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.  

Dominican Republic Mission Trip - Final Update

It's good to be back home on U.S. soil.  Yesterday was a long day of finishing up in the DR and traveling home.  On our last night in the DR, we had a great worship service.  Andy Pettite shared his testimony of coming to faith in Christ as a teenager and his career in MLB as a Christ-follower.  He also shared his regret for the incident where it was discovered that he had taken Human Growth Hormone and the damage it did to his reputation as a player and Christian.  Ken Whitten brought us another strong message from Psalm 37.  He is a gifted communicator and encourager.  After worship, we spent some time with some of the pro players we had become close to and did a video interview with them to show to our church.  We also stayed up late talking until past midnight about our experience and the challenges we had received in our walk with Christ.

Thursday morning began our last day of clinics.  We had the privilege of going to a complex that was built by the Rawlings Foundation to support the work of SCORE International and their vision of reaching children with baseball.  They had three wonderful fields and a housing complex that can house 1000 kids.  We split up and did a clinic.  Our group had to leave before the clinic was over to get to the airport for our flight home.  We left the DR with hearts that were full and broken for the kids of the DR.  All our teams had ministered to about 6,000 kids during the week and saw close to 4,000 indicate some decision for Christ.  We were able to pass our food to many people.  We also developed some great bonds with brothers-in-Christ from around the country. 

When we arrived in the country, the first thing we did after passing through customs...Whoppers from Burger King.

Dominican Republic Mission Trip - Day 4 (Mid-day Update)

We are on day 4 and our last full day here in the DR.  Last night was an awesome evening.  However, the hotel internet was down after our evening session preventing us from posting updates or calling our families.  That was a bummer.

Our evening session last night first consisted of a testimony time from Yankee great Mariano Rivera.  He shared about growing up in Panama and never imagining being given the chance to play in the major leagues.  He also shared about how he was discovered and how his coming to Major League Baseball opened up the chance for him to find Jesus Christ and lead his whole family to Christ.  SCORE had another group that was in a different part of the DR that joined us last night.  In that group were Kevin Malone, former GM of the LA Dodgers and several former and current Dominican players.  One was Melky Mesa, a current Yankee prospect.  We were also joined in the evening by Nelson Cruz who drove 7 hours from his hometown to join us.  We were challenged from the word by Ken Whitten, pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa.  He gave an awesome challenge about having hope and resolve in tough times.  The evening session was closed out by a lady who is here with her husband who did a wonderful painting of Jesus on the cross in front of us.  One of the highlights of the evening was an unexpected update from the dad in NC that we had talked with the day before whose 14-year old son has cancer.  They were told by the doctors last night after the latest scan that the tumors had shrunk and there appeared to be no sign of cancer!  It was an emotional moment for everyone and an affirmation of the healing power of God.

After the evening session, we were given a chance to talk with and get autographs from Andy Pettite, Mariano Rivera, Nelson Cruz, Melky Mesa, Chris Coughlin, and Mark Melancon.  We were also given a chance to shop for some local items being sold by local SCORE missionaries.  It was a late bedtime last night.

This morning's devotional was led by Pastor Steve Berger from Grace Chapel in Franklin, TN.  Fourteen months ago Steve's son Josiah was killed in a one-car accident.  He shared the painful story and how it led he and his wife on a journey to help people better understand what the Bible has to say about heaven.  It was a stirring time.  Steve and his wife have written a book and have a website to help with their story.  The website is HaveHeart.net.  After the devotional, our team loaded for about an hour bus ride to Medina for a clinic.  We were joined in our clinic today by Andy Pettite who led a pitching clinic and Nelson Cruz who worked with hitters.  Because we had some MLB stars, there was a huge crowd and a lot of media.  We kept having to back the media away because they interfered with the clinics.  Andy Pettite shared his testimony, John Zeller shared the gospel.  We had about 115 decisions and got follow-up cards on them afterwards. 

We came back to the hotel for lunch.  I am staying at the hotel to do some sermon work and update the blog.  The other guys from Sixth Street went out today for another clinic and pick-up game.  Thanks for praying for us.  We are seeing God do some awesome things both in the Dominican people at the clinics and in our evening sessions with us. 

Dominican Republic Mission Trip - Day 3

Greetings (or Hola!) from the DR.  We are wrapping up an extremely busy day three here.  It's been jam-packed today.  Our morning devotional consisted of a very touching testimony by Sam Marcinick.  He played several years in the Rangers and Yankees organizations.  He shared how five years ago he came on this trip to teach baseball and found Christ.  We also had a devotional by Ron Bishop.

Our group headed out for our first clinic of the day.  We were greeted in a village by about 250 kids.  We shared clinics on hitting, outfield, infield, and pitching.  We wrapped the clinic up with a couple of testimonies and a gospel presentation.  Hundreds responded to the gospel invitation and filled out response cards.  After lunch, we headed out to the city of Boca Chica for another clinic.  The locals had heard that Andy Pettite was coming so a large crowd from the city gathered.  We had over 300 kids for the clinics.  After the clinic, Andy Pettite came onto the field and shared his testimony.  Sam Marcinick shared the gospel and another large crowd responded.  After the clinic, we were swarmed by Dominican kids who were trying to get gloves, bats, balls, or anything else they could from us.  We had a hard time getting off the field and onto the bus.  Now, we just got cleaned up and are eating dinner.  We have a long worship session tonight and autograph session with Andy Pettite and Mariano Rivera.  Although I am a Red Sox fan, I am looking forward to meeting these two baseball greats.

More to come tomorrow...

Dominican Republic Mission Trip - Day 2

Hey everyone!  Quick update...today we had our first day of baseball clinics here in the DR.  After a long day traveling and long night meeting, we got to bed about 11:00 last night and woke at 6:00 this morning. (Actually, my phone went off about 5:00 in my room b/c I forgot to disarm it. So Bryan Riddle and I had a hard wake-up followed by another hard wake-up call an hour later). 

We had a great breakfast followed by a morning devotional time.  During our devotion, we called a guy in High Point, NC who has been on these trips before.  However, his family recently found out that their 14-year old son has an aggressive form of cancer.  He was diagnosed last year, underwent treatment, was declared clean this Spring, but the cancer has come back and is stronger.  Doctors have given him 6-12 months.  For that reason, he couldn't come this year.  We prayed with him and each of us felt the overwhelming weight imagining having to go through that with our sons. 

After devotion, we loaded up in the buses.  All of the guys from Sixth Street are on the same squad.  We went to a field in San Pedro de Marcoris that was at one time the Dominican home of the Houston Astros.  This village once heavily relied on a sugar cane plantation that has been closed for 25 years.  Most of the people are out of work and look around town for work.  San Pedro is the home for many Major League players, most famously Sammy Sosa.  The field was invaded by probably 200 kids.  Baseball is their only way out of poverty and their great passion.  One kid who was out there had only one arm.  He was deformed from birth.  He would field the ball, pop it up in the air, take off his glove, catch the ball and throw.  Most of the kids didn't have gloves and many didn't have shoes.  However, they all were thrilled to be playing baseball and showing off for us "gringos".  After the clinic, one of the guys shared his testimony and John Zeller shared the gospel. Several students indicated a desire to ask Christ to be their Savior.  That's what it's all about!

After coming back to the hotel for lunch, the other guys headed out to another clinic.  I stayed in the hotel trying to shake off a sinus infection.  Thanks for all your prayers.  Each of us have been greatly impacted today and it's only the first day.  More updates to come...

Hello from the Dominican Republic

It's 10:30 on the close of our first day here in the DR.  Today was mostly a traveling day.  We met at the church this morning at 3:15 AM to head to Atlanta for our flight to Miami and then to Santo Domingo.  The flights went well and we had a great time of laughs and cutting up together.  We are pretty tired and tomorrow starts early at 6:00 AM.

We have a team of 4 guys from Sixth Street here in the DR to do baseball clinics with SCORE International.  We are excited but unsure about what is in store for us during the week.  Most of the kids here in the DR believe that baseball is their ticket to a better life.  We are here to work with them on their passion and also to share with them the love and story of Jesus.  Tonight we had an opening worship service and heard a testimony of a young man playing AA ball and an inspirational message from SCORE's founder, Ron Bishop.  We also broke into our groups to talk about our work tomorrow.  There are several minor and a couple of major league players here in addition to some high school and college coaches.  I am excited to see three of my guys who get to mesh their passion and talent for baseball with the mission of Jesus.

Another highlight tonight was getting to see and talk with one of my baseball heroes, Ron Polk.  As a lifelong MS State fan, I grew up watching Coach Polk in the third base coaches box.  He is a true ambassador of the game.  It was great to see him singing worship songs tonight and sharing with his unique brand of humor.

That's about all for now.  Time to go to bed.  Hope to update tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Playing this one for Nick!

Getting ready for what I hope will be a great game in Tuscaloosa Saturday.  It's been a tough week in Starkville with the loss of Nick Bell and the media distractions surrounding Cam Newton's recruitment.  However, this video gets me jacked up for Saturday's game.  There are two teams that MSU fans are absolutely rabid about beating - Ole Miss and Alabama. 

This video shows there is definitely a new attitude in Starkville.  Great job Derek Cody!

R.I.P. Sparky Anderson

I grew up not only a baseball fan, but a huge fan of two teams - the Cincinatti Reds and the Detroit Tigers.  One thing they had in common is that they both won World Series under the same manager, Sparky Anderson.  My earliest memories of baseball are filled with Pete Rose's line drives, Joe Morgan's arm twitch, and Sparky Anderson's white hair and great smile.  Baseball has lost a legend today and one of the greatest managers of all time. 

True Maroon...New Maroon!

Pardon the personal selfish indulgence, but I just saw this from someone's Twitter and it was too good to not post.

This is the kind of counseling I wish I could do...

As a pastor, I have found myself doing a lot of counseling over the years.  While most of the situations that people come to me with our legitimate personal and spiritual issues, there are occasionally the ones that make you want to be like Bob Newhart below.  As a pastor, I have to be much more diplomatic.  However, sometimes this accurately reflects what needs to be said.

Josh Hamilton - Story of Grace and Redemption

I have always been a huge baseball fan.  If you read this blog, you know I am a rabid Red Sox fan.  I have also been a closet Texas Rangers fan for about 15 years.  While my loyalties are still at Fenway Park, my baseball hero now resides in Arlington.  By now, many of you know the story of Josh Hamilton.  You probably know that this guy was the "can't miss" draft pick of 1999.  He had all the talent that every young man dreams of.  He was also the object of his own idolatry.  You probably have heard about the accident that sidelined him and his subsequent slide into tattoo parlors, alcohol, and drugs.  You have probably heard about his banishment from baseball and how he hit rock bottom.  You have probably heard about how he turned to Jesus Christ, cleaned up, and began to play some baseball again - eventually getting a second chance to return to baseball.  You know about the other-worldly performance in the 2008 Home Run Derby launching rockets into the stands at old Yankee Stadium.  You probably also know that Josh led his Rangers to defeat the "evil empire" this last week to advance for the first time to the World Series.  For all these reasons, Josh Hamilton is my hero.

I sill think it's ok for a 42-year old guy to have sports heroes.  I certainly love the fact that as a father of 3 (soon to be 4), I have someone for my boys to look up to.  I love the fact that, despite the pit he had to go through, I have someone I can talk to my sons about not only the consequences of their choices but also that true repentance is answered by grace and redemption.  I love the look in my oldest sons eyes when I presented him an "autographed" copy of Josh's book "Beyond Belief" last Christmas.

Josh Hamilton is not my hero because he can smash a baseball further than I ever dreamed. Or because he can throw a rope from center field to home plate.  Or because he destroyed my most hated team on the planet.  Those all help.  Josh is my hero because he faced his past like a true man of God, repented of his sin, fell upon the grace of God, and has spent his subsequent life exalting Jesus Christ.  When I met Josh last year, I said to him, "You have a lot of dads that are praying for you because of the example you are to our sons."  He said "Thanks.  Please keep praying."


To see more of how Josh Hamilton is the real deal, check out this video: Josh Hamilton "I Am Second"

Johnny Hunt on Learning From Others

The more I hear from Dr. Johnny Hunt, the more I wish I and many others I know were more like him.  In this video from last year, Pastor Johnny talks about how he came to learn and appreciate those with whom he held different theological views.  I have tried as much as possible not to let theological difference be too divisive or keep me from appreciating and finding common ground.  I pray that no matter our theological or methodological convictions that we can learn better to separate issues of primary importance from secondary or tertiary issues.  I also pray that, like Dr. Hunt, our methods will be characterized more by humility and cooperation than belligerence. 

David Crowder Band - SMS(Shine)

This is an incredible video from David Crowder Band using a Lite-Brite and thousands of pegs.  This is by far one of the most creative things I have ever seen and proof of why I and so many others are fans of DC*B.  Enjoy.

MSU Dawgs back in the Top 25

It's cool to be a Bulldog!

As a die-hard MSU sports fan since I was 6 years old, it's always nice when we break into the top 25 and begin to get some recognition.  When I looked at the schedule this year and how we finished last year, I predicted to many that we would go 6-6, maybe 7-4.  I thought we could steal either Auburn or Georgia (we almost did both).  I never thought we would beat Florida (always a nice win).  Even in my best imagination I didn't foresee 5-2 with our only losses being the #6 and #7 teams in the country.  I didn't expect a top 25 placement 7 games into the season with a legitimate shot of going 8-4 or better.  It's a nice time to be a Bulldog and I hope we see continued success and are able to extend Mullen's contract such as fitting to keep him a Bulldog for a while.  Many kudos to Coach Mullen, the other FB coaches, AD Scott Stricklin, and former AD Greg Byrne for establishing a winning and celebrative atmosphere after a decade of futility and mediocrity.

GO DAWGS!

A Fitting Tribute for a Faithful Servant

I have been profoundly influenced by the writings and preaching of John Piper.  I was just reading through some blogs from my internet absence and saw this video from the Desiring God Conference last week.  I certainly plan to get this book as soon as I can.  I only hope to be able to finish doctoral research in order to be able to actually read it.

Transforming Church in Rural America (Book Review)

I recently received a copy of this book by Shannon O'Dell for review.  Since I am a new pastor in a rural community, I was very interested to see what the author had to say.  I had heard of O'Dell and his Brand New Church a couple of years ago from a link at WiredChurches.com.  O'Dell is doing a phenomenal work transitioning a small, dying church in rural Arkansas into a relevant model that can bring hope to any and all pastors of small, rural churches. 

O'Dell's book is an attempt to write the "Purpose-Driven Church" for small town church leadership.  It is mostly autobiographical in nature.  The author shares a lot of stories about his struggles and successes in transitioning a difficult church.  His story is a familiar refrain - a pastor looking for a change gets a call from the one place he really doesn't want to go but can't escape the fact that it is the one place where God wants him to go.  When he gets there, he realizes his fears have come true - he has inherited a dysfunctional church with dysfunctional systems that have made them irrelevant.  However, O'Dell was surrounded by a group of people that realized their dysfunction and really wanted to make a change.  The journey was not without hardship or opposition.  However, Brand New Church has become a multi-site church in an area that no one would have predicted this level of ministry success and a model to follow.

O'Dell's book is very practical.  It provides a lot of great ideas and inspiration.  It is certainly a departure from many of the church growth/church health books that focus on suburban churches in the thousands.  O'Dell's writing style is easy to read.  The book relies heavily on stories and the author's humor.  I would have liked to see more thought put into more biblical and theological foundations.  Little attention is paid to making changes in a dying church without compromising Scripture or theological foundations.  I am not suggesting that O'Dell has done this at his church.  However, it is easy for the reader to get caught up in ministry paradigms and practices without giving careful attention to the fact that most dying churches has very poor biblical and theological foundational systems.  The book also gets very repetitive at times.  After the first 3-4 chapters, I found myself not as engaged as I did at first.  However, the inspiration alone of how this leader showed a dying, rural church how to be a missional, evangelistic force is work

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...

Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

I was recently given the chance to preview Max Lucado's new book Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference.  I was first introduced to Lucado's inspirational writings as a 20-year old reading Six Hours One Friday: Anchoring to the Power of the Cross (Chronicles of the Cross).  Max's new book takes his writing to a new level.  Lucado's goal in this book is to help the reader to see that God has created and saved us not just to exist and do our best on our way to heaven, but to use our moment in God's story to make a impact for eternity.  Lucado draws from the inspirational accounts of the explosion of the early church in Acts to inspire the church to "make a big difference during a difficult time." 

Like most everything else I have read from Lucado, this book was a refreshing fountain of encouragement.  In his unique style, Max makes many of the stories from the first twelve chapters of Acts come alive.  You are literally drawn into the stories as participants given an opportunity to see God take ordinary people and do extraordinary things.  He shares one question he pondered that rocked his world: "When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?"  It's a fair and poignant question that the church in America should be shaken to answer.  Throughout the book, I was encouraged and challenged that God has created me and called me to do more than the life I have crafted.  Just like he took nobodies, average Joe's, and outcasts in the first century, he wants to use us today to advance the gospel and expand his glory in ways never before imagined. 

I would highly recommend Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference to any Christian who would dare to believe that there is more to Christianity than a comfortable life.  Lucado's writing style has a way of engaging even those who don't regularly read books.  You just might find yourself challenged to dream in ways you never have before.

Sterling Davis Update

I asked yesterday that you intercede today for Sterling Davis.  Here is a blog on his progress and some things specifically you can intercede in his behalf today.

http://sterlingdavis.wordpress.com/