Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Grief Is Still Too Near...
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday Morning Weather
The weather has been changing here up on Limestone ridge this morning. As Denise went off to watch Sawyer this morning, I got out and walked as the temps were hovering around 45 and the wind was asleep. By the time I had run an errand and come back from the post office, it was raining hard. Not an hour later the wind has not only woken up, but is running up and down the hills here so hard I had to wind the awning on the RV in to prevent it from being ripped in two. The rest of the day will be a quite one spent inside working on a ministry newsletter and some cards to send out until it is time to head out to James and Kim's for dinner.
This morning’s study comes out of the book of Hosea and has lead to some interesting thoughts. A friend of mine and I were discussing various things a while back and the subject of a popular evangelist we both knew came up…well actually I brought it up. He had fallen from grace and damaged his ministry severely because of an affair, and yet I seem to recall he was back again. My friend had told me that he had gone against advice from those who have a specific ministry of helping people to be restored and came back too quickly. When I read Hosea I am reminded that before God restored His people He always judged them first. There was a time of suffering for their sin against Him. From what I understand in Scripture, the one who repents and is asking for forgiveness does not set the terms. It would seem one’s heart is not right if they have committed a sin against another and then turn around and say okay here is what I am going to do to make things right. If we are truly interested in restoring the relationship, we humbly ask, "What can I do to make things right again?"
The 4th Annual Board meeting of Restoring The Church Ministries went well. We brought a new member on the board as another came off. Dr. Richards is a fine man and I hate to see him go, but understand his reason. He has been on board since the beginning of this ministry and he will be missed. On the other hand I am very excited about the new member, Dwight Moss. He brings so much to the table and I look forward to working with him in the future.
Met with a rather high profile guy for breakfast last week and if he decides to get involved I believe it will really help our efforts out at the camp. Like I shared with the Board on Friday, much of my time right now is spent on the phone and having lunch with folks building those relationships. Met with a young pastor last week and we are praying about where God would have us serve next.
One more week until our second grandchild, first child for my daughter, enters the world. These are exciting times! I am so proud of both of my children and their spouses. Just a commercial here if you ever need pictures made check out “Something Beautiful Photography”. There are many out there who can take pictures and fairly good ones with all these digital cameras and such, but James just seems to have an eye for what looks good. We have been updating the Camp MACOBA blog and just added a couple of new entries…only two more to go. The rain and wind are keeping the critters away for the time being but I am sure they are not too far away.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Run For Cover
This past Thursday and Friday I spent on the Eastern Shore. Seems like I remember something about Orcs patrolling these shores…didn’t see any though. The ABREA Annual meeting was held in Fairhope this year and I rode down with a friend of mine from Athens. Dwight Moss is the new Minister of Education at Decatur Baptist and let me tell you he is on top of his game. He came over from Clements Baptist where they were voted as one of the best growing churches in the Southeast in the last five years. The trip is a little over six hours one way. When you spend that much time in a vehicle with someone, the opportunity to know them increases quite a bit. The conference was a good one and the speaker, “Jay McSwain“ did an excellent job. This may have been the best conference on connecting people to ministry I have ever been to. As a matter of fact, we will probably be receiving several training sessions in “Place” (http://www.placeministries.org/) to help make us more valuable to the churches we serve. We had the privilege of viewing a new movie that is not coming out until September called “Courageous”. I thought it was the best Christian movie yet. Brent Shaw, who was the ABREA President and our host, did an excellent job. We had fresh seafood at the banquet and plenty of it. I remember meeting some friendly folks such as Wayne Polk and Chuck Ashley. There were packets from Lifeway given out to everyone which included a book. You can always count on Michael Gentry for some goodies. Speaking of Michael, it seems he was battling some kind of bug for awhile there. Saw Rick Ellison and Daniel Edmonds at the conference; now there are two busy guys. At our table was Charles Simmons, Minister of Education at Sardis Springs Baptist. He seems like a fine man who really knows his stuff when it comes to Sunday School and we had much conversation during our stay there. The wit and sarcasm of Mike Davis was missing as he was absent. Someone told me he was using some paper he was working on as an excuse. All in all it was a great trip and I am already looking forward to next year…which by the way is in Coosada. Not sure where that is going to have to Google it.
The rest of this evening will be spent making phone calls and setting up some lunch meetings for next week and preparing for our Ministry Board meeting on Friday.