Let’s be honest. Over the past few years there has been a lot of turbulence in the Southern Baptist Convention and a lot of that has been directed at the SBC Executive Committee, the SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF) and the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF). 

But let’s not overlook the opportunity to express appreciation when appreciation is due. 

I believe every Southern Baptist can agree that even a single instance of abuse in any church is one too many. A church should be the most obvious place people can take refuge from the brokenness of this world; where people can hear of God’s love and be ministered to by God’s people. A place where broken lives are mended.  [Read more…]

Easter comes early at our neighborhood discount store. They’ve been at this Easter thing since February 15th. Since the day after Valentine’s, the Easter goods have dominated the center aisles of the store. And believe me, I know the timing. Like most guys, I’m usually there to pick out a couple of last-minute Valentine things. 

As I rummage through the cards on the aisle that, by this point, looks as apocalyptic as a teenager’s bedroom, I notice through the door of the back room that it’s stuffed with Easter baskets, chocolate bunnies, plastic bouquets, egg coloring kits, and pastel candies. 

All the specialty Peeps are there too. Peeps were once just your basic yellow carbohydrate balls, but now there are blue raspberry Peeps, cotton candy Peeps, fruit punch Peeps, party cake Peeps, sour watermelon Peeps, coconut Peeps, chocolate caramel Peeps, and even “surprise Peeps” … and that’s just for starters. 

As I peek through the little submarine-like window in the back of the pharmacy, I see the Easter inventory staring back at me on carts, packed like sardines. They’re just waiting for the clock to strike midnight so they can take over the store. It’s so un-Easter like!  [Read more…]

I fear that many churches plan for weeks (or months) for Easter weekend, but then pray for only minutes over the weekend’s events.

To counter this tendency, I encourage you to use this list to pray individually and corporately with intentionality throughout this week. [Read more…]

Brady

The dark and evil act which took place at Covenant School in Nashville on March 27 has weighed on many of us with especially deep and heavy incalculable grief.  Maybe it looms larger because it’s just down the road.  Maybe it’s because many of us personally know some who are  affected.  Maybe the evil of it was compounded in our minds because it involved the deaths of three children and three adults in a Christian school.

There simply are no words.

Back packs on the wall and dead children on the floor is not the way it’s supposed to be.

Caskets of any size are not the way it’s supposed to be, but tiny caskets are especially not the way it’s supposed to be. [Read more…]

Customer service is a matter of perspective. What one person may deem acceptable may not be to another person. 

I think it is easier for folks to agree on what is bad customer service. 

I went into a popular fast food restaurant recently to buy some ice cream (for my granddaughter, not for me). I was the only person standing at the cash register. I waited and waited and waited some more. 

Now, if I see employees who are busy and working hard, I don’t have a problem. In this particular instance, there were about six or seven employees milling around. None were what I would define as so busy that they couldn’t have come and taken my order.  [Read more…]

As a pastor, there were simply days that were more discouraging than others; days I was blinded to God’s goodness around me as I focused on the occasional wave of problems, carnal people and difficult situations. 

God gave me this fix. When I was having one of those kinds of days, I took only a notebook and a pen and found a secluded room somewhere on our church campus. I would ask God to give me a clear picture of the victories He was winning, the miracles I missed and the forgotten moments of worship. 

After minutes of prayer to the Father and more minutes of simply waiting before the Father, the Holy Spirit would begin revealing to me all of the Kingdom accomplishments through the church I was pastoring. The list would grow, and after 30 minutes – or some days 90 minutes – a long list of blessings was revealed. It was literally a time to “count my many blessings. naming them one by one.” I just needed God’s help to see them.  [Read more…]