am grateful that our church is part of the Florida Baptist Convention.

The Last Best Hope

I enjoy Bill Bennett. His talk show always deals with politics, values and old time rock-n-roll; 3 of my favorite subjects. He has written a book entitled "America: The Last Best Hope" that is available at this link: http://www.amazon.com/America-Last-Hope-Discovery-World/dp/1595550550

This morning he was talking about the election and his disappointment over the results. Speaking here entirely as a citizen and not as Pastor, I was also very disappointed over the results. The idea of Rep. Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and 3rd in line for the Presidency scares me. But as Bill Bennet was closing his 6-9 talk show heard on WLSS 930 AM http://www.wlssradio.com/, he quoted Abraham Lincoln's concluding remarks to the Congress on December 1, 1862.

Lincoln said:

We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just -- a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.

I hate to disagree with my favorite President. But the last best hope of the earth is not America. The last best hope of the world is the light of the world, the hope of the nations, the Son of God who gives eternal life to all who trust Him.

Maybe the best thing that can come out of these elections is not to place our faith in any politician or statesman... any nation or poilitical party, but in the Lord.

That's what David meant, when he said in Psalm 65:

Praise is rightfully Yours, God, in Zion; vows to You will be fulfilled. All humanity will come to You, the One who hears prayer. Iniquities overwhelm me; only You can atone for our rebellions. How happy is the one You choose and bring near to live in Your courts! We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple. You answer us in righteousness, with awe-inspiring works, God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the distant seas;

He is the real last best hope!

The Simple Church

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger have written a book entitled "Simple Church" Here's the Amazon.com address for it http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Church-Returning-Process-Disciples/dp/0805443908

I just started reading it during my vacation. Their main theory is as they put it in the acknowledgements:

Simply stated, he found that the healthiest churches in America tended to have a simple process for making disciples. They had clarity about the process. They moved Christians intentionally through the process. They were focused on the elements of the process. And they aligned their entire congregation to this process.

The book is not about another way to "do" church. Its' avowed purpose is to help church's design a simple process of moving people along the discipleship road from salvation through to following Jesus as His Disciple.

Then yesterday at our pastor's conference, Dr. Dwayne Mercer of the First Baptist Church of Oviedo spoke about "10 Lessons I've Learned as a Leader". The church's goal as they moved from 500 to averaging about 3,000 was he said, "simple" [there's that word again]. It was to "Reach people for Christ and train them to walk with God."

He said that a good leader must lead his church to serve and minister at the meeting point of these questions:

• What is your growth engine? What is it that brings the people into the church services?
• What is your passion? - What does the pastor love to do most?
• What are you best at? Every church does something well, so determine what the church does well and do it.

FBC, Oveido's answer: Worship and Sunday School.

I began to realize that I had fallen into the "Next Big Thing" trap. So the church is a patchwork of traditional SBC church with Rick Warren and Bill Hybel thrown in. And that ain't simple.

Obviously, Jesus wants us to be his disciples. So what do we need to keep and what do we need to throw out to accomplish His goals for FBC, Osprey

So pray for me. Pray for our leaders as we begin to look at where God wants our church to end up, so we can determine how we can best get there.

Back and Glad

Sara and I got back from our cruise yesterday. We had a great time. Because of the weather and the waves, we missed one port and on our last day had rain, and up to 15 foot waves. But I do love cruising. There are times I feel like I am part of a cattle call, but sitting around a pool, reading books I had put off reading, drinking tropical drinks with foo foo umbrellas and not a cell phone or a computer or a news program to be seen is really an little bit of heaven on earth.

I'm glad I went. And I'm glad to be back.

I appreciate my friend, Dr. Rick Nations, filling in for me on both Sundays. He is a great friend. And I'm looking forward to hearing more about the erector set he used last night. Thank you, Rick, for letting me rest easy knowing that the people whom God has called me to pastor will be well fed and cared for.

I also appreciate the good leaders God has placed around me. They not only serve through the year, but they carry extra weight when I am gone.

There is a statement that the person who is in most need of a vacation is the person who has just come back from one. My vacation gave me a great break. I'll try to write more later... now back to trying to catch up with last week's work.