An Update On Things...

So I have come to the conclusion that I basically stink at keeping up a blog. For the past two years, I have struggled with being disciplined enough to post anything of significant value multiple times a week. It's not that I don't have an opinion about a lot of things out there, it's just that I get so distracted by family stuff, delayed doctoral work, or mundane trivia on the internet that I never make time to blog much.  Anyway, I'm sitting here in my office watching a deluge out my window and thought I would start trying to put some stuff up here for the 2 of you that occasionally stop by here to see if I have posted anything only to be sorely disappointed:

Summer Travels
First, I just got back a little over a week ago from some busy traveling this summer.  My family and I spent 2 1/2 days being "house parents" for some orphans from Ukraine who were brought over here by Bridges of Faith ministry.  If you haven't checked out this ministry, you need to.  They are doing some great work trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus for some kids who desperately need it.  I know that several of the kids we stayed with are already in the process of being adopted by people here in the States that met them last month.  It was a great experience.

After that, my family and I drove all the way out to Houston for the Southern Baptist Convention.  Some asked me when I got back if I had a good "vacation".  My reply was, "If you think driving 14 hours with four kids for a three day Baptist business meeting is a 'vacation', then I would love for you to come with us next year."  However, we had a great time.  I hope to blog later about my experiences at the SBC and why my family and I like to go.

After a couple of weeks home, we were gone for two weeks to South Carolina.  First, we led a group from my church to Greenville, SC for the second year to do work with an organization called "Diligent Hands, Gracious Hearts".  If you are looking for a way to involve people in inner-city missions with multiple opportunities for a group, check them out.  Great week of ministry whenever we weren't dodging rain drops.  Then, my family and I headed from Greenville to Hilton Head for a week of vacation.  My sister-in-law lives in Hilton Head, so all my wife's family joined us there for a week at the beach.  All-in-all, we had a very good week mostly hanging out at the beach.  Hilton Head has great golf, but I couldn't fit my clubs in the Pilot with all the luggage for 6 people for two weeks.

Doctoral Work
I am trying hard to get my doctoral work finished.  Because I am a procrastinator, I have put off this work for far too long.  Ministry and family demands have kept me busy enough, but now I have to find the motivation to push forward to get it done.  I am in the process of developing lesson plans to teach my deacons on the subject of "helping deacons to be servant leaders."  I have had to read about 25 resources as part of my research.  I have also been carrying a large bin full of books, files, and papers around.  Pray for me to be disciplined to "get 'er done" over the next few weeks.  I hope to have the lesson plans developed soon to be able to start teaching soon after Labor Day.

Reading
Most of my reading has been limited to doctoral work this year.  However, once I finished my annotated bibliography, I was able to pick up some books I had set aside.  I will be posting a review here soon on "Faithmapping" by Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper.  Great book.  One of the best books I have read so far this year is "The Insanity of God" by Nik Ripken.  This is his encounter of over 20 years of working with the persecuted church around the world.  Warning: "If you read this book, it will shatter your perception of the current state of the church and cause you to be very frustrated with the shallowness and consumerism of the contemporary American church." However, if I had one book I wanted every friend of mine to read right now, "The Insanity of God" would be it.

There are a few updates for you if you happen to stop by.  I will try to keep some posts and thoughts up here soon.  Maybe I can give you some of the things I am learning about servant leadership as I am writing my lessons.

Go Red Sox!

It's not fair...

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the word "fair" and how much we talk about it.  Being a father of four children under 13, I am accused a lot of not being fair.  I really don't worry about it much because I have come to the conclusion that life is not a matter of fair and the sooner my kids learn that truth, the better they will function in life.  The dictionary defines fair as "free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice".  That would be a great understanding of fair.  I would agree that we should all strive for freedom from dishonesty and injustice in our dealings with everyone.  I don't know that we can accurately be without bias.  I have beliefs and those beliefs create "biases" in me that shape my decision.  It's the bias that causes us to feel and scream "unfair", especially when the bias goes against us.  But isn't that the way life is?  Isn't it unrealistic to believe that I can live without bias?  Shouldn't I naturally be more biased with my sexual inclinations towards my wife than other women?  Shouldn't I naturally be "biased" that my children should seek for excellence in their lives and expect them to rise above the standards of this world?  If I really believe what Christ says in the Bible is true and that the gospel is the only hope of salvation for mankind, shouldn't I be biased towards that opinion and shouldn't it influence my relationships with other people? 

Here's another problem I have with "fair."  Fair "dumbs" everything down to the "lowest common denominator."  This is what is happening in our culture in America right now.  We used to believe in a society where people had a strong work ethic - where we rewarded hard work and applauded the financial success that followed.  Now we gripe that the rich "should pay more taxes than me because they have more money than me."  We've created government programs that either foster a mindset that people should expect something for nothing or that creates a system that even if they wanted to rise above their circumstances, they can't afford to.  A couple of years ago our church was doing mission work in the Appalachian area of Kentucky.  One of the missionaries there told us that they had a program to train some of the women in the area to clean houses for income.  One young lady went through the program and began to get some income.  Then, she suddenly quit.  Why?  She told the missionary that when her income increased, she lost all her government benefits and free childcare and it cost her more to work than it did to stay home and let the government take care of her.  She wanted to work, but she couldn't afford to.  That's what a system that caters to the "lowest common denominator" creates.  Fair; whether in a society, a business, or a church, has a tendency to reward mediocrity and stifle creativity and excellence.  Ironically another definition of fair in the dictionary is "neither excellent or poor, moderately or tolerably good."  THERE IT IS!  That's fair in our society.  Fair breeds mediocrity.  Take one look at where we are right now and tell me that we are not just a mediocre group of people.  No one wants a steak that is "neither excellent or poor".  A mediocre steak might fill your stomach, but it doesn't make you want to come back for more.  Nobody goes out and rents a "mediocre" movie that they've seen before. 

Spiritually, fair brings condemnation and means that we all go to hell because that is what we deserve.  This is the problem when fair is brought into the church.  When we deal with God, we don't want fair - we want mercy and grace.  Fair cheapens grace.  Fair attempts to paint God as some sort of socialist grandfather rather than a holy God who in an outstanding act of grace takes upon himself the sins of the very people he forgives.  Fair doesn't adequately explain the existence of evil and its consequences.  Fair doesn't motivate me to worship.  Fair doesn't create in me awe and majesty. 

Ultimately, the essence of leadership is the art of learning how to rise above "fair".  Instead of asking what is fair, here are a couple of other questions to ask instead:

• Is there a "right" thing to do in this situation?  If so, do it no matter the cost.  Sometimes there is no definitive "right".  Right is not based on your opinions, but God's standards.
• What is the "wise" decision?  In the lack of a right, the best question to ask is about wisdom.  I owe a great deal to Andy Stanley and his book "The Best Question Ever" on this one.  
• Instead of asking what is the "fair" thing, ask "What is the "just" thing to do?"
• What decision will lead the organization best to accomplish its mission and lead towards a culture of excellence?
• Even if this decision doesn't seem "fair", what will be the cost of inaction?

I've come to the conclusion that the only thing "fair" is good for is to be a place where we get to go to get some cotton candy and ride the Tilt-a-whirl.  Fair is good for cattle auctions and car shows.  Otherwise, let's stop spending so much time on trying to find "fair" and instead be people of grace who strive for excellence and expect others to do so as well.  Let's quit dumbing ourselves down and through the grace of God start rising up.  This doesn't mean that there isn't a time and place to make a "fair" decision when we are referring to justice.  God always expects us to be just because he is just.  But let's allow our vision of fair to be colored by the justice of God and not the opinions of men.

Redeeming Halloween, Osteen Does It Again, and more links...

Here are some interesting links you might want to read. 

Halloween on Mission - Awesome post by David Mathis from Desiring God on redeeming Halloween for the gospel.  Too often we live in hiding and seclusion instead of living boldly on mission.  The effect of this is that we create an isolationist mentality which makes us inaccessible to the lost and ineffective in evangelism.  You don't have to agree with this post, but it does make some great points. 

Does Joel Osteen not know, or does he not care? -Smiling Joel was asked once again to make a stand on a controversial topic and once again he chose the path of popular opinion than that of biblical authority.  By his own admission, he "hasn't studied" the issues of Momonism and Christianity.  My advice: Don't make a statement then Joel. 

Reformation Day: What in the world happened? - Great post by my friend and seminary classmate Dr. Jason Lee about the impact of Martin Luther and the Reformation started by his 95 theses.  Great information that most lay people in the church have no knowledge of.

How to articulate a Christian worldview in four easy steps - Kevin DeYoung is a very smart young pastor who does a great job keeping people grounded in biblical theology and practical living.  Every Christian should be able to articulate a Christian worldview, but so often cannot.  This post will help.

Seven reasons Halloween Judgment Houses often miss the mark - I have been on record before that I am not a big fan of the Judgment House mentality in churches.  I think the motives are pure and the churches that do them really do want to see people come to faith in Christ.  I also think that some people are genuinely saved in them.  However, I don't think they accurately convey the gospel and are just a 21st century answer to hellfire and brimstone revivalism.

The Power of an Unexpected Blessing

A few weeks ago I had the unique privilege of being invited to take part in a small pastor's retreat with Bob Russell.  Bob (we're on a first name basis now) was the pastor of Southeast Christian Church for over 40 years.  When he went there as a young man in his 20's the church was just a few hundred.  When he retired a few years ago, it was one of the largest churches in America, averaging over 18,000 people each weekend.  When Bob retired, he had some people who wanted to fund his ministry dreams and goals.  One of those was to hold private retreats for pastors where he could minister and pour into a small group of pastors at a time.

I had applied over a year ago and was extremely excited when I got the invitation to go.  What an honor and privilege to be invited to spend three days with a faithful servant of the Lord who did it the right way for over 40 years.  God used Bob's ministry and preaching to literally change the lives of thousands of people.  However, he was an extremely humble and joyful man who seemed to be loving getting to spend time with 8 pastors that for the most part no one has ever heard of.  He shared some painful moments in his ministry and valuable lessons he learned.  It was truly a once-in-a lifetime experience.  Here are a few takeaways I had from the week:

1.  When you cultivate a generous heart you are able to be a blessing and be blessed at the same time.  Bob Russell gave us dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, set up a private time with the CEO of Louisville Slugger, and even gave our wives a generous gift.  What a refreshment to see someone who wants to give away to make others feel appreciated and valuable.
2.  There is no substitute for cultivating a servant spirit in your church.  Southeast Christian Church is a very unique place.  My sanctuary can fit under their driveway.  The lobby is big enough to play a football game in.  The worship center can seat 9,000 people.  However, all of their landscaping is done by volunteers in the church.  Much of their setup for events is handled by volunteers.  The people of the church who helped Bob with the retreat were some of the most gracious servants I have ever encountered.  They really thought it a blessing to be able to serve pastors by carrying our luggage or by driving us to events.
3.  There is no substitute for godly lay leadership.  We had the opportunity to spend time with three elders of Southeast who talked about pastor/elder relationships.  These three men have been elders at Southeast for a long time.  Each of them were very successful businessmen and entreprenuers.  However, they also were men of great spiritual wisdom and the Word.  They showed the power that can happen in a church where men step up to be students of the word and lead the church spiritually.  This is no doubt one of the biggest reasons for the success that Southeast Christian has had in reaching people. 
4.  Preach the Bible and let God do the work.  This was one of the statements that Bob Russell made and perfectly sums up his preaching and ministry philosophy.  Russell's ministry shows the lasting impact that can be made when a preacher believes in the authority and sufficiency of God's word and chooses to rely on the power of the word preached over slick ministry strategies.  It was a great encouragement to me.  There is no guarantee of large numerical success in preaching biblically, but there is assurance of its power to change lives and build a healthy foundation for a church.
5.  Multiply your ministry effectiveness by investing in future ministers.  This is where Bob Russell is now.  As a faithful pastor for decades, he's earned the right to spend his days playing golf, going on occasional mission trips, speaking at conferences, and writing books.  However, Bob has chosen to spend some of that time pouring into guys that are in the trenches.  It doesn't matter where at or what size church.  In our group, we had churches ranging from 200 to 3500.  We had pastors from the Christian Church movement, a Wesleyan, Church of Christ, and one SBC (me).  A couple of guys were in their 50's, a couple in their 40's, and a couple in their 30's.  We were all much the richer for spending time with Bob and with each other.

All in all, my heart was blessed and I was impacted beyond measure for my time with Bob Russell.  It gave me a renewed vision for what could be possible at my church and a renewed passion to preach God's word with passion and application oto God's people.

Left Everything

I was enjoying some time in God's word this morning with a cup of coffee on my front porch.  Reading through my Bible plan, I journeyed through Luke 5 this morning.  This is Luke's account of Jesus' early ministry.  It includes the calling of his first disciples.  It was a powerful reminder of Jesus' authority and his transformative power.  In both the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John in verse 11 and the calling of Levi in verse 28 the common denominator is that they "left everything and followed him."  That's just amazing!  These men saw something in Jesus so awesome that they turned their backs on what they had devoted their whole life to and walked with him into an uncertain future.  Peter and the boys had just experienced a haul of fish like no other.  They had been doing this for years, and had never had a day like this.  It was so miraculous that Peter trembled in fear before the Lord and asked him to leave because he was scared of his own sinfulness before the Messiah.  At the moment of their greatest prosperity, they left it all and walked away.  They left the secure and familiar for the unknown.  They decided that they would rather be with Jesus than have a secure future.  Jesus would make it very clear soon that there would be no personal gain.  When Jesus would turn away the Rich Young Ruler because of his unwillingness to do the same, Peter would remind Jesus that "we have left everything and followed you.  What then will we have?"

How different is this call from Jesus for immediate and costly obedience than the attitude of most in the church today that want Jesus AND everything else?  How different is this from the promise that you can have "your best life now"?  How do we reconcile this call with the fact that the average church goer gives less than 3% of his income to kingdom related causes?  How do we reconcile this call for costly abandonment with church-goers who are over-mortgaged and parking $40,000 vehicles in church parking lot?  I am not advocating that having resources is an evil or sinful thing.  I know that God does allow for financial prosperity in some of his children.  However, he does this so that after we have abandoned their hold on us we can use them to multiply his kingdom.  This fact that the majority of disciples will not leave everything to only have Jesus is shown in my own denomination where we are bringing missionaries home and cannot send people ready to go because churches and members are not giving enough to meet budgetary needs.  However, just last week, I took myself and my oldest three boys to a college football game.  I was in a stadium with 87,000 people where the average ticket was at least $70 face value and the average person probably spent close to $40 or more on concessions.  All this for a three-hour game.  Is it a sin to enjoy football and go experience it? No.  I had a great time!  It was a much needed break for me and a memory for my children.  However, I also know that I need to do a much better job of modeling for them the "abandonment attitude" of the gospel.  My heart and theirs are battling the idol of materialism way too much.

I wonder if Jesus walked into our worship service tomorrow and said to the assembled worshipers, "Follow Me" if we would have the same response Peter, James, Andrew, John, and Levi did?  Or, would we go consult our financial advisor to make sure we had enough already stored in our 401k first?  Would we model "immediate abandonment" or would we be like the man in Luke 9 who said "First, let me go and bury my father."  What do you think?

What Front Porches Are For

Right now I am hanging out at my mom's house on her front porch.  We've been here in Mississippi for about 4 days visiting family while my kids are on Spring Break.  Whenever we are here, the central meeting point is the front porch.  It's been that way for years.  My mom's house is almost 40 years old.  It's what I called "home" from 4th grade until I married and established my own home at age 28.  It's a unique house in that there is a long front porch that runs most of the length of the front of the house with five columns that support it. For dozens of years it has been the central meeting point for the family.  It's adorned with all kinds of plants in front, planter boxes, wind chimes, hummingbird feeders, two porch swings and three rockers.  They don't make houses with porches like this anymore.  Now, houses are made with large "great rooms" where the television set is the central point for the family.

The porch and front yard are one of the things that make visits home so special.  This front yard has witnessed dozens of football games, times playing catch, and wrestling matches.  From this porch my stepdad and my sons look for planes that we hear flying overhead.  My mom and I had dozens of conversations about life, faith, and the future in these rockers.  It's a place that makes you face your neighbors when they drive up and down the road.  Now, we don't even know what our neighbors look like, much less their names.

Perhaps one of the reasons we have so many problems in families today can be traced to a lack of front porches.  Perhaps one of the reasons why teens struggle so much with the issues they face can be the fact that their parents were more concerned with the "man-cave" than the front porch.  I have read dozens of studies about the fact that children and teens who engage in weekly conversations about life are much less likely to engage in destructive behaviors.  Maybe they should do a survey about the lifestyle choices of teens who grew up in a home with a front porch and how much time they spent on it with their parents.

I know my theory isn't full-proof.  I know that a front porch doesn't insure good choices.  I am fully aware that my brother and I made plenty of bad decisions and suffered the consequences for it.  I just wonder how many more we would have made if we'd have spent more time in the den and not on the porch.  Just a thought.

On Being A Dad

The last few weeks I have been preaching on topics related to family and marriage.  I really enjoy the process of trying to equip God's people to be better parents and spouses.  Maybe it's because of my 12+ years in student ministry.  During that time, I had the opportunity to see some really great and godly parents who modeled Jesus for their kids.  I also saw a large dose of parents that were practically disengaged altogether from the spiritual discipling of their children. 

On January 20th, Alison and I welcomed our fourth son, Joshua Lee, into our home.  Needless to say, the last four weeks have been quite a ride.  Sleep is sporadic.  I've consumed an inordinate amount of coffee lately.  However, I know God has provided a tremendous blessing.  I can't think of a better word in the English language than "Dad".  I often forget the blessing of that name when it has been called out 2,678 times over the course of the day.  Oftentimes, it is accompanied by a complaint about one of the other "stooges" in the house.  Scripture says "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth."  (Psalm 127:4)  God has placed within my charge four men who have the potential to change the world for the glory and gospel of Jesus Christ.  Right now, I would just like to get them to put their clothes IN the clothes basket or stop peeing on the side of the toilet.  It's hard to see gospel potential when you are staring at a yellow ooze on the floor.

I also feel privileged to be a Dad because for many years I didn't think it was going to happen.  In my 20's, I witnessed many of my friends fall in love and get married.  Life didn't seem to hold that in the cards for me.  My dating prospects after college were slim.  I did meet someone special while serving my first church.  We got engaged and planned on being married, but it didn't work out.  I spent several frustrating and disillusioned years pouring into serving the church.  I tried to fill the relational void by being the best youth pastor I could be.  Everyone said that one day I would find the right one, but by age 27, I had honestly begun to doubt completely.  I was ok if God wanted me to be single.  (but not really) 

I moved to the Birmingham area in the fall of 1996 and immediately was captured by a knock-out red-head who happened to be my boss' daughter.  We were married a year later.  I was 29.  Two years after that our first son Nathan was born.  I must admit that in Nathan's first couple of years, I was a pitiful father.  I had no idea what to do with a baby.  I didn't even like being around them.  18 months later, we had our first "surprise" child in Drew.  Having 2 children under the age of 2 was even more daunting.  However, my wife was patient with me and the Lord was gracious. 

In my ministry I have seen firsthand that we have a "dad crisis" in the church.  We have millions of children, especially sons, who are growing up with Dads who felt just as ill-equipped as I did.  Most of us want to be "better dads" than most in the culture.  The current culture has domesticated men some into being more active at home, helping with homework, teaching your son to throw a ball or catch fish.  However, I agree with Robert Lewis that in the areas that are most needed - the spiritual and social engagements of the home - most men are too passive.  We haven't been equipped in how to engage our children in spiritual conversations.  We still blindly think that quantity time is more important that quality time.  I am convinced that the church ministry models of the last 50 years have failed to adequately disciple and challenge men.  We have filled stadiums of men singing praise to God.  However, we haven't taught them how to walk with Christ and how to translate that walk everyday to their children - especially sons. 

Dads, your son needs you to teach him how to throw a baseball.  He also needs you to teach him how to pray to the Father.  Dads, you are the closest thing to the physical representation of Jesus Christ to your sons.  They already hold you as close to deity as any person on the earth.  We must learn to take great care of the arrows that God has entrusted to us.  We may only get one shot of sending them out into the great cosmic battle for God's glory.  We cannot haphazardly aim our arrows to the sky hoping it hits something.  We must take careful aim to insure that our arrows hit their intended target.  The scary truth is that my children and your children will most emulate the form of Christianity modeled by you - their dad.  They will in all likelihood learn from you, good or bad, their spiritual priorities. 

Dads, let's raise our children as spiritual champions.  Let's take up our spiritual sword of God's word and the grace of the Lord Jesus and not cower any longer to fulfilling our calling as spiritual leaders.  Let's be more concerned with their grasp of spiritual truth than we are with how far they hit the baseball.  And in the process, let's teach them to hit the baseball, and shoot the gun, and climb the trail, and cast the line, and all the other things that we have the honor of doing because we are the ones called - DAD.

Thoughts on new year and 2010 memories

2011 has arrived.  Seems like 2010 went by much faster than usual.  However, I think that is what everyone says when they get older to avoid the reality that time on this earth is getting shorter.  My Bulldogs gave me a great start to 2011 by putting a beat-down on the Michigan Wolverines in the Gator Bowl.  Michigan is actually my second favorite team so it was a bittersweet win, but still pretty sweet.  Like most of the MSU family, I am proud of the accomplishments of this team this year.  Going into the season most of my friends asked me what I thought the Dawgs would do.  I said I believed it was going to be much better than most thought.  I believed a 6-6 season was within reach, 7-5 even possible.  It's nice to have an offseason to be excited and ponder what awaits in September.

2011 also will begin with a new arrival soon in the Haines house.  We have a tentative date of January 20th to welcome son #4 - Joshua Lee Haines.  However, Alison wouldn't mind if Josh sped things up a bit.  I feel extremely blessed to have the opportunity to father 4 boys.  I deeply desire to be a good dad.  I think I do well some days, but have a lot of room to improve.  I feel the deep weight of modeling the Father in heaven and showing them the gospel each day. 

I usually post an end-of-the-year post on December 31.  However, things were a little hectic to give me ample time to reflect and write.  This past year was my first full year as pastor at Sixth Street.  We have seen some progress as a church, but it has been much slower than I would have liked.  I am blessed to serve the Lord amongst a body of great believers.  Many of my church members want to bless their pastor and do so in many ways.  We saw our church take some great steps in missions this year with people attending mission trips to Kentucky, Swaziland, Nigeria, and Dominican Republic.  We have seen several new families join this year. 

I also jumped back into my doctoral work this year.  I attended a workshop in September and subsequently spent 3 months doing little work on it.  However, I hope to have a proposal to turn in by mid-late January.  My postings may continue to be sporadic until I finish my writing and research.

2010 was a pretty good year for my family.  The boys made a couple of new friends in our new neighborhood this year.  They like occasionally walking around in the woods behind the house exploring trails and inventing games.  All three of them had a good year in school and are excellent students.  Nathan played baseball again this year, but had some early struggles in a new league with all new kids.  Their team didn't do very well, but Nathan improved throughout the year and finished as one of the leaders on the team.  John David played t-ball for the first time.  His team lost only 1 game all year.  He really seemed to like wearing the uniform and mostly the snacks afterwards.  He was a target for the ball sometimes and got knocked down a couple of times by line drives or by colliding with kids at the base.  There were some tears, but usually after a powerade he was all good.

In October we went with my brother's family to DisneyWorld for a week.  It was an awesome vacation! (Except that Mom was pregnant, couldn't ride anything, and had a hard time walking around)  Mom was a trooper though.  Disney is one of our favorite things.  The boys loved riding the coasters and eating the big meals.  It was special to spend time with my brother, sister-in-law and niece.  The boys love their cousin Marlee and had a great time walking around with her.  We also went to Orlando in June for the Southern Baptist Convention and an extended vacation.  We went to Wet-n-Wild one afternoon and took in a day at Universal Studios. 

Another thing I like to do at year end is reflect on all the people who left this world.  Each year has its own unique collection of deaths.  Here are some of this year's:
Sports
Sparky Anderson - My childhood was spent rooting for the Cincinnatti Reds and the Detroit Tigers.  One thing they had in common was Sparky.  He was the greatest manager I had the privilege of following.
George Steinbrenner - even as a lifelong Yankee hater, I regreted the Boss' passing. 
Nick Bell - defensive lineman from MS State who died of cancer.  Gator Bowl was for you Nick!
Bob Feller - legendary pitcher for Cleveland Indians
John Wooden - greatest basketball coach ever
Ernie Harwell - legendary voice of the Detroit Tigers
Others: Don Merideth, Merlin Olsen, Ron Santo, Bobby Thomson, Manute Bol, Jose Lima

Celebrities
Barbara Billingsley - June Cleaver, Mom of the Beav (watched this show a lot as a kid)
Dennis Hopper - great actor, especially in Hoosiers and Speed (Pop Quiz Jack)
Gary Coleman - What'cha talkin about Willis?
Leslie Neilsen - Airplane and Naked Gun movies
Captain Phil Harris from Deadliest Catch
Corey Haim - 80's teen movie star
Dixie Carter - great Southern actress
John Forsythe - Voice of Charlie from Charlie's Angels
Tom Bosley - Mr. Cunningham on Happy Days
Other Celebs: Peter Graves, Rue McClannahan, Tony Curtis, Blake Edwards, Fess Parker (Davy Crockett), Karl Malden,

Others of Note
Elizabeth Edwards - wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards
Robert Byrd - U.S. Senator
J.D. Salinger - author of Catcher in the Rye
Jimmy Dean - country singer and maker of great sausage
Ted Stephens - U.S. Senator

All in all, I feel blessed by all the Lord has done in 2010.  God is faithful and true.  His gospel is still the greatest story ever and his glory is still worth pursuing.  Hope you and yours have a wonderful year in 2011.

Things I Am Thankful For...

Sons That Love Me In Spite of My Flaws

Today, as I spend time with my family, I am especially grateful that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with the honor of bring an earthly father.  I didn't get married until I was 29 years old.  I wondered for many years whether it was part of God's plan that I would be married and have children.  God blessed me with the most beautiful redhead I have ever seen.  In our first year of marriage, we were excited to find out that we were pregnant.  We hoped for a boy and even named him "Noah".  However, Noah never made it into this world because of a miscarriage.  Through the pain and sorrow these questions still remained.

We welcomed Nathan Thomas Haines into this world in October 7, 1999.  From the beginning, Nathan has shown exceptional intelligence, a caring heart for people, and a desire to excel.  He has a very active imagination, usually starting sentences with the words "What if...?"  He has an artistic and creative mind.  He can usually be found drawing something or creating a new ship out of Legos.  He loves to play baseball and go places with his Dad - especially sporting events.

Andrew Scott Haines joined our family on February 2, 2001.  Drew has always marched to his own drumbeat from the beginning.  As a baby, Drew had a horrible case of reflux and would randomly spit-up on you.  He is by far our most emotional child, vacillating between emotions very quickly.  Drew also is an extremely intelligent child.  He usually brings home very good grades from school.  All of his teachers have remarked about his intelligence.  He also loves to read and sometimes likes to create his own stories.

John David Haines became son #3 on April 5, 2004.  He's always been the baby of the family.  He loves to be right in the middle of anything his big brothers are doing.  He is the most physical and touch oriented of our children.  His favorite thing to do is to "wrestle" with his dad.  (I love it too.)  He loves to snuggle at night with mom watching TV.  He's in the first grade and has shown a lot of the academic potential of his brothers. 

We are waiting on son #4, Joshua Lee Haines, to join us.  Anticipated arrival is January 20, 2011.  The announcement of his arrival was quite shocking to say the least.

As I was in the Dominican Republic last week, I had a lot of time to think about how blessed I am to be a dad and how much I take it for granted.  You can imagine that with three boys under 11 that our house is filled with energy and noise.  It can also be filled with a lot of drama -"Dad! They're bothering me!", "Dad! He hit me!", etc.  Many days the tyranny of the moment and the need to bring calm to the situation leads me to forget just how blessed I really am.  I have the unique opportunity to take three guys (soon to be four) and shape them into young men who love the Lord Jesus Christ.  I get to model the gospel in a real and tangible way to my sons.  I don't do a very good job of it.  I am afraid that many days they get an angry tyrant instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I sometimes sacrifice relationship for peace and quiet.  I think that sometimes I treat them as burdens rather than blessings.  However, most every day I have at least one moment where God uses them to show me just how blessed I really am.  I am thankful that while I am, like everyone else, an imperfect earthly father that I know (and prayerfully they do too) a Heavenly Father that treats us as sons and not slaves, gives us grace in our failures.

Last week in the DR, I was confronted with two stories about how fragile life is as a dad.  In one case we heard about a 14-year old kid who was fighting a very deadly form of cancer.  In another we heard a pastor tell about losing his 19-year old son in a car accident.  It was a not-so-gentle reprimand from my Heavenly Father about my attitude towards the boys he's blessed me with.  On this day, I am grateful that my sons look past my faults and still love me as dad.  I am blessed more than I deserve.

(Now I have to go. Someone's hitting someone.  Someone's told me for the ninth time they are bored.  Someone's asking when the turkey's going to be ready...)

Things I Am Thankful For...

This being Thanksgiving week, I thought I would put up a few posts about some things that I am extremely thankful for this year.  First up...

People Who Sacrifice to Obey the Great Commission

Wrapping up my first full year as a pastor, this is one that has been heavy on my heart recently.  In the past year, I have been able to witness God putting a heart for missions into the people of Sixth Street.  This has always been a good SBC church - giving to and promoting missions.  However, in the past 12 months God has given us a heart to go.  I just returned from a baseball outreach to the Dominican Republic with three guys who, to my knowledge, have never been on a mission trip before.  It has been exciting to see the fire in their eyes as they see the great spiritual need both at home and abroad. 

In addition to these guys, in January one of our ladies went to Africa with a local church.  In June we sent a team of 24 to McDowell, Kentucky to do construction and benevolence work.  In August, my wife and a college student from the church spent 2 weeks in Africa ministering and sharing Christ's love with orphans in Swaziland, one of the most destitute countries in the world.  We have a team of four guys that are preparing to go in early 2011 on a vision trip to begin a partnership with the International Mission Board to reach an unengaged people group somewhere in West Africa.  These men are selling cars, boats, and sacrificing greatly to obey God's call on them.  We have another young lady in the church that is preparing to leave in January for "The World Race" - a 12-month journey to 11 countries.  The spreading of this fire for missions has created some great conversations in our church and is helping us to turn our attention away from the struggles of the past. 

By far, though, the greatest sacrifice I have seen this year is my friends Mark and Alyson Clyburn and Steve and Amy McAdams.  These two couples are friends of our from our former church in Birmingham.  Four years ago, these couples were average families who attended church each week and enjoyed good Christian fellowship.  However, they attended a mission trip to Swaziland several years ago and God redirected their lives in a massive way.  I witnessed as they sacrificed jobs, houses, cars, and much more to prepare themselves to pick up their children and their lives and move around the globe to love on and share the gospel with orphans.  The journey was a difficult one.  Many days we wondered how they would get the finances to go.  They are still in need of a lot of prayer and financial support.  If you are looking for a way to bless someone this holiday season, please consider giving them a financial gift.  You can do so here: Steve McAdams or Mark Clyburn. 

The task before us is great, but the Savior we serve is greater still.  He has promised that the gospel will go into all the world.  He has promised that every people group will have access to hear the gospel.  All he needs from us is open hands and surrendered hearts.  My prayer for my church, my family, and the Southern Baptist Convention is that we - like these families - will sacrifice whatever Christ asks to fulfill the Great Commission.  

Back from Blogging Hiatus

I apologize for my recent unexpected hiatus from blogging.  I know that many of you have been fasting and sitting in sackcloth and ashes eagerly awaiting your RSS feed to update.  No good excuse for my absence.  Got real busy with church stuff.  Then went for a week to New Orleans for a doctoral seminar (no time to blog there).  Then went to Disney with the family for a week (Pics to follow soon). 

I will be posting a book review soon...

Chris Tomlin...kinda like our John Wesley or Barry Manilow

Thanks for several of you who posted comments on my blog or Facebook page letting me know that you actually do read my blog. It inspires me to be more active in writing my thoughts.

This past week, I had the privilege of taking my three boys to a concert with Chris Tomin and TobyMac. It was their first real concert experience and a great treat. While worshiping with Tomlin, I was reminded how fortunate we are to live in the current church age. One of the biggest benefits to the current state of the church has been the evolution of our forms of worship and the godly, spirit-filled worship leaders that currently lead this movement. One such leader is Chris Tomlin.

My first exposure to Chris Tomlin was in the mid-90's when I took my students to a Dawson McAllister Student Conference in Jackson, MS. Dawson announced we were going to hear a new kid who just graduated from Texas A&M named Chris Tomlin. This young 22-year old kid with a baby face came out and sang 3 or 4 songs that sounded like Christian Country music. Some years later, I would see him hitting the emerging scene of camp worship leaders. He also began to play at the popular Passion events being led by a guy named Louie Giglio. A couple of the songs he wrote and played with Passion like Forever and The Wonderful Cross began to circulate and be played by other worship leaders and churches. Tomlin's influence and art for writing gifted worship songs began to grow and expand.

In the summer of 2002, my students and I were at a Student Life Camp in Ruston, LA with Tomlin and camp pastor Wade Morris. I distincly remember Wade Morris saying that Chris Tomlin was "the hymnwriter of our generation" and that he was writing the songs that the church would be singing for years to come. I began to think of Tomlin as this generation's cross between John Wesley and Barry Manilow. Like Wesley, Tomlin is writing songs of deep worship and theology that could prove to be timeless and last for generations. Stick with me on Barry Manilow. In 1975, Manilow recorded the song I Write the Songs which said "I write the songs that make the whole world sing."

That's what I think about every time I hear a new Chris Tomlin album. This guy is writing the songs that define worship for this generation. Many of the songs he has written and recorded are timeless. They are played thousands of times each week in churches across America. Tomlin's music have given a voice of worship to an entire generation of people. His songs are timeless. Take a look at some of the songs that Tomlin has written and recorded in the past 10 years:
Forever
Kindness
The Wonderful Cross
Famous One
Enough
Holy is the Lord
How Great is Our God
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Glory in the Highest
Jesus Messiah
I Will Rise
Our God

In addition, Tomlin has recorded and made famous many songs written by others like Your Grace is Enough, Indescribable, Everlasting God, and God of this City.

Between camps, passion events, and concerts, I have seen Tomlin leading worship more times than I can count. I have almost 100 of his songs on my Ipod. Doubtless, there are many more worship songs to come. I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use this servant in the years to come. In the meantime, I encourage you to express thanksgiving to the Lord for the influence that he has given Tomlin and the opportunity to witness a historic time in the life of the church.