Starting the Day

It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day in the Ozarks today.  It's not often that Chris and I work the same schedule and are able to car pool, but this is the second day this week. I suppose the fact that I haven't traded into the additional mid-shifts this week has something to do with it.

I have a little bit of additional time this morning while Chris is getting ready, so I thought I push out a few words on Out of My Hat.

Tomorrow is the first day of Hopedale's Children's Camp. As of last night, we have 71 kids signed up! I'm not sure of the number of adults, but I do know that there are several first time adult helpers coming this year. Even though I'm not completely ready for camp, I'm really looking forward to it this year.  There is just something about the way the Holy Spirit has been moving at Hopedale recently that makes my expectations of camp ... well, it's hard to put into words--exciting doesn't seem to get it. There is just an anticipation of something great and I can't wait to see what happens.

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I joined the small group study on David Platt's Radical last night.  It's a killer book but I'm not sure how I feel about it as a group study, especially one that has so many people in it.  It's really the kind of book that you have to close the door and take your spiritual beating in private. It's the kind that forces you to ask God questions about your own spiritual growth and there really is no way for somebody else to help you with the answers.  That said, it was a good class.

Reading through the 100+ year old book In His Steps is like reading through the 1897 version of Platt's book.  It's like a century old version of the struggle of Christians to impact their world with the Gospel the way that Jesus meant for the church to impact the world.

Both books get my recommendation for a good Christian growth book.  Check them out.

Time to finish getting ready.

John <><

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Priorities

Friday is the start of our Hopedale Baptist Church Kids' Camp.  Our theme this year is about the priorities of the heart.

In examining the theme and preparing the messages for the kids, I can't help looking at the priorities of my own heart with a critical eye. Perhaps they are in need of some adjustment.  Certainly, one has to begin with the question, "What is the priority of my heart?"

As a follower of Jesus, I think of the lawyer that approached Jesus to inquire about the greatest law (there were over 600 laws according to the Jewish tradition).  Jesus responded by saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."  

There are many of us that say we are Christians; followers of Jesus, but how many of us are really His disciples?  How many of us are students of His teachings?  Isn't that what it means to be a Christian?  How can we follow the Great Commission command of "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" if we haven't studied the things that He has commanded us?

Paul wrote that he wanted to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection; to share in His suffering; to become like Him in His death (completely submissive to the Father). I think that this is the mark of a true disciple--to want to know Jesus; to want to know how He lived and what He taught ... and how He died.  And to understand the power of the resurrection that we might also experience eternal life through Jesus.

In the end, I have to ask myself, "Is following Jesus the priority of my heart?"  And if it's not, then what is?  Am I more concerned with the things that I want for myself? Or the things that the world tells me that I should strive for?  Am I driven by peer pressure and motivated by money and the comfort that it buys?  Do the cares  and worries of everyday life have a greater influence on my decisions than the teachings of Jesus?

Really...what is the priority of my heart?

At the suggestion of a preacher friend, I've started reading the book In His Steps by Charles M Sheldon. The book was first published in 1897 and has sold more than 30 million (yes, that's more than 30,000,000) copies.  I'm sure that countless others have read the book by borrowing from friends, the library or reading it for free online (as I am). It is the book that may have inspired the widely used question, "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD)

I'm only a few chapters into the book but can already see the struggles faced by those that choose to live by Jesus' principles in a capitalistic society. I haven't yet reached the part about the blessings received (I am assuming this part is to come) from following Jesus.  If you would like to read this book and don't mind online reading, you can find it here.

So, what are your priorities?
God, family, country?
Wealth?
Fame?
Power?
Is it important that we list our priorities?
Or is it possible that we could just focus on one thing?

What if our only priority--our only concern--is a right relationship with God through Jesus?  Wouldn't everything else fall into its proper place?

If our relationship with God is right, then we can't be a poor spouse or a lousy parent; the nature of our relationship with God won't allow it.
If our relationship with God is right, then we can't be a poor employee or an over-bearing employer; the nature of our relationship with God won't allow it.
If our relationship with God is right, then we can't be a rebellious child, a cranky neighbor, a self-centered citizen, a complainer, gossip, trouble maker or just a grouchy person; the nature of our relationship with God won't allow it.

If our relationship with God is right, then everything else does fall into its proper place.

I hope that you'll excuse me, now.
I have some relationship work to tend to.

John <><

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Purpose Driven: Thinking Out Loud (so to speak)

In Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church, he identifies five purposes of the church: worship, discipleship, ministry, fellowship and evangelism.

I was thinking of these purposes and how they fit into our local church (Hopedale Baptist) in particular and most churches, in general.  I found that we (Hopedale) are doing three of the five well (worship, discipleship, fellowship), one that we're working on (ministry) and one that seems to have been set aside (evangelism).

Let me say a few things about my observations:
I make these statements looking at the church addressing each of these purposes corporately.

We worship well as a church body.  I really love the spirit of worship that is found at my church.  I know that our Heritage service is not for everybody and I know that some don't care for the music of the Neos service.  I am at both services on most Sundays (that I'm home) and really enjoy both of them.

Our Adult Bible Study programs on Sunday morning and Wednesday night are designed to help a person develop and grow in their Christian knowledge and faith.  Our AWANA program, Sunday School and Children's Church are teaching our kids about the Bible and the Christian way of life. I think that as a body, we are doing discipleship well.

When it comes to fellowship--well, I just like hanging out with my Hopedale friends. Large groups, small groups, or individuals; I really like being with these people.  Sure, we could do more in promoting 'out of church' get togethers, but the times that we are together for fun are ... well, fun.

I think that we are really beginning to develop into a ministry minded church.  I see evidence of our looking outward towards people in need more every day. This pleases me.  And I believe that it pleases God, too!

Corporately, we are working on these four of the five purposes quite well.

However, (with the exception of AWANA) we are doing little in the way of corporate evangelism.  For the most part, we seem happy to leave that to the paid staff; the clergy; the professionals.  While individuals develop relationships with non-believers, we rarely take it to the point of sharing our faith and often feel ill equipped to do so.  I think that we were really working on good corporate evangelism several years ago when we were using FAITH.  We were encouraging, teaching and providing the opportunity for many members to tell others about their faith in God.  But, like most 'programs', it ran it's course, got old, and was replaced by something newer and less effective.

What would it look like if a church was to be purposeful about corporate evangelism?  How would you go about encouraging every believer to tell the story of God's great love and saving grace?
I know that we say that's what we do--encourage individuals to share their faith. But what if we got serious about it and really encouraged, equipped and helped them to share their faith?  What if we quit using worship as a tool for evangelism (you know that's what we do) and just let it be worship, but used everything else (discipleship, ministry, fellowship) as tools for evangelism?

What if we became purposeful about evangelism?

John <><

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Kids Against Hunger

This morning several of the kids from our youth group and four adults joined with a few other people to package dried food packages to be sent overseas. We met at the Springfield Kids Against Hunger facility and worked for just under two hours.

Each package of dried food contains rice, soy protein, dehydrated vegetables and a vitamin packet. We were told that each package would make six meals, although it seemed more like it would make six side servings to our normal American size meals.  A 'meal' (a single serving) is just under 230 calories. (A McDonald's McDouble is 390 calories.)  

I almost talked myself out of going this morning. I was pretty wiped out after working the mid-shift. I'm glad that I went. I enjoyed the work and the conversation with our Jr High boys' teacher. At the end of our two hours, we had boxed up enough product to supply 6,264 meals. I'd say it was a pretty productive couple of hours.

We bought enough product so that we could prepare it for our youth Sunday School class tomorrow and let each of them have a 'meal' tomorrow morning. It is a great reminder of how abundant our blessings really are.

John <><

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Tell Your Story

You have a story. Tell it!

John <><

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And the Fun Begins...

Last night was a grand evening at Baptist Hill Camp in Mt. Vernon MO.  This was the first time in several years that I was not at the Tri-County Baptist Association Children's Camp for the entire week.  By all accounts, they had a great week.

I feel very blessed to have been invited to share the Gospel on the closing night of camp.  I don't know what happened earlier in the week, but I do know that there were several kids and one parent that committed to become followers of Jesus last night. I know that the kids got to hear testimonies from the college students and workers about what Jesus means to them and that has a far greater impact than anything that I might do or say.  I am so impressed by students that give their summers to minister to kids and serve in His Kingdom.

Next weekend is Hopedale's kids' camp.  They keep asking me back as camp pastor and I keep having as much fun as any of the kids.  The advantage for me is that while the kids are limited to few years from second to sixth grade, I've been there long enough that the kids that were there my first year are already in college!

Officially, summer doesn't begin for another ten or eleven days -- but it looks like it's going to be a great one!

John <><

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Back to real Life ...

I have a few moments this afternoon so I thought I'd write a few words about our vacation.

Chris and I had a wonderful time. It was our first trip to Mazatlan, Mexico and our first vacation without kids in a very   l   o   n   g   time.

Honestly, part of vacationing in Mexico always bums me out a little bit. So much of the country is very poor.  Even in the resort areas, evidence of the poverty is all around you. Having said that, I am even more thankful for the many blessing that I have.

We spent more time at the hotel than we have in the past.  Most of our time was spent in the pool with our new friends from Canada. It seems that Canada supplies Mazatlan with most of its tourist money with the USA falling in at third behind Canada and Mexico.  I only met four -- count 'em, four -- other English speaking tourists from the US and the rest of them were from Canada.

Notes about Canadians:

I think that it's common knowledge that 'eh?' is an all purpose ending to just about any Canadian sentence, eh?  What I didn't know is that 'yeah, yeah, yeah' is a common beginning phrase when conversing with our friends from the north.  It's not the same slow 'Yeah,    yeah,    yeah' that you might hear from a US native--you know the kind that really means "Whatever! I'm not really paying attention to you and I have something of real value to add to the conversation."  It's said very quickly; like a single word--yeahyeahyeah, and is a way of agreeing with what you just said before continuing with their contribution to the conversation.

We've been to Mexico during the World Cup and everything really slowed down when Mexico was playing.  Large screen projectors were set up for watching the games (along with the snack bar and drink bar) and hotel employees went out of their way to slowly walk past that area and get a glimpse of the game.
This week was Canada's version of soccer's World Cup--the Stanley Cup.  And true to their national sport, they tracked down a small sports bar that showed the hockey games so that they didn't have to miss a single minute of ice time.

Chris learned that it's best to be careful when saying something funny to a Canadian. One of our new found friends spewed a mouthful of drink right back into Chris' face one afternoon.  Another Canadian just nodded her head and said, "That's the problem with telling a joke to a Canadian -- they're always drinking!"

We talked about family, work, travel, food, weather and life.  We shared our experiences on day trips into town, island excursions, horseback riding, fishing trips and restaurants. We ate together, watched the evening entertainment together and laughed together.  We exchanged e-mail address and parted with a hope that we might meet on vacation another time.

All-in-all, a good week!

Now it's back to work and back to fun. I'm getting ready to head out to a kid's camp where I get to have a little fun with magic and sharing of the Gospel story. Then I'm off to work for another mid-shift.

God is great.
Life is good.

John <><

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