Rural Rev

I was ‘out of the pulpit’ on Sunday, June 28th. I journeyed to Macon, Georgia with the youth from our church so that we could attend PASSPORTmissions. We had a great week (although it was WAY HOT), and my congregation was treated to a message from Larry Hovis, the coordinator of the North Carolina Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Now that I’m back, however, my fellow Marshvillians and I are starting a new message series, one based on John Ortberg’s book, When the Game Is Over It All Goes Back in the Box. As with so many of Ortberg’s tomes, what I often want to do is to pull up a chair and simply read them to my congregation. But I don’t know that anybody would be satisfied with that approach. So I do my best to ’spin’ his insights through my own mental centrifuge.

I felt really good about the effort for Sunday, July 5th (the first of four). What do you think?

When the Game Is Over It All Goes Back in the Box

When it comes to preaching, I find Fathers’ Day to be something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the occasion and its associated themes don’t necessarilyfit into the lectionary. And unless one has chosen to do a summer message series on family (which I haven’t done this year), preaching on fatherhood on Fathers’ Day ’stands alone’–with nothing to connect the message to what comes before or after. On the other hand, offering biblical guidance on parenthood and other significant relationships seems to be almost continually relevant, and a ‘fatherhood message’ certainly meets the expectations that many people bring to church on a day like today.

Since my schedule this year has developed in a manner that has me out-of-town on the Sundays before and after Fathers’ Day, I decided that a fatherhood message would be an excellent fit. I can’t claim that my framework is particularly original (this approach to John 3:16 was borrowed from Steve May at PreachingToday.com), but the content reflects my own struggles with being a faithful father in today’s challenging times.

A Framework for Fatherhood (& Other Relationships that Matter)

This past week was a difficult one for me. My days involved testifying in a court case involving a marital dispute (the testifying wasn’t so bad, but sitting in the courtroom and seeing the terrible depths to which families sometimes sink…that was discouraging), and visiting with a dear church member who suffered a terrible injury and died as the week ended. Then–alongside these challenges–came the task of preaching a couple simple parables from Mark 4.

But the parables turned out to be anything but simple. Instead, they raised questions about the nature of God’s kingdom and our relation to it. Perhaps that’s what Jesus intended.

So, with few answers but heartfelt seeking: Kingdom Questions.

PS: I’ll be on vacation next week, so don’t look for another post until after 6/21.

Today was a significant day in the life of my church. For starters, it was Pentecost Sunday–a day for remembering the birth of the Church, when the Spirit came upon Jesus’ early followers in tongues of flame. But in addition, it was “Groundbreaking Sunday”–the day on which my congregation (First Baptist Church of Marshville) broke ground on a new church facility.

For me, these two events are related. As I shared with my congregation, our ability to move forward “in the power of the Spirit” depends to great extent on how successfully we create a context in which the Spirit can work. If the church described in Acts 2  is any indicator, this context must be characterized unity, obedience and faith.

In thinking about how to dive into this discussion, I was initially drawn to the crowd’s reaction to the Spirit-led enthusiasm of those first disciples: “They are filled with new wine” (Acts 2:13). But…we ARE a Baptist church…so wine was out of the question. But then I asked myself: What other beverage gives the appearance of being energized? My answer: Energy drinks! So, I had our altar table arrayed with a collection of popular energy-boosting beverages and–at the center–one large, white candle with a steady flame.

This allowed what I hope was an intriguing entry point for the questions: Are we providing a context in which the Spirit can work? Are we ‘burning-out’ or ‘burning bright’?

Pentecost: Burn Out or Burn Bright?

In so many ways, this Sunday feels like a ‘time between’ for me and my church. We’re between spring and summer. We’re between the end of a capital fundraising campaign and the start of construction on our new building. And–on this Sunday when many of our folks are out-of-town celebrating Memorial Day in one way or another–the ‘between-ness’ of our situation seems almost palpable.

Thankfully, Jesus prays for us in our “times between”–or so my study of John 17:6-19has led me to understand. The text was penned by a follower who stood between Jesus’ earthly ministry and his promised return. The lectionary brings this text to our attention on a Sunday between Easter and Pentecost. And for those seeking a reminder both of God’s promise and God’s call; I think this text steps in and fills the gap quite nicely.

May these words offer comfort and challenge for your ‘in-between’ times.

Prayer for the Times Between

This Sunday will mark the end of the journey that my congregation and I have been taking through the book of Nehemiah…and it will mark the conclusion of the capital campaign for our new building. Although I have no idea how close we’ll get to our fund-raising goal, I’ve been pleased by the way that this message series has allowed us to put the effort in context, and I’ve been gratified by the positive response of several of my church members.

In this last message, I seek to make the point that Nehemiah’s efforts were never just about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem; he was seeking to rebuild the people of Jerusalem. He was seeking revival. By studying the actions taken after the wall’s completion, I think we get important clues about what’s needed for revival to take place.

This message, the series, and our capital campaign will conclude with a ‘praise parade’ (see Nehemiah 12) in which our worshipers will be invited to move toward the altar, to sing, and to offer their financial gifts and themselves to God. I think it’s gonna be a good day…

Rebuilding a People, Nehemiah-Style

Rather than waiting until after Sunday (and taking the risk of neglecting the composition of this post), I’ve decided to upload my sermon for this Sunday a little early. This message will be the fourth in a five-part series of Nehemiah, and the process of developing it was impacted by two unusual considerations:

1. Unlike most other series on Nehemiah that I’ve encountered, I opted to cover three chapters (4 through 6) in one message. Of course, each chapter probably deserves a treatment of its own, but time constraints prevented this under my present circumstances. As a result, I’ve been forced to paint with a rather broad brush rather than offering the kind of detail and application that I would normally prefer.
2. To make matters even more challenging, our congregation’s children and youth will be involved in worship this Sunday, meaning that this already “too-big” message will have to be squeezed into less time than usual.

In the end, I aim to offer some ‘big picture’ perspective on overcoming challenges…and to do so in a way that sets up the last message in the series–one designed to coincide with the conclusion of our current capital campaign. You’ll have to be the judge of whether I’ve succeeded.

Overcoming Opposition

This past Sunday was Week 3 in a five-week message series on Nehemiah. The series is running alongside a capital campaign as my congregation prepares to build a new facility. All in all, I’ve been very pleased with the way that the scriptural themes have paralleled and reinforced key ideas that I want my church to keep in mind as we undertake this major project. Of course, you’ll have to be the judge of how things are going: Building…TOGETHER!

In an effort to catch up with my sermon posts, I’m actually uploading two sermons today: one from April 19 and the other from April 26. These represent the first two of an eventual five-message series focused on the book of Nehemiah, a series designed to dovetail with a capital campaign that my congregation is undertaking to pay for a new church facility.

A lot could probably be said about Nehemiah, about my personal goals for this series, and about my congregation’s building plan. And I actually hope that I get a chance to post a few reflections about these things somewhere along the way. But for today, perhaps we’ll all be better served if I just get to the point:

• Praying Our Holy Discontent
• Waiting, Planning, Resting and Presenting the Challenge