Shameless Advertizing Worked!

I won the NASB Large Print Ultrathin Reference Bible in Black Calfskin leather! How cool. Thanks Logos!

Shameless Advertizing for Logos Bible Software in an Effort to Win a Premium Bible

Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.

22 Great Devotional Resources

Here is a list of 22 great devotional books. The really cool thing is you can win them... for free! Details at DevotionalChristian.com. Whether you enter the drawing for the giveaway or not, these are excellent titles for the nourishment of your soul.

Three Ways to Improve Preaching

T. David Gordon concludes his book Why Johnny Can't Preach with three great suggestions to improve preaching.

1. Have an Annual Review of your preaching. Ask some trusted people to evaluate your preaching and suggest ways to improve.
2. Read poetry. Reading and understanding poetry requires close examination and consideration of a text. Honing this skill is crucial to reading and understanding the Bible. As an added benefit, this practice will increase your vocabulary and help you verbally paint vibrant pictures in the minds of your listeners.
3. Write letters by hand. The discipline of thinking through thoughts and carefully composing them without the benefit of a delete button will help you craft your thoughts more carefully as you preach.
   

The Kind of Pastor I Want to Be

If I am the best, most learned preacher in the world, but I do not truly love my parishioners, I might as well read the phone book to them in place of the sermon.

If I am able to forecast social and political trends, if I am a walking encyclopedia of biblical trivia, and if I am a man of faith who can work miracles, but I do not love my parishioners, I am totally worthless as a pastor.

If I give all my possessions to charity to demonstrate a life of total reliance on God, and if I carry an organ-donor card, but I am not known for my love, there’s no point to it at all.

I must be patient with my parishioners. I cannot ever be envious of pastors with larger churches, or businessmen with larger incomes, I cannot brag about my personal accomplishments, I cannot be full of myself, and I must never run roughshod over the “little people,” or even perceive that anyone fits in that category. The phrase “advancement in my career” does not mean climbing the ecclesiastical hierarchy, or becoming famous or even conspicuous. It means perfecting my love.

I must never insist on having my way. It is their church, I am their servant. I cannot be irritable or resentful in front of my congregation, however appropriate those emotions may be.

I cannot gloat over the errors of sinners, but must regard the sinners as loveable, and the errors as tragic.

I must rejoice only in the truth.

When it comes to my congregation, I have to put up with anything. I have to truly believe them every time they make a promise, no matter how many times they’ve failed to keep promises in the past. I have to allow any personal indignity that comes my way to slide off my back.

My parishioners must feel that my love has no boundaries, no conditions, and no end. They should feel free to confide even the most disquieting, painful, embarrassing, and humiliating experiences in me, because they know I am always on their side.

When I get old, my preaching will stop. When I am old, my abilities will fade. When I am old, I won’t be able to remember all the clever things I know. But my love can survive even the greatest disability of age or disease.

I cannot know all things. I should never pretend to have all answers. “I don’t know” is always a proper answer to a question if it is true; it is humble. God is too great to fit in my brain.

My faith in Jesus Christ, my hope for the resurrection on the last day, and my love for others are all important things, but the most important one is love.

Based on 1 Corinthians 13

From http://www.kencollins.com/pray-29.htm

TBC Sermons On-Line

You can listen to my sermons at tremontbaptist.org

Long TIme, No Blog... Here's Why

So, big changes since the last time I blogged. Here's whats been happening in my world.

• June 30, 2009 was my last day as pastor of Longview Missionary Baptist Church. I love that church. They are wonderful people of God who showed great kindness to me and my family. I spent nine amazing years of ministry there, for which I give thanks. Though we are separated by geography, I still have them in my heart (Philippians 1:7).

• On July 3, 2009, I kissed my family good-bye and drove to Tremont, Illinois. For the next 9 days I lived in Carroll and Phylis Imig's travel trailer. I woke up to the roosters every morning. I hated being away from my family, but enjoyed getting to go know the great folks at Tremont Baptist Church.
  

• On July 5, 2009, I preached my first sermon as Pastor of Tremont Baptist Church. We had a "passing of the baton" from their interim pastor, Dr. Adrian Lampkin, to me. The service was a "God and Country Day" service in the park. We had a great crowd of more than 140.

• On July 12, I preached my first sermon in the church building. After preaching, I left to make the 12 hour drive back to Longview.
  

• We packed up our house. A great group of guys from Tremont made the trip down to help us load a Penske truck and a 26 foot enclosed trailer (side note: I can't believe we have that much stuff!). On July 14, Sarah and I said good-bye to Longview by eating lunch at El Sombrero (really missing that place) and stopped in at Lifeway for one last perusal. Sarah and I made it to Cape Girardeau, Missouri for the night.
  

• We closed on our house on July 15 and started unpacking. And then there was more unpacking. And still more unpacking.
  

• Since July 15, we have painted everything but the kitchen and the hall that goes to the front bathroom, put in new carpet in the bedrooms and living room, and put in new vinyl flooring in the kitchen. We also put up a chain link fence so the kids could play in the backyard and not escape.
  

• We've met several of our neighbors and really like all of them. We love our new little village. Sarah and the kids love to ride bikes to the market to get a free sample of cheese before going to the library. We've made some new friends. They don't replace our old friends, but they are nice additions to our lives.
  

• In the church, we've had three people join by statement/letter, one by baptism, and I'm working with another one for baptism. The church is remodeling office space for me and the staff (it was much needed and the work they are doing is beautiful). Attendance is trending upward (in July, we averaged 127; in August, we are averaged 136 for worship). I'm starting a new Young Adult Sunday school class this Sunday.
  

• As of this week, every thing in our home is pretty much settled. All the furniture is in place. We still have a few boxes in the garage, and a few more at a friend's house. And I still need to hang a cabinet in the master bathroom. But other than that, we are getting settled in our home.
  

• The kids are adjusting very nicely. Abigail still talks about her Longview friends. We all wish there was some good Tex-Mex here. And I am sure this winter, I will miss the Texas winters.

• But God has been very kind to us. Our lives are slowly being weaved into the tapestry of fellowship here in Tremont. We are excited to be a part of the community and looking forward to what God has in store for us.
  

Celebrating Calvin's 500th Birthday

500 years ago today, John Calvin was born. If you don't know who he is, just google his name. To celebrate his birthday I was going to list 500 things I appreciate about him... but that would take a long time. So instead, here is a list of 5 :-)

1. I appreciate the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Love him or hate him, Calvin's systematization of theology has had profound influence on every theologian since.

2. I appreciate Calvin's Commentaries. This is a rich set of studies over many (not all) of the books of the Bible. Great devotional material here.

3. I appreciate Calvin's Sermons. Similar to the commentaries, but much more pastoral.

4. I appreciate Calvin's love for Scripture and high view of God.

5. I appreciate how Calvin has discipled me five centuries later.

Ministry Question(s) of the Day

1. What attracts young families (families with younger children) to a church?

2. What are families with younger children looking for in a church?

Recanting my previous Facebook declartion

I was not allowed to leave Texas until I promised to have a Facebook account. So, ignore my previous post about not having Facebook.