Populaton Growth

We're living in one of the fastest growing town in South Carolina. According to figures I read yesterday in The Greenville News, Greer is the fourth fastest growing city in the state. Right now our population is just over 21,000, but that is an over 20% increase in five years. When you look around you can see the growth. There are new housing developments everywhere as well as many new businesses. Someone told me yesterday that there are 50% more businesses along the main highway in Greer just in the last two years. Riverside High School is opening a new facility in the fall because of all the growth and Greer High School's building is very new.

This has affected the area churches too. Many of them are growing at record rates. We have not attended a church yet that hasn't benefitted from the growth spurt here. I'm sure that is going to continue for some time.

It is interesting that at last some explanation for the growth is that many folks from up north, who used to retire in Florida, are now retiring in this area of South Carolina. The "tweeners" are now those who retire between Michigan and Florida. The reason seems to be that the population changes in South Florida and the many hurricanes in recent years have caused some to settle in other places. We are also having people who live in Florida relocate here for the same reasons. Interesting.

A Good Word on Christians, Sin, and Homosexuality

You might want to read this from Al Mohler's blog.

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=706

10 Convictions on Biblical Preaching

In class Monday, I shared with my Introduction to Preaching class 10 convictions I have on biblical preaching. I formulated this list during a Ph.D. seminar and have worked on them a bit since.

• Biblical preaching is grounded in the belief that there is "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" [Eph 4:6].
• Biblical preaching lifts up the name of Jesus whose "name is above every name" [Phil 2:9].
• Biblical preaching is empowered by the Holy Spirit, "the Spirit of truth," who testifies of Christ [John 15:26].
• Biblical preaching is done under the conviction that the Scriptures are "God-breathed" and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" [2 Tim 3:16]. The Scriptures are the primary authority for biblical preaching.
• Biblical preaching should lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ [Romans 10:14].
• Biblical preaching should "prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ might be built up" [Eph 4:12].
• Biblical preaching should be done by one called and gifted by God [Rom 12:3-8].
• Biblical preaching should be done by one who lives a life worthy of one called [Eph 4:1].
• Biblical preaching is communicated with the context of the congregation [note the letters of Paul, written to specific congregations].
• Biblical preaching is not determined by sermon "type," but according to biblical content. [Scholars and preaching students cannot agree on definitions such as expository, topical, etc. I would agree with Brown, Fasol, and others that biblical preaching is determined by how closely the sermon is tied to the biblical text.]

Good One

This from Ben Witherington's blog:

Conversations Heard at the Water Cooler at work

"So hey what have you been up to lately.

""We'll believe it or not I am into reading."

"Really? Reading what?"

"Well, I am growing my spirituality."

"So, what are you reading?"

"Well I am reading the Bible. And let me tell you, that guy can write!"

New Blog

I don't know if we need another blog, but Albert Mohler has begun one that primarily deals with issues of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is worth a look.

http://www.conventionalthinking.net/

Eastern Time

Another observation about South Carolina. We're simply not used to Eastern time yet. I know there are only 24-hours in the day here, but it seems like 22 or 23. The day goes so fast. Historically I am an early to bed early to rise guy. Here I'm staying up to 11:30 pm and last night even later as we suffered through the NBA playoffs. I suppose we'll get used to prime-time shows starting at 8pm and the news at 11pm, but I remember when we lived in Jacksonville, Fl a few years ago we never really did.

Mavs

To say the least, we are all disappointed in this house over the Mavericks loss to Miami last night. I thought for sure they would come through in Game 6, forcing a deciding game Thursday night. What will we do with out time now? Andrew is especially disappointed. He is a Mavs freak. Even Stephanie got into the act. Now Andrew knows now how I have felt when the St. Louis Cardinals stink in the playoffs. It is a deep pain that no one can describe except the true fan. Sports! We love it and hate it at the same time.

First Impressions

We've been here two weeks. What are my first impression of our new digs? First, the weather has been very good. I am amused when I hear the weather folks on TV say, "It is going to be hot." 90 degrees ain't hot! It has ever rained a couple of times. Imagine that. Second, there is no traffic. Driving to work last week at 7:30am and very few cars to contend with. That is a tremendous blessing. One of my co-workers gave me another route I could take to get to work to miss the major road here in Greer and the "traffic." What traffic?

We visited our second church today. This one is very close to our home. We found out today that they too have an interim pastor. So far we've attended two churches and two interim pastors. Good sevices at both churches. Last week's church is larger than this one, although there was a good sized crowd at today's service. One is more traditional than the other. Don't know yet what God would have us to do. We're going to visit at least one more church before we make a decision on membership.

By the way, Happy Father's Day!

SBC

Everyone around here is excited about Frank Page's election as SBC president. I think there is little question that it was a referendum on the Cooperative Program, especially our convention's leaders support of it. I was a bit surprised there was not a run-off.

Made It!

Well we finally made it to South Carolina! We arrived last Monday afternoon, closed on the house that afternoon, and started moving in. The truck arrived on Wednesday, and we finally saw it pull away Friday. We've been getting out of boxes since, but we mostly live in them. We probably will at least for several more days. Most everything works in the house, only a few minor problems. Of course, we had a problem with the computer and had to get it fixed before blogging could begin again.

Today was a rest and worship day. We attended Fairview Baptist in Greer. It was good to be back in church; we had to miss last Sunday. Fairview runs 400+ and have an interim pastor--Dr. Steve Crouse of North Greenville University. The choir sounded good and the preaching was as well. We enjoyed a visit from a couple of members this afternoon and have been eating the cookies brought to us since!

I begin teaching on Monday morning--a course on 1 Corinthians. The course is a week-long intensive. What a way to start!

If you've prayed for us as we've moved--THANKS! Keep it up. We need the prayers and you need the practice.

Moving

If there is anything worse than moving, I'd like to know what it is. We're packing up the truck as hard as we can go, heading to SC. We'll be in Greer Sunday evening. Musings will take a break until after our move. I don't know when I will start up again, probably late next week. Pray for us! We need it!