Life Goes On

You've heard the old sayings "What goes around comes around." and "There's nothing new under the sun." It occurred to me this week that modern society gives credence to these adages. The original sin was launched by the question, "Did God really say 'You can't eat from any tree in the garden?'" That seemingly innocuous question put a doubt in Eve's mind that led to her succumbing to the temptation to check to see if God was really serious about His admonition. Unfortunately for her, and for all mankind, He was very serious. All the enemy had to do was raise a doubt. We still face the same question over and over today in many ways. Some examples are: The speed limit; conventional wisdom says that the posted sign of 70 mph allows you to go at least 75 without fear of being caught. Lying: we have created incremental lying; white lies, fibs, lies, and big honking lies. Theft: It is OK to take someone's work by plagiarizing...

Even writing this post is convicting to me. My passion for seeing people born into the kingdom of God is at best intermittent. As I look around in my city and county, I can't find a church that demonstrates a real passion for seeing the lost come to Christ. Most of the churches are content to hold on to what they've got, or grow by "swapping sheep" with other churches and hope they can get some two-for-one deals along the way. This week I led a conference session on "Sharing Your Faith" for a group of Sr. Adults. Amazingly, fifty people showed up and packed a room designed for about half that many. (even in our planning we don't expect people to be interested in learning how to share their faith) As we discussed how to tell our salvation stories, how to share the gospel using only one verse of scripture (John 3:16), and how to use the "Bridge to Life" illustration, there was a genuine sense of excitement in the room. Of course the "...

Currently I'm working with two churches; one a small, mostly Sr. Adult church and the other a First Baptist in a small town. Both are currently without a pastor. I'm serving as Interim pastor for one (the small church) and helping with pastoral ministries for the the other. The thing that I'm finding true in both is that they are striving to continue doing "business as usual" (whatever that means). They are missing a great opportunity to make some changes that have long been needed. I have a friend who often says, "The best time to make changes is when change is happening." The loss of a pastor is change. Obviously things will be done differently because those who remain have different gift sets, strengths and weaknesses. The key to adapting to the current situation is that someone or some group must step up and take responsibility for leading. That doesn't mean there should be a power struggle. Unless someone steps forward, it is very easy...

Since June of this year I have been involved in three funerals and will be doing another this coming week.  Thankfully, each of the deceased were strong Christians and had lived their faith in such a way that comforting the believing family and friends was easy.  At each funeral I do, I always present the gospel, believing that this is a vulnerable moment for any un-believers in the audience.  There are certain times when people are more open to the gospel than others, and I believe that we should discern those times and boldly seize the moment to present the good news. Just last week when I did this, two people, including a relative of the deceased, gave their lives to Christ.  We did not have an “altar call” as such, but after I had prayed a prayer of repentance and faith and invited any one to make that prayer their own, I asked that those who did pray that prayer please open their eyes and make eye contact with me.  This in no way took away from the servic...