On my mind today

One of the most challenging parts of my job is also a blessing.  Constantly, people come to me to tell me what a fine message I brought or what a fine funeral I did or what a fine wedding I performed.  I'm not saying I don't like it - it's always nice to be liked.  The problem is that it's not about us.  It's tempting to believe all of the things people say.  That you're God's gift.  That people should always say such kind things and hang on every word you speak.  That your gifts extend far beyond mere mortal capacity to receive or even understand it!  Believe me - I've been there. The reality is when we believe things like that about ourselves it leads us to the wrong conclusion.  it leads us to believe that it's about us and our calling.  As if God can't use anyone other than me.  Or us.  Or as if our gifts exempt us from our own humanity.  Don't believe it!  Satan will sell you that lie as long as you'll buy it...

Last night, Julie, Joshua and I decided it was a great night to go out to eat!  Who DOESN'T like that?  So off we go to a Mexican restaurant - a part of a chain we've enjoyed before.  We even found a front-row parking spot!  On a Friday evening!  How about that!  Sadly, that was as good as it got. I let Julie out to go get us in line.  When Joshua and I joined her a few minutes later, she greeted me with "The hostess will be right back - and I don't like her."  My gentle and gracious wife isn't often like that.  She likes everyone!  We stood there - no joke - at least five minutes with literally no waiters or hostess in sight.  At 6:00 PM on a Friday.  I thought I was on a funny video show - "how will people react when there's no one to help them!"  Hahahahaha. Finally, a new hostess shows up.  She's just as surly as the one before.  She leaves too.  We're at the head of the line which has grown behind u...

I'm glad to say Don Cornelius was my friend.  He blessed me with his kindness, wisdom, grace, generosity and strength more times than I can count.  For the last six years, every single time - EVERY SINGLE TIME - I saw Don, he would hug me and tell me "I love you preacher!"  He meant it with every fibert of his being!  It wasn't just words for Don.  It was a way of life.  Even with all of that, however, I'll never get over what happened in the 10 months between August 2010 and June 2011.  Let me tell you a story only Julie, Don, Carolyn and I know. . . . . It was a Sunday morning.  Early.  Deacons meeting day.  We had been at Central right at a year, all the while seeking to sell our home in Frankston.  It wasn't that far back and forth, but we knew we were leaving a lot on the table by staying there and working in Jacksonville.  Thus, we made a decision that we would seek temporary housing while we tried to sell.  Seekin...

For those new to the blog, this Sunday night talk is a sporadic review of random thoughts from the day. - For the first time today, I preached all three of our morning services.  While there wasn't a difference for the 8:25 service, the 11:05 traditional service got a non-traditional order - I preached there first and then dashed across the hallway to preach in the auditorium contemporary service!  I knew the timing would be tight - We're going to work on doing this monthly.  God is so very good to give us these opportunities so let's view them as the blessing they are. - For those who are tired of hearing about where we've been and the struggles we've endured, I say GOOD!  February was our month to cope with our past - we're not going to mention it again unless we need to.  It's time to move forward!  We've got an incredible future and that's where we're going! - Prayers for Moses Caesar in his new adventure!  We'll miss his service and h...

Grace and Peace to my new FBC family!  I'm humbled to be your new pastor and I eagerly look forward to transitioning to in your fine church!  You have big shoes to fill - serving at Central has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.  They've loved us and walked with us through some wonderful, difficult and just plain weird times.  We'll never outrun the mark they left on our lives. Thanks for allowing us this time to leave well. That said, we're humbled by your overwhelming vote to call us.  (The picture attached here is one Jim Cawthon took last week on Sunday night.)  Wow!  We were so blessed by your kindness and grace when we were there last week.  We have been so blessed by the kind notes of welcome and encouragement we've received this week.  Thanks for all of your hospitality and thanks in advance for the wonderful journey we will share. Via email, I talked with your former pastor Dr. Jim Denison this week.  He told me...

Despite my best efforts to keep this until Sunday, the news has leaked out of the new calling on our lives.  Julie, Joshua and I are leaving.  Last Sunday, we went in view of a call as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Midland, TX .  With a unanimous vote, they called us and we've accepted.  After consultation with our personnel committee and deacon leadership, we've set our final Sunday here as January 24. I want to dispel the notion that Julie and I are leaving because of any particular situation or because we're upset.  Quite the opposite.  I'm more confident now about the direction of CBC than since I came here.  No, we don't feel badly about CBC.  Nor is our choice linked to the "bigger is better" idea.  Instead, it's rooted in what I believe is the calling of the Spirit of God, just like it was when we came here.  I operate on the idea of being called TO, not called FROM.  Our departure is rooted in the firm convict...

Reading Plan 1. Matthew 1-10 2. Matthew 11-20 3. Mattthew 21-Mark 2 4. Mark 3-12 5. Mark 13-Luke 6 6. Luke 7-16 7. Luke 17-John 2 8. John 3-12 9. John 13-Acts 2 10. Acts 3-12 11. Acts 13-22 12. Acts 23-Romans 4 13. Romans 5-14 14. Romans 15-1 Cor 8 15. 1 Cor 9-2 Cor 3 16. 2 Cor 4-13 17, Galatians and Ephesians 18. Philippians and Colossians 19. 1 Thess and 2 Thess. 20. 1, 2 Timothy and Titus 21. Philemon – Hebrews 9 22. Hebrews 10-James 23. 1 and 2 Peter 24. 1-2 John 25. 3 John – Jude 26. Revelation 1-10 27. Revelation 11-22

This Sunday is the next step in our series on "Building the Church."  This week is "building the church by building our children."  Nothing scares me more than speaking on the family.  Allow me to explain. The life of a pastor is one that can be challenging for the pastor himself.  It can be unbearable for his family if he's not careful.  For me, I can manage expectations others have for me.  Those expectations are some that I signed up for when I began to serve as a pastor.  But the expectations for my lovely bride and our son. . . . that's a different story.  I convinced Julie to marry me based on the presumption that I was going to be a professor, not a pastor.  She grew up in a pastor's home - she knew better than to marry a pastor!  Furthermore, our son Joshua didn't have a choice.  By virtue of being adopted into our home, he bears the burden of those expectations too.  People expect us to be perfect, having all the pie...

It's nearly time to get Julie a different vehicle so we spent yesterday to go car shopping.  We made four stops and the first three were awesome!  They welcomed us a showed us exactly what we asked for and more!  Gracious and welcoming, it was tremendous!  McRae Ford, Bacon Chevrolet, Toyota of Tyler - I can't say enough good things about how they treated us! But then we made a fourth stop.  It was getting later in the day - I think around 2:30 or 3 PM.  From the time we set foot on their parking lot, I knew this was going to be different than it had been.  No one had asked us for any information up till now.  This guy wanted everything except my mother's maiden name.  Everyone else had started with showing us the vehicles we asked for.  This guy started with us in his cubicle.  Everyone else - that we didn't already know - called us "Mr and Mrs Wood".  This guy - well younger than us - called us by our first names (it seemed...

Last week, I posted on Facebook about the Supreme Court entertaining the arguments related to same-sex marriage.  I got this response:  "I really don't understand this argument. For years there have been things that are legal that Christians did not support. How is this different? I am not trying to be rude, I really don't get it. I do not see how something someone else does effects  my Christianity. I do not understand why this one thing will bring about the downfall of the church. My father is a minister, and there are many people he turned down for performing a ceremony. It only becomes discrimination if you turn down only one sort of people. It is discrimination, by the very definition of the word. I don't want to be attacked, but I really would love an explanation that isn't built on the old testament. And frankly, I do not see how an argument from the New Testament could be better. The bible has much more to say about indebtedness but I do not see any argu...

This is Joshua's first year of organized sports.  He turned just a week ago.  Thus, it's time for T-Ball.  We signed him up weeks ago.  I didn't really want to be the head coach since I know so little about teaching real skills in baseball.  But when I realized that there were 68 kids signed up and 3 coaches, I knew I'd better do something to help insure he has a good experience.  So here we are - all set for this weekend and I'm doing what I guess all T-ball coaches are doing - praying that they at least know how to get from home to first!

Who's kingdom are you building?  Who's kingdom are you serving?  At the end of the day, you'll only have two options: serving Christ's kingdom or your own.  As for me, I'm choosing to build the kingdom of Christ.  No more small dreams of what I can do or how it can be done to my understanding.  No more short-sighted belief that if I can't figure it then it can't be done.  I'm done with small thinking and small believing.  If we are to be the church and people that change the world, then we must dream and act on a large scale.  I believe Christ deserves no less.

Keep your eye on the ball.  That's what my coach told me when I was playing little league baseball at 12 yrs old.  While I'm not playing much baseball, it's still pretty good counsel now.  Be focused on what REALLY matters and lock your attention there!  Hmmmmm.  That's harder than it sounds, isn't it?  The temptation to be distracted by the multiplicity of things going on around me is astounding.  Each and every week there are a variety of needs - health needs, financial needs, fundraising needs, leadership needs, missional needs not to even mention the spiritual needs - that come through my door.  It's easy to get distracted and think that pastoring is all about "putting out fires." Furthermore, when you throw in some people who don't trust me (for reasons only they know) or suspect I've got foul motives (I wish I was as clever or devious as some people believe me to be) and the temptation to forget why I started in this is HIGH!  So to ...

Imagine if you will the Gettysburg Address written about Easter in our current times.  So it is that we have a wonderfully written piece by one of our own CBC members, Phil Nash.  A junior high teacher and coach, I've been blessed to find in Phil a godly man who loves the Lord, his family and CBC.  Be as blessed by this as I was. 99 score and 1 year ago God, our Father, brought forth on this planet, a new nation, conceived in the covenant of Grace, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are loved equally by their Creator. Now we are engaged in a great civil debate, testing whether Grace, or any covenant so conceived and so dedicated, can mend the ills of sinful men. Today we pause to reflect on the great battle-field where this war was first waged. We have come to dedicate our hearts as holy ground and residence for our Creator, and our lives in covenant with those who gave themselves as living sacrifices that this message of Grace might be spread to the ends ...

Once upon a time, I was introduced to Mozilla Firefox - the little web browser that could.  I've always been drawn to the underdog and to open source software.  I'd been using Netscape for a long time to avoid Explorer.  I think the first Firefox I downloaded was 2.0.  As I write this, I'm using version 27.0.1 (and it's waiting to update itself).  As of today, however, I'm ceasing use of Mozilla (and I invite you to do the same).  I'm sure they'll be impressed and upset.  I've downloaded Google Chrome and am actually going so far as to delete Firefox altogether.  Why?  Because of their decision to force out Brandon Eich, one of their founders and the CEO.  It wasn't because of anything he had done as a professional or as CEO.  That would be understandable.  Under pressure from outside groups demanding "diversity", they forced him out because of a measly $1,000 donation made 6 years ago in defense of the traditional view of marr...

- Welcome to Michael and Beverly Mock!  I accidentally said "Mack" this morning but they graciously forgave my inability to read!  Either way, we're pleased to have you! - This morning's message was as "out of the box" for me as I think I've ever tried.  It wasn't that I was tackling an edgy subject or approaching it in a ticklish manner.  The "out of the box"-ness was how I longed to communicate the passion of Jesus by walking along side him for the week. The message was started with the stations of the Cross (for non-catholics, learn more about that here ) and a desire to highlight the darkness of Passion week before the brilliance of Easter morning.  I told our staff, our tech guys and anyone else who asked I believe we do ourselves (and the Gospels!) a disservice by rushing past Jesus' passion in our hurry to get to the good news of Easter.  The Gospels each take deliberate time and intensity in describing that last week of Jesus...

--> There’s nothing more dull than hearing about someone else’s trip.   That’s why I put this on my blog instead of somewhere else.   But if you’re at my blog, then you’re okay with being bored by the personal details of my life, so here ya go! Although I’ve been to DC several times, I’d never been invited to an “official” DC event.   So when Congressman Jeb Hensarling’s office called and invited me to join him for the National Prayer Breakfast, I was pleased to say yes.   I had no responsiblities for this event – it was a party I wasn’t going to throw.   I could just go along for the ride.   When I got to DC on Tuesday, it didn’t take long to remember why I brought my “big” coat!   I stepped out into the jetway and went WHOA!   That’s cold!   As soon as my bag came through the carousel, I pulled that coat out!   I had to hurry, however, as I had (foolishly) made a 6 PM appointment with Congressman Jeb Hensarling. ...

I couldn't wait till my pastor prayer letter comes out this week to share this so I'll write it here.  I knew what was coming.  I'd watched them rehearse and was a part of the planning.  I knew what was coming.  But there was something amazing and wonderful watching OUR veterans stand with their flags.  Almost all of them were WWII vets, but they stood, proud and smart with stiff salutes, honoring their own past and their comrades.  I was overwhelmed!  To see the honor they took in being a part of that portion of our service blessed me beyond measure.  A simple thanks is insufficient, but I'll say it anyway - Thanks vets and vets families for your sacrifice and service.  We are who we are because of how God used you. 

I can't remember a time when I've been more excited about the direction we're headed as a church!  While there are still numerous challenges that lie ahead of us, I'm fired up about the transforming power of the Gospel I see all around us!  This monring was a great example of it - spirit filled singing, powerful prayer time for our man Greg and although I'm not at all sure how it came across, I had a blast preaching!  If you remember, one of the things I made specific mention of was careful use of your words.  "From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks" Jesus said.  Imagine my surprise when I got an unsigned note criticizing me, the staff and the church in general.  The person who wrote, whoever it was, wrote that "God had told them to tell me."  Literally, my mouth fell open as I realized God was giving me the chance to demonstrate EXACTLY what I just professed.  I embraced my own counsel immediately - and threw the note away.  Ess...

In September 1999, Julie and I were dating and I was a first-year PhD student in Ft. Worth.  We knew we wanted to get married, but hadn't yet gotten engaged, primarily because I was working only a small part-time job.  About that time, Julie's parents informed us of a church in Corsicana that needed a pianist.  If you know my Julie, you know her great love for the Lord and music, so we went to check it out since I wasn't serving on a church staff at the time (I had already spent 10 years doing youth ministry beginning when I was in college but wasn't active in it then).  We went to Memorial Baptist Church and did what any good Baptist would do - we sat on the back row!  We listened as they played tapes to accompany their hymns.  After the service, we talked with their deacons about the church.  They turned to me and said "what do you do?"  When I told them and after realizing they were without a pastor as well, they invited me to supply for them ...