RESOLVED: To be a steward of God's resources

Several weeks ago I blogged that we have started a new sermon series at Sixth Street called "RESOLVED" in which we are looking at 4 resolutions that we as Christ-followers can make that will have a significant impact on our spiritual lives as well as our church and our families.  The second resolution that we looked at was resolving to be a steward of the resources that God has provided us.  We talked about the need to flip the lens by which we look at our money and possessions. 

The problem is that from an early age we have been programmed to look at our world from the lens of consumers and consumption.  We also see things through a scarcity mentality that says there is only so much available and we need to get all we can right now. We learn this as infants.  We learn there are only so many cookies so we better eat them now.  As we grow up, our desires get bigger.  We begin to measure our lives by our consumption and our value is measured by the size of our flat screen or the cost of our SUV.  We want the Super-Size meal and the 20" laptop.  To top it off, we see the things in other people's houses add to our discontent.  We also talked about the fact that the gravitational pull of our flesh is not towards godliness, but towards selfish fulfillment.

The answer to this is that we need to change from being consumers to being stewards.  We need to see our resources the way that God does.  We need to understand that all our resources have their beginning and belonging with God.  He has placed us as managers over them and made us accountable to him for our management.  This is why stewardship is such an important topic in the church.  Without a biblical understanding of stewardship, our resources will eventually become idols that rob us of truly worshiping God.

We saw that our lives are to be marked by four significant changes:

• They should be marked by contentment over consumption
• They should be marked by righteousness over resources.
• They should be marked by purity over possessions.
• They should be marked by generosity over greed.

We closed with the following resolution:
WHEREAS, life and everything that accompianies it is a gift from the Heavenly Father; and
WHEREAS, every resource in the life of an individual has its ultimate origin from the hand of Almighty God; and
WHEREAS, God has graciously provided from His sovereign hand every resource in the life of a believer including but not limited to financial resources, life and breath, the dawning of each day, and all the possessions accumulated in life; and
WHEREAS, the life and attitude of the Christian is to be marked by responsibility and thanksgiving to God Almighty; and
WHEREAS, the Christians is accountable to God for not only the accumulation of these resources, but also their management; be it now
RESOLVED, that as a Christian I will be a steward of God's resources; and
RESOLVED, that I will measure the value of my resources by my accountability to God and not by my personal consumption; and
RESOLVED, that whether I eat or whether I drink or whatever I do I will do it all to the glory of God; and
RESOLVED, that I will generously and gladly support the ministry of my local church and the kingdom of God as a first priority; and
RESOLVED, that I will live a life marked by contentment, responsibility, generosity, righteousness, and purity with the resources God has given me.

Welcome to the world Joshua Lee

Yesterday was a historic day in the Haines' household.  We were honored and excited about the birth of our fourth son - Joshua Lee Haines.  To God's glory, he is healthy and measures in at 8 lbs, 8 oz.  He was born at 7:56 am.  This was Alison's third c-section so his arrival was a little better scheduled.  We were surrounded by our family.  Josh had lots of arms to hold him throughout the day.  We were especially surprised by how excited and helpful Josh's oldest brother Nathan has been.  Nathan spent all day watching over him, changed a diaper, and held him a lot.  Drew and John David are also very excited that their little brother is here.

We believe that Josh is going to be a special baby in a lot of ways.  First of all, his announcement was certainly a surprise.  Alison and I had finally gotten into the routine of having all our kids in public school.  Our days were to be filled with baseball and legos and not diapers and poop.  Our house is usually very loud, but now that volume will be filled with the cries of an infant.  Alison and I talked the other day that beginning with my first-born until my third, John David, was finally potty-trained, we had over 8 years where we had diaper duties.  Our monthly budget had some freedom without the added $40/month expense for diapers.  Not so now.

We also find humor in the age difference now in the kids in the house.  Our other kids are 11, 10, and 6.  When this son graduates from high school, his dad will be 60 years old.  My friend Jason said yesterday that is classmates will say, "Why is your grandad always bringing you here?"  When Josh is my oldest son's age (11), Nathan will be graduated from college.  Our hopes for an empty nest with some personal time have been delayed for some time.  However, we also know and affirm that our first calling here as parents is not to get the kids out of the house ASAP, but to raise our sons as ambassadors of the gospel.  God has given us another chance to model the gospel through our words and actions. 

Joshua is also a reminder to us that our sovereign God gives us the gift of children.  While we do a lot with family planning, God is the one who provides for us.  Psalm 127 reads, "Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."  We know that the immediate future will be filled with sleep-deprived nights, diaper duties, and the constant question "Who missed the toilet when they were peeing?"  We also know that God has rewarded us with great opportunities.  There are great challenges every day to parenting 4 boys.  Their rooms are never clean.  They crunch chips all over the couch. 

Psalm 127 also reads, "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children of one's youth.  Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them."  God has given me another arrow in the arsenal of the gospel.  I am humbled that he considers me a warrior trustworthy enough for another arrow.  There were many days of my youth where I wondered if I would have a family or sons as my heritage.  God has provided to his glory!  One of my goals and challenges as a pastor and Christ-follower is to help men to understand the weight and privilege of their gospel responsibility as dads.  The epidemic of detached dads in the church has weakened our effectiveness.  I love throwing catch or shooting hoops with my boys.  However, my first responsibility is not to make sure they bat .400 or can throw a perfect spiral.  My first priority is not teaching them how to land a trophy buck.  My first priority is to nurture these arrows until they are ready to fight in the battle and then carefully aim and release them into the world as agents of the gospel.  It is a heavy task and one that almost every man feels inadequate at.  However, an arrow that misses its target and lies shattered on the battlefield has missed it's purpose.  I take pride in the fact that the heavenly Father has now handed me another arrow.  It will take some time to nurture Josh.  I have to remember these facts when I reach down for another diaper.  I have to constantly quote these verses when I am cleaning food off the floor.  But, I am grateful...

Slave by John MacArthur: A Book Review

I was excited to get my hands on John MacArthur's new book "Slave" to review.  Dr. MacArthur and his writings have had a profound effect on my Christian walk as well as my ministry.  I have been privileged to receive dozens of books from his ministry, Grace to You, that have shaped much of my theology and ministry practice.  This book quickly went into the top three that I have read by him and will effect me much like The Gospel According to Jesus did. 

The premise of the book is that for many centuries Bible translators have often translated the greek word "doulos" as servant or bond-servant instead of the more accurate translation "slave".  This has been primarily to the negative reaction in the western world to the atrocities that occurred in both the English and the American slave trades.  In the process of translating such, a major theological flaw has occurred.  We have created a system of Christianity that places a lot of sovereignty in the life of the believer.  We have looked at the relationship of Christ-follower and Jesus as a partnership.  "Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life", "Jesus is for you", and "Jesus wants to do abundant things in your life" are some of the popular notions in today's church.  They all miss the point that what Christ calls us too in the gospel is complete allegiance, total surrender, and abandonment of self in order to find the treasure of the gospel - Christ himself.  MacArthur does a masterful job of taking the reader back to understanding the Roman system of slavery against the more modern understandings of it.  He shows the reader that to accurately understand "doulos" we must look at the perspective of the culture in which the New Testament was written.  He explains that while slaves had no inherent rights, many of them also benefited greatly from benevolent masters who took care of them. 

While some might think on the surface that the ideas that MacArthur expounds sound restrictive, a closer examination shows that they are the pathway to true biblical freedom.  No longer do we need to be bound to a system where Jesus is our "friend" and we "try our best to be like him."  Instead, through complete submission to Christ, we discover greater intimacy with him, a pathway to obedience, and release from the systems of this world.  I would highly recommend every pastor, church leader, and most Christians to pick up a copy of Slave.  Find the freedom of slavery to Christ.

What if there's a bigger picture?

I love this video I just saw this week from Matthew West.  Great song, great message.

RESOLVED: To Be a Student of God's Word

I started a new sermon series at Sixth Street yesterday called "Resolved: Commitments that Count".  In this 4 week series we will be looking at 4 key resolutions that if we undertake them will have dramatic effects on our lives, families, and church in 2011.  I talked about how most of us have become disillusioned with making New Year's resolutions because we confuse resolutions with goals.  A goal is a preferred outcome.  However, if we don't make it, no big deal because it was a goal.  Resolutions require resolve.  "Resolve" is defined as "to come to a definite or earnest decision about; a determination to do something."  Resolve requires determination.  Determined to not be content any longer and determined to do whatever it takes to make necessary changes.  For instance, I may have a goal to lose weight and eat better.  However, when my doctor tells me that if I don't exercise and lose weight that I may have a heart-attack and leave my wife a widow and my kids fatherless, now I have determination.

With that in mind, as Christians we usually make a new year's goal to "read the Bible more."  However, the weakness of that statement is what usually leads to our failure. If you only read the Bible 10-12 times last year outside of attending a worship service or small group, then if you read it 20-25 times this year you would technically accomplish the goal, but still fall far short of your intention.  Instead, we should me a "resolution" to become a student of God's word.  That statement carries with it greater weight, accountability, and action.  When I phrase it in that manner, then I must make some hard changes in my life and time management to accomplish it.

We looked at Hebrews 4:12 and the Prosperous, Powerful, Piercing, Probing, and Productive word of God.  We saw that God uses Scripture to transform our desires, attitudes, thoughts, values, and priorities.  Here is the resolution I have adopted and gave our church as a challenge yesterday:

WHEREAS, the natural course of our personal human nature is to trust in our own wisdom in all matters of life; and
WHEREAS, the wisdom of the world is foolishness in the sight of the living God; and
WHEREAS, the life of the believer is to be one of deep devotion to God and personal transformation by the renewing of one's mind; and
WHEREAS, the Bible is the authoritative, life-giving, inspired, inerrant word of the living God; and
WHEREAS, the mind of the believer is transformed through devotion to and interaction with Scripture; be it now
RESOLVED, that as a follower of Jesus Christ that I will become a student of God's word; and
RESOLVED, that I will no longer be content with a shallow relationship with holy Scripture; and
RESOLVED, that I will intentionally and purposefully manage my time to create opportunities to regularly read and study; and
RESOLVED, that whenever I find something in my life that is incompatible with God's word that I am to change and not it.

I also gave some suggestions for Bible reading plans for 2011.  Here are some of them:
The ESV Bible Plan
The One Year Bible Chronological Plan - read the events of the Bible in the timeline as they happened.
Discipleship Journal plans - The 5x5x5 plan and the regular through the Bible plan.
Youversion.com

My 2011 Reading Plan

I love books. Sometimes I think I love collecting books more than I love reading books.  Usually Christmas is a time for my family to get me books that I really want but haven't broken down and bought yet.  Whenever I get the latest copy of Christian Book Distributors catalog my fingers begin to shake and my breathing gets erratic.  I find myself browsing Amazon.com several times a day doing random searches.  My wish list and shopping cart are full of books that I think would be neat to own, but I don't feel compelled to spend money on right now.  It's a sickness that usually is only reserved for those of us in ministry who spend our lives in the arena of words and ideas.  The end of the year is usually reserved to spend the last few hundreds of dollars of unclaimed business expense money on all kinds of commentaries and books that we saw in someone else's library. 

All that being said, I do try to be intentional about what I read.  I try to vary the offerings in areas covering ministry, leadership, preaching, biographies, sports, and popular fiction.  I will be doing a lot of doctoral work in the first three months of the year.  Much of my reading will be confined to research in the area of servant leadership.  However, here is a list of the books I plan to read this year. 

Must-Do's
Slave by John MacArthur
The Confession by John Grisham
Decision Points by George W. Bush
Generous Justice by Tim Keller
Text Driven Preaching by Danny Akin
Spiritual Warfare and Missions by Jerry Rankin and Ed Stetzer
The Grace of God by Andy Stanley
Mint Condition by Dave Jamieson
The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons
Beyond Belief by Josh Hamilton

Like-to's
The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns
Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin
For the Fame of God's Name by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor
Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni
Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges
The Millenials by Thom and Jess Rainer
Don't Call It a Comeback by Kevin DeYoung

Might-do's
The God Who Is There by D.A. Carson
Why I Am Not an Arminian by Robert Peterson and Michael Williams
Church + Home by Mark Holmen

I know there will be lots of books that will come out this year I do not know about and others that are already out that will cross my path sometime soon.  These will be added to the plan when possible.

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.

Best Commercial of 2010

This is the one commercial that always gets me and the family to stop and watch. Always funny when I see it.

Worship from the silent monks

I saw this yesterday on Kevin DeYoung's blog. This is creative and very funny - a reminder that everyone can praise the Lord, even if they have taken a vow of silence.

Why one "Mac" guy is very disappointed in Apple...

In this "politically correct" and "tolerant" society, it's not surprising but certainly is disappointing that Apple last week decided to pull the app for the Manhattan Declaration from it's store.  It's another sign in the continuing saga that holding to a gospel-centered, Christian worldview is viewed as "intolerant" and "bigoted" in today's society.  Our culture has shifted rapidly over the last 40 years away from centrally help objective standard.  This is another example of the radical depravity of sin that pervades not just every person, but ultimately can pervade society.  Our culture, while trying to exalt human dignity and value, exalts humanistic value above all else.  While cloaking itself as upholding the value of individuals, it has created a society where the free exchange of competing ideas is squashed.  As we continue to slide toward Gomorrah, Romans 1:18-32 continues to be a picture not just of our future, but of our present as well.  The gospel presented in Romans is not about being "anti-gay" but instead is summed up in phrase "who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (18)."

We see that part of the judgment of God is that He gives them over to a "debased mind" that no longer has any ability to determine righteousness or unrighteousness.  This is the natural course of sin.  This is the passive judgment of God where He allows people (and a culture) to see and feel the full effects of their depravity.  This is why it is of paramount importance that we build our churches and ministry upon a strong foundation of the gospel.  This is why we must preach and teach the gospel to ourselves every day.  This is why we must take people away from the issue of homosexuality and back to Genesis 3 where we show them how "original sin" causes us to reject God's word and become our own idols. 

Bottom line, Apple is a "for-profit" company that is more afraid of the backlash and political implications of offending a minority than the implications of offending Christians.  Why?  Because as Christians we will meekly step aside like many times before.  In the meantime, I don't see Apple pulling off podcasts from it's Apple store that bash Christianity, openly call the church "anti-gay", or promote ideas that Christians would find offensive.  Why not?  They would want to promote free and open dialogue of course - except in the case of the Manhattan Declaration app.

Here is a great video done by Chuck Colson about the implications of this decision on our political culture.  There is much more here at stake than just "some Christians being offended."

Christmas According to Ipad

This was from North Point Community Church this past weekend.  What an extremely creative use of technology.  I wish I were this creative.


North Point's iBand from North Point Web on Vimeo.

MSU Dawgs - Egg Bowl Highlights

Another great video by Derek Cody highlighting the Bulldogs Egg Bowl victory.  It's been an awesome and memorable season so far.  Looking forward to the Gator Bowl (even though it matches up my two favorite teams in college football).  Go Dawgs!

Don't just get people "saved"...give them the gospel

Ok.  Time to get something off my chest.  The longer I am in ministry and the more I look at the state of the church in America, the more concerned I am about some of the tactics and methods we use to help people understand salvation and what it means.  I believe that there are several well-intentioned, but sometimes misleading things that we do in churches today that actually go against helping people to find a true personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Let me illustrate first from personal experience.  I have been a "Christian" (I prefer to say a disciple of Jesus) for about 20+ years.  However, I have been a Baptist for 42 years.  I spent my Sundays as a child growing up in an SBC church - attending Sunday School and VBS, going to "big worship", and hearing all the Bible stories.  My church heritage laid a spiritual foundation for me at an early age.  As a child, I deeply believed there was a God.  Not only that, I knew that he had "a wonderful plan for my life."  I knew that Jesus died on the cross to forgive me of my sin.  However, like most children, my young age prevented me from really understanding the true implications of the gospel facts that my church gave me.  I did know enough though to know that I wasn't the kind of person that God wanted me to be.  I knew that I did things that displeased him and I was ashamed of them. 

In seventh grade, an FCA group came to my school for an assembly.  They asked us to come back that night for a big gathering in the gym.  What 7th grader doesn't want to go hang out with friends and hear ex-jocks tell their stories?  Besides, I think there was free pizza. (isn't there always?  I don't think most churches can share the gospel with students without pizza.)  I heard athletes share about how they lived their lives in drugs and sports.  I heard them share about how they trusted Jesus to forgive them of their sins.  I heard them tell us that if we didn't trust Jesus as our Savior that we would spend eternity in hell.  (I knew I didn't want that.  My dad often referenced hell, but I don't think he understood it biblically either.)  Then some guy gave an altar call.  I watched as dozens of kids came down out of the gym bleachers to get "saved".  My friend Darren who was next to me said "Do you want to go down?" (Darren wasn't a Christian.  He was just a guy with a mullet who liked heavy metal music like me.)  I said "Yeah, do you."  We both went down and had some guy on a stage say "If you want to get saved, pray this prayer."  We did.  Then we were given some cards to fill out.  That was pretty much it.  The only problem was, nothing really changed.  I still liked heavy metal music, thought cursing was cool, and was tempted to look at dirty pictures of women.  However, I was "saved". 

Several years later, I was at a student night revival at my church.  I was a junior in high school.  I just had 5 pieces of pepperoni pizza (see, gospel and pizza).  I heard the revival speaker tell stories about kids who went out and got drunk and died and were spending eternity in hell.  He talked about how Jesus wanted me to get saved.  I knew that I was in need of something.  When the invitation was given, I went forward.  I was sent to a room with a counselor who shared the gospel with me and prayed with me.  However the doubts about my salvation remained for two more years until I fully surrendered to Christ at age 20.

The point of my story is that I wasn't ignorant about my need to get "saved".  I knew that Jesus died on the cross and that he rose again.  I knew he loved me.  Some would say I had a head knowledge of Christ, but not a heart knowledge.  I don't think that was the case.  I did want to love God.  I loved what I knew of him.  I meant it when I sang the youth choir songs.  What was missing was a continual planting in me of the gospel. 

Let me clarify a couple of things:  1.) I believe that everyone along my spiritual journey (SS teachers, youth ministers, evangelists) genuinely wanted me to know about the love of God and Christ's sacrifice on my behalf.  2.) I know that my capacity to have a saving knowledge of Christ, implications of my sin, etc. was limited along my journey by my age and personal knowledge and experience of sin.  3.) I don't think that someone must have a complete understanding about all the gospel facts in order to experience real salvation.  Jesus himself said we must come like little children.  Romans 10 says that what is needed is confession of Jesus as Lord and belief in his resurrection. 

Here's the point of all this.  I want to plead with my brothers in ministry to hold true to the gospel.  Sometimes in the simplicity of the gospel, we try to make it too simple.  In ministry we often judge success by spiritual identification and not spiritual transformation.  So, we give stories about hell, give powerful pleas to "accept Christ", get people down the aisle and into the baptistery, and consider ourselves success.  We use the scorecards of church attendance and baptisms instead of saved marriages and changed lives.  We need to help people see that they need the gospel as much to be saved as they do to become saved.  We need to remember our end goal is not getting people down the aisle.  We need to remember as Dallas Willard says that "our end goal is not to get people into Heaven, but to get Heaven into people."  This week, I had the privilege to talk with a 48-year old guy who is trusting the gospel for the first time.  He's been "saved" and "rededicated" several times.  He knew many facts about the gospel.  He just didn't know the gospel.  I explained that following Jesus meant the death of him.  I explained that in order to follow Jesus he had to give up everything he was for everything Christ is.  His eyes lit up.  For the first time, he was experiencing the gospel.  He went from spiritual jargon to spiritual reality.  It was a beautiful site.  The sad thing is that 28 years ago, this guy walked an aisle.  He was probably very emotional.  He was told how to be saved.  He prayed the prayer.  He was baptized.  However, by his own words he admitted that nothing changed.  He said it felt like the door was shut on him.  Frustrated, he decided that since heaven was secure then God wanted him to just do his own thing.  He lived 28 years with just enough facts about the gospel to reserve an eternity in hell.  I do not fault him.  I don't know who to fault.  I fault a system that takes a simple, yet beautiful message and boils it down to a simplistic jargon and recitation of facts.  We must do better. 

Brothers.  If we are going to get people saved, let's make sure that we make the gospel; it's facts and implications, the starting point.  Let's not be afraid to take some time and carefully explain it.  Let's be more afraid of false conversions than gospel rejection.  Let's not measure success by getting them down the aisle and instead measure it by their progression towards Christlikeness.  And, let's make sure that we understand and preach the gospel as larger than "getting saved." 

The Walk by Shaun Alexander - A Book Review

I recently was given a copy of a new book by former Alabama and NFL star running back Shaun Alexander called "The Walk: Clear Direction and Spiritual Power for Your Life."  I had the privilege of watching Shaun's career at the University of Alabama and his strong testimony of his faith while a youth pastor in the Birmingham area.  I also had him speak to my students in 2002.  He has always been a solid example for both young people and men of a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

"The Walk" is a good read, especially in the generic "Christian Living" market.  This book is the author's attempt to try and explain a basic concept of discipleship and following Jesus.  Like the title suggests, Alexander utilizes the biblical illustration of "walking" from both the Old and New Testament to define how God intends the Christian life to be lived.  He has tried to write this book to be relevant to people on several places on the Christian journey.  In his words, he defines five stages of this pilgrimage - the Unbeliever, the Believer, the Example, the Teacher, and the Imparter.  Each of these stages shows the need for progressive sanctification.  He also identifies in each stage what he calls the "Trials, Traps, and Victories" of each stage.  This structure helps the reader to easily identify whatever stage he may be in and struggles he may be currently facing.  He also uses the example of Peter in each of the stages to show a biblical example of someone who progressed in his walk with Jesus. 

Don't read this book if you are looking for a theological dialogue on progressive sanctification.  There were some points where I felt like the theological foundations for the author's statements were a little shaky.  I felt at times that passages were used as a proof-text and weren't given careful enough exegesis.  This however is a common trend in most popular Christian living books.  Another concern was possibly an unintended implication that Alexander's athletic success was a result of his obedience to Jesus.  At points the reader might get a taste of a prosperity gospel that suggests that if you "give God all the glory" that God will bless you.  This is indicative of the "Prayer of Jabez" church culture that many times fails to see that sometimes God may bring prosperity and sometimes he may give you a cross.  At times I wish he would have dealt a little more fully with some of the tougher issues of being obedient when God doesn't come through like you suggested.

I don't believe that Alexander is attempting to declare a prosperity gospel - quite the opposite.  I think he has tried to write a very encouraging book to the vast majority of Christians that struggle with everyday obedience to Christ.  For this reason, I think the book is an encouraging read.  I believe that Shaun Alexander has done a great job of leveraging the gifts God has given him to glorify God.  This book is another attempt to do that.  I think many people will be helped and strengthened by reading it.  If you have a football fan in the family, especially in the Southeastern Conference, pick up a copy of this book for him/her.

Greatest Egg Bowl Ever!

In honor of tonight's game, here was one of the greatest moments in MSU Egg Bowl history.  My wife, brother, dad, and I were at the game.  It was an awesome moment! 

(The quality isn't great, but the energy translates nonetheless)

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...