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I remember my 21st birthday- just having celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary, beginning my fourth year of college, beginning a new ministry assignment as associate pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Burlington WA, and feeling as though the world was mine for the taking. That was a long time ago.

I recently acknowledged another 21st anniversary-(not my wedding anniversary- Cindy and I have been married 36 years now (you can do the math and figure my age!), but finishing my 21st year of ministry as the pastor of Community Baptist Church, Winston OR.

When my family moved to Winston our son had just turned 9 and our daughter was 5 (again, you can do the math!). Now my son is married, serving as a sergeant in the United States Air Force and my daughter (still single) is the Scheduler for Rep. Greg Walden (R, OR) in Washington DC.

My wife is the Office Manager at Winston Middle School and is one of the longest tenured office staff persons in the school district.

I can’t even begin to describe the multiple changes our church has experienced over the past 21 years. Our building has changed- some extensive remodeling of the kitchen and auditorium (we have what might best be described as a multi-purpose building- our auditorium is our worship space for Sunday’s, AWANA’s space for Wednesday’s during the school year, banquet facilities for our two annual church wide dinners (one at Thanksgiving and one in the spring), and a general meeting room for community events). As our external structure has changed so has our internal structure. Just this last year we were able to call an associate pastor (bi-vocational). The role of our deacons and their wives have changed over the years as well. They have transitioned from a church business oriented group to focusing more on pastoral and spiritual concerns. Our Bible Study ministry has changed as well. The people whom God has called us to minister have changed as well. Families in our community are more fractured than ever. Unemployment in our county remains around 12% or higher. Jobs are scarce and opportunities to reach the American dream seem distant and unreachable for many of the people in our community. We are struggling with how to structure our Bible study ministry to help people who feel disenfranchised and in serious personal distress.

But as I ponder my 21st birthday (of sorts) I face several challenges. First, my body tells me I am no longer 21! I no longer have the stamina of youth or the energy to press on without significant spiritual and physical rest. Second, I am learning to think more strategically and focus on the long term implications of our ministry decisions. I made a lot a foolish choices over the last 21 years and have learned some hard lessons. Third, I am more invested in the community than ever. I am trying to earn the right to be heard as I take multiple opportunities to engage with the community (Winston-Dillard Chamber of Commerce; Winston Area Community Partnership: Douglas County Commission on Children and Families: Douglas County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council; Winston Education Community Network; Douglas County Coordinated Care Organization Advisory Council….). I am also deeply involved in our regional denomination (serving as President for 2012) and an ex-officio member of a committee searching for a new Executive Director for the NWBC. This role has deepened my appreciation for my denomination (the Southern Baptist Convention) and opened my eyes to the challenges we who share a common heritage of faith must confront.

So, as I celebrate another 21 I am curious. How can my church more significantly engage the culture around us? How can I communicate the gospel in such a way that Jesus is magnified and He is free to change lives? How can we as the people of God make an impact that truly allows the Holy Spirit to transform lives? Is my preaching and teaching genuinely being used by God to transform lives? What direction will my future ministry take? In another 21 years I will be, well, let’s just say older- and only God knows my place in His future.

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.

Dr Bill Crews, Executive Director of the Northwest Baptist Convention announced his intention to retire (again…that’s another blog entry) on December 31 2012, or at such time as a new Executive Director has been identified and elected. Since 1967, when Bill and his family arrived in the Northwest he has been a fixture. Yes, he pastored in California for a few years and served as president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary for a few more years- but he has been a fixture at our annual meetings for as long as I can remember.

These last five years he has served as the interim  (2007) and then as board elected Executive Director (2008-2012) and led us through some difficult and demanding challenges. His leadership is evidence of God’s hand- bringing the right man to the right place at the right time. 

Replacing him is impossible. However God has a successor already in line. It is our duty to pray for the search committee which we be nominated by the officers of the Convention and elected by the Board tomorrow as they seek to discover who God has in His heart for the future our our network of churches.

As I sit here in New Orleans one more night waiting for an all day trip back to Oregon tomorrow I am reminded of why the annual meeting of the SBC is a significant event worth attending. First, there is an opportunity to hear great preaching. This year I heard Tony Evans, David Jeremiah, and David Platt to mention a few. The message from David Uth (the annual convention sermon) today was an excellent presentation of truth from the word of God. Apart from a meeting such as this I wouldn’t have the opportunity to hear such preachers live and in person. Second, the worship leaders exemplify excellence in guiding the gathered people of God to corporately praise Him. Third, the business sessions of the convention remind me that we are a congregational denomination. Messengers are elected by their home church. Messengers have the opportunity through motions and resolutions to address the convention in general. Last, the opportunity to connect with friends is important. Beyond friends I was able to connect with agency presidents and other notable persons in our convention. Speaking face to face with Thom Rainer, Pres. of Lifeway; Tom Eliff, Pres. of the IMB; Kevin Ezell, pres. of NAMB and several vice presidents of NAMB, IMB, Lifeway as well as the seminary presidents is an opportunity that can only occur at the annual meeting of the SBC.

This convention was historic in that the messengers elected Fred Luter, an African American pastor born and raised in New Olreans as President of the SBC. For a denomination born during the slavery era this was truly a God-moment, a watershed event in our efforts to allow God’s truth to be incarnate in our lives.

Another highlight of this convention was the willingness of those chosen to speak, and other convention leaders to address the bubbling controversy between Calvinist’s and what some are calling Traditionalists. We were regularly reminded that Southern Baptists in particular (just had to use that word) are comprised of both streams. Our history as Baptists in America reminds us that we owe a debt of gratitude to men (and women) from both streams of theological understanding. What unites us is our common commitment to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to recognize that what God does in salvation is solely His work and His alone. 

Finally, I am reminded once again, that my church needs a denominational structure that allows us to partner with other churches all across the United States to collectively share our resources in a strategic way that the message of the gospel is proclaimed clearly and powerfully in our world.

In a recent editorial Marvin Olasky offers a distinction between the Constitution’s guarantee of “freedom of religion” and what he describes as the “freedom to worship.” He writes

The Obama administration, by stipulating that an organization to be defined as a “religious employer” must primarily serve only people of its own faith, is beginning to treat Christians as many Muslim countries treat Christians. Those countries allow Christians to meet for worship in nondescript buildings, but that’s it. Christians cannot evangelize. They cannot make disciples. They cannot engage in social services and help others.

Some Christians in Muslim lands have some freedom of worship. They do not have freedom of religion.” http://www.worldmag.com/articles/19482

In the same editorial he suggests that Christianity by its very nature “claim[s] to deal with every square inch of our territory and every moment of our existence.”

In  the flurry of meetings that I choose to attend I have to regularly remind myself that God has opened doors not for my advancement but for the application and advancement of His kingdom purposes. In many of the meetings I attend I don’t have a platform to speak but I can quietly pray for those in attendance and for those in decision making roles. In some of the meetings I attend I do have a voice and then I must carefully choose to frame my words so that the truth of the gospel can be proclaimed- even if indirectly. I am not often given the opportunity to ‘preach’ at these meetings as I would have the freedom to do in church circles. However, I can speak from a gospel perspective- that God indeed so loved the world that He sent His Son; that Jesus died and was raised again for us; and that the cross is an opportunity for forgiveness and a challenge to press on in the work of spiritual transformation. Transformation is intensely personal but as individual’s are transformed by the good news of Jould esus Christ the structures of our society should also be transformed.

Is it too late to see a transformation? I believe as long as God gives believers breath there is opportunity for the Holy Spirit to use our words and our deeds to spark spiritual transformation in the lives of people. And as people are transformed by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, He can indeed transform even governments and the social institutions that surround us.

Small Victories

                I regularly receive tweets (Twitter updates) about what God is doing in various locations around the world. Many times they are celebrating numbers of new believers that in a ministry area of around 15,000 total population are quite literally hard to imagine. My first response- honestly- is a little bit of envy. I would love to serve a church where hundreds come to Christ – even just once. I can’t tweet that hundreds or even dozens have come to Christ as a result of one worship experience.

                What I can say, however, is this. Because of the faithful support the churches I serve have given to the Cooperative Program over the decades I have been a pastor thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands have heard the gospel. Church planting movements have begun and literally changed entire cultures as our people have faithfully given. The dollars we give, and the prayers we lift up to God, are primary ways we have of engaging a lost and dying world.

                I read of massive movements of immigrants into the cities of the United States. Right now the only movement in my community in Southern Oregon is away from the area as people look for jobs. But again, because our church prays and gives to the Cooperative Program, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, the Sylvia Wilson Mission Offering for NW Missions, and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, we are supporting the work of men and women who are committed to reaching these immigrants with the good news of Jesus Christ.

                If you follow my Twitter feed (@wcbcpastor) you’ll likely never read of me leading a service where hundreds responded to the gospel. But know this…God is at work. God is changing lives. God I enabling our family of faith to have an impact for the Kingdom of God.

                Maybe it’s just the weather- cool, wet, rainy. Maybe it’s the overloaded schedule. Walked into a meeting this morning just because it was on my calendar- I honestly had no idea of what the meeting was about till I arrived and asked the facilitator. Maybe holding it’s my age. Maybe it’s the fact I’ve served this church over 20 years. Maybe it’ the added responsibilities of the denominational jobs I’ve taken.

                Whatever the cause, I feel as though I have been pulling a semi truck stuck in reverse for the past several months. There is little if any visible progress- just skid marks as the truck’s transmission fights me every millimeter of the way. I had a conversation with a like minded community leader yesterday. We are both tired. We are both worn out from the constant tension of trying to lead when others seem to be content with the past.

                I have been reading the book of Joshua again recently. While no one verse has jumped out for me, what has become clearer is that being a leader requires a much longer range vision than normal. Certainly we can and should celebrate immediate successes but leadership in a community (whether a faith community or a secular organization) requires a vision that goes past the immediate context. That alone can cause weariness. Trying to hold to a vision of a preferred future while the demands of the present continue their relentless pursuit of our time is tiring.

                So, the solution?

 Keep holding to the vision of the preferred future (in Joshua’s case: completing the entering and possessing the land). Don’t let the relentless pursuit of the present take over your thinking.  Leaders need time away from the demands of the present as much as a preschool mother needs a break from the incessant demands of her child.

                Relentlessly pursue the vision. There will always be people who list excuses (see Joshua  18:1-3). Our task as leaders requires us to communicate the vision with passion- even at the cost of sounding harsh and uncaring.

                Trust in God. Ultimately the book of Joshua is not about his success but about God’s success!