The Best Way To Pick

I went out to my blackberry patch in anticipation of another harvest of the plump juicy little berries. I had already picked berries several times that season, and it had been a few days since I last went out to my blackberry patch. So I went out again looking forward to yet another fresh batch of berries.

Imagine my disappointment as I stood there looking at my blackberry patch and saw very few berries. As I looked down on my bushes there were just a few scattered berries here and there. I moaned as the truth settled in that the blackberry picking season was obviously ending for the year. In waiting the past few days I had missed my opportunity to get the most out of the season. I looked and saw just a few scattered berries, some of which had been partially eaten by the birds.

Refusing to give up all hope, I decided to pick the few berries that remained. "Perhaps," I thought, "I'll at least get a few to add to my cereal tomorrow morning." I spent several minutes going over the bushes carefully picking every remaining berry that I could.

Then I accidentally dropped a few berries. It was just unthinkable to leave them on the ground since it was the end of the season. I knelt down and carefully sorted through the grass and weeds, and picked up the two or three berries I had dropped and placed them in my bucket.

As I began to stand back up, I looked up and to my surprise I discovered that my bushes were covered in berries. The berries had been concealed from sight by the numerous branches and leaves of blackberry bushes. That same cover had protected these berries from the beaks of the birds. The berries had been there all along, but I had been unable to see them by looking from above. It was only from looking from below, while on my knees that I could see these berries.

The blessings of these berries had been there all along, but I had been unable to see them until I changed my perspective, until I stopped looking from above and started looking from below -- until I began looking up from my knees.

That isn't true just in the blackberry patch, it is true of life as well! We discover that many times there are blessings all around us, but they are hidden from plain sight. What we need is a change in perspective. But what must we do to change our perspective? We must get on our knees.

When we think of that posture what comes to mind? In the Bible the posture of being on your knees was generally used in three circumstances. I am convinced that in order to change our perspective we must get on our knees in all three of these ways.

FIRST, We have to get on our knees in prayer.

There are many places in the scriptures that show that when people bent their knees in the scriptures what they were doing was praying. One place where can see this clearly was when Paul met with the leaders of the Ephesian church at Miletus while on his way to Jerusalem. Notice what they did at the end of that meeting.

When he (Paul) had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. Acts 20.36 NIV, parentheses added.

Someone has said that "Prayer changes things...and the first thing it changes is you!" Prayer changes us in that it reminds us that we are not to seek our own will, but God's will. Remember how Jesus taught us to pray.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matt. 6.9-10 NIV

That is a monumental change in perspective. Most of us usually want our way, but in getting our way we may miss out on the blessings that God has in store for us.

I am convinced that God is good, and because he is good he wants what is best for us. Not what is good for us, but what is best for us. Because I am convinced that God's will is always the best possible alternative. If that is true why would we insist on getting our own way? When we pray for God's will to be done, we are praying for God to do what is best. When we pray for God's will to be done, it changes our perspective from the self-centeredness that too frequently and too easily plagues us. In order for our perspective to change we must get on our knees in prayer.

SECOND, We have to get on our knees in worship.

Another reason people in the Scriptures would get down on their knees was to worship. One place where we can see that this was the case was when the Temple was restored and rededicated under King Hezekiah. Notice what occured on that day.

When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped. King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped. 2 Chron. 29.29-30, NIV

Just like prayer, worship has the ability to change our perspective. Nancy Cheatham gave a wonderful illustration of how this is true. She wrote...

My sister bought a new car that was loaded with high-tech options. The first time she drove the car in the rain, she turned a knob she thought would start the windshield wipers. Instead a message flashed across the dash: "Drive car in 360 degrees." She had no idea what that meant, and so when she got home she read the car manual.
She learned that while trying to turn on the windshield wipers she had inadvertently turned off the internal compass, and the car had lost its sense of direction. To correct the problem, the car had to be driven in a full circle, pointed north, and then the compass had to be reset.
Each time we gather to worship, we are resetting our internal compass. We establish "true north" in our soul, remembering who God is and what his truth proclaims.
[SOURCE: Nancy Cheatham, Olathe, KS; quoted in More Perfect Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching.]

You see the tendency is for us to have the perspective that life is all about us - that we are the center of the universe. But that is not really the case. The point of life really is about bringing glory to God. The Westminister Catechism, a document crucial to the Protestant Reformation in England, begins with this question and answer.

What is the chief and highest end of man?
Man's chief and highest end is, to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.
[SOURCE: Westminister Catechism]

That is exactly the change in perspective that kneeling in worship brings to life. Worship reveals that the blessings of the Christian life come not from focusing on ourselves, but from focusing on God. By changing our focus to him, we discover the blessings that come from fully enjoying God. To change our perspective in life, we must kneel in prayer, but we must also kneel in worship.

THIRD, We have to get on our knees in service.

The final reason people in the Bible would bow their knees was to serve. The most famous example of this, although by no means the only example, is that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the scene on Maundy Thursday before his crucifixion.

...he (Jesus) got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13.4-5 NIV, parentheses added.

Picture that! Our Lord kneeling before his disciples in order to wash their feet, among other reasons, to teach them that the Christian life is a life of service. Typically we like to be served, but what happens if we make ourselves the servants? Would that have the capability to change our perspective on life? Absolutely, it does!

I once had an older minister share with me about his experience with a state convention that he had been a part of. The convention had been considering a few years a rather large project. Each group felt passionately and wanted their own way, and refused to fully hear the position of the other side. As a result their annual convention meetings had degenerated into arguments and fighting as each group felt that the other was unreasonable. The annual meeting finally came in which the convention would have to make a final decision on the issue, and the delegates had arrived fighting mad. The meeting seemed certain to produce a major knock-out, drag-out fight, and some delegates believed that the potential was great that the meeting could result in a split of the denomination. But according to the older minister who related this story to me, the delegates were surprised to discover that their leaders had planned to start the meeting with a foot-washing service. The older minister told me that this service vastly transformed the spirit of the meeting. By kneeling before one another in service the delegates perspective had changed.

Isn't that exactly what the scriptures tells us should happen?

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. James 4.1-2, NIV.

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil 2.1-4, NIV.

If we are going to change our perspective so we can discover hidden blessings, we must kneel in prayer, we must kneel in worship, and we must kneel in service. Doing these three is certain to let us see with different eyes.

Great Quote

As I was reading the biography of Leo Tolstoy I found the following quote taken from Tolstoy's diary...

The man whose only goal is his own happiness is bad; he whose goal is the good opinion of others is weak; he whose goal is the happiness of others is good; he whose goal is God is great! ~ Leo Tolstoy, Diary, June 29,1852.

I decided to share this quote because I thought it was very profound and so true! The quote goes along perfectly with the theme from the the youth conference I took our teens to a few weeks ago, 'It's not about me." It is about God.

Blood-stained Hands

I had gone out to the blackberry patch to pick berries. As you might expect, it is quite easy to lose track of time when you are picking those juicy little fruits. I had picked about two gallons of berries. Having picked all the ripe berries on our side of the fence, I then went down to the gate and crossed over into my neighbor's pasture, working my way back up the fence picking as I went.

After some time had passed, I heard my wife calling my name. She and my son had come to tell me that dinner was waiting on the table. As I stood up to let them know where I was, they came and stood across the fence from me. My son asked, "Watch you do Dada?" I proudly told him about the numbers of berries that I had picked and asked if he wanted to eat one.

As I held out my hand to him, he cried out, "You got owie, Dada!" I looked down at my hands and laughed. They were covered in Blackberry juice and to a two year old, it probably did look like they were covered in blood. I assured him that Daddy was fine. "Its just berry juice," I reassured him, but he wasn't buying my story. Very concerned he kept repeating, "Dada got owie on hands."

That convinced me that my time in the blackberry patch was done for the day. I had to eat dinner, but more importantly I needed to go wash my hands so that my son would know that I was okay. I needed to show him my hands were okay so he would stop worrying about me. I went back to fence and crossed over to our side of the fence. As I walked back to the house with my wife and son carrying my gallons of berries, I continued reassure my son, "Daddy's fine -- it's just berry juice on my hands."

When we got back to the house, my son and I went right to the sink. I needed to wash the berries and prepare them for the freezer, but more importantly I needed to wash my hands so my son could see that they were free of "owies." There was quite a bit of juice that had stained my hands, so I had to scrub rather hard with dish soap in order to get the juice off. As the stains slowly came off, I discovered that my son had been right all along. My hands were covered with scratches and cuts and some of them were indeed bleeding.

I had not noticed the cuts and scratches because of the juice that had stained my hands. They did not even hurt until I had washed my hands and got soap into them. Now it is not surprising that my hands would have been cut and scratched. Blackberry bushes are notorious for being full of sticks and thorns, not to mention that these particular bushes were growing along a barbed wire fence.

As I looked down at my hands that my son insisted upon covering with band-aids, I took pity upon my poor hands. My desire had been to serve my family, but it had cost me. I wanted to provide them with the joy of those fresh juicy little fruits, but it had come with the sacrifice of my hands. Then it occurred to me that service always costs us something. Service is always accompanied with sacrifice.

The Apostle Paul knew of the connection of service and sacrifice. Writing to the Christians at Philippi, he said...

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. Phil. 2.17 NIV

In that verse Paul makes service pratically synonymous with sacrifice. Certainly Paul knew about the cost of service. Paul constantly identified himself as the "servant of the Lord" but that service had come with a price. Just listen to how Paul himself described his service.

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 2 Cor. 11.23-28 NIV

Certainly Paul had experienced first-hand that sacrifice accompanies service.

But this connection of service with sacrifice did not originate with Paul. It was true of our Lord Jesus Christ as well. If there was anyone who ever deserved to be served it was Jesus, but he was the greatest servant of all time!

...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve... Matt. 20.28a NIV

He deserved to be served and yet he came to serve us. And we know that this is precisely what he did. He taught, he healed, he counseled, he fed the hungry. He spent his life in service to others. He was the model servant. But let me ask you, what was his ultimate purpose in coming? Was it not to offer himself as a sacrifice for our sins? That was his ultimate act of service -and it cost him! And Jesus recognized that this sacrifice was part of his service to us. Let us return to Matthew 20.28.

...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The proof of Christ's service is none other than his blood-stained hands. From the life of Christ we see that service always requires sacrifice. But the service of Christ is not just something for us to look at and admire -- it is an example. As believers we are called to the same life of service. In the verses that preceding Matthew 20.28, Jesus indicates that we are called to serve.

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matt. 20.25-28 NIV

And if there remains any further doubt about this call to serve, just listen to the Great Commission given to the disciples of Christ as it was recorded by the Apostle John.

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." John 20.21 NIV.

Did you you notice that? Jesus sends his disciples as the father sent him. What does that mean? I think it means more than just the fact that they were receiving a commission as Christ had received a commission. It means that they were being sent to do the same task that Christ was sent to do, namely to sacrifice themselves in the service of others. This is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Christ, to take up one's cross and follow him. Being a disciple is to give our life in service to others. And I think it is interesting that John says "Again Jesus said..." Evidently, this was not the first time Jesus had told his disciples that he intended that they serve others. It was a message that he had shared with them repeatedly.

It was the adherrance to this message that Paul used as the litmus test to distinguish himself as a true disciple of Christ, as opposed to the false teachers who were only claiming to be servants of Christ. (Cf. 2 Cor. 11.23-28). And it was this message that Paul taught his converts to observe.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Rom. 12.1 NIV

So what are some of the things that we may have to sacrifice as servants of Christ? Many will expect that as a preacher it is now my duty to ask for your money. Of course, our service to Christ may require a monetary contribution, but there is far more to being a servant than just giving money. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that God is far more interested in some of these other sacrifices than he is in our money.

One thing that we may be asked to sacrifice is our time. I always appreciate those who volunteer to teach at Vacation Bible School, or are willing to be a sponsor for a week of church camp. Those are acts of service indeed, but they are also acts of sacrifice. They are acts which require a sacrifice of time, and as we all know time is a very precious commodity which none of us ever seem to have in surplus. Most of the service that is rendered in the church, whether it be those already mentioned, or teaching a class, or participating on a committee or board, or even agreeing to clean the church, requires a sacrifice of time.

We may also have to sacrifice our pride. When we go to church camp, we have a sponsors meeting every morning. Without a doubt, in every meeting the sponsors are inevitably asked to volunteer for various tasks; for instance, sweeping the tabbernacle, or working in the snack shack, or serving at dinner. All of those require a sacrifice of time, but some of the tasks also require an additional sacrifice - the sacrifice of pride. For example, volunteering to clean the boys bathroom after 200 or so junior boys have used it all day! It is very hard to be proud as you are fishing filthy underwear out of a clogged toilet.

Our service may also require emotional sacrifice. Whenever you invest your life in another, you always open yourself up to being hurt. To being disappointed, to being criticized. At one of my previous churches I had a teacher of a class who threw up their hands and quit teaching. The reason? They had been criticized by a student. I understand that criticism is never fun. I never enjoy being criticized myself! But I also know that criticism comes with the territory. If you are going to serve you can count on someone hurting you with their criticism. Wasn't Jesus himself severely criticized?

These are just a few things that we may be called to sacrifice if we are going to serve, but there are many others. These were listed merely to demonstrate that service is always accompanied by sacrifice. There can be no doubt that service will require some form of sacrifice. The big question is what are we willing to sacrifice in order to serve?

Blackberries Are A Nuisance

It was early spring when the trustees and I met together to compile and prioritize a list of tasks that needed to be performed around the church at our upcoming church workday. We did not know how many people would show up for the workday so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of work for everyone to do, but we also wanted to be sure that the major tasks would be accomplished first. We also were making the list to ensure that there was something for everyone to do, regardless of age or abilities.

We had completed our survey of the interior of the church and were walking around the perimeter of the building when one of the men spotted the fencerow that separated the church property from our neighbor’s hayfield. “The fencerow is grownup with weeds again,” he said, “we should have someone burn it.” The other trustees quickly agreed and began to add, “Burn the fencerow” to the list.

Aghast, I hurriedly spoke up. “We can’t do that,” I protested.

“Why not, preacher? That fencerow is looking really bad, and the point of this workday is to make the church look nice. Burning that fencerow would be a vast improvement.”

“Oh, I agree! It does look bad. No question about that,” I continued to protest, “but we can’t burn it because that is where the blackberry bushes are. We can’t burn the blackberry bushes.”

Having come from Colorado to Rock Chapel, which is located in southern Missouri, the trustees were already suspicious that I might be a closet tree-hugger, and now in their minds their worst suspicions were probably being confirmed. “Pastor, don’t you know that blackberries are a nuisance,” one of my trustees explained, “we brush hog acres and acres of them on our farms every year.”

I continued to protest, explaining to the trustees that these were not just any ordinary blackberry bushes. These were my blackberry bushes, my own private blackberry patch. I counted this blackberry patch as one of the perks of living in the parsonage next door to the church. If they were to burn the fencerow I’d lose my opportunity to pick blackberries. “Surely, you do not want to deprive the parsonage of the joy of those plump juicy little fruits,” I reasoned.

After a few moments of listening to my passionate pleas of amnesty for my blackberries, one of the trustees graciously granted the sought after pardon. “Okay, we’ll drop the fencerow from the list and leave the blackberries for the preacher.” I immediately thanked them for their generosity.

Later, that summer as I picked blackberries, I thought back to this incident and gave thanks to God for preserving my blackberry patch. I remembered the words, “blackberries are a nuisance.” The trustees had good reasons for feeling this way, of course. It is not uncommon for blackberries that are let be to take over entire fields, and this is a problem because cattle cannot graze on the thorny blackberry bushes. But, nevertheless, it was difficult for me to reconcile how they could classify as a nuisance what I considered one of the best blessings of the summer.

But isn’t that the way that life works? Some do not value things that are highly valued by others. As my grandmother, who lives for a good yard sale, would often say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” But this is true of more than just possessions. Circumstances do not often turn out to be what we initially thought they were, and so what we might view as a nuisance or problem sometimes actually turns out to be a blessing.

I am reminded of the story of Joseph. If there was ever a person who had troubles it was Joseph. Joseph was the youngest of his brothers, but the favorite son of his father. Now that may not be much of a problem if you only had a couple of brothers and they were only a few years older than you. But Joseph had ten older brothers! And to make matters worse, Joseph also had a big mouth! He loved to boast to his brothers about his dreams that predicted how one day he would rule over them.

Now, Joseph’s brothers may have been able to overlook a lot of what Joseph said as the wild dreams of youth. They gave Joseph the nickname, “Dreamer.” But when their father Israel gave Joseph a multi-colored coat to honor him and distinguish him from his brothers, it was more than they could bear. They weren’t going to idly stand by and let their brother’s dreams of ruling over his older brothers come true.

We know what happened next. They took Joseph and sold him as a slave to some nomadic traders and then manufactured evidence to make their father believe wild animals had killed his favorite son.

Now that is a pretty awful set of circumstances, but things got worse for Joseph before they got better. Those traders who bought him took him down into Egypt where they sold him as a slave to an Egyptian named Potiphar. Although, he had unjustly been made a slave, Joseph served Potiphar well and in time gained his trust. That is until Potiphar’s wife developed an infatuation for Joseph and tried to seduce him. When Joseph refused her advances, she responded by telling her husband that Joseph had attempted to rape her in her own house. Potiphar, as you may well imagine, became quite angry, and since he was also the captain of Pharaoh’s guard he threw Joseph in prison. So, here is Joseph falsely accused and imprisoned in a foreign land, and all of this through no fault of his own – rather this is all occurring to him as a result of his brothers’ jealousy and envy.

When Joseph meets up with his brothers later in life you would expect him to be extremely angry and possibly seeking revenge. And after their father died, that is precisely what his brothers expected. They thought, "Now that Dad is dead, Joseph will surely exact his revenge on us." But notice what Joseph said to them…

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Gen. 50.20 NIV

You see, Joseph realized that sometimes things are not as they seem. We may look at our circumstances and see problems, when they are actually opportunities. We may see them as a nuisance, when they are actually blessings. We may see them as burdens, but they are actually joys.

Joseph had discovered this first hand in his life. Sure it was difficult to have his brothers betray him, to be sold into slavery, to be falsely accused, and to be rotting in prison, but he discovered that it was these very things that had brought his dreams to pass. These difficulties were all part of God’s plan to make him the ruler not just over his brothers, but of all Egypt as well. In Joseph’s life the nuisances turned out to be blessings in disguise.

You know that is often the case in our lives as well. I remember one of the first services I held at Rock Chapel. After the morning service I had one of the fellows come to me apologizing for the way his young son had acted during the service. He had cried and fussed and generally just made a nuisance of himself. I assured the father that it didn’t bother me; I just spoke a little louder. But he was still very concerned. Then one of the elder deacons who had been standing nearby and overheard our conversation turned to him and said, “You think he was a nuisance but I think it’s a blessing just to have young people like him here. Those are just the sounds of life!”

What a profound statement! How often have people complained about the noise of children during a church service? But those children are not really nuisances; they are blessings! How many have complained when people of a different ethnicity move into to a neighborhood or begin to attend the church, when really this is just an opportunity for the church to expand into new ministries?

How often have churches mourned over some natural calamity that their community faced – like forest fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. Only to discover later that those disasters were not disasters at all! Rather it had given the church the opportunity to meet and minister to people in their community that they otherwise would not have. It gave them a rise in attendance as people began searching for God in the aftermath, and as people searched for God they also saw more people come to Christ. It was a blessing.

A good example of this is what happened at the Wedgwood Baptist Church a few years ago.

For many young people in Fort Worth, Texas, September 15, 1999, started with prayer around their high school's flagpole. After taking a public stand for their faith, about four hundred youth gathered in the sanctuary of Wedgwood Baptist Church for a See You at the Pole rally that night. Alleluias rang out as a Christian band led the group in singing praises.

Suddenly a lone gunman burst in. Larry Ashbrook killed seven people—Shawn Brown, 23; Sydney Browning, 36; Justin Ray, 17; Cassie Griffin, 14; Joey Ennis, 14; Kristi Beckel, 14; Kim Jones, 23—before committing suicide. At first, many thought the gunman was part of a skit. But they soon realized the bullets weren't blanks and the blood wasn't ketchup. Many of the youth, plus 150 adults and children, at Wedgwood that night must have wondered where God was. But in the weeks following the tragedy, they, and the world, have found that God didn't abandon them.

Drawing from the church's official Web site and other sources, here are some confirmed instances of God's hand at work:

Although the deaths and injuries were tragic, the devastation could have been much worse. Sixty-eight bullets were fired and only 14 people were hit. About 90 bullets remained unused. A bomb Ashbrook fashioned blew up in the sanctuary, but most of the shrapnel went into the ceiling, injuring no one.

All of Ashbrook's victims were believers.

Though it was a beautiful night, no children were on the church's playground, which Ashbrook had to walk past to enter the church. The shooter did not come to the nursery or elementary school areas of the church, and leaders were able to get the children out with very few of them seeing anything but police cars and fire trucks.

A paramedic, Art DeFord, was at church that night and gave some of the victims immediate medical attention, stabilizing them before other emergency personnel arrived.

All of the injured have been released from the hospital and are recovering—Mary Beth Talley, Robert DeBord, 17; Justin Laird, 16; Nicholas Skinner, 14; Kevin Galey, 38; Jeff Laster, 34; and Jaynanne Brown, 41.

Fifteen thousand people attended a community-wide service at the football stadium of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Al Meredith, Wedgwood's senior pastor, challenged people to pray and fast on Monday, the 20th. The service was broadcast live on a local television station and on CNN. Because Kim Jones's parents live and work in Saudi Arabia, that country, which is closed to the gospel, allowed portions of the service to be broadcast there.

A DJ at a local Christian radio station (KLTY) was able to lead a caller to Christ. The caller had said he wanted what the church members had.

When prompted by a question from Vice President Al Gore, Pastor Meredith was able to present the gospel clearly on the television show, Larry King Live. In the days following the tragedy, Meredith was also able to pray with President Bill Clinton and Texas Governor George W. Bush.

The husband of a church member professed a newfound faith in Christ shortly after the shooting. His wife, Jodi, and three-year-old daughter were at the church during the shooting, as he watched the scene unfold on television. The wife had been praying, with others, for his salvation for two years. She says the shooting helped him realize he was not in control of everything around him.

As of December 1, 1999, Wedgwood's Web site, http://www.wedgwoodbc.org/, had 100,000 visits. The site offers a link to the site of the North American Mission Board (SBC), which displays the plan of salvation in multiple languages.

The church has received more than $100,000 in unsolicited donations. They have established a committee to determine how it will be spent.

Sydney Browning's family has set up a youth scholarship fund in her name. The survivors of other victims have also set up funds in their honor.[1]

So, I challenge us as Christians. Let’s be careful about viewing things as nuisances, problems, and obstacles. They may instead be some of God’s greatest blessings. Let’s be people, who instead of looking for nuisances, look for the blessings of God.

PRAYER:

Lord, transform our perspective. Let us see things as you view them. Where others see nuisances and obstacles, let us see blessings and opportunity.


[1] Randy Bishop, “What Was God Doing at Wedgwood?” Christian Reader (March/April 2000), p.88

God's Blackberry Patch

My first pastorate was at the Rock Chapel Church; a small country church located among the cattle farms of the Ozarks. To say that the church was rural would be an understatement since it is located at least ten miles from a town regardless of which direction you travel. Nevertheless, being the pastor of this church was a wonderful opportunity for me. God gave me some wonderful people to work with, and he taught me a lot while serving there. Some of the best lessons that God taught me were learned as I picked blackberries behind the church.

Separating the church grounds from the adjacent hay field was a simple three-strand barbed wire fence. Like many such fences in the Ozarks, it was a constant struggle to keep the fencerow free of weeds and trees, and admittedly the fencerow was overgrown more than most. It was a source of constant consternation for our Trustees, and occasionally time would have to be devoted to weed-eating, or even more drastically burning off the fencerow.

Along that fencerow also grew a series of wild blackberry bushes. These bushes became my exclusive pastoral blackberry patch. One of the highlights of my summers at Rock Chapel was blackberry season. I love picking blackberries because I love the plump juicy little fruits. I love them right off the vine, or washed and added to my Grape-nuts at breakfast. Of course, they are also great in cobblers and jams, and I enjoy them as a topping for a bowl of rich vanilla ice cream. Even the little seeds that so frequently get stuck in a tooth don't bother me. I just love blackberries.

I also love simply spending time in the blackberry patch. Hearing me say that you might think that I am a country boy, but I am not. Most of my adult life I have lived in the city, and I love the noise and activity of the city. But I am not really a city boy, either. After visiting my hometown with me, a country-boy friend of mine proclaimed, "I thought you were a city boy, but you're really just a town boy." That is a pretty fair description of me. My hometown is Flat River, Missouri. As a child my family and I always lived in town.

I think that is why I enjoy being in the blackberry patch. There is something nostalgic about it. Time spent there seemed to bring the feeling of going back to the good old days. As you pick those berries there is a sort of reconnection to the rural past, to the primitive hunter-gatherer. For me in particular, the blackberry patch brought to mind summers past when as a child I would pick blackberries with my grandparents. These are fond memories indeed.

But there is an even greater reason why I loved spending time picking blackberries. I value the quiet and solitude. We all need periods of quiet and solitude. Even when Jesus was here on earth he set aside time for quiet and solitude. Richard Foster made this point very well in his book, The Celebration of Discipline. He writes:

Jesus experienced frequent outward solitude. He inaugurated his ministry by spending forty days in the desert (Matt 4.1-11). Before he chose the twelve he spent the entire night alone in the desert hills (Luke 6.12). When he received the news of John the Baptist's death, he "withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart" (Matt. 14.12). After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand Jesus "went up into the hills by himself..." (Matt.14.23). Following a long night of work, "in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place..." (Mark 1.35). When the twelve returned from a preaching and healing mission, Jesus instructed them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place" (Mark 6.31). Following the healing of a leper Jesus "withdrew to the wilderness and prayed" (Luke 5.16). With three disciples he sought out the silence of a lonely mountain as the stage for the transfiguration (Matt. 17.1-9). As he prepared for his highest and most holy work, Jesus sought the solitude of the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26.36-46). I could go on, but perhaps this is sufficient to show that the seeking out of solitary places was a regular practice for Jesus. So it should be for us.

I think Foster has a good point. Our world has become a very hectic place. It seems we go all the time. We have tremendous demands placed upon our time. The world travels at a faster and faster pace all the time. Stores are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. When my wife and lived in Colorado, our bank was open from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm seven days a week including holidays, certainly not traditional bankers hours. We are also always connected with cell phones. Shortly after coming to Victory one of our older ladies was visiting with me in my office when her cell phone rang -- it was one of her kids wanting to know "Mom, where are you?" And that scene is typical for many of us isn't it. Even in those rare occasions when we are alone, we still have radios, and CD players and MP3 players that make sure it is anything but silent.

Now I am not saying that things are bad in and of themselves, but I am convinced that if Jesus needed time for quiet and solitude then we most certainly do too.

Solitude is valuable for us because we need downtime to refresh and renew our energies. This particularly seems to be what Jesus used his solitude for. Solitude is also important because we all need places and times set aside where we can focus on the spiritual disciplines such as prayer, meditation, and listening.

As a pastor, I found the time spent among the blackberries to be an excellent oportunity to pray. It is sometimes difficult in the hustle and bustle of daily life to devote the time that we should to prayer. I think that is part of the reason why Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount...

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen of men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matt. 6.5-6 NIV

Countless prayers for my church and its members were offered while I was picking blackberries.

But I also enjoyed being alone with my thoughts while I was picking the berries. I found that time could be used very well as a time of meditation. Meditation is a lost art among many Christians today, but it was not so with the saints of the Bible. Isaac, we are told, would go out in the evening to meditate (Gen. 24.63) and the Lord told Joshua to meditate on his Law (Josh 1.8). The Psalmist loved to meditate on God's word and his deeds as the following verses demonstrate.

I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Ps. 77.12 NIV

I will meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. Ps. 119.15 NIV

Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Ps. 119.97 NIV

I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. Ps. 143.5 NIV

We all need time to reflect on the truths of scripture. We need time to contemplate the Christian life. Solitude allows us to set aside time from our busy schedules to meditate on God's word, character, and acts.

We also need time to be still and listen for God's voice. We are familiar with the verse "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46.10 NIV), but how successful are we at just being still and listening for God to speak to us? I know that prayer is supposed to be communicating with God, but I also know that true communication only occurs when a person not only speaks but also listens to what the other has to say. I know in my own prayer life there is always the temptation for prayers to become a one-sided conversation, where I speak to God but fail to take the time to listen for his voice. Ecclesiastes warns us of just this thing.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaen and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Eccl. 5.1-2 NIV

Time spent in the blackberry patch was for me that much needed time of solitude that gave me opportunities for prayer, meditation, and listening. So my question for you is, "Where is your blackberry patch?" We all need such time, and I encourage you to make such time in your life -- to find a place that can be as the KJV calls it, "your prayer closet," or as I have described it, "your personal blackberry patch."

_________

In the posts that will follow I will be sharing several of the personal reflections that I had as I stood in my blackberry patch. They by no means represent everything that I meditated upon while picking blackberries. Many would be of no interest to anyone but myself. Many have been forgotten. And I would be the first to admit that not every journey of my wandering mind is worthy of record.

What remains are a number of personal reflections about the spiritual life illustrated by my experiences of picking blackberries. Each in its own way is somehow related to blackberries, but the greater theme is the spiritual life that God has called us to. I offer them here as devotional thoughts to anyone who may be interested, and hope that they will be enjoyed as such. But I also offer them as an encouragement to find your own blackberry patch, that is as an encouragement to find for yourself a place where you can seek God and meditate upon his word and his goodness.

God's Goodness

Is God good?

Absolutely! I believe that without a shadow of a doubt. But how can you prove the goodness of God? I am not certain that we can prove God's goodness, especially to those whom have never experienced it because of their lack of faith. The best we can probably do is to testify of how God has been good to us personally.

I had the joy of experiencing God's goodness this very morning! I came into my office and after get things organized, I began to pray. Especially on my mind and in my prayers was the evenagelistic outreach our church has been planning for next month. There is only one problem, our church finances are very tight right now. What do finances have to do with outreach? Well, I figre that to have an effective outreach we really ought to spend some money for some nice brochures and or door hangers, but that was out of the question since our finances are so tight.

This was the topic of my prayer this morning,"God can you somehow make it possible that we could invest in the literature necessary for this evangelistic outreach."

After I had finished praying I for some unexplained reason got the urge to fool around with the two extra computer printers that have been sitting in my office since I got here. I not done anything with them for close to a year, but for some reason today I said to myself, "Either I'm going to get these things working, or I'm getting rid of them! I'm tired of them sitting here collecting dust." So, as I said I began working on them, but I soon ran into a snag. One of the printers was missing its power cord.

I suspected that the missing power cord was around here somewhere. So I began going through the desk drawers and filing cabinets in the pastor's and church offices. As I was doing so, I found a box and as I opened it guess what I discovered. The box was full of doorhangers and matching tracts, just what I needed for our evangelistic outreach. There were 200 hundred of them. Apparently, one of our former pastors had ordered them, never used them, and had just left them sitting in the original box in the office. But even though the materials were from a few pastors ago, they were still in prisitne shape since they were still in their original packaging. What a blessing to have God answer my prayer so completely... and so quickly!

And what is coolest of all is that just last night during our midweek service we were talking about the power of prayer! Now, isn't God good!


Oh... just in case you are wondering I did find the power cord to the printer and did get it working. So, I have been doubly blessed today!

Driveby Shooting

As I pulled into the parking lot of my church today, I immediately noticed that vehicles of one of my trustees and one of my board members sitting in the parking lot. This struck me as odd and I knew something was up. As I pulled into my usual parking spot just outside the window of my office I noticed the reason for their being at the church. The front doors of our church were riddled with bullet holes and had been reduced to shattered glass. We had been the victims of a driveby shooting.

As I got out of my car and entered the doors of our place of worship, I felt sick. The first thing I noticed was that the letters form our message board were strewn across our foyer floor as were shards of broken glass. My first thought was that we had been broken into and vandalized. My men reassured me that the church had not been broken into -- the letters had been scattered when one of the bullets hit the message board after going through the glass. They also quickly informed me that no one had been injured in the shooting, which brought a great deal of relief.

One of the first things we did was to call the police, and then we called our insurance company. As we waited for the police investigator to arrive we made our own survey of the damage, taking pictures and documenting the damage for the insurance company. We were able to locate several of the spent bullets which we pointed out to the investigating officer when he arrived so that he could retrieve them.

As we surveyed the damage, I felt so sick... so violated! Why would anyone do such a thing? Why would anyone do such a thing to a church! Why would they do this to our church? What had we done to anyone that they would be so angry as do such a thing? Isn't there any respect for the church anymore in our soceity? Isn't there any fear of God? The more I thought about it, the worse I felt.

I'll admit that I am glad I was not alone. It was such an strange and awful feeling seeing the church I love so much with bullets embedded in her walls. I am glad that I did not have to bear the sight alone. I suspect the others must have felt the same way, because while they never said anything we all chose to sit outside and wait rather than remain inside where we had to view more of the damage.

There is a part of me, that part that feels violated, that dreads having to go back and sit in my office. That part of me that says, "I don't want to be in a building that people have been shooting at."

But as I think about it more, this shooting reinforces how important our church is to our community. What community needs the church more than the one where people driveby and randomly fire 9mm's? Who is there that needs to hear the good news of God more than the miserable person who pulled that trigger? This shooting serves as a reminder of the great spiritual needs that are around us, everyday in our own community.

I am still sick at the thought of what was done to my church, but I am undaunted! I am going to continue to preach the love of Christ to this community. Our church will repair and we will go on. I will not let fear motivate me! I will not back down; I will not be intimidated! This community, and these people need the message of the living God and God has placed me in this community as his ambassador. I will be faithful in delivering his message until we have so captured the hearts of our community with the Gospel that such things as this driveby shooting no longer occur. Our community needs us, may we not shrink back in fear. Instead, let us sound the trumpets and adance on in the power of God!

June Books

Those who know me well know that I love to spend time browsing used bookstores and thrift stores looking to build my library with inexpensive copies of great books. This past month I found several worthwhile books. Among them were two books which I also read this month -- Night by Elie Wiesel and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitzyn.

Both books deal with a similar topic.

Elie Wiesel's Night recounts his personal experiences as a Jew in Nazi Germany. Wiesel takes his reader along through the increasing persecution of the Jews from at first being merely second-class citizens to being rounded up into the ghettos, to being herded in boxcars like cattle, to the horrors of Auschwitz, and finally to the liberation by the Allies. It is a harrowing tale indeed.

In A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitzyn takes his reader into a single day in the life of a prisoner in one of Stalin's gulags. He recounts in great detail the life of a single prisoner from the pre-dawn reveille to the final banging of the rail again at night. The story is just a typical day in the life of typical zek (prisoner), and yet the story is anything but typical. In this story the reader is faced with all the creulty, insanity, and futility of Stalin's gulag.

In Night, the years of unimaginable creulty and destruction by the Nazis blurs into a single night, but in A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a single day becomes the symbol of the entire 10 or 25 year sentence in the gulag.

I believe these two books are worthy reading for anyone. We need to remember and understand the past, which these books protray with vivid detail, so that the same idiocy does not overtake again in the future. "He who does not rememer the past is condemned to repeat it."

But as a pastor, I found these books especially interesting because there are spiritual themes that cannot be easily missed by the careful reader.

In Night, the reader encounters Wiesel's own crisis of faith. A very devout Hasidic Jew before the holocaust, Wiesel nonetheless has to battle the inner demons of doubt and feelings of abandonment. Who would not under such circumstances? Where is God in the midst of such human suffering? At one point while being forced to watch the hanging of a small boy with an angelic face, Wiesel answers the question, "Where is God? I'll tell you where he is, he is on those gallows." The answer makes the reader think that Wiesel has embraced the Death of God theology, i.e. that the idea of God is irrelevant to modern man. But Wiesel does not become an atheist; he does not reject his faith. He returns to prayer. It is Wiesel's faith that sustains him until his liberation. Where is God in the face of human suffering? The answer is that God is right there suffering alongside us. So identified is he with his people, that it is God's neck that is stretched from those gallows!

In A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Ivan is not a particularly religious man. He believes in God but has been put off by the extravagence and immorality of his local Orthodox priest. Still he finds the life of Alyosha, a fellow-prisoner who is a Baptist, intriguing and somewhat attractive. Alyosha, unlike so many of the other prisoners, can be trusted, works without complaint, does not steal or cheat, and bears his imprisonment with quiet fortitude. It is amazing to me that this Baptist was protrayed in such a positive light, especially considering that the book was published with the official approval of the Communist party during the reign of Khrushcev. Alyosha the Baptist is not the hero of the book, but he clearly is the most moral and admirable character in the gulag. And what is it that makes the difference in Alyosha's life? What is that sets him so far apart from his fellow prisoners? It is his faith, and in particular his desire to be like Christ in his life. I am convinced that the more we live like Christ the more attractive our faith is to those around us. Alyosha is able to bear his imprisonment because he is confident it is God's will for his life. That is true faith!

I highly recommend both of these books, especially to my fellow pastors.

Vacation Bible School

We just finished up our Vacation Bible School at church. I love V.B.S.! Kids amaze me because they have so much energy and imagination. After all who else could you tell that a hula hoop with ribbon haging from it was a waterfall, and they would jump right into it and play along that it is? Who else could take a CD and make a fish out of it? Kids seem to have an inexhaustible creativity.

I guess that is the reason that why I enjoy Vacation Bible School. It is a joy to be around that much raw creativity.

As I was thinking about the creativity of our kids, it occurred to me that creativity is one of the most overlooked aspects of the the imago dei. The scriptures tell us that we were created in the image of God. We often explain what that means in terms of our having a soul, or having a will, or having an intellect, or even being self-aware; but we forget that creativity is part of the image of God. God, after all, is the Creator, and so it makes sense that if we are created in his image that we like him will be creative. When we exercise our creativity we are being like our creator.

That is not to say that we are being godly simply by being creative. Certainly we know that we can misuse our creativity just as we can misuse our free will, and when we misuse either we have sinned. Rather, what I am saying is that we have our creativity precisely because we were created in the image of the one who is the Creator.

Now the interesting thing about this is that our creativity often seems to diminiush as we progress from childhood to adulthood. In our adult years we seldom use our creativity or may even actively resist creativity. We frequently see this in the church where there is often a resistance to anything that is innovative. We label such things as worldly, or liberal. But is that really the case?

Could it be that by resisting innovation we are stifling our creativity and are therefore being ungodly? If God wants us to be godly, maybe he wants us to be creative. I think that is one of the reasons why I like Vacation Bible School. It is one of the occasions in the church when we give ourselves permission to be creative in our presentation of the gospel message.

Maybe there is more to what Jesus meant when he said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" (Mark 10.15 NIV) than us simply being able to believe like a little child. Maybe Jesus also means that we should exercise our belief with creativity as a child would.

I wonder what the church would look like and what we would accomplish if we didn't give ourselves permission to be creative not just during the week of Vacation Bible School, but every week of the year.

2007 State Meeting

At the Missouri State Association of Free Will Baptists this week the following constitution and by-law change was adopted.

Item 2: We want to remind the General Board of their motion (made at our Nov. 2006 meeting) to the State Association regarding the change to By-law #66. The proposed By-law #66 reads:
We believe that Paul’s statement in 1 Tim. 3.2,12 and Titus 1.6, namely “the husband of one wife,” be looked upon as making ineligible as pastors or deacons anyone who has been divorced and remarried, or who marries a divorced woman, regardless of the cause of the divorce or the guilt or innocence of either partner.
We believe that said persons, whose marital status disqualifies them to be pastors or deacons, not be discouraged in their Christian lives or Christian service, but that they be encouraged to live faithfully for Christ and serve Him in the ministry of the local church; and that such be reminded that pastors and deacons are the only church officers for whom the “husband of one wife” prohibition is given.
While certainly it is the ideal for all believers, it is biblically insisted upon as a requirement for deacons and pastors.
While not insisting that this bylaw be made retroactive, we do establish this standard to be upheld for all new candidates for pastors or deacons.

This is a change that I am opposed to, and so stated on the floor of the annual meeting. Below is an explanation of my reasons for opposition to this bylaw change. Much of what follows is what I tried to state on the floor of the business session.

I read that Dr. Pinson, President of Free Will Baptist Bible College is a fifth generation Free Will Baptist. I am proud to say that I am a first generation Free Will Baptist. I am a bus kid from the wrong side of the wrong side of the tracks. I came to Christ as a result of the ministry of the Farmington FWB Church. I was the first in my family to come to Christ. My father and mother came to Christ as a result of my begging and pleading for them to come to church with me, and so while they are older they are the second generation, I am the first. I have been loved, encouraged, taught, mentored, discipled and even disciplined by Free Will Baptists. Whatever I am today, I am by the grace of God and by efforts of Free Will Baptists. I am deeply indebted to Free Will Baptists, but I am disappointed by Missouri Free Will Baptists today. I am disappointed by this constitution and bylaw change.

I recognize that divorce is a difficult and complex issue. It is regrettable, but it is a reality, even among pastors and deacons. I understand the need to give some guidance to our churches regarding this issue, but I am disappointed that the General Board has offered this statement as the solution.

I am disappointed, first of all because of the questionable exegesis embodied in this bylaw change. With a difficult issue, the easiest solution is to gravitate to one extreme or another. But to do so is to be lazy with our exegesis. That seems to be what our General Board has done. Not wanting to appear liberal they have given us a very conservative statement, but just because a position is conservative does not mean that it is correct.

The passages given in this bylaw change cannot support a restriction against ordaining someone who has married a divorced woman in any way. The idea that the phrase “and wives likewise” in 1 Timothy 3.11 applies the one-spouse obligation to the wife also is erroneous. Paul very clearly states what pastor’s and deacon’s wives must also be – they like their husbands must be dignified, not slanderers, sober-minded, and faithful. He says nothing about their marital history. To insist that this is embodied in this phrase is to do injury to the text. It is adding to the text a requirement that simply is not there! This restriction actually is based upon Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount that “whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matt. 5.32). That seems straightforward enough, until we remember that Jesus himself qualifies his statements with the exception for sexual immorality. “Whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” is not an absolute statement. Unlike this bylaw change, Jesus does concern himself with the questions of guilt and innocence in the divorce. Jesus is not saying that a man commits adultery when he marries a woman whose husband has divorced her to marry another woman. She is does not commit adultery because her marriage covenant was already broken by her husbands unfaithfulness. She is the innocent party in the divorce. This is the sexual immorality exception. What Jesus is saying is, if you are the man that the woman has left her husband for then you are committing adultery. That should be obvious.

This bylaw change also misunderstands the meaning of the phrase “husband of one wife.” The Greek phrase is μιᾶς γυναικὸς ̓άνδρα, which literally translated is a “one-woman man.” It says nothing directly about a man’s marital history, rather the phrase is a Greek idiom which means “committed to his spouse.” Craig S. Keener explains in the phrase by stating,

“Husband of one wife” no doubt means a faithful husband and presupposes marriage; such a man would be helpful in standing against the false teachers who opposed marriage (4.3)… “Husband of one wife” refers to one’s current marital status and behavior; validly divorced people who remarried were considered married to one spouse, the second one, not to two spouses.[1]

We might express the same idea today with the idioms “he does not have a roaming eye,” “he is not on the prowl,” or “he is not shopping around.” A man engaged in such activity should be disqualified from ministry since according to Jesus he is engaged in adultery by looking at other women and lusting after them (cf. Matt 5.27-28).

This passage does not speak to the pastoral or deaconate candidate’s marital history directly. Obviously, if his marital history calls his devotion to his spouse into question, he should not be ordained, but we need to ask ourselves if a divorce in his history regardless of the circumstances always does this? Is it possible that a man could be devoted to his spouse and yet become divorced? I argue that it is. We know that while a man may be submitted to God and devoted to his spouse, his wife still has a free will and she may choose to sin by her own will. He may love her and want to stay with her, but she chooses for whatever reason to divorce him and marry another. Is he guilty? No! Has he violated Paul’s requirement of being a one-woman man? No! Should we pull his credentials under such circumstances? No! To do so is punish an innocent party and that is contrary to the idea of free will. We believe each person has a free will and that they will be held accountable for their own free will, but no one can be held accountable for the free will of another. To be held accountable for what is not and never was under your control is both immoral and unjust.

Some would argue that this bylaw change does not prohibit a divorce, only remarriage. A generous reading of the bylaw does of course read that way, although it must be admitted that no one believes this article will prevent the church from shooting her wounded. There is no protection for the pastor or the deacon offered here. Pastors and deacons who suffer divorce will continue to have their papers immediately pulled by their churches and associations. Nevertheless for the sake of the argument, we will consider the idea that a pastor or deacon may continue to serve as long as they do not remarry. The position they take is that a pastor or deacon may continue in their ministry after a divorce as long as they remain celibate from that point forward. Those who hold such a position see the remarriage rather than the divorce as the violation of the phrase “the husband of one wife.” This position still rests upon very questionable exegesis because not only does it fail to recognize the idiomatic meaning of the phrase, it also fails to understand the biblical concept of divorce. Divorce was intended by God to be a substitute for the death penalty. Under the law, adulterers were to be put to death, but due to the hardness of our hearts God allowed us a substitute – a person could divorce their spouse rather than put them to death. The divorce was intended to end the relationship as completely as the death sentence would have. The idea that the divorced person would not be allowed to remarry is preposterous because certainly the person whose spouse had been executed would have been free to marry. Those who advocate that Paul is permitting divorce but prohibiting remarriage should go back and reexamine the text. The only support for their view is a misunderstanding of what the phrase “husband of one wife” really means. If their view were correct, then we should also require widowers who remarry to surrender their papers because they also have had more than one wife. While we might agree with Paul that celibacy might be preferred, we should also remember that he said “it is better to marry than to burn” (cf. 1 Cor 7.8-9). Certainly this principle applies to the divorced as well as the unmarried and the widowed.

I am disappointed with this bylaw change secondly because it leaves no room for consideration of the biblical reasons for divorce. The authors of this statement practically state that all divorce is wrong. They would not admit that this is what they have said, but by issuing a ruling “regardless of the cause of the divorce or the guilt or innocence of either partner” that is what they have essentially done. By doing so, I believe they have overstepped their place. As humans we have no right to condemn what God has said is permitted. We can hate the sins that lead to divorce as God does, and we may hate the pain and suffering that divorce causes as God does. But we cannot prohibit what God has allowed. Although divorce is regrettable, God has allowed it as a solution to our sinfulness. We are wrong to be indifferent to the biblical reasons for divorce and to be indifferent to the question of guilt or innocence. Certainly God is not indifferent to these questions.

This bylaw also takes no consideration as to whether or not the divorce occurred before or after conversion. This is an important distinction. According to the scriptures after coming to Christ we are a new creation (cf. 1 Cor. 5.17), which means that in Christ we have a new start. Whatever sins we may have committed are gone never to be remembered anymore (cf. Micah 7.19). In Christ we are no longer stand condemned by our sins (cf. Romans 8.1). But according to this bylaw change divorce is some type of exception to these and other similar passages. Divorce is made out to be some type of unpardonable sin that may not prevent you being saved but permanently bars you from ministry. In essence we are saying that God forgives but he does not really forget because after all the divorce continues to be remembered and continues to disqualify from ministry. Or perhaps we are saying, God forgives and forgets but we don’t have to.

I wonder what Jesus’ reaction would have been as we gathered as a denomination to cast stones at those who had been divorced. Maybe he would have formed a whip and drove us out, or maybe he would have simply and quietly stooped to write on the ground some of our sins until embarrassed by our own sins we would have left. Would he have then stood and said to the divorced, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” I am disappointed with Missouri Free Will Baptists because this bylaw change seems so contrary to the love and forgiveness of Christ.

Thirdly, I am disappointed with our denomination because this bylaw change will hurt people. The wording of this bylaw encourages as it puts it “said persons, whose marital status disqualifies them to be pastors or deacons, not be discouraged in their Christian lives or Christian service, but that they be encouraged to live faithfully for Christ and serve Him in the ministry of the local church.” That is a nice sentiment, but it will not happen. This bylaw change, which is based upon personal preferences rather than sound exegesis, will continue to be a discouragement to men whose desire is to serve God and answer his call. Even the bylaw’s supporters admit such. On the floor of the state association they stated that discouragement to others should not prevent us from adopting the measure. They knew what they were doing will eventually hurt someone and discourage them both in ministry and in their Christian walk.

I know that this bylaw will hurt and discourage from personal experience. My father was a Free Will Baptist minister. He served as the Associate Pastor at the Southside FWB Church in St. Louis, as the Pastor of the Jones Creek FWB Church, and as the Associate Pastor at the First FWB Church of Flat River. You noticed I said he “was” a Free Will Baptist. He was until my mother died of cancer at age 39. After her death my father met and married a wonderful Christian lady. She has been a blessing to him and to our family and we are happy to have her as part of our family. The only problem was her past. Her husband had left her for another woman and divorced her leaving her as a single mother. My father loved her and married her anyway. What did Free Will Baptists do? They responded by pulling his credentials. That decision was wrong for two reasons. First, Paul does not prohibit a minister from marrying a divorced woman and second, she was the innocent party in the divorce and was free to remarry. Needless to say my father is no longer a Free Will Baptist. I think in his heart he would still like to be – he has several friends even today among Missouri Free Will Baptists – but the hurt and discouragement the denomination placed upon him prevents him from remaining among us. The fact that he is not among us today is our loss! He is a good man who is committed to God and to his spouse. (By the way for those who would say he should have married a virgin or a widow or remain unmarried, a widower at age 41 is in a difficult position. He still has a long life to live if he chooses to remain celibate, and there are not many women his age who have never married or who are widowed. If he chooses to remarry he will likely marry a woman who has been divorced.)

This is just one of several stories that could be told that would illustrate how this bylaw change can and will hurt people. Fortunately, my dad while no longer a Free Will Baptist has remained faithful to God, church, and the ministry. That is not always the case. Sometimes the hurt and discouragement we inflict as we shoot our wounded is so great that we cause people to have a severe crisis of faith where they find it very difficult to continue in ministry and even in the church. This not only hurts them, it hurts our local churches and it hurts our denomination. We need these people!

Advocates for this bylaw told us that they acknowledged that everyone had a story they could share, but that we should not concern ourselves with these personal stories. They should not be allowed to deter us from adopting this bylaw. Really? Should we really not be concerned about how our decisions will affect people? Excuse me, but I thought the church was to be a hospital for sick souls. I thought it was supposed to be place that encourages rather than discourages faith and service. I thought it was to be a place of love and forgiveness. I thought the church was to draw people to God, not push them away. I thought the business of the church was investment in people. If we should not be concerned about people and how what we do affects them, then what exactly is our purpose?

I am proud of the fact that I voted against this bylaw, I would do it again. I only regret that more of my brothers did not vote with the dissenters. It is not that we are advocating a policy of open acceptance toward all divorce. Divorce is a serious problem in our society and even among members of the clergy. It is not that we are taking a low view of marriage. Certainly we regret that divorce happens and pray and work that every marriage would last a lifetime as God intended. Nor is it that we are willing to compromise the Bible as some on the floor of the state association implied. No indeed, we want to be biblical and exegetically sound which includes our desire not to add to the scriptures. We do not want to fall prey to the sin of the Pharisees and exchange the commandments of man for the doctrines of God. We do not want to add unnecessary burdens upon God’s people.

What we were asking for was that the state association would not tie our hands. That it would leave the ordaining council of each association or church autonomous to apply the whole council of scripture to each individual case, rather than covering every case with a broad stroke based on a narrow interpretation of one particular phrase. We want the ability to base our faith and practice upon the word of God for ourselves rather than have a ruling handed down from above that we must obey or face expulsion, whether or not we think the ruling is right. We believe that a reaffirmation of local autonomy would have been the most judicious way to preserve the unity of our body.

So, yes! I am proud to be a Missouri Free Will Baptist, but I am simultaneously disappointed with our association. We have dropped the ball. I hope and pray that we will see the error of our ways and either repeal this bylaw or replace it with a more exegetically sound one.


[1] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993) ISBN: 0-8308-1405-1, p. 612. Emphasis mine.

Dead Sea Scrolls

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit currently on display at Union Station in Kansas City, MO. It was a very well done exhibit including over 150 artifacts, models, and reconstructions. At the end of the exhibit there were also a number of hands-on displays for the children. The exhibit also used multimedia by using film and a device that plays prerecorded meesages giving the visitors a self-guided tour of the exhibit.

The highlight of the exhibit of course were the scrolls themselves. The exhibit included 4 replicas of the Dead Sea Scrolls and six of the actual scrolls. There were also a number of other interesting biblical texts such as: a Gutenberg Bible, a 3rd edition Luther Bible, a first edition (1611) King James Version, a Geneva Bible and a parallel Tyndale/Erasmus' Latin New Testament. The Geneva and Tyndale Bibles are English translations that predate the King James Version.

The exhibit was well worth the time and money. I highly recommend that if you are in Kansas City you take the time to visit the exhibit. Victory FWB Church has a group that will be visiting the exhibit in April, and I look forward to visiting the exhibit again.

Probably the thing that struck me the most from this exhibit, was the sense of how God must oversee the transmission and preservation of his word. The Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts are over 2000 years old, and yet there is very little divergence from the Masoretic Text, the Hebrew text from the middle-ages that forms the basis of most English translation of the Old Testament now.

Initial Post

It is the wee hours of the morning and I am putting the finishing touches on the new website that I have been working on for our church. This blog is planned to be connected to that site. It is my hope that the blog will be a helpful way to add fresh content to the website on a regular basis while at the same time providing the opportunity for what has been posted in the past to be archived. I am thankful to my friend, Rev. Scott Cheatham from Denver, Colorado, who took the time to show me how easy it was to start and maintain a blog.

While I am thanking people, I should also thank my brothers from our sister church, Dave Sherman and David Mingus, who encouraged me and guided me through the process of setting up a website for our church. Without their help the new site would not have been possible. It would also be appropriate to thank the members of our church Advisory Board who saw a need for and encouraged this project.

Several months ago our Advisory Board discussed the idea of starting a website for our church. Our hope was that the site would be a conveinent way for our members to remain informed about what was going on at the church, and I am confident that if we keep the site up to date, we will succeed easily at that. From now on our members should always know where they can go for information on church events.

But it is also our hope that this site will help us better reach out to our community. To facilitate this, we have included a lot of information about our church on the site, including our service times, driving directions to our church, and local maps. I was tempted to include much more, but felt that I had to leave something for our guests to come and discover for themselves. Besides, I am not sure that a website, no matter how well designed cn ever fully express how wonderful our congregation is. But it is our hope that this site will help anyone searching for a good church in our area to find our church.

I am convinced that we have a terrific church at Victory, and I am convinced that there are great things in store for us. This new website is just one of the new and exciting things that are planned for the church in the days ahead.

We will be unveiling our new website at our 50th Anniversary Celebration that is planned later this month on March 25th. At that celebration we want to remember and honor or past, of course, but we also want to look forward in anticipation to our future. I am hoping that unveiling the website at the 50th celebration will help to add to that joyous anticipation.