At the end of this year, Jeana and I will have been married for 33 years. Growing up in the home of a pastor, she became a pastor’s wife almost 33 years ago. I began to pastor a local church in 1976 as a junior in college, so when we married four months later, she was thrust into this strategic leadership role. Jeana has also been a mom for 29 years tomorrow, as we celebrate Josh’s 29th birthday on Tuesday. Without any question, Jeana is the prototype mom and pastor’s wife, truly fabulous!

Jeana loves her boys, her daughters-in-law, and of course, her grandchildren. She is becoming known as “Gigi” to our grandchildren and you know what happens….what they want, they get. When challenge comes into the lives of her family, her heart breaks for them. With the gift of mercy, she feels their pain and carries it with them.

Serving as a tremendous example not only to moms, but pastor’s wives worldwide, she always has time for them. Equally as it does with her children, her heart breaks for minister’s wives who are walking through challenging times. So many times, whether it be the wives of some of our staff or the wife of a minister somewhere across the world, Jeana will always make time to reach out to them and meet their needs. As the daughter of a pastor, she saw her parents go through leadership trials and as my wife, she has witnessed it and experienced it with me deeply. While three years ago, I wrote the book, “10 Things Every Minister Needs to Know,” she is now writing, “10 Things Every Minister’s Wife Needs To Know, to be released in early 2010. I believe firmly that no pastor’s wife could write this book in any greater way than Jeana. She knows them, she identifies with them, and she is one of them. Pray for her as she now carries the burden to complete this project.

This is a special week for Jeana: Mother’s Day, but also Wednesday, May 13 is her birthday. We almost had Josh on Mother’s Day, but a challenging time of labor moved the life-changing event for both of us to a Monday, rather than a Sunday, which was Mother’s Day in 1980. As our family celebrates Jeana this week, I hope you will pray a blessing upon her. She loves people and once a friend, always a friend.

Jeana is one special lady.

Life is full of a lot of surprising opportunities. Opportunities are sets of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.  Whether that set of circumstances would be viewed as good or bad, opportunities open doors to call you into action.  Well, life throws a lot of surprising circumstances our way.

I would have never thought a few weeks ago and especially years ago that I would be having a 25-minute interview with the President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart, Mike Duke. Yes, that is what I did yesterday during one of the many segments of my day.  Dial back years ago in both of our lives, Mike Duke was from a small town in Georgia and I was from a small town in Texas. Only God would have us together yesterday.  I was asked to interview him at a luncheon given by the Arkansas Athletes Outreach organization, which is a faith-based ministry to college athletes in Northwest Arkansas, mainly the University of Arkansas.  It was a delightful 25 minutes with him in front of the 400 plus people who attended the luncheon at our Pinnacle Hills location.  Our church served simply as a site and servant for this event.  Dear people, be encouraged, Mike Duke is one impressive man of faith and character, a man God has raised up to lead the largest company in the world.

I would have never thought a few years ago about the joy of having granchildren. Jeana and I are so blessed with Peyton, Parker, Reese Caroline, and one on the way around Thanksgiving.  When we are with them, we love it and when we are away from them, we think of them and want to be with them.  We talk about each one of them and they are such a joy.  They are one of the surprising opportunities of life.

I would have never thought as a college student and newly surrendered minister that one day I would have the surprising opportunity of pastoring and leading such a wonderful growing church that reaches thousands weekly. I am absolutely amazed at where I am today in life.  I am often asked, “Did you ever imagine being at a church like this?”  My friends, never did I even imagine it.  My roots are based in small church America, 30-40 people a week, and when I left for college, the largest church I had ever heard of touched a couple of hundred people a week.

It is healthy to take the time to look at some of the surprising opportunities in life.  You will be blessed when you really take the time to do this.

Thanks, Lord, for some of the surprising opportunities in life.

Now that the Great Commission Resurgence (see at www.greatcommissionresurgence.com) document has been released and receiving various comments, we need to ask, “What is the next move in the Southern Baptist Convention?” If you have followed my blog at all, you know I have not only been a signer of the document, but a zealous communicator about it. I served on the seven-member SBC Restructuring Committee that brought a recommendation for the restructuring in 1995 that was approved by the SBC. We reduced the number of entities from 19 to 12 entities, and this structure has served us since its implementation was completed. In my view, let me share with you the next move needed in the Southern Baptist Convention.

First, the Great Commission needs to be kept as our focus, with us being willing to do whatever is necessary to finish the task of taking the gospel worldwide. Regardless of personal opinion or preference, we must keep a lost world in mind. Whatever comes from this, if anything at all, we need to do whatever we can do help mobilize and equip our churches to join forces to take the gospel to the world more effectively.

Secondly, the local church must be the driver towards this Great Commission future, not a denominational entity or the denomination itself. Pastors, other staff persons, and lay people in Southern Baptist life need to share in charting this future, resulting in a denomination that responds to what we believe to be the will of God. It is not about what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, but it is about the will of God. We need to discern together what the will of God is regarding the “How” this needs to be done and how it may need to look for the next segment of time.

Thirdly, this must be a spiritual journey together. Without any question at all, the time is now and the need is urgent. I believe we would all agree we are in an unprecedented moment in our denomination, nation, and world. Whatever the next move or moves may be in Southern Baptist life, they need to be led by the Holy Spirit. With Scripture as our complete authority, the Great Commission as our goal, and the Holy Spirit as our power, all of our churches can be a part of a future that is also unprecedented in Christianity.

This is why it is an exciting day to be involved in discerning our future together.

I was sitting in our Mega-Metro Conference for Pastors the other day and heard these words from Dr. James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago:

“Watered down church has had its day.”

That caught the attention of a group of pastors who strive to be innovative in their churches.  Each one of those men work hard to reach their regions for Christ.  When I heard those words, my initial thought was:  “Yes, this is what I have felt for over a year!”  Let me give you a couple of thoughts to consider.

Watered down church diminishes the Word of God; therefore, it is very limited in its effectiveness. While pragmatism may call us to negotiate “almost anything to most everything” in order to reach more people, the true test is not in the numbers we reach, but in the lives we impact.  You see, our business is not to build crowds, but to join Jesus in building His church.  It is not just to touch people, but to impact their lives.  Only the Word of God really brings spiritual impact in the lives of other people.

Watered down church dismisses the power of the Holy Spirit; therefore, it is very temporal in its impact. Our goal is to not just to have the appearance or form of God’s power, but to have His power.  Without His power working in and through us, there is no life change and there is no genuine spiritual impact.  Felt needs can be massaged, but never met at the deepest level.

The church of Jesus Christ has the incredible joy to bring forth the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. When this occurs consistently, the church comes alive and people without Christ come to life!  Yes, watered down church has had its day.   People want that which is real, genuine, and authentic.  Truth is what people want and what people need.  God’s Word is God’s Truth.

The Word of God lives forever.

Both of our major websites launch today. Take the time to look at them and get familiar with each one of them.  Yes, we do have challenges at this time, having to have two websites per our unique names for each campus.  As you know, due to the nature of our region when we began Pinnacle Hills, it just could not share the same name as our First Baptist of Springdale campus.  It presents enormous challenges for us in marketing and branding.  Perhaps one day we will discover a way to deal with this challenge.

Each one of our campuses has a website unique in and of itself, but there is connectivity between the two. I want you to share with others the unique blessing of these two websites coming online today.  I guarantee they will continue to improve and provide you a very innovative and user-friendly way to know about our church and stay connected to it daily.

Check out:  www.fbcs.net (for Springdale Campus) and www.churchph.com (for Pinnacle Hills Campus). You will be able to do so much more on each of these sites as we continue to improve them daily.  Continuous improvement is a principle we use in our ministry on every project.

I am grateful for the leadership of Andy Wilson on this project, as well as Brian Armas and Lance Mar. Check it all out today and help us make it better.