I am writing this having just returned from a long meeting with the building committee, architect, and builder. And I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on where we currently stand in the building process. While this has been (and will continue to be) a time-consuming process, we are all excited and hopeful to be nearing the point of sharing the proposed layout with the congregation. If everything goes smoothly, the building committee will be considering (and approving) a “final preliminary” layout of the new facility within the next few weeks. Once this happens, we hope to have large scale drawings developed to present this layout to the congregation. We will most likely call a congregational information meeting sometime in mid-to-late March or perhaps in early April, followed by a formal congregational meeting the next week to vote on this proposed layout. The drawings will also be made available at the church office during the week between these two meetings, so that as many people as possible will be able to see the new plans and ask as many questions as they may have. Although it is true that the building committee is not perfect and could easily have overlooked some important aspect of building design for the new facility, it is also true that they have invested much time, energy, and prayer in this process (especially true of Kendall Turnage and Stephen O’Mara). Please keep that in mind as you make any comments and/or suggestions that you may have. We readily admit that we are capable of error and oversight, and we most definitely want and need the congregation’s feedback and input. But we also want to ensure that, as a church, we do everything in a spirit of brotherly and sisterly charity, remembering the overwhelming emphasis our Lord puts on loving one another in His final discourse with His disciples before His death.
But, this year, March signifies more than merely progress on our new church facility—as important as that is to all of us. This year, March signifies the Easter holidays. In just a few weeks, we will be remembering in a special way the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And though we rightly ought to remember these things each and every day of our lives (nay, every second of every day!), there is a sense in which we remember these things in a special way at Easter time. There is a sense in which Easter gives us a chance—like no other time of year, except perhaps Christmas—to talk freely about the life and death of Christ to our friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers. Just about everyone knows that it is Easter time. And just about everyone knows something of what Easter is all about. But most people do not really understand what Easter is all about. Most people do not really understand just what Jesus accomplished at that “first Easter” almost 2000 years ago. Why not use this time as an opportunity to get into a discussion about what Easter is and what Easter means? Why not use this as an opportunity to invite your friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers to come to church—perhaps for the first time? We will be having a special Easter music service on March 23 at 11 am. Why not offer to pick someone up and bring them along with you? Whatever you do, make it a point to pray earnestly that God would guide you and lead you to these opportunities, that He would use you mightily, that He would provide opportunities to others in the church and use others mightily, and that He would bless the worship services of the church and those who attend.
I, for one, am looking forward with eager anticipation to a blessed time of worshiping the One, True, and Living Lord, in the person of Jesus Christ—the spotless lamb of God, who was slain for you and for me! Happy Easter!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A bit about William Carey
I read an excerpt about the life of William Carey today that I wanted to share. The excerpt comes from F.W. Boreham's A Bunch of Everlastings:
"Now the life of William Carey is both the outcome and the exemplification of a stupendous principle. That principle was never better stated than by the prophet from whose flaming lips Carey borrowed his text. 'Thine eyes,' said Isaiah, 'Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that stretches very far off.' The vision kingly stands related to the vision continental; the revelation of the Lord leads to the revelation of the limitless landscape. What was it that happened one memorable day upon the road to Damascus? It was simply this: Saul of Tarsus saw the King in His beauty! And what happened as a natural and inevitable consequence? There came into his life the passion of the far horizon. All the narrowing limits of Jewish prejudice and the cramping bonds of Pharisaic superstition fell from him like the scales that seemed to drop from his eyes. The world is at his feet. Single-handed and alone, taking his life in his hand, he storms the great centres of civilization, the capitals of proud empires, in the name of Jesus Christ. No difficulty can daunt him; no danger impede his splendid progress. He passes from sea to sea, from island to island, from continent to continent. The hunger of the earth is in his soul; there is no coast or colony to which he will not go. He feels himself a debtor to Greek and to barbarian, to bond and to free. He climbs mountains, fords rivers, crosses continents, bears stripes, endures imprisonments, suffers shipwreck, courts insult, and dares a thousand deaths out of the passion of his heart to carry the message of hope to every crevice and corner of the earth. A more thrilling story of hazard, hardship, heroism and adventure has never been written. On the road to Damascus Paul saw the King in His beauty, and he spent the remainder of his life in exploiting the limitless landscape that unrolled itself before him. The vision of the king opened to his eyes the vision of the continents. In every age these two visions have always gone side by side. In the fourteenth century, the vision of the King broke upon the soul of John Wickliffe. Instantly, there arose the Lollards, scouring city, town, and hamlet with the new evangel, the representatives of the instinct of the far horizon. The fifteenth century contains two tremendous names. As soon as the world received the vision kingly by means of Savonarola, it received the vision continental by means of Christopher Columbus. In the sixteenth century, the same principle holds. It is, on the one hand, the century of Martin Luther, and, on the other, the century of Raleigh, Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Grenville and the great Elizabethan navigators. All the oceans of the world became a snowstorm of white sails. The seventeenth century gave us, first the Puritans, and then the sailing of the Mayflower. So we come to the eighteenth century. And the eighteenth century is essentially the century of John Wesley and of William Carey. At Aldersgate Street the vision of the King in His beauty dawned graciously upon the soul of John Wesley. During the fifty years that followed, that vision fell, through Wesley's instrumentality, upon the entire English people. The Methodist revival of the eighteenth century is one of the most gladsome records in the history of Europe. And then, John Wesley having impressed upon all men the vision of the King, William Carey arose to impress upon them the vision of the Continents."
"'We must do something!' he cried....Expect great things! Attempt great things!'"
Such is a brief look at the life of William Carey and his desire to take the gospel into the world. He saw the King in His beauty and saw the world in its need! Would that the same could be said of us!
"Now the life of William Carey is both the outcome and the exemplification of a stupendous principle. That principle was never better stated than by the prophet from whose flaming lips Carey borrowed his text. 'Thine eyes,' said Isaiah, 'Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that stretches very far off.' The vision kingly stands related to the vision continental; the revelation of the Lord leads to the revelation of the limitless landscape. What was it that happened one memorable day upon the road to Damascus? It was simply this: Saul of Tarsus saw the King in His beauty! And what happened as a natural and inevitable consequence? There came into his life the passion of the far horizon. All the narrowing limits of Jewish prejudice and the cramping bonds of Pharisaic superstition fell from him like the scales that seemed to drop from his eyes. The world is at his feet. Single-handed and alone, taking his life in his hand, he storms the great centres of civilization, the capitals of proud empires, in the name of Jesus Christ. No difficulty can daunt him; no danger impede his splendid progress. He passes from sea to sea, from island to island, from continent to continent. The hunger of the earth is in his soul; there is no coast or colony to which he will not go. He feels himself a debtor to Greek and to barbarian, to bond and to free. He climbs mountains, fords rivers, crosses continents, bears stripes, endures imprisonments, suffers shipwreck, courts insult, and dares a thousand deaths out of the passion of his heart to carry the message of hope to every crevice and corner of the earth. A more thrilling story of hazard, hardship, heroism and adventure has never been written. On the road to Damascus Paul saw the King in His beauty, and he spent the remainder of his life in exploiting the limitless landscape that unrolled itself before him. The vision of the king opened to his eyes the vision of the continents. In every age these two visions have always gone side by side. In the fourteenth century, the vision of the King broke upon the soul of John Wickliffe. Instantly, there arose the Lollards, scouring city, town, and hamlet with the new evangel, the representatives of the instinct of the far horizon. The fifteenth century contains two tremendous names. As soon as the world received the vision kingly by means of Savonarola, it received the vision continental by means of Christopher Columbus. In the sixteenth century, the same principle holds. It is, on the one hand, the century of Martin Luther, and, on the other, the century of Raleigh, Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Grenville and the great Elizabethan navigators. All the oceans of the world became a snowstorm of white sails. The seventeenth century gave us, first the Puritans, and then the sailing of the Mayflower. So we come to the eighteenth century. And the eighteenth century is essentially the century of John Wesley and of William Carey. At Aldersgate Street the vision of the King in His beauty dawned graciously upon the soul of John Wesley. During the fifty years that followed, that vision fell, through Wesley's instrumentality, upon the entire English people. The Methodist revival of the eighteenth century is one of the most gladsome records in the history of Europe. And then, John Wesley having impressed upon all men the vision of the King, William Carey arose to impress upon them the vision of the Continents."
"'We must do something!' he cried....Expect great things! Attempt great things!'"
Such is a brief look at the life of William Carey and his desire to take the gospel into the world. He saw the King in His beauty and saw the world in its need! Would that the same could be said of us!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Passing of Eric Liddell
Today, in 1945, Eric Liddell, the Scottish missionary to China whose story is perhaps most famously told in the movie The Chariots of Fire, died of a brain tumor in a Japanese concentration camp near the end of World War II.
Those of you who have seen the movie or perhaps read one of the biographies of Liddell's life will know that although this man was a phenomenal success in athletics, his greatest desire was to serve the Lord by ministering the good news of the gospel to others. On his return trip home from the Paris Olympics in 1924, after winning the gold medal in the 400m and the bronze medal in the 200m, the Glasgow Herald newspaper said this about him:
"The announcement that Liddell is to preach in the Scottish Kirk [church] at Paris (That event took place yesterday) serves as a reminder that our champion's main interest does not lie on the athletic field. To multitudes who know little of football or running, the name of E.H. Liddell is fast becoming known as a speaker to young men, whose presence in the pulpit or on the platform serves as a reminder that the finest athletic prowess often goes hand in hand with enthusiastic and effective spiritual work. Liddell's career on the running track may be drawing to a close, but his great work among young people in the interest of a vital and whole-hearted Christian discipleship is only just beginning, and the effects of that work are likely to be as far-reaching as the fruits are great. China is the goal Liddell has in front of him and having completed his science course at Edinburgh University, he looks forward to a period of combined theological training and evangelistic campaigning before following his brother out to the mission field."
Eric Liddell's favorite hymn was "Be Still, My Soul," and he requested it to be played on the Sunday before he died.
"Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end."
Amen!
Those of you who have seen the movie or perhaps read one of the biographies of Liddell's life will know that although this man was a phenomenal success in athletics, his greatest desire was to serve the Lord by ministering the good news of the gospel to others. On his return trip home from the Paris Olympics in 1924, after winning the gold medal in the 400m and the bronze medal in the 200m, the Glasgow Herald newspaper said this about him:
"The announcement that Liddell is to preach in the Scottish Kirk [church] at Paris (That event took place yesterday) serves as a reminder that our champion's main interest does not lie on the athletic field. To multitudes who know little of football or running, the name of E.H. Liddell is fast becoming known as a speaker to young men, whose presence in the pulpit or on the platform serves as a reminder that the finest athletic prowess often goes hand in hand with enthusiastic and effective spiritual work. Liddell's career on the running track may be drawing to a close, but his great work among young people in the interest of a vital and whole-hearted Christian discipleship is only just beginning, and the effects of that work are likely to be as far-reaching as the fruits are great. China is the goal Liddell has in front of him and having completed his science course at Edinburgh University, he looks forward to a period of combined theological training and evangelistic campaigning before following his brother out to the mission field."
Eric Liddell's favorite hymn was "Be Still, My Soul," and he requested it to be played on the Sunday before he died.
"Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end."
Amen!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Christ
I came across a recent article from World Magazine about the journey that brought Abraham Lincoln from being disinterested to being mildly interested to being committed to Christ and His Word. You can read about it here http://www.worldmag.com/articles/13736.
Here is one brief paragraph cited in the article by Marvin Olasky:
"Lincoln's second inaugural address, a month before his assassination in 1865, most clearly exhibits his theological change. That speech, with its call to 'bind up the nation's wounds,' is often cited as evidence of Lincoln's emphasis on reconciliation, but it shows even more his new sense of Providence. 'Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away,' he said. 'Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.'"
Here is one brief paragraph cited in the article by Marvin Olasky:
"Lincoln's second inaugural address, a month before his assassination in 1865, most clearly exhibits his theological change. That speech, with its call to 'bind up the nation's wounds,' is often cited as evidence of Lincoln's emphasis on reconciliation, but it shows even more his new sense of Providence. 'Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away,' he said. 'Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.'"
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Bob Knight Commentary
Some of you may have seen the news that Bob Knight, former basketball coach at Indiana and current coach at Texas Tech, has retired after racking up 902 career wins--the most in Division I history. Some of you may also know about Knight's incredibly hot temper and angry demeanor that so defined him as a coach and a person over his career.
This morning's newspaper carried a commentary that looked back over Knight's long and successful career and drew this conclusion (the words of the headline to the story): "He did far more good than harm."
I, for one, disagree with that conclusion. In the first place, I do not think that it is even POSSIBLE to say that Knight did more good than harm. How can we even begin to gauge the impact of the "harm"? Think of all the young men that he coached over the years and all the young men that watched him from the sidelines. What did he succeed in teaching them? He taught them that the end is more important than the means. He taught them that it's okay to be a REALLY nasty person--as long as you're successful. He taught them unsportsmanlike behavior. He taught them to swear and to beat down others to get your own way. He taught them unvarnished arrogance. And this is just SOME of the "harm" that Knight has done. It is almost impossible to measure the real amount of "harm" that has come and will continue to come from Knight's poor influence.
In the second place, even if we take a few of the things that I just mentioned as the "harm" of Bob Knight's career, I think that it should be patent that to say that "He did far more good than harm" is to put a higher value on winning and success than on personal character. What we need today is men who strive for success but NOT at the price of character. We need men like Tony Dungy, for example--men who are committed to hard work and to success but not to success at all costs. Dungy, a committed Christian, has given his life not just to teach a handfull of men to win football games but to teach MANY men and women to win at the game of life. He wants to teach character and morality. He wants to teach God and family first and winning football games a FAR distant second. THAT is the kind of man that I look to as being a SUCCESS--not Bob Knight. I don't care how many games he won. He will always be a failure in my eyes. Even if my son were a gifted basketball player of age to have played with Knight, I would have encouraged him to play for almost anyone else BUT Knight.
I think the harm that has come and that will continue to come from his career is FAR WORSE than any good that he might have done.
Comments?
This morning's newspaper carried a commentary that looked back over Knight's long and successful career and drew this conclusion (the words of the headline to the story): "He did far more good than harm."
I, for one, disagree with that conclusion. In the first place, I do not think that it is even POSSIBLE to say that Knight did more good than harm. How can we even begin to gauge the impact of the "harm"? Think of all the young men that he coached over the years and all the young men that watched him from the sidelines. What did he succeed in teaching them? He taught them that the end is more important than the means. He taught them that it's okay to be a REALLY nasty person--as long as you're successful. He taught them unsportsmanlike behavior. He taught them to swear and to beat down others to get your own way. He taught them unvarnished arrogance. And this is just SOME of the "harm" that Knight has done. It is almost impossible to measure the real amount of "harm" that has come and will continue to come from Knight's poor influence.
In the second place, even if we take a few of the things that I just mentioned as the "harm" of Bob Knight's career, I think that it should be patent that to say that "He did far more good than harm" is to put a higher value on winning and success than on personal character. What we need today is men who strive for success but NOT at the price of character. We need men like Tony Dungy, for example--men who are committed to hard work and to success but not to success at all costs. Dungy, a committed Christian, has given his life not just to teach a handfull of men to win football games but to teach MANY men and women to win at the game of life. He wants to teach character and morality. He wants to teach God and family first and winning football games a FAR distant second. THAT is the kind of man that I look to as being a SUCCESS--not Bob Knight. I don't care how many games he won. He will always be a failure in my eyes. Even if my son were a gifted basketball player of age to have played with Knight, I would have encouraged him to play for almost anyone else BUT Knight.
I think the harm that has come and that will continue to come from his career is FAR WORSE than any good that he might have done.
Comments?
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