Reaching New Heights

We made it through the TN-CBF General Assembly yesterday. Our church responded beautifully to the all the guests from across the state and really rose to the challenge of hosting this event. The planning began back last fall, and it seems a birth has taken place. I enjoyed the day very much and feel like this was a high point for the church. The theme selected back in October, which I recommended to the planning team was "Reaching New Heights" based on Habakkuk 3:19. I had no idea then how appropriate that theme would be 7 months later.

Today I submitted my resignation as pastor of Signal Mountain Baptist Church. My family and I are preparing to move to Springfield, MO where I will become pastor of University Heights Baptist Church (UHBC) on June 1. The church facility is located across the street from Missouri State University. This is a wonderful opportunity for me and my family, and I have a genuine sense of call in making the move. Leaving Signal Mountain is bittersweet, as there are many good memories and friends whom I will be leaving behind. These emotions are offset by the challenge and opportunity of making new friends and taking on new challenges.

I don't know much about Missouri. It is outside the Southeastern Conference and this definitely makes it a mission field of sorts. The denominational landscape appears pretty confusing, as the direction of the state convention has brought about two moderate responses: the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Missouri (CBFMO) and most recently the Baptist General Convention of Missouri (BGCM). Although these two groups are "moderate" organizations, there is a difference between a CBF moderate and a BGCM moderate. These kinds of distinctions will be interesting to sift through upon my arrival. I'm pleased with the denominational affiliations of UHBC, as the church is aligned with the CBF and the American Baptist Convention (ABC). It is an oasis of sorts for retired ministers and folks who appreciate a traditional Baptist church family. It will be exciting to attend the CBF General Assembly in Washington D.C. in June, as the ABC's centennial celebration is being held in the same place. I'm looking forward to making new friends and getting reconnected with old ones.

I've always believed that God's timing is his signature. The Lord has been faithful to me and my family, and I am excited about the next chapter of our lives. I'm looking forward to truly "reaching new heights."

The Other Side of Easter

It's been a while since my last entry. We've hit a stretch of busy-ness during the Lenton season culminating in a wonderful Easter service last Sunday morning. The next thing you know, it's been a month. As per every Easter, we had fewer empty pews and even as I get excited about that I also wonder why it can't be that way every week. We worship on Sunday because of the Resurrection, and in a sense every Sunday is Easter. There is no answer to this, and there will be the usual fall off afterwards. Still, the message rings true and it is up to each one of us to respond. The words "He is not here, he is risen!" resonate through the centuries and are as powerful today as they were in the 1st century.

I came across a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) that is a good way to begin the other side of Easter:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland, once said,"My dear God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses but not once for my thorns. I have always looked forward to the place where I will be rewarded for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as a present glory itself" (Streams in the Desert, 147).