Radical Reformation Fan

Good article at Ethics Daily

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:02:00 +0000

As one who taught a basic course in Christian ethics at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Buenos Aires for about a decade, I try to stay abreast of developments and related themes as they pertain to theological education. In an excellent article today from Ethics Daily, William Brackney poses the critical question, "Do Theological Schools Serve as Ethical Communities?" He asks some very pointed questions and provides some thoughtful analysis along the way.

I'd like to quote one section of the article in particular in which he asks, "What exactly does it mean to be a practicing ethical community?" His response follows: "One can take a cue from the school of character ethics. Certain traits are valued and undergird all decisions and behavior. These include: equality of persons; freedom of conscience; voluntary assent to confessional statements; democratic decision-making; shared governance; healthy collegial interaction; transparency in administration; pastoral concern within the community; protection of human rights; the practice of grace and civility; and an overall allegiance to the lordship of Christ. The Christian ethicist understands that all of these characteristics have their root in Scripture."

While one cannot issue a blanket condemnation of the existing Southern Baptist seminaries with regard to their failure to exhibit the character qualities that Brackney references in this paragraph, it's clear nonetheless that many of these basic ethical qualities have been woefully absent or under-represented in the administration of some Baptist seminaries in recent years.

I'd suggest that it's high time that concern for theological orthodoxy which has occupied center stage among Baptists be accompanied by a sound measure of ethical praxis in which our walk indeed matches our talk. A good place to begin that recovery would be to return to the writings of one of Southern Baptists finest ethics professors, T. B. Maston, who espoused that simple truth in one of his books entitled, To Walk as He Walked. It seems that the apostle Paul would concur with the need to do just that (Gal. 5:16, 25; Eph. 4:1, Eph. 5:2,8; Col. 1:10, 2:6).

Horns Win by the Slimmest of Margins

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:59:00 +0000

I thought about the line that Fred Samford always used to utter on the TV series "Samford and Son" while watching the closing seconds of the Univ. of Texas - Nebraska Big 12 Conference Championship game last night. Feigning a heart attack, he'd holler "It's the big one." The last second (literally) field goal by UT's Hunter Lawrence was a clutch kick if there ever was one. I was certainly glad for the win that preserved the undefeated season, and my respect for Nebraska's defense and for the play of Suh in particular grew by leaps and bounds last night.

McCoy and Shipley have pretty much had their way all season, hooking up (pardon the pun) for some incredible passes and catches. When Shipley has been doubled, Colt has always managed to find someone else open as he's checked down on the other receivers. Last night he never had the time to follow the progression as he was pressured constantly by the rush. In addition, Nebraska's secondary did an excellent job of bottling up all of UT's receivers throughout the game.

On the positive side of the ledger, UT's defense rebounded after a poor outing against A&M on Thanksgiving Day and effectively shut down the Nebraska offense. One could argue of course that they didn't have much of an offense to shut down, but allowing just 106 total yards was a strong statement. In addition, they kept Nebraska out of the end zone even when UT coughed up the ball deep in their own territory a couple of times.

Here's hoping common sense prevails and UT retains its #2 ranking to face Alabama for the national championship. Alabama looked great against Florida so Greg Davis and Muschamp have their work cut out for them as they work on the offensive and defensive schemes to match up effectively against the Crimson Tide. We'll see how all of that happens.

On a related note, I still hold out hope for Colt winning the Heisman. While he was off of his game yesterday due to the pressure, he's had a remarkable career and an outstanding season overall and I can't see anyone else who's more deserving.

The God Who Came Down

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000

In a plea for God to display His glory and majesty on the earth, the prophet Isaiah prayed in Isa. 64:1, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence.” There are times that the biblical writers earnestly desired to observe God in all His majestic greatness, shaking the foundations of the earth, akin to the experience of Isaiah himself and his vision of God in the temple described in Isaiah 6.

As Elijah learned, however, God doesn’t always come down from heaven in a whirlwind or in an earthquake. For Elijah, God drew near in a still, small voice. For all of us this Christmas, we’re reminded that God has indeed come down to earth-—not with ear-shattering thunder that rent the heavens as Isaiah pleaded—-but with the cry of a baby born in a stable. “And the Word became flesh, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).

Let There be Light

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:55:00 +0000

One of my favorite Christmas songs of recent years is an arrangement done by Point of Grace called “Let There be Light.” There’s a verse in it that speaks so powerfully to my heart about the mystery of the incarnation and the glorious truth that God chose to become a man in the person of Jesus Christ. The verse says,

"He spoke after centuries of silence
In the midst of a still, starry night.
And Immanuel came down among us
And the Father said, “Let there be light!”

Two or three things jump out at me from this beautiful song. First, God broke His silence of approximately four hundred years since the time of the final Old Testament prophet Malachi when He sent His angels to announce the birth of His Son to some common shepherds tending their flocks on a hillside near Bethlehem. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” Surely the nation of Israel was longing for a fresh word from God after four centuries of silence, and God answered their hearts’ plea with a definitive word by sending them His Son.

Secondly, the word Immanuel is highly instructive. As the angel appeared to Joseph to assure him that Mary hadn’t been unfaithful to him but rather that the baby she carried was a miraculous gift of God, he told Joseph that the baby was to be called Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” The God of the universe invaded planet Earth in the person of Jesus to reveal God to us and to redeem us from our sins.

Finally, the text of the song imaginatively records God the Father saying once again, even as He had at the dawn of creation, “Let there be light!” While perhaps those very words weren’t uttered by the angelic hosts, the message certainly was present. Writing in the prologue to his gospel in John 1:4-5, the beloved apostle penned these words, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” I’m so grateful at this Christmas season as we observe the beautiful decorative lights, that God sent the true Light, His Son, into the world to show us His love.

Volunteer Hospital Chaplaincy

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:05:00 +0000

I don't think I've ever written previously about one thing that I've been involved in for the last two or three years--serving as a volunteer hospital chaplain. When the St. Luke's Hospital chain opened a local hospital here in Lee's Summit a few years back, they hired a former IMB missionary as a chaplain. John Murphy and his wife served in Venezuela before working in the home office in the area of support and scheduling for missionaries on stateside assignment (if memory serves me correctly). Two or three years ago, John contacted several local pastors and staff members to ask if we would be willing to serve as volunteer chaplains to help pick up the slack when he isn't there. Since John typically works "normal hours," the calls for assistance usually come in the wee hours of the morning.

I sleep with my cellphone nearby and it's not unusual to get a call at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning when there's been a life-threatening accident or a patient has been admitted who's near death and the family requests a chaplain. I received another one of those calls this past Thursday morning just before 2:00 a.m. and went to meet with the family. Their mom/grandmother had been hospitalized for a few days but had taken a sudden turn for the worse and they wanted some prayer support. I was able to spend some time visiting with them, offering some comfort and had prayer with them before leaving. I stopped back by the next morning and she was still lingering, though breathing much more shallowly. I stopped by and gave John an update and he followed up and visited with them during that day before she passed away in the afternoon.

I received a call yesterday and was asked if I would be willing to officiate at the funeral for the woman and I gladly consented. This is the second time I believe that one of these volunteer chaplain's visits has resulted in the additional opportunity to minister to a family in the time of their loss by conducting a funeral service. While the calls in the middle of the night can sometimes startle me awake and cost me some sleep, I appreciate the chance to demonstrate the love of Christ to someone who requests a chaplain to come and hold a hand, offer a shoulder to cry on, or say a prayer on behalf of a family member. I'm convinced that this is one further way that I can seek to be the presence of Christ in the midst of a hurting world.

A New Pastor for our Church

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:39:00 +0000

This weekend was an exciting time in the life of our church. We hosted our prospective new pastor, Dr. Blake McKinney, in a series of get acquainted meetings with different age groups in the church on Friday and Saturday and then heard him preach yesterday morning. He chose 1 Samuel 17 as his text, using the familiar story of David and Goliath to stress the basic message that God is bigger than our problems and our challenges. It was a good, biblically-centered sermon that was engaging. What I appreciated the most was his introduction to the sermon, saying that while it was a bit awkward with the sermon in a sense being part of a job interview, he wanted us to lay aside those concerns and hear what God had to say through the Scriptures.

We had good turnouts for the different age-group meetings and a great crowd in each of the morning services yesterday and again last night for the vote. The church clearly was overwhelmingly convinced that God had led our pastor search committee to Blake and the vote indicated that. 98% of those present voted to call him as our new senior pastor. He will move his family here after the Christmas holidays and begin his ministry in January. His first sermon (other than the yesterday's trial message) will be January 10th.

I think our entire church body is excited about this new page in our church's history and looking forward to the challenge that comes with new leadership. It promises to be an exciting new year for the congregation as we welcome a new pastor and gear up for our 150th anniversary celebration in April.

A Big Weekend for our Church

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:21:00 +0000

After being without a pastor for a year now, our church is hosting a prospective new senior pastor this weekend. He's got a busy line-up of activities ahead of him for the next three days, beginning with a meeting with the staff this morning as a group and then with us individually afterwards. After lunch, he will meet with our wonderful senior adults among whom I have the privilege to minister. Tonight it will be the youth and their parents and collegiates. Tomorrow morning he will meet with the children and their parents, followed by deacons and their wives in the early afternoon. Tomorrow in the late afternoon is a chance for anyone who missed one of the earlier sessions to meet with him and ask questions, etc. Sunday he will preach in both morning services and then we will vote in the evening service on whether or not to call him as our new pastor.

The pastor search committee has been diligently working for many months now and feel convinced that this is the man that God would have to lead our congregation into the future. We've been praying much for them in this entire process and a good-sized group gathered last night for about an hour and a half to pray for the weekend's events. I'd be very grateful for your prayers for us as well as we seek the Lord's will together concerning our future pastor. I'll try and share an update late Sunday evening after the vote has been taken.

Progress on History Project

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:49:00 +0000

I've not been cranking out the production too quickly on the history of our church in preparation for next spring's 150th anniversary celebration, but I have been making steady if slow progress. I'm up to 1975 in the writing of the first draft. That was the year that the church's longest tenured pastor announced his retirement after 27.5 years. He led the church through the Baptist heyday that so many experienced in the 1950s and 1960s. I'm also still doing some further checking on printing options and have a couple of good possibilities I believe.

This really needs to be a fulltime job almost, given the extensive nature of the research and writing, but I don't have that luxury. Life and church ministry both go on, including a funeral this past Tuesday for the 102-year old mother of one of our church members whom I had visited on several occasions in one of the local care centers. I'm also staying fairly busy with my part-time job with the BGCM as we've been working on a strategy planning process for a new strategic focus for the next five years. I've also got trips to Guatemala coming up in January and February, so there's the preparation for those as well. I'm still targeting February 1st or so as the target date to have the history finished by so as to have it available in time for our anniversary in mid-April.

The other big event on the horizon is the visit of a new prospective senior pastor for our church. We've been without a pastor for a year now and are looking forward to his coming in view of a call the weekend of November 13-15. There's a lot of excitement and interest needless to say. I'll have more details following that weekend.

Tony Campolo Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:58:00 +0000

This afternoon I had the privilege to spend about 20 minutes on the phone with Tony Campolo. The Baptist General Convention of Missouri is in the midst of a several month study process to devise a new strategy plan for the next five years for the organization. A part of that process involves interviewing key leaders engaged in innovative ministries. I requested the opportunity of interviewing Dr. Campolo and he was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer several questions regarding leadership and ministry. I've long been an admirer of Dr. Campolo since I first heard him in person at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Buenos Aires where I served on the faculty. Dr. Campolo came as the keynote speaker for our annual conferences. During his visit, my wife and I had the opportunity of hosting him in our home one morning for breakfast. He obviously is a fascinating man with a deep passion for holistic ministry to the poor and needy.

While all of his answers were insightful and will prove helpful in our strategy planning process, one response in particular stood out. When asked to identify risks or dangers confronting his organization's ministry, he replied that he worries about the tendency toward secularization. That is, with his organization involved in a wide variety of social ministries aimed at meeting the needs of the poor and oppressed, he fears and fights against the temptation to get sucked into the purely secular side of that effort, given that the biblically prescribed holistic mission they attempt to fulfill also demands a focus on evangelism and sharing the gospel to meet the spiritual needs of the lost. I commented in response that I suspected he had received a lot of criticism from the religious right about not being evangelistic enough, and he graciously replied that he was grateful for that emphasis and those who would hold him and his organization accountable to the task of evangelism.

I think I might have mentioned previously after hearing Dr. Campolo again this past spring at the Baptist Border Crossing event in Kansas City that he excels in the art of prophetic preaching that is designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. He surely has a gift for the latter. I'm very grateful for the chance to have spent a few minutes with him on the phone this afternoon and count it a blessing from the Lord.

Rick Warren quote

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:12:00 +0000

I received an email from a church member with a portion of a transcript of an interview with Rick Warren, conducted by Paul Bradshaw. There was a quote in it that really resonated with me. Warren said this:

"When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings."

When I used to teach Christian ethics in Argentina at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, in one of the introductory classes I would always do a little exercise with the students about the relationship between being and doing. It's based on the age-old debate or question, does who I am determine what I do, or does what I do determine who I am? I would put the two options to a vote before any discussion to see how many students favored which of the two options. After giving some examples of cases that seemed to support each of the alternatives and some lively discussions, the consensus reached by the class generally was that the two questions represent a false dichotomy. The truth is probably somewhere in between the two extremes and represents a dynamic tension between them.

I can both argue that I do what I do because of who I am, and that I am who I am because of a history or pattern of doing what I do. Warren's quote above emphasizes a bit more the need to focus on who I am in relationship to God. It's not about impressing God by what I attempt to do in His service as much as it is delighting myself in His person and presence. That's a good reminder in the middle of a busy week of ministry.

Bob Roberts

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:19:00 +0000

I mentioned a while back having attended an outstanding missions conference at Frederick Blvd. Baptist Church in St. Joseph, MO entitled Forum One-21. One of the really top-notch speakers featured was Bob Roberts. His message at the conference is now available on-line here. Thanks, Micah and crew, for making that available.

Dr. Roberts will also be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Blue River-Kansas City Baptist Association on Sunday evening, October 11th, at FBC Raytown, MO. More information about the gathering is available at the association's website.

Writing History

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:56:00 +0000

I realized I hadn't shared an update in quite some time about the status of my major ongoing project which is trying to get a history of our church written in time for its 150th anniversary celebration next April. I've found a different possibility for a printer than the one I was originally considering using that will give me a couple of more months of writing and editing time than I had first anticipated. I'm grateful for that and will certainly need the extra time I'm sure. As it is, I have finished reading all 150 years worth of the minutes (minus the 10 years that are missing because they were stored in a church clerk's home and were destroyed in a house fire) and am writing a first draft. I'm up to 1917 and in my fourth chapter in my chronological approach, so I am making progress. It does take a lot of time which at times can be a scarce commodity with my other pastoral responsibilities and my part-time job with the Baptist General Convention of Missouri.

Speaking of the latter, we had an excellent quarterly board meeting of the BGCM yesterday in Jefferson City at the FBC there. I was privileged to share a brief report, including a Powerpoint presentation, about the most recent trip to Guatemala at the end of July. There's a great deal of interest among our board in the ongoing partnership with Guatemalan Baptists. I took advantage as well of the time to twist the arm of one of the pastors from the St. Louis area and encourage him to join us for the next trip in January to Guatemala to conduct leadership training conferences.

Today I'm trying to catch up on a little cleaning around the house, hope to catch a bit of the game between UT and Wyoming this afternoon, and then will go and see my wife's production of "Cheaper by the Dozen" at her school tonight. She said the two previous shows have gone well. I missed them because of other commitments, including going to the youngest son's homecoming game last night. He's the junior drum major in the marching band.

Finishing Well

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:29:00 +0000

The following is my latest article for our senior adult newsletter, the Joyful Tidings.

Is there an upper age limit for being a disciple? By that I mean is there a time that we reach in our lives when we’ve either gotten sufficiently old or been a Christian long enough that we can somehow unplug and coast for the rest of the way home? These questions are of such a nature that by merely asking them, one automatically knows the right response. We’re never so old and certainly never so spiritually mature that we can rest on our laurels as Christians and cease striving to know Him better and live for Him more fully. While all of us would undoubtedly agree with the truths of those statements, somehow in actual practice we’re tempted at times to do just that. Perhaps you’ve been an active church member for most or all of your life and you’ve rationalized in your mind that it’s now someone else’s turn to serve, to give, to teach, or whatever other ministry you’ve been doing.

I’m not saying of course that we as a congregation don’t need to develop and utilize younger folks in leadership roles, for certainly we must do that. What I am insisting is that I cannot find a single example in the pages of Scripture of an individual who decided that it was time for him or her to kick back and relax and leave the responsibilities for worship and service to someone else. Rather, it seems that advancing age only solidified and strengthened the resolve of these folks to utilize whatever time they had left to serve God and advance His Kingdom’s causes. This isn’t to say of course that one should never engage in recreation and relaxation, for we know that these are beneficial for our bodies which are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What I do believe we find in the Bible though is that individuals in their later years who had walked with God for a long time never seemed to wane in their level of commitment to Him. They seem to have taken to heart the words of Jesus in Matt. 6:33 where He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

It’s a question of priorities in the final analysis, and I trust that each of you will desire that your life count for the Lord right up until the time He calls you home or when Jesus returns for His church. Jesus said, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Keep serving Him faithfully!

Follow-up to Forum 121 Gathering

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:54:00 +0000

In re-reading my own post (something I don't do very often), I was struck by the fact that one comment I made might easily lend itself to misinterpretation and I wanted to clarify it. I had remarked that I didn't feel that it was necessary for Dr. Reid to sing the praises once more of the Conservative Resurgence and comment on the fact that there will always be a battle to be fought for the Bible. My concluding sentence in that paragraph states, "Angry and argumentative Baptists who excoriate fellow believers with hate-filled words simply aren't fulfilling the command of Jesus to love one another, no matter how much they insist that they're merely defending sound biblical doctrine." As I thought about it, I realized that some might take those words as a criticism of Dr. Reid's own demeanor or presentation at the conference. He in no way was guilty of such an attitude or action from my perspective. His words were gracious and his illustrations clearly indicated a man who shares the love of Christ with a heart of compassion for others. My comment stands though in the sense that his tribute to the Resurgence did nothing in my opinion to strengthen his presentation. It was more like the perfunctory bone tossed to the dogs to keep them hungry and wanting more. I encounter numerous commenters on the Baptist blogsites in particular who can't even conceive of a moderate Baptist as belonging to the family of God and are quick to lash out with accusations of liberal, etc. whenever someone dares to question one of their interpretations. There seemingly exists an utter inability in the fundamentalist mindset to be able to separate the action of questioning their interpretation of a passage with rejecting the Bible itself.

My apologies to Dr. Reid and the forum organizers if my comments somehow indicated that he was guilty of angry or hate-filled speech toward fellow Christians, for he most certainly was not.

Forum 121 Gathering

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 19:02:00 +0000

I very much enjoyed the Forum 121 gathering this weekend that was held at Frederick Blvd. Baptist Church in St. Joseph. The 121 stands for First Century Mission, 21st Century Practices. The most challenging speaker for me of the entire conference was Bob Roberts whom I had heard a number of years ago but not in recent times. Bob is the pastor of the Northwood Church in Keller, TX and they've been instrumental in starting something like 90 different churches. They have a major focus internationally in Hanoi, North Vietnam, and Bob meets with leaders from across the world, including many Muslims, to seek ways to partner in bettering the living conditions of many living in poverty. He truly has a Kingdom focus, despite his Southern Baptist upbringing in East Texas. He alluded to the cosmic nature of Jesus' role where Paul says in Colossians 1 that Jesus came to redeem all things. He spoke extensively about discipleship and made one statement that really struck me. His comment was that we have to push evangelism in our churches because we don't have disciples. Speaking of missional living, he also posed the question, "What if God gave people their jobs not to make a living but to make a difference?"

Rodney Reeves, professor at Southwest Bapt. Univ. in Bolivar, MO also did a great job with his conference on First Century Missional Practices. His introduction followed Bob Roberts' thoughts about the Kingdom, saying that the church is not an end in itself but the means to an end which is the Kingdom of God. Taking the model of Paul, he suggesting our ministry must be prophetic, incarnational, and community-focused.

The other conference leader whose presentation I really enjoyed was Allan Karr, a missions professor at the Denver campus of Golden Gate Seminary. One of his statements that grabbed me was this--"If you make disciples, church happens." He then proceeded to outline a series of shifts needed to achieve a viable 21st Century ecclesiology and expressed them in terms of respiration, breathing in and out.

1. Breathe in - From extrabiblical traditions to biblical minimums. This echoed strongly what Wade Burleson and others have been encouraging Baptists to do in not going beyond the Scriptures themselves in our demands for conformity around non-essentials.
2. Breathe out - From institutional church-based to Kingdom of God based ecclesiology.
3. Breathe in - From a regional focus to a neighborsphere/local community focus.
4. Breathe out - From an organizational maintenance focus to an incarnational community transformation focus.
5. Breathe in - From hierarchical structure to shared leadership.
6. Breathe out - From "going to church" to "being the church."
7. Breathe in - From a focus on a main gathering to "doing life together."
8. Breathe out - From "right belief" to living out sound biblical doctrine holistically.
9. Breathe in - From efficiency-driven strategies to collaborative relational efforts.
10. Breathe out - From strategies of the flesh to a reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Alvin Reid of Southeastern Seminary also did a very good job of highlighting 8 keys for missional living. His main focus, not surprisingly given his role as an evangelism professor, was to focus on evangelism and sharing, using Paul's example in 1 & 2 Thessalonians for his text and point of departure. My only criticism comes from my own admittedly moderate viewpoint. I just didn't see the need for him to extol the virtues of the Conservative Resurgence and stress that there will always be a battle to be fought for the Bible. Moderate or historical Baptists don't have a problem affirming the truth and authority of the Scriptures whatsoever. Allan Karr's comments regarding his 8th point about the shift from right belief to living out sound biblical doctrine holistically resonates much stronger with me. He said that for far too long we've emphasized knowledge and content rather than transformed living. Angry and argumentative Baptists who excoriate fellow believers with hate-filled words simply aren't fulfilling the command of Jesus to love one another, no matter how much they insist that they're merely defending sound biblical doctrine.

Finally, to end on a more positive note, I was strongly encouraged by the great turnout of college students and 20-somethings who were clearly passionate about what was being shared. There weren't a lot of folks my age there, but the millenials and Gen-X'rs are certainly tuning in to the theme of living missionally. That gives me hope.

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Last night in our Wednesday evening prayer meeting and Bible study time, we were looking at the healing of the lame beggar as Luke describes the account in Acts 3:1-10 and a portion of Peter's sermon that follows, beginning in v. 12. As I was preparing for the study this past week, a phrase jumped out and grabbed me and I've wrestled with it all week. It's not that it's difficult to understand. It's the impact of the words themselves and the irony they portray. While not an oxymoron as such, the phrase strikes with the force of one. I'm referring to Peter's words in v. 15 where he says of the Jewish leaders who demanded Barabbas' release and Jesus' crucifixion that they had "put to death the Prince of life." The word translated as Prince is the same one translated as author in Heb. 2:10 and as author or pioneer in Heb. 12:2. The notion of having put to death the author or source of life gripped me and I've not been able to shake that verbal image from my mind.

As I pondered that a bit more last evening after the study, it brought to mind another one of those biblical statements that exemplifies this same irony. This one is found in Paul's 2nd letter to the church at Corinth - 2 Cor. 5:21 - where we read, "He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin our our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The sinless One became sin for us so that we might taste and experience His righteousness.

I suspect that there are many other affirmations in the Bible that possess this same ironic, or oxymoronic type of an impact. Anyone care to suggest another that you've encountered?

Great Quote

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:25:00 +0000

One of the blessings I enjoy each day is receiving in my email inbox a daily devotion from the Ravi Zacharias ministry. The devotional series is called "A Slice of Infinity" and is written by a number of different writers on their team. The author who never fails to disappoint with an extremely-well written and thought-provoking devotional is the managing editor, Jill Carratini. In today's piece, Carratini included a quote from Walter Brueggemann in his book, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth . Brueggemann's statement is worth pondering as we think of our tendency to create God in our own image.

We are your people and mostly we don't mind,
except that you do not fit any of our categories.
We keep pushing and pulling and twisting and turning,
trying to make you fit the God we would rather have
and every time we distort you that way
we end up with an idol more congenial to us.

In Isaiah 44:6-10 and following, the prophet records the words of God Himself as He reminds Israel that He has no rivals, for He alone is God. All attempts to replace Him with an idol are doomed to failure and merely reveal the folly of those who look elsewhere for strength and guidance.

Missions emphasis this coming Sunday evening

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:24:00 +0000

At times it’s difficult to keep track of all that our church is doing in the area of missions. There is such a wide variety of ongoing missions projects in which we’re engaged in addition to the special emphases we participate in either be sending volunteers or providing financial support to enable others to go or to undergird their ministries. This coming Sunday night will focus on missions as Janis Mansker (our children's minister) and I share a brief report regarding our trip to Guatemala at the end of July and the team of 9 that went to the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota will share pictures and testimonies of their experiences of sharing the gospel with the bikers there. Furthermore, we’ll have the privilege as well to hear a brief update from Eduardo Soto Padín, the pastor of the Evangelical Baptist Church of the Word in Fajardo, Puerto Rico that our church partnered with for several years to assist them in building their worship center.

We are blessed by the Lord in order for us in turn to bless others, and our ongoing missions program is one great way of sharing that blessing. Our church actively suppoprt a number of groups and organizations-—Lee’s Summit Social Services, City Union Mission, Hope House, Rachel House, Hillcrest Ministries, Harvesters, KidsHeart Africa, and the Special Care Home at Peculiar to name just a few-—in addition to our regular budget offerings that support missionaries in the U.S. and around the world. It's exciting to be a part of a church that seeks concrete ways to be involved in and support the work of missions both locally, nationally, and internationally.

Strategic Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:52:00 +0000

I attended the initial meeting in a series of four projected gatherings whose purpose is to enable the Baptist General Convention of Missouri to formulate a new strategic plan and initiatives for the next five years. One of the blessings of working with such a young convention is that we're not bound by lots of tradition and bureaucracy. That provides a great deal of freedom to engage in some creative thinking and searching about where God would have us be five years from now. Today we basically looked at three different methodologies to help us assess the current realities and challenges we face as well as identifying a large number of groups (most of them being para-church organizations) that are engaging in some creative ministries. The plan calls for us to interview key leaders in these organizations in addition to conducting some listening sessions in churches and encouraging lots of folks to complete an on-line survey to help us assess what they sense the most pressing needs are in their congregations.

It was a productive day with some good fellowship and dialogue as the group worked to develop some exploratory questions for both the listening sessions and the online survey after we had dialogued exensively about the groups we knew of that we doing some "out of the box" things in ministry.

Famous Quotes on Missions

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:33:00 +0000

I was deeply moved last night by our church's drama ministry (entitled First Acts) and its presentation in a readers' theatre format of “Bridge of Blood”--the story of Jim Elliott and his colleagues' efforts to evangelize the Aucas of Ecuador. I had first been exposed to the life of Jim Elliott back in seminary days and his famous quote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” has challenged my life for the past 30 years or more. In that same vein, I thought I’d share a few other memorable quotes from missionaries and Christian statesmen on the subject of missions.

“Christ alone can save the world, but Christ cannot save the world alone” - David Livingstone.

“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” - John Keith Falconer.

“God isn't looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him” - Hudson Taylor.

“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell” - C.T. Studd.

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God” - William Carey.

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him” - C.T. Studd.

“No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once” - Oswald J. Smith.

“We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first” - Oswald J. Smith.

“The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity” - Mike Stachura.

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.”

Guatemala Update

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:41:00 +0000

We had an outstanding time in Quetzaltenango with the leadership training conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday, returning to Guatemala City late in the afternoon yesterday. Both Verlyn and Janis did a wonderful job with their teaching times and the contents of their talks were very well received. As always, there were a large number of questions and comments by the workshop participants. They really do enjoy interacting with the conference leaders on these trips.

I didn't verify an actual number of participants at this event, but I would judge we were right at the number of 80 which is upper limit that we've placed on the conferences--mainly from the standpoint of budget concerns. In addition to covering the cost of lodging, food, and the conference room space itself, we also provide some books each time to help these pastors and lay leaders expand their libraries with some good materials that will help them in their ministries.

I never cease to be moved by the expressions of gratitude and appreciation that our Guatemalan brethren share with us for having provided these training events. We've actually done 6 of these to this point (I think I mistakenly said 7 in an earlier post), and each time has been a tremendous blessing. Most of the pastors and leaders have attended all 6 of the sessions though we do pick up a new church or group of leaders from time to time, or a church opts to send some different leaders to accompany their pastor for the training.

The hugs, kisses, etc. as we leave are always part of an emotional farewell until we get together again six months down the road. I'm extremely grateful for the BGCM and the Baptist churches in Missouri that make these trips and training events possible. I don't think that perhaps we'll know this side of heaven just what all has been accomplished through these conferences. I do know that I consistently hear testimonies from the pastors and leaders who attend that the topics and themes that we cover have always been timely and apropos to the situation in which their congregation finds itself, so they've been able to implement the teachings in their local setting.

Today we're off to Antigua for some sightseeing before flying home early tomorrow morning. We'll probably be up around 4:00 a.m. to get to the airport in time for a 7:00 flight out, assuming it's on time. The other thing we're doing this morning before heading to Antigua is visiting the Tabitha Ministry that Carol, our partnership liaison has with the women and their children who live near the city dump here in Guatemala City. We have brought a couple of suitcases stuffed with children's and baby clothes for the ministry and will have a chance to deliver that to them.

Guatemala Bound

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Monday afternoon I'll be heading southward again for the latest round of leadership training conferences with Guatemalan pastors and lay leaders. We anticipate a good crowd of close to 80 to be in attendance this time. Accompanying me will be the children's minister from our church, Janis Mansker, and a BGCM colleague, Verlyn Bergen. Both bring a lot of expertise in their fields and undoubtedly will make a significant contribution as conference leaders. For this occasion, I'm going to just fill the role of translator for their workshops. Janis has been to Guatemala previously when we went in February 2008 for a week-long missions trip to Cantel and did VBS, spoke in public schools, and conducted leadership conferences for four area churches. This will be Verlyn's first trip with us to Guatemala.

It will be a quick trip this time--down on Monday, driving out to Quetzaltenango on Tuesday morning in order to arrive in time for lunch and then 3 sessions that day. Wednesday we wrap up with two more sessions and will be heading back to Guatemala City late that afternoon. We'll do some sightseeing in Antigua on Thursday before winging our way home on Friday. These are kind of whirlwind trips, but it enables church staff members to make a meaningful contribution as a conference leader while not having to miss out on services and responsibilities in their own churches. If you stumble by the blog and have read down this far, please remember us in prayer this coming week as we minister in Guatemala. Thanks!

Getting Your Goat

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:54:00 +0000

I can’t attest 100% to the accuracy of the following, but I ran across an interesting explanation of the phrase “to get someone’s goat.” You’ve probably heard or maybe even used that phrase before, though it seems to be fading out of common usage today. The phrase supposedly originated from the practice of the owners of racehorses keeping a goat as a stable companion for their horse. With both being herd animals, the goat presumably had a calming influence on the racehorse and kept him from being excessively jittery. If you owned a competing horse and wanted to improve your odds of winning, you would steal the competitor’s goat so as to upset the horse and make it run a poor race. From this practice, the phrase came to describe the action of doing something to upset another person—to get their goat.

What is it that most frequently “gets your goat?” What is the usual source of irritation that provokes you to become upset? The answer to those questions will of course vary from person to person, but it’s worth asking ourselves what it is that we allow to disturb and disrupt our peace of mind. Sometimes the provocation is something over which we have absolutely no control. At other times, perhaps we can identify the source of the conflict and thus not put ourselves in the same situation so as to experience those distressing feelings.

While we may not always be able to control the source of the irritation, we still can choose how we will respond to the irritant. We read in Prov. 15:1, “a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” That’s great advice if the source of conflict is another person’s words. But what about when it’s just the circumstances of life that upset us? It’s then that we claim the promise of Jesus when He said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; do not let your heart be troubled” (Jn. 14:27). His supernatural peace can be ours as we daily trust in Him.

(The above post comes from an article I wrote for our Senior Adults' monthly newsletter).

Summer Adult Bible Study Series

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:48:00 +0000

This summer I resurrected an event that I had conducted my first 4 summers on staff here. For whatever reason, last summer I failed to lead what at that time we were promoting as an Adult Vacation Bible School. I was scolded by some of my senior adults (very nicely of course) for not having offered it because they told me they really missed it. I have to confess that I missed it as well. Each summer it's been one of the highlights of the entire year to get together each evening of one week (actually we go Monday through Thursday night) and study a book of the Bible.

I suppose the format is similar to the days when January Bible studies were common in Southern Baptist life, only we choose to do it in the summer. In the past years we've studied Romans, Colossians, James, and 2nd Timothy. I have to confess that Romans was a real challenge to cover in four nights. I much prefer taking a shorter book where you can at least spend one evening looking at a chapter or so. In previous years, we split the evening in two parts with either a missionary report from a team that had recently gone on a missions trip, a musical program, or other speaker, followed by refreshments, followed by the Bible study time.

This year I've decided with the name change to simplify the format as well. We are studying 1 John this year and my plans are to take about 45-50 minutes each night to cover the Bible study portion and then being good Baptists, we have to have some refreshments and fellowship time afterwards. Last night it was cookies and brownies. Ice cream is on the agenda for this evening and then cakes and pies on Wednesday night. By Thursday, we'll try to both wrap up the study of chapter 5 and finish off whatever leftover desserts there are by that time.

We had a good group of about 80 in attendance last night. That number down just a bit from previous years, but it's still a wonderful group to show up mid-summer to study the Scriptures together. I am energized by the teaching opportunity as well as the gift of teaching is the one that God seems to have most blessed me with to serve His church.

Next week it's off to Guatemala once more for another round of leadership training classes with pastors and lay leaders in the western region. Our children's minister will be joining me as a conference leader as well as a colleague with the BGCM who leads out in the area of church relations. It should be another exciting week of ministry and fellowship with these pastors whom I've come to love deeply.

Projects

noreply@blogger.com (Gary Snowden) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

I've been pretty remiss about posting anything on my blog for the past few weeks. Life has been pretty busy and I've been working on several projects simultaneously. With summer, my wife isn't teaching and has had a rather lengthy honey-do list to do. I'm also trying to get prepared for a week-long summer adult Bible study series on the book of 1 John. Last year I didn't do one of these for the first time since I've been on staff here and there was a clamor to resume the activity this year. I've also been translating the outlines for the conference leaders for the next trip to Guatemala which is scheduled for July 27-31.

Finally, the biggest time-consumer has been working on the church history project in an attempt to write a church history and get it published in time for our 150th anniversary celebration next spring. Reading through and taking notes on 150 years of minutes when the church met monthly for business meetings represents a huge undertaking and a lot of time invested. It's been an interesting process and I've still get a ways to go. I'm up to 1981 in the minutes now. When I finish the minutes, there are still other sources to research including our church's newsletter which has been published since the 1940s or so.

I'm afraid my posting is still likely to be sporadic due to these projects, but I'll try to do a brief update from time to time. Thanks to those who stop by occasionally or frequently to check on updates.