God's Leadership and Blessing

I get away 2 or 3 times each year for a dedicated week of study and sermon preparation. It is such a huge help to have sermon ideas planned well ahead of time.

I have been having such a "week" this past week. Some are better than others and this one has been a good one. I really sense God's leadership and blessing. Studying His Word is always a personal blessing, but sensing His leadership in a special way is awesome.

Many of your pray for me regularly. I greatly appreciate those prayers. Preaching is one of my greatest joys and biggest responsibilities. It is also the area where Satan would love to distract me the most. He "got NO victory" in that this week, and I rejoice in that.

I couldn't wait to get back home and I couldn't wait for this past Sunday. Not just the preaching, but for the chance to worship, and to be with my church family. I love church. I love worship. I love preaching His Word and learning from it. I love my church family. I love Jesus.

Hope you do too. Get it? (you say, “got it!!”)

Today's Thoughts

In my devotional time today, I was blessed to continue to read “Miss Nan’s” devotional guide. Knowing this precious woman personally really taints my opinion of her writings.
She is so transparent in her unwavering love for Jesus and His church. She is an amazing woman.
God laid on my heart the desire to reaffirm my heart’s cry to change people’s lives – for Jesus.
I am so hungry to help folks navigate through these rough times and come to Christ.
As people lose their jobs, live in fear of these economic times – they are more open to Christ than ever. As a Christian, we are to live in a way that pagans are stunned and drawn to Him.

Pray with me as so many of our people face these difficulties with God’s strength. Pray for our church – our financial situation is nothing more than the cumulative reflection of the faithfulness of our folks.
Pray for us to be able to do more with less – all for God’s Glory.

He's So Good to Me

THANKSGIVING is over and CHRISTMAS is close. 

I had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving.  As I said Sunday, LuAnne and I had ALL of our kids and “in-laws” with us for Thanksgiving.  It was AWESOME.  We’ve never done that before.  We have for years gone to my home in Spartanburg for Thanksgiving.  Not this year.

This year we had Heather and Andrew and kids (Aidan and Rylee), Alan and Brycie, and Kayla all with us.  Jordan (Kayla’s fiancé) even dropped by for a while.

LuAnne cooked a BIG dinner for us – with help from us all, especially Andrew, who loves to cook.  Great fellowship, lots of love, plenty of games, a lot of laughter – unforgettable.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but I needed this.  My family needed this.  God knew it and blessed us all.  He is so good!

If you went to Sunday School or Children's Choir as a child, you probably remember this little chorus..."God is so good.  God is so good.  God is so good.  He’s so good to me.”  When your day isn't quite going as well as you had hoped, sing this little song as a reminder of all the great things He has done... and most of all, thank Him for Jesus.

Florida Baptists

Yesterday was a "less than stellar" day.  I love my convention and my denomination.  I have been a Southern Baptist all my life.  I LOVE serving the Lord in small ways through serving Southern Baptists.

I was asked by several of my pastoral friends several weeks ago to pray about allowing my name to be submitted as a nominee for President of the Florida Baptist State Convention. If you've been around McGregor, you may remember that we hosted this meeting at our church only two years ago.  It was a sweet time for all.

I was not elected – and by the smallest margin perhaps in the history of the convention.  12 votes. Less than one percent.

In my heart, my love for our state convention has only grown.

So I ask you to join me in praying for our new President, John Cross.  He is my friend and my brother in Christ.  John is the pastor of South Biscayne Baptist Church in North Port.

The highest calling in ministry is already mine – to pastor the greatest church on the planet – McGregor Baptist Church.  Nothing could deter my enthusiasm for that calling.

Can’t wait for the Lord’s day – it’s all for Jesus!!

Back to Blogging

Ok, Ok – I know, I haven’t blogged in … well, too long.    My deepest apologies.

Like my good friend, Mark Bricker, I re-commit to being more faithful to this thing.  Speaking of Mark, he's leading a group folks on a cruise for a marriage retreat.  Since I'm here on land, I hope the water's not TOO rough. :)

We have a group in Peru sharing Jesus in the mountains close to the edge of the earth.

We’re just doing our thing – what God has called us to do – win souls and disciple believers.

That part is going really well.  I talked to twelve – count ‘em – a smooth dozen -- folks this week who were new believers or new to the “discipleship” thing of following Jesus.  They are so fun to talk to – so hungry to grow.  It’s refreshing to be around them.   Pray with me for them, as they yield their life to the Lord – it’s all new to them.

DANGEROUS FAITH – fun series that really hits us ALL close to home – our heart of faith and trust in Jesus.  There seems to be a lot of interest in the blog site, mydangerousfaith.com ... Lots of comments and interaction – new to me, it’s cool.  Join the discussion!

My son, Alan, sang at 7 services at Saddleback this past weekend.  It was like a “special” song that went at the end of Pastor Rick Warren’s sermon.  So proud as a dad to see my kid singing for Jesus.  Love my kids – we’re blessed with three wonderful kids that love Jesus – and two spouses that are awesome –and another one “in line” – awesome.

My grandson, Aidan, turns two next week, so we’re heading to Tampa this weekend for the big party.

My prayers will be with the awesome RISK conference with almost 200 men in attendance.  Wish like crazy I could be there, but the family didn’t check my schedule when they planned this party.  God will bless big time in the hearts of those men.  Praying that lives will be changed!!

Life is good.  Jesus is awesome.

Isn't it Ironic?

Life is full of little ironies – if you don’t let them slip past you. 

As a church, we just celebrated our 50^th Anniversary.  It was by all accounts a GLORIOUS day.  Great stuff in the morning service: great worship, baptisms, testimony and a “look back over our shoulder” at where we have come from.   Yet, we GET IT that we still have much work to be done.  We have to FINISH the job of the Great Commission.  We AREN”T done – indeed, there is much work yet to be done.   Let’s be faithful. 

The choir and orchestra let us in a GREAT time of tremendous worship on Sunday night.  I personally told Pastor Rob what a blessing it was to me.  We experienced great and genuine worship in the presence of the Lord.  No one was performing, no one was “showing off” their talents or skills – it was all pure WORSHIP of the Lord Jesus.  It was tremendous. 

Here’s the irony – yesterday (Monday), I was sitting in a meeting of the International Mission Board's Trustees.  The IMB is our convention’s international missionary-sending agency.  One day I'm worshipping with my great church, talking, praying, preaching and singing about the need to continue our mission to win the world to Jesus, and the next day, I'm sitting with Southern Baptist leaders from all over our country talking about………our mission to win the world to Jesus.    That’s cool.

It’s great to be a part of a GREAT church that understands and accepts her role in the Great Commission.   It’s GREAT to be a part of a denomination that understands and accepts her role in that Great Commission.

Great partnership

Great fellowship

Great obedience

Great followship

Great calling

Great challenge

Great opportunity

Great ministry

 

Great irony.

 

The need to answer the call to the Great Commission is ………everywhere.     How true.

Celebrations and Divine Appointments

It has been way too long since I last blogged.

LuAnne and I are so happy for Hank and Dawn Garner. Baby Ashlyn is HERE!! She’s early, so she has to spend a few days in NICU. But we're trusting the Lord that she’ll be fine. I'm happy for the whole family.

I've been talking and praying lots for our upcoming 50th Anniversary as a church this Sunday, September 7. For some, it will be an incredible trip down memory lane. For others (many of you) it’s a chance to see where we have come from and what God has done in the past. These are certainly neat stories and awesome testimonies of God’s faithfulness. McGregor has a rich history of godly men and women doing whatever it takes to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, and I know we'll all be blessed to honor God for their service and sacrifice. It’s going to be a GREAT day!!

God has brought several people into my path with some real needs. Many of our people are in need of jobs and financial security. Yet, all of this seems to be a great opportunity for God to do amazing things in people’s lives. The key is we have to walk faithfully with the Lord. As believers, we have so many chances to be a witness and a help to hurting folks.

I’m praying for our people to share Jesus as God gives us the chance.

Ask God to give you a chance to do exactly that. Share what God has done for you, in saving you and blessing you. So many need that and the fields are ripe unto harvest. You are the key. Tell others what Christ has done for you. God will give you the opportunity and the words. Be available. Be usable. Be blessed as you share.

Tell me about those divine opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Leave a comment on this blog or send me an e-mail.