Good news about the Good News – I find myself a little bit surprised, but in a good way, about the results of this published study. Not only do 74% of pastors report regularly presenting the Gospel, another 11% report doing so two or three times each month and another 3% once a month. There are some other categories of response but the bottom line is that only 1% of SBC pastors say they never offer a gospel presentation. Read the full article here via Christian Index.
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Not a recent pic – I visited the Ark Encounter back when it was relatively new in 2016. I took the picture above before the sun, wind and rain started working on the exterior. I wrote a post this week about making the mistake of reading the comments when I saw an ad placed by the Ark Encounter on Twitter. Back in 2016 I wrote about my visit to the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter. There are links to albums full of pics on Facebook from both places. Reading that 2016 post reminded me that used to really write, not just post pics and links.
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Happy Anniversary to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter who on July 7th celebrated 76 years of marriage. Carter was governor of Georgia and President of the United States from 1976 to 1980. He is the longest lived president in American history and they are the longest married presidential couple. At the age of 97 he continues to serve as a deacon and teach Sunday School at his church and Plains, GA, and they still volunteer one week each year at Habitat for Humanity.
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Long distance telephone service used to be a thing. When AT&T was split from Bell Systems (sorry about the ancient history from my childhood) federal regulators sought to bring competition to the long distance marketplace. AT&T, US Sprint, MCI and others advertised heavily to woo customers to choose them as their long distance carrier. It used to be that the longer the distance a call covered the higher the rate was. I myself may have been given a stern talking to for running up a huge phone bill, over $150, while talking to a girl over Christmas break while in college.
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Keeping the weeks of Advent is one way to keep Christ in Christmas. The school Christmas program may not include hymns that mention the birth of Jesus and local city ordinances may prohibit a public display of a live nativity. Maybe these are things you can do something about, maybe not. What we can and should do is read the scriptures and sing the hymns in our homes and in our churches that put the focus of Christmas squarely where it belongs. It is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that my child learns about the true meaning of Christmas and not the public school system, Charlie Brown, the Hallmark Channel or other thing. Advent is a season of preparation that gets us ready to celebrate the incarnation. Read more here if Advent is new to you or something you might be interested in learning more about.
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This was not a good week for Buffalo Wild Wings. Ryan Baldera, age 32, died as a result of chemical exposure after two cleaners were mixed together in Burlington, Massachusetts. Another eight employees and two customers were treated at a local hospital. Earlier in the week at a location in Illinois, a large party was asked to move to another section of the restaurant because a “regular customer” came in that was racist and did not want to sit “next to black people.” All the employees involved in the incident have been let go and the customer has been banned for life from all Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants. Continue reading
The Christian Index, our Georgia Baptist newspaper, has an article today about Heritage Baptist Church. The reconstruction at Notre Dame is being followed around the world; Heritage is local to my home town of Calhoun, GA. Heritage Baptist is an active partner in the Gordon Memorial Baptist Association. I may have not mentioned it on this blog but friends IRL and on Facebook know that the sudden and expected death of Brent Davis rattled me a bit. Continue reading
I thought we would begin this week with a picture of Steve Hartman, back when he was the pastor of Windsor Spring Baptist Church in Hephzibah, GA. Hephzibah was the wife of Hezekiah in 2nd Kings 21. Hephzibah, GA, is a suburb of Augusta near the Georgia-South Carolina state line. Oh yeah, the other people pictured above are Teresa and I who celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary yesterday. ❤ Continue reading
It has been a long time since I tried to put together a link list but I want to share just a couple. The first is about pastoral candidates. When Bobby Braswell is asked “Could this candidate be your pastor?” he may be willing to consider candidates you would not. His pastor doesn’t have to be young and good looking, for example. Churches often hire pastors that look like the church members they hope to attract. Then the mostly older folks that make up the church will not let him do the things the church needs to do to bring in and/or retain those 20 or 30 somethings with kids. That’s just one example. Check out Could This Candidate be Your Pastor at The Christian Index.
This one is a lot of fun, I thought about saving it for Saturday. Rhyne Putman was invited to preach at a KJV only church as a seminary student 15 years ago. He read from the wrong translation but that’s only one facet of this “bed time story” he shares. It’s a long thread of Tweets but worth your time. Click the tweet below.
It was somewhat expected by those in the know that J.D. Greear would be elected to serve as SBC President at the annual meeting in Dallas this week. I was still somewhat surprised by the 68% of ballots he received from messengers. While many were pleased with the announcement the reactions ranged from “Thank God” to talk of the downward spiral the SBC has been on for years. While I would make a good 3 1/2 point Calvinist at best I am going out on a limb and saying this choice will not seal our fate. Greear’s election is not the final nor any other nail in the coffin. Continue reading
The Master's Table 