Pastor Tony’s Blog

Together for Adoption

2009-08-07T19:15:00.002-05:00

This conference looks to be beneficial and encouraging for those interested in adoption and orphan care. It is a few months away and looks affordable. The website is also very informative. You can see it here.

National Collegiate Week

2009-07-31T13:02:00.003-05:00

I have one more week of camp left this summer. On Monday morning I will fly back to Glorieta, New Mexico in order to preach at National Collegiate Week, which is a gathering of college students from around the country. My friends at Lifeway tell me that 1300 pre-registered for this week.

Therefore, I ask for your prayers as I preach Monday-Friday night. I am considering preaching on the following: (1) The New Birth (1 Pet. 1:3-9), (2) Killing Lions (Prov. 26; Rom. 12:11); (3) Pursuing Holiness (1 Peter 1:13-2:3); (4) Young Faithful Leaders (2 Tim. 2:1-13); (5) The Minister God Uses (2 Cor. 3-6).

Lord willing I fly back on Saturday afternoon, and will be back in the pulpit on Sunday morning to continue our study through our core values, as they emerge in 1 Peter. Meanwhile, our kids start school on Thursday. So, it's a big week. Thankfully we have a big God and a Great Savior.

A Tribute to Crosspoint Camps - After 24 Years, No More Camp

2009-07-30T19:36:00.004-05:00

One of my college roommates informed me that today is the last day of Lifeway's Crosspoint Camps, a Christian sports camp for 4-8 graders. I cannot begin to describe how this camp impacted my life. My first ministry experience was in 98-2000, serving at colleges across the South. Fridays were the big days because it was "Gameday." Today was the last Gameday. So I write with tears of joy and gratitude and sadness. These opportunities were life-changing for me.

I praise God for how He used this program in my life, the lives of campers, and the lives of others in the church. I was introduced to some of my best friends, some of my favorite authors, hard work, the discipline of prayer, the power of the Gospel, the value of kids, and how to load a Budget truck in under 15 minutes with an entire camp full of materials. God also used this experience to call me into ministry as a young college student.

1 Peter

2009-07-27T09:03:00.002-05:00

This Sunday we will baptize several people and take the Lord's Supper. We will also begin a brief series on 1 Peter.

Following week one of August, we will look at our four core values (biblical, relational, missional, and global). I want to look at them as they emerge in this tremendously encouraging and challenging letter. Here's the overview:

Aug. 2 - "Praise God for the Gospel" (1 Peter 1:3-9)

Aug. 9 - "Biblical: Loving God and His Word" (1 Peter 1:13-2:3)

Aug. 16 - "Relational: Loving One Another" (1 Peter 1:22-23; 4:7-11; 5:5)

Aug. 23 - "Missional: Loving the Community" (1 Peter 2:4-12)

Aug. 30 - "Global: Loving the Nations" (1 Peter 4:12-19)

May God's favor rest upon us as we study... for His glory and the good of the nations.

Rainer on "Five Things I Would Change If I Were to Pastor Again..."

2009-07-23T08:22:00.002-05:00

Here is an honest article with timely wisdom for pastors from Lifeway's President, Thom Rainer. I appreciate his heart and leadership...

Every Life Counts T-Shirts

2009-07-21T18:04:00.004-05:00

Benium sporting the shirts... He is now 6 years old, & speaking great English.

My sister is trying to raise money as they attempt to bring home two more beautiful kids from Ethiopia (siblings of Simon and Mercy). If you are interested in purchasing a shirt for 12 bucks, you can email her your order: LBond@brookdaleliving.com

They are currently out of XL. They have small, medium, and large for both kids and adults.

Poor Notes

2009-07-20T09:16:00.005-05:00

Here are my "poor notes" from yesterday (someone asked for them): poornotes.pdf

You can get the listening guide and hear the sermon at the church website.

I tried to make a biblical case for mercy ministry by surveying Scripture, with particular attention on the poor in Proverbs. Some of the things I said yesterday are handwritten and will not show up in this rough outline.

Leadership Research and Other Stuff

2009-07-16T18:50:00.004-05:00

Okay, I'm ready to get back to posting what I hope to be some helpful links, ideas, and other reflections for your enjoyment and edification.

Here is an interesting article put out this week by Leadership Network. It is a survey about lead pastors of congregations over 2,000 people (or "mega-churches"). You can see the abbreviated top ten list here.

I've been reading several books and articles this week, but most inspiring to me has been Thomas Nettles' biography of James Petigru Boyce, the first president of Southern Baptist Seminary. One of the senior editors of this series is Sean Lucas, my new friend and partner in the Gospel at First Pres. in Hattiesburg. I'm so thankful for Sean and this series of biographies. Nothing moves me like the stories of the redeemed. Speaking of new biographies, I'm looking forward to reading Piper's new book on three saints: Tyndale, Judson, and Paton.

We are spending the week at the beach with family, including my sister's five kids. You can read about the adventure at Kimberly's blog.

I'm looking forward to Sunday as I tackle the subject of "the poor." I've learned a lot this week, and been stirred personally to greater faithfulness in serving those in need.

On Monday night, I will be preaching at Michael Memorial Church.

In a few weeks, I will be back in NM, for national collegiate week. This crowd is always hungry and eager. I feel as though I could preach for 8 hours at this event. I'm praying that these messages would have a ripple effect for years to come - f0r the good of the nations and the glory of God. As always, I feel out of my league for such an event.

Blog Break

2009-07-06T15:50:00.004-05:00

I am taking a break from the blog world. If you come to the blog to read about my family, you may check that out at Kimberly's blog www.betheglory.blogspot.com. If you are interested in matters pertaining to the church, please see the church website: www.tbclife.net

Top 5 Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible

2009-07-05T21:42:00.002-05:00

Here is one respected scholar's opinion.

I built my first commentary set by author rather than series, trying to find the best commentary on each book. So I took a list similar to this one, which was presented by Tremper Longman III and D.A. Carson. I still think purchasing the "authority" on each book is the best approach for preachers/teachers starting out, and especially for those with a limited budget. Keith Mathison's list seems to be a good place to look as you build your own library for the purpose of preaching God's inspired Word.

Things Are Changing in the SBC

2009-07-03T09:01:00.006-05:00

This past Southern Baptist Convention will prove to be a history making event. While I was not at the convention, I watched it on-line, and twittered with many friends who were there. Of course, there were some foolish motions like boycotting Pepsi, not selling Driscoll's books (even though we sale The Shack, Joyce Myer, and T.D. Jakes), investigating Stetzer (for no reason - except that he lost over 100 pounds - I said we should imitate him, not investigate him), investigating Danny Akin (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President), and some more. All of these motions were rightly placed under the bus and thrown out.

The big news was concerning the Great Commission Resurgence Resolution (GCR). This movement is headed up by Johnny Hunt, the SBC President, and Danny Akin. The short of the long is this: people on both sides of theological debates regarding Calvinism/Armenianism, Church Polity, and other secondary matters have agreed to disagree and just get on with making the Gospel central, uniting around that, and focusing our attention once again on the Great Commission.

While the vast number of young guys in the convention swing more to the Reformed side, like Akin (moderately reformed), they are very respectful of Johnny Hunt, who does not. Both sides say, "let's put our swords down, and go win someone for Jesus and plant churches." Obviously, there is a time for debate of theological issues, and they are not unimportant. However, the purpose of a convention is not to serve like a church. The convention is about cooperation. What we can cooperate together on is 1st tier doctrines like the authority of the Bible, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the cross, the resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, the centrality of the church, and the necessity of preaching the Bible, to name a few.

All this to say, not everyone agrees with the GCR because the way this is going to be implemented is by a Task Force that will investigate the entire structure of the SBC in order to alleviate unnecessary bureaucracy, so we can get on with the mission. Obviously, those married to the system and are content with status quo have different feelings.

What is refreshing is three things about this movement:

1. It has brought excitement to the young guys in the convention (including myself). The last several years has brought a great decline in the number of young guys who are interested in the convention. However, if there is one thing my generation gets excited about it is international missions, church planting, and Gospel-centered churches. I have said it many times, the primary reason I am SBC is the International Mission Board. I could care less about convention politics, position, and popularity. And the convention leaders have learned that if they want to keep a generation of young guys they better start talking about the Gospel and missions, or they will continue to lose more young leaders.

2. It is refreshing to see people who disagree, agree for the sake of the Gospel and the good of the nations. It is not only refreshing, it is a miracle of grace. I praise God for those in leadership right now. I consider Danny Akin and Johnny Hunt modern day heroes.

3. It is refreshing to see the older generation give way to the younger generation and the younger generation give honor to the older generation. What is happening in the convention at the macro level is happening to churches across the country. A good example of this Paul to Timothy relationship is with the Pastors Conference that preceded the convention. My friend David Platt preached an amazing sermon; others like Francis Chan, Ed Stetzer, J.D. Greer were also given opportunities, as young guns, to preach the Word. They did so with exceptional quality. One convention leader said David's sermon was the best he heard in four decades of the convention.

So, we will see how watershed this year's convention will be in years to come. Will we be united around the Gospel? Will we send more missionaries? Will the older give way to the younger? Will the younger learn from and honor the older? Or, will we become like every other Protestant denomination that after such a decline (89% of Baptist churches are declining), never grow again? The kingdom is obviously bigger than the convention, and there are many churches in other denominations who are doing great work, but my desire for the convention to be strong, not for our own glory, but so that we can support more than our 5,300 missionaries, and so that we can plant more Gospel-centered churches in unreached places.

To read more about the convention, try here, here, and here.

Orphans Deserve Better

2009-06-30T22:35:00.003-05:00

Interesting post by Rus Moore about an upcoming project that will counter a new Warner Bros. film that unfortunately passes along the terrible stereotypes of orphans. You can read about it here.

Preaching to Kings and All in High Positions

2009-06-29T20:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday at our Celebrate America service, I talked about the need to pray for "kings and all who are in high positions" (1 Tim. 2:1-2), just as Paul instructed Timothy with reference to public worship in Ephesus.

The church must be known as a people who prays for everyone, and particuarly for those who make important decisions, like establishing peace, which allows the Gospel to flourish. God is the only true Sovereign, and He uses human beings to fulfill His great purposes. And God does His work in response to genuine prayer.

I found it interesting that today a story was released on President Obama's new pastor: Carey Cash. What strikes me is that he is the great nephew of Johnny Cash (!) and he is actually a Southern Baptist, who graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I pray that God will use Cash for His glory as he preaches to and prays for those in "high positions." There are several stories circuluating; you can read one of them here.

Camps and Conventions

2009-06-21T21:31:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow morning I hit the road again. I will be preaching in Glorieta, NM at another student camp. Please pray for a profitable and fruitful week of ministry; and for my wife as she is at home with the kids, for yet another week.

The Southern Baptist Convention is going on this week as well in Louisville, KY. Obviously, I won't make it this year, but hope to follow along via the web. For some of you the Southern Baptist Convention is about as exciting as watching the grass grow, but for those of you who are interested in keeping up with the happenings, you can view it here.

Today was a wonderful Father's day, which makes it even tougher to leave. I will enjoy the month of July because I am not traveling anywhere. I am very grateful for God's goodness in giving me four wonderful children to Father. And I am in need of His grace to imitate Him to these kids. Happy Father's Day to all the Papas who care for their kids.

Church Planting and Loving the Poor

2009-06-17T06:15:00.003-05:00

In my studies this morning, I happened to come across the following statistics on church planting and poverty, as presented by John Piper in 2007. The implications are numerous.

Observations on Church Planting

1. There are 195 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the top four largest “unchurched” nations in the world.

2. In spite of the rise of mega-churches, no county in America has a greater church population than it did ten years ago.

3. During the last ten years, combined communicant membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.5 percent (4,498,242), while the national population increased by 11.4 percent (24,153,000).

4. Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only as many as 1,500 new churches are started.

5. There are now nearly 60 percent fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920.

In 1920 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
In 1950 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
In 1996 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
6. “Today, of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining.”

7. One American denomination recently found that 80% of its converts came to Christ in churches less than two years old.

8. Hence the claim of many leaders: “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches” (Peter Wagner).

Observations on World Poverty

Then consider eight observations about world poverty.2

1. More than 1.5 billion people around the world live on less than a $1 a day.

2. More than one billion people do not have access to clean water.

3. Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.

4. More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.

5. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, 300 million are children.

6. Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.

7. Declining soil fertility, land degradation, and the AIDS pandemic have led to a 23 percent decrease in food production per capita in the last 25 years even though population has increased dramatically.

8. A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy. This compares with a 1 in 3,700 risk for a woman from North America.

Camp!

2009-06-12T22:24:00.002-05:00

I will be flying out of Hattiesburg at 6:15 am on Monday morning (I didn't book this flight:)) for the first of two weeks of camp. The first week I will be in Ridgecrest, North Carolina, and the second in Glorieta, New Mexico. Both are Fuge camps put on by Lifeway. I would appreciate your prayers for lives to be changed.

This will be the 12th year that I've worked camp for Lifeway (although the last five have been for only two weeks each summer). It has been a good run. Next year I agreed to do one week of Fuge, and one week of Student Life. Next week I will be with some old friends, Big Daddy Weave.

Hopefully, the family can come with me next year because this will be tough without them. I do fly back, however, on Saturday both weeks, with the intent of preaching on both Sundays. So I will get to see the kids between the two weeks.

And of course, I will miss my bride. We had a great date tonight. I had stuffed Red Fish and she had Mediterranean chicken. Speaking of fish, James and I will be going fishing in the morning at 7:30 with our music minister, Paul. It should be fun. It will be James' first fishing experience.

My parents are also coming in tomorrow and it will be their first time to meet the kids. Unfortunately, I will only get to see them for a few days before I head out, but I don't think they will miss me.:)

VBS and Progress

2009-06-09T21:55:00.006-05:00

The kids have done very well at VBS this week. We were a bit anxious since this is their first time to be alone with kids their age. I'm so thankful for all of the folks at Temple that are serving not only our kids, but hundreds of others. May Christ be exalted at the Boomerang Express.

The kids have also been taking swim lessons each afternoon. Today they were doing cannonballs!

They have been with us now in Hattiesburg for 3 1/2 weeks and we definitely see many signs of progress, for which we thank God. To see some good pictures see Kimberly's blog.

Shepherding kids' Hearts

2009-06-07T12:50:00.003-05:00

Today I mentioned several resources of parents. I have been blessed by Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart, The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, and My 1st Book of Question and Answers by Mackenzie, to name a few. I also mentioned some questions that a Sovereign Grace Pastor shared with Piper, and he in turn footnoted the book Stand: A Call for Endurance of the Saints (p., 132, footnote 2). Piper honestly admitted that if he could anything over, after a long ministry, that it would be with respect to asking "heart questions" (my phrase) to his kids. He met with them regularly but wished that he would have probed deeper. I went through the questions quickly today in the sermon, but wanted to make the available here. Here are the questions (I hope to print them out and use them in the future myself once the kids learn English.:)

How are your devotions?
What is God teaching you?
In your own words, what is the Gospel?
Is there a specific sin that you're aware of that you need my help defeating?
Are you more aware of my encouragement than my criticism?
What's Daddy most passionate about?
Do I act the same at church as I do when I'm at home?
Are you aware of my love for you?
Is there any way I've sinned against you that I've not repented of?
Do you have any observations for me?
How am I doing as a dad?
How have Sunday's sermons impacted you?
Does my relationship with Mom make you excited to be married?

Advance 09

2009-06-05T15:13:00.005-05:00

It is amazing to me that so many great conferences are now posted on-line immediately. For those who could not attend the Advance 09 conference, (a conference mainly for young pastors and leaders) about the the importance of the church, you can hear the messages here, here, and here.

Later, Piper will speak on global missions. Hear and be edified.

IMB Sends More

2009-06-03T22:17:00.004-05:00

When asked "Why are you a Southern Baptist?" I generally have several comebacks. But the big reason is: the International Misision Board. For all the things that are falling apart in our convention, one of the bright spots is the fact that we are now sending over 5,600 missionaries over seas. I've seen some of these missionaries on the field. They are not rich, but they are taken care of, and can focus their attention on making disciples. I love Jerry Rankin, the President of the IMB. Recently in Denver, Temple had a couple at this event. And it was actually hosted at the church were my mentor, Jim Shaddix, serves as Senior Teaching Pastor, Riverside Baptist.

Good Rec Ministry

2009-06-02T22:26:00.004-05:00

We are blessed at Temple with great leadership in our rec ministry. Tonight I personally saw it in action. I played a basketball game in the new summer league as a team member of the Monsters. We won. But that's not what I will remember the most from tonight. Two things stick out....

1. The gym was full of guys I didn't recognize. These were dudes. All sizes, colors, and skill-levels. I made several new friends tonight on my team as well as on other squads. I was able to invite them to church and introduce myself to them. Our basketball league is a great place to connect with dudes who need Jesus and a local church.

2. The league was ran by a top-shelf rec minister: Eddie Baker. Eddie led a devotion during halftime that included a story about Robert O'Kelly, a former Wake Forrest player, who was a strong Christian leader. He also quoted Tim Keller on humility saying, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's thinking of your self less." Eddie then went to Philippians 2 and talked about the humility of Christ in the incarnation and his subtitutionary death for sinners. He captivated these guys, four teams, all hot and sweaty. They came to play. But they heard the good news in about five minutes.

I'm thankful for all of our staff, and thought I would give a special shout out to Eddie. I must also say that his associate, Ben, will be missed badly, when he leaves in a few weeks with his wife and daughter to go to central Asia as IMB missionaries. Ben is truly a missionary who doesn't have to start doing something he's not already doing: showing and sowing the Gospel.

A Few Notes

2009-05-30T19:44:00.006-05:00

Today I led a seminar on "The Nuts and Bolts of Preparing Christ-Centered Expository Sermons." Here are the notes, if you are interested: NutsBoltsPreparingChrist-CenteredSermons.doc

Also, last week I mentioned a study on the problem of immorality in the Bible Belt, as noted by research done at Kansas State. Here is one particular study. I was made aware of it by Christianity Today, and you can read it here.

Should We Twitter During Coporate Worship?

2009-05-28T11:54:00.004-05:00

Time recently released an article about the use of Twitter in church. As a twitterer myself and a leader in corporate worship, I found the article particularly interesting. I think that Pastor Josh Harris' response to this question, "Should we twitter in corporate worship?" is very wise. I agree:

In the past year Twitter has exploded in popularity. A USA Today article I read this week said its membership increased 3,000% in the last year. This year at Next 2009 a number of attendees (along with the team at Next) used Twitter to share ongoing reports about the conference (you can read these posts by doing a search for #thisisnext.) Last year people blogged about the conference, this year there was hardly any blog activity--Twitter's micro-blogging had essentially wiped out "traditional" blogging.

Lately I've been hearing the question of whether Twitter has a place during a church's worship services. If people use Twitter to comment on every aspect of their life during the week, should they continue the practice while their pastor is preaching? TIME magazine did an article entitled "Twittering in Church, with the Pastor's O.K." that described several congregations that are actively encouraging their congregation Twitter during church. One church had training sessions and even has a feed of Twitter comments projected on the screen.

While I personally enjoy Twitter and find it to be a useful tool for sharing and receiving information, I'm not excited about encouraging people to use Twitter during the Sunday meeting. This isn't to pass judgment on pastors who do encourage its use and I'm happy to hear evidence that it adds spiritual benefit, but here are a few reasons why I won't be encouraging the members of Covenant Life Church to Twitter during the meetings. I'll apply this to myself:

1. Playing with my iPhone (or cell phone or Blackberry) during the sermon will likely distract me. I'll be tempted to check my email or read my Twitter feed that has nothing to do with the sermon.

2. Even if I didn't look at anything else, the mere act of "tweeting" some quote or question or thought from the sermon would be several minutes in which I wasn't actively listening to the sermon. Brain space would be taken up with typing and getting my word count under 140. God's word preached is so important, so precious, I don't want anything to distract me from hearing it. What if those two minutes in which I'm distracted are the two minutes my soul needs the most?

3. The most important thing I can do while I'm sitting under the preaching of God's word is to listen to what God is saying to me. I need to actively engage my heart and mind to receive. Twitter, takes the focus off of hearing and receiving and and makes it broadcasting and sharing. So instead of my mind being engaged with thoughts of "What is the Word of God saying to me?" when I start "tweeting" my focus becomes, "What do I want to say? What do I want to express? What am I thinking?"

4. I think we all need to ask what our example says to other people we're worshiping alongside. Can a person look at me during the worship and see from the way I sit, listen and engage that the Bible is worthy of honor, that preaching is valuable? Of course this applies to a lot more than the issue of Twitter. If I'm nodding off to sleep, reading the bulletin, staring off into space or filing my finger nails it can send the wrong message, too. So what does someone think if they see me playing with my cell-phone during the sermon? "Oh, he must be so enamored with the truth of God's word that he's using Twitter to share the truth he's just heard with the world! God, your word is glorious!" Uh, I really don't think so. They'll probably think, "I should pull out my phone...wonder if I've gotten any email."

5. Just because something is incredibly popular in culture doesn't mean we have to accommodate it in our worship. Who cares if the whole world is talking about Twitter? When the church gathers and the Word of God is opened, God himself is speaking again. Everybody else can shut up. Lost people in this world don't need to see that we're current with the latest trend, they need to hear God's unchanging truth. They need to understand that God's word makes a demand on their life. And they should see from us a reverence and holy awe in the presence of God and his word that points them to the fact that what happens in a Christian church is completely different than anything happening in the world.

6. My final reason for why Twitter should be left at the door when we come to church is very simple: you can tweet about the Sunday service after church. I'm not a Twitter hater. In fact I love the idea of members of my church reviewing their notes and tweeting about what God spoke to them during the message. But they can do that later on Sunday afternoon and nothing will be lost.

Twitter is a useful tool. If you're a Christian and you use it I hope you actively consider how it can reflect the supremacy of Jesus Christ in your life. Ask God to help you use it to share the gospel and build up the saints.

One way to do that is to use Twitter (after the Sunday service) to share what you learned from the Sunday sermon. I think it's a great witness to unbelieving friends and an encouragement to fellow-Christians who follow you on Twitter to see that you're hearing and seeking to apply the sermon you heard Sunday.

But it's also a good witness for them to see that something so important, so essential, so holy happens on Sunday morning when God's church gathers that Twitter takes a back seat. When God is speaking again through his word, we should all be silent--and so should our Twitter feeds.

Proverbs: Work

2009-05-27T14:34:00.003-05:00

This Sunday we continue our trek through the great book of Proverbs. We will be dealing with the subject of work, or perhaps better understood as our vocations. Builders, plumbers, students, athletes, computer techs, nurses, doctors, factory workers, house wives, and every other type of work is given to us to do for the glory of God. New Testament Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, Ben Witherington, writes the following inspiring poem about work (which I probably won't be sharing on Sunday, but is worth meditation and summarizes Sunday's message well):

OPUS MAGNUM

Weary, worn, welts on hand
Work has whittled down the man
To the bare necessities
Of what he is, and what he’ll be
Was this then his destiny?

Defined, refined by what we do,
The toilsome tasks are never through
Thorn and thistle, dirt and dust
Sweeping clean, removing rust
All to earn his upper crust?

Sweat of brow, and carried weight
Rose too early, slept too late
Slaving, striving dawn to dusk
'Til the shell is barely husk
Staunch the stench with smell of musk?

But work is not the curse or cure
By which we’re healed, or will endure
It will not save us in the end,
It is no foe, but rather friend
But while it molds us will we mend?

Task Master making all things new
Who makes the most of what we do,
Let our work an offering be
A timely gift from those set free
From earning our eternity.

When work is mission on the move
By those whose efforts serve to prove
That nothing's wasted in God’s hands
When we respond to his commands
Then we shall hear him say “well done”
To those who worked under the Son.

A Missional Summer

2009-05-20T15:08:00.007-05:00

At Temple, we have four core values:

(1) Biblical - Loving Christ through His Word
(2) Relational - Loving one another in Christ's church;
(3) Missional - Loving the community like Christ loved others;
(4) Global - Loving the Nations like Christ commanded.

Philip Nation writes the following about how to have a missional summer this year, or how to love your community the way Christ loved others:

Each spring, I hear people making plans for the perfect summer. They vow that this is the year they go camping with the kids, visit the grandparents more, and have more fun than anyone thought possible. Then the new school year rolls around and everyone wonders what just happened to the two months of perfection they had planned. Time seemed to slip away so quickly.

I want to challenge your thinking about summer this year. You can still go on a trip, play in the pool, and camp with the kids. But what if you decided to make it a missional summer? Instead of counting the days until it was over, I want you to make your summer count!

It all begins with the “why.” Why should I spend my whole summer or any of my summer on mission? That sounds boring. Even worse, it sounds like work. But if you want to have a memorable summer—then you have to get your mindset right.

When Paul was helping the Corinthian church understand their role in the world, he explained it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20,

18 Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

Our lives as believers are not about self; which is a tough concept when we are facing the summer months. It seems that summer is designed as a built-in “take a break” time of the year. Take a break from school, work, and even church stuff. But your summer can be the moment that you engage in the mission rather than disengage from the world. Let me give you 8 tips for making your summer count. And I promise that each one of them is possible!

1. Look at people with eternity in mind. Everyone has an eternity in front of them. We need to see them as God does and care for them like it counts.

2. Show some hospitality. Believers should be the people that everyone else wants to be around. So be the person who invites everyone over for a cookout or a game night. Remember, you’re the ambassador for Christ so get into the lives of people living outside the kingdom.

3. Watch for a chance to serve. People give away all of their energy on family, work, and menial chores. Look for ways that you can care for your neighbors—even if it is just cooking a simple dinner for them.

4. Visit someone new. Look around your community and find someone who needs a friend. Maybe it is visiting in a nursing home or rocking babies in the NICU. Make your days count with people who feel they don’t.

5. Go somewhere unexpected. It is not too late to get your family’s name on the list for a mission trip. Leave your inhibitions behind and get going to a place that needs to hear about Jesus whether it’s downtown or to the other side of the globe.

6. Take somebody with you. Whatever you do, don’t do it alone! Take your family, get your Sunday school class involved, or invite the whole church to go out on mission. And make sure to take the kids. They’re ready to change the world, so let them.

7. Be truthful. Missional believers contend for the faith while speaking in a way understandable to the hearer. No matter what—be ready to tell the story of Jesus.

8. Love like Jesus. He lived a robust life of caring for the lost. He did it by meeting their needs and telling them the truth. And I can think of no better way to make your summer count than doing both of those.