Tetralogy of Fallot

I had never heard the term Tetralogy of Fallot until our granddaughter, Raley, was diagnosed at 3 months of age. Tetralogy of Fallot is a serious heart defect that affects the heart’s ability to supply oxygenated blood to the body. In most cases Tetraology of Fallot requires extensive open-heart surgery in order to be corrected. Typically the surgery is done between the first 12 to 18 months, but in Raley’s case surgery was required at 3 months. Following her surgery, Raley spent the month of December 2007 as a patient in the pediatric intensive care unit at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, North Carolina. The first 72 hours after surgery were very intense, and we had to deal with a number of set-backs. But thanks to the skills of a very talented thoracic cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Theodore Koutlas, a world-class medical facility, a dedicated medical staff, and most importantly the prayers of countless people around the world, today Raley is a picture of health.

Yesterday, Raley discovered a photo album of pictures her parents had taken of her when she was hospitalized. Our daughter Stephanie had planned to show them to her, at the appropriate time, and tell her what a miracle she really is. But, the curiosity of a rambunctious 2 year old spoiled that plan. So now she knows, and in her simple way of looking at it; she had a “hurt” heart, the doctor put a “Band-Aid” on it, and now she’s all better.

What if life’s deepest hurts could be healed with the simple application of a “Band-Aid.” Perhaps they could if we only had the faith of a child!

Blessings,

Jimmy

Sermon Planning

As I write this, I am spending the next two days away from the office in sermon planning for next year. By Tuesday afternoon, I hope to come away, not with detailed manuscripts or outlines, but at least with a text and a general theme for each Sunday in 2010. That doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit and circumstances won’t intervene and cause me to scrape what I put on the preaching calendar these next few days for a particular Sunday in 2010. That also doesn’t mean that I don’t need your prayers for wisdom and guidance as I plan, write, and research week to week. As I stated, what I’m doing the next two days is very broad and general—it will give direction to where I feel the Lord is leading us in worship and preaching for the next year. The spadework will still be done from week to week.

Years ago when I shared with someone I was doing a similar thing for the year to follow, I was surprised by his critical remark: “Doesn’t that discount the leading of the Holy Spirit in your preaching?” Over the years I’ve thought about that particular remark, and if confronted today I would respond: “Then you don’t have much faith in the Holy Spirit!” I trust the Holy Spirit’s leading day to day, week to week, and year to year!

Blessings,

Jimmy

I Am A Missionary Too

Our church hosted Swaziland Missionaries Wayne and Barbara Myers this past week. It is always a joy to have Wayne and Barbara come to our area when they are on stateside assignment. Over the past 15 years our church has sent numerous teams to work with the Myers in Swaziland, so they are like family to us. You could never meet two more humble servants. On such visits, we usually spent a lot of time talking and recounting various experiences we have shared together on the filed in Swaziland.

Not only do I consider Wayne and Barbara friends, through the years they have become mentors to me. They have taught me a tremendous amount about doing missions and ministry, and not just in Africa. Early on I discovered from Wayne and Barbara that ministry which makes a lasting impact is built on strong relationships. Without exception, every church start the Myers have established in Swaziland has come from a relationship they established with a Swazi family or individual. Relationship building is a trans-cultural necessity if ministry is to be successful. People in any culture will not trust us with their deepest physical or spiritual needs if we haven’t taken the time to get to know them or build a relationship with them.

The Myers have also taught me the importance of staying power. With the Lord’s help, they have been faithful through lots of up and downs. I know from personal conversations that it has been discouraging for them to see young, bright, potential leaders they had personally nurtured fall by the wayside. I know that it has been disappointing to see projects, which required tremendous amounts of time and energy, not produce the results they desired. But through it all, the Myers remained faithful. It is so easy to become discouraged in ministry. Unlike other vocations where results can be seen and measured in tangible ways, some of the fruits of our labor will never be known till eternity.

Wayne and Barbara have also taught me the word missionary is synonymous with the word go. Wayne is constantly going over the next mountain, discovering that new place, carrying the gospel to homestead or group who have never heard. I have had the privilege of going to many of these places myself: Ntutwakazi, Tunzini, Maloma, Matsanjeni, places that are on no one’s map or radar except God’s. The first word, and the key word, in the Great Commission is “go.” For too long we have waited for people to come to us. God’s instructions have always been to go.

Lastly, my working with the Myers through the years has taught me that I am a missionary. In fact, my work with the Myers has taught me that if I am to be effective, that I must be a missionary. The day has long past in America where we can unlock the doors and turn the lights on at the church house and people come. If people are to be reached in our age, in our culture, then we must begin to think, act, and behave like missionaries. We need to study our culture, learn the “language,” and develop strategies to engage people in real and meaningful ways.

The mission field is now my backyard!

Blessings,

Jimmy

I made the switch. A few weeks ago my home computer crashed. My son-in-law convinced me to look at an iMac. I had been a PC guy for years, and had never given any serious consideration to switching. It didn’t take long to convince me, once I had the opportunity to play around with it at the computer store. Immediately I could tell the difference in the quality of the Apple products verses any PC the store had in stock. I was also impressed with how fast the Mac operating system loaded and the ease of use. All of the iLife software which came preloaded on the iMac worked together seamlessly.

Once I made the purchase and got the iMac home, I was up and running in a matter of minutes. Another neat feature of the iMac is that there is no cpu tower. Everything, including the hard drive, is built right into the display. Just plug it in, and turn it on. The display is a sharp, crisp 24 inch LCD monitor. The keyboard and mouse connects right to the back via a usb connection. There's even a wireless keyboard and mouse option available.

I've been so thrilled with the way the iMac works, that I recently switched my work laptop over as well. I'm now using a Macbook for the office. I purchased Office for Mac which is compatible with the Widows version of Office. Sharing files with a Windows based PC is no problem. I'm also using Parallels which allows me to run Windows on my Mac, for those Windows based programs I need to run. In particular, the Bible Study software I use is a Windows only system, Bible Works, but it works just fine using Parallels.

There’s one other thing I don’t miss about the PC, virus protection. The Mac, which is virtually immune from viruses, doesn’t need it.

Blessings,
Jimmy

The Southern Baptist Convention

A young friend recently asked about my thoughts concerning the future of the Southern Baptist Convention. Honestly, I haven't attended a SBC meeting since 1990 when the Convention met in New Orleans. That was the year the fundamentalists sealed control of the future of the SBC. Many refer to the takeover as the "Conservative Resurgence" which was suppose to save the Convention from the slippery slope of liberalism. I was in my first year of seminary (1979) when the pendulum began to swing in favor of the fundamentalists, and I remember hearing some rumblings on the New Orleans campus about Convention politics, but I really didn't start paying attention to Convention matters until the mid '80's.

I never really understood all the fuss about liberalism in the SBC. I attended a Southern Baptist college and seminary and never encountered what I would call a liberal professor. Most of my professors seemed to have a calling to teach, had a genuine concern for their students, and exhibited a true love for Christ. Perhaps among the many hundreds of college and seminary professors who taught in our institutions at the time there were a handful of liberals, but I never encountered one.

Thirty years have passed, and the SBC is in worse shape than ever. SBC churches baptized fewer people last year than in 1970, and for the past few years membership in SBC churches have began to show signs of decline. I realize that those who have supported the "Conservative Resurgence" would argue that things would be much worse if the "liberals" were still in charge. But that still does not change the fact that the "Conservative Resurgence" which was suppose to bring us back to our focus on evangelism and wining the lost to Christ has failed to produce.

I'm not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, but here's where I see the future of the SBC heading:

1. I think the Great Commission Resurgence will fail to produce anything substantial. From what I read the GCR is an effort by some to "streamline" the denominational structure, including state conventions, so that more CP money can be used for missions and winning the lost to Christ. Although messengers to this year's convention overwhelming voted to support the GCR, I think the sticking points will come with implementation. I predict that state conventions are going to be reluctant to reduce staff and programming and that SBC entities are going to be unwilling to merge, etc. to make the GCR workable.

2. The SBC will continue to be divided by doctrine. Doctrine was never the unifying factor of the SBC. Churches which comprised the SBC cooperated together for the purpose of missions. Walter Shurden identified several "theological" strains that characterized SBC churches in the past. These churches were able to look beyond their theological differences and cooperate together for the cause of missions. The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message was the first confession of faith used by the SBC leadership as a creed. At the time, many thought it would settle doctrinal matters within the SBC once and for all. Missionaries and denominational leaders were required to sign the document. But the divide continues. With the rise of Calvinism in the SBC, those who hold to Landmark views have become increasingly more vocal. The divisions over doctrine will continue to widen.

3. The architects of the "Conservative Resurgence" and the old SBC guard will continue to wield influence. Although many of these leaders are beginning to age, I predict that they will not easily and willingly hand over the reins to younger leaders. The "Conservative Resurgence" was as much about control as it was anything, and those who took control are not about to hand over the leadership to others.

4. Younger SBC pastors (those under 40) will soon become even more disillusioned with the Convention. We see strong indicators of this even now, despite the fact that many younger pastors showed up this year in Louisville. Younger people have less ties to and little patience with denominational structures. Younger pastors will find more effective ways to network and partner for the purpose of missions and ministry.

5. The SBC will not disappear or even die in my lifetime. But the SBC will become less and less effective. The best days of the SBC are behind her.

Blessings,
Jimmy

The Kindle

I like gadgets, especially electronic gadgets. One of the latest gadgets to hit the marketplace is an eBook reader from Amazon called the Kindle. I first heard about the Kindle about two months ago from a colleague who owns one. I had not thought much more about it until this past weekend. I was in South Carolina for a wedding, and the father of the bride—who happens to be a good friend—had just gotten one for an early Father's Day gift. He allowed me to play with it—and viola I was hooked.

The Kindle is light weight, about the size of a book, and very portable. One of the strong selling points is the ability to download approximately 1000 books onto the Kindle which can be carried with you just about anywhere. I normally carry a stack of books with me on vacation, and now Amazon has made it possible to carry all of that reading material anywhere I want to go in one small portable device. Another selling point is the price of the books. Most Kindle books sell for $9.99 from Amazon. Of course the Kindle itself is a bit pricy, but the avid reader can easily justify the price of the Kindle via the savings in books and shipping cost; which brings me to another strong point of the Kindle. Books are downloaded instantly to the Kindle directly from Amazon through a wireless connection. There is no extra charge for the download, and the wireless device is built into the Kindle. The coverage area is nationwide, no international coverage, and though there are some weak areas (normally where there are few or no cell towers) I am assured that downloading is easy and effortless. So, if you are at the beach and run short on reading material, a book can be instantly downloaded with the click of a button—and you don't have to leave the beach!

I found the Kindle to be easy to use. There's even a way to "highlight," bookmark, and save clippings/notes for future reference. The Kindle is very readable, with adjustable fonts and a backlit screen. The rechargeable battery which powers the Kindle supposedly last for weeks before requiring a recharge. The Kindle has a built-in voice reader that will literally read the book for you as you listen. I have already figured-out a way to connect this to my car's audio system—I plan to let the Kindle read to me on future road trips where I am alone in the car.

I was concerned about the number of eBooks in the genres I like to read that might be available. A quick check of the Amazon website alleviated that concern. There are literally 1000's of books available.

Another concern has to do with the "life" of eBooks. I still have paperbacks from thirty years ago. What happens to eBooks I download to the Kindle when the format changes and new advances are made? For this reason I will probably continue to buy reference books and commentaries in a regular book format.

My own personal Kindle should arrive in a few short days. I'm already making a list of books to download. I'll be giving it a rigorous workout on an upcoming vacation. I'll share further observations once I've had a chance to check mine out thoroughly.

Blessings,
Jimmy

 

The Biggest Winner

I have been working on shedding a few pounds, getting in shape, and lowering my blood pressure. I have found that exercise really works in helping me achieve my goals, and is a wonderful way to deal with stress to boot. After 3 weeks at the gym I have been able to come off blood pressure medication altogether.

Yesterday, while working out on the elliptical machine, an idea came to me. Why not encourage the entire congregation to get in shape? I noticed several FBC folks working out yesterday morning. I had a conversation a few days ago with a church member who is participating in a "Biggest Loser" contest at work. Should not the church lend her voice to encouraging folks to live a healthier lifestyle?

The Scriptures have much to say about physical health. The one verse that comes to mind readily is 1 Corinthians 3:16—"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" I do not think many would question the connection between spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health.

So, I have a rough plan. I will discuss in with our staff at our weekly staff meeting for their input. But I am thinking about preaching a couple of sermons on the importance of physical health and challenging our congregation to set some personal goals. Perhaps we can have some kind of "friendly" congregational contest. Maybe we can call it "The Biggest Winner." After all it is a win/win proposition. Stay tuned for details to follow.

Blessings,
Jimmy