Monthly Archives: July 2012

There is nothing more humbling than driving cross country. My wife and I drove just over 2,000 miles from our home in Southern Oregon to Independence MO. Passing through countless towns and villages and a number of larger cities I was reminded that I am just one. Whenever I think I am so important that the world can’t exist without me I can visualize the hundreds of places I drove through and remember that everyone of those places is filled with people- people hungering for meaning and purpose, people searching for significance, people who think that the world just might stop if they were to disengage with their world.

I also was reminded how fortunate my wife and I are to have the freedom to travel. Our car runs well. The air conditioning works (it was near 100 degrees all day as we drove across Nebraska and into Missouri). Through our church family God has provided the resources we need to travel without worry.

So, the next time I begin to think I am indispensable I will visualize the towns scattered across Nebraska and Wyoming (yes, even though it is one of the least densely populated states there are towns and cities) and remember that God has chosen to place me in Winston…and that I am not indispensable…but that God can do quite well without me should He chose to. 

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel…The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Philippians 1:3–5.

Scheduled take-off of Amazing Wonders Aviation Flight via Community Baptist Church, Winston OR occurred last night. While VBS is an annual celebration for our church last night’s event was unusual in that we are partnering with the Winston Assembly of God for our Vacation Bible School.

A few weeks ago Ed Novak, pastor of Winston Assembly of God asked me if I thought our church would be open to allowing some of his workers, teenagers and children to participate in our VBS. After a brief discussion with my VBS Director (aka as Cindy, my bride of almost 36 yrs) our answer was an unequivocal YES. It is a win-win solution for all involved. First, it provides our church with some extra adults to assist our own folks in the classrooms. Second, their teenagers attend the same high school as our teenagers. Though they know each other from school a week of working together will strengthen their bonds in Christ helping them to stand more powerfully for Christ as the next school year begins. Third, their children and our children attend the same primary and elementary schools and a week of interaction will help them come to know each other better.

One of the issues our local pastor’s group (made up of evangelical friends from the Evangelical Free Church; the Foursquare Church; the Nazarene Church; the Mennonite Church; and of course yours truly) has been focused on is living out Jesus’ prayer for unity (see John 17). Collaborating with a sister church in VBS is further evidence of the unity we do have in Christ.

All this simply highlights one other benefit. The Kingdom of God is bigger than any denomination or individual church. While we have some distinct doctrinal differences with our Assembly of God brothers and sisters we share a common understanding that all people are in need of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. To that end we can teach God’s Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, and penetrate hearts of people in need of a Savior.

I am looking forward to the week of partnering together for the gospel!

Last Tuesday I was privileged to share the following remarks at the beginning of the June Meeting of the Northwest Baptist Convention Executive Board Meeting:

Deuteronomy 31:1-8

On Monday evening we heard Dr Bill Crews announce his intention to retire on December 31, 2012 or whenever the NWBC elects a new Executive Director. Bill shared how God led him to that place that inevitably we all will face: retirement. This is not a new place for Bill. I have often kidded him by his election as our Executive Director after his retirement from Golden Gate Seminary gave me hope that one day I could retire and hold down a real job.
But now it’s time. In Deuteronomy 31 there was a definitive moment for Moses- “I am now 120 years old; I can no longer act as your leader. The LORD has told me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’” (Deut 31:2 HCSB). I don’s know how God spoke to Bill but after observing him for more than 30 years I have no doubt that Bill would not have announced his retirement unless God had spoken to him.
Unlike Moses’ retirement though we have no Joshua…yet. This passage reminds us of several important issues:
1. God has a Joshua for us.
2. God is going with us.
The last couple of years have been challenging as Bill has led us to reorganize our work and to make significant adjustments to our budget. We have learned new ways of advancing God’s Kingdom through these changes. In each decisions Bill and those God had placed in places of leadership moved forward with the confidence that indeed God was with them. We can move forward in that same confidence.
3. The promise of God’s presence is our only hope
The LORD is the One who will go before you. l He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Holman Christian Standard Version Deut. 31:8.
As we move forward there are several issues to bear in mind:
a). We must obey God at all costs. Later in Deut 31 God speaks through Moses of the apostasy that Israel will experience.Let us pray that we as the people of God never fall into disobedience.
b). We must remain committed to the Word of God
As Southern Baptists we have recovered a fresh and unswerving commitment to the priority and primacy of God’s Word.It is worth remembering that God’s instruction to Joshua after Moses’ death revolved around His Word:
This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.” Holman Christian Standard Version Joshua 1:8.
c). We must not be afraid or discouraged, or to put it positively we must encourage one another. The search committee will need the encouragement of our prayers, the officers and members of the board will need the constant encouragement of the prayers of God’s people. Warren Wiresbe, in his book, “Be Strong” wrote “When you feel like a midget taking the place of a giant you need all the encouragement God sends your way.”

We may not know who our Joshua is yet, but God does. As we prayerfully trust Him, waiting upon Him we will be led to that man God has already chosen for this assignment.
Last night Bill showed a clip from the movie, “The Lion King.” What stuck with me as I viewed that clip was the counsel Mufasa gave to Simba, his son:
You are more than what you have become.” As the Apostle Paul put it some 2,000 years ago it reads like this: “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Holman Christian Standard Version, Philippians 1:6.