Monday, September 28, 2009

GBA 50th

Fairview hosted Greer Baptist Association's 50th anniversary last night. I think we probably had over 1,000 in the worship center. I have some pics of the choir but for some reason they won't upload this morning. I'll try that again later, but I did want to particularly mention Richard Blackaby's message. He talked about how the church will be effective in the future.
  • We must be on God's agenda and not on our's
  • We cannot fear change
  • We must invest in young people
  • We must equip the saints

I've been hammering on these four points for a while in our church so his message was timely for us. A church that makes a difference cannot be concerned about the latest trends, fads, and books on the market. We can't look at programs or personalities. We must look only to God who has an individual will for each church.

If a church won't change it will die--period. He told the sad story of a church that refused the change to reach the neighborhood around it. They voted to watch themselves die. Sad, but that is exactly what many churches are doing. They's rather die than change.

If we don't invest in young people we will die as well. We're losing young adults at a staggering rate to the world. Dr. Blackaby was especially passionate on this point and it certainly resonated with me. The most important thing in my life is for my two college age kids to be serving God as adults and raising their families as they have been raised.

We must equip the saints, especially to understand what it means to be born again. One statement from last night--We will not get to heaven by raising our hands, praying a simple prayer, or signing a card. We will get to heaven just because we are a member of a Baptist church or any other church. We will get to heaven because we are born again. And born again people act like they are born again. I blogged recently about folks on the church roll who have the false impression they are saved when it is likely they aren't. Christian people don't continually live like the devil--Christian people live like their Lord!

It was a wonderful night of worship. I was honored we were able to host it.

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