Moses And Me

I have been teaching from Exodus at SLBC and at a church all week in Southwest Oklahoma. It has been a rich experience for me. I got to spend time with two of my favorite people Richard and Shelly Manning and to meet some of the finest people in the world at Corinth Baptist Church. I am mentally and physically tired but resting today. I will be ready tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will preach twice, meet with Deacons and budget and finance team (the most important meetings of my ministry here) and I will counsel with a couple having marriage difficulties at 2:00. I will also finish readings for a Monday meeting (perhaps I can do that and walk at the Y at the same time). Monday, I will know more about what God's direction might be in 2010. I think it will be a confirmation of SLBC. Also, Monday I am able to meet with my pastoral learning community and bounce some things off of these ministry collegues. This is a time of renewal and transitions.

Moses and I are very similar. I have learned from Moses that confrontation and anger are counterproductive no matter how justified in your mind. I have also learned from him that when you lead that you will create conflict, discomfort, reactions and disillusionment. However, you will create progress, direction and constructive change. Change agents are always unpopular. Moses was charged with getting Egypt out of the people. They rebelled. I would rebell also. That is to be expected. God delivered them from Egypt but Moses was responsible for performing an "Egyptectomy" on these sojourners. God gave him some laws, covenant applications and a tabernacle to die for.

I have also learned from Moses that the best route is not always the easiest. God led the people the long route not the short cut. They had to face the river, the growling stomach, the dry throat, the sour water and the desperation of survival. They had to face the loss of a leader possibility when Moses was on the mountain. Moses was dissappointed. The people became fickle. Moses was both strong and weak. He saw God face to face but blew up at the people's rebellion. He was human and had a taste of the divine that no man to this point had experienced outside of Adam and Eve.

Moses made a decision in Egypt that lasted his entire life. He decided to refuse to be called the Pharoah's heir. He choose the underdogs. He choose to be himself. He choose his roots. He did the unconventional, the unfamiliar and the unusual. He chose sides with the losers, entered unfamiliar territory and challenged the establishment. He decided to be himself under God. I want to do that.

How to be myself? I must choose to side with the losers. I choose people who are sold out to Jesus who appear to be impractical, foolish and otherworldly. I want to enter the unfamiliar territory of God's will that may lead me to be more agressive, selective and intentional in ministry. It may lead me to be closer to people and less concerned about things. It may lead me to be less materialistic and more humanistic (in the proper way). I may lead me to challenge the establishment when it involves God's ways. I want to know His ways to follow Him.

I will never get there but I am closer than I was last week. Exodus has set me free. I plan to read Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy to learn more. I don't think I will ever be the same.

Out Of Controll

It is a new year in the inner city church and my issues are as many as the grey hair on my head. I guess I deserve it.

A lady committed suicide Sunday, we memorialized her on Tuesday. A young man stabbed his dad and he is in the county jail waiting for my visit sometime this week. One of our young dads, with seven children, had a motorcycle accident and he is in ICU unconscious, on a thread. We have a few of our older people close to heaven and some have received news of life threatening health conditions. We just received news that we will have to cut the capacity of our cabin by 26 unless we are able to adjust some petitions.

2008 was a banner year for homegoings. We had more than 20 funerals at my last count. Some of these were pillars of the church. Needless to say we are hurting financially. Cutbacks are on the way.

On the plus side we baptized more than 50 last year and will attend a banquet to be recognized as a pacesetter in the state convention. This is primarily due to new youth leadership and two evangelistic efforts with George Brock and Kim Schmidt. We raised cash for a new bus. We contributed more than $10,000 to our legacy fund and gave over $30,000 to missions through the Cooperative Program.

I am not sure what leadership looks like on this side of the tracks. I am not even sure I am up to it today. All I know is that it is out of my control. That is probably good.

Today I realize that I am not in charge of life and death, or the economy, or people's attitudes, or the actions of others. I am only in control of myself. I have a choice today and I choose to be a person of faith. God has not resigned from His role in my life. He is at work even at this dead-end season. It is a season and He will be showing us some really special things in this time. So I do like Moses instructed the people at the Sea: I do not fear, I stand still, I watch God work, and I refuse to complain.

I have never been more out of control but in control at the same time. Thanks God for the cul de sac.

Who Are The Needy?

Three things are on my mind today that burden me.

One is a family I heard about through an e-mail. They have been kicked out of their appartment and today the dad lost his job. He just did not go to work. It is a situation I want to examine for myself but I am not sure what God wants me to do to help.

The other is a high maintenance church member who is in constant need of stroking. She is playing the no one has called me game after missing church a few times.

Finally I am concerned about Grover, the son of Ed and Luz Aungon who is in the hospital in the Philippines and in critical condition. He is very young. Has a liver disease.

What can I do?

I prayed for Grover. I visited the family and am still evaluating. I will probably call the lady on my way to a hospital visit.

That is my part. The rest is up to God and to others.

I Stole A Paper On Christmas Morning

I went to the local convenience store to get a paper but they were not open. However, the paper person had placed three stacks of new Daily Oklahoman's with their precious cargo of day after Christmas sale circulars near the door. There they were. New. Ready for sale but no one there to receive my $.50. So I took one. Yes, I stole the newspaper on the day of the birth of Jesus and I am a minister of the gospel. Now I do plan to take the money to them later in the day when they open. I stole the bad news on the day set asside to celebrate the good news.

Others tried to steal the good news soon after that time. Herod had all baby boys killed forcing Jesus' parents to take him to Egypt for a while. Then the scribes, pharasees and saducees were on a witch hunt to rid the world of such a fraud as Jesus. Finally He was nailed to a Roman cross and that was it. So, there you go. The story is over.

Not so fast. In three days he got a wake up call from God almighty and busted out of the grave and graveclothes to walk again with his disciples. He is alive. That is good news.

So I stole a paper on Christmas morning. The news was not so good but the sale circulars opened up new avenues for finding more things to buy to make my life more easy and fun. Now that is a good consumer and American thing to do.

I will get to the convenience store sometime today. Beleive me.

I'm Back

Well I guess I am getting introspective today. So I am back after several months. It is Christmas and we are having a big time with my grandaughter, son-in-law, son and daughter. My other daughter and her fiancee will be here tomorrow. I am cooking and watching videos and eating too much for a guy on a diet. I need to work out and probably will in a few minutes.

I am focused about three things today.

I am focused on my church and the tough decisions that will be made in the next few months. We are finally being confronted with the reality I knew when I first came to SLBC. We are a big ship with a limited crew and the crew is dying. My roll is to instill vision and at the same time lead the church to make the tough decisions that will involve people that we love. We have had the greatest year evangelistically yet the hardest year in breaking with the past. We are destined to have an even greater year in 2009. We are going to focus on prayer and Sunday school. I will work with staff on a prospect list, prayer focus week in January and staff prayer meetings.

Second I am also focused on my personal frame of mind and physical stamina. This is something I usuall don't address but I will. I am pleased with progress made in the last three months and I will continue. I have lost 22 lbs and have consistently ran or walked three miles a day. I am going to get the cholestoral down by February 15.

My frame of mind is another story. Christmas is a hard time for me and I have had some things happen in my extended family that have been really challenging. I am trying to not let it hinder what I do. It is hard to separate. However, I have a choice. I am not a victim.

Third, I am focused on sermon direction for January and my challenging opportunity to speak at a church on Exodus. I plan to be prayerful in the next two weeks and take a look at the scripture for what God wants to say to us in these days. It will happen.

There are some things that are out of my controll but of those things that are within my controll I plan to do three things:

1. Keep in mind that my main goal is to get closer to people not to win the argument.

2. Award myself for being successful in personal disciplines and keep my mind focused on the good things.

3. Get into the scripture and pray that the Holy Spirit will direct my thinking as I prepare. I will do this for an hour a day between now and Sunday.

So here I go. I am thinking out loud. It is fun and pregnant with great encouragement.

Dreaming

Forward thinking, strategic planning, vision making, goal setting and dreaming are all very important to church, business, family and personhood. However, most plans, dreams, visions and goals fall short of their ultimate fulfillment in life. At least that has been my experience. I had a dream of having $100,000 in endowmen in my church by the end of this year but it is only $65,000 and from only a few donors. There are approximately 12 people in the church who have taken this vision seriously enough to make consistent gifts.

I have a dream, vision, direction from God that I need to be involved in reaching spanish speaking people in our area. We attempted to start a church last year and both times we failed to get it off the ground. We have no hispanic people from our community coming here except children and youth on Wednesdays. I have challenged people to consider assisting a sister church in outreach and so far the well is empty, except for me.

I have a dream of being able myself to give back to my church more than they pay me and my vision was to do it all myself through the stock market and my "savy" investing skills. This year I have lost money and the bottom is not out of the market yet. I was going to fix it and realize my goals through buying a percentage ownership in companies or securing some debt instrument. I used some of the same techniques of the past but that wisdom did not work in these days. I am lost as to what to do.

I have a dream of guideing students to become pastors, missionaries and that SLBC can be a mission sending organization. I want students to become active in ministry while they are still students. I want student leaders. I want them to do more than just study about missions. I want them to put on a mission sweat. I want them to burn leather. I want them to engage people in christian conversations. We have none, so far.

Some of these dreams could still be fulfilled but not in my time. They may happen. They may not happen. So what do I do? I keep dreaming. I keep thinking strategically. I keep leading. I keep stretching myself and my church. I keep going. I press on.

What is my motivation for these things I ask myself. Am I trying to build a kingdom? Am I trying to gain success for personal fulfillment? Am I seeking a name for myself? Am I trying to look good in the eyes of other? I don't know. Sometimes I have to say that these may be my motivations. However, most of the time they are not. Most of the time my motivation is Kingdom. I want the Kingdom to grow, for more people to know Jesus and for people to have happy and fulfilled lives. I want to see people change. I want to do a good job. I want to fulfill my calling. That is it.

So that is the dream. It is God's dream for me. I am going to stick to it.

Capitol Hill Redskin

I am a redskin, a mighty mighty redskin. Yes I am. Well, so goes the cheer in the olden days, the 60's. I am surprised that they have not changed the name by now because redskin is not politically correct.


The shirt made it to the philippines on our mission trip recently. The indian got many stares from the locals.


High school was a different time yet it was a time when ideas were being formed about life. I was glad that Laurie and I got to speak in two high schools in the philippines. I hope we left some kind of an impression.


I just recently watched the movie Forest Gump. I have watched it several times. It is one of my favorite. His famous "momma said" statements are true to life. He was a man who kept his promise because his momma said to always keep a promise. He opened a shrimp business for his friend Bubba because he promised.


While in the Philippines I remember a promise I made to Jesus when I was 16. It was a promise to be a preacher of the gospel. It is a promise I plan to keep for the rest of my life. I want to be better in my latter years than I was in my early years. I was a student of Capitol Hill when I preached my first sermon. I also had a nursing home ministry at 17 and was leading worship in a small church in Oklahoma City at 16. I have never regretted a minute of that. It was formative for my ministry today.


I am now back home. Yes ministering to the area where I went to school. I cannot wait for see you at the pole. I cannot wait for revival. I cannot wait to seek to reach the hispanic community in two weeks. I cannot wait for the cottage prayer meetings.


I guess once a redskin always a redskin.