Church

A New Chapter

/ Steven Ruff / Leave a comment

I have come to the end of a meaningul, benefical, and joyous chapter in my pastoral ministry. Yesterday was my last day as the pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Perry, FL. I have accepted the call to be the Senior Pastor at Port Royal Baptist Church in Port, Roayl, SC. Lakeside was my first full-time pastorate after leaving the youth ministry. I enjoyed and benefited from my time at Lakeside. As I look back, I see this in two ways. First, the people at Lakeside trult have a deep love for Jesus Christ. This love for Christ and His Word enabled and allowed me to preach and teach the gospel without reservation. Second, the people at Lakeside know what it means to love and support their pastor. Coming in as a first-time pastor, they were patient and loving the entire 4 1/2 years I was there. They prayed for me, helped me, encouraged me, and prepared for the next step in my ministry. For these things I will ever be grateful.

The Lord has His own unique way of leading, guiding , and directing. On August 2nd, I will begin a new pastorate at Port Royal Baptist Church. I am loooking forward to, with great anticipation, assuming my new role in Port Royal. I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to minister and pour my life into the lives of the people of Port Royal. I thank the Lord for this new chapter in my pastoral ministry.

A Pastor’s Reflections on VBS

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Vacation Bible School has ccome to an end. The screams and shouts of kids running through the halls and in the sanctuary are now a memory. Decorations have coome down and the once vibrant and colorful rooms and hallways have rturned to their traditional look. It is as if VBS never happened. It has been  an exceptionally long week. Longer than normal. I am a big fan of VBS and understand how important it is in the life of the church. Now than that VBS is over, I have a few observations I want to make from a pastor’s perspective.

1. Attendance: This is the criteria by which VBS is judged a success or a failure. Our average attendance for the week was 74. Our average was lower than in the past two or three years. I believe there were several factors contributing to this lower average. First, there were four other churches in our community holding VBS the same week and the at the same time as us. Second, I believe our low number on Sunday has to do with the fact that we started on Sunday. The kids who attend church were attending their church and the unchurched (those who were our focus) don’t normally come to church on Sunday, regardless of the event. Third, about Tuesday night I noticed that all of our kids that were enrolled in VBS were connected to someone in our church. There were no kids from the community in church for the first time this week. I was disappointed by this. However, I was encouraged that our people were active in inviting others to church.

2. Workers: I am thankful to all who worked this week. As  I mentioned earlier, it was a long week. It was also very hot. I am especially thankful to all teachers who worked full-time jobs and left work, came straight to church for five straight days. I want to especially mention and thank those who worked in the kitchen all week. During our VBS, we skip the Snack Rotation. Instead, we choose to provide a meal every night. Our kitchen workers come out early, set everything up, served the kids, and stayed until all was cleaned up. Thankyou.

3. Ministry: Anytime you have kids on campus you have an opportunity to be engaged in real, one-on-one life-changing ministry. I have to believe that is what happened this week. VBS is intentionally evangelistic. We are diligent to make sure that we communicate the gospel message all week long, not just on the night of the “evangelistic” lesson. With that being said, we did not have any public professions of faith this week. This is the second VBS in a row this has happened. I can not explain it. What  I do know is this. We are here to share a message and plant a seed, understanding that it is God that gives the increase. Real ministry takes place when you take time to listen to a child, talk to a child, and show love toward them in the name of Christ. This is what we did this week. If down the road a year or two, in God’s timing, a gospel presentation is given and they respond because of something that planted in their heart this week, then we were faithful to have done our part.

4. Sharing: Once again this year we had the opportunity to share and pass on the decorations we used to another church who needed them. The bulk of our props, supplies, and decorations went to two different churches. I believe this is a stewardship issue. Lifeway VBS material is not cheap. It does not make sense to speand all of that money and then store everything in a closet. One of the churches using our material was thinking about not having VBS at all due to a small budget and limited funds. I am pleased that we were able to help them.

Overall, we had a great week and look forward to what comes out of the efforts of this week. I again want to thank every teacher, worker, and parent who allowed their child to be a part of our VBS.

Vacation Bible School is Here!

/ Steven Ruff / Leave a comment

 

 Well, VBS has finally arrived. This is a week of ministry that we at our church have been looking forward to. As a pastor, I love VBS. I am allowed to lead the Worship Rally. I enjoy this opportunity to interact with the kids as they come in,  and I have a chance to share the God’s plan of salvation with them. I enjoy the busyness of the week and how we are able to minister to children and families, often for the first time. We are kicking off VBS today with High Attendance Day in Sunday School as a means of promoting both VBS and Sunday School. I intend to post a summary of the week’s activities once we conclude. The Boomerang Express has arrived and it is time for everyone to climb aboard.

The Train is Leaving the Station

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The week leading up to Vacation Bible School is always filled with activity. There are teachers decorating, lessons being finalized, and many “quick trips” to Wal-Mart for needed supplies. I always enjoy this week. I enjoy walking around and visiting with our teachers. This is a unique time to spend some time with them in a different environment. I enjoy watching the sanctuary and other rooms being transformed from their typical look into theme-related masterpieces. Hard work is the descritpion for this week. This week of hard work prepares us for a week of hard work of a different sort. Our Vacation Bible School begins on June 7th.  It is on this day that our students will begin their tour through the Australian outback. I have posted some pictures of the work that is in progress around our church as of today. The train has left the station and it won’t be long until its arrival.

Here is our train for the Worship Rally

Here is our train for the Worship Rally

Beginnings of our Missions Harbor

Beginnings of our Missions Harbor

  

Santuary view

Santuary view

Ticket Booth

Ticket Booth

An Unforseen Casualty of the Current Economic Downturn

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Most of what is written and reported about toda’y economy is negative. We hear a great deal about how bad things are and how many Americans are not spending money like they once did. This is also true when it comes to the giving as it relates to the church.

I recently read an article that deppressed and concerned me greatly. The trustees of the International Mission Board met recently at their scheduled trustees meeting in Denver on May 19-20. The highlight of this article was the fact that 101 new career missionaries were appointed.  Now the bad news. The IMB is suspending new appointments to its career, apprentice, and associate programs. The appointments that do occur will be more selective and focused upon more strategic assignments. This suspension is to begin immediately and remain in effect until trustess review the suspension again early in 2010.

IMB fundng has been hit by a downturn in Cooperative Program giving and harder than normal economic times. The overall work, support, and logistics of IMB missionaries comes from Cooperative Program giving and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. When the average church members across the SBC don’t give as they once were able to, that in turn leads to fewer missionary appointments to the field and decreased church planting efforts around the world. It is a tragedy to hear there are men and women who are willing, ready, and qualified for appointment, but the funds are limited to send and support them.

As we look at the fields, we pray as Jesus asked us to. He told us pray that the Lord of the harvest would sent workers into the field. God has answered our prayers for workers. However, Paul Chitwood, IMB Trustee Chairman shares what I feel is a sad and painful statement I thought we as Southern Baptists would never hear. He says, “Today, we have more candidates knocking on our door and downloading our applications than ever before. Yet, on this day when God has answered our prayers for workers for His harvest, lack of funding has forced us to temporarily suspend categories for service.” May we as Southern Baptists always remember to “Seek first the kingdom of God” that we might be able to fulfill the Great Commission that has been given to us.

Toward a Great Commission Resurgence

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Today, Dr. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstick, Ga and President of the Southern Baptist Convention released a declaration entitled, “Toward a Great Commission Resurgence”. The goal and purpose of this declaration is a renewed attempt to unite all Southern Baptists around the common cause of a renewed focus on the Great Commission given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. You can view the declaration at www.greatcommissionresurgence.com

I encourage you to take time and read the declaration carefully. Dr. Hunt has penned some very powerful, stirring, convicting, and challenging words for us as a convention. There is a place provided for you to sign if you are in agreement.

A Marriage of Evangelism and Relationships

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I am always intrigued when a secular newspaper writes about matters pertaining to Christianity, especially the Southern Baptist Convention. The USA Today printed an article recently entitled, “Southern Baptists Urge Their Members to Evangelize More”. You can read the article here. This article highlights the need for increased evangelism and the possible reluctance to do so, in the face of the North American Mission Board’s national initiative that begins in 2010 called GPS, God’s Plan for Sharing. I’ll write more about GPS later.

The conclusions drawn come from a pool of 15,173 people who were surveyed by Lifeway Research. The results of the survey reveal the top two ways that people today would be somewhat willing to “receive information” about Jesus. I was not surprised by these two conclusions.

63% would be somewhat willing to receive information about Jesus in a personal conversation with a family member.

56% would be somewhat willing to receive information about Jesus from a friend or from the church.

The reason that I don’t find these results surprising is that I strongly believe that relationships matter. I believe relationships build the bridge that carry the gospel from those who believe to those who need to hear. Ed Stetzer, the Research Director for Lifeway said, “Baptists like to talk more about evangelism than to actually do it.” That is a spot-on assesment.

Other outreach methods were presented and were not favored as highly. These methods included print advertising, notes on doors, billboards, radio, television, and door-to-door knocking. Here again, no big surprise. I can understand why knocking on doors might be the least favorable approach. The majority of people have a fear of being rejected that keeps them from this form of evangelism. There are others who do not feel adeqaute enough or feel as if they know enough to speak to someone on a “cold” visit. Above all, this article reinforced a principle we have all heard before. People want to know how  much you care before they will care about how much you know. Relationships matter.

Orthodox vs Unorthodox

/ Steven Ruff / Leave a comment

I was talking with a member of my church the other day and I heard a statement that caused me to stop and think. We were talking about the sudden growth over the past several months of one  churches in our local baptist association. Here is the statement that caused me to think, “They certainly are doing some unorthodox things down there.” I sort of smiled and made a few comments. That conversation really caused me to think about how we as “church people” may think about how other “church people” do ministry.

According to Webster, “orthodox” is defined as “adhering to what is commonly accepted”. So, Iwould have to believe that the label “unorthodox” would assert that someone or something is not adhering to what is commonly accepted. Tow questions come to mind. First, who has determined what is commonly accepted? Second, can this common acceptance be applied across the board to all church ministry?

This particular church is doing some out-of-the-box ministry. They are seeking some creative ways to reach people that other churches are not. Most of their ideas are new to our area. As a result, it is drawing attention. I believe this entire issue of whether or not this church, or any other church is doing something considered to be “unorthodox” depends solely on the lens you are looking through.

Here is what I mean. If a person is looking through the lens of ministry that worked in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and are still convinced that still works, to them that would be “orthodox” ministry. As a result, anything that is new and different, even if it is reaching people, will be considered “unorthodox”. Far too often, this where tradition creeps in and becomes the driving force of ministry rather than the true needs of people.

We as a New Testament church are in grave danger if we allow tradition to dictate “what is commonly accepted” as methods of ministry instead of allowing God’s Word, the felt needs of people, and the landscape of ouor culture to develop our ministry methods.