OK, OK, I know, it's been a while. My bad. I'll do better in the future.

I have always been a big fan of "landmark" moments in life. I've been blessed to have many. The day I was saved, my wedding, the birth of our kids, and many more. Recently, the birth of our grandson who turns ONE on October 20, the wedding of our two oldest to wonderful mates. Kayla continues to provide them.
This one is different. I won't ever forget this one.
Last Friday morning, about 4 am, Lu and I were awakened by a police officer yelling at our front door, "Police, anyone home?"
Frightened yet trusting of officers, we answered and were told that someone had stolen a car, and after a high speed chase, had rammed through the gate of our subdivision, parked accross the street from our house and fled on foot.
That's scary enough but it gets worse. I had left the garage door open and the police were afraid that the theif might be in our garage, or worse, perhaps in our house somewhere.
They came in with several officers and a K-9 officer (dog) and looked in every nook and cranny of our house.

It was my fault and I have changed some long overdue habits about security yet there is a bigger issue here.
In Christ, there really is no such thing as luck or coincidence. God is in total control. I believe that and love believing that. I find peace in trusting my circumstances to my God.
Yet, even though we live our lives rather transparently, it shocked me to the core to think of someone having been in our house.

No real deep spiritual stuff going on here - for me, it's just a reminder that in the good and bad, God is always in control. That's easy most of the time, it was hard last Friday. I like my house, I like my stuff, I love my wife. I'll keep praying for God's protection, according to His will.
By the way, I pray for you too. I want you to be in the center of God's will - in everything. The good times and bad. Even at 4 in the morning.......

rp

A Life Lived for Jesus...

I like living! As a matter of fact, I love life!!
I’m a “cup is half full” kind of guy. One of my mentors in the ministry told me one time that the key to effective pasturing is to “love Jesus and love people.” I got those cover with change to spare.
But, everyone faces sad times -- including me. In fact, I’m facing a really sad time right now. One of my closest friends here at MBC (or anywhere) passed away Saturday night. Warren Wilkin was one of the greatest Christians, one of the greatest leaders, and one of the sweetest friends I’ve ever known.
I know he is in Heaven and that is a GREAT comfort. His sweet wife knows that. Yet, it’s tough to lose a man of that depth and closeness – anytime.
When I picked up my wife at the airport, when I saw my daughter Sunday afternoon, when I called my dad – all of these moments meant just a little more than ever because I am reminded that in this wonderful “rat race” called LIFE, it’s people and relationships that matter most.
Jesus tells us over and over in the Bible, that God loves us and wants a relationship with us. I preach that all the time. And from time to time, life reminds me of how true that really is.
The last time I saw Warren before he went home to Heaven, we prayed together. I told him how much he meant to me and my family. I rejoice in his homegoing, and in him memory, I’m desiring to establish more relationships with more people as we live each day for Jesus.

rp

Landmarks

All of us have milestones in life. People, events, situations that are "markers" in life for us. Our wedding, the birth of our kids, certainly our salvation, etc. There's a verse in the Old Testament that talks about remembering the "landmarks" in life.
For me, here's a partial list of "landmark" events for me: My salvation, my baptism, my public and significant rededication, my ordination to ministry, my first sermon, my wedding. There are others but those are pretty important events that God used to help shape my life.
ALL THOSE LANDMARKS happened in ONE PLACE - really, one room. Yesterday, on vacation in Spartanburg, my home town, I visited my home church with Heather and Kayla. I opened that back door of the worship center at the First Baptist Church of Spartanburg and stepped inside the sanctuary (that's what we called it back then.)
I stood there - motionless, speechless, - all I could do is just stand there in awe as my heart smiled.
I wasn't in awe of the building or the room, just in awe of how God has blessed me and my family in so many ways.
So much of it is because of commitments and decisions I have made in that room. They have defined my life even until today.
Often, we forget that the decisions we make largely define the course of our life. God chooses to bless us or remove His blessings from us largely because of the decisions we make either to commit to Him or not to. My life has been far from perfect - but I am overwhelmed by His blessings and I am tremendously grateful that I have chosen HIM as the focus of my life - my total focus. His blessings have been worth it by a mile.
Make your choices - for Jesus, in little ways and in big ways. A devotion time each day is a little thing - a life commitment is a big thing - each is a "landmark" that pays big dividends of blessings from Him.

Be blessed today - landmark this day for Christ.

rp

Anyone who knows me (and perhaps even those who don't) knows that family is very important to me.
I pastor a wonderful church family, but my primary responsibility is my own family. I take BOTH very seriously. These last few days have been days where I have had the joy of having my whole family together.
Heather (our oldest), husband Andrew, and grandson Aidan are here from Virginia. Alan (only son) and his wife Brycie are here from Los Angeles. Kayla (youngest) is with us for the whole summer from college. LuAnne and I have all of our family together for a few days. Awesome!
We are at Myrtle Beach - all of us, together, in one house, a very small house, all of us - together!!
It is WONDERFUL.
It simply reminds me of one of God's best blessings - the gift of life, the gift of love, the gift of family.
I grew up in a large church where -- remember this was many years ago -- we used to sing the Doxology every Sunday as the ushers brought the offerings back down the aisle and put them on the Lord's Supper table for everyone to see. I guess the Pastor and church family were thanking God for the offering. I get that.
But for me, I break out in a silent doxology of the heart for this blessing of being with my most precious human blessings - my wife and kids, and now spouses and grandson.
I believe I am one of the most blessed of God men that I know - God is WAY too good to me. I'm reminded of that often - especially these last few days.
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow.

rp

I was sitting in the den at my house with my wife and youngest daughter, Kayla. My oldest daughter, Heather, and our grandson, Aidan, were arriving that day for a visit. Sitting there in that moment I was really overwhelmed with God’s goodness to me and my family. I shared this feeling with LuAnne and Kayla – how God has been and is so good to us.

I know some of you may be having bad days or tough times to go through, and I’m dealing with some personal things too, but, I am constantly amazed at God’s goodness. I love my wife (even more today than the day I married her 27 years ago), we are blessed with three awesome kids, and two “in-law” kids – all who love and serve the Lord. We serve along side one of the best church staffs at one of the greatest churches anywhere – I’m almost ready to shout!! Thank you Jesus. I am so totally grateful for His awesome blessings.

But I am scared!

I am concerned.

Not in a “I don’t have enough faith” kind of way. But in a “I don’t want to do anything to mess this up” kind of way.

I want to see God do even MORE in the days to come in my life and in our church’s ministry.

I have a pastor friend who challenged his church in this way – I think it’s right for us too. Would you pray and believe God with me?


Let’s pray that, as a church family we will…….

- NEVER be satisfied with where we are!

- Always be thankful for what God has done!

- NEVER limit what God can do!

- ALWAYS dream big – and take bold steps of faith!

- NEVER stop reaching people for Jesus!

- ALWAYS spend money for Great Commission ministry!

- NEVER let the critics and skeptics silence us!

- ALWAYS be willing to make time for Christ in our lives!

- NEVER forget where our source of strength comes from!

- ALWAYS celebrate where we are going – even before we get there!

- NEVER allow creativity to supersede Scripture!

- ALWAYS show the world how relevant the Gospel is!

- NEVER lift up personalities!

- ALWAYS lift up the name above all names – JESUS!!



We are so blessed here at McGregor. And I think the greatest blessing is that God’s greatest blessings are yet to come!!

dRP

I was just thinking...

...about the irony of what the next few days hold for me. Today I'll experience the culmination of a tremendous week of VBS. Our whole staff acts and play like kids because we are playing with kids - hundreds of them. Check out the crazy pictures on Mark's Blog. It's been a great week. So far, at least 42 children have asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior this week. I'm praying for a great harvest tonight. Precious young lives are being changed right in front of our eyes. Some will never be the same - only time will tell. It is up to us as a church family to make sure that McGregor is always a fun and safe place for kids so that, when they're older, they'll remember their church experience fondly and long for their children to experience the same.

This Sunday night's VBS Family night is huge. Many families, many who would normally NEVER go to any church will be here. I LIVE for these moments. We have a real chance to introduce them to Christ and our church - and some will be drawn to both. THAT is what I am so excited about. I'm more than praying for this; I'm begging God to show up, touch hearts, bless as only He can. Lives are on the line.

Then, Monday I leave for the Southern Baptist Convention. I love my convention. Sometimes, as a Christian at my age, I feel very alone in my love for this great old convention. So many are bolting for less bureaucratic lines of church development and Kingdom growth. The convention grows........old. Every year. I pray that the SBC's influence isn't diminished among younger believers in the future.

There are numerous Baptist distinctives that I believe are very important guidelines for applying our theology and doctrine, as well as church polity (the practice and governance of "church"). Additionally, the SBC has what I believe to be the most extensive network of missionaries and mission endeavors of any other evangelical organization -- all supported by Cooperative Program gifts of our church and the 42,000 other member churches. Read more about what we believe in the Baptist Faith & Message. It's an incredible story of God's faithfulness, where we, as Southern Baptists, have come from and where we're going.

All of that being said, I was just thinking about how I absolutely love these young, innocent, growing, maturing VBS kids and their families. And, I also love our old, somewhat tiring, somewhat outdated Convention. I think BOTH are absolutely crucial to the advancement of the Kingdom. Yet, they are so.......different.

I love both the kids and the Convention. They seem sometimes to have so little in common and so little respect for each other.

I was just thinking...

dRP

I'm Not in Management...

...just in sales. As a pastor, especially at McGregor, I have a lot of great pastors and "teammates" who help me make a lot of decisions that affect a lot of people. That keeps my prayer life very current: "Lord, give us wisdom that we might not mess up today..."

Sometimes, though, "decisions" get made for me. At the Pastor's Golf Challenge this weekend, things were taken completely out of our control and it was a real mess -- not due to anyone's planning; rather, it was Tropical Storm Barry on the FIRST DAY of hurricane season! The weather, the timing, the conditions, the effect on the tournament - it was all a mess.

Rain soaked the Friday round - some guys just quit (including me) and some fought on through. I'm sure for them, it was way less than an enjoyable round of golf. Saturday was canceled and re-scheduled for next Saturday (June 9). Any teams that didn't finish on Friday because of the weather can join us on Saturday and complete the tournament.

I really want this to be a GREAT tournament - and lots of folks want to beat me - bad! That's ok because my only real desire is to raise as much money as possible for the students going on mission trip. Everything we make from this tournament goes to help our students go around the world to share the love of Jesus. That's really important to me. Remember, I'm in sales. If you love Jesus, you are too.

I'm reminded of Paul's encouragement to the Christians at Thessolonica: "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Especially when we can't control the outcome, we need to recall God's faithfulness to us and praise him through every situation, whether the sun is shining on the golf course or you're playing through the storm.

dRP