Halloween Outreach

I mentioned during the Pastor's Minute yesterday that we are going to do something a little bit different for Halloween this year. Instead of having something here on our campus, we are going to invade neighborhoods in Cheraw with the gospel. One of my seminary professors said one time, Halloween is the only night of the year in our culture where lost people actually go door-to-door to Christian homes. I think this could be a great opportunity to reach our neighbors and engage in intentional spiritual conversations.

I was a part of something like this last year in my neighborhood in Durham. We had a table set up in the driveway and gave away free hot chocolate and water to the adults who were walking with their children. Members of our church manned the table and engaged people in conversation and gave each one of them a gospel booklet.

We had houses like this all over Durham and it was great to get to talk to people and engage them with the gospel. I really think we can make this a success here in Cheraw.

We will have an informational meeting tonight at 7:00 in the Street. I hope that you will be a part of this outreach and live as missionaries right here in our own town.

A Dry and Weary Land

I am currently reading through the Bible using the ESV Study Bible one year reading plan. In this plan, each night I read from several sections of the Bible but there is always a Psalm to read. I have always enjoyed reading the Psalms and this time is no different. Last night I read Psalm 63 and part of it really got me thinking about the gospel. Yes, the Gospel of Jesus. It is not just in the New Testament. Read what David said in the beginning of this Psalm.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

Is that not a great picture of the gospel? If we really believe that our lives have been changed because of what God did through Jesus did on the cross, wouldn't that be the way we respond to God? I long for this to be my daily response to God. It is clear that David had an incredible relationship with Him because he knows that God's love is better than life!

Is this the way you respond to God? Do you long for Him like water? Do you consider His love better than life itself? If not, I pray that you will consider what God has done for you and would begin to relate to God in that way.

Radical Student Ministry

I want to be a radical Student Pastor. I do not want to be a program director or a sanctified babysitter. I want to be a shepherd to the students that God has entrusted to my care. I pray big prayers for my ministry because I want to see lives changed for the glory of God. Imagine what could happen if the 25 or 30 students that are here for the majority of our times together decided to stand up and live lives that glorify God no matter the cost.

I have a request. I have begun praying that God would bless the Student Ministry here at First Baptist and that in one year...October 1, 2012, there would be 100 students who are involved in the activities here on campus. Would you join me in praying this prayer? I honestly believe that this can happen. Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still (Joshua 10:12-14) and it did. The same God that answered that prayer can answer this one as well.

I am not interested in numbers just to have people here. I want to see 100 students here praising God for snatching them out of the pit of Hell. I cannot do this alone. It will take the church stepping up and becoming involved in the ministry to students. It will take volunteers giving up their time to help out with our events.

Dr. Alvin Reid says in his book Raising The Bar, "Imagine what wold happen if thousands of young people in America served Jesus with the passion of a Bin Laden? Imagine if high school youth spent as much time planning to reach their peers with the gospel as McVeigh spent planning his bomb attack?"

I ask you the same question. Imagine what could happen if 100 students (or more) in Cheraw decided to serve God with the passion of Bin Laden or McVeigh. This is a radical passion and I would argue looks more like the passion the Apostles served God with than anything we see in America today.

Please join me in prayer that God would do a radical work in the Fuel Student Ministry here at Cheraw First Baptist for his glory and his alone.