Worth Repeating

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“Christian commitment is not popular, vogue, or even politically correct. It is not always dazzling, spectacular or miraculous. But it is daily and does not come and go. It is the faithfulness to the call that challenges the world today, just as it is the world that challenges our faithfulness to the call. Those who respond for any reason other than total abandonment to Christ and His life will find the choking thorns of this world too strong to overcome. Only total commitment will run the race and finish the fight.”

Randy Pool, NAMB Missionary

Recommended Reading

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People read for different reasons. Some read for pleasure and to relieve stress. Some read for information. Still others read with a desire to learn something that can change their lives. I am of the latter. If I read a book and gain insight on becoming a better husband, father, pastor, or witness then I consider my time in that book was not wasted.

If you have a passion and desire to know what and how the unchurched person thinks, I would like to recommend a book to you. That book is: The Unchurched Next Door by Thom Rainer. (By now you have figured out that I enjoy Rainer’s work). The book is centered around research conducted with 306 unchurched people in all 50 states and Canada, across all ethnic groups, all social backgrounds, all educational levels and ages. Simply put, the research team spent hundreds of hours listening to the unchurched. Researchers asked questions about their belief in key areas such as the existence of heaven/hell, who God and Jesus are to them, the reliability of the Bible, their prayer life, and possible church attendance.

The research was compiled and the responses were groups into one of five faith stages. This rating became known as the Rainer Scale. It looks like this:

U5 – Highly resistant to the gospel, antagonistic attitude
U4 – Resistant to the gospel, but not an antagonistic attitude
U3 – No apparent receptivity, neutral, perhaps open to discussion
U2 – Receptive to the gospel and to the church
U1 – Highly receptive to the gospel, “the Philipian jailer”

 

This book, in my opinion, does a fantastic job of dealing with three key areas that I feel the church today struggles to understand. First, a thorough description is given as to what the unchurched look like at every faith level. Second, recommendations are given on how to interact with the unchurched at every faith stage. Third, suggestions on how to move an unchurched person down the scale toward increased receptivity. This book has led me to change the way I personally look the unchurched. They are not all alike. Information is power. If you have a heart for those not yet connected to God’s church, you will be encouraged by this book.

 

 

Choose Thanksgiving

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When we stop to think of Thanksgiving, certain things come to mind. Eating turkey, watching football, and a short work week are just a few. Thanksgiving is a time set aside to reflect on what we are thankful for. I believe thankfulness is a choice we make. We can choose to take everything for granted and believe it is our right to have, or we can be truly thankful for what we have been given, realizing many don’t have what we enjoy. Thankfulness is something we learn. God’s Word gives us a story that shows this principle in action. Jesus told us of ten lepers who cried out to Him for relief of their condition. He heard them and told them to go and show themselves to the priest.  The Bible tells us that while they were on their way to the priest, they were healed. Of the ten, only one came back to show his gratitude. Jesus then asked if there were not ten and why did only one come back.  I want to share with you here what I shared with our people this past Sunday night. I believe that we will learn to be thankful when we have a good understanding of certain things.

1. We learn to be thankful when we think about how desperate  our   situation was before we met Jesus.

2. We learn to be thankful when we think about what we have gained in Christ.

3. We learn to be thankful when we think about what was done for us could not have been done by us.

4. We learn to be thankful when we think about how much our ingratitude grieves the heart of God.

As you enjoy the Thanksgiving holidays this year, take time to remember and reflect on the impact that Jesus has had in your life. When we do, it makes the choice to be thankful that much easier.

Worth Repeating

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Churches are like spiritual refrigerators for people. The curious will come and open the door. They stare inside. Many are not looking for anything specific. They may visit on occasion and then leave. Many church dropouts fall into this category. They are opening the doors of our places of worship and looking. They’re looking for something, but they don’t know what it is.”

 

Thom Rainer, Essential Church?

Preparing for Lottie

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As Thanksgiving arrives, so does the time of planning for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Without a doubt, this is my favorite time of the year. The LMCO is our yearly missions offering that supports the work of our Southern Baptist missionaries around the world. One encouraging part of this offering is that every dime collected goes directly to the mission field. This offering is especially close to my heart. It’s not because I am a pastor. Over the past twelve years, I have been able to be part of six IMB work/witness teams that have worked in Honduras and Nicaragua with three different missionary couples. I have been able to see how the money collected through the LMCO is used on the field. Our missionaries are very mindful of the sacrificial giving back home that supports their calling to a specific group of people. Not only are they mindful of the giving back home, they are incredibly careful as to not waste any of it. They stretch every penny to get the most out of it for ministry. Having seen this first hand, I can with all of my heart champion the cause for their support and the continuance of God’s work around the world through them.

I am excited about this year’s events at Port Royal Baptist as it relates to the LMCO. Our missions leaders (of whom I am proud of) are planning an inspirational and educational missions study on Wednesday, December 2nd to showcase the area of this year’s study: North Africa. Also, during our family night supper that night, we will have an international menu made up of the foods from our study region. I am looking forward to sharing a sermon series on missions that will continue through our collection date.

The theme for this year’s offering and study is Whose Mission? Who’s Missing? Two great questions. The week of prayer that has been set aside for this year’s offering is December 6th-13th. December 13th is that date we have set aside to collect our offering. Our goal for this year is $3500. I believe that we as a church can meet this goal. I pray, for the sake of our missionaries, that we go above and beyond. Allow me to encourage you to be involved in the missions study, the week of prayer, and finally the giving toward the LMCO this year.

FIFS : Hebrews 11: 23-29

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23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. 24.  By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25. choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26.  esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. 27.  By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. 28. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

By faith Moses. What a profound statement. It is a statement that is repeated ten times in the book of Hebrews with an individual’s name attached to it. The writer of  Hebrews, in a nutshell, chronicles the life of Moses. In this brief summary, the writer makes an interesting statement. Verse 27 reads, in part, “for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”

Moses was able to stand before Pharaoh and lead the people of Israel through the wilderness with a great deal of confidence in the God he could not see. His faith and confidence were so strong, it was as if he could see God out front leading the way. God is out front leading those who belong to Him. Even though we can’t physically see Him, we know by His nature and character, which are revealed to us by His promises, that He is there. So, when life doesn’t go quite the way we scripted it, we endure as one seeing Him who is invisible. When the dark days seem to outnumber the bright days, we endure as one seeing Him who is invisible. When everything is life is going well, we endure as one seeing Him who is invisible. The key to it all is our faith. After all, the writer of Hebrews tells us that the capacity to “endure as one seeing Him who is invisible” comes “by faith”.

Worth Repeating

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“Missions makes this point: it is not about us and our preferences. It is about his mission and the fact that he sends us. We want to practice our preferences. We want things to be the way we like them. But God wants us to be on mission with him, to be sent to some group of people somewhere, and to minister in a way that meets their needs, not promotes our preferences.”

Ed Stetzer, Breaking the Missional Code

Track of Cooperative Program Gifts

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In yesterday’s post, I made several observations relating to the Baptist Press article on the budget shortfall at the IMB. Due to these shortfalls, there may be delays in some missionaries arriving on the field. One of the observations I made was that I believe it may be necessary to change the percentages of Cooperative Program giving to allow more funds to arrive on the mission field. The Cooperative Program is the Southern Baptist’s unified giving program for funding missions that has been in place since the early 1900’s. The CP is about percentages. The local church designates a percentage of the undesignated receipts to be given to the CP through the state convention. The state convention then designates a percentage (based on messenger vote) to retain in the state and a percentage to forward to the SBC for the mission boards, seminaries, and other entities. It is along these lines of designated percentages that funds make their way to our missionaries.

The South Carolina Baptist Convention retains 59.56% of CP dollars coming from the local church and forwards the other 40.44% to the SBC. It is best to look at this through a real-life example. Let’s say that a church gives $100 to the CP in the state of South Carolina. 59.56% of that $100 stays in the state. This percentage is broken down as follows:

30.4% – South Carolina Baptist Convention Ministries
25.56% – South Carolina Baptist Institutions
2% – Womens Missionary Union
1.6% – Church Staff Retirement Plan

40.44% of that $100 is forwarded to the SBC. The SBC has a consistent distribution plan for all CP dollars that are collected from the state conventions. Here is that plan:

50% – International Mission Board
22.79% – North American Mission Board
22.16% – Six Seminaries
3.4% – SBC Operating Budget
1.65% – Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission

The local church’s gift of $100 at the SBC level amounts to $40.44. The gifts, at their final dispersed amount, look like this: International Mission Board ($20.22), North American Mission Board ($9.21), Six Seminaries ($8.96), SBC Operating Budget ($1.37), Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission (.66).

In my opinion, here in where the answer rests. It is not so much as the amount the church itself sends, it has to do with the amount that the state keeps. Now, I understand that each state, including our state of South Carolina, have ministries and programs the leadership deem important and worthy of Cooperative Program dollars. When it comes to the funding of missionaries where their only source of support comes from the local church, through the state convention, can’t we do better? Again, in my opinion, I believe we will see a recommendation come from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force in June of 2010 relating to this area of CP percentages. Listed below is what other state conventions retain/send to the SBC as a matter of comparison.

Florida Baptist Convention  (60%,40%)
Georgia Baptist Convention  (58.6%, 41.2%)
Alabama Baptist Convention  (58%,42%)
Mississippi Baptist Convention (66%,34%)
Hawaii Baptist Convention  (69.4%, 30.6%) 
Tennessee Baptist Convention (58%, 42%)
California Baptist Convention (72.1%, 27.9%)

Budgetary Shortfall at IMB to Affect Programs and Personnel

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A recent article in the Baptist Presss reported the trustees of the International Mission Board meeting in Shreveport, LA this past week adopted the 2010 operating budget. During this adoption process, the trustees learned that it would be necessary to move 7.5 million dolars from a contingency reserve fund in order to balance the budget. This action was necessary because revenue is expected to be lower than expenses in 2010. When you couple this with the fact that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering came in under the national goal, it paints a sobering picture.

As a result, the IMB will be cutting back or restructuring two programs and possibly losing up to 600 positions. One of the programs being restructured is the Masters Program. The Masters Program is a program that offers the opportunity to those 50 years or over to serve overseas for a term of two or three years. Part of the restructure will call for those in the Masters Program to produce part of their own support, while the IMB provides logistical support. About the reduction in staff, the BP article goes on to say, “the drawdown in the missionary force during 2010 will be accomplished through natural attrition, completion of service, retirements and limiting appointments , not by recalling any personnel, the trustees were told” (emphasis mine).  It appears that missionaries will not be coming off the field, but there may be a delay of new missionaries getting to the field. 

I want to make a few observations here:

1. In regards to the Masters Program. I don’t feel that those who are appointed to this program (or any other IMB missionary service program) should have to provide their own support. I believe it is distracting to and detracts from their work on the field. I would not be in favor of them, or any other IMB missionary having to leave the field in order to come home,drum up financial support then return to the field. It is counterproductive.

2. Gordon Fort, IMB VP for Global Strategy said further in this article, “Because economic realities are forcing IMB to retrench its efforts, the organization must delibrately plan to have fewer missionaries — with implications for a lost world that should distress Southern Baptist church members.” There seems to be a mentality creeping into mission boards that is already in our corporate world today. That thought: do more with less. There is no way that you can reach more people, in more countries, in more languages, through more cultural barriers, with less personnel. I just can’t believe that. How can the IMB and the SBC justify one one hand our current population growth and on the other, as Fort says, “the organization must delibrately plan to have fewer missionaries”?

3. I believe somewhere along the line from the church to the state convention to the IMB there needs to be an adjustment to the Cooperative Program percentages. Fort went on to say, “When Southern Baptists collected $11.1 billion in offering plates in 2008, accoring to denomination’s Annual Church Profile, and 2.7% “finally arrive to support the vision of reaching a lost world, and when [Southern Baptists] are structuring ourselves in a way that guarantees we will fail in our mission, it just shouldn’t be.” I tend to  agree. In my opinion, we have a structure problem. Southern Baptist churches decide what percentage of their undesignated offerings will be given to the CP through the state convention. The state convention then decides what percentage of those gifts will remain in the state and what percentage will be forwarded to the SBC mission boards and other entities. In tomorrow’s post, I will show how much actually makes it to the IMB from the church level.

I find articles and stories like these tragic. In a day where the population is growing and anvenues are opening up for the gospel to be shared, the worst thing we can see is a lack of personnel to meet the growing need. What can we do? We can pray. We can pray the financial barrier will be removed and our missionaries who are waiting can hit the ground running.

FIFS : Isaiah 6:1-8

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1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3.  And one cried to another and said:   “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”  4. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5. So I said:   “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” 6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7. And he touched my mouth with it, and said:   “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” 8.  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:   “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”   Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

When we think about the encounter between God and Isaiah, our minds run to the end where Isaiah says, “Here I am. Send me”.  Isaiah received an upward vision of God first, “ I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up”.  Isaiah secondly received an inward vision of his unworthiness and sinfulness, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips”. When you spend time in God’s presence this is inevitable.  For Isaiah, the upward vision of God led to the inward vision of himself. As you understand more clearly who God is, your own condition becomes more clear. These two led to the third, an outward vision of the world. God saw there were more like Isaiah. More in the same condition. God was looking for someone to go and share the same vision Isaiah received : God is holy. Man is sinful. God forgives. As a result of Isaiah understanding who called him, he dealt with his sinfulness. He could then go and be God’s messenger to the people.

This sequence is beneficial for us today. Before we can run out and share who God is, we must be changed by Him first. Often I think we want to say, “Here I am. Send me” without first saying “I am a man of unclean lips”.