Just Pathetic...

The Arkansas State/Texas A&M game has to be one of the most horrible games we've played in a LONG time. How in the world do you lose to Arkansas State?!? That is just ridiculous. We have talent that should make any team jealous, yet we play like we have never seen a football. Coach Sherman had better right the ship quick (and yes, I am more than willing to give someone time to get his program going...but come on, tonight was pathetic!!!) or the powerful alum will be headhunting.

Hell-fire And Brimstone

The following excerpts were taken from a commentary by Dan Kimball in the Winter 2008 issue of Leadership:

The subject of hell and judgment is all over the New Testament. Still, we don't hear much about hell today, at least not from the church. We tend to cover other subjects repeatedly, but ignore one that Jesus talks about all the time. There are some exceptions, but the preachers yelling "turn or burn" on street corners are rare.
We cannot approach the subject of hell merely as a doctrine and ignore the human impact. Teaching on hell is not for the sake of knowing Christian trivia or to satisfy theological curiosity. If we believe in hell, and if we believe people created in God's image will either experience eternity in communion with him or apart from him, then we should be communicating the gospel, both the good news and the bad news.
Of course, this calls for balance. Christians have often been guilty of making hell the primary motivation for salvation. I believe this is an alteration of the holistic gospel found in 1 Corinthians 15. But if we completely ignore the reality of hell and judgment, we are forced to make one of Jesus' frequent teachings little more than an obscure metaphor.
As Charles Spurgeon said, "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

Christian Fraternity Will Proceed at U. of Florida

The Christian men’s fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi received an injunction in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday that will allow it to proceed as an active “on-campus” organization the University of Florida.
According to a release on Christian News Wire, representatives from Beta Upsilon Chi sued the university on grounds of religious discrimination after they learned they could not be an active organization on campus this year. The group exists on 20 other campuses throughout the United States, many of which are public institution like the University of Florida. The university wanted to shut down the group because being a Christian is required for membership into the organization. Florida officials say that stipulation violates the university’s own nondiscrimination policy.
“In this decision, the Court has reiterated the importance of ensuring faith-based organizations are treated fairly and equitably in the public square,” said Brett Williams, board member of Beta Upsilon Chi. “This ruling is encouraging to the young men of Beta Upsilon Chi at the University of Florida, but more importantly it makes a strong national statement that the rights of religious freedom and free association must be respected by universities.”
The case has not reached a final resolution, and as arguments continue, Beta Upsilon Chi continues to assert that the Constitution gives them the right to form a religious group and the university’s policy cannot infringe upon that.

(Article copied from Church Solutions.)

2008 Southern Baptist Convention Compensation Study

The 2008 Compensation Study was a joint project of state Baptist conventions, GuideStone Financial Resources, and LifeWay Christian Resources. Compensation and congregational data was collected anonymously from ministers and office/custodial personnel of Southern Baptist churches and church-type missions. Reports are based on compensation for nearly 13,000 respondents from all 50 states. While this data is made available with respect for the autonomy of each local church, the information can help a church be objective in considering appropriate staff compensation. Use menu options (left) to view reports based on data from all states or for a selected state convention(s). All amounts are annual amounts based on 2008 compensation. Cost of living adjustments should be made when using the data in subsequent years. A key feature of this study is the CUSTOMIZED REPORT. It provides reports for only those churches of similar attendance, membership and budget to your own. CAUTION: Some position categories (Senior Pastor: Interim, Senior Pastor: Part-Time, and Ministerial Staff: Interim) contain a relatively small number of respondents. It would be best to include all of these respondents in reports.

Click here for more information about the Compensation Study and its uses.
Click here for answers to FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about the Compensation Study.

(All information listed above is taken from the LifeWay Compensation Website.)

Environmental Stewardship In The Judeo-Christian Tradition

I am currently studying the above titled book (which I received free in the mail) from the Action Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While I have not finished it, there are some good thoughts in this book. In fact, let me quote part of the introduction as it is given on the back cover.

"A fair and honest debate about religious responses to environmental issues should always distinguish theological principles from prudential judgments. The Cornwall Declaration and the accompanying essays in this volume were written to do just that. They were not written to provide theological rationale for current environmentalist fashion. Rather, they seek to articulate the broad Judeo-Christian theological principles concerning the environment, and to distinguish those principles from contrary ideas popular in the environmental movement." (Jay W. Richards)

Part 4 of the book really piqued my interest. It is entitled "A Biblical Perspective On Environmental Stewardship" and contains a section (Section IV) entitled "Some Human And Environmental Concerns For Present And Future". Within this section such issues as population growth, global warming, and species extinction are discussed. Section V, "Environmental Market Virtues," also promises to be a good read.

Besides this book, there seems to be a large undercurrent within the Judeo-Christian world to become "green." Sometimes we use the terminology of "eco-friendly" or "eco-conscious" but it basically has the same purpose. What is the general concensus on such a move? Is it warranted? Or should it be avoided at all cost? Is there some middle ground, and if there is, how do we reach it?

Church Branding

This is one of the hot topics of today. To get a greater feeling for this issue, read the following post. (Click here for original blog post.)

Branding: A blog by Dennis Richards (on Church Solutions)
10/11/2007

As I write this, I’m getting ready to ask the staff of Bent Tree, “What is branding, anyway?” My guess is that most of the responses will be standard: logo design, naming, colors, the look of the Web site or bulletin, etc. These are all valid responses, and all are elements of what makes up a brand. Dictionary.com describes “brand” as a trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer.
I think branding for ministries is much like contemporary worship used to be 10 or 15 years ago. People are realizing that there is something different happening, and this thing called branding is not going away. People are starting to realize they need to pay attention to how things are changing around them in a world of communications, branding and messaging.
Branding is often seen as a mystical thing. I hear all the time, “If we could only have our brand strategy understood or clarified” – again, valid comments. But branding, ultimately, is simply letting people know who you are; it’s sharing your personality with the world. It’s the difference between choosing to pull on a pair of jeans, a comfortable T-shirt and sandals for work, rather than dressing up in a suit and tie each day. It’s part of my personality, and it’s my persona.
The same is true of a church. Some churches are more formal, while others are more edgy and reach a different audience. The trick is letting these distinctions shine through. Is it logo, color, Web site or identity package (brochures, letterhead, business cards)? The answer is “all of the above.”
What is the DNA of your church? Are you more the jeans-and-T-shirt place or the suit-and-tie spot? Once you figure out who you are and how you live out this thing called church, the hard part is over. The fun part of branding is coming up with the right messaging and design that allows your personality to be well-known for Christ.

Dennis Richards is the director of communications for Bent Tree Fellowship, where he successfully leads the church in the branding, marketing and communications. Prior to joining Bent Tree, Richards served as a professional marketer and brand manager to the interiors industry, working for several domestic and international brands. Those skills have proven an added resource in helping Bent Tree in its building-expansion program. In addition to his normal responsibilities, Richards also enjoys serving in the Worship and Arts Ministry as one of the guitar players.

The Nation Of Georgia

This article was written by Louis Moore concerning the Georgian crisis and its relationship with the U.S.

The year was 1991. The Soviet Union was nearing its final gasping breaths. By year's end the hammer-and-sickle red flag would fly no more over the Kremlin or elsewhere in the Evil Empire.
Six years earlier I had traveled to the Soviet Union to write my award-winning newspaper series about Jewish Refusniks—Soviet citizens who wanted to flee their motherland for life in either Israel or the United States but were held back by persecution and sometimes imprisonment. I traveled incognito as a tourist in a group of Texas Jews supposedly vacationing in the land of their ancestors. By day we visited tourist sites; by night we ventured from apartment to apartment for our clandestine meetings with the Refusniks. These Soviet Jews were genuinely scared to death of their political keepers; their paranoia was contagious—something we visiting Americans experienced vicariously for the first time.
This time—in December 1991—I now was among my own Baptist people. Our small delegation traveled by way of Moscow to the Republic of Georgia, one of the new countries that was emerging from the breakup of the Soviet Union. Frankly, I'd never heard of the Republic of Georgia until I was invited to join the group.
We were invited there by Georgia Baptist leaders, who feared their Orthodox brethren almost as much as they had feared their former communist masters. Georgia's Baptists wanted the five of us U.S. Baptists to talk directly with Georgia's Orthodox leader about ending what they perceived as persecution by Georgia's Orthodox majority against their tiny Baptist minority. In short, they wanted us to bring American influence to bear on the patriarch, who in turn would influence his people to be nicer to the Georgia Baptists. For our part, we never could figure out how much influence we had, except that we were there physically. And we were Americans.
On arrival in Tblisi we thought our proposed talk with the Orthodox patriarch was our goal. Little did we realize the Georgia government was eyeing us with great curiosity and a much bigger game plan.
I tell this story now because I believe it illustrates the dilemma the U.S. faces in light of the overreaction by Russia starting last Saturday against the little nation of Georgia over Georgia's efforts to reclaim land—called South Ossetia—it believed was stolen from it about the time we visited by revolutionaries aligned with Moscow.
As soon as we arrived in Tblisi in 1991 we started hearing "We love America. We love Americans. We want to be allied with you Americans. Please, can't you get your country to begin diplomatic relations with us?"
Within a few days of our arrival these messages were being delivered by top Georgian government officials, who seemed more than eager to clear their calendars in order to welcome a band of wandering Baptists from America. Each day the top Georgia government official wanting to meet us seemed to be a little higher up in the ranks.
To everyone we met we kept saying, "We are here representing a large group of Baptists in Åmerica, not the U.S. government."
We decided we must be five of only a small handful of Americans in the entire country of Georgia that year. We also decided Americans were certainly greatly loved in that small, faraway country—or else somebody there sure thought they needed us awfully much.
Finally the invitation arrived for a command performance in the office of Zviad Gamsukhurdia, the country's first elected president. I must readily admit that even though I've traveled in more than 45 different countries, I'm not accustomed to spur-of-the-moment invitations to visit heads of state in their executive offices. This was a total surprise.
Richard Land, our group leader, tried to explain to the Georgian president about our interest in Orthodox persecution of Baptists. Gamsakhurdia was much more interested in whether we had connections with George H.W. Bush, then-President of the U.S, and influential people in the U.S. Congress. He specifically wanted to know if we could help him secure diplomatic recognition of Georgia by the U.S. government. Richard finally told him we would do what we could to help him—which wasn't much.
Returning in a taxi from the president's office/palace to our hotel, we were astonished to see so many military tanks and personnel on the Tblisi streets near the capital.
The next day we flew out of Tblisi to Moscow during the worst snowstorm I've ever seen on the smelliest and worst-maintained Soviet aircraft than I could possibly imagine.
Days after we met Gamsakhurdia, a coup ousted him from office. A few weeks later he and his family members all were murdered as they fled the rebels. In the upheaval the office in which we met him was burned.
In so many ways, the Baptist trip was more unnerving than was the previous Jewish trip, which itself was hair-raising. Georgia was a strange, strange place. Men walked around holding hands with each other. They even kissed each other goodbye in very unmanly ways. The military looked like something straight out of World War II. Why the government officials thought a tiny band of visiting Baptists from America might help them unlock their political fortunes in the U.S. would have been laughable had they not seemed to be so desperate.
Still, in 1991 the Georgians communicated beautifully several important messages: We love America. We need America. We will do anything we can to align with America.
Why did they love and need us so much? Probably because they hated the Soviets (translate today: Russians) so much.
Those are the messages they still are communicating this week.
My heart goes out to the Georgians now as the Russians have taken out their pent-up frustrations on those poor people. I just wish, however, that Georgia's government had not acted so stupidly last Friday night. Didn't it know the bully in its back yard was still a real threat and the country its people love so much was half a world away mired down in its own problems including Iraq and Afghanistan?
But now that the Russians have over-reacted so severely, maybe the Georgians will still get what they've sought for so long—the reciprocal U.S. interest in them accompanied by sympathy, awareness, and massive financial aid. Sometimes you have to lose in order to win. In this situation, Georgia still may turn out to be the big winner in its losing war with the Russians.

Posted by LOUIS MOORE

The Henderson (Jerusalem) Priority

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

In the coming months, EBC is going to experience some exciting things. First, all of our normal school year activities will get back in full swing. Second, the Faith Promise Conference (more details on the back) will be held in September. Third, The Jerusalem Priority will occur in October. What a wonderful time it will be here at EBC!
To give you a quick idea of what The Jerusalem Priority is, a few excerpts from the Leader book from Bogard Press have been included below.

The Jerusalem Priority is an outreach emphasis program. The curriculum is designed to assist churches in reaching their communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The materials are provided for churches to use during a four-week campaign each year. The target month is October, but the curriculum is undated and can be used anytime. The focus will be on evangelism and outreach for four consecutive Sundays during the selected month. The curriculum includes sermon outlines and Bible lessons for the teachers and students. Promotional materials include bulletin covers and inserts, doorknob hangers, invitation cards, postcards, publicity posters, and vinyl banners. Other items include a daily devotional book, a salvation tract, and an evangelistic survey.
Church members will have the opportunity to invite friends, acquaintances, and family to attend worship services and Bible study. Many will have the privilege of sharing their faith with friends and family during the process.
The presence and power of the Holy Spirit is essential. Psalm 127:1, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” Prayer will be the most important part of the process. Pray that souls will be saved, people will be baptized, and new Christians will be discipled.

I believe it is important for EBC to reach the surrounding community. While God has blessed us in Great Commission Giving, He will also bless us in Great Commission Work here in Henderson (our Jerusalem).
Therefore, in the coming days, a Jerusalem Priority Outreach Committee consisting of staff members and key leaders in the church will be formed. Furthermore, other members will be enlisted to help with the community outreach events during the fall months.
While this is a big step for EBC, it should not scare us, for we are just doing what the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to do.
For more information concerning this program you can go to www.thejerusalempriority.com.