I have attached a copy of a blog post by Dr. David Nelson, one of the dean’s of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (The blog this post was made to is “Between the Times”, the blog of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  There is a link to the blog sight on my blog page).  I must admit, the blog post he wrote is an in-your-face challenge to churches across our Southern Baptist Convention, that is sure to challenge pastors, church leaders, denominational leaders, etc…Be warned, this post is a sure challenge to the status quo of mission’s involvement and giving to mission’s both from our local churches and our state conventions.  Read the below article at your own risk.  You are sure to be changed!  Are we really committed to fulfilling the Great Commission?

When Words Aren’t Enough: A Report from the Field, Part 1

Feb 2nd, 2010 by David Nelson

For much of the month of January, a colleague and I have been in an international setting serving with overseas workers. We have worked together daily in an educational context, and I have been reminded continually of the significance of the Great Commission. To say I am impressed by the workers of our mission board is an understatement, but I don’t want to embarrass my friends by being overly effusive about their labors. None of them desire to have attention drawn to himself anyway. During our weeks together I have had time to reflect on many important things, and I have written out some of my thoughts in a few posts I’ve labeled “A Report from the Field.” There is no grand theme to the posts; they are simply my reflections on matters that have come to mind. I hope they are an encouragement to our readers.

I did not realize the full effect of the economic downturn upon our overseas work until this past month. I have travelled overseas since the events of the Fall of 2008 when the world economy began its decline, but I am seeing the cumulative effects of reduced Cooperative Program (CP) giving and a weakened US dollar in its stark reality now.

I should note that our overseas personnel are not the sort to grouse about all this, but the difficulties imposed upon them and the potentially negative impact of budget reductions are all too clear. Personnel reductions and cuts to strategy budgets are bound to decrease the extent to which the Great Commission work of the IMB will be accomplished.

I would never suggest that this limits God’s power to make His Name known among the nations. In fact, we may form a dependence upon the work of the Holy Spirit in ways that will bear much fruit due to our lack of resources. Nevertheless, our failure to consider the ramifications of reduced budgets is at least Pollyanna and is, more pointedly, a mark of foolishness.

I know of no one in our stateside congregations who fails to voice their support of our overseas work. It is the essence of what it is to be Southern Baptist: to unite together in a cooperative effort to send and support laborers to go to the nations. Or so we say. In fact, we say this without hesitation. But to say this is not enough. Not nearly enough.

At the risk of making some people very angry, let me lay out some facts:

• Of every dollar given by Southern Baptists to their local churches, 1-2 cents (depending on the state convention through which the funds are dispersed) ends up at the IMB.
• In the CP process by which funds move from the local church to the state convention to the SBC for dispersal to the various SBC agencies, the highest percentage that a state convention sends to the national convention (and therefore to the agencies, including the IMB) is about 50%, while most send 35-40%. (The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia lead the way in CP giving, and are to be commended for doing so.)
• That is, most state conventions keep 60-65% of the funds given by those in SBC pews, and forward the remainder to the SBC.
• Most SBC churches keep 85-95% of the funds given by those who fill their pews for work in that church, forwarding 5-15% of those funds to the state convention (though some may give directly to the SBC, though they are not credited with CP giving if they do so. Yes, Virginia, that’s correct.)
• So, let’s say Widow Ellen gives $100 as a monthly offering in her local congregation. It would be typical for the church to use $90 for its own budget, while sending $10 to the state convention. The state will then keep, let’s say $6 and send $4 to Nashville. And the Executive Committee of the SBC will then disperse the funds to the various SBC entities, and the IMB will receive $2 of that $4.
• I’m not making this up. $2 of her $100 makes it to the cause that is the primary reason for the existence of the SBC in the first place. (Yes, I’m arguing that our forebears banded together to form a convention of churches for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission, primarily focused on sending laborers to the nations to spread the gospel.)

I realize I’ve irritated some folks at this point. And likely made some mad. I hope your indignation is directed where it should be. That is, I hope you’re indignant that such a paltry amount of the funds given by the people of the SBC make it to our international work. But I imagine that may not be the case with everyone.

Some like to point to the state conventions as the primary culprit in this state of affairs. To be sure, I hope our state convention leaders will join en masse to change their funding strategies (some already are), raising their contribution to the SBC to at least 50% and, I prefer, targeting 60-75% as a goal, depending on the needs in a given state or region (I think those state conventions in pioneer areas are justified in keeping a greater amount of funds for a period of time to support church planting in those areas). But I don’t want to pick on the state conventions alone. I want to pick on some of our churches.

One prominent church in the SBC recently embarked on a $130,000,000.00 building campaign. Yes, that is the right amount of zeros and the commas and decimals are correct. Several years ago I heard an SBC pastor bragging about his $70,000,000.00 building campaign. We build lavish (by any standards in the world they are lavish) worship centers, “family life” centers, and other buildings at every turn. I have to ask, in light of the fact that over 1.6 billion people have never heard of the name of Christ, do we really need such facilities?

This was brought home to me not too many years ago when I learned of a congregation on another continent that circulated a prayer request among some believers for a larger tree under which they could worship. That’s right. God had added to their number so significantly that they were beseeching God Almighty for a larger tree. Perhaps we should inform them that they should have a bit more faith and go for a family life center where they could play some racquetball or basketball while they take a break from the toil they endure just to stay alive.

Yes, that was sarcasm in that last paragraph. And before you criticize me for that, we should realize that the Scriptures employ sarcasm as a way of communicating that some things are so absurd that sarcasm is a legitimate device to get our attention.

It’s time for our attention to be gotten. And it’s time for us to awaken to the commission of Jesus to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. The accomplishment of that mission, the mission of God, does not rest on lavish buildings in the US (trust me, they really are lavish), nor immense state convention structures, nor grander buildings on seminary campuses. That mission will be fulfilled by sending laborers into the international fields. And if we have any sense about us and, let’s be honest, real devotion to our Lord, we’ll put our greatest amount of resources into the places where there is the greatest amount of need. And that typically isn’t in our stateside ministries.

This is a time when words aren’t enough. We say we support the Great Commission. But to say we support the Great Commission and then keep spending money on ourselves is to say that we don’t truly care about the Great Commission.

The real test of our commitment to the mission of God will be found in the extent to which we give (and get that money to those who carry the gospel overseas), pray, and ultimately send workers to the ends of the earth. Words aren’t enough, Southern Baptists. They simply aren’t enough.

I am including below a letter I sent to the Baptist Courier, South Carolina’s state Baptist Convention newspaper.  I sent this letter in hoping it would generate statewide discussions about what/where changes need to be made in our state convnention.  Let me add this one point though.  The questions I raise in my letter are questions I think our local churches need to ask of ourselves also.  I am concerned as a pastor of a local body of believer, a local church, that we don’t even know how to effectively engage our communities.  I grew up in rural, traditional baptist churches, and have been so accustomed to doing things like we’ve always done them, I’m not even sure I know how to really obey the Great Commission and “make disciples.”  I know how to win converts, but every convert is not a disciple.  So, let the record show, I have been trying to put into practice what I am preaching by submitting this article to the Baptist Courier.  So, here’s the article; let the discussion begin…

            I love the South Carolina Baptist Convention.  During the early years of my ministry I heard so much how people from other state conventions were jealous over how strong & conservative our state convention was, and this became evident while serving a church in North Carolina during my seminary years.  I love our state convention.  I also have some concerns about our convention.

            I am concerned we have grown so inward focused over the years we have forgotten how to even think outside the box, especially concerning the inner workings of our state convention.  We have changes that need to be made, some drastic I think, but I am not sure any of us, including myself, know exactly what needs to be done.  I am concerned that we have fallen prey to saying we believe we are to fulfill the Great Commission, but yet, when it comes to what our pocket book says about us it may reveal a different story. 

            Recently I was talking with one of our college students who is a leader of the BCM at Winthrop University.  They have been without a campus director now for about two years, and recently almost called a seminary grad and his family to lead them, but due to budget shortfalls in our state convention, were told the hire could not take place due to hiring freezes.  In one sense I know why the hiring freeze decision is made, but it also causes me to ask, “Are we tying up too many cooperative program funds in the state Baptist building?” 

            It is time we take a look at exactly where we are keeping/spending our money as a state convention.  Is it really being spent for Kingdom Growth purposes, or is it being spent simply maintaining us?  I think the answer is both, but in my opinion we are spending too much money maintaining us.  The Great Commission is at stake here! 

I’m not sure what the answer is, or if we even know how, or what, questions to ask to solve our problems, but I do think it is time we start asking the questions.  Dr. Alvin Reid recently quoted Dr. Ronnie Floyd on his (Dr. Reid’s) twitter page as he listened to Dr. Floyd’s message at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s evangelism conference.  Here is what Dr. Floyd said, “We all are committed to the Great Commission until it means changing our lives or ministries.”  Where do we stand as a state convention?  What does our money spending say about us?

Being the parent of small children, I figured it would be good for me to offer suggestions of some resources I use in helping to lead my children to faith in Jesus the Christ.  Two resources I have found recently that I think do an outstanding job of teaching young children the truth of the Bible and also help lead them to faith in Jesus are “The Jesus Storybook Bible” and a set of four little books titled, “Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers.” 

First, “The Jesus Storybook Bible” is a great resource that helps young children learn how some of the most loved, well-known stories in the Old Testament point to the coming of Jesus in the New.  The book also includes various stories from the New Testament as well, and does a good job of teaching the majesty of Jesus as Lord of all!  In fact, I think “The Jesus Storybook Bible” would be a great help to even adults in helping them to better understand how Jesus is pointed to in the Old Testament.  The great thing about this resource is that it has it’s own website where you can preview some stories, and watch a different animated version of different stories every week online.  My children love watching these.  You can preview the book, or watch the videos by going to www.jesusstorybookbible.com  You can also find out how & where to order the book for yourself, or for your children, by clicking on the picture above!

The second resource I recommend is a short little series of books called, “Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers.”  I say “short” for a few reasons.  First, there are only four books in the series.  Second, the books are small in design.  They are not very big at all.  Third, the books are not very long reads.  However, they are packed with great material that is designed for children ages 4-7.  And they do a great job at getting their message across.  The four different messages that are taught in the series are on:  the Gospel, the Scriptures, the Trinity & the Mission.  Once again, I think these books could probably teach many Christian adults a thing or two as well, but they are written with young children in mind.  I have also provided a link to where & how you can order these books online, and you can follow it by clicking on the pictures of the books above.

I heartily recommend these books to parents of young children.  My desire for my chidren is for them to know, love & serve God all their lives, and I think these books are a great help in leading them in that direction.

If you’ve ever heard me preach it will not take you long to figure out that Joel Osteen is not one of my favorite people in the world.  I almost was tempted to write he is not my favorite “preacher” in the world, but if you honestly listen to him (Which I do not encourage) that he is a “preacher” is certainly debatable.  I truly feel sympathy for him in his “preaching ministry” because to do what he does is in in my opinion extremely difficult.  I must admit, if Joel Osteen is on television I do occasionally tune in for a few minutes, but not to hear a word from The Lord, but rather get my temperature boiling.  Here’s why I am sympathetic towards him:  he preaches the same message every week, just from a different verse.  Honestly, it is the same message.  If you will listen intently (Once again, I do not encourage this) it is the same material, just different wording.  When you honestly approach the Bible, you have to work EXTREMELY hard to get out of the passages & verses he uses what he gets out of it.  To do that requires a lot of imagination & bending of Scripture, which is heresy.  Is he a heretic?  I think so.  Do I think everything he says is wrong, certainly not, but you can…(Think blind squirrel/acorn quote here).  If you do watch him, intently, with your Bible, you will find that many times the translation he uses (And I’m really not sure which one that is, I’ve never been able to match what he says is scripture with ANY Bible I have on my shelf) are not even close to any of the leading Biblical translations.  (Now I know some of you think I shouldn’t be doing Joel Osteen bashing on the blog because he’s not here to defend himself.  I would encourage you to forward this to him so he can.  I pray that his heart would be turned to the truth, that he would not be ashamed to proclaim the truth, because he has a huge audience to speak truth to.)

As you can see I am certainly not unbiased in my opinion of this man.  I think he is dangerous to hundreds of thousands of people who listen to him weekly/monthly, that think they are right with God based on his messages.  If Joel Osteen had ANY respect in my book he lost it this past week.  January 4th, this past Monday, the city of Houston, Texas inaugurated their new mayor, Annise Parker.  I don’t know if you know this or not, but for some reason this flew under the radar, she is OPENLY homosexual.  She paraded around the stage holding her partner’s hand as she was introduced and as she took the oath of office.  It was as if her hand was glued to her partner’s hand.  They were proud of their homosexuality and they were very willing to put it on display for the world to see.  This blog post though is not about the sin of homosexuality, per se’, but rather about the preacher who opened the inauguration meeting up in prayer, yes, one Joel Osteen.  If you were wondering, here’s what he said:

“Father, thank you for this time to come together with our friends and our family just to celebrate your goodness and the great city that we live in, and the new leadership here in our city.  Lord, we just ask for Your wisdom on all of our elected officials.  Lord, we pray that You will guide them, that You will direct them, Lord, that You would help them make the best decisions for our city.  Lord, we just pray for Your strength and Your protection around them and their families.  We ask that You would keep them strong and healthy, and.  Lord, we just thank You that we have a great city, but we believe our city could even be brighter, that we can do greater things, that we can help people even all over the world.  So Lord, we commit this day into Your hands.  We ask that everything we do would bring honor to You.  And we just lift up especially mayor Annise Parker.  Lord, we thank you just for raising her up, and just for Your goodness, Your mercy in her life, and just for, just supernaturl wisdom Father.  We honor her today and our other officials.  And Lord, we count it a joy and an honor to be here in Your presence with all of our friends, and we just thank You for this day.  In Jesus’s name, Amen.”

I have many problems with this prayer.  My problems start though, not with the prayer, but with the fact he was willing to open the meeting with prayer in the first place.  I find it hard to believe this has not received more publicity.  I had a difficult time finding a transcript of the prayer, and finally, after finding no transcript had to listen to it, and write it down word-for-word, so I would be as informed as I felt I needed to be before writing this post. 

 Joel Osteen should not have agreed to open those proceedings with prayer, and here’s why.  By praying to open the inauguration proceedings, he placed his ceremonial blessing upon the new mayor, and her proud, sinful, unrepentant lifestyle.  I know what some people are thinking, “But Jamie, you are just an old-fashioned, homophobe.”  Then sobeit.  But, I would not open in prayer for an openly adulterous mayor, an openly alcoholic mayor, an openly slanderous mayor, etc…What I’m saying is this, homosexuality is a sin, just like many other sins, I think.  It is certainly different, in that it has to do with marriage.  It’s not like gluttony, in that we have to eat to live.  But, like all other sins, it is a slap in the face of God, The Creator, Who when he made the earth, made man & woman.  He made His creation with certain norms & laws, that if they were to be discarded and gone against would bring about death & destruction.  That is why homosexuality is sin.  It is not normal, with regards to God’s created order.  It is simply not God’s will. 

Joel Osteen, God’s “preacher” would not say so, nor has he said so.  In fact, I’ve never heard him condemn any sin, even when being interviewed and asked point-blank about certain things, he always skirts the issue.  When asked about homosexuality, he simply said, “It’s not God’s best.”  Not God’s best?  Why not just speak the truth and call sin what it is, sin!  Do so in love, but nevertheless, do it!  People need to know they are sinners Joel, so they can know they need a Savior, and that is the most loving thing to do.  In fact, I would admit that lying to them every week about how bad they really are is the most un-loving thing you can do.  Now, we should tell the truth with a humble spirit, but still, please, tell the truth.

Where have all the prophets gone?  Well, they are still around, we have just never heard of most of them.  There are a few who are famous.  But for the most part, the prophets are not well-known because their message is not well-received.  People want to hear that everything is fine.  They want to hear they can have their “Best Life Now.”  What they aren’t hearing though in most of those instances is that you can’t have any of that stuff until you humble yourself before a Holy, Righteous God and worship, honor & glorify Him alone, through Jesus His Son.  Apart from Him (Jesus) none of us can experiece anything good.  Apart from Him we all are known as sinners.  In Him alone can we be made righteous. 

I wonder what the prophets in the Old Testament would have done during these inauguration ceremonies?  Where would they have been?  They probably would have been the ones on the outside, preaching & proclaiming the truth about sin & sinners so they could be changed from their sinful ways.  They certainly would not have added their ceremonial blessing to the inauguration.  They certainly would not have thanked God for a ”great city” that was willing to vote in a proud, open, unrepentant sinner.  (Once again, it is important to state that I would not vote for any open, proud, unrepentant sinner who was not willing to confess their sin & repent of it.)  Those prophets certainly would not have thanked God for “raising up” such a person into such a vital, leadership role.  Then again, no one wants to hear what the prophet has to say.  Their message is one of condemnation, rebuke, exhortation to righteous living, their message was one of TRUTH.  People want to have their ego’s stroked.  They want to have their tummies rubbed.  Paul says people have “Itching ears” (II Timothy 4: 1-5). 

We need the prophets to sound the alarm.  Preach the truth.  Sinners need to hear the truth.  Our world needs to hear the truth.  We live in a sad day when Brit Hume is more willing to tell the truth that are the “preachers.”  May God help us!

You would be surprised what you might learn reading through the Bible in a year.  I once had a man approach me just amazed to find out the flood story in Genesis was much different than he remembered being taught growing up in Sunday School.  Another brother told me he was surprised to find out how unfaithful the Israelites were as recorded throughout the Old Testament.  Having said all this, it is so important for believers to know God, and the way to know God is to read His Word.  As you read ask Him daily to give you insight, and try and memorize various verses every week.  Imagine if you learned one verse per week.  That would be fifty-two verses in a year.  If you are the average believer that will be more than you already know.  Double that, well, you get the point!

I am including in this post links to three different plans.  All three are different.  They all are year-long plans.  The first is from a blog I have linked to on this sight.  You can find the plan proposed on “Between the Times” by clicking here.  This plan goes through the entire Bible, but is different because it follows the Old Testament structure according to the Jewish order, which makes more sense than our Greek ordered Bible.  Another Bible reading plan is one proposed by John Piper.  The unique thing about it is that it allows for make-up days.  You will fall behind throughout the year.  These make-up days would be extremely helpful, trust me!  You can get to his plan by clicking here.  The third plan is a simple, straight-forward read-through plan.  I am including it because it was the first plan I followed.  WMHK’s radio station was the first group that issued this challenge to me.  Their plan can be found here.

I pray this year will be a blessing for you as you pursue hard after God!  Enjoy your pursuit!!!

This information is hot off the presses:  I just confirmed the dates with my Hebrew professor from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Gary Galeotti, concerning a conference to be held here at Kershaw Second.  The conference will be called, “It’s All About Jesus” and during the conference we will explore the wonderful truths proclaimed about Jesus from the Old Testament.  This conference will take place on the weekend of March 26, 27, 28.  Dr. Galeotti will be preaching & teaching that Friday night, Saturday morning & evening, Sunday morning during Sunday School, and then preaching the morning message.  The intent of this conference is two-fold.  One, it is to serve the purpose of teaching us how God revealed the truth about His Messiah in what we call the Old Testament.  Second, the conference will serve as a means to help you grow deeper in your understanding, and thus, your love for Jesus.  Make plans now to be a part of the, “It’s All About Jesus” conference here at Kershaw Second Baptist Church, March 26-28!

Let the record show I am composing the contents of this blog with sleepy eyes due to the homecoming of our third child, Ruthie.  (I had forgotten how much sleep you don’t get with a newborn.)  What I want to do in this blog is to encourage Christian parents toward a Biblical model of parenting.

The Bible is clear throughout it’s contents that children are a blessing from God.  When God chooses to bless your marriage with the birth of children you should spend time thanking Him for the blessing He has given you (Psalm 127).  But birth is only where the journey begins.  When God gives children to a couple He only gives them on loan for a little while.  Truth is, your children do not belong to you, they belong to God, and since they belong to Him they should be reared in a manner that is pleasing in His sight.

How do we do this?  I want to offer this one suggestion to Christian couples, rear your children, from birth, with the end in mind.  In other words know the goal God has in mind for your child and lead them that way throughout their lives.  God’s goal & instruction for parents is clearly expressed in Deuteronomy 6.  Parents, to summarize the contents of this chapter, are to teach their children the truth about God, so they in turn will know about Him, come to follow Him, and to live for Him throughout their life.  That is the chapter in a nutshell.  Albert Mohler, whose blog is linked to on this website, said concerning this important role of parents to teach their child, that “if parents do not teach their children about God, the only other alternative is for their children to grow up to be pagan” (Family Life Today program from September).  According to Deuteronomy 6, there are only two options for your children, they will either know God & love Him, or they will grow up to be pagan.  Whose responsibility is it to rear your children to know & love God?  It is yours, the parent!

Parent, training up your child the way God encourages you to do so, is a long process that takes many years (Ephesians 6: 4).  On the average you have about 18 years to instill a knowledge and a love for God into their lives.  If you don’t teach them this, trust me, Satan will have his posse more than ready & eager to lead them away from knowing & loving God.  You better take every opportunity possible to tell & teach your children the truth’s of Scripture.  This is your responsibility, not the Church’s.  The Church’s main responsibility is to evangelize the world & to disciple followers of God.  The responsibility for teaching your children about God lies in your court as parent!

We should follow the lead of Muslim’s & Mormon’s in this matter.  They parent with intentionality.  They are wrong in their teaching & desires, but they get it right when it comes to intentionality in parenting.  They are both having children & rearing them with a purpose, to spread their false truth’s throughout the whole world.  We as Christian parents hold tight to The Truth, but yet we are being outbread, for a lack of a better term by such groups as the two mentioned above, and we are being out-strategized when it comes to passing on this TRUTH to the world.  God may not necessarily call your child to pastor, or into vocational mission’s (Full-time missions abroad), but He does call them to a sold-out devotion to love & serve Him in whatever vocation they are called to.  Christian parents, lead intentionally in this.  Seek to build into your child’s life a knowledge & love for serving Jesus.  Have plenty of children to rear with this in mind.  The more Christian children we raise the more laborers to send forth into the harvest of lostness in our world.  Read the opening chapters of Genesis and you will see this was God’s plan from the beginning.  For this to be played out we are going to have to stop listening to the strategy of the world and start following the plan of the Savior.

Parents, love God!  Parents, know God!  Parent’s, teach your children about God!  Parent’s, model before your children this love & service to God before their lives!  Lead intentionally!

As most members of Kershaw Second Baptist Church know, next Sunday night, December 20th we will be handing out Christmas stockings filled to the brim with Christmas goodies to children from right here in Kershaw.  This is yet another way for us as a local body of believers, one small segment of Jesus’ body, the Church, to minister to people right here in our “Jerusalem”.  We are hoping & praying for a great turnout that night, not only from the families who are signed up to receive Christmas stockings for their children, but also from our own church family.  (Just one reminder, please don’t forget to prepare extra finger-food items for the night’s festivities.) 

Here’s why this kind of ministry is so difficult.  For one, and probably the biggest reason, many of the people we are hoping to minister to on this night will not look like us.  Meaning of course, the color of their skin, and even the way they will dress to come to this event will be much different than what we are used to.  For many of us, including myself, this is a hurdle that can be difficult to cross.  For some reason we judge people based on these criteria, and that is simply wrong/unbiblical/unchristlike!  Another reason these types of ministry are so difficult for church’s to participate in is due to the fact these people will probably never give anything in return, and they may never be able to.  They may never be back to sit on our pews.  They may never put any money in the offering plate.  They may never be baptized in our baptistry.  Truth is, they may never do any of these things anywhere else either.

So, why do this event, or any other event like this one?  Because we have a mandate from our Savior to make disciples of all people, from every nation!  Simply put, this IS the reason why we must do this type of event.  I know what some may ask, “But Jamie, are we making disciples of these people during this night?”  I would answer this question by saying we are helping to disciple/grow/mature our own members this night.  This night is certainly going to be a disciple-making night for those of us who are already saved.  We are carrying out this ministry with the intention of evangelizing our community, seeking to share the love of Jesus with those around us who may or may not know Jesus as Savior/Lord.  That is the first step in seeing anyone become a disciple of Jesus.  If people do not know Him, they can’t follow Him, and that’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

So, why do this kind of event then?  Many of these people, most lost people in fact, will never darken the doors of a church building to ever hear the gospel, without holding this type of event.  Most church members would never be able to, or maybe even willing to for that matter, share the gospel with the lost people we are hoping to have in our building on this night.  This is but one opportunity to bridge the gap that exists between us, them & their utter hopelessness/lostness from not knowing Jesus.  So, on this night we will have the opportunity to show, share, express, proclaim our love for them, but ultimately, the love of Jesus with them!  How do we have the capacity to love anyone without the love of Jesus filling our hearts? 

Now let me warn you!  Your children will probably wonder why they aren’t getting any gifts!  (By the way, any church member is welcome to sign their own children up for a stocking.)  As a parent, this will provide a great teaching moment to your children about gifts/blessings, in particular in relation to those who have nothing.  This event will provide a great opportunity for your children to serve with you, and to see you faithfully serving King Jesus.  Be prepared to teach/tell them that not everything is about us.  We are certainly willing to say that, but it is much harder to live-out this truth when put to the test.  It really is not about us.  This night will be be ultimately about Jesus, but because of Him it will also be about sharing Him with other people! 

You will never find an easier ministry/mission’s opportunity.  All you have to do is put a smile on your face, be prepared to walk up to strangers, and say “Hello”.  I look forward to serving King Jesus with all of you December 20th.  Pray God will give me clear, precise words to proclaim as I address the crowd that night.  Pray hearts will be receptive to hear God’s message.  Pray our members will have an open heart as well.  Let’s do well for Jesus’ sake!

Ed Stetzer, one of the guys I follow on Twitter, recently posted this quote from a message he preached this past Sunday:  “A ‘turnaround’ isn’t just about attendance.  A church has to turn from inward to outward–that’s a missional turnaround.”  I give you this quote because this is what God is looking for from His church in America.  This is the way I am seeking to lead Kershaw Second Baptist Church. 

Since I have been pastor of Kershaw Second Baptist Church this has been the message I’ve preached.  We are not to judge ourselves based on what/how other churches are doing, but rather, based on what God says, or would say about us.  My main concern is not with how many new members we are getting, or even how many baptisms we are having.  That is not to say that having new members is not important, because it is.  That is certainly not to say baptism’s are not important.  Baptism’s help a church to guage how evangelism efforts are going.  (Based on our baptism numbers our evangelism efforts are not going so well.)  Our main concern as a church should be how we are doing in fulfilling God’s mission to make disciples of our world.  That IS the mission of the Church.  Any church not doing that I would question their credentials as a church.  They are probably more of a family chapel or country club than they are a church.  For the church to accomplish this mission we have got to be outwardly focused, not inwardly focused.

What does it mean to be outwardly focused rather than inwardly focused?  Let me just say I am not even sure I know exactly how to answer that question.  (I have been meditating on this much lately, but am not sure I have quite put my hands on it.)  I have been raised in traditional, southern, church-belt churches that for my whole life’s existence have been much more inwardly focused than outwardly focused.  And from my ministry experience (God has allowed me to preach all over our state in various churches) that is the rule, rather than the exception.  Not much is said about reaching out and meeting the needs of the world around us.  Our churches all look a like, we all dress alike, and for the most part we all talk alike.  

In my opinion, to be outwardly focused rather than inwardly focused means we stop worrying so much about conducting services to “My/Our” liking.  It means we ask ourselves as a church, “How can WE meet the needs of hurting people in our communities, even when we may not ever get anything from them in return?”  It means we seek ways to effectively invest in people’s lives who do not know Jesus in our area, people who are not going to church anywhere.  It means we seek opportunities to engage people with the gospel of Jesus, in places outside the walls of the church building/away from church property.  It means we actually start living like Jesus lived. 

Are our churches doing this?  Read the paper this week.  It burdened me when I came to Kershaw, and it still does, to see how many churches run ads in the paper hosting fundraisers for trips and such, and how few churches are actually planning activities that will help  them engage their communities with the gospel.  Churches in the South for so long have sought to reverse God’s plan to fulfill the Great Commission by building large buildings, lifting up steeples, and putting up church signs (Which are usually filled with dumb quotes that lost people have no idea what they mean, or they offend lost people to the point of them never wanting anything to do with churches) all in an attempt to let the world know, “This is where we are, if you need us you know where to find us.”  That has been the pervasive mentality for so long.  God told us not to have a “Come & see” approach to mission, but rather a “Go & seek” approach to mission. 

That is why we are sponsoring a community-wide Thanksgiving meal.  That is why we are doing the Christmas Stocking ministry.  That is why we will continue to plan mission’s trips & mission’s activities, both for here (Our local area) and the world.  These are just some examples of how we are seeking to engage our lost community & literally our whole world with the gospel of Jesus the Christ.  We are identifying a need in our community, helping to meet that need & to share the life-changing gospel of Jesus.  Hopefully, prayerfully, many of these people will not look like us, talk like us, or act like us.  That will mean they probably are lost & our efforts have not been in vain.  We do believe Jesus wants to change, reach, save, transform the lives of lost people in Kershaw & throughout our world.  I/We should be sold-out to reaching out to our world.  This is God’s mission.  Is it our mission?

God does more for us than we will ever know.  He is always at work both in & around or lives.  That is true whether you believe in Him or not.  One of the things that amazes me about God the most is how He alone knows our hearts (He knows my heart & thoughts better than I do) and He loves us anyway & constantly blesses us in spite of our ingratitude, sin, selfishness, etc… As mere humans God deserves ALL of our lives, not just part of our schedule.  We will certainly answer to Him one day concerning how half-hearted we were in our devotion to Him & concerning our unwillingness to give Him everything. 

This past week I was once again reminded that God meets our every need.  Resisting the urge to poor-mouth, let me just say God met a specific need in my life & I just wanted to take space in my blog to thank Him for it.  I am certainly undeserving of His constant provision & I know I am certainly not as grateful as I should be.  I have been the recipient of God’s blessings every day of my life.  I hardly ever take the time to “Count My Blessings” as I should. 

It really is amazing how God continues to bless us in spite of our many faults & failures.  This truth is important for us to really grasp.  Here’s why, don’t we spend our time shunning those whom we don’t deam worthy of OUR love, devotion, attention, the so-called outcast & unworthy?  We as humans spend all our time judging some as worthy & others as unworthy.  Who among us is worthy of God’s faithful care & blessing?  None of us are, yet He continually blesses us in spite of it!  Think about this:  God chooses to bless even the atheist that deny His very existence.  We should also not deem others unacceptable for God’s love either.  God’s love/grace/mercy is certainly capable of forgiving the greatest sin/sinner, and we should spend our time sharing His news to the world!

We should spend our time living out our lives in worship & adoration to this God, Who loves us in spite of our sin.  He has met & constantly will continue to meet our every need, every day of our lives!  He has done it before & He will do it again.  We also should be mindful to teach these truths to our children so they will learn from an early age God can & should be trusted.  When we pray we should thank God for meeting our needs.  We should proudly, publicly express our gratitude to God for meeting our needs.  God is faithful!!!