Rumblings and Ramblings

Dr. Everett has been elected as our new Ex. Director of the BGCT.  The vote was 78-6.  A good, solid margin.  Now it is time for us to pray and watch.  I must say we pray harder.  No matter what you might think about Dr. Everett or the selection process, it is time to pray for him.  I still believe that prayer changes things, and I believe that as we pray for God’s will for the BGCT that God will work through the prayers of Texas Baptists.  I’m reminded of Jesus words in Matthew 7 “Ask and it will be given to you”.  Of course we realize that it is in the context of God’s will.  He will give us the desires of our heart when our heart’s become his.  A new day can dawn on Texas Baptist life as we seek the heart of God for this state.  Do we need to keep watch?  YES!!  But that does not mean that we don’t pray first.  So I encourage myself as I encourage you to pray for Dr. Everett, pray for the BGCT, and let’s get about the Kingdom Work.  God can turn this ship around, let’s let Him do it.

What if the vote is close tomorrow in the vote for the Executive Director?  Does Dr. Everett take the position?  How much of a negative vote would cause him to reconsider?  I honestly doubt this will happen, but that possibility is there.  There could be enough dissatisfaction from the Ex. Board members to cause Dr. Everett to reconsider.  Highly unlikely but probable.

What would happen if that would happen?  Things that make you go hmmmm.

1.  Since the first week of the month, I’ve put over 4000 miles on my vehicle ….. the life of a west texas preacher.

2.  My first funeral has left a huge hole in our church and what I see down the road is more holes are a coming.  However, I don’t have any apprehension.  Seems like God’s people are stepping up to the plate.

3.  We started our outreach ministry last Thursday.  God is bringing new guests to our little church …. any correlation or just coincidence?  I choose answer A.

4.  A city having a 40 day prayer vigil …. I wonder what is going to happen?  I’m learning that I prefer praying during the daylight instead of the dark. 

5.  Why is it so hard to get going on Monday’s??????

6.  I realized Tuesday that I need to play some more golf if I ever want to improve.  Playing once ever 6 months will not cut it.

7.  I’m not interested in playing golf when it is in the 20’s with a below zero wind chill.

8.  Yes, I realize no one really cares about this ….. but deal with it, LOL.

The conference has gone well.  I did leave early this evening so I could get some rest.  Here are some of my thoughts on the day.

1.  Our scripture passage for the conference is Matthew 16:13-20.  The WBU professors are giving insights of the passage to us.  So far we have heard from Dr. Carolyn Ratcliffe, Dr. Paul Sadler, and Dr. Glyndle Feagin.  They have been given us key insights from the passage.  Dr. Ratcliffe talked about the background of the passage which I found very interesting.  (I didn’t realize/couldn’t remember that Ceasera Philippi was the center of pagan worship.  This brings this passage to a whole new light for me).  Dr. Sadler talked about the theological history of the passage from the perspecitive of the church fathers, the reformation, and from Baptist Theologians.  The jest is that our theological perspective on the passage has remained the same throughout church history.  This evening Dr. Feagin talked about the promises that Christ gave in the passage.  I can’t wait to hear what Dr. Manning has to say.

2.  Sandy Maddox has also spoke today.  Her message, if I can call it that, this afternoon really reminded me to see people as individuals.  Many times we go through our day so fast that when we see people we don’t see the needs they have that we can meet i.e. who would be willing to stop and share Jesus with someone when a hurricane was coming your direction?

3.  Leighton Flowers did a great job this afternoon.  Didn’t have a real passage he spoke from but challenged us to remembe the most important thing is our relationship with Jesus.  It is that relationship that will sustain us, not our church activities.

4.  Dr. Calvin Miller is a hoot!  He has kept me laughing while hitting some clear biblical points.  I was left with this question today, “Do I not give God enough credit that He can do whatever He wants to do?  Because I don’t, I don’t ask Him to do the miraculous.  See 1 Kings 18.

Anyway it has been a good day.  Almost forgot about the chuch back home.  I’m going to do some work from the hotel room tonight so I don’t have too much of a guilty conscious.

After church tonight I’m headed to Wayland Baptist University to the Pastor’s & Laymen Conference.  This will be a good break for me.  The demands of ministry the past 3 weeks have been something else.  My prayer is that I will not be called back to Perryton until I get refreshed by the conference and I’m able to lose my 30 golfballs on Tuesday afternoon.  If I have the capability, I will try to blog about the conference.  The last time I was at the PLC was in 1990 as a student of WBU.  I was working the lighting for the event.  I’m ready to get out of town!  I’m sure none of you understand what that means (ha! ha!).  Blessings to all.

Maybe we ought to read 1 Corinthians.  Just a thought.

Have you ever been in the valley (no, I’m not talking about South Texas)?  Ever been in a position where you think that you can’t get any lower?  Many people find themselves there at different times in their lives and their reactions are all different.  Some get into the valley and figure there is no way out and so they stay there.  Others realize that if they are in a valley there must be a peak on the other end where the good will come.  Whether they get to the peak may be questioned but they will do whatever they can to get to the peak and out of the valley.

Around me I’m seeing many valleys.  My church is in a valley right now.  We have dear church members who are looking at crossing the river real soon.  We have had members who thought they were crossing the river when God said not yet.  These folks are pillars in the church and as they suffer we all suffer.  However, one thing they will say and I agree with is that on the other side of the valley is a peak.  It may not be what we expected it to be, but it is there and it is good.  Why?  Because God is there just as he is in the valley.

We as a state convention are in a valley as well.  Some say we need to go a little deeper.  Some say we can’t go any deeper.  But we are there.  However, as we sit in the valley we must decide are we going to stay or are we going after the peak on the other side.  I can’t help but believe that soon we will start marching toward that peak.  I believe the process has already begun.  If Jan is used by God for the short time he is at Dallas, the healing will be in full force within our state offices.  I believe that even know God is working in the life of our new Executive Director giving him a God-sized vision for our state and equipping him to lead us on the climb for that peak. 

Could we be in the days of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem?  How are we going to be used as individuals in this process?  How will we be willing to be used?  I’m sure the remnant were tired and skeptical as they survived in and around Jerusalem during the Babylonian Captivity.  Now someone comes in and says it is time to rebuild.  Do we trust this guy?  Do we follow him and do what he says?  I’m sure many of them went to work not sure if this task of rebuilding the wall would even get finished?  There were some who listened to the nay-sayers, there were many who were discouraged by what they had to say, but they also knew that they were working on something greater than themselves.

How did Jerusalem get to this state?  It was because of their sin and refusal to follow their God.  They suffered the consequences and now God was starting a new day for them.  They were in the valley and God was leading them to the peak through Nehemiah.  I see similarities with us as a convention.  Can we say that God will use people to bring us out of the valley?  We have been hurt, we are skeptical, but maybe God will use these men to accomplish His Kingdom work and help us to be on task for him.  There could be a reason to be Optimistic!

I had an opportunity, with pastors from the Tx. Panhandle to meet with our interim Executive Director yesterday at Temple Baptist Church in Amarillo.  It was 90 minute meeting that was a mix between a listening session/goal session for the interim period.  Here is what I got from the meeting.

1.  Jan will do his best to start the healing process within the building.  He has opened up the Executive Directors office as a prayer room for all the staff of the BGCT for a lengthy time each day.  There will be times for them to write down their prayer requests and concerns and hopefully promote healing and restoration in the building.  This was welcomed news to our group of pastors.

2.  Jan asked us what we would want to see in the first 100 days of the new Executive Directors administration.  We talked about the need for building trust with the churches.  We also voiced our concern that all departments of the BGCT needed to be open to us and help us.

3.  One of our area DOM’s talked about the disconnect he has expereienced between the DOM’s and the BGCT.  Apparently the DOM’s have not been listed to all that well in the past.

4.  The call center was brought up and what a waste of time and money it was.  One great question was, “Why did they have a retreat?”

5.  Jan mentioned that he will do some sort of personel review and present it to the new Executive Director.  He was not happy, (my obervation) about those who lost their jobs in November were in non-managerial positions in the BGCT.  He seemed to indicated this had a lot to do with the low moral in the office.  He mentioned that it would be wrong to fill these positions again when we just let those people go.  Don’t know what that means if we need those positions, but I understand the point he was getting across.

6.  One pastor mentioned how many of the churches in our area of the state are sitting on the fence waiting to see what was going to happen next in the BGCT.  If the churches don’t like what they see or if they feel like they are not being listened to there could be an exodus from the BGCT.

7.  Jan mentioned that there seems to be a problem of communication within the state office.  One part of the office does not know what the others are doing.  One part thought another part was working on something but that part never got the message, that sort of stuff.  Just wondering have we heard this before?

8.  There was talk about how the latest reorganization created something that was not intended.  There was talk about all invovled on how that needed to change.

9.  There seems to be frustration within the Execuive board for the lack of opportunity for the Executive board to discuss matters openly and freely.  There has been some improvment in recent meetings but there needs to be more.  Seems like there is only a few minutes where the Executive Board can disuss with the Executive leadership of the office about things they are concerned about.  I can’t help but wonder if that is planned that way?

Overall I was optimistally encouraged by the meeting.  Everything that was said, Jan personally wrote down.  He seemed to learn some things from us and he seemed to be concerned about what we had to say.  There was also one of our BGCT elected officials present (I just realized that a few moments ago when I scanned that page of the BGCT website).  He too was taking notes on what was said.  What come out of this is the big question.  I tend to trust Jan that he will communicate what we have said to the new Ex. Director.

Realize that I have put down what I can remember.  Hopefully I have remember correctly.  If you were there and want to add anything, please do so.  I want to that Charles Davenport our regional consultant for putting this together.  I know that he and Jan were headed to Plainview and Lubbock to do these meetings there as well.