Ramblings from a Hoodlum Pastor

REUNION TIME

A little over a year age, sixteen families from across the country met in Detroit, Michigan & Narita, Japan on our way to Beijing & finally to Chongquing, China to adopt our daughters.  Today, we will meet in Gatlinburgh for our one year travel reunion.  I can't wait to see how all the kids interact with each other.  They spent the first year of their lives living together in an orphange.  Will they rememer each other?  Will it bring bad memories or good memories?  Will it even even register.  I guess we'll see in a few hours. 

I Love Board Meetings! I Really do.

I never thought I'd say those words.  Dr. Ken Hubbard, my mentor & predecessor, used to say that he had pastor friends who measured the days until retirement by the number of deacons meetings they had remaining (not because they loved them so much).   

Most churches operate under a governance modeled after the democratic form found in the good ole' US of A.  They hold a popularity contest spiritually disguised as a deacon election.  The reason I say it's a popularity contest is because, in many cases, even though they usually list the qualification straight out of the book of 1 Timothy, the only qualification they really care about is if the candidate has ever been divorced.  This comes from the statement in 1 Timothy 3:12 that the deacon should be the husband of one wife.  But, it's interesting that it doesn't say divorce; it says husband of one wife.  Does this mean never been divorced or to literally have only one wife?  It's debatable & maybe another post for another day.

Anyway, many churches are led by the most popular men in the church or those who have the most family members or friends rather than those who are the most spiritually mature.  They may not tithe or have a passion for evangelism or God's glory, but they're put in a position of making decision for the church.  This creates a situation that pits people who are passionate for God's glory against people who are passionate for themselves & their own interests & agenda.  As a result, most of the things churches argue & stall over don't really matter.

I'm writing this today because I came out of a meeting last night with our Board of Directors absolutely amazed & grateful that First Baptist Smyrna is governed by a system that places spiritual people in places of spiritual leadership.  In order to be on our board, a person has to be nominated & then fill out an application in which they have to speak of their spiritual walk & disciplines.  They have to believe & support the spiritual vision & DNA of the church.  They have to be involved in a small group & an area of service.  They have prove the tithe.  In other words, they have to prove they're spiritual leaders because we want spiritual leaders in places of spiritual leadership making spiritual decisions. 

As a result, since we've instituted this form of governance, I never come out of a meeting frustrated because people are more concerned with themselves than God.  I've come out of some meetings where I made a presentation & the committee or Board didn't think it was the right way to go, but, rather than leaving frustrated, I left encouraged & inspired to partner with some of the most amazing, spiritual leaders who have no agenda other than God's glory. 

Thank you leaders of FBC, Smyrna.  I'm encouraged by your spiritual maturity.  I amazed at your selflessness.  I'm thankful for your friendship.  I'm inspired by your wisdom.  I'm grateful to be your pastor.

   

Multi Campus

Well, it's time for FBC Smyrna to enter into new territory...Multi Campus.  Some of our leaders just returned from a conference in Seattle & learned that 80% of new church plants crash & burn.  WOW!  Only a few years ago the stat was at about 70%.  That means the culture is growing more hostile toward Christianity every day.  But, one strategy that seems to be working well in reaching people for the Kingdom is the Multi-Campus strategy.  Churches are opening new campuses in their own city, country & even around the world, with great success. 

A major difference between this strategy & church planting is the sharing of resources; leadership, money, equipment, etc.  With a multi campus approach, the vision & strategy is fluid & consistent.  There is no waffling or time spent trying to figure out DNA.  This doesn't replace church planting, but it is a viable option & strategy that churches need to consider in our new world. 

Our plan right now is to open our second campus on Easter Sunday, 2009.  So, please join us in praying about where that will be & what it will look like.  

Date Night

Amy & I resurrected an old habit tonight...date night.   Before we became "new" parents again, we went on at least two dates a month.   But, for some reason (wonder why) they've dropped to about two per year.  I had forgotten how good it was to just talk to Amy & get reacquainted with her.  I've got a feeling this will get us back on track...at least until we're "new" parents again. 

Facebook Today...Twitter Tomorrow

Well, I finally bit the bullet & entered a new world last night.  My younger staff members have been pushing me to amp up my relevance a bit.  So, last night I entered the unknown & opened a Facebook account.  I had no idea how cool it'd be to be able to network with people so easily.  

Next step...TWITTER.  I had no clue what this was until about 2 months ago.  Now it's all the rage.  When I first heard of it, I was like, why would I want to do that?  But, I also remember thinking the same thing about cell phones & blogs.  So, even though I have no idea how it works, I guess I'm going to dive into Twitter Land sometime over the weekend.  

Who Said Summers are Slow?

In most churches, summers are down time.  Attendance is down, ministry is down & motivation is down.  But, thankfully, First Baptist Smyrna isn't most churches. 

In the last three weeks we've taken almost 500 people to youth camp...  Had over 700 in our VBS... We have a large number of children & adults (obviously I have no clue how many, but a lot) at Kid's Camp as I type this.  We've had a team travel to West Africa & have another team leaving for Brazil tomorrow.   In the midst of all this stuff, we've had close to 100 people embrace Jesus as their Lord & Savior & close to 20 tell us they feel like God is calling them to some aspect of vocational ministry...all this in the last three weeks.  God is doing some incredible stuff in this church.  I'm so glad summers aren't slow at FBC Smyrna. 

Happy Birthday America

Today ia America's 232nd birthday.  Sounds old, but we're still wet behind the ears compared to most other nations.  Although Hollywood & the media would lead you to believe our country is going down hard so they can get their candidate elected, don't forget that we still live in the greatest country on the planet.

Yeah, the dollar is weak right now, but I just came from Guinea, Africa were it still takes 4300 Guinea Franks to equal one American dollar.  In Bomako it still takes 420 Franks to equal one American dollar.

Gas is at records highs in America, averaging a little over $4.00 a gallon...Yet it's still among the cheapest in the world.  Even in Guinea, where they have practically no economy, gas was still higher than it is in America.  If we think about it, we really complain because we have to trade in our gas guzzling SUV for smaller cars...like the rest of the world. 

The housing market isn't that great right now, but what does that really mean?  Maybe that we can't buy bigger houses that we really don't need.  If most of us would just get rid of some junk, we'd have bigger houses.

Liberals cry about their rights like a baby cries for milk.  Yet, in one country we have a mission partnership the government has an entire department that monitors everyone's Internet usage & knocks you off & locks you out if you go to a site they don't like.  In America, we can go anywhere our fingers can take us on the World Wide Web...and I'm not so sure that's a good thing. 

In many of our partner countries, we have to talk in code because it's illegal to share the gospel.   In America, we can share Jesus with complete freedom...yet most people don't.  Unlike other countries, we can go to church 7 days a week if we want...yet, on a recent trip to China, one pastor recently commented that a young Chinese Christian asked him why so few people in America go to church.  

Yeah, our government seems inept at times, but in most countries I visit, the government is so corrupt that they keep all the money for themselves & provide no services what-so-ever to the people. 

Our missionaries in Africa have no electricity or telephone service.  They have to filter their water & bleach their fruits & vegetables...and this is in a city of 100,000.   In America, every city has electricity, air conditioning & clean running water...even hot water. 

They nearest hospital they would go to is a hard 7 hour drive & there is no ambulance service to pick you up if you have an accident.   In America, we have the greatest health care in the world with dozens of competing hospitals within a 10 mile drive & an emergency system that will be on the scene in minutes.   

In most countries, people have to scape by on what they grow or make to trade for what they need.  Practically everyone in America who wants a job has one & we have more changes of clothes in our closet that entire communities in most of the world. 

Unlike almost every other country in the world, outside of September 11, 2001, no one has ever invaded our country because we have the greatest military in the world.

Most people in the world would never publicly criticize their leader because they'd literally lose their head.  Yet, there are people in America who make millions of dollars each year making our political leaders look bad. 

So, even though we are in a down time in our country, let's not forget that it's still the greatest country in th world.  One thing that really bugs me though and, in all honesty, causes me to wonder how long America will be the greatest country in the world, is the fact that most people neglect to recognize God for all the blessings He's poured out upon us.  More than 80% of Americans do not attend church on a regular basis & my guess is that less than 20% of Americans truly follow the way of Jesus.  We are now the third or fourth largest unreached country in the world & other countries are now sending missionaries to America because we are so far from God.  How long will we remain the country we are if we stay so afar from God? 

Let's use our freedoms & privileges for the Glory of God rather than our own comfort.  Happy Birthday America!        

Snapshots of Africa

A typical village hut

The chief & wise men of the first village we visited.  We gave soccer balls to every village we visited.  You'd have thought we gave them a truck load of gold. 

The chief & wise men of the second village we visited.  The man in the orange on the left is the one who  gave me his name & told me I was in line to be chief of this village.  This is my village. 

Village children

 

The chief & wise men in the third village we visited

This is the chief who gave me my second wife.  I'm wondering how the man is still alive at his age trying to keep up with seven wives.

These were our translators for the week.  The guy on my immediate left was my personal translator.  The guy on the far left is the only believer.  The rest were all Muslim. 

This is the local village Starbucks.  It's really a village coffeehouse/bar.

I'll try to post more later. 

HOME SWEET HOME

Well, we finally made it home.  Our flight from Bomako was delayed an hour & then we boarded & sat on the runway for about 3 hours, causing us to miss our connection to Atlanta form Paris.  Air France put us on a later flight causing us to lay over about 5 more hours in Paris.  They split our group up sending 3 of us to Houston & 2 to Atlanta.  When we got to Houston, Continental wouldn't let us on the flight because Air France messed up our tickets.  So, we had to find a hotel in Houston at 1:45 AM & get back to the airport by 8:00 AM to start trying to work the mess out.  Finally, we talked to someone with an IQ above their shoe size & made it back to Nashville around 3:00 PM on Monday afternoon, 24 hours later than scheduled.  I was so tired yesterday i couldn't even post.  I used to get through this stuff OK, but my age seems to be catching up to me.

Outside of this, it was an incredible trip.  I'll tell more about it later, but, as my wonderful wife has already posted, I came home in line to be chief of a village in the deep bush of Africa.  I also got another surprise in the last village we visited.  I was in the chief's hut looking for a way to share the gospel.  He told me he had seven wives...Yeah, you read right SEVEN WIVES.  He had four of his own & then he took his brother's 3 wives when he died.  I'm thinking, how in the world does this old man have the energy to eat breakfast, let alone run a village.  Anyway, he asked me how many wives I had & I saidI only one.  He couldn't believe I only had one wife.  So, before i knew it, he gave me a second wife.  I'm in a bad situation.  I don't want to insult him, but I can't handle the one I've got, let alone take on a second.  I'm thinking really fast & all I knew to say was, "I follow the way of Jesus."  So, let this be a lesson to all who go to Africa, be careful or you just might come home with more than you bargained for.  

My Husband, The Village Chief?

Pat called a few minutes ago to check in on the home front.  Their internet connection was down, so no skype today, but it was good to hear his voice.  

I miss that.

Today, they traveled into two villages, about 15 kilometers from the city.  It apparently was quite the trip and took much longer that it would take us, the roads aren't the best.  The travel is much like four wheeling, with pot holes that will swallow your vehicle!  The met in the hut of two village chiefs and were able to share for about 2 hours, the good new of the gospel to the chiefs and to everyone that could cram in and gather around.  What an experience it was.  The people there are all Muslim, but thankfully, they are open to hearing the gospel.  However, the wall is great.  Even though they are willing to hear, seeing a Muslim cross the line of faith is VERY unusual.  

Pray those walls down!

One of the village chiefs told Pat that he was going to make him his namesake and that if he would stay, he would make him a village chief.  WHAT?!?!?!?!?!  

OH!

MY!

Somehow, I just can't imagine Pat as a village chief, do they have a Starbucks?  But, I suppose if you ask him, he will tell you that he is the chief here, so if he asks you, tell him that I said he would make a wonderful chief.

Pray for health, safety and most of all...

Pray those walls down!

Thanks for reading,

Amy, Guest Blogger and Village Chief's Wife