Three Commitments to Embrace in 2016

Ever hear anyone say, "May the New Year bring you joy and happiness!"  I know I'm being rather trite in even mentioning this but on this advent of the New Year I'd like to remind us that the "New Year" won't bring us anything.  I know what we mean when we say that, but God says that "every good and perfect gift comes down from  above from our Father of light"--not the New Year!  All the good things that may come our way in this New Year we call 2016, will come to us by God's grace and goodness.  So let's begin 2016 with hope in God and gratefulness to Him. 

But that being true, God often uses our faithfulness and determinations to bless us, and the New Year is always a great motivator to refocus and recommit ourselves to positive and helpful engagements.  There are so many things I could challenge us to focus on but as followers of Jesus let me ask you to commit to these three specifics that will greatl

Determine to spend time with Jesus each day.  Let's all choose to read through our Bibles this coming 2016.  Even if you find you need more time to finish then the next twelve months, let's start and not give up.  You probably know this, but we listen backward through His Bible, His Word, and we listen forward by His Spirit.  God has spoken to us in the past by His Word, and He speaks to us today by Jesus and His Holy Spirit who, by the way, often uses the Bible.

Determine to connect with God's people weekly.  You weren't meant to follow Jesus on your own.  You were created to be a part of His Body and yet all too many of us sever ourselves from the rest of that Body and think it's ok.  We even convince ourselves that we are actually still a part.  What I'm asking you to do is determine that each week you will gather with other believers in a small group and at your church family's weekly large meeting on Sunday morning.  Make it your priority, your commitment.  Even as you commit to do your job each day of every week, be committed to be a part of Jesus' Body, His Church.

Determine to be a disciple-maker in 2016.  Decide you are going to tell others about Jesus.  If that means you need to get help in how to do that, choose to get the help you need.  Determine to pour what's in your life into the life of another.  Ask someone to read the Bible together with you. Take someone out for a coffee, or lunch, and share who you are in Jesus by working through a Bible study together.  Plan on God using you daily in the coming year and be on the edge of your seat looking for the works He has planned for you.

There are other areas in which we could determine to invest, and I would encourage you to do so.  Areas like your physical health, your intellectual growth and your relational skills would all be good investments--they would all most surely result in greater blessings in your life.  But this challenge my friends is to invest in your spiritual life, your relationship with God and God's people.  I'd be glad to help you in anyway I can.  

May God bless us greatly in 2016 as we follow Him!

What's a Pastor to do?

I’ve been a pastor for about thirty years now.  I’ve always taken my job or my calling very seriously and even as Paul declared himself to be an example for others to follow, I sought to be that too.  I remember many determinations I made as a young pastor to help me lead by example in devotion, discipline and determination.   Now let me be quick to say that I’ve failed pretty substantially in those endeavors but nonetheless I continue to strive to show myself an example to believers. 

Have you ever thought about a pastor’s primary responsibilities?  Is it to preach on Sunday?  Visit the sick in the hospital?  Is it to be an example of the Christ-follower?  Recently in my study of Acts 6 God strengthened my heart in what He has called me to do as a pastor.  The church in Acts was growing and the apostles came face to face with the reality that they could not keep up with leading the ministries of the exploding church.  They couldn’t lead everything, much less do everything, so they commissioned a second tier of ministry leadership to take care of ministries that seemed to be popping up organically through the work of the Spirit.  But in that process they also drilled down on what they were called to do—they were to focus on God’s Word and prayer.  In Acts 6:4 the apostles say, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

In the thirty years I’ve served as a pastor, I think I’ve always looked at that through Western eyes.  What I mean is that I heard them saying, “The apostles role (or the pastor role in my case) is to preach God’s Word on Sundays, and possibly Wednesday or at any other church function, and to devote much time to personal prayer.”  But this time, in my study, I looked at what they meant through the lens of what the apostles were actually doing at that time, and I came up with three very clear, and somewhat different, responsibilities.  If you are a pastor, let me share them with you and challenge you by them.

Their first responsibility was sharing the word of God in the temple and I think that clearly refers to sharing with an evangelistic intent (Acts 5:21, 25, 42).  You will remember they were intent on being a witness to the life and resurrection of Jesus, and in Acts 6:7 it says that many of the priest were even coming to faith.  And pastor, please notice this—they were doing that from day to day.  In other words, when they said they were going to give themselves to the Word of God, they were saying they were going to keep on sharing God’s Word in the temple evangelistically.  Our role as a pastor is to be an evangelist—to share God’s Word so as to lead people to Jesus.  Obviously I think that can apply to our Sunday morning formal preaching but in the context of their lives, it’s pretty clear that this means I am to be a daily soul winner.  Do you remember what Paul told Timothy?  Don’t neglect doing the work of an evangelist.  Our ministry as a pastor is to share the gospel intentionally and as often and clearly as we can.  We should be on the edge of our seat looking for and even seeking to share the gospel of Jesus.  Lately I begin every day with this prayer; “God, I’m planning on you using me today—keep me alert for that time.”

Their second responsibility was to teach God’s Word to believers for their edification.  Not only were they in the temple doing evangelism, they were teaching from house to house (Acts 5:42).  We all know that in these early days of the church, believers met in their homes so the apostles were teaching them there, and again they were doing so daily.  In his letter to the Ephesians Paul would tell us that our ministry of pastor is to equip the saints and that equipping comes primarily through God’s Word (Ephesians 4:11-12).  Obviously this includes our formal teaching on Sunday morning, but it’s more than that.  It’s our small group discipleship, when like Jesus we pour our lives into a few strong men who in turn will pour their lives into a few other strong men who will turn around yet again and do the same.

Their third responsibility was to pray for the sick.   When this need for specific ministry leadership arises in Acts 6, the disciples are swamped with the responsibility of praying for all the sick who are being brought to them from all over (Acts 5:12-16).  When the apostles say we must give ourselves to prayer, they are not talking about personal, private prayer in their closets; they are talking about a ministry of prayer where they are praying for needy sick people from all over the region.  When I got this picture in my heart, God invigorated my soul to pray for the needs of desperate people.  When James wrote his short letter he says, “Is anyone sick?  Let them call for the elders to pray for them.”  Pastor, our ministry is one of praying for people.  Should we pray privately?  Of course.  Should we pray in church meetings?  Obviously.  But as a pastor I should see my ministry as one of shepherding and caring for people by coming along side them and praying for them.   These days I sense a great burden to pray for people’s needs.

I’m not saying by this post that there are not other things we could and even should be doing, but pastor, I believe these are things we must see as priority.   Use God’s Word as an evangelist,  explain God’s Word as a teacher, and shepherd God’s people, all people, with the great responsibility of prayer.

Celebrate Christmas Well!

As one who follows Jesus, do you ever struggle with celebrating Christmas?  I know I did.  I always asked myself, how can so many people who don’t hardly know anything about Jesus, much less follow Him, celebrate Christmas?  Obviously, they are not celebrating what I’m celebrating.   But then, what am I celebrating?  Certainly, as a Christian I am celebrating the fact that God chose to enter the world He created as one of us, and He chose not to do so with fanfare and accolades, but incognito and among the poorest of the poor.  But what do Christmas trees and colorful lights have to do with that?  How does exchanging gifts with those I love and sharing meals with people I treasure have anything to with God becoming a person?

Maybe this confusion has bothered you too.  A number of years ago I accepted a couple of realities and made a couple of decisions that have helped me—maybe they will help you too.

First, I accepted the truth that for most people in America Christmas as we know it isn’t about Jesus, God or even anything spiritual.  In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that this has probably been the case for generations, maybe from the very rise of Christmas as we know it.  Don’t get me wrong, I accept the reality that in days gone by more Americans tipped their hat to Jesus at this season, but I doubt the coming of Jesus has ever been what most people celebrated at this time.  People, by their very nature, love to celebrate family, friends, joy and happiness; and however it happened, those things came to be associated with Christmas.  Parents love to see the joy on their kids’ faces as they open gifts.  Most everyone loves the joyful music, the festive lights and the obvious good will that seems to permeate this time of year.  However it came to be, this is what most people are celebrating.

Now here’s the second truth I accepted—it's ok for me as one who follows Jesus to celebrate all these things too.  It’s ok to love the lights and the songs and the joy of watching my kids exchange gifts of love with each other.  It’s ok to decorate my house and cook great Christmas cookies just for the fun of it—just for the joy!  Actually, God made us to enjoy festivities.  He himself gave the Israelites so many joyful festivals for their pleasure and happiness.  I’m not a Jew, at least not a natural born Jew; I’m an American.  Christmas is a time my culture celebrates family and friends with feast and fun and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Accepting those two realities helped me immensely sort out my confusion about the season, but I also made two coinciding decisions.  

The first was that in the midst of celebrating with my culture, I was going to not forget, but purposefully celebrate, what the Bible calls the incarnation of God.  Jesus is often called “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”  As a Christian, I wanted the truth that God came to earth as a man to be something I prioritized in my celebration.  Over the years Anne and I have done some things at this season to help us remember this great event.  You might think they are simple, even crass, but we put red and white lights on our tree to remind us of Jesus' holiness and his death on the cross.  We set up a manger scene in our living room to help us commemorate.  In our family it is tradition to worship together with other believers on Christmas Eve.

The second decision was that in my heart I’d not separate the celebration of Jesus’ birth from the remembrance of His death.  When Jesus was born the angels said, “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  The birth of Jesus was joyful news because God had Himself come as our Savior, but Jesus’ saving work wasn’t complete until His death on the cross some thirty-three years later.  His birth and His death are inextricably tied together and I promised myself not to celebrate the cradle without remembering His cross.

So if you are a follower of Jesus too, let me urge you celebrate Christmas well!   Celebrate this festive time with our culture.   Enjoy the lights and the chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  Take advantage of that mistletoe!  But don’t forget the greater joy that Christmas brings to your heart.  Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day and later died on Calvary that you and I might know God and have a personal relationship with Him.  Take special care to worship Him joyfully and purposefully at this special season of the year.

Don't let the past rob you of the present!

Today is Pearl Harbor Day.  Most of us are too young to remember that infamous day but I imagine it felt a great deal like 9/11 for those of us who lived through that morning and its aftermath.  My guess is that just about every generation and every individual life will live through days that impact them emotionally.  The end of WWII, the assassination of MLK or JFK, and Neal Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" are days that will forever be etched in the minds and hearts of those who lived through them.  

But here's my challenge for us today--let's not live in the past no matter whether it was good or bad.  Some days in our past may have blessed us beyond measure--our happiness meter was off the charts.  Other days may have scarred us and wounded us so profoundly that we wonder how we can even go on another day.  But here's what I know in my mind, my heart and by my experience; whatever the past, good or bad, it's behind you.  You can't erase it or change it--it is what it is.  We should learn from it but we should never live there.

Paul, writing to his good friends in Philippi says, "This one thing I do, I forget what lies behind."  He doesn't mean that he blocks it from his memory; instead what he means is that he doesn't let the past dictate his present.  Have you every known someone who is always reliving past victories?  They live in years gone by when they had a good day or a good season.  It seems they miss the present by always living in a better past day.  Or have you known someone who is always reliving the past trauma of a bad decision, failure or event?  I don't mean to minimize people's past traumas--I know they are real and terrible.  But they are in the past and if I live there, for whatever reason, I forfeit my future.

To live in the present, to forget what lies behind--good or bad, is a choice.  The only person who can make that choice for you is you.  Someone has said, "Wherever you are, be all there."  I think that means in the flow of time too--be all in the 'present.'  Choose this day to stop living in the past and invest in today.  Whoever you are, invest in your friends, in people.  Don't let the past rob you of the most precious possession you have this actual day--relationships.

Many of you who might take a moment to read this know that I am a follower of Jesus.  You yourself might be one as well.  In the passage where Paul says he forgets what lies behind, he goes on to say this; "One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Paul says I invest my present by pressing forward in this upward call of God in Jesus.  You might ask, what is that call?  Just a few lines before this Paul says, "I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."   Here is that upward call Paul was pressing toward in the present-- to know Jesus.  The relationship that mattered most to Him was knowing Jesus and I might add, making Him known to others.  All the good in the past, all the trauma in the past--it was in the past.  What mattered most in the present was to know Jesus better.

Whether you are a Christ follower or not, don't let your past rob you of the beauty of this day.  And definitely don't let it keep you from seeking to know Jesus better and follow Him more completely.

I want to be happy-- don't you?

I want to be happy--don't you?  I think it would be a truthful statement to say everyone just wants to be happy--and all the time.  For many years I've heard Christians make a distinction between happiness and joy and that made sense to me.  After all, God calls us to rejoice always, to have joy always, and we all know that no one can be happy all the time.  How can I be happy when my loved one dies, or my child is fighting cancer, or I lose my job?  Right?  Therefore, we conclude, there must be a difference between joy and happiness.

Recently, I heard Randy Alcorn make a strong case for how Biblically, and throughout history, joy and happiness have been used as synonyms.  He shared that Oswald Chambers was the first to espouse the idea that "joy" and "happiness" are different; that is,  joy is that deep, abiding contentment that remains even in the most dire circumstances of life, while "happiness" is that more temporal, emotive feeling that makes us feel so wonderful.  Alcorn says that prior to Chambers, everyone used the words interchangeably-- to be happy was to be joyful and to be joyful was to be happy.

I've been thinking a great deal about happiness as of late and I think this confusion might lie in how we view this idea of happiness.  Let's be honest.  Happiness is not something I achieve and then I'm done--never to be unhappy again.  "Ok, now I'm happy--I don't have to think about that anymore!"  That's really not how it works.  Happiness and joy, as an emotional state, is constantly being challenged--at least it is in my life.   On our trip home from Alabama for Thanksgiving, we were caught in an accident and stuck on the interstate for over an hour, and then to top it off, immediately upon getting off the interstate I got a ticket for driving through a stop sign I didn't see.  I admit it--I was not happy and my wife even reproved me for my unhappiness over such temporal, unimportant things.  I think that it might be helpful for us to see happiness as a state of heart that needs to be continually replenished.  There are many difficulties in life that want to rob us of our happiness.  Some of those difficulties come at the end of bad choices we've made.  Others are absolutely independent of anything we've done, yet both have the same result of potentially draining away our happiness.

David Murray identifies six streams of happiness that are available to all people everywhere.  He says all of us experience nature happiness, social happiness, vocational happiness, physical happiness, intellectual happiness, and humor happiness.  I think it's easy to understand what Murray is saying--good jokes, good friends, and a good back massage all make us feel happy--they add to our "happiness tank."  People recognize this and are always trying to find happiness in these six areas and more, which is why we visit the Grand Canyon and go to hear comedians.  All too many of us are too often thinking, "If I could just find the right relationship, or have this one thing, or have 'that' job or 'this' amount of money, I'd be happy."  We strive for those things because deep down we believe those things will give us lasting, enduring, happiness.   Sometimes we actually achieve the things we pursue; but invariably and unfortunately, the happiness they bring is often fleeting and we set out to refill our happiness tank, this time with something else that will prove itself equally transient.

But Murray identifies one more stream of happiness which he calls "spiritual happiness," and this happiness comes only from having a relationship with God through Jesus.  This source of happiness is always available, and it's what I believe Chambers was seeking to identify when he said that joy and happiness were different.  Here's what spiritual happiness is:  it is the joy and happiness that comes from knowing that God loves me, that my life matters and has purpose, and that God Himself is watching over my life.  What I mean by that last statement is that God in His love for me is overseeing my life so that I can trust Him that everything is going to be okay in the end.  Romans 8:28 promises that "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose."  But here's the challenge-- I have to choose that spiritual happiness and joy.  I have to decide that I'm going to walk in it, no matter what.  Just having experienced an added hour of interstate driving to an already super long drive, followed up with an immediate moving violation ticket for running a stop sign, I tell you that is no easy task!  So how do I always walk in happiness and joy? Here are two suggestions that I'm trying to practice myself.

Use your feelings of unhappiness as a warning.  If you are a Christ follower and you are unhappy, somewhere along the line you've lost sight of Jesus and that spiritual flow of happiness, and you are focused on the bad.  Remember, God says he loves you and nothing happens to you that He's unaware of or isn't supervising.  If He's allowed it, He will use it for good.  I'm not saying the thing is good--I'm saying God will use it for good.  Trust Him.

Stop, pray and choose happiness!  You can do it.  You can choose joy even in the hardest and most difficult times of your life.  You may have to choose it over and over but you can.  Pray it out loud.  Remind yourself that God loves you and you can trust Him.  "Rejoice, and again I say rejoice!"

It didn't take me but a few seconds to realize my wife was right.  I had allowed some petty things to rob me of my joy and happiness.   I'm pretty sure it won't be the last but I want to be a happy and joyful person-- all the time.  Join me in that pursuit.

Say "Thanks!"

Today is Thanksgiving so what does that mean?  Unfortunately for many of us it's a day to over eat, or simply "couch potato" our day away in front of the TV, or shop until we drop.  One really good thing about Thanksgiving is that many us try hard to spend it with family.  But let me encourage us all to remember the very name of the day--Thanksgiving.  Today is a day to say thank you, to express gratefulness.  All too often we celebrate Thanksgiving in so many ways, but never actually say thank you to anyone.  Let me challenge you to make a point to say thank you to the following persons today.

Begin by expressing gratefulness to God--both personally and as a family.  There are countless reasons for which we should be thankful to God so think deeply and thoughtfully.  Make thankfulness a focus of your personal time with God and then, before you eat the main meal together, spend time as a family praying and expressing thanks to God.  A helpful suggestion might be to go around the room and ask everyone to share one thing from this past year for which they'd like to thank God.

Take today as an opportunity to say thank you to your parents.  Some of you reading this will have already lost your parents to death and you can still remember them with gratefulness.  But if your parents are alive, thank them.  Be specific.  As a parent myself I tend to remember and focus on my failures.   Our gratefulness can bless our parents and encourage them that they did some things right.

Who has invested time and energy in your life?  Who went out of their way to pour into you and help you become who you are today?  Have you ever thanked them?  Take this day to make a phone call or write a note that says "thank you for helping me become who I became!"  When I was in college I met a pastor by the name of Sam Tatem.  I can't even remember how we met, but Sam would often write me  notes of encouragement and those notes meant more to me than I can even explain to you.  Sam is gone now, and I can't tell him personally, but there are others who helped me become who I am.  Mark Griffith, Chip Phillips and Don Frensley are some of the men who poured into me.

Has anyone loved you when you were unlovely?  Anyone stuck by you when you were being stupid and really deserved to be abandoned?  Today is Thanksgiving-- say thank you to that person.  Call them and tell them how much it means to you that they didn't give up on you.

Are you a Christ-follower?  Who led you to Jesus?  Today would be a good day to thank them.  Did someone disciple you?  Help you to grow as a Christian?  Why not write them a note or give them a call and say thank you?

Today is a day to give thanks-- let's actually do it.  There is nothing wrong with football, feast and family but let's go further and make this a day of true "Thanks-Giving!"

    

Don't give up!

It was a Monday morning when my friend Scott called me and asked me to go with him to take some groceries to a needy family in the county—actually they were my neighbors.  I willingly went; I thought we’d be in and out in just a few minutes but he had other ideas.  Only the wife was home and Scott was determined to reach out beyond just the gift of food.  I remember him continually telling the lady how we cared and wanted to help and asked her over and over again if there was anything we could do to assist them.  By this point I was sitting in a chair and to my chagrin, I was irritated with Scott for prolonging the visit.  We had reached out several times to this family but they had never responded with any openness.  In my mind, we had done our good deed and we were now wasting our time and I was ready to go.  But then, all of a sudden, something happened.  The woman began to cry.  I can clearly hear her words even now, “Thank you for caring for us!  Thank you for caring!”

In that moment, filled with shame at my own selfishness and lack of compassion, God began to speak to me.  He told me I give up on people way too soon and he brought to mind another couple I’d been reaching out to but had given up on.  There in that seat I repented, I changed my mind and heart, and decided I would not give up on people and made a commitment to visit that same couple that very night.

It was a cold, winter evening when we showed up at their door.  They weren’t expecting us but graciously let us in.  I remember they didn’t have any central heat and they only had one kerosene heater in the living room.  They had even blocked off other rooms with sheets where there weren’t doors.  That night I told them about Jesus and His love for them.  I spoke of God’s concern and His desire to forgive them and make them His own children.   It was amazing to me what happened next--with deep emotion they both received Jesus as their Savior.   We gathered around their coffee table on our knees and they expressed their faith through prayer and I followed that by praying for them.  For one who follows Christ, it was a sacred moment but it didn’t end with my prayer as the husband asked me, “Can I pray again?”  I told him he most assuredly could and then bowing his head again, he prayed.  His prayer was short and I assure you these were his exact words-- I’ll never forget them; “Dear Lord, thank you for not letting them give up on me! Amen.” 

 In one day God had spoken to me as clearly as I’d ever heard him—twice no less.  “Jimmy, don’t ever give up on people.”  I wish I could say that from that day I’ve always been faithful to that directive.  True confessions—some people make it hard not to give up.  They test the metal of my resolve but then God reminds me of that day and I press on.

Maybe you are tempted to give up on a friend, a neighbor, a child or even a spouse.  The decisions they are making, the choices they are choosing and the constant refusal to make positive and lasting change causes you to want to throw up your hands and walk away.  Don’t!  Please don't!  I don't mean that you should enable bad behavior or facilitate errant choices but what I do mean is continue to love them, to invest grace in them, to challenge them and even to pray for them.  Don't give up on them in your heart.  Not too long ago I was feeling a bit discouraged that someone I was investing in wasn’t making much change.  I was telling a friend about that and what he said reminded me of the lesson God taught  me so many years ago; “Jimmy, I’ve discovered that things can change in a person’s life in an instance.  Always remember, the end has not been written.”  What a great reminder. 

So I leave you with this encouragement—don’t give up!  Never, ever give up hope that people can change because the end has not been written!

Twenty-eight years and very grateful!

In three days, on November 5^th, twenty-eight years ago, Anne and I were voted in as the pastor and wife of the Bacon’s Castle Church family.  I was young—twenty- seven years old—very idealistic and hopeful.  I’d like to believe I still am but I know all these years have tempered me with a dose of realism.  It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve lived longer in Surry than all other places combined.

                                                                                                                           

Shepherding and leading at Bacon’s Castle has been one of the greatest joys of my life, though it’s not always been easy.   I have often felt overwhelming gratefulness fill my heart for the privilege that’s been mine.  As I was reflecting over these many years, I wanted to tell you some things for which I’m very grateful.

I guess personally, I’m most grateful to God and to you for the friendships and relationships that He has given me over my years of serving.  For almost three decades I’ve walked alongside some men and women who have become as close to me as brothers, sisters, and friends can become.   Thomas Aquinas said, “There is nothing on earth to be more prized than true friendship.” There is little for which I am more grateful than you my friends, my family.

As I reflected on being your pastor all these years, gratefulness for how you’ve loved and treated my family overwhelms me.  You’ve loved my Anne and my kids—my family.  You’ve treated them as your own.  Many of you have invested time and training in their lives.  You’ve prayed for them, supported them in their endeavors-- from high school sports, to college, to careers.   I think some of you have loved them as much as Anne and I have!

I’m grateful for how you’ve followed my leadership.  I wish I were a stronger and better leader—I think our church might reflect that today if I were.  But what leadership gifts I do have, you have supported and nurtured.   In the early years, when I was young and you didn’t know me, we had some struggles.  And, not that along the way we’ve never had any others; but mostly over the years you’ve trusted my heart, and that will always mean more to me than I can ever express.  

This is humbling to admit, but I’m thankful for all the times you’ve forgiven me when I’ve dropped the ball or let you down.  In these last twenty-eight years I’ve had plenty of chances to mess up, even hurt you, and far too many times I’ve done just that but yet, so many of you have stood by me, forgiven me, and even encouraged me nonetheless.  Anne alluded to it the other Sunday when she shared, but the hardest part for me as a pastor has been to watch people leave our family for this reason or that.  I’m sure that some have legitimate grievances with me—my sin may have hurt them—but so many of you have not let that deter us or destroy our love or our church family.   You’ve pardoned me and loved me and I’m grateful for that forgiveness.

I could definitely go on with this, for there is so much more that makes me grateful as I think of Bacon’s Castle.  Your love for our guests when they come, your love for children and your desire to be a church committed to God’s Word and His Will are just a few of the things that make me thankful.   But when I think back over the last twenty-eight years I’m so very grateful to God for the opportunity He’s given me to have a part in what He’s been doing in your lives.  God has given me the privilege of leading some of you to know and trust Christ, and those opportunities came to me because I am a pastor—not all of them but many of them.  He’s given me the chance to pour my life into many of yours, to help you learn and grow in your walk with Jesus.   As a pastor, He’s allowed me to be there and cry with you when it hurts and laugh with you when the joy is overwhelming.  It’s a privilege for which I’ll always be thankful to Him.

People often ask me if I’ll stay here with the Bacon’s Castle family until I die.  That I don’t know.  Who knows, there may come a time when you and I think it is best that I step aside from being a pastor.  But this I do know, no matter what the future holds, I’ll always be grateful for this privilege that’s been mine.

Christianity in Black and White

In 1987 Anne and I rolled into the parsonage of Bacon's Castle Baptist Church as the freshly minted pastor of this rural congregation.  I had high expectations of changing the world one life at a time and ground zero for change was our community and most specifically our church family.  I grew up in Latin America and I had the privilege of growing up with great ethnic and racial diversity in a school with people from all over the world.  I had grown up reading about the black and white separation in our country, and the racial laws that divided our land just two decades before, but I had never realized how deep seated that divide really was until I moved to Surry.    The hunt clubs were divided by race.  The Masons were divided by race.  But what troubled me the most was that every Christian church in Surry was divided by race.  How could it be that the church that Jesus started, that reconciled Jews and Gentiles together in one body, one gathering, could be so divided by skin color?

Twenty-eight years ago I wrote a vision statement of what I believed God wanted to do with Bacon's Castle and one part of that was reconciling this racial divide.  I remember picturing a morning worship service at Bacon's Castle that was composed of black and white believers who loved Jesus and loved each other just as much.  Early on I prayed hard, and worked even harder, to bring that vision to fruition.  In the late 1980's, seventy believers from our church family joined me one Sunday as we went over to a sister church composed of African-American believers, and asked for forgiveness.  We went primarily to ask for forgiveness for the past racial sins of our church family; truly it was a blessed day as we were received with such a loving heart.  We did many things in those years to open the doors of Bacon's Castle to racial reconciliation--combined worship services, exchange of pulpits, praying together, and observing the National Day of Prayer together.  Today, almost three decades later, Bacon's Castle shares a great relationship with most all the Christian churches in Surry, black and white, and though we have a few African-American members, we have not been able to change the racial culture of our church.  Most of us are white-- of European descent.

Did you know that statistically only seven percent (7%) of churches ever manage to reach an ethnic/racial divide of 70/30%?  That means that only seven churches out of 100 ever have a congregation where three out of every ten members are different from the majority.  It's not a very high bar but even at that, most of us don't meet it.  Why?  Why doesn't it happen naturally?  After all, in the county where I live the population is racially about half and half-- half black and half white.  Most people say it has to do with culture-- the culture of the church.  Black and white Christians do things differently, so we're all more comfortable in what we know, and that keeps us separated.  That may be true, but isn't racial unity in the body of Christ more important than our comfort?  Isn't the gospel powerful enough to help us find a middle ground in how we do things?  Let's face it, the reality is that racial reconciliation isn't very important to us.  It's something that we think would be ok if it happened but not anything that we are willing to fight for, sacrifice for or pursue with purpose and passion.  We don't think that our present racially divided churches reflect poorly on the gospel or on our Savior Himself.

But I think it does.  I fact, I think our segregation as believers based on race is even sinful.  At least it is a reflection of our sinfulness and selfishness.  I believe we need to fight to change the status quo but the question is how?  How do we change this voluntary segregation?  Believe it or not I think I have the answer.

  

A couple of weeks ago I attended the funeral visitation for the mother of a pastor friend.  She was a godly woman and the church was packed for hours as people remembered her with praise and love.  There were persons from many different churches across the county—many churches that is except the white churches.  It stood out that I was the only white person at the service.  That struck me—why were there not more white believers there to honor this great and saintly, African American woman?  Only one reason—we don’t have relationships across this racial divide that are lived out socially.   Yes, we have relationships at work or in some civic organizations, and we even have them across churches, but we don't have them as friendship relationships that are lived out in our homes.  This pastor, whose mom had passed, has been my friend for almost thirty years.  We pray together almost weekly but when I mentally examined our relationship I realized that he and his wife have never been to my house for dinner and an evening of games.   Let me be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever had any African-American couple in our home for dinner and games.  It’s not that I wouldn’t want to—I think I'm being honest when I say I would want that!  But what hasn't happened is that Anne and I have never done anything intentionally to bring us together socially as friends-- it’s not been a priority.  

I said I believed I have an answer; here it is.  Begin to work on cross racial friendships by inviting folks to your home for a meal and games.  We love the card game "Golf"-- try it.)  It's just that simple-- we have to make an effort as believers to build friendships that cross those divides.  Let me ask you, if you are white, when was the last time you had any black friends over to share a meal and evening together? If you are black, when was the last time you invited any white friends over for supper and friendship?  If you are like me, it's probably far too little.  Some of you might honestly say, "I don't have any friends of a different race to invite."  Well, that's the point; so start with some acquaintances.  How about a neighbor that you know but don't know very well?  




This post has gone on long enough but if you happen to have read this far, and you happen to be a follower of the Lord Jesus, I want to encourage you, even exhort you, to pursue the tearing down of this racial divide in our local churches.  Do you remember Reagan telling Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall?"  Let's tear down this wall of racial divide.  Fight for it.  Pursue it with me.  Join me in doing it one friendship at a time!