There are some things you don’t think about too much when you announce you’re transitioning to a new ministry. One is your library. After more than 53 years of ministry, I have accumulated a few books. I’ve had the privilege of either church-provided space or, as a state missionary, I enjoyed a separate room filled with shelves attached to my office for my library. That didn’t count the books Sharon and I collected that we used for personal study, or to provide for our sons when we were … [Read more...]
Show appreciation to your pastor
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells us the word “appreciate” primarily means “a feeling or expression of admiration, approval or gratitude.” When you value something, someone, or a certain behavior, you want to say something. As they used to say a few decades ago, “You gotta let it out.” Express yourself when you sense value in someone who has blessed you or encouraged you, or maybe someone you see that just needs to be blessed by your words. Perhaps somewhere in the swirl of the Covid-19 … [Read more...]
A pleasant potpourri
The Pathway is not just one thing it is a potpourri of many things. Often its stories are like a pleasant scent—there’s just something special about God’s people on mission with Him. Potpourri is that dried, good smelling stuff in a jar or a cannister that you drag out of the closet or cabinet to fill a room with the aroma of the season. Maybe you are like me when a seasonal pumpkin scent hits the olfactory nerves in my nose, I start salivating for a big slice of “punkin pie.” “But … [Read more...]
This is worth the investment
Some days, when you’re monitoring your dollars and cents – you know, that stuff Jesus our Lord commands us to manage while here on earth – you have to ask the questions: Is this a worthy investment for the kingdom? Do my finances show that I am laying up treasures on earth or in heaven? The stuff on earth we can hold in our hands, smell with our noses, or see with our eyes. The treasures in heaven are measured more by the investment we make in people for gospel purposes. The earthly stuff … [Read more...]
Taking another step of faith
Sharon and I came to Missouri with a deep sense of call. In our journeys across the state to visit our churches, we sensed the Lord was at work in Missouri Baptists. Part of my role is to promote, celebrate, and persuade people to capture in their minds the power of the Cooperative Program. God wants to do something special with people who trust Him with their earthly possessions. He wants to do the powerful, not necessarily the ostentatious, through local churches. He wants to do … [Read more...]
Welcome Him into the house
The beginning of Mark 2 is one of the greatest events in Scripture. The people involved are the Lord Jesus, the disciples, the crowd inside a house, the religious leaders attempting to shelter the people from this rabbi from Nazareth, a paralytic, and four men. Each has a vital role to play, but this short column does not lend itself to exploration of each life. Let’s stick to the paralytic and the four: He sat by the city gate for years. Every morning, his father, a brother, a cousin, … [Read more...]
The great guinea fowl massacre
The other morning, as the sun broke the horizon, Sharon came upstairs with tears in her eyes. One of our seven caged guinea fowl lay dead in its cage. By the way, the proper term for young guinea fowl is “keets.” I went out to check. Not one, but three were dead. I will spare you the forensic details of what happened to the guineas, but let me just say a racoon family is resting fat and happy. To spare the lives of the surviving members of the guinea tribe, we made some significant … [Read more...]
Our Heavenly Father’s special love
During the summer, one of the things I love to do is take time to read. Perhaps it started with a hunger to know more through reading. In the summers following the fourth grade to early junior high, I joined a program at the public library to read a book each week. As I read, I wanted to read more. By the time I entered junior high, one particular author spurred my interest above all others. His books were short in comparison to many others. Maybe that was the attraction. There were no … [Read more...]
Pause to remember
It’s a fine distinction: Memorial Day is for remembering those who died during war; Veterans Day is to celebrate all of those who have served in our military. Is it okay to celebrate during both special days? Absolutely! We are grateful for both those who died protecting our freedoms, those who served in the past, and those who continue to serve. The first such remembrance day goes back to May 1, 1865 in Charleston, S.C., at the close of the Civil War. More than 10,000 people joined freed … [Read more...]
Glad mom is home
The word of God is quite clear that those who know the Lord, not merely know about the Lord, are destined for life with our Heavenly Father for all eternity. Not everyone knows this truth, and part of who we are as Christ-followers is helping people hear and receive the gospel message. For genuine believers in Christ, heaven is our home. My mom is home. I miss her. As I pause to write this column, my mind is filled with mental images of her. Her smile was warm and hospitable. There was … [Read more...]
Not ready yet!
Who hasn’t ridden with kids in the car on a long journey? You may not have children yet, but you were a child once upon a time. Every kid asks or is tempted to ask, “Are we there yet?” As a dad, church bus driver, and husband, my most common response to this question is, “Five more minutes.” We are close, but just not close enough to our destination or pit stop. Sharon and I are remodeling our home. I call it the House of 10,000 Projects (Not the Money Pit). It seems every week Sharon … [Read more...]
Let’s strive to provide a safe environment for everyone
The world has changed. Yet many things remain the same. Before 2000, we didn’t hear much about sex abuse among our Baptist family. That doesn’t mean the sin was not occurring. It simply meant it was too despicable a sin to talk about in public. I heard the warning with my own ears from Dr. Richard Land, then president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, now retired. “With the access the internet affords, the sewers of depraved humanity will flow into the homes of … [Read more...]
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