Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Co-Operative Program and why I believe in it



Four reasons I believe in the Co-Operative Program (CP)?
1.      Missions – I do not know of any other better way to ‘do missions’ than through the CP. Many churches fund individual missionaries and those missionaries every few years have to come home to drum up support. But through the CP our church, working with many other churches, are able to fund 4,816 missionaries through the IMB who never have to return to the states to raise support. Our IMB missionaries saw 114,571 baptisms last year! Many of these missionaries serve in the 10/40 window; that part of the world that is highly unreached and where many people groups are unengaged for the cause of Christ. They are serving in some of the most hostile places to the gospel in the world. By giving to the CP we also support about 6,000 NAMB (North American Mission Board) missionaries. This number includes church planters, chaplains, student missionaries, and others. There is no other way for Eastwood to support 10,500 missionaries outside of the CP. If just 1,000 KBC church members gave $3 more per week, this would result in another $1 million for missions and evangelism though the CP.  
2.      Kentucky Baptist Convention Ministries – The various ministries of our Kentucky Baptist Convention could not and would not happen were it not for the CP. This past week I heard of an affinity evangelism event planned by our Baptist Campus Ministry (Tommy Johnson) at WKU involving 700+ sorority girls. Of these girls in attendance it was reported that about 250 gave their hearts to Christ. Evangelism and discipleship is happening across so many of our Kentucky higher education campuses through the work of BCM leaders funded primarily through CP. The work of the KBC evangelism and mission’s mobilization team is HUGE and it could not happen apart from CP. We read often of the high percentage of churches that are plateaued and declining and the number is staggering. The KBC is trying to turn that tide through their church revitalization and church consulting ministries. I know of a number of churches that are moving in the right direction because of this effort that would not happen apart from CP. Serving on the board of Sunrise Children’s Services (formerly Kentucky Baptists homes for children) for the past year has afforded me the opportunity to hear first-hand about the great work helping hurting children and their families through Sunrise. Much of their work would go undone were it not for CP. Many students are blessed with scholarship and aid at our Baptist institutions of higher education, our kids are being saved and called to the gospel ministry at our Kentucky camps, our KBC Women’s Missionary union is blessed financially by the KBC, the work of our state Baptist paper, and so many other efforts across Kentucky happen because we give to the CP.
3.      Seminary Education – as a Southern Baptist graduate of one of our six SBC seminaries, I have had a large portion of my education paid for by Baptists across our convention. By giving to the CP we are today helping educate about 16,000 future church leaders as well as missionaries to the world. There are untold thousands, maybe millions, which will be reached by these who are preparing right now to take the gospel to then ends of the earth. The future pastors of your church and mine are likely being trained at one of seminaries right now and much of their education costs are covered by the CP.
4.      An ethical voice to the world – The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC is dedicated to addressing social, moral, and ethical concerns, with particular attention to their impact on American families and their faith. They also provide print resources that offer scriptural responses to the moral and ethical problems of our culture. They are our voice to politicians regarding issues of importance to people of faith. They help educate us concerning the moral and ethical concerns of today that we might sound an intellectual voice of reason to our nation and world that has morally lost its way.
There are other reasons I believe in the CP. The hope here is to motivate some and educate others about the great work that goes on when we give to the CP. I am proud that our KBC has led the way in committing to a 50/50 split of all CP dollars given. Not only did our state convention commit to this split on a timeline well ahead of most all other state conventions, almost a decade earlier than the timeline that was originally laid out and approved, this has already been achieved. I am today a Southern Baptist by conviction. I grew up in a largely unchurched home with little church background outside of “Protestant” Easter services on whatever Army post my dad was stationed at. So when God called me to ministry I had a large number of denominations to choose from and I chose Southern Baptists because of what they believe and how they practice what they believe. While I am a Southern Baptist by conviction, I am a Kentucky Baptist by calling. I am grateful to the Lord for the day He saved me, the day He called me to the gospel ministry, the day He committed my heart to the work of Southern Baptists, and the day He called me to serve in the Kentucky Baptist Convention.  I am proud to serve alongside the people of Eastwood Baptist Church who are committed to sacrificial giving through the CP.



Tuesday, November 11, 2014

What a journey

I texted back and forth with my good friend Brent Austin tonight after the annual meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention came to a close. I thanked him for the fact that some 10 1/2 years ago he, and the pastor search committee of five, had enough confidence to recommend to Eastwood that they call a man from the hills of Tennessee to be the next pastor. Ten years ago last month this journey began and I am sure it has taken many of us who call Eastwood 'home' to places we never expected to go.

Many of you my Eastwood family have been on mission with God literally to the other side of the world carrying the Good News of Jesus to a lost and dying world. You probably had never given thought to ever going to East Asia or Africa or Europe and yet that's exactly where God has taken you. Others of you 10 years ago did not know Eastwood existed much less that the Lord would call you to join the church or come on staff at the church. And yet that is exactly what God did.

I too never imagined I would pastor a people as loving and compassionate as you. Don't get me wrong, I had pastored three great churches prior to coming to Eastwood, but there just something special about the relationship I have with you church family. Please hear my heart and know you are loved! Thank you to many in leadership, who when the topic of KBC leadership first came up as a possibility, you had faith in me and encouraged me to allow the Lord to open this door if it were His will. And Eastwood staff ... I am such a blessed pastor! You guys are incredible! Unless the Lord takes me on to glory, I hope He allows me to finish out my journey as a pastor not just of any church but of this church and I pray each of you are by my side as we serve the Lord in this place.

To my Kentucky Baptist Convention friends. Thank you for the trust you have extended by allowing me the opportunity to serve this year. In reflecting today, I thought of men like preacher Morrison in our church who pastored faithfully for about 50 years in Barren County. Guys like he and so many others who served faithfully for so much longer than I have and I'm sure because of their life and ministry experiences make them more qualified and deserving to hold this position than I.

Yet seemingly this is what God has called me to do this year and so I venture into unchartered territory for me. I am able to approach these days with confidence. Confidence not in my skills but rather in the God who has called me and the wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ He has surrounded me with. God has blessed our state convention with capable and godly leaders at our convention office and it will be my privilege, even if only for a season, to work alongside of them to make the name of Jesus known across our commonwealth. What a journey ...

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

'Broken Hallelujah"



On my way to the office today I was listening to Christian radio and I heard a song I have heard many times before. It’s a song titled “Broken Hallelujah” by a group called The Afters. As I listened again to the words, I realized this is where most of us live. We all have likely had those ‘mountain top’ experiences of faith where God has moved incredibly in our lives and like Peter in Matthew 17:4 where after Jesus had been transfigured on the mountain he said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” It IS good for us to have those times but alas the valley calls. We could never know what the mountain top looked like where there never any valleys. As life goes by it seems as though the valleys are deeper and darker and the mountain tops seem to be a little less frequent; the questions seem to come much quicker than the answers and we hang on to our faith as everything else seems to get stripped away.

If confession is good for the soul, I need to admit that my faith is often a lot more like Job’s than it is Peter’s on the mountain top. In Job 1 almost everything Job had was stripped away; his children, his wealth in his livestock, and soon his health would leave him as well. At the end of chapter 1, after all of this trouble has come into his life, I think we read his ‘broken hallelujah.’ Job has heard that his children perished in a storm and he demonstrates his grief by shaving his head and tearing his robe. But then the scripture clearly says “he fell to the ground and worshipped.” Do you think worship was easy here? Do you think Job really felt like worshipping? As praise is a part of worship do you think praise flowed easily from Job’s lips? I think all Job had to offer the Lord that day was a ‘broken hallelujah.’

The words to the song go like this: “I can barely stand right now. Everything is crashing down, and I wonder where You are. I try to find the words to pray. I don't always know what to say, but You’re the one that can hear my heart. Even though I don’t know what your plan is, I know You’re making beauty from these ashes. I’ve seen joy and I’ve seen pain. On my knees, I call Your name. Here’s my broken hallelujah. With nothing left to hold onto, I raise these empty hands to You. Here’s my broken hallelujah.”

That’s where I am living today; not in an absence of faith, but with a ‘broken hallelujah.’ There was a day that I would have felt less than spiritual to admit that praise was not an easy thing; that it did not readily flow from my lips. But I have watched too many pastor friends, out of feeling an obligation to be the epitome of spirituality to their people, set up a straw man for those same people; a man that when the winds of life blow is easily swept away. There are a lot of things I do as a pastor and I am SURE that not all of them are good. But one thing I try to be is transparent.

I know some of you reading this are on the mountain top right now with the Lord and like Peter, you tell the Lord “it IS good for us to be here.” But many others are in the valleys that invariably accompany the mountain tops and for you today your praise to the Lord is a ‘broken hallelujah.’ Here me when I say there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think a part of our faith walk is having those days when we find prayer difficult and praise unlikely. If that’s where you are I think affirming what Job did is enough. Job 1:21 records Job’s words as, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” … a broken hallelujah.

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