Episcopal Meeting

Bishops of the US Episcopal Church met this week and again debated whether they should approve of gay bishops. Unfortunately they fell short again of banning the practice. How long can a “Church” survive when it is clearly violating the Word of God?

James 4:4 (HCSB) Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p02s01-ussc.html

Church Planters Letter

Here's a letter in this week's Baptist Courier that echoes an earlier blog of mine concerning church planters [splitters?]

http://www.baptistcourier.com/1911.article

My sentiments exactly!

Three Basic, Quiet Acts

This is challenging:

The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeepers' concerns--how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street . . . Three pastoral acts are so basic, so critical, that they determine the shape of everything else. The acts are praying, reading Scripture, and giving spiritual direction. Besides being basic, these acts are quiet. They do not call attention to themselves and are not often attended to. In the clamorous world of pastoral work nobody yells at us to engage in these acts [Eugene Peterson].

How true a statement this is. I've never had somebody say, "Please study more," or, "Please pray more." I've had many say, "Why weren't you there when Mrs. So and So had her this or that."

1 Corinthians 13

I am studying this week 1 Corinthians 13 in preparation for Sunday's sermon. In v. 6, Paul wrote: "(Love) does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth." I ran across this extended quote from Gordon Fee in his commentary on this verse. It is outstanding.

"The person full of Christ’s love joins in rejoicing on the side of behavior that reflects the gospel—for every victory gained, every forgiveness offered, every act of kindness. Such a person refuses to take delight in evil, either in its more global forms—war, the suppression of the poor—or in those close to home—the fall of a brother or sister, a child’s misdeed. Love absolutely rejects the most pernicious form of rejoicing over evil, gossiping about the misdeeds of others; it is not gladdened when someone else falls. Love stands on the side of the gospel and looks for mercy and justice for all, including those with whom one disagrees" [Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, 639.]

No more true comment has been made on this verse. It is an understatement to say that it is challenging.

By the way, in vv. 4-7, the 15 present tense verbs that depict love in action all remind us of God's love for us. We are to go and do likewise.

Memorizing James

This was on the Southwestern bloggers site. Thanks to Dave Black for leading me to this one. It really doesn't take that much to memorize Scripture.

Different Vows

These are different vows for sure!

Church Planters

I've been concerned for some time with a problem I've seen now in every place I've ministered for the last 15 years. It is the problem of splitting a church to start a new one. A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting with the new Executive/Treasurer of the South Carolina Convention, Dr. Jim Austin. The meeting was sort of a listening session; one of several he is having around the state. Church planting became the primary topic of discussion. One church planter shared some of his story. He felt led to start a church in the town he was in. When he told the church he served, he was let go. He just didn't understand why his church was so reluctant to support the church start.

Here's the problem. Established churches are tired of staffers "feeling led" to start a new church and do so by pulling out, going down the street or across town, and taking several members [perhaps several hundred] of the church with them. You can't blame established churches for feeling betrayed by the staffers and the members who leave.

There seems to be two kinds of "church planters" today. There are men who are called by the Lord to start churches. If a man feels led by the Lord to become a church planter, the best thing to do in my opinion is to leave the area in which he is currently ministering and start a new church elsewhere. That man will find support from sister churches. There are other men who become frustrated with the church they are in, wish to see changes, and those changes are coming too slowly. He then leaves, takes people with him, and starts a new church more to his liking. If a man is frustrated with the traditional church he's in, let him be patient for the changes he wants to make or let him go somewhere else and serve a church more in line with his minister philosophy.

Church starts should not be done to the detriment of established churches. A man should not split a church to start a new one. Surely there is a better way.

Just musing.

Vick Perspective

I'm a bit tired now of hearing 24-7 Michael Vick news. I am as disgusted with what he did as anyone; no animal deserves to be treated in those ways. I wonder, however, why we get so up-in-arms as Americans over the mistreatment of animals and yet turn a blind eye to the unborn babies killed each year?

Just musing.

Byzantine Text of John

The Byzantine Text of John is now on-line. The project, primarily produced by Dr. Rod Mullen, has been in the works for some time. One of the Church Fathers used in the apparatus is Chysostom. As I was finishing my dissertation on Chrysostom's text of John, Dr. Mullen and I corresponded several times. I sent him the work I had completed up to that point [too many mistakes in it, I'm afraid. Those mistakes have been corrected and hopefully will be in book form in the next year.], and he compared my work with his, using that comparsion for Chrysostom's witness to the 4th Gospel.

The text and information relating to it can be found at:

http://www.iohannes.com/

The IGNTP latest edition on John is also out.

The New Testament in Greek IV/ the Gospel According to St. John: Volume Two the Majuscules (New Testament Tools and Studies)by U. B. Schmid (Editor), D. C. Parker (Editor), W. J. Elliott (Editor), American and British Committees of the I (Editor)
List Price:$239.00Hardcover: 558 pages
Publisher: Brill Academic Pub (August 15, 2007)Language:
EnglishISBN-10: 9004163131
ISBN-13: 978-9004163133

[The above from an e-mail I received from Dr. William Warren]

Man I wish this wasn't $239!

Finally,

There is a little debate going on the Johannine Byzantine text on the Evangelical Text Criticism blog that you might be interested in.

http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/

Crusade

We finished the North Greenville Stadium Crusade this week. The crowds were a bit hindered, especially on Monday and Tuesday due to the record-breaking heat. The last night of the crusade made it all worthwhile, however. We had at least 50 people saved. Tony Nolan preached a powerful message. We had other great messaged during the week. My favorite was from evangelist Len Turner, who shared a great word on heaven.

I found it interesting that each night as the preacher was wrapping up his sermon and going into the invitation that geese would fly over, making the noises that geese make. Spiritual warfare is alive and well!

I had the privilege of sharing the gospel with two high school students on Wednesday night during the invitation. They were the among the many young people who gave their hearts to Christ.

Ankiel

During last night's Cardinals game I saw an outstanding story of perseverance. Rick Ankiel, who is probably one of the biggest pitching prospect busts in history, found himself back in St. Louis-this time in right field. Ankiel's makeover is truly one of the most remarkable I've ever seen. His story has a great ending too--a three-run homer in the 7th that gave the Cardinals some breathing room against San Diego.

What this teaches I think is that if you want something bad enough and are willing to persevere no matter the critics, good things can happen!

http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070809&content_id=2140369&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=stl

Great Site

Here is a great site for pictures of Bible Lands. You need to bookmark this one.

http://www.bibleplaces.com/index.htm

Thanks to the Dave Black blog for pointing this one out.

One More!

Mamaw and her great-grandchildren. The group grows!

Family Party!

Mamaw with her grandchildren. Only one is missing.

[Front from l to r: Cousin Linda, Mamaw, and my sister Susan. Back from l to r: Brothers Dave, Rob, John, and me].

#90

Happy 90th Mamaw! We recently travelled to Missouri for a big birthday bash for my grandmother, Mary Hogue. I think we surprised her. We had a birthday party at her church fellowship hall.

Missouri

We're looking forward to going to Missouri tomorrow. On Saturday the family will gather to celebrate my maternal grandmother's 90th birthday. Some Bill's barbecue, Causbie's bakery products, and Stawberry's ribs are in my future!!

Fairview Call

Yesterday Fairview extended a call for my family and me to serve there by unanimous vote. It was the culmination of what has been the most unusual times of my life. When we arrived in South Carolina last year, in no way was I looking to pastor a church. In the back of my mind I hadn't ruled it out forever, but I was looking for many years at North Greenville. God had other plans.

Only God can take a guy from Texas to a church via a university. His ways are certainly greater than our ways! Pray for us as we begin this journey officially on August 1. Fairview is a great church with God-given opportunity. An open-door is before us. My prayer is that we'll go through it.

Happy Birthday!

Lordy, Lordy look whose no longer 40!!

Lesa is officially AARP eligible.

Muslim-Christian 'Priest'

There is some recent news about an Episcopal priest's identity crisis in Seattle.

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=972

Misplaced Priorities

More evidence is in that suggests much different priorities for married couples. The Pew Research Center survey on marriage and parenting found that the percentage of Americans who consider children "very important" to a successful marriage has dropped again. Couples cite the sharing of household chores as pivotal. Just 41% view children as important while chore-sharing was cited by 62% of the couples.

I suppose making sure the right person vacums or washes the clothes is all-important to a marriage. What happened to raising a family?

Psalms 127:3 (HCSB) "Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, children, a reward."