The Master’s Table is designed to have lots of stuff going on, even on days with no new content being posted. The RSS feed from Unity Baptist Church will usually contain one or more of the latest sermons I have written; they are not posted on both websites. The details from Bible Gateway and Our Daily Bread are updated daily This tutorial is designed to “walk you through” some of those features.
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Category Archives: blogging
The Read and Share File: Ronnie Floyd on the SBC
I read a lot of stuff. Each week I check out most of the links on Paul Wilkinson’s Wednesday Link List and Daniel Jepsen’s Saturday Ramblings. I visit Church Leaders .com several times frequently as well as subscribe to several WordPress blogs via their built-in reader. Baptist Press is the newsletter of the Southern Baptist Convention and it comes to my email inbox daily. I share relatively few of the many news articles and blog posts I read each day. Most of what I publish is my own stuff, the Master’s Table is more than an aggregator. My readers know how to find the Internet, duh. But every now and then I find something particular enjoyable, very informative or rather important and pass those things along in a bit I like to call The Read & Share File.
Ronnie Floyd has been the president of the Southern Baptist Convention for less than one year but has observed a few things. He also has a few concerns:
Lesson #1: Change is in the air
While many imagine that our convention never changes, this is just not the case. Churches, associations, state conventions and Southern Baptist entities are changing. Are they all changing? Probably not, but I would say many are changing because they know they must change to stay or become relevant. Some are changing rapidly, but most change is incremental.
Whatever level or pace, there is definitely a spirit of change in our convention. This is tremendous and highly commendable. Just a couple of years ago, resistance to change was probably more embraced than friendliness to change.
Let’s pray for one another to be so open to God’s leadership that we will change as He wills and directs.
Read the full article via Baptist Press. Floyd’s concern for the growth of healthy churches and the priority of evangelism are not unique to Southern Baptists.
Book Review: A Christian Survival Guide
There’s an old saying that goes something like this: People don’t plan to fail, they just fail to plan. The goal of A Christian Survival Guide: A Lifeline to Faith and Growth by Ed Cyzewski is to help Christian believers make a plan.
Cyzewski points out in the introduction that former Christians that have left the faith are often most aware of the serious issues Christianity presents. The last book I reviewed by Mike Hamel asks serious questions that the author doesn’t have good answers for; while he hasn’t left the faith he is no longer as certain as he used to be about the tenets of the Christian faith. A Christian Survival Guide wants readers to anticipates issues that will arise and be prepared ahead of time. From the introduction: This book aims to help the saints persevere, and so we’ll focus on answering that last question—what will help you survive as a follower of Jesus? Surviving as a Christian depends on having the right beliefs, putting them into practice in community with other Christians, and most importantly, meeting with God regularly. If we fail to address basic survival matters such as understanding God’s story from Scripture, defeating sin, or living in step with the Holy Spirit, we run the risk of missing out on the abundant life Jesus promised us, if not losing our intimacy with Jesus and leaving the faith altogether. Continue reading
Please Pray for Ergun Caner
A very vocal critic of Ergun Caner once wrote to me via social media “If you are Caner’s friend you must be a liar too.” He further suggested I re-examine whether or not I am truly a born-again believer. Such is the foolishness that Ergun Caner has dealt with for many years.
I am going to politely suggest reading two pieces and strongly suggest, rather implore, that my Christian brothers and sisters pray for Caner and his family. The first is an article appearing yesterday in Baptist Press. This story not only provides background of the particular issues in an objective manner but attempts to set the record straight concerning conspiracies and cover ups. The second is a highly emotional plea from Bucky Kennedy to please put the issue to rest. Kennedy currently pastors First Baptist Church of Vidalia, GA and has previously served as President of the Georgia Baptist Convention and Chairman of the Board at Brewton-Parker.
Please read the linked articles. Please thoughtfully and prayfully consider how you will respond when you hear gossip and criticism. Please pray for Ergun Caner and his family. Thank you.
Shoutout to Blog Friends
Every week there are two or three new followers (and I’m sure as time goes by followers drop off the radar but I don’t get alerts from WordPress about those). I have noticed The Master’s Table pop up on a few blogrolls recently and wanted to give a shoutout to those blog friends and perhaps you might want to visit them as well.
She calls herself Writerwannabe and blogs at hometogo232. I believe we first crossed paths at the Inspirational Christian Blogs website but can’t say for sure; I’ve been asleep since then. You will find encouraging words, scripture quotes, poems and generally uplifting sort of posts on a regular basis.
Evelin blogs at EvelinTampobolon, in both English and Indonesian. Her blogroll includes several Christian and inspiration websites. Shoutout and thank you Evelin.
Finally I’d like to introduce you to a new blog friend that is really an old friend in real life. Miriam was a 6th grader when I when met the Waslewski family in 2003 (that’s her dad Mike on the surfboard). She recently graduated from Asbury University and will be traveling to the mission field in Northern Ireland. She has started a blog and will be sharing her new adventures as a missionary soon.
Book Review: We Will Be Landing Shortly
The full title is We Will Be Landing Shortly: Now What? The front cover plainly identifies it as “the spiritual musings of Mike Hamel.” The author is working through some things and is very transparent about that. His thought process is done on paper and at times he offers more questions than answers.
Mike Hamel has been through a lot, and the effects of tragedy have shaken his faith. He hasn’t lost it but after a lifetime of religious faith and pastoral vocation it doesn’t come as easy as it used to. After surviving three bouts with cancer, cancer treatments, a major car accident and seven surgeries, he was prepared to deal with his own mortality. Then suddenly and without warning his wife of 37 years died of a heart attack… on Thanksgiving Day. One section of the book is a collection of journal entries beginning that day and continuing over the next 12 months. Hamel is a writer’s writer and works through his thought process on paper. I sometimes do the same thing but then he publishes his for the world to read! Continue reading
And Then Jesus Said…
Yesterday I suggested (in this post) that the people reading Newsweek magazine were not the same people reading Al Mohler, Daniel Wallace, etc. I drew the conclusion that some people would make a decision without giving Christianity a fair shake. Jesus himself may not have replied in so many words, but here is a very timely Coffee with Jesus comic strip that just cannot wait until the next Happy Monday post:
Click the image to view full size.
Coffee with Jesus copyright/produced by Radio Free Babylon.
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 52,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 19 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
All Shook Up
Praying for a politician running for re-election. Celebrating with a brother whose son finally came to Christ. Receiving a praise report from a member who had surgery. Hearing how the Lord used a particular sermon I preached to change a life. Meeting a little girl who begged her parents to talk to the pastor. Receiving an update on a sick member. Ministering to a new resident of the city who is looking for a church. Thanking a faithful volunteer for his faithful but often unnoticed service.
These encounters were not part of my office schedule from last week. They were opportunities I had by shaking hands after church this past Sunday.
Please continue reading The Pastoral Ministry of Shaking Hands by H.B. Charles via Church Leaders .com
I have read a couple of articles at churchleaders.com and browsed seveal others and decided to add that site to the list of Useful Links in the right-hand sidebar. The site is for any person in a church leadership role. Under the Find Your Ministry tab you can choose from senior pastor, worship leader, youth leader, small group leader and outreach.
Bible Gateway in 2014
With books of the Bible on the y axis and the calendar year along the x axis, this graph plots which verses of the Bible were read on Bible Gateway throughout the year. A couple of things should jump out at you. There are times of the year that the Bible site gets more traffic, probably indicating more Bible reading in general, such as the month of Easter. You can also clearly see paths readers took through the Bible, such as the various reading programs noted on the cluster map.
Check out the Bible Gateway Year in Review 2014 for other charts and metrics. This was the year of a major overhaul of Bible Gateway’s design and the introduction of many new features, such as the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid (of which The Master’s Table is a partner). You may have noticed the Verse of the Day in the left-hand sidebar; you can get Verse of the Day sent to your email daily. Visit Bible Gateway for this and many new features.
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