Entries from October 2011 ↓

I AIN’T MOVED

“But none of these things move me,”
(Acts 20:24)

“I have set the Lord always before me:
because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”
(Ps. 16:8)

The 1987 Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis was labeled “the Watershed Convention.”  It was at this meeting of the SBC that the conservatives won the presidential election for the ninth year in a row, and by the presidential choices of conservative electees to the convention boards and committees, the balance of control tipped from the moderate to the conservative wing.  The direction of the Southern Baptist Convention had returned to her fundamental grassroots and has remained that way since the Conservative Resurgence began in 1979.
      Wanda and I were in attendance when Dr. Jerry Vines preached the Convention Sermon in 1987, which is one of the greatest sermons I have ever heard.  It was titled, “A Baptist and His Bible.”  His sermon upheld the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible, and that it was the view held by the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists.  He shared an illustration that summarized the Bible-believing, uncompromising Southern Baptist he has always been:

Old Jeb and his wife were riding in their pick-up truck to town one Saturday morning. A car passed them going in the other direction in which a young woman was cuddled up right next to a man, who was driving the car.  Jeb’s wife looked over at him and said, “When we were first married, we didn’t sit this far apart.”  Briefly looking away from the road and over at his wife, Jeb replied, “I ain’t moved!”

I like that!  Every day we are faced with decisions that can greatly alter our lives and the lives of others upon whom we have an influence, some of whom we are not even aware we are influencing. Many of those decisions ought not to be ones we have to give much thought to.  You see, for many of the issues and questions of life, you need to learn the answer before you are ever asked the question.  The Bible has already provided the exact answer to many of life’s questions.  For the ones where the answer is not exact, the Bible provides the principles that lead us to the right decision or answer.
     Having been a full-time pastor for twenty years and serving full-time in the ministry for thirty years, I want you to know that there are some basics of being a pastor, but, most of all, in being a Christian, where I ain’t moved, and I never will be moved.  Our staying firm as Christians on some of these issues and questions of our day will result in persecution in some form. But, as Paul stated when he was told of impending persecution, “None of these things move me.” Oh, that all the disciples of Jesus could testify as Paul.  If we will stay true to the Word and stand firm, the Lord has promised He will equip and empower us to endure.  Therefore, the Lord is with me because I always set him before me, so I shall not be moved.  May the words of an old song be one of our theme songs in the compromising day in which we live: I shall not be, I shall not be moved; I shall not be, I shall not be moved; Just like a tree that’s planted by the waters, Lord, I shall not be moved.

HALF JOKING/HALF SERIOUS

  Now that I am open to pastoring full-time again, I’m thinking about changing my hairstyle, spiking it (should I color it, too?), so that I look younger and more appealing to church pastor search committees, most of whom seem to want a pastor in his 30s or early 40s (but with 20 plus years experience). What do you think? You can’t see it but I am wearing a blazer with a mock turtleneck, too. Since the picture was taken, I have also gotten some new stylish plastic glasses like were worn in the 1960s.

Below is my seven month old grandson Brantley’s reaction to my new look! I would take his response to be a disapproval!

I’m having a little fun, half joking/half serious! The serious part is that I am seeing a trend today where churches are now becoming among the most age discriminatory institutions around. Churches are actually putting an age limit for a candidate for pastor of their church that is well below retirement age. One church looking for a pastor recently advertised that the prospective pastor must be 35-45 years of age. THAT WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED JESUS from being considered to be their pastor because His public ministry began at age 30 and ended when he was 33.  How ironical that the One for whom and because of whom that church exists could not even be their pastor!

In most professions, the last few years prior to retirement are not only when the CEOs/Executives make their highest salaries and have the wisdom and experience to do their best work, it is also when the average worker/employee is making the most income and knows how to do their work efficiently and effectively. But, too many churches are avoiding calling men to pastor their church who are 50-55 and older, who could be used in a marvelous way to help some of those churches rebound, in some cases, from the lack of being able to maintain stability and consistency from calling young men who stay at the church 2-3 years or less and use that church as a stepping stone to a bigger church.

To my young pastor friends, don’t let yourself get caught up in thinking a church made up of mostly 30-45 year olds is the ideal. The reason some of your churches have the prime locations, land, and facilities they have today is because of the now senior adults who were tithers, givers, and servers, whose time, efforts, and sacrifices led to people joining the church and those buildings being built. I would bet, if I were a betting man, that if you profiled the giving, compared to salaries/income, that you would see a high level of gifts to your church in what would be 10% of what Social Security pays. Those senior adults may not have as much to give as they had at one time, but they still continue to tithe and even give beyond their tithe. Yet, I have observed too many of the younger pastors today who don’t give much of their time to senior adults and some who try to avoid giving any time to them. The church ought to be a reflection, as far as age groups go, of what society is. With the fastest growing segment of society being 70 and over, a church that does not make that age group a significant part of a church is a church that is not ministering to the whole body of Christ and not wholly evangelistic because there are many senior adults who will die and spend eternity in hell if we ignore seeking to reach them because our focus is only on those below 55 years of age.