Wow! I must say that I am amazed. I knew that I had a lot of FB friends from our congregation, but this is crazy. Here's the scoop: I was thinking and praying through the sermon on church unity and asking God for ways that we can come together and stay connected. Of course, as I'm in one of these thinking sessions, another thought pops into my head and I jump onto the computer and send a quick FaceBook message to a friend (it's easier than writing myself a stickie note and then having to do it later - cut out the middle man, so to speak). Anyway, as I rolled my chair back and returned to my train of thought, I realized that the other thought was not an interruption, but a continuation of the same thought. Since we all have these relationships that FaceBook has been so gracious to allow us to rekindle, why not use them yet again to point people to Jesus?
That is where the thought came from. I want our Oak Grove Baptist Fan Page to be used for God's glory as a relationship building tool. I want to point people to Jesus, not whack them over the head with another churchy "have-to". My desire is to give a forum for praises and prayer requests, occasional relevant discussions, upcoming event reminders (but not over-do it!) and only those that pertain to the entire church family. Most importantly, there is a topic called "how to get to Heaven from FaceBook". It is the gospel in a nutshell. Please pray that God will use this mightily and that we may see people come to know Jesus through visiting our site. Then, they can click on the Praise discussion and let us know about it!
Within one week we had 70+ fans. Who knows how far God want to take it? :)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
For such a time as this!
I can't believe we've been here for 3 months already! What began with a yard-full of cars and trucks with people ready to help us unload, has not slowed down or let up yet. I am all at once grateful for their help and embarrassed that they saw all our stuff. :)
We hit the ground running right in the midst of the Christmas season with parties, dramas, Cantatas, and travel. When you combine all that with unpacking and trying to remember names, I'm not sure how we had time for sleep! Somehow we made it, although we still have boxes, we are surely at home now.
The first few months have brought several funerals and far too many hospital visits. We have many families that are really struggling. God is opening doors for me to move from being preaching, to becoming pastor (really quickly in the case of a couple of families!). It is a blessing to be available to minister and serve people as they hurt and as they need support. I am grateful each day that God gives me this opportunity.
On an exciting note, we are really maxing out our space right now, both in Sunday School and in Worship. We aren't at 100%, but it is definitely time to be thinking ahead. Our Deacons and Building and Grounds and other leaders are looking forward to dream the vision of what can be. There are exciting days on the horizon for Oak Grove! I am thrilled that God called me here for such a time as this!
We hit the ground running right in the midst of the Christmas season with parties, dramas, Cantatas, and travel. When you combine all that with unpacking and trying to remember names, I'm not sure how we had time for sleep! Somehow we made it, although we still have boxes, we are surely at home now.
The first few months have brought several funerals and far too many hospital visits. We have many families that are really struggling. God is opening doors for me to move from being preaching, to becoming pastor (really quickly in the case of a couple of families!). It is a blessing to be available to minister and serve people as they hurt and as they need support. I am grateful each day that God gives me this opportunity.
On an exciting note, we are really maxing out our space right now, both in Sunday School and in Worship. We aren't at 100%, but it is definitely time to be thinking ahead. Our Deacons and Building and Grounds and other leaders are looking forward to dream the vision of what can be. There are exciting days on the horizon for Oak Grove! I am thrilled that God called me here for such a time as this!
Goodbye
I hate moving. Did I mention that I hate moving? Over the course of the 5-6 weeks of packing and moving, I became a regular at the ABC store (sad, but true. Why is it that they have the best boxes, and always seem to have a fresh supply?). When I walked in the door I was greeted with a big friendly, "Howdy Pastor! Just help yourself! You know where to find them!" On many occasions, my deacons had to do a double take (joke).
My father-in-law was awesome during this time. He parked his 24-foot covered trailer in our yard so we could pack as we went along. After about a week of packing we had a full load, so he came back up and towed it to the new place (yet another blessing of living in parsonages - typically the old pastor has already gone, so you can go ahead and start moving early). We loaded up that trailer one more time for the final move date.
Our last goodbye at the church was tearful and joyful. Eight years brings many memories. We saw people won to Christ, many funerals, many births, many emergency room visits, many counseling sessions, many birthday parties. We went on mission trips, vacations, and retreats together. God blessed.
My father-in-law was awesome during this time. He parked his 24-foot covered trailer in our yard so we could pack as we went along. After about a week of packing we had a full load, so he came back up and towed it to the new place (yet another blessing of living in parsonages - typically the old pastor has already gone, so you can go ahead and start moving early). We loaded up that trailer one more time for the final move date.
Our last goodbye at the church was tearful and joyful. Eight years brings many memories. We saw people won to Christ, many funerals, many births, many emergency room visits, many counseling sessions, many birthday parties. We went on mission trips, vacations, and retreats together. God blessed.
God's Timing
Delinquent? Guilty as charged. A lot has changed in the last 6+ months since I've updated this blog. Here's the brief recap. After nearly 8 years at Creech, God has called us away to a new place of ministry. Those last couple of months were some of the most difficult and most touching of the whole 8 years. God allowed Connie and I to fall so deeply in love with Ahoskie and those good folks that leaving was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. One of my hardest decisions came as I approached the weekend when I would come to Oak Grove to preach my trial sermon. Here's the question: do you simply say you're going to be away for the weekend? That way, if they vote 'no', I don't have to come back and repair relationships. On the other hand, if they vote 'yes', there will be those who feel that I was deceptive and was sneaking around on them.
Well, even if Oak Grove would have decided I was not God's man or that it just wasn't His timing, these people mean so much to me that Connie and I felt it was our obligation to just share our hearts with them. On the Wednesday before the trial sermon I tearfully shared with our faithful few that God had laid it on my heart that my time with them had come to an end and that He had been preparing me to move on. I shared with them about the upcoming weekend and asked for their prayers.
The weekend went well. We arrived on Saturday to a full house in the Fellowship Hall. Everything as great except for the 50-75 chairs facing in one direction and 2 ittie bittie chairs facing back at them. Ugh. It was the most excruciating thing I've gone through outside of a dentist chair. I don't recommend it to you pulpit committees (please come up with a kinder solution, even if it is removing the wife from the firing line). :)
Obviously Sunday must have been okay because the vote went our way and we are here! Our home is now Youngsville, NC, and we are thrilled to call Oak Grove Baptist our church home!
Well, even if Oak Grove would have decided I was not God's man or that it just wasn't His timing, these people mean so much to me that Connie and I felt it was our obligation to just share our hearts with them. On the Wednesday before the trial sermon I tearfully shared with our faithful few that God had laid it on my heart that my time with them had come to an end and that He had been preparing me to move on. I shared with them about the upcoming weekend and asked for their prayers.
The weekend went well. We arrived on Saturday to a full house in the Fellowship Hall. Everything as great except for the 50-75 chairs facing in one direction and 2 ittie bittie chairs facing back at them. Ugh. It was the most excruciating thing I've gone through outside of a dentist chair. I don't recommend it to you pulpit committees (please come up with a kinder solution, even if it is removing the wife from the firing line). :)
Obviously Sunday must have been okay because the vote went our way and we are here! Our home is now Youngsville, NC, and we are thrilled to call Oak Grove Baptist our church home!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)