North American Missions: Laredo, TX

This is the season in which we emphasize North American missions as a part of our annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. As your church contemplates how to be involved in reaching North America for Christ, consider among your other options the needs of Laredo, TX.

One Reason Why I Love FBC Farmersville

The cover for our new church directory.

The Eve of a New Decade

Rarely do I place the contents of my monthly newsletter article for the church into this blog. For some reason, I feel so inclined this month. God bless!

The eve of a new decade is an exciting time. I have thought so ever since I was born on December 31, 1969! After all, we only get to roll over the tens digit so many times in our lives (a web site that claimed to be able to gauge my life expectancy indicated that I will see a new decade come 10 times in my life). Milestones like this turn our minds toward the future as we imagine what the adolescence of this century will hold for ourselves, our families, our community, and our world.

Obviously, we don’t really know the answer to that question, and folks who tell you otherwise aren’t being honest. For example, Daniel Fagre, a U. S. Geological Survey ecologist working at Montana’s Glacier National Park eerily warns that Global Warming will entirely do away with the park’s glaciers by 2020. The BBC, on the other hand, reports that global temperatures have actually decreased over the past 11 years and that we are in for a decade of global cooling. Which will it be? Seeing how well the world’s scientists are able to predict the weather two weeks from Thursday, I’m prepared to believe that neither group has a clue. What’s more, I don’t believe that we really have much control over what the weather will be like in 2020.

Will I be alive in 2020? Will the economy be strong and provide ample resources for my family in the next decade? Will the Swine Flu or some other disease cause a pandemic? Will the Cowboys win any of the next 10 Super Bowls? All of these things are mostly beyond your control (unless somebody is forwarding our little newsletter to Jerry Jones).

But here’s something that does lie within your influence: You can grow spiritually in the 2010s. You can have an entire decade of your life in which you read your Bible (several times through!) and pray every day. You can mentor a younger Christian for this decade. God can help you to find victory over that pesky temptation that has been a chronic weakness for you.

You can start to tithe in this decade. If you are in debt on the way into this decade, you can be out of debt before it ends. Our nation can embrace the fiscal responsibility of earlier generations and exit the 2010s no longer terrified of what the Chinese might do with all of our nation’s debt that they hold.

You can participate in an international mission trip in the coming decade. You can present the gospel to every person in your neighborhood, or to every person in your family. You can adopt an orphan, volunteer in the CASA program, or assist a troubled child.

Together, we Southern Baptists can plant enough new churches to change the spiritual climate of our nation in the upcoming decade. We can start to take back our cities. We can put a missionary in every people group on the planet. Yes, there is so much that we cannot control, but in every important way, the decade of 2010 will be what we make of it. On your mark. Get set!

Bro. Bart

Economic Lemonade

"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!" So says the old proverb. With high unemployment, tight credit, and forecasted deficits rising with each passing week, we certainly have our share of economic lemons around us. Here are some of the positive things I see brought into my life from the economic downturn:

1. The gifts of God's people are more sacrificial and therefore, in a sense, more meaningful in difficult economic times. You remember the story of the widow's mite, don't you? As you get closer to her economic stratum, your faithfulness to give reveals more and more the depth of your commitment to honor God with your substance.

2. The Lottery Jackpot. I am opposed to the state lottery, but I have found a way for the Lord' to work good in my own heart through our lottery billboards posted around town. Whenever I see one (like today) announcing a $325 million jackpot, I take that as an occasion to breathe a prayer to the Lord and say, "Father, I'd rather be worth [whatever I'm worth] and be in your will than to have $325 million and be outside your will."

   Yes, the odds are 1:175,711,536, and yes, that's a different situation by far than actually turning down $325 million. Nevertheless, it is a good thing to look for chances to tell the Lord that He is more valuable to you than is money. Lottery jackpot billboards are one of those occasions for me, and all the more so when economic times are tight. For these difficult times are a great opportunity for us to clarify in our own hearts that we serve God and not Mammon.

3. Economic downturns give us an opportunity to talk about priorities. We are presently planning church calendar and budget for 2010. We've done remarkably well so far this year, considering the year, but much of that is because we're not foolish spenders here at FBC Farmersville. Now, planning for next year, I find that the membership and pastors of our congregation are even more prone to have good discussions about which expenses are the most important in connection with the basic mission of our church.

   It would be great to have so much money that we could just spend and spend and spend without ever worrying about running out of money (and indeed, if FBCF has ever actually worried about running OUT of money, it has been long, long ago). But there is value...great value...in knowing why you exist, knowing how your activities and expenses connect with why you exist, and reviewing everything carefully. If downturns in our economy force more of us to do that at our churches, at our businesses, and in our own personal lives, then that's a good thing.

I don't go out of my way to look for policies and practices that wreck the economy and make life difficult on people, but a recession we have (soon to be coupled with oppressive taxation), and we might just as well look for the good things that God will do with these difficult circumstances. Romans 8:28, remember? That's exactly what He does.

FBCF Passes Church Covenant

I blogged earlier (see here) about the proposed covenant being considered by First Baptist Church of Farmersville.

Sunday evening, our church adopted the covenant with 91% of those voting supporting the adoption of the covenant. I'm proud of our congregation. We discussed the matter thoroughly. We probably spent a cumulative total of 4 hours in congregational discussion about the covenant over the past three months. That's not counting at least 2 hours of discussion by the deacons and an untracked and incalculable amount of time spent over the course of the past several years in development of this document.

At First Baptist Farmersville, we believe in allowing every member of our congregation his or her opportunity as a believer to pray about our congregational decisions and to share what they perceive to be the results of that prayer. I mentioned the above high percentage of consensus for adopting the covenant, but you would be wrong if you presumed that 91% of our congregation had no questions about the covenant or that 91% of our congregation started out in favor of this action when they first heard about it. The document has been improved along the way by the input of our congregation. Congregation members' understandings and opinions of the document and that nature of the church have grown through the unfolding dialogue that we as a congregation pursued. We had a robust discussion about this before our vote.

I thought that the 90 minutes spent Sunday evening discussion this covenant represented the absolute apex of biblical congregationalism. I felt like we were experiencing Acts 15 all over again in some sort of an updated framework. The leadership of elders was a part of the experience. The members of the congregation interacted with one another. The whole congregation had an opportunity to express its approval of our final outcome. And this business meeting was not centered around financial statements or paint colors or indemnity—we spent 90 minutes talking about people, their relationships with the Lord, how to aid new believers in their spiritual growth, how to have a biblical church of mutual accountability and encouragement without its devolving into legalism. We spent far more time conversing with one another about spiritual things than about temporal things. I was so proud of our congregation.

The highlight for me was the church member who told the story about having used the list of scriptures given in the church covenant to minister to couples having marital problems, young believers struggling to grow spiritually, and even to witness to some lost people. We discussed the use of the covenant catechetically (OK, so that particular word never actually entered the congregation) as a curriculum framework for an ongoing class for new believers, new members, and people who just think that the class would be helpful for their spiritual growth.

Our Constitution & Bylaws vote has been delayed. It turns out that changes in the Texas Business Organizations Code make it worthwhile for us to postpone that vote while we secure a legal review of our organizational documents (both those in force now and those proposed).

Monday I shared this thought with my pastoral staff: The job before this congregation now is to proceed with such careful grace, such heavenly wisdom, such mutual love within our congregation, that a decade from now our 91% who voted in favor of the covenant will be glad that they have done so, and that the 9% remaining will rejoice that their fears did not materialize. Perhaps even more importantly, we need to fall on our faces before the Lord and ask him to work through our growing emphasis upon the biblical nature of the church to see the large numbers of people who are members of our church but were not present for the vote—those who are never present for anything at the church—either saved if they are lost or reclaimed for Christ's service through our persistent gracious and restorative wooing of them in Christ's name.

Upon my return from London, I will share some of my reflections upon this process so far, as well as my hopes and fears for the work yet to do.

First Baptist Church: We Put Up With Each Other

The title of this blog post is probably not the kind of slogan that anyone on Madison Avenue would ever recommend for a church. I do not expect to see it on a billboard in the Metroplex anytime soon. In the hallways at the various state conventions this Autumn, I would be surprised to hear any pastor, when he is asked how things are going at his church, to utter the sincere sentiment, "Well, they're putting up with me, and I'm putting up with them."

We like to indulge in and sell the fantasy that church is a place where you don't have to put up with people. We like to tell people to come to church where they'll get along with everyone and everyone will get along with them. We like to create genetically screened and modified congregations, demographically controlled to lessen the likelihood of their having to put up with anybody too different from them.

We pastors speak of our church having no problems that "a few good funerals" couldn't solve. We aspire to a more frequent practice of church discipline, sometimes because we wish to return to a biblical ideal, but if we will be honest with ourselves, sometimes because there are some people we'd rather ship off to somebody else. (Do not misconstrue: I'm working toward a better practice of biblical restorative church discipline here at FBC Farmersville, and I think that most of our SBC churches are in disobedience to the Lord if we are not doing so. I'm just saying that we pastors ought to check our own motives while we do so. More on that in several coming posts.)

But putting up with one another is a good and biblical idea. This morning I am preaching from the first two verses of Ephesians 4, in the first steps of a journey that will take us through that entire chapter. In the second verse, we find the powerful command (in Greek) that we should be “ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ” unfortunately rendered in English in the NASB as "showing tolerance for one another in love." I say "unfortunately" not because of any defect in the NASB translators, but simply because the language of "toleration" in twenty-first-century English has come to carry so much baggage. We have come to associate with "toleration" a sort of attitude in which another person's behavior doesn't bother us. Often, in this age, the apex of toleration has come to be characterized by laissez-faire at the best and amorality at the worst.

The meaning in Ephesians, in contrast, conveys expressly the state of being bothered terribly by something or someone, yet patiently enduring the offense and putting up with the offender. The church that puts up with each other—that's a high biblical ideal to which we ought to aspire.

Ultimately, as I said in this morning's sermon, these attitudes arise out of our gospel calling. Each of us should pose two questions to ourselves as churchmen and churchwomen: (1) Do I really believe the gospel? (2) Do I really believe that the other members of this church are in the gospel?

If I really believe the gospel, including what it says about what I was and about what it took to remove me from what I was and to move me toward what I will be, then I will be humble in the church. And if I really believe that the gospel is at work in my fellow believers, then I will patiently put up with them in love, confident that whatever unChristlike thing I am enduring at their hands, it will not last forever in them as the Spirit has His gospel way with them.

Something Neat Happened at Church Today

Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of FBC Farmersville's native sons, Dick Baker, when he slipped into the back row. Dick's beloved wife Ann passed away not long ago, and this is his first Christmas without her. He decided in the midst of this season to come back home today.

After I finished welcoming everyone, I went back to Dick and asked him whether he'd like to sing something for us. He replied, "I'd like to do whatever you want me to do." So, although the service was already full to overflowing, when next I stepped behind the pulpit I announced that Dick Baker was going to favor us with a song. He stepped up to the piano, and just like that, brought us something wonderful. It was eloquent, Christ-centered, and entirely appropriate both to the Sunday before Christmas and our Lord's Supper celebration. And he did that with about three minutes' notice.

So I'm here hoping that, should the Lord favor me to live that long, I will be the kind of person who still has something worthwhile to say before God's people at the drop of a hat.

What's Happening at FBC Farmersville

This Summer, if our Lord tarries and is willing, my first decade at First Baptist Church of Farmersville will come to completion. FBC Farmersville has a history of long-tenured pastors, or, at least, longer than average. My two immediate predecessors were here for seven years and eight years, respectively. Passing the ten-year milestone will make this pastoral ministry the second-lengthiest in the church's 144-year history. If it pleases God for me to be here to celebrate our sesquicentennial in 2015, I will do so as the longest-tenured pastor in the congregation's history.

That could almost sound like bragging, so let me assure you that it is (a) a testimony to the grace of God, (b) a testimony to the lovingkindness and patience of this family of believers, and (c) a celebration of what I'm thankful for and not a boast in what I'm proud of on my part—God knows my heart. These people stuck with me through Ph.D. seminars and a dissertation, after all.

These next six months could well prove to be some of the most significant of the decade. After more than a year of dialogue and revisions, the congregation will see in January 2009 a proposed Constitution & Bylaws for FBC Farmersville. Once we have adopted it, I will gladly post it for anyone to see. But I do not grant any online community the privilege to see it before our church family has seen and approved it.

Coming hard on its heels will be our Church Membership Covenant. This one has passed the approval of the special committee that has been working to author it. I find that the influence of those on the committee has been very helpful to me. I authored all of the first drafts, but they brought to the table a goal to wind up with a document readable and understandable by children. As someone genuinely converted at nearly six years of age, I was sympathetic to the goal (even if unable to accomplish it without their help and prodding).

Although we will present the Constitution and the Covenant at different times, we will vote to approve them together. The Constitution & Bylaws refer to the Covenant, so were we to adopt it without the Covenant, we would be operating contrary to our Constitution & Bylaws from that point until the adoption of the Covenant.

Our deacons have joined with me in a project to develop a brief ministry plan for every household in our congregation. This will include both the households who actively participate now and those whom we have not seen for quite some time. I expect that every ministry plan will involve contact with the household, if possible. Here is my goal: To accomplish regenerate church membership at First Baptist Church of Farmersville without dropping a single household from the present membership roll. If they are lost, we want to present the gospel to them and have the privilege of witnessing their conversion and baptism. If they are backslidden, we want to see their love for the Lord and for the brethren rekindled. If they are active, we hope to encourage them all the more.

The goal is, of course, unattainable. Some of those folks go to church elsewhere. Some of them we will likely not be able to identify or find. Some of them will spurn our efforts to reach them. We're going to try anyway. And it is important to me for my people to know that it has never been my intention or the desire of my heart to effect any sort of "purge." If any wind up leaving our rolls, let it be because we were running after them to catch them for the Lord, not to chase them away.

If 50% of the people we contact tell us to go away and leave them alone, then we'll double in average attendance next year. But more importantly, I'll have the assurance of knowing that I've actually shepherded the flock over which God has made me an overseer.

I'm as enthusiastic about serving here as ever I have been. We've had a really difficult few years, marked by a few painful moral scandals among the church membership (the worst of which resulted in a sexual offender being sentenced to prison last month). Our attendance and baptisms have waned through this difficult season. Now I have every reason to hope that we have put this season behind us. Our baptisms since September have already doubled last year's ACP numbers, and far beyond. I baptized three adults in the last few weeks. We're seeing a heightened interest in evangelism to accompany the amazing improvements that our congregation has made in missions involvement in the past few years (from 0 mission trips ten years ago to 7 this year).

I've always wondered what it would feel like to have pastored a congregation for as long as a decade. The amazing thing is, it feels like I'm just getting started. It hasn't felt that way at every point along the road. Sometimes it has been quite difficult. But today, I can honestly say that it feels almost like the initial "honeymoon," only better, because we know that it is based upon a real understanding between church and pastor, and not some imaginary vision of one another soon to be exploded.

Reservation for Two

There's a couple that have been attending our church. Retired from first careers into owning and operating a functional cattle ranch nearby, they have been married 34 years. Several months ago, I went to their home to visit them. They've been very faithful in attending the worship service since then. She's lost; he's a Christian. Until last night. I wish I were eloquent enough to describe to you the spiritual celebration we had in that living room. And the celebration spread for the remainder of the evening, as members of our congregation arranged Sunday School connections, and made preparation for Sunday (I'll be out-of-town when they are presented to the congregation). Until late in the evening I was sharing this good news with members of our church as we worked to welcome this new sister in Christ. It is always a great thing to witness Christ bringing a new member into the family. Always. But there's just something special about seeing a family united in their faith. I grew up going to church at just the right time to be exposed to films like "A Thief in the Night" while at an impressionable age. Thinking about the return of Christ often conjures up in my mind glimpses of Patty Myers wondering where her husband went. Whatever your eschatological convictions, we know that eternity will separate husbands from wives... ...but not in this family. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

This Weekend

This weekend was wonderful. The Intercession Sunday was one of the best things we have ever done. Allow me to sketch out the day for you:

1. We began with baptism—always a good start.
2. We sang for a while, and John did a great job.
3. Testimony: One of my foremost objectives for the day was to have a serious, hopeful service focused on the power of God to address our problems, but to do so in a way that was theologically honest. Two families in our church stood up together and gave a joint testimony to the power of God. Eleven years ago, the McGuires and the Jameses both discovered that their children had leukemia. Our church ministered to both families at precisely the same time. These two families kept up with each other on the phone and in person, praying with one another weekly. The McGuires' little girl was healed—full remission. Justin James died. These two families stood and glorified a God who is able to work powerfully both in situations where we get what we ask for and in situations where we do not. There was not a dry eye in the house.
4. Sermon: My big mistake was in scheduling myself to speak immediately after that testimony. I was quite choked up in the early service. I preached from John 9 and 2 Corinthians 12. In both cases, people asked God for healing. The godliest, holiest, and most believing of the two was the one who wasn't healed. Yet the emphasis in both passages is upon the power of God. In the case of the man born blind, God demonstrated His power by healing the man. In Paul's case, God demonstrated His power by not healing him. Our prayer ought to be that God will show Himself powerful in our lives, however that might happen. Let us never throw in the towel and act as though our God is weak. Let us remember that God demonstrates His power in many ways.
5. Prayer for the sick: We invited all of those who wanted prayer for any physical illness to remain seated while the congregation stood. I encouraged members who were standing to go to someone seated, ask them for what they wanted prayer, and to pray for them. This took about four minutes.
6. Prayer for relational, emotional, financial, employment, etc., problems: We provided index cards throughout the pews. I invited all of those who had a problem in one of these areas or who knew someone who had a problem in one of these areas to write out the specifics on a card, bring it to the altar, and place it face down. I assured them that immediately after the service I was going to shred the cards without reading them. The floodgates opened. I saw some people bringing cards two or three separate times. After everyone had brought all of the cards that they wished to bring, I led us in prayer for the needs represented there.
7. Prayer for spiritual healing: Using the same index cards, I invited people to bring cards for anyone they knew who was lost or in rebellion against God. I also invited them to come to the altar and pray for anyone they wished or for their own spiritual awakening. Also, our pastors stood at front to receive any who wished to make public commitments.

So far, it has been a thoroughly positive experience. It touched many people in our church to see how many needs there were. Our people felt closer to one another having prayed for one another's problems. Of course, we still await word of how God has answered the prayers we lifted up on Sunday. May He demonstrate Himself powerful and bring glory to His name!

So, there's a report from the weekend. Regular blogging will resume later this week, once this week's service is safely planned well.

Speaking of regular blogging, I find that I'm a much, much better pastor the past few days since I'm not blogging. I'm not giving it up, but I'm seriously considering expanding the number of contributors to Praisegod Barebones. That would keep the site consistently running but would prevent any one person from being overburdened. First Baptist Church of Farmersville runs about 330 in Sunday School and has three pastors. That's big enough to keep me really busy but not quite big enough to have the luxury of delegating out a whole lot of stuff. God called me to preach, not to blog, so I'm looking for a way to remain faithful to my calling while continuing to pursue this little avocation that I have come to enjoy so much. I have a couple of people in mind already...folks who do not already have a blog but ought to. I'll let everyone know what I come up with.