A SPECIAL VISIT BY A SPECIAL PERSON

If you were in church last Sunday then you know that we’re going to have some special guests in worship this Sunday. Dr. David Lewis, our church’s first associate pastor, will be with us, along with his wife Eileen and fifty four men’s and women’s soccer players from Houghton College in New York. They’re in the Boston area for a weekend soccer tournament. For the overwhelming majority of you David Lewis is just a name, but for me and a handful of current members who were active in the church back in the early to mid 80’s, David’s name evokes a warm smile, many fond memories and a lot of admiration.

I mentored David during his last two years at Gordon Conwell Seminary and his performance here at FBC was so stellar that I recommended to our Advisory Council that we call him as our church’s first-ever associate pastor. They agreed, as did our congregation, and in 1982 David began a four-year full time ministry with us. We all knew that we needed this infusion of gifted youth leadership for our church to grow. At the time it was a bold step of financial faith, but believing that God would provide we forged ahead. Looking back now I can see that this was the genesis point of what has developed into a twenty-five year growth trend for our congregation.

After leaving us in 1986 David went on to earn his doctorate and is currently working as an Associate Professor and the Faculty Director of Sports Ministry at Houghton College. I invited him to take my place in the pulpit this week, but he declined, preferring to sit with his wife and students. He did agree, however, to do a Ministry Moment interview.

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday for what promises to be a wonderful homecoming and a rich celebration of our love for Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Love and blessings,

David

ON JOINING A NEW DENOMINATION…

Yesterday Dana and I attended a regional clergy conference for the Baptist General Conference (aka Converge Worldwide), held in Quincy, Mass. As most of you know, this might be the new denomination with which our church affiliates. All morning I was sputtering to myself about having to relinquish so much of my day for this event…so much to do and so little time…you know how it is…but what a mistake it would have been for me to stay home!

I can’t speak for Dana, but personally I was exhilarated by the experience. After years of suffering through the theological mish-mash of ABC ordination councils and annual meetings, spending time with colleagues who are on the same theological page was in itself an enormous breath of fresh air, sending me home feeling good about the “rightness” this denomination for us. Time will tell if the First Baptist Church body agrees.

As many of you know, post-worship this Sunday we’ll vote on whether or not to pursue the application process with the BGC. May I remind you, this vote is not a decision to affiliate, but a decision to pursue the process of affiliation. In other words, upon deeper investigation, if something turns up that proves unacceptable to us (or to them) we’ll call a halt to the application and move in some other Holy Spirit-led direction. I’m not expecting this, but you never know. Joining a new family of faith is a big deal, one that we all hope will significantly enhance the effectiveness of our church’s mission. Please pray for God’s counsel.

One more thing…in response to the inquiries of a few of you, there’s no plan/intent/desire to change the name of our church. In other words, a new denomination is not tantamount to a new name.

Hope to see you this Sunday.

Love and blessings,

David

ONE WEDDING TO GO…

Five down one to go. A while ago I mentioned in a blog that I had six weddings coming up in the next eight weeks. Well, it’s five down, one to go and this one promises to be extra special since it’s the wedding of my middle son, Justin. We love his wife-to-be whom he’s been dating for over six years, so we’re thrilled about their pending union, but adding to the excitement is the fact that I’ll be doing the ceremony. I choke up every time I look a couple in the eye and say, I now declare that you’re husband and wife. I can only imagine how I’ll handle it with my own son and his bride!

Weddings are joyous occasions for parents, but those of you who have been through it understand that there’s also a lot of grief mixed in. Not surprising really, since there’s just as much goodbye as hello in the coming together of a new couple…hello to the new family union, with all its hope-filled promise and goodbye to the old family union, with all its shared history. But isn’t this what God planned from the get-go? “Therefore, a man shall leave his parents and unite with his wife and the two will become one flesh”. (Genesis 2:24).

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not feeling sad, just a little wistful. More than anything, I’m deep-down glad…glad that a major phase of my parenting is now over, glad that my son is in love, glad that I’m about to gain a daughter and glad that a new generation is about to become the stewards of their own little place in history. My prayer for them, as for all young couples who are starting out, is that they’ll lavishly embrace Christ in their marriage mix.

Love and blessings,

David

WHAT THE GOOD CHRISTIAN DOESN’T KNOW

“You don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian”. If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times. By nature I’m a pretty easy-going guy, but I have to be honest, every time I hear this comment I bristle because it always seems to spring from an attitude of superiority, not to mention the fact that it’s just plain false.

I ask you, why would Jesus lay down his life to birth the church if the church were a take-it-or-leave-it proposition? Also, what does being a “good Christian” really mean? Ask this question of the one who pooh pooh’s the need for the church and you’ll probably hear something like this…being a good Christian means believing in Jesus and living a good moral life.

Ridiculous!

On more than one occasion Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) This is the measure of the good Christian life, nothing less. What Jesus is telling us is that the good Christian life involves sacrifice. It involves sitting with the dying neighbor, having breakfast with the lonely widower, sharing pain with the depressed colleague, standing up for the social loser and showing love to the hostile adversary. In short, the good Christian life is hard, very hard, so hard that the believer who takes it seriously doesn’t run from the church, he runs toward it. Why? Because the good Christian life is so physically, emotionally and spiritually draining that it craves the renewal that only God’s community can provide.

The next time someone tells you that a person can be a good Christian and avoid the church remember this, their comment says more about them than it does about the church.

Love and blessings,

David