College Students Welcomed

This is the first fall in seven years that I anticipate the advent of the fall semester and the influx of students into our little community without serving as a college minister. It's a bit odd in some ways, but I am reminded that as a pastor of a local congregation I get to love and encourage people in all the various stages of life. The transition from college minister to pastor has been one of the highlights of my ministry. I am blessed to serve a congregation that has college students and loves college students. In fact, we are hosting them for worship and lunch on August 19. My time as a college minister taught me a great deal about life and ministry. I think the greatest lesson is that the college campus is our Athens of the Apostle Paul's day. The campus is the center of learning, discourse, and dialogue in our culture. It is also the greatest mission field anywhere in the world. Students come from all over the world to Statesboro to get an education. As believers we have the opportunity to share the gospel with college students. We have the privilege of discipling them in the faith entrusted to the saints. Consider this, when international students return to their homeland, they could be taking the gospel back with them. The life-changing story of Jesus and his life and death...the hope of the gospel.

What about college students who stay in Statesboro after they graduate? Well as churches and campus ministries reach and equip these students we are investing in the next generation of church leaders. The next generation of Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, deacons, worship team leaders, ushers, prayer team members, youth volunteers are all at our finger tips? Will we do the hard work of loving them, praying for them, and discipling them? These are the people who in 10 years will be leading churches all over Bulloch county to reach the next wave of students that come make Statesboro and the colleges and universities here home for 4, 5, or 6 years.

What about college students who leave Statesboro after they finally graduate? Well, consider this, the conversations about Jesus you have with those students will shape who they are and what they become. They may leave here and become missionaries or pastors or ministers who carry the truth of Christianity forward for the next 50 years. They too are ones who will return to their hometown or relocate and invest in local churches and look back over their shoulders at the influence that a follower of Jesus made on them while they nested in the Boro.

I remember well the influence of men and women who I encountered as a college student. Folks who loved me, prayed for me, fed me, encouraged me, taught me, and modeled for me what it means to follow Jesus. People like David and Gina, Lindsey and Robin, Paul and Connie, Colin and Mary, Chuck and Ellen, Mark and Julie, Rick, Scott, Gordon, Joe, and Buddy. It's been over 20 years since I stepped foot on the campus of Mercer University, yet the people who were trying to follow Jesus and let me glimpse that in some way still cross my mind and heart and lips (as I pray for them). What student will remember you and me in 20 years?

So residents of Statesboro, be prepared for the deluge of students about to rain down on our fair city. Don't just curse their big city driving habits and the fact that you won't be able to find anything you need in Walmart for the next 3 weeks. Don't grumble about the crowds at all the restaurants. Greet the incoming and returning students with a warm smile, a kind word, and an invitation to join you in following Jesus.

Join me in praying for God to move in incredible ways on the campuses of our colleges and universities this fall!

Why Churches Need Parachurch Ministries and Parachurch Ministries Need Churches

This week my oldest child is at FCA Leadership Camp. She will be a huddle leader at her school again this year. I'm so proud of her and excited to see how God is using her for the sake of the Kingdom.

Last week I had breakfast with a staffer for Young Life in another county that my family supports each month. As I listened to stories of camp and this past year of serving in ministry I was reminded of the need that is out there to reach the next generation with the gospel.

Our church like other Baptist churches across Georgia is placing an emphasis on getting kids in the word. Helping them to spend time reading the Bible as individuals or as a family. Helping them memorize scripture and learn the books of the Bible. Why are we doing this? Because we believe that reaching children and youth is vital to the health of our church and fulfills the Great Commission.

My wife and I are both involved in the work of Guido Bible College.  A small school situated at Guido Gardens in Metter which is helping to train the next generation of sowers for kingdom work.

As college students we were involved in a local congregation that helped us grow immensely in our faith, but our involvement in a college ministry associated with that denomination is what really helped us lay a foundation of our faith.

Throughout my time in ministry I have wrestled with the tension that exists between the church and parachurch ministries. Often times there is great hostility between the two entities rather than seeing each other as partners and allies in gospel ministry. I am so thankful to be shepherding a congregation that gives to parachurch ministries financially and otherwise. The truth of the matter is that it takes the combined work of the church and parachurch ministries as partners to accomplish the work of God's kingdom. Just as any one church will not reach everyone, any one ministry will not reach everyone either. However, together there is strength and power to be more effective at reaching people for the gospel, training and equipping them for ministry and service, and seeing the world radically changed by Jesus!

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to hear stories of the work of FCA, Young Life, Guido, RUF, BCM, and other ministries that come alongside churches to engage people with the gospel. Perhaps the future of Christianity will be shaped by more cooperation among churches and parachurch ministries to see even greater kingdom impact.

Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology

I love to stumble across good books in obscure places like yard sales, thrift stores, etc. Last January I picked up a copy of Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology at a thrift store while Cyd and I were on the church marriage retreat. I finally got around to reading it this month. Of course many consider Barth to have been the most influential theologian of the 20th century for his course correction of Liberal theology, though many conservatives and fundamentals would contend that he didn't go far enough his correctives. I have engaged some of his writing before, but it has been several years since I have read any of his works. This volume was the result of his visit to America and a series of lectures he did at the University of Chicago.

Reading Barth is challenging because his thought process is so thorough that he makes the reader rethink everything before affirming anything. Incidentally, Barth considers this to be one of the necessary components of any theologian. A man who is most remembered for his multi-volume, Church Dogmatics, in discussing the different disciplines of theological study says that systematic theology  is a contradiction in terms. "There is at any rate no justification for the construction and proclamation of a system of Christian truth developed out of some definite conceptualization of it. What should rule in the community is not a concept or a principle, but solely the Word of God attested to in the Scriptures and vivified by the Holy Spirit" (180).

What a challenge for those of us concerned with theology to make sure that our theological systems and structures are not erected as a wall to the movement of the Holy Spirit and the will of God but that they are there as supports to the ongoing work of the Word made flesh!

Winter Retreat

So I am about 8 months into doing college ministry full-time, only in the last month have I really begun to feel like I have a handle on what God is trying to teach me and use me to accomplish His Kingdom work. It has been a challenging transition, but such an incredibly good one. This weekend we had a retreat with 14 students to get away, unwind, and dig into the word. It was a great time of fellowship, worship, and growth for our group. One of my mentors, Chris Rogers, who is now doing Family Ministry, came and shared with us from scripture and really challenged us with a reminder of the gospel, our status before God and the idols we place in our lives.

I am so thankful to God for what he is doing in and through our students!

The Mystery of Ministry

Nouwen offers a challenge in the following words that are difficult for most ministers. I believe most of us have an inflated view of ourselves. We see ourselves as the life connection for people, in other words their destination rather than a conduit for their destination of finding the love and grace of God. "laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life. We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who need as much care as anyone we care for. The mystery of ministry is that we have been chosen to make our own limited and very conditional love the gateway for the unlimited and unconditional love of God."

Photos and the Stories They Tell

I have several photos in my office at the church. I keep several group shots of camps, retreats, and mission projects in different areas of the office in addition to pictures of my wonderful family. I also have a few that I found in boxes when I came to FBC 5 years ago this summer that found a spot on one of my bookshelves. It's very nice to have the old church library as your office...plenty of shelf space!

The photos are special to me for various reasons, but aren't most photos that way. Pictures tell a story that words sometimes can't convey. One of these pictures is my friend Matt and I at an RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) Fall Retreat. If I remember correctly this was taken the morning we were getting ready to head home. Matt and I grew up together, were roommates in college, in each others' weddings in some capacity and continue to stay in touch, mostly through our wives who are best friends. I keep the picture in my office because it reminds me of the true value of friendship. There are friends that each of us has that we can call on in a moment's notice for help, encouragement, and support no matter where life takes you. I believe that Matt and I have that kind of friendship. There are others that we have those kind of relationships with as well. It's a reminder to me that relationships are important for us as human beings, as Christians to have because they give us strength and encouragement when we most need it.

Matt and Tony

Another picture is of a group of guys from high school at youth camp the summer after we graduated from high school. Included in the photo are our youth minister at the time, David Maginnis and one of the worship leaders for the week, Jimbo Bass. Both of those men had a tremendous impact on my life as well as the lives of those in the picture and countless others because of their faithfulness to the gospel. My life is truly better for knowing both of them.

Jimbo, Jason, Me, David, Jay, Matt, Robbie

The last picture is the the first group I took to a FUGE camp when I served as the Youth and College Minister at Liberty Hill Baptist Church in Clanton, AL. It was a small group, as many adults as youth but it was a great experience for all of us. For most in the picture it was their first experience of having a summer youth camp experience. Many of the students are now in college or almost finished with college. Each of them has had their share of trials and difficulties but God has always been at work in their lives in some really incredible ways. I think I keep that picture in the office because it is a reminder to me of why I do what God has called me to do. It's not about paychecks, offices (my first one at LHBC was basically a closet), books on the shelf or sermons preached...it's about real lives changed by the power of the only real gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ!

LHBC Centrifuge 2004?

M-Fuge Birmingham 2010

Have you ever been on a mission trip, retreat, or summer camp and you come home and people ask how it was...but you struggle to put into words exactly how God moved? I have found myself in that situation this week. We attended M-Fuge at Samford University in Birmingham, AL last week, which was a great week! God really showed up and did some incredible things in and through our students.

Eyes were opened to how fortunate we are, how God looks past skin color and education, and to a realization that God doesn't work in a set way each time he moves in our lives. My students taught me the value of looking at others the way God sees us as they loved on kids, senior citizens, other youth groups, and each other. They sweated their fannies off last week playing basketball in gyms without A/C, painting and scraping paint on houses, cutting grass, doing backyard Bible clubs and everything in between.

A few of the highlights for me...1. seeing students get excited about doing missions 2. hearing stories of how they were challenged and inspired by other students from other churches at their ministry sites 3. watching as God broke them about sin and disobedience in their own lives 4. seeing former students begin to really take on the roll of adults and leaders as they found themselves on the "leader" end of this trip.

All in all, I know that I saw God work in some incredible ways, but to really vocalize that has been a challenge...partly because of the fact that some of what happened last week was intangible. Conversations between students, with students, moments of challenge and encouragement and moments of sheer dependence on God just to stay awake during worship or church group devotion time. God showed up! And he showed up BIG!!

I will post some pictures later.

Sonny Stroud, 40 years of Ministry and 60 years of Life

Friday evening Cyd and I had the opportunity to spend a special evening honoring the work of God through Sonny Stroud. Sonny was our minister of music when we were in middle school and high school and was an important person in helping to shape our lives. His wife, Dana, planned a surprise party to honor him for 40 years of ministry and 60 years of life and asked us to come, I also got to say a few words of reflection. It was a wonderful evening all around with fond memories, good food, great fellowship...an evening truly infused with the Holy Spirit. Cyd and I had a great time recalling memories of The Living Christmas Tree, Choir tours to Jamaica and Chicago, and everything in between.

We enjoyed the quick trip to Jacksonville and back on Friday not just for the event for Sonny but for some time together in the car! I forgot how much I miss road trips with Cyd, we don't make near as many as we use to these days, so it was a fun day all around, especially after having a visit from the stomach bug at our house last week. We are so grateful for the opportunity to be a
part of such a great evening.

FBC Girls' Conference

Here it is! Finally! The first ever Girls' Conference at First Baptist Statesboro is this weekend! There have been countless hours put into planning, preparing, and practicing for this incredible weekend. My prayer since its inception in the fall has been that God will use this weekend to speak to the lives of teenage girls here in Bulloch county.

This weekend will be a time for girls to encounter God through worship, Bible Study and breakout sessions led by godly women in our community who have a deep passion for girls seeing themselves as God sees them. Did I mention that my beautiful wife is the keynote speaker, which I am pumped about because truth be told she is the better preacher in the family! The worship band will be amazing too!

This weekend is also going to give these young ladies an opportunity to encourage one another and learn from women who don't have all the answers but they are pursuing the very one who does. I think one of the things that impresses me most about this weekend is that church and denominational lines have been set aside not just among the attendees but among the folks teaching the breakout sessions too! A true picture of unity in the gospel this weekend, how cool!!

I certainly can't leave out the great volunteers who have put so much effort into this weekend, people like Kate Foil, Julie Lavender, Debbie Hagan, and Julie Anderson plus countless others. Better than that though is the way this idea originated among our 12th grade girls and the work that they have done to create this opportunity for young women to encounter God and grow in their relationship with him.

Saturday we are featuring a fashion show with http://www.nationsoutfitters.com/ that we are also really excited to share clothing that helps young adults focus on others and not themselves!

Be praying for this weekend...I know that God is ready to do some exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine.

Back to the Tried and True

Cyd wasn't a big fan of the new look. I have to admit it was rather bright and intrusive, so I switched back to the original template. I might try changing some subtle things here and there to make it better.

I think the sickness has finally left the house. Thank goodness! Here's to a good week!

Here are a few quotes about fasting that I came across today while preparing for The Gathering on Wednesday night.

Fasting weans us from the world by removing the frivolous and the fluffy from our lives. Christian George

Anything that distracts us and threatens to take God's place can be put in its place by fasting. Christian George

Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting-feasting on him and on doing his will. Dallas Willard

Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it. John Wesley

This and That

Do you ever have those moments when it seems that life has sped by you so fast that you don't really know what happened? That's been the last few weeks for us. I don't really like it when blogs say, "It's been a while since I last posted..." I would like to think that my life and my thoughts on life are important enough that people check this blog once or twice a day, but I know that the chances of that are slim to none, heavy on the none side. So let me catch you up if you still care enough to read on...

Cyd had a birthday last week that we celebrated in style at the new Carey Hilliard's in Statesboro. We both grew up going to the Hill, as we affectionately called it after football and basketball games, church events, and any time a group of teenagers went out to eat in Savannah. Hilliard's is a Savannah Icon and Institution. I can't really think of better place to eat in Savannah! The sweet tea is amazing! So we celebrated in style at the Hill and then had not one but 3 birthday cakes at our house for dessert, two of which I made. We had a great time celebrating another year on the calendar.

A few weeks ago we enjoyed some time as a family at Tybee before spending some time with the 2009 seniors at Tybee as well. We took a ton of pics, so I will get those uploaded soon. We did NOT see Miley but man was Tybee buzzing with the film.

This weekend we got a new swing set for the girls. Todd and Karen and Abbie and Anna Deal gave us a swing set that we moved and set up on Saturday. The girls absolutely love it!!!

Lots more to share but I've got to get to Starbucks to hang out with students, I love my job, because I get to work with the greatest bunch of teenagers anywhere!!

Youth Week 2009

Youth Week 2009 was the best one yet!! We had great participation from our students and wonderful times of fellowship and worship. Christian George, author of Godology and Sex, Sushi, and Salvation came and shared his life with us for four days. Christian and I went to the same seminary but didn't really connect there. I read his books earlier this year and through Facebook contacted him about coming to our church to speak to our students. The greatest thing about Christian is that he didn't just show up and speak, then leave. He literally came and hung out with our students at a BBQ at my house, went to Six Flags with us, and genuinely got to know our students. It was a great time for our students to be challenged to stop carrying a "cross of Styrofoam" and pick up the true cross of Christ, radical discipleship and a raw faith to follow God wherever he leads them. Of course we had a blast at the Redneck Olympics and Six Flags but the highlight was the way God worked and spoke in the lives of our teenagers. Even two weeks after youth week I am hearing from students about what God is doing in their lives as a result of that week...God is so good isn't He!

Final Thoughts about Charleston

A couple of days have passed since the High School Mission Team that went to Charleston returned. I have continued to pray through and think about what kind of impact the trip had on our students and the residents of North Charleston. The week was filled with ministry to young and old alike. We did a block party the first evening that has already spread some seeds for ministry. The young woman, Sarah, who owns a Jump Castle business was really excited to know that a group from Georgia was coming to Charleston to do ministry. God had already been working in her heart to give her a desire to use her business to go in and help minister to people living in multi-housing communities like Horizon Village. She and I talked for 30 minutes on the phone about the possibilities and what a ministry like that might look like. She also talked to Charleston Outreach, the organization that was helping us about the future of ministry for Sarah’s jump castle business. I look forward to hearing reports from Charleston Outreach.

In addition to that new prospect of ministry I cannot get over the way I saw God working in the lives of our students, not just with the mission work but with each other. Many of them were stretched to love each other in new ways despite being tired, individual sin, and the stress of focusing on ministering as a unified group. They saw firsthand the gospel at work not necessarily in the lives at Horizon Village but in their own lives and in each others. Any time you have a small group that goes on a trip you have the potential for tempers to rise and for tension to be thick but it is during these unloveable moments in our lives that we truly embody the gospel of grace, as we love others “even while they are yet sinners” just as Christ does. Watching them as a group huddled in a hotel room serve one another communion was overwhelming. To me that was a perfect picture of how the body of Christ, the church, should be at all times, humble, servant minded, having the “mind of Christ dwell richly in you.” I simply cannot shake the fact that this may be the greatest lesson our group learned last week. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement

Charleston Update 6

Yesterday stretched us more than any other day I think. As we were finishing getting ready for our last night of backyard Bible club tensions got a little high among our group, so we spent last night at the hotel relaxing. We had a wonderful time of worship together as a group in one of the rooms that brought our focus back to the forgiveness and redemption offered to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After about an hour we broke up and then nearly everyone ended up back together downstairs for an intense and LOUD game of signs. Today is our last full day in the city so we have the chance to seem of it in the daylight and to get one more really good meal from Jim 'N Nick's Barbecue.

Charleston Update 3

This morning we were able to go and sing with and for some of the residents of one of the senior citizen complexes at Horizon Village. We meet some really wonderful people. The weather was cloudy with a gentle breeze that made it a very pleasant experience since we were outside in a gazebo. We also prayed with the residents specifically and shared communion together. We have already had some amazing experiences and manifestations of the Holy Spirit this week, but the absolute best part of my week so far was getting to share in worship through the elements of communion.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are two things that all Christians believe in and practice. Often times in seminaries and among Christians of different traditions the differences of theological understanding with these two sacraments divide us...for me I can find no better common ground than the body of Christ broken for us and the blood of Christ poured out for us. These two elements encompass so much of the Christian message and unite believers together like nothing else can. It was truly a humbling experience for me to get to partake of communion in a setting with people I know and love so well and people I had just met an hour before. Such a great time. We leave in a few minutes for our Backyard Bible Club...

Charleston Update 2

Another good day! We did encounter some rain this afternoon which kept us from being able to do recreation at Horizon Village. We didn't have quite as many kids as yesterday, but we still had around 30. Tomorrow will be a full day. We are planning on going to sing, pray with, and have the Lord's Supper with the senior citizens at Horizon Village in the morning. In the afternoon, we will head back to do more backyard Bible Club stuff. Pray that God will use us to meet needs in both areas. My heart is broken over the need for compassion and humanness that we encountered throughout the day. God is doing something big this week in and through our group.

Being in Charleston makes me really miss Cyd. We honeymooned in Charleston, so the city holds a special place in our hearts. It was cool to see the our students as they experienced a small taste of what this great city has to offer.

Charleston Team Update 1

We have had a great first day! We arrived safely around 3PM with adequate air conditioning in all three vehicles! Quickly checked in, had orientation from Charleston Outreach folks, and headed to Horizon Village were we will be doing ministry all week. We did a block party of sorts. We hadn't out water bottles with scripture verses printed on them. We also had a jump castle inflatable for the kids to go crazy on and bounce off the sugar high from the semi-frozen Popsicles we had for them. Lots of face and arm painting. We were overwhelmed with the number of kids that came out...close to 50. Tomorrow should be a great day! Keep praying for us!

M-Fuge Summary

Well, It’s been a full week and I have been able to fully recover and begin to process the amazing things that God did in and through our students while we were at M-Fuge. The week was jam-packed with ministry and missions opportunities. I wanted to share a few highlights of the week, but this is certainly not a comprehensive list of what God did that week and is still doing in the lives of the people that we ministered to but also the lives of our students.

One of the greatest joys of my week was listening to several of our students as they talked about sharing their faith, verbally with children at the different ministry sites. Many of our students with the help of other students and adult leaders helped lead children to Christ while we were in Birmingham. To see the expression of our students as the retold the events was awesome! One encounter happened as they were walking in a mall. Another encounter included the young person who accepted Christ as Lord and Savior going and dumping out a bag of marijuana and promising not to smoke it again.

Some of our students worked at the home of a Native American couple who were very hard to the gospel at the beginning of the week but God began to soften their hearts by the end of the week. The students also cleaned up several dumpsters worth of trash and garbage for the couple.

As we began the week many of us entered our Bible study groups (groups made up of kids and adults from other churches) with preconceived notions about the people in our groups. This led to a judgmental attitude and spirit for many of us if not all of us. God did a work in several of us to help us realize that we were missing the whole point of why we had gone to Alabama and the way in which God wants us to view people who are different than us. It’s always painful when God points out our blatant sin, but the grace and healing that comes from that is indescribable!

Our time as a group continued to grow and flourish. God was strengthening existing friendships and beginning new ones among our group. Our students came home pumped about what God did in and through them June14-20 but I think they are even more excited about how God is going to use them right here in Bulloch County in the days ahead.

Please join me in praying for tangible ways for our students to continue to live out and express their faith in our Lord.

Thank you for all your prayers and encouraging words!! Thank you to everyone who helped provide for your own student to be able to go or for scholarship assistance for other students.

MFuge 2

Isn't it funny how God works sometimes? I have been praying for our group that would be going to M-Fuge for a while now...my prayers have been focused on God breaking us as a group so that we can be refashioned more into the image of Christ. The old phrase about being careful what you pray for has never been more true to me than this week. God has been destroying walls that divide our group as well as walls that have kept us from being all that God wants us to be. It's so easy for us to slip into the comfortable position of thinking that we are the only normal people around but God has reminded us that even when people look, talk or act differently than us we are all part of the body of Christ working for his glory. Lessons from God aren't always the easiest thing to deal with, but the end result is ALWAYS a good thing. I don't know what exactly God is teaching you right now, but my prayer is that you are open and receptive to the work of the Holy Spirit!

M-Fuge 2009

WOW!! What an amazing week we are having at M-Fuge Samford! God is doing some really cool things in the lives of our group of 54 students and adults. I can't begin to put into words how proud I am of our students and how humbled I am to be their youth minister. Weeks like this gives me the opportunity to see God stretch, push, pull, break, and reshape our students in so many ways. I am so thankful to be at FBC Statesboro working with teenagers. I talked to a friend from seminary today who is the executive director of an urban ministry in Birmingham that is one of our ministry sites this week about how God has a sense of humor about where he leads and calls his children. I must confess that when I finished seminary I didn't think that I would ever do youth ministry again, but God had different plans. He led Cyd and I to a Statesboro for his purposes. We can't imagine being anywhere else in life right now. We are having an incredible time not just serving the people of Birmingham, but also growing in our own faith journey. It's beyond description the feeling you get when you witness God working in not just one person's life but 54! Please continue to pray for us this week!!