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!

Graduation

Last night Andrew graduated from high school! It is difficult for me to believe that he is old enough to do that. The event was held on the campus of TCU. I wonder just when graduation ceremonies became a rock concernt? It was a bit embarassing to hear all the hoots and hollers during the presentation of the colors, and the blow horns were annoying to say the least. But those are small criticisms compared to the absolute joy of seeing our son walk across the stage during this important milestone in his life. Congratulations son!

Memorial Day

I hope today is more to you than just a day off and an opportunity to fire up the grill. Today is the day you and I must take at least a moment and thank God for the men and women who have paid the ultimate price for freedom. My grandfathers were in WWII, and my uncles served in Vietnam. I currently have a first cousin in the military. I thank God for their service as well.

Freedom is not free, and we'd better not forget that.

Executive Committee--CP

The Executive Committee of the SBC is set to recommend several ways that the Cooperative Program can be strengthened during the convention next month. It seems now that the committee may weaken two of the recommendations: one that church's give at least 10% to the CP and that the convention consider electing leaders whose churches give at least 10%.

What is going on here? It seems the Executive Committee is watering down its recommendations in light of the presidential election. Much has been made of Ronnie Floyd's nomination and the fact his church gives a small percentage through the CP. A statement from the committee reads in part that the original recommendations were never intended to create controversy. Perhaps that is so, but this move, if it is approved by the whole committee, will appear to some to be politically motivated--either to help Floyd's election or at the very least make Southern Baptist's appear to be consistent in their thinking. Should Floyd be elected president and CP recommendations which included percentages also be approved, the inconsistency will confuse the churches.

The full committee will vote on these changes in the CP recommendations just prior to the convention in Greensboro.

For more on the Executive Committee's actions:

http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/5985.article

Page

More on Dr. Frank Page, candidate for SBC president at:

http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23353

There are several other articles posted on the South Carolina Baptist paper's website [The Baptist Courier].

http://www.baptistcourier.com/

I would agree with those who say that his candidacy is a longshot, but Southern Baptist's who want their president to be more supportive of the Cooperative Program certainly have a choice. The more I read about Dr. Page, the more I'm impressed with him. I look forward to visiting his church next month.

6/6/06 Kids

I was reading yesterday about some parents who are worried about their kids being born on June 6----6/6/06. The "0" in there should cause no anxiety for Mom and Dad. The ones who should be worried are the parents born 6/6/66!!

Last Sermon

Well the last sermons were preached yesterday at Riverside. I had blogged earlier that I always struggle with knowing just what to preach on last Sundays. The Lord led me to Ephesians 4:1-16. I challenged the church to "walk worthy of the calling." That calling, of course, is God's call of salvation, explained by Paul in chapters 1-3 of Ephesians.

Basically, the message has two major thoughts. First, walk worthy by keeping the unity of the church [vv. 2-6]. That is done by living right in relation to one another [vv. 2-3]. Unity is important because it is a portrait to the world of the unity of the Trinity [vv. 4-6]. Second, walk worthy by contributing to church growth [vv. 7-16]. God has provided for the growth of the church by giving spiritual gifts to all believers and to the church corporately. The goal of growth is that we all become like Jesus [v. 13]. The result of growth is a mature church that is doctrinally stable [vv. 14-16].

When a pastor leaves, the church is usually challenged in the above two ways--unity and spiritual growth. This message, I believe, is the one God wanted our church to hear on my last day.

I didn't know it until I looked more deeply into my files, but I preached vv. 1-6 of this passage on my last day at Heckscher Drive Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL ten years ago. This must be an appropriate passage for this occasion.

DaVinci

Well it seems "DaVinci" made about 77 million bucks over the weekend. That's more than my 50-million prediction. What is the attraction? Why would people buy into lies and reject the truth. Here it is my friends. Are you ready? It is simply because if Jesus can be made into mere mortal then human kind does not have to deal with its major problem--sin. If Jesus is not who the Bible claims Him to be, then God holds no sway over us; we ultimately are not accountable to Him.

What is the church's response? Just keep preaching the old old story. The Gospel has overcome all such challenges for two-thousand years. It will overcome this challenge as well.

SC Candidate & Move

I read in Baptist Press that Dr. Frank Page, pastor of FBC Taylors in South Carolina is throwing his hat into the ring for the SBC presidency. I read this with interest because I am going to be moving just a few miles from his church and am planning to visit it as part of our "find a church" process beginning in June. I suppose now he'll be a bit busy the first weekend we're in SC; that's the week of the convention in Greensboro. Dr. Page is a Southwestern man--that's a plus! For those looking for a church giving at least 10% to the CP, his does.

For more on Dr. Page: http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23284.


By the way, I plan to blog on our "find a church" experience as we go. It's been a long time since I've just been a "regular Baptist" looking for a church home. In 1993 we joined Travis Avenue in Ft. Worth after moving to seminary from Florida. We visited three or four churches before joining Travis. When we moved back to Texas in 1999, we just automatically went back to Travis. So it has been 13 years since we looked for a church. It will be fun. FBC Taylors is on our list as is Fairview in Greer. When we visited the area, we noticed Baptist churches everywhere. A good church won't be a problem. Our main criterion, I think, is a good youth group for our 16 year old daughter to blend in with. We want to join a church as soon as the Lord allows so she can get to know some other kids before school starts in August. Enough blog blabbering; I'll keep you informed of our progress once we get to SC.

Reading the GNT

For many years now I have been reading a passage from the Greek New Testament during my devotion time, and I've urged my students to do the same. A few months ago I determined I would read the NT in canonical order [Matthew-Revelation] in Greek. This morning I finished the last four chapters of Revelation. This has been a wonderful spiritual experience, and I plan to begin again tomorrow morning in Matthew 1.

I decided I wanted to be able to pick up my Greek New Testament and read from it very early in my academic career. In my first New Testament survey class at Florida Baptist Theological College [now the Baptist College of Florida], Dr. Jerry Corley would read from the GNT at the beginning of each class period. That amazed me! He encouraged us to get into Greek, and if we did we could do the same thing. I started during my Elementary Greek days to take a couple of sentences from the GNT each day and work through it during my devotion time. I used the UBS text along with Kubo's Reader's Lexicon. It was slow and sometimes frustrating, but it was a blessing and worth all the effort. I will always be grateful to Dr. Corley for his example. I have followed his example and begin each of my classes the same way.

I can't wait for tomorrow morning, about 5:30am as I start in Matthew 1!