Bravely Onward!

When I was only 13 years-old, I damaged my knee in a sledding accident and I had to have surgery to repair it. I don't remember much about that day in the hospital, but I do remember learning that my youth pastor came to the hospital during the surgery to see how I was doing and to sit with my parents. I remember thinking, "Wow! He must really care about me because he came to the hospital to see me!" A phone call or get-well card would have been nice, but his willingness to take the time to come to the hospital in person made me feel very special and loved. Being present is of central importance in relationships. It's how we show people that they matter to us. Think of the reasons why you go to your friend's party for her one-year-old. You go in order to show your friend that she is important to you. You show up because you know that you are important to your friend. It's the relationship that gets you there (although the birthday cake might have had something...

What does it mean to belong to a church? What is the difference between being a church member and just going to church. The difference is a matter of commitment and community.    Last week we saw this difference expressed in the example of the early church. When we look at the picture painted in Acts 2, we see believers who are spiritually transformed people and who give themselves to Christ and to one another. The result was a church family that 1) pursued the scriptures, 2) sacrificed greatly in order to care for one another, and 3) saw God add to their numbers daily. These people did not just go to church, rather they gathered as a community of believers, loved one another deeply, and fulfilled commitments to one another.  What kind of commitments? First and foremost, we know that they were committed to a common faith. As a community of believers, they shared the belief that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord (Acts 2:36). We know they held together the conviction that peo...

Church Family, There are many people who go to church , but there are far fewer who belong to a church . The difference is a matter of community and commitment.  People who just go to church  do so because they are trying to do a good thing. They want to live a good life and so they figure that church should be a part of it. However, the problem for them is that there are a lot of good things to do, but not a lot of time. So, they attend church only once or twice a month...or year. They fall away because those other good things compete for their time and interest. They are drawn away. Later, these same people may try going to church again. Maybe they fell away because the church they attended was not interesting enough. Maybe it just wasn't helpful enough as they are trying to become better people. So, they try going to a different church with a more attractive building, music like what they hear on the radio, bigger and better activities for the kids, positive and encouragin...

 Hello,  Some church members were wondering where they can go and read about some of the happenings with the Southern Baptist Convention Which happened in June. Here are several links to Baptist Press which help to tell some of the stories: The resolutions passed during this and prior meetings-  https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/ Regarding the resolutions-  https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/messengers-overwhelmingly-affirm-resolutions-targeting-racial-reconciliation-hyde-amendment-equality-act/ The SBC Book of Reports gives reports from all the Southern Baptist Convention Entities. You can see the recommendations of the Executive Committee to the Messengers starting on page 51... https://sbcannualmeeting.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-Book-of-Reports-with-links.pdf The Book of Reports will eventually be included in the 2021 SBC Annual. SBC Annuals seek to record all the happenings among Southern Baptist entities during a given yea...

Church Family, One of my greatest joys is getting to watch people in our church grow in Christ. The way that we know people are growing is that they obey the commands of Christ.  Consider these expressions of obedience by our people... Many in our church are growing in their faithfulness to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Since January 1, fifty-nine of our church members have shared (or at least attempted to share) the gospel at least once. This is almost 20% of our church! I have watched some of our people share the gospel for the first time. I've seen others make evangelism a regular practice.  These fifty-nine have shared the gospel an amazing 634 times since January 1! People are responding to this evangelism by believing in Christ and being baptized. Since January 1, we have baptized 22 people! This is over 10% of our regular Sunday attendance.  How exciting it is to watch God's people obey Christ and make disciples! This said, we have a bit of an inconsistency....