Monday Morning Clarity

After being out with a busy week at the Alabama Baptist Convention last week in Huntsville, it made for a short week. However, we had another great Sunday at Sixth Street yesterday. The crowd seemed a little smaller than the last few weeks. I wondered if the weather had something to do with that. I felt like there was a great spirit among everyone that was there. Here are some of my thoughts about the day and the upcoming holiday season.

• We finished our series on "The Walk" yesterday by looking at Ephesians 5 and how to imitate God. Paul made "Walk this Way" cool long before Aerosmith when he said for us to walk in love, walk as children of light, and walk wisely. I heard several positive comments about the practical application of the message. That always means a lot.
• Had a great lunch with our friends Byron and Christy Meadows and their family yesterday at Mama Ella's. This has become our most popular choice for Sunday lunch. Great food and lots of it.
• Speaking of food, we had another great time at the SSBC Thanksgiving Meal last night in the gym. The turnout was awesome and the food was even better. It's always good to fellowship around the table with other Christians. One thing that Baptists do real well is eat. I was also encouraged to see such a great spirit among our people. It was difficult to interrupt them to do the devotional because everyone was so engaged with each other. That's the power of biblical community.
• Speaking of community, I am hoping that one of our major areas of focus for 2010 is to develop a healthy, spiritually sound groups system that allows everyone in our church to have a place to live the Christian life in community with other Christians and not just attend a class to hear someone teach. People in the church today are starving for real, genuine, deep, and Spirit-filled relationships with other believers.
• This is Thanksgiving week which means I am going to my Mama's house for the holidays. We are excited. Thankgiving is a special time for us, but it will be more so this year because this will be the first Thankgiving without the family matriarch - my grandmother Mama Alice. We are doing Thanksgiving at her house this year in honor of her. In addition, we are celebrating with both my mom and my dad's family and their spouses. I'm looking forward to a great day. I have a lot to be thankful for.
• Sunday morning will start our Christmas series called "Characters of Christmas". We will be looking this week at Simeon and "When You Finally See God's Promise." Hope you will be there.