Sights of New England

Sights of New England

Reflections on New England

I have just returned from a Mission Project with the Singing Men of South Texas. You may want to peruse the "photo gallery" on the SMOST website for pictures of the trip.

One of the things that God impressed on me last week was the "lostness" of New England. Only about 2 - 3% of New Englanders attend an Evangelical church. As I was trying to process that information I was reminded of the influence the area has had on Baptists and missions. Two New Englanders, Luther Rice and Adonirum Judson were early pioneer missionaries. Their influence on missions and the future of the Cooperative Program were critical for Southern Baptists. How far has New England moved away from their mission-minded past.

In the Boston area, there are some 80 universities they comprise over 300,000 college students. There are some of our nation's top universities included in that number (Boston University, Tufts, MIT, Harvard). Yet, with all of those students and universities, Baptists are struggling to make an impact. The colleges will not allow Baptists to be on campus, so one of our missionaries, is working to reach college students through house churches. She has been able to start 10 house churches in the area.

It was also in New England in the early 1700's that the First Great Awakening began. That awakening began primarily with college students. Could God be using the churches, pastors, and missionaries to bring another Great Awakening to New England?

Beantown

I will be leaving Wednesday morning with twenty or so people representing the Singing Men of South Texas. We will be singing for the New England Baptist Convention in Marlborough, MA. It is outside of Boston (Beantown, The Walking City).

The New England Baptist Convention is celebrating their 25th anniversary as a convention and the 50th anniversary of Southern Baptist work in that area. We will be providing the music for all the sessions of the convention, singing in churches on Sunday morning, and leading in a Thanksgiving Praise Sing on Sunday afternoon.

Your prayers for our safety and for the Lord to use us while in Boston will be appreciated.

24 Years Ago

It was an early, and I mean early, Thursday morning twenty-four years ago this Saturday. My wife was scheduled to have a C-section to give birth to our first child at 9:30 a.m. on that Thursday morning. My mother-in-law and I took her to the hospital on Wednesday so she would be ready to go on Thursday morning. At 1:15 a.m. on Thursday, my wife called to inform us (her mother and I) that her water had broken. We quickly, and I mean quickly, showered, dressed, and drove the 30 minutes to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital where we were told that my wife's Dr. was on his way. He was not on call that night since he had been out of town. Anyway, about 4:15 a.m. our first child, Megan was born.

We had been concerned about her because she was breach. The Dr. had tried to turn her, but each time he would lose the baby's heart rate. That forced us to have to have C-section. When Megan was born we found out why the Dr. was unable to turn her - the umbilical cord was wrapped around her shoulder.

It has been twenty-four years since that early morning. I could not be more proud of my first born. Megan, for the most part, has been a wonderful daughter. I say for the most part, because there were those few teenage years. Seriously, God has blessed us with a beautiful daughter and a her wonderful husband.

I can honestly say that I am a blessed man because God has blessed me with a wonderful family. I don't deserve the wife, daughter, son, and son-in-law that God has given me.

What can I say about my daughter? I guess I could say she married way over her head, but that would get me in trouble. (Right Meg?)
Honestly, I can say she is beautiful, talented, and I'm sure a great teacher. I have never seen her in the classroom setting, but I have seen her interact with children. Megan, thank you for blessing my life for these twenty-four years. I love you.

Twenty-one Years Ago

Tomorrow will be twenty-one years since my son was born. It was an early Monday morning, the first Monday after time change. I remember that because the clocks at the hospital were off an hour. We arrived at the hospital early as my wife waited for our second child to be born.
Before I was escorted into the delivery room, I was told that my wife was alright even though her blood pressure had dropped. The Dr. had obviously given her too much medicine that caused the blood pressure drop. She was anxious and slightly irritated, as we waited for the birth. (That is the only time in 21 years since here blood pressure has been low. I'm sure my son has caused her blood pressure to rise a few times.)
The moment of the birth came and our son was born. I was quickly ushered out of the delivery room to waiting family and friends. I announced to the group that we had a boy. They asked about the health of the baby and his mom.

In a sense these twenty-one years have flown. I could not be more proud of my children. God has richly blessed me with a wonderful wife and two marvelous children, by birth, and a marvelous son-in-law. But on this day I want to recognize a son who makes his dad proud.

What can I say about my son? I could speak of his humor, his abilities, or his willingness to express his love for his family. But I will just say: Happy Birthday, Jonathan. I love you.

Character

In reading some other blogs, I was reminded about a quote from Gene Wilkes. Gene is the author of "Jesus on Leadership." Several weeks ago I shared some thoughts from Gene's newest book, "An Angel in the Flame - a tale of two saviors."

One statement that Gene makes in his book literally jumped off the page for me. I re-read it several times because of the impact it had on me.

Gene writes: "You can tell a man's character by two things: how he prays and how he manges his sex drive. How a man prays exposes his heart and to whom he bends his knee. How he manages his sexual urges exposes the depth of discipline in his life."

I would challenge the men who read this blog (all one of you, maybe) to re-read that statement. I believe that Gene has issued us a challenge. We must challenge ourselves every day to pray and discipline our natural desires in order to focus on the mission of God.

Would you join me in seeking to be men of God, used by God? To do so we must live lives that are pure.

Empty Me

Many of you American Idol fans will remember Chris Sligh from a few years ago. A great voice with a head full of hair. Chris has released a new CD. One of the songs, "Empty Me," has been played on Christian radio. This song speaks to me, challenges me, and causes me to examine my own life. Read these words:

I’ve had just enough
Of the spotlight when it burns bright
To see how it gets in the blood
I’ve tasted my share
Of the sweet life and the wild ride
And found a little is not quite enough
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change

Chorus:
Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds onto
Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You

I’ve seen just enough
Of the quick buys of the best lies
To know how prodigals can be drawn away
I know how I can stray
And how fast my heart could change

‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You, compared to You
‘Cause everything is a lesser thing
Compared to You, so I surrender all

Several lines of the song challenge me - the chorus especially.
There have been several mornings in the past few weeks that these words come to my mind when I wake in the morning. Is God trying to tell me something? Is this something which you need to be reminded? Because "everything is a lesser thing, compared to" God.

Join me in praying "Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You."