Running Nuts

This is what the next month looks like for our family...its called nuts. May 24th Yard Sale because we don't want to move it and we have stuff worth selling. May 25th, second to last Sunday at Welsh. Packing, more packing and still more packing. May 30th, birthday/moving pool party for Riley at the YMCA pool. May 31st lots of packing because some friends, Heather and Sharee, are taking the kids for the day and cooking dinner for us that night. June 1st, last Sunday at the church, with good-bye luncheon. June 2nd, walk through at the new house and get the keys and start the move in. We are going to take a truck and trailer load on this day just to get stuff out of the way. My friend Bob, he is also Riley's principal, is letting us use his enclosed trailer. Then June 3rd is field day at Riley's school. This is a big yearly event. Also, lots more packing. Thursday June 5th back to the house with a truck and trailer and van load of stuff. We will leave the truck there and bring back the trailer with the van. Plus, the cable and internet gets hooked up that day. We will be picking up the U-haul on Friday morning and start some loading, with the bulk of the loading coming on Saturday with help from church people, friends and family. Hopefully we get to Hagerstown around noon and we have some people in H-town to help us unload. We will go to church on Sunday morning and then that afternoon I head out to the ATL for my first week of training. My friend Ryan Strother is taking me to the airport. Hopefully the price of the airfare goes down cause I really don't want to pay what they are asking for the flight. Get back Friday evening the 13th and turn around and head to the Big Easy (New Orleans), will actually be staying in Covington, on Sunday for another week of training. Get back Friday the 20th and then Monday the 23rd I start my work. A guy named Nick who lives in St. Louis will be coming in to help with the first week and trick out my truck with all kinds of cool tools, a compressor, and generator. I will also get my Bumper Man signage on the truck.

We are very thankful for all the details that God has worked out and all the people who have said they would help in different ways. It will be nuts but Michelle and I have been married over eight years and this is the story of our lives...craziness!!! We love it is some ways but definitely look forward to some calmer days in our lives.

After things get settled I will blog about some of my thoughts on what I see God doing through me in terms of ministry and the whole journey to get us to where we are at this point. Keep us in your prayers that we enjoy this time of nuttiness.

Leaving Frostburg

Yesterday I announced to the church that I am resigning and moving to Hagerstown, MD. We had felt God moving us in this direction for some time now. We have been praying and asking God to provide the start-up cost for me to start my own business. We got our answer and now He keeps answering more.

I will be officially known as a Bumperman, here is another website. Our prayer through this whole adventure is asking God how can He use us as a family to minister in a different way. Not necessarily in an official capacity on staff at a church, but living in a community, working in the business world. Allowing us to be more missional in our ministry. Our prayer is that we will be doing more ministry than ever before. I said that God keeps answering prayers, well I got a really nice truck for my business for about $5000 below Bluebook. Here is a pic of the truck.

Also, today we think we found the house we want to rent. It is not official because we have to go through the whole application process. But nobody else is serious about it. Everything is coming in under budget so far, which is awesome.

Please keep Michelle, Riley, Carson, Hudson and myself in your prayers as we head out in this new adventure. My last Sunday at Welsh will be Sunday, June 1st. Please pray for Welsh that God will bless this church and all it does as it moves forward as well.

Feeling old

Well, this past Saturday I turned 37 years old. It was not a big deal, just another birthday that passes. My wife enabled my golf habit by letting me purchase a Taylor Made Rescue club. I am excited about the opportunity to play with it. Especially on the Par 4 number 3 at Polish Pines where you have to lay up before the water.


Enough on my b-day. Now to the reason I am feeling old, the movie "War Games" is 25 years old. I love the movie! It was my first introduction to what a computer could do. Can you say, "Do you want to play a game?"

The cool thing is the biblical imagery in this wonderful movie. David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) figured out how to get access to a computer created by Dr. Stephen Falken (John Wood). He knew all about the man who created the computer, but he could not get access to all the computer had to offer. Finally through further research David learns about Dr. Falken's son who was killed whose name was Joshua, which of course is the Hebrew name for Jesus. Once he figures out about the son he has access to the computer like never before.

Biblically speaking is the idea that we cannot have access to all God the Father has to offer until we KNOW about Jesus Christ His Son. The Son gives us access to the all the Father has for us.

Great viewing

With the writer's strike this season some of my favorite shows have been delayed or canceled for the season all together. I am glad to see hope is on the horizon with one of the best shows I have seen, Deadliest Catch. I wrote a small blog about this last season here. I think I enjoy the show for the fact that this is real reality. These guys work hard and take great risks to bring a creature comfort to many people who enjoy King Crab. Personally I am not a crab eater, but this show is well worth it. So, on tax day at 9:00 PM on Discovery Channel catch the new season.

Reliving

So the other day I blog about Dr. Demento and I was listen to some of the classics from the show and forgot one of my favorites, Squirrels. Also, there is this classic, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah and finally Bulbous Bouffant. So, click on the links and find these classics.

Birthday Shout out

Today is the birthday of a radio icon, Dr. Demento. When I was a kid growing up in McKinney, TX my brother and I would listen to his show on Q102 on Sunday nights. He introduced us to some wonderful songs over the years. Songs like, "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIV, or "Dead Puppies" by Ogden Edsl Wahalia Blues Ensemble Mondo Bizzario Band. Dr. Demento also introduced me to Weird Al and many of the songs that were not popular by him. So if you ever wonder why I am the way that I am, well this might explain a whole lot. So, if you like listening to, "mind numbing ear-candy while enjoying MAD MUSIC and CRAZY COMEDY," then join with me in wishing Dr. Demento a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Well...

Sunday was a good day. The sermon went really well considering I preached longer than normal. It is funny because I only had three pages of notes, usually have at least five. My daughter the night before asked me about being baptized, she had been asking for some time. I talked to her about what baptism means and why and she said she wanted to become a Christ follower. I prayed with her and she will be baptized next week. The day after my b-day. My parents are flying in from Texas for this. Riley is the first of their grandchildren to profess Christ.

This week is a lot more tame than last week. I actually got to go work-out this morning. It is hard when you have to take some time off to get back into it. I did not want to go and once I got there I wanted to leave. I pressed through. I didn't do my normal work-out but I got back into the grove.

Good Day

What a good day, it was long and I am tired but it was worth the trip. Bob Roberts was his usual engaging self.

I was able to hang out with a friend, Cory, from another church in the area that road down with me. I had invited him earlier in the week because he is going through some transition stuff in his life and looks to be moving on to another church.

I also got to spend some time with my friend David Phillips and met a couple of other bloggers as well. It was good to meet Adam Feldman, here is his church's website, and Joe Kennedy. I have not read their blogs much before, but look forward to keeping up with these guys. Adam is in Ellicott City and Joe has been in Maryland looking at the possibilities of planting in Maryland. All three guys are great guys and are doing some really great stuff for the kingdom. I need to rub shoulders with these guys because their blogs are really fancy and my is bland compared to theirs.

Most of what Bob said I have either read or heard from him in other contexts, but it was a great reminder for me because I have become very self-focused over the past few months.

Tomorrow I have my second funeral this week. Looking forward to the sermon this week. I am starting a new series called, "Living Life Out Loud" based on the book of Ephesians. Sunday's title is "Whose are you?"

Can't Wait for Tomorrow

One of my pastoral heroes is Bob Roberts, Pastor of Northwood Church in Keller, Texas. I first heard Bob while in seminary in Ft. Worth. I have read two of his books, Transformation and Glocalization. Tomorrow's one day conference is on his newest book, The Multiplying Church. I have not read his newest book, but as part of the conference fee we get the book.

Looking forward to this

Ben Stein, one of my favorite actors, "Bueller, Bueller," and one of the smartest guys I have ever heard, is coming out with what looks to be a very interesting movie. It is called "Expelled." Here is some information from the movie website:


There is a movement on the horizon that has the potential to change the educational system in America and influence your kids, you and the youth you serve.

For decades now, Neo-Darwinism has maintained a stranglehold within public education, suppressing all other theories on the origins of life - especially those that hint of a "designer".

Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and author of "The God Delusion" states,

"Certainly I see the scientific view of the world as incompatible with religion."

Your students are being bombarded with such propaganda throughout their education; despite the fact that MOST Americans do NOT believe we're the result of "random chance".

Well, FINALLY help is on the way.

EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, is an upcoming feature film in which host Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) goes on a quest to expose the suppression by science's anti-theist elite, and unveil new scientific facts that may suggest evidence of intelligent design in the universe.

Missouri Baptist Convention

Under "what were they thinking?" The Missouri Baptist Convention decided on December 10th to no-longer fund church plants within their convention that also affiliate with the Acts 29 network because Acts 29 does not take an abstinence stand on the use of alcohol. Here is the story in Baptist Press and a story here and here from some blogging friends. Tom Ascol over at Founders Blog has a great interview with Kevin Larson whose church will be effected by this change. The sad part is that they are giving these church planters 20 days notice during the Christmas Season about this change. Heartless!!!

I have stated previously after the Greensboro Convention in 2006, when the resolution on alcohol was past that I voted against, that I don't drink. I have tried some different beverages in my past and never cared for the taste of any of them. I believe the bible is inerrant, and because of that belief I can unequivocally say that drinking alcohol is NOT a sin but being drunk with it is!

Let me say that my personal belief is that this has a little to do with alcohol and Acts 29 and a lot to do with who has the power in denominational life. It is happening more in more where a select group has to control everything down to the last detail until everyone in the room acts the same and believes the same. Do I think this is only the beginning in Baptist life? No, this is just one more stone in the wall that will separate many non-Christians from Christ.

I love what Kevin Larson said in one of his answers to Tom Ascol:

The other mainline denominations are becoming more and more gray. No disrespect is meant toward my elders; we are desperate to have mature Christians at Karis. But the grayer a congregation or denomination looks, the more bleak the future becomes. Well, those mainline denominations are graying due to liberalism. Young people want something true and something worth believing and dying for. But the SBC, I'm afraid, could gray and ultimately die because of legalism.

I pray that some people will come to their senses very soon and reclaim not only the authority of the Bible but also the sufficiency of it for life and practice as well.

I think this is a tattoo that I need to look into getting.

Wow!

I know I have not blogged in a while. Between have three at home, church, coaching soccer and many other little things that arise in life I have not really thought about it. Then today I was thinking about it and our worship leader at the church told me I needed to update my blog, so here it is.

Actually, what I was thinking about writing about is music. I am not a musician, though I do like to sing. I have been preaching a sermon series on the "Sermon on the Mount" and this week I finish the Beatitudes. The last one Jesus puts out there is that those who persecuted for being righteous are blessed and theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. So how does that relate to music?

Today, our worship leader, Angela, and I sit down to map put the service and we usually work on using songs that relate to the sermon being preached to reinforce the theme. Well, how many songs do you know of that talk about the joy of being persecuted? We do mostly traditional service out of the 1991 Baptist Hymnal and there is not a section in the subject index on persecution. I tried to rack my brain about contemporary worship songs that talk about being persecuted and came up with none.

Scripture is full of references to the idea of persecution and it is never a question of if we go through it but when we go through it.

Paul tells Timothy..."Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:12 NASB)

We are told in James 1:2-4 that if we want to be full and complete lacking nothing then we are to have joy when face trails. "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (James 1:2-4 NASB)

Jesus tells us that we are to take courage when the world hates us because it hated him. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master ' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But al these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me." (John 15:18-21 NASB)

So, if anyone is a songwriter I challenge you to stay faithful to God's word and write a song that speaks of persecution in a biblical light.

HOME!

It is official! WE ARE HOME!. We got back to Frostburg around 1:00 PM Tuesday. Hudson is sleeping well and doing all the other things that babies do. We are so thankful that God took care of him during this time. Now we need to recuperate before my mom heads back to Texas on Tuesday.

Good News

Hudson will probably be coming home tomorrow (Tuesday). He is doing really well and we are very thankful for all the prayers from all our friends. God has definitely blessed us and we are thankful to have been at such a good hospital as WVU. It almost enables me to be a Mountaineers fan (NOT). I will write if we get to go home tomorrow.

Hudson Samuel

The last 24+ hours have been crazy. Hudson on Thurs started running a fever which is very unusual with infants only three weeks old. Friday morning we took him to the Ped and they had him admitted to the hospital in Cumberland, MD where he was born about 15 miles from Frostburg. They ran cultures on blood and did a lumbar punch (spinal). The LP came back with bacteria and so he was transfered to West Virginia University Hospital in Morgantown last nit about 12 AM. As of right now 10:56 AM he is doing well. They do not think what he has is bacterial in nature (ie meningitis) but they do think it could be viral. They have him on antibiotics. Pray that it is viral and he will get out at the latest Monday. If it is bacterial it will be 7-14 days before he gets out because of antibiotics.

Michelle and I are tired and Riley and Carson are with my mom who was still in town. We are very thankful for that.

We appreciate any and all prayers from our friends.

These are two pictures from yestarday after the birth of our third child Hudson Samuel. He was born at 7:50 AM and weighed 8lbs 6.8oz and was 20 inches long. He is doing really well. Michelle is recovering from the c-section very well and should be out of the hospital on Thursday. We appreciate all the prayers.

Encourager Article

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' (Matthew 22:36-39 NASB)

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB)

I put these passages at the first of this article for a reason. We have lost focus! If I were to ask the question, “What does Welsh Memorial Baptist Church exist for?” I am sure I would get a variety of answers from different people. But, I want you to seriously ask yourself that question and think about your answer not from a personal stand-point but a biblical stand-point. What does the bible say about why we exist?

Personally, my answer would come from those two passages at the beginning of this article. I think it would look something like this on paper. “Welsh Memorial Baptist Church exist first, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor by tell them about the wonderful gift that God has given us in His son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, for our sins, and was raised on the third day so that we might have eternal life. We seek to baptize them by immersion and to build up all who come in the knowledge of God’s revealed word so that they can live the wonderful life that God has called them to live.”

The question is how do we loose focus in a church? My personal answer is when we start looking internally at ourselves and not eternally and what God desires. William Temple was right when he said, “A church is the only organization that exists primarily for the benefit of non-members.”

We do what we do as a church for those outside the church and leaving the results up to God. It’s like what is said in any evangelism training I have ever gone through, you sow the seed and leave the results up to God. I believe if we held 100 events every year that presented people with the truth of who Jesus is and no one trusted him as savior or came to our church we have been faithful in what God has commanded us to do.

You look at the story of Israel in scripture and that was exactly their problem. They got so self focused and forgot about the promise that God had given them, they would turn to sin and ultimately ended up in exile.

Anytime our church reaches out to the community we must not be focused on how it benefits our church! We must ask ourselves, have we been faithful in what God has called us to do? If we can answer yes to that question, then we have done what we need to do whether we see any benefit from it!

Let us go out and fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission together and leave the results up to God!!!!!

Jacob Update

Jacob got home on Friday Auguat 20 and is doing really well. The miracle that happened is amazing to think about. He came through the surgery and originally the doctors were able to open up his pulmonary artery to 2mm, they were hoping for 4. A day later his lung collapsed and all blood flow was cut off. By the weekend the lung started to fill with air again and blood flow returned from other vessels. The pulmonary artery did not return to normal function. They are looking at going back in and hoping to open back up the artery in 2-3 months.

The doctors said it was a miracle that the lung came back. They were prepared to take the lung out. We know that miracle was the hand of God in His life.

Continue to pray for Jacob that God would help the Doctors know what to do and that his body would allow the pulmonary artery to work properly.

Prayer for Jacob

Today I am in Morgantown, West Virginia with a family from the church. Their son, Jacob, is four years old and is having his fourth open heart surgery. When he was born one of his arteries was not attached and his heart was not functioning correctly. He was rushed to the hospital here when he was baby and had his first surgery. Then six months later he had another surgery. Last year he had his third open heart surgery. Earlier this year the doctors realized his pulmonary artery to his left lung was blocked. In March he had a heart cath to see if they could unblock the artery and it failed.

Today he is having his fourth open heart surgery to see if they can repair the problem. Please pray for Jacob and his family BJ (Dad) Margie (Mom), Peyton (older sister), Gracie (Sister) and Mason (younger brother). The first four hours of the surgery is to get through all the scare tissue from the previous surgery.