Praise

I was kind of off schedule eating today, and the whole family was hungry but I was not. I ran over to the church while they were eating. I was gone maybe 15 minutes. When I came back, I found something awesome: Joseph was reading John 10, "leading" the Bible study! He is really pumped up to find out when Jesus' "time" is.

I really cant ask for more than that, that the boys would know its time to read Scripture after the meal is finished!

Thankfulness

I suppose it doesn't take much to make me happy. I am so pumped to have a two-car garage, I don't know what to say. And, in a fit of un-American behavior, I have both cars in there! When I was a kid, my dad let me start the car in the morning. Of course, it was a trick to get me to be the one to go out in the German winter to scrape the windows... because first we had a 74 VW van, and the heaters were no good; and second, it was so cold it did not matter if you had heat anyway. I have ever since hated scraping ice in winter. Now, no more. Very thankful.

Nadia now says, "Powerbomb." She actually says, "Ba-bom." Then I power bomb her. Its awesome how good a wrestler she is. When I drop her on the bed she groans, "oh!" After she gets out of the bath tub, she asks for power bombs. Like dozens of times. She also imitates something else I do, that cheesy thing where you hold out both hands, with the index fingers pointing. She growls when she does that; not sure where that comes from... She also does the Elvis playing the guitar thing. like I said, doesn't take much to make me happy!

And then there is a great joy lately in our Bible study. We read from the Gospel of John at the dinner table. The boys have noticed talk in the Gospel of it not being Jesus' time. So tonight, reading John 9, Joseph asks excitedly, "is it Jesus' time yet?!?" I cannot wait to get to chapter 12!


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Quotation from Ichabod Spencer

Ichabod Spencer's "A Pastor's Sketches" is a great book. Spencer was a committed pastor, seeking to save souls, and his encounters with people needing the Lord and their various responses, is a great resource. This quotation struck a chord with me.

"I have often thought that a truly regenerate man cannot have any doubt about the total depravity of his heart. If he does not see THAT, he probably does not see his heart. And hence his repentance, his faith in Christ, his reliance upon the holy spirit will probably, all of them, be only deceptions."

Night Prayer

So a few nights ago, I was in my bedroom and Nadia had followed me in there. I was on the side of the bed away from the door, between the bed and the wall. She was right there with me. I turned off the light and realized right away that I should have left it on... not only for me trying to stumble around the bed in the dark, but also for Nadia. I thought she will feel all alone in the dark, not able to see me, trying to find her way out from the corner. I felt her grab my leg and then next thing I knew, her hand was in mine and we just walked like nothing.

I am glad for such confidence in prayer, to stumble along in the night and reach up a hand knowing the Father is there.

We Have Work To Do

Still don't think it's serious?

Still don't think the Gospel is precious and time is short?

I was walking back from the store, cherry pepsi in hand. Walked a back way, a kind of skid row by the hospital where some shotgun houses are. in front of some kind of apartment there was an old upholstered chair sitting in the weather. On the arm rest was an old phone receiver positioned perfectly on a piece of paper. And here is the piece of paper, and what it says:





















If you can't read it, it says, "The first person who tells me 'there is a God,' may go to Hell forever. I don't know, but they don't either."

No one home, but I will find him. Times are strange, Morehead Methodists. Are you ok paying me to hunt these people down? I usually don't do much hunting-- they find me, or letters like this crop up in my life more than I can explain.

I won't be able to sleep tonight. I hope you won't either. Get down on your knees and pray. Lord, break our hearts.

Retreat

I spent Mon-Wed at the Upper Room in Nashville, for the second and final retreat of the Companions in Ministry project. CIM tries to spiritually equip pastors to form small groups to help carry on the work of ministry without burning out.

It was a good time of being away, apart, in an environment suited for reflection. We were led again by Trevor Hudson, a great South African Methodist pastor. I have had time to think about how and why it is that two S African pastors, Peter Storey and Trevor Hudson have had the impact they have had on me...

Trevor Hudson does a wonderful job of opening us up to ways Jesus wants to work in our lives. A good Methodist, he knows that we must be transformed by the love and grace of Christ before we can be any earthly good.

At the end of the day, having some time and some space and having some leadership from Trevor, I got to a place that God has taken me twice before on retreat: a very simple command, a very clear word from Him for my spirit: "Go home and love your wife and children."

I suppose I should want to unpack that; or perhaps you need me to. Oh well. It is what it is.

Staff Meeting

Something just happened. We finished staff meeting... And then everyone just hung out and there was lots laughter and hanging out.

Something good happening when the staff just kicks around


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Forgot My Bible

I left my Bible in the Upper Room Chapel after Trevor Hudson preached.

I went back to the bookstore to get it. The woman behind the desk said, "I can tell it is precious to you. I looked for a name but saw what you had written in it and all your bookmarks..."

She has no idea how precious it is to me. Perhaps even I had no idea.

It's a Bible I have lost numerous times.

I have been blessed so much recently, and to find my Bible again, and to hear "I could see how precious it is to you..." that tops it all off.

There is so much noise and talking; blogs and songs; so many people talking about God. Listen to Him in His Word.

I suppose some of what has come from this time of retreat is an encouragement in and intensification of a direction I received from the Lord about 4 years ago: the sermon is to be written in and from the prayer bench not the study desk; and I am to give Him His Words back, not to speak mine.

And saying that I am and have been aware that this could be a bludgeon--are my sermons infallible pronouncements of Truth? Only insofar as they are in accordance with the Word. Get your Word out! Do not, oh do not ever let the preacher or latest devotional book be your authority! Let only God reign in your heart and mind!


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This morning

I hope everyone had a great Lord's Day!

I was preaching out of Exodus 15:1-5, Miriam's Song about the destruction of the Egyptian army, sermon on salvation.

There were two Chinese men there, who work at a local restaurant. A woman who does some work in China brought them. One is a Christian and his friend is "learning." They need an early service, and we have one, and the woman said she had heard great things about our church. That's amazing. man, what if we got an in to do work in China? What am I saying! We need to import their Christians here! They'd rip it up!!

At the altar in the two sanctuary services, people came to the altar as I asked them to thank God for His great power of salvation. Some came because they were seeking literal, powerful salvation for those sick to the point of death. Others themselves are in that place where their days are much shorter than longer. In the early service two men were there seeking and thanking Him and all I could say is "He is a good God" and tears began to flow.

Can't Believe I Forgot

At the revival this week I was so blessed. I got to meet some truly sweet people who have great hearts full of love for the Lord. I was really touched during the prayer time when one of the men said he thought they should go ahead and bring me back next year and I could see that they had been revived. A preacher can't ask for more than to know people want you back, because in revival you have to say some frank things.

I told him that I would love to but they really needed to seek the Lord. Maybe my message is just for a season. Later one of the dear saints told me that they could only make that decision by prayer and fasting. How happy I was to hear that! A church can go a long way with people who will fast.

And then... the last night of the revival... How blessed was I to see seven people from the Morehead church! I was shocked and touched... People drove an hour to the little country church. What more can you ask for than for people to support you like that?


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Revival, Family, Random Notes

I was invited to preach revival at Rose Hill United Methodist Church in Nicholas County, Kentucky. A new friend, Jimmy Humphries is the pastor there. I have to say, I was really blessed by the time and the people!

Rose Hill is a small country church with a part-time pastor. Which is to say they are small and dwindling. Country churches have generally had trouble navigating the modern American cultural/religious landscape. Their problems mirror the problems of country people generally.

Our society in some ways pays homage to the countryside as the place where our roots are, where we were forged as a nation. We can romanticize it sometimes. We think we'll all go back to the farm and all will be well.

But we also denigrate the country-- backwards yokels; a boring place; not sophisticated-- and I'm being kind with what is thought and said.

I heard from one old man in the church something I had never thought about: the church, he said, had always been poor. So I was struck by how much, indeed, they have done over the 100 or so years they have been there.

Our country churches built our denomination. They constitute the vast majority of our roughly 40,000 churches. They represent a time when Methodists CONSTANTLY planted new churches. We literally went everywhere there was a community of people. We've quit doing that and these little pioneer churches are struggling to find their way in a depopulated countryside and an American scene that has let go of religion. I don't think we are as much anti-Christian as we are apathetic about it. Who knows, our churches might grow radically if we were being beaten and imprisoned for our faith.

Of course, this is just a snapshot of the issues facing small churches. Wendell Berry can explain it much better than I can.

And, you know me, I am not pessimistic about the work of the Lord. So my message to the folks over the past 5 nights was to remind them of all that God has done for them and how because of such great love and power we cannot be silent about it. We have to speak about it, tell our neighbors what God has done in our hearts and bodies.

So I talked to them about being willing to follow this great Lord to the places He went to preach the Good News, to places where we have never been: the house down the road; among the unsavory characters of our community; to the good folk who simply do not know Christ...

It's a veyr simple thing. It's so easy that no one believes it's true. There is only one thing you must do to help a small church grow: invite your neighbors. All the time. Even two years later when they still have not come. It would be a simple thing for each small Kentucky church to grow by 5 people per year. That would add 3000 or more people to the church.

All you have to do is invite them.
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The boys had Fall break Thursday and Friday. We had some hiking plans Thursday, but rain kept us in, so we worked on the robot. We had a good time learning how to use its color sensor to see colors and then respond. The cool thing is that John adn Joe programmed it, using the graphical programming language and entering the settings. It is really fun to see them do this. Today we are going to finish the first big project and make a robot that shoots balls. NIce.

Thursday night, we left revival and drove to Dayton, OH. Not very far, really. Friday morning we spent at the Air Force Museum. I lived in Fairborn, Ohio, outside Dayton, in 4th grade while my dad was stationed at Wright-Patterson. I loved the Air Force Museum then and had not been back in 30 years. It is still awesome!

In Louisville I met a guy who had flown P-47s in WWII. It was neat to see the plane. I guess as an Air Force brat you like to see how planes developed from the Wright Brothers' first machine to the F22, and all the stuff in between. Remember that the Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics and inventors!

My brother and I used to sit outside and name the planes by how their engines sounded. I love the smell of JP-4 in the morning.

Got to see the B-29 that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. Sobering to see the thing.

I came back with a stash of my favorite toys as a kid: balsa wood planes with rubber-band powered propellers. We used to put fire crackers on them and let them fly and we'd "shoot down" the commies.
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I was looking on my shelf and realized I have two volumes of all of Shakespeare's plays and poems. It's weird how what was once fairly popular culture--go to the play, people reading the plays together of an evening-- is now largely an academic pursuit. Same with Dickens or Eliot or Hardy; in their day people eagerly awaited the serialization of their novels. Now, you have to take a 300 level or above British Lit class to read them!

And I know that we have tv now. And cars so we can go different places. Entertainment has changed. But... the weekly installments of The Office or whatever... we have really descended!

If we are looking for peace and quiet, we'll have to pretty much shred just about everything we're doing.

I Don't Even Have to Pack My Bags

...the Misty Mountains are just outside my door!

It's interesting; I have been trying to make sure that I don't take the view of the hills outside the church, outside my door for granted. Morehead very quickly shows you that it is a special place, in terms of its location and its people and its institutions. You see why people come and don't leave.

Well, Sunday, after church as I was greeting people at the door, three people commented on how beautiful the mountain looked as the Fall colors were coming out. I told them of my desire to not take it for granted, to hopefully not wake up one day and just not even acknowledge it's there. We always take stuff for granted, and I guess we have t make some priorities about what we won't let become ho-hum.

Well, as the colors come on, there is even more reason to rejoice. In the lushness of summer, it is a mass of green, and it's top undulates.

Now, it is not only getting colorful, it is getting wispy. You can see individual trees by their bare branches, and the outline of the top looks almost frail.

Hard-Core Books on the Desk

Catholic Apologists are doing a great job pounding away at the Reformation cornerstones. Of particular interest to me is the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, that Scripture is the standard of authority for the churches, and that everything that is necessary to salvation is contained in the pages of Holy Writ.

Many of the Protestant Pastors who have converted to Catholicism have done so because they believe there must be some extra-biblical authority (Tradition and the Teaching Magisterium of the Catholic Church) to explain what Scripture means.

So here are some important books to help you understand Sola Scriptura. Methodists particularly need to work hard to hold on to this doctrine.

Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of our Faith, vol. 1 by David King: A Biblical Defense of the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura published 2001 by Christian Resources

Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of our Faith, vol.2 : An Historical Defense of the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura, by William Webster published 2001, by Christian Resources

Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of our Faith, vol. 3: The Writings of the Church Fathers Affirming the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura, eds. David King and William Webster published 2001, Christian Resources

Disputations on Holy Scripture, William Whitaker (Whitaker's treatise against Robert Bellarmine) from 1588. Republished by Soli Deo Gloria

Evangelism Encouragement

I got to thinking about putting together a chronology of people and methods that came together in helping me find faith in Christ.

The first witness I remember came my freshman year in Texas. I had ridden my bike maybe 15 or 20 miles and stopped at my high school where I saw some guys playing football. I joined in for a bit and then cussed at being covered too tight to get open. A guy told me they were Christians and didn't like talk like that.

Summer of tenth grade I think, a guitarist in a band witnessed to me about saving faith in Jesus. I just didn't get it.

Summer of 11th grade a guy with me at a summer camp talked to me about Jesus dying for our sins and did I want to accept Him as savior. No, I didn't.

I remember being perplexed that in college, far from the open-mindedness I expected to find, Christians were ridiculed, and I was only too happy to join in here and there.

Junior year college I met a guy named Larry Isitt who began a long conversation (5 years) of why I was an atheist, what the Bible says about humanity and God...

Sometime in my senior year, two girls from a Baptist Church knocked on my door and asked me if I knew where I would go if I died tonight. I was probably a few sheets to the wind no doubt, but I answered truthfully if snarkily, "Southern California." True enough, my mom would come get me and bury me there. I just did not know how to think about eternity. And I am not sure they really asked it very well. [I need to make a note here. Some people hate the Evangelism Explosion question. Too bad. It may not be elegant, organic or whatever, but it works when the time is right. My experience is not any kind of condemnation of that method. It's just where I was... or was not... in my process of getting to know my need for God]

In grad school, a combination of Larry, Dane Conrad, Drew Barnes and two professors, Stan Hauer and James Sims, really worked me over with their positive lifestyles and intellectual abilities. You can see at this point I remember names. SOme of that is because it is closer in time, I was an adult, etc, but the single biggest factor is that the seeds that had been planted had grown and now I had a greater consciousness of the things of God, so His messengers seemed more lovely and I was paying a lot more attention.

Around that time I got my Gideon's Bible, my first Bible.

And there nearing the end of my MA in English, in October of 94, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.

I put this together quickly. But I hope it is useful to you in your evangelizing, to see that the work crosses time and space and methods, and that if it were a human endeavor, there is no way to have planned the guys playing ball in Texas, the guitarist in California or a former Air Force medic in Mississippi to come together to bring someone to faith.

But the Holy Spirit is active in places and ways that are beyond our comprehension.

Those two Baptist girls do not know that I got saved.

I hope that they, and you, know that it is not important for us to know that someone accepted Christ. It is nice and wonderful to know that someone we desired to be saved is saved, even better if we are the ones who get to help them directly there!

I just want you to be the guys playing ball, to be someone nameless, faceless, unremembered along the way to someone giving their life to Jesus.

No one will come to faith unless believers are those kind of witnesses. So keep on keeping on!!