It was great to be home and worship with you last Sunday! Jeana & I are looking forward to this Sunday, August 3, our John 3:16 Sunday with Dr. Jerry Vines. Dr. Vines is one of my favorite preachers due to his humor and practical nature, but he is also a great scholar of God’s Word. He was the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida for over 20 years before he retired in 2006. He was also the President of the Southern Baptist Convention for two terms and was the President of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference from 1976-1977. He and his wife, Janet, have four children and seven grandchildren. You’re really going to love hearing him.

Summer is almost over and people are beginning to think through new patterns for their lives: school, church, exercise, etc. The next few Sunday will be a great time to think through how you want to live and how you want to reach others. There’s no better time to start reaching people than now. Please use this Sunday as an opportunity to bring someone with you to church. It’s going to be a great day, and who knows, God may use you to partner in changing someone’s “forever.”

You are loved!

This week I have been reminded of what a great church we are a part of. Over the past few days, I have heard various reports from our ministries that have been a great blessing to me and have brought a high sense of value to my calling. We have a super team and, this week, there have been many great moments together.

I want to thank each of you who are praying with us about this Staff Advance. These days bring us together, align our mission, values, and objectives, and also thrust us forward to a promising future. Again, continue to pray.

I would urge each of you to be present this coming Lord’s Day for our 3:16 Sunday. What a privilege we have to hear one of the great expositors of God’s Word, Dr. Jerry Vines. His commitment to scholarship and his fire for Jesus demonstrate to us the power you find when you have “scholarship on fire!”

This is a great, great Sunday to invite others and to bring people with you. So dear friends, join us in this effort. We have several days to go before Sunday, so let’s focus and see what God may want to do among us. Pray for this Sunday; it will be pivotal.

The future is bright. Thank you Lord!

We experienced the first day of our Annual Staff Advance on Monday. It was a really special day. If you are praying for us, thanks. If you are not, please do.

I believe we had the strongest opening morning in the history of my doing this, almost 22 years. For some reason, I believe because of prayer, God really used the morning in a special way. We spent a very powerful time in prayer. I was really blessed.

Today was the first Staff Advance some have attended. One of those spoke to us today. Andy and Becky Wilson gave their testimony to our team. I tell you, it was really incredible. Andy was the Vice President of the People Division, or Human Resources Division, of Walmart. Andy joined our team on July 21.

Please pray for and work towards Sunday.

Yesterday God met with us powerfully. What a day! The Lord moved upon us to pray for people and we believe God answered much prayer. I believe we will hear testimonies from yesterday of God’s healing power upon the lives of many people. The ministry of prayer is the secret to our church.

Today the Ministry Team is at our annual Staff Advance. We are in Kansas City, ready to kick off a very busy period of time. For some of this week, we meet as a whole team-all the ministers and their spouses-then Jeana meets with the spouses while I meet with the Ministry Team. It is a very intense time of dialoge, vision-casting, and execution-planning.

As we prepare to go forward this week, please take up the role of interceding for us. This is the most critical week in the life of our staff team. As we retreat for this period of time, our goal is to advance in all of our decision-making. My friends, please pray for us as we being this great week.

Amazon has released a technological device they call the Amazon Kindle. I was able to get one in the middle of May. It is an extraordinary device. It is wireless. You can download books, magazines and newspapers from anywhere that has cell service. I believe they now offer over 140,000 titles, 19 newspapers, over 10 periodicals, and several blogs. Once you subscribe to a periodical or pay for a book, it is automatically downloaded within one minute. It is amazing. No computer, no cables, no syncing, no wireless bills, no monthly charges.

For example, I get two newspapers a day and two periodicals each week that come to my Kindle automatically. Additionally, I believe I can download up to 200 books from a list of over 140,000. The print is incredible, whether in the sun or inside. It weighs only 10.3 ounces. No longer do you have to travel with several books and periodicals. It is all in this one simple 10.3 ounce device, easily readable. If you go to amazon.com and go to Kindle, you can read all about it.

No, I do not get a commission on any of this. I know not one person at Amazon. I am just a major believer that one purpose of this blog is to help you grow as a person as you hear about how I grow daily.

I have really been blessed by my Amazon Kindle. It is simplifying life for me and helping me grow by making reading more convenient.

Come to church on Sunday. I told you already, God is going to meet with us in a major way. By the way, I have two translations of the Bible on my Amazon Kindle.

I am back in the pulpit at both of our locations this Sunday. God has given me a word to share with you. We are designing and praying for some great moments of worship. We are all excited about what we believe God is going to do among us.

Please engage with us this coming weekend. Yes, it is summer, but God is doing some great things. I want you to be a part of it. Will you join us? Will you invite someone else to one of our worship venues with you?

Are you hurt? Wounded? Disappointed? Discouraged? Challenged? Sick? Angry? Let me assure you, if this is you in any way, and it probably is a large number of us, then you need Sunday. You need to hear what God wants to say to us through His Word.

Pray and prepare yourself, beginning today, for what God wants to say to you.

Jeana and I have been married for almost 32 years. On December 31, we will celebrate 32 years of marriage. Even though we have been married that long, it is still meaningful to spend time together. We enjoy just hanging out together without much of a schedule and very few expectations placed upon us. We are most grateful for the opportunity to be away.

It is amazing the way things change in life. We were both anxious to see our grandchildren. Yes, we were glad to see their parents, but we wanted to hug, talk to, and kiss those grandchildren. While Nick and Meredith are on a mission trip in early August, we will have Reese Caroline all to ourselves. We are looking forward to that experience.

Peyton, Parker, and Reese are really growing. Peyton will be three years old in September, Parker will be one in August, and Reese was one in May. They change daily and we always enjoy seeing them.

Hug your children today. I am going to start my day that way, as Peyton spent the night with us last night. Oh my, the Lord is good to us.

This morning is wake-up time for me. I have been away for three weeks resting, relaxing, reading and studying. Jeana and I had a great time together. We enjoyed experiencing a few new places and having some new experiences. Even after almost 32 years of marriage, we still enjoy being together the most.

As I reengage into the life of the church today, I know change is in the air. We are entering a time of change. I sense it and, in fact, realize it has been and is coming. I don’t always know what change looks like, nor do I know what it needs to look like. This is one of those times that I am trusting God to show me.

I read several books, periodicals, and newspapers while away. Reading sharpens me. Reading motivates me. Reading is good for me.

Of course, reading through the entire Bible is something I do every year. I have done so each year since 1990. As of this morning, I have only eight more books left until I complete my annual reading for this year. I try to read about five chapters a day, sometime it is four or sometimes six or seven. This morning, I read about Saul being appointed King over Israel in 1 Samuel. I have 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Luke and John left to read. Pray for God to use these books from his Bible to speak to me.

Prayer? Oh my, do I need prayer today. Decisions await me.

Pray for me today.

I have asked Jeremy Roberts, the Senior Pastor at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Lenior City, TN, to be my guest blogger today. I’ve asked the guest bloggers for this week to write about what is on their hearts.

Razorbacks and Volunteers: The Bifurcation of Loyalties

I hopped in the car to drive to my church in suburban Knoxville for my first day in the office. During my commute, I scanned the radio for a local sports radio station, and then the first statement I heard across the airwaves came, “Arkansas will drop down a level because of the loss of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.”

An immediate impression that the sportscasters disliked all things Razorback ensued. Not only were the sportscasters putting down the University of Arkansas, but they were praising the football program at the University of Tennessee. At this moment, I was reminded of the interesting aspect of rivalries and loyalties. One cannot root for both the Red Sox and Yankees, Duke and North Carolina, the Cowboys and Redskins, or the Razorbacks and Volunteers.

After having served churches within a thirty-minute drive of University of Arkansas, Virginia Tech, University of Texas, and now University of Tennessee, I watch football on a Saturday afternoon in the fall and am confused as to who deserves my loyalty. On Saturday afternoons, I feel as confused as Mike Tyson in a spelling bee.

Just as a Razorback looks at a Volunteer as the enemy and vice-versa, we as Christians must realize that we cannot root for both God’s team and the team of the Devil. In fact, Jesus states in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

God hates people who bifurcate their loyalties between Himself and the Devil, so much so that God says in Revelation 3:16, “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

Where do you stake your loyalties? Are you hot, or are you cold? Catch the heat and be an on-fire champion for Christ today!

I have asked Ryan Blackwell, the Pastor of Youth and Discipleship at Abiding Way Church in San Anselmo, CA, to be my guest blogger today. I’ve asked the guest bloggers for this week to write about what is on their hearts.

Stretched for the Gospel

“Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” When Jesus spoke these words to Paul as he prayed in Acts 22, it must have been a shocking and uncomfortable experience. Paul had just argued his case that his desire was to minister to the Jews. Surely THEY would notice the incredible transformation that had happened in his life. He had grown up in Jerusalem, been educated by a respected Jewish teacher, and knew everything that anyone would ever need to know about the law and customs of Judaism. Paul had a ministry plan and was ready to get started! It was at this point that Jesus revealed to Paul that he had a different plan for his life. No calling would have been as uncomfortable for a person raised in Judaism than the one given to Paul that day, yet it was exactly what Jesus wanted him to do. Paul needed to be stretched in order for the gospel to advance.

In my own prayer life over the last two years, I have had many similar conversations with God. As my wife and I prayed about what seminary to attend, we heard God’s voice clearly call us to Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, which is located outside of San Francisco, CA. At that point, my prayers looked something like this. “San Francisco?? I’ve been raised in Arkansas. This is where my family and friends are. There are other great seminaries in the South. What about Razorback football??” Yet, God called us to go and we did. For the last two years, we have ministered in an area where only 2% of the population goes to a church of any denomination. I have met and ministered to numerous “spiritual” people who live their lives for money, power, and the environment, but see no need for Jesus Christ. It has been draining as the spiritual warfare is constant and the advance of the gospel slow. With that said, it has been the most spiritually rewarding two years of my life as I have been stretched further than I ever thought possible. My belief in the gospel to change lives and the church as God’s plan to change the world is stronger than ever. I’ve realized that God’s plan is greater than my own.

My challenge for you today is to be willing to set your desires, your background, and your plan at the feet of Christ. It may not be comfortable. It may even require a terrifying leap of faith. Allow yourself to be stretched for His purposes. Thankfully, we serve a God who is faithful and he will use these moments to change you and the world around you more than you ever thought possible. As you do so, remember God’s word in Jeremiah 29:11 when he says, “ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”