One week from today we will know how Southern Baptists have voted on the GCR recommendations. Countless tweets, articles, and blogs have been written regarding how the proposed recommendations will affect our convention of churches. Some believe adopting these recommendations will be a major step forward while others see it as the beginning of the unraveling of our convention. Some who oppose the GCR have forecast the worst possible scenarios. Some have expressed genuine concerns. Instead of imagining the worst, I want us to think about what could happen. The “What If.”

Let’s imagine “What If” the GCR recommendations are overwhelmingly adopted by the messengers of our convention next week.

(1) What If…the GCR brought together our convention of churches who rallied around our missional vision and we saw more people saved, baptized, and discipled than we’ve seen in decades?

(2) What If…instead of the demise of the Cooperative Program, we saw a dramatic increase in Cooperative Program giving?

(3) What If…we planted countless churches in our unreached and underserved regions of our own country?

(4) What If…we reached more unreached people groups around the world as a result of more funding and focus going to the nations?

(5) What If…our national entities, state conventions, and local associations partnered with and assisted our churches to greater Great Commission fulfillment than ever before?

(6) What If…we captured the heart of generation who is ready to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth?

(7) What If…we united like never before, creating a new and healthy culture that is God-glorifying in our convention?

“What If”…we had a Great Commission Resurgence?

This is not about the SBC. It’s not about a Task Force. It’s simply about the Gospel. As a convention of churches, what gives us the greatest opportunity to get the Gospel to every person in the world and make disciples of all the nations? I believe the GCR is a step towards that goal. I’ll be voting yes…and I’ll be hoping, praying, and working towards the “What If.”

Sunday was a memorable day in the life of our church. The morning kicked off with a powerful message from David Platt. It concluded with an interesting and challenging look from Thom Rainer on where the culture is and encouraged each one of our members to live as ministers. Both of these men challenged us towards the fulfillment of Christ’s Great Commission entrusted to each one of us. So what do we do? How do we first of all process what we heard, and second, how do we wear it?

The first step is making sure we got the message. Many of us may need to go to the church website and watch the message again and let God’s Word sink deep into our hearts. Others may need to simply take a look at their notes from Sunday morning or the many important components of Dr. Rainer’s study on Sunday night. Take some time in your personal time with God this week to review what we were told as a church through these two men.

Next, we must examine our own lives. What is God telling us to do? The greatest thing about hearing a man of God preach from the Word of God is that the Spirit of God penetrates our hearts in ways we may have never expected. God may have pricked your heart towards an area of your life that neither Dr. Platt nor Dr. Rainer spoke about. Let these questions from David Platt cause us to examine our hearts.

• Are we choosing comfort or the cross?
• Are we settling for maintenance or sacrificing for mission?
• Will our lives be marked by indecisive minds or undivided hearts?

Last but certainly not least, we must obey. The danger with not obeying quickly is that we often get consumed with life and end up forgetting what God has told us to do. Were you one that God has called to live more on mission with Him? Were you one that needs to live sacrificially? Were you one that God dealt with on a completely different subject? My simple encouragement is to obey. What God told you yesterday, do today. As a church, we must take what we heard on Sunday and commit to God’s mission once again. Let me encourage you to be in church this Sunday as we talk about how we will be taking this next step in fulfilling God’s mission.

This past Sunday we introduced to our church an Easter strategy that we believe will help us reach out more during the Easter season than we ever have before. Instead of waiting for people to come to our church this Easter weekend, we are going to them! We laid out a strategy called “Easter in the Community.” Here are the basic principles:

We want to hold as many Easter gatherings (mini-worship services) as possible across our region the week of Easter. We told our members we would love to send a minister to their place of business and hold one of these gatherings. We set up an email account for people in our church to email their request for a pastor to come and lead their service.

This has incredible potential and is a way for us to challenge our people to be missionaries in their workplaces. There are limitless opportunities for the Gospel to be extended through an outreach like this. At each one of these gatherings, an Easter message will be presented along with an invite to one of our services on Easter weekend. This means hundreds of people across our region will hear what Jesus Christ has done for them and be invited to a place where they can hear further about our Savior.

Maybe you’re a pastor reading this blog and you want to implement this strategy as well. It’s obviously our first time doing it, but we feel it has limitless potential to touch our community with the hope of the Gospel. If you attend our church and would like to have one of these Easter gatherings at your place of business, please email easter@fbcs.net if you attend the Springdale Campus or easter@churchph.com if you attend the Pinnacle Hills Campus. Let’s band together and take Easter to our community!

I was blessed to be in Nashville Monday night for what many believe was a significant and historic night in Southern Baptist history.  It was the culmination and in some ways the celebration of months of labor.  I will count it as one of the greatest privileges of my life to have been involved in the GCR process throughout the last eight months assisting my dad with various aspects of his assignment as Chairman.  What I saw Monday was simply a continuation of countless conversations of 22 godly men and women committed to the Great Commission.  I guarantee that each one of the Task Force members would sit across the dinner table from you and explain their heart for the next generation of pastors and missionaries.  With a heart for the Great Commission and for the next generation, this group has wholeheartedly dedicated themselves to this year long process.  They are giving so much, so in turn, let me give some thoughts as a 26- year-old pastor in this convention.  Young pastors…here’s what I believe the GCR means for you and for me.

It’s time to answer the call. The GCR is an incredible vision.  Thousands of Southern Baptists can rally behind our missional vision that expresses a desire to “present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations.”  However, if we don’t answer the call, the GCR will only go so far.  Take the proposed changes for The North American Mission Board.  What an incredible vision it is to see that 50% of their budget from now on (if accepted and acted upon) will go directly to church planting.  But what is the vision worth if there are not capable, passionate young pastors ready to answer the call to reach the cities and under-served regions of our country?  The same is true for the proposed changes to the International Mission Board.  If there aren’t young pastors and families willing to forsake all for the cause of Christ in missions, who cares that the IMB may get an extra 1% of all SBC CP dollars  and the freedom to reach unreached people groups in the United States?  In other words, the GCR needs you.  The movement will soon die without young pastors who will take the torch of the Gospel and run to the darkest places of this earth.  It’s time for you and your family to answer the call.

It’s time to get involved. Our convention is structured in such a way that the people who show up are the people who get a say.  If we want to influence where our money goes, ensure our entities are fulfilling the Great Commission, and have a say in other details, then we have to show up and get involved.  Come to the convention in Orlando.  Bring 10 messengers from your church.  Vote for the GCR for the sake of the nations.  Call your state convention, NAMB, or the IMB and talk about ways they can assist your church in fulfilling the Gospel mission.

It’s time to drop the cynicism. The time of sideline coaching has passed. You may say, “Well I don’t like the way things are.”  Then do something about it.  “Well I hate politics.”  Then don’t be political.  The negativity and cynicism are not helpful or needed.  The GCR is nothing about denominational politics and it’s certainly not about keeping things status quo.  This is a movement bringing change.  I’ve described last year’s convention to people in this way.  There were no long arguments about issues that weren’t important.  It was as if the majority of the convention said, “Forget all this.  Let’s go for the Gospel,” and the GCR motion was overwhelmingly approved and the movement spread.

It’s time to risk it all. David Platt said something to the effect of “Let’s risk it all” in his message to the SBC last June.  This is really a message for young pastors and all pastors in general related to the GCR.  Is the Great Commission Resurgence really worth the risk?  Is it really worth spending money to be involved with various meetings and events of the SBC?  Is it really worth our time to discuss complex issues within our denomination to try to make us more effective?  The answer is yes.  The answer is not yes because of the Great Commission Resurgence movement.  The answer is yes because I believe the Southern Baptist Convention is the most capable force for missions and the Gospel in the world.  More than anything the answer is yes because the Gospel is worth it all.  It’s worth the money, it’s worth the inconvenience, it’s worth the time, it’s worth our most valiant efforts.  Let’s risk all this for the cause of the Gospel going forth and the nations being brought to Jesus.  What if God used a group like us to finish the task?  That’s worth the risk.

The title of this blog seems to be an oxymoron. Is it really a blessing when God reveals our sin? Yes. Let me explain why. There are those times when God rids our lives of sin through public revealing, bursting our sin into the open while our loved ones and others watch. Then there are those other times. These are the moments in the midst of daily living when God begins to convict our hearts about certain sin in our lives. That’s what I want to focus on.

It’s in these times that God brings to light those little sins and shows us the destruction they could lead to. It’s in these times that God shows us mercy and draws us back to Himself and away from sin. It’s always a good thing when God draws us to Himself. He does this through ridding our lives of sin, taking us through suffering, and various other ways. We would be wise to heed these warnings of God and come back to Him when He calls rather than be forced back at a later time. These little warnings of the destruction of sin are enormous blessings that save us from pain.

Another blessing of God revealing our sin is that it reminds us of the overwhelming gift of grace we have been given. Each one of us has identified with the old hymn that says, “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” When God reminds us of our sin, we are reminded of how much we really need Him. We also become aware of what we would be apart from Him. At the very core of who we are is sin. The only reason we are anything but sin-filled pagans set on a course of destruction is because of the grace of Jesus Christ. He is the only reason we are able to live free from sin and its effects upon our daily and eternal lives.

My challenge to you today is to “Embrace the Grace!” Maybe you’re in one of those seasons where God is beginning to reveal sin in your life. Embrace the grace and respond to God’s call. Die to that sin and completely rid yourself of it. Repent and begin again. Start fresh today and embrace the grace of Jesus in your life. Maybe what I’ve described today is not where you are. Your call is the same. Embrace the grace. Be reminded of your fallen nature today. Remember your depravity. Praise Jesus for His grace. Wherever you are today, embrace the grace of Jesus. Never forget these words:

Grace, Grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin…

Over 1,000 people at our church recently went on the 21 day journey of fasting and prayer that we just concluded this past Sunday. Times like this are always challenging yet refreshing and spiritually productive. What I want to challenge you today with is how to live beyond the journey.

For many of you, the things you fasted and prayed about were things that were a part of your everyday life outside of the journey. You wanted to see God move in the life of a son or daughter or see victory over a certain sin that you’d been struggling with for years. My encouragement to you is to not let the journey stop. Even though you’re not fasting from food or abstaining from watching television, don’t think the spiritual journey has to stop. Part of the benefit of setting aside time to fast and to pray is that benefit we receive when we head back into the real world. We are hopefully more sensitive to God and His Spirit, more attentive to His moving in our lives, and more committed to His Word. Do everything you can to maintain this mindset.

Many others didn’t go with us on the journey. Whether you’re a member of our church or you’re just randomly reading this blog today, you can go on a journey with God beginning today. All you need to do to go on a journey with God is come to God. James tells us, “Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you.” It really is as easy as that. Do you need to grow in your walk with Christ? Do you need to rid your life of sin? Begin a new journey with God today.

We’ll see you Sunday as we continue our series on Joel with a message called, “Even Now…God Answers Prayer.” Please pray for Pastor Floyd and the GCR Task Force as their meetings conclude today.

I preached yesterday from Galatians 6:7-10 about “Reaping and Sowing in 2010.” I fear that we often get frustrated or blame God for where we are or end up in life, when really we are simply reaping what we have sown in our lives. I guess I could say, I think we’re too spiritual at times. We ponder our situation and think, why would God do this to me? In reality, we did it to ourselves.

Galatians 6 lays out a very simple yet powerful principle: You reap what you sow. As we face a new year and think towards New Year’s resolutions, we need to think Biblically. We need to examine every area of our lives and determine what we are sowing. In verse 8 Paul basically says: “If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption.” In other words, if you sow sin in 2010, your life is going to be messed up. At that point there is no reason to look towards heaven and shake your fist at God, but rather to look in the mirror and reflect how our sowing sin has brought corruption.

Paul continues by explaining, “If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life.” (Floyd paraphrase) If we sow repentance and faith towards Jesus to save us, He will give us eternal life. We will reap a changed life that begins to bear fruit for the name and glory of Jesus. We will reap eternal blessings that are the result of a life focused on Heaven rather than the temporal things of this world.

In conclusion, what will you sow this year? If you sow to the Spirit, practicing obedience to God’s Word and holy living, chances are you are going to reap an eternally blessed year. On the other hand, if you sow sin this year, you will likely look back on 2010 as a year of regret and heartache after seeing the brutal effects of sin upon your life. It’s your choice. What will you sow in 2010?

The past few years I feel like I have not really taken full advantage of the Christmas season. Maybe I’m just getting older and the responsibilities of work and family don’t allow me hours upon hours to sit and watch Christmas movies on TBS all during this season. I told my wife a few weeks ago something like this, “I don’t want to miss it. I want to go all out.”

For me this means getting in the Christmas spirit. I want to listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies. There’s just nothing like Christmas! The whole world revolves around the Christmas season as people put up lights, get a little nicer, play Christmas music in their stores, and just enjoy the benefits of the Christmas season. I love Christmas if you can’t tell.

However, if I’m giving an honest assessment of how I’m doing this year, I think I’m falling into the same trap as the other years. My wife and I have watched, “Miracle on 34th Street” and I did catch the end of “Home Alone 2” the other day, but I still don’t feel I’ve taken full advantage of this season so far. I’ve not listened to a lot of Christmas music and not once, I tell you, not once have I taken a trip to the old school and listened to Amy Grant’s classic, “A Tender Tennessee Christmas.” Yes, the Christmas season is passing away and I may be missing it again.

How much worse would it be for us to go through Christmas and miss Jesus. Yes, we’ve listened to all the songs, watched all the movies, drank all the cider, but have left out Jesus. I want to encourage you to not miss Christ in the midst of CHRISTmas. It seems funny to say, but how many of us are doing that very thing? Is it all about the presents and feelings and not about the Savior who we celebrate? I encourage you to not miss Jesus this Christmas. Take some time and figure out how you and your family will celebrate Jesus this year above all. Don’t miss Him this Christmas!

This past weekend has been one to remember in the Floyd household. Friday night my family loaded into our car and headed to one of our local communities to watch a high school football game. As we drove near the stadium, we realized the main parking lot had already been closed because it was full. We saw that some fans were parking across the street in a church parking lot and lawn and decided to park there as well. We pulled in to a spot on the lawn between a car and a tree, with a gas meter right in front of our car (you see where this is going). We had a great time at the game and when it was over made the trip back to our car. Obviously, it was dark outside and the car next to us had already left. Instead of backing up, I pulled forward to turn our car around. Immediately we realized we hit something and began to see something like smoke spraying from underneath our car. Some people hanging out in a nearby parking lot saw what had happened and quickly jumped in their car and drove away. I put the car in reverse and tried to back away from the meter, to no avail. Meredith then stepped outside of the car and realized what had happened and yelled for me to get out of the car. I turned off the car and she grabbed our daughter and we took off leaving the car by the broken gas meter. In that moment so many things could have gone wrong. The car could have easily caused a spark to hit the gas spewing out of the meter and created a very tragic situation. Yet in all of this, God protected us. Besides a few issues to my front bumper, we came away unharmed. My pride was hurt a little as I watched a policeman, two firetrucks, a man from the gas company, and even the town newspaper come out to see the event, but God had us in His hands.

Saturday night, my daughter Reese was playing on our bed just before bedtime when she took a tumble and hit the floor. She immediately began crying and complaining about her arm hurting and had some difficulty sleeping that night. I was scheduled to preach at both campuses the next morning so this was my first experience with a crazy child injury that night before I’m supposed to preach! We decided to hold off taking her to the emergency room and try to get through the night to see how she was doing in the morning. Sunday morning when she woke up she did not want the arm to move! Meredith called our pediatrician who is also a church member and he graciously agreed to see Reese before he did his morning rounds at the hospital. He concluded we needed to go ahead and get an x-ray in the ER (which later showed she had in fact fractured her little elbow). Upon arriving in the ER with a two-year-old with a fractured elbow, Meredith ran into another church member who also is a member of our Connection Group. This friend of ours helped speed the process up at the hospital and turned what could have been a very long morning with a hurt toddler into a bearable process. Even in the midst of our little girl’s pain, God had put His people around us to see us through this situation.

We are glad the weekend is over. It has been one full of fear as we realized what could have happened in that church parking lot to the struggle of seeing our two-year-old in pain. But it is often in these times that we see God the most. He protected us. He put His people around us to help us in our time of need. While we would never choose to have weekends like this one, we have experienced firsthand the words to the children’s song that all of us have sung at one time or another.

He’s got the whole world in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.