Quote of the Day

Quote of the day:

"If you don't go to church, which fewer than half of Americans do each week, would hymns appeal to you? The lyrics are written in formal English, using out-of-date terms, and the melodies are usually slow and accompanied by a somber organ. I like hymns, but to use them to the exclusion of modern Christian music is like driving an old car cross-country with a Best of Bee Gees tape stuck in the eight-track player. It's OK for a little while, but you'll end up bitter." -Brent Castillo for Knight-Ridder Newspapers

HT - the Wesley Blog

Maybe It's Just Me But...

• Percentage of McDonald's franchises that did not sell a hamburger last year: 0%
• Percentage of Ace Hardware stores that did not sell a hammer last year: 0%
• Percentage of Salvation Army outlets that did not help a needy person last year: 0%
• Percentage of state universities that did not educate a student last year: 0%
• Percentage of airlines that did not fly a plane last year: 0%
• Percentage of WalMarts that did not sell merchandise last year: 0%

So let's say you're a church, and aren't making disciples. You are not seeing people move out into the deep, or kneeling to serve, or you see people still trapped in the same sins they came into the Body with.

Are you really Great Commission Christians? Can you still call yourselves a church?

Reason I ask is because I read a guy explaining how hard it was going to be to tell the 5 - yes I wrote 5 - little old ladies that make up his church that they should sell the building and move where they might possibly, someday, reach someone else for Christ.

That's a hard decision? Maybe for you.

Not me.

"Here I Come To Save the Day!"

If you are a pastor - avoid this syndrome.

Some Things Start Out Well, But...

Notice that the manufacturers of the hand dryers used in restrooms around the world have now had to add an icon telling people not to dry their hair with them.

Having been on the internet since it began, I am feeling the same way about that great tool. Use it, but be warned - it can be used in the wrong way - and it can hurt!

Just surf over to MySpace and you'll see a good thing corrupted. Great idea, but fallen humanity can ruin any of those.

So if you're a pastor, or youth leader - you'd better know what your folks are REALLY doing. I'm rarely shocked anymore, but I was.

If you're a parent reading this, I'd strongly suggest blocking MySpace, or if you don't, insisting that your kids not mark their blogs private. You need to know.

So what keeps me sane?

 

An everyday walk around the bayou with my big friend. 

Waaaaaaaaaaay outside the comfort zone

Well, today was something else.

Our worship guy was off candidating for a new gig, his fill-in was sick, so I wound up leading a much abbreviated worship set. Then we went right into the message. During that, our church dog barked so loud everyone woke up. Funny, I was just about to talk about dogs (Mark 7).

Tonight our associate pastor led us through a "stations of the DVD" experience, using an I Worship DVD as the framework for a sort of sermon on worship. It was interesting. Still processing whether it had the effect he was looking for. We had talked about breaking te sermon into pieces (ala RW) and having more interaction.

The interaction was there with scripture readings but I'm not sure the sermon was. It seemed to me like more of a presentation than a message. There were definite high points, and I was moved by some of the songs, but I never really felt like we got into the texts - just flashed on them and moved on.

But we tried some things, and if we failed, we'll know not to do that again.

Life in the fast lane. :)

Grace!

David

Never quit on Sunday

It's late Sunday night - the close of another week here. During the week I've prayed over the names of those in the congregation, I've prepared and delivered two small group teachings and one Sunday sermon. There have been conversations long and short with the people God has given me to care for, and time spent together working Saturday on the church's appearance. In other words, a full week has passed.

Now at the end, I look back and wonder...

What if he had summoned the courage to admit he needed Jesus? What if she had decided to give Him her heart? What would that family look like if God had been made the head of it? And how awesome it could have been if the church had been moved to change.

Without omniscience, all I can do is my best and trust God.

Then today, our worship leader, a young man with both talent and a great heart for God, was talking to a church nearer his home about becoming their worship guy. How hard it is to find someone like that in a church our size. What will we do to replace him, when it took months to find him just two years ago? How will the everpresent traditionalists react? Will I have to fight that battle again?

All I can do is trust God. Yes, I'm practicing what I preach.

In Him

In between trying to come to grips with what Sunday's Scripture is saying to people today, I took a moment to look around my study. What I saw were a couple of thousand books, assorted decorations, and labels.

It seems everything in here is labeled.

Whether it's the publisher's name on the spine of the book, the "Intel Inside" on the PC, IBM on the laptop, even "Pilot" on the pen, everything around me is labeled so those examining them might be able to see who the manufacturer was.

For a while today, I lost my label.

I let the pressures, stress, and just my own old selfish and self-centered personality out. Nothing earthshattering or illegal, but nothing that would have caused anyone who witnessed it to label me as a Christ follower either. I've been forgiven, but the reality of how easy it was for me to lose it lingered, even in here.

How to get it back? I opened my Bible to this passage.

17And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. 18And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:17-19

and I listened to this song.

You dance over me
While I am unaware
You sing all around
But I never hear the sound

Lord I’m amazed by You
Lord I’m amazed by You
Lord I’m amazed by You
How You love me

How wide
How deep
How great
Is Your love for me

Music and lyrics by Jared Anderson
© 2004 Vertical Worship Songs
CCLI# 4221021

It took some time, but I got there. I'm so very thankful for God's mercy and His grace, and I continue to be amazed He'd want His label on me. But with Jesus, all things are possible. In Him.

For you too, beloved.

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

You Have To Play the Lottery To Win It

If there's one area that has been a thorn in my side almost all the years I have been in ministry, it's church finances. Specifically the lack of them, and the tendency of those who administer them to completely lose faith in God's provision. I think the reason Jesus often left the disciples and went into the wilderness was because someone was reading the financial report line by line.

Should God see fit to make me a millionaire, I'd set up a blind trust for the church with a requirement that no one with the "gift of administration" every came near it.

Forgive me, but I'm tired of hearing "we need to wait on God to supply what we need before we step out in ministry." Whatever happened to faith? In almost seven years at my present church, we have had times where we were hardpressed, but we were never abandoned by God. I could give story after story of how God provided in sometimes miraculous ways just at the right time. Somehow those always get forgotten though, when the lean times come.

For anyone reading this who works in the financial area of their church, here me now and believe me later - You have to use faith in order to see God at work, just as you have to play the lottery to win it.

Gotta run - the jackpot is up to 40 million and if I win it, I get to keep my subscription to Outreach magazine.

Grace!

David

Listen!

Sometimes I'm such a poor listener. My awesome wife was telling me today that she wasn't feeling well. She said "I don't feel very well today." I commented "You might be coming down with something. I kind of feel like I am."

She gently reminded me, "but we weren't talking about you."

Point to Bunny. I had rushed right past on my way to the "World of Me"

A case in point toward an understanding of just how poorly we listen might be Moses. Did you remember what it took to get his attention?

1One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he went deep into the wilderness near Sinai, the mountain of God. 2Suddenly, the angel of the LORD appeared to him as a blazing fire in a bush. Moses was amazed because the bush was engulfed in flames, but it didn't burn up. 3"Amazing!" Moses said to himself. "Why isn't that bush burning up? I must go over to see this."

(Now be sure and note the next verse) - David

4When the LORD saw that he had caught Moses' attention, God called to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

Even the Lord had trouble catching the attention of a man with nothing to look at every day but wilderness and sheep.

Our attention is so often distracted by the events of the day, or of pressing needs we feel only we can solve, that many times we get caught up in the "World of Me", where if we can't make it happen, it won't. The "World of Me" doesn't really leave room for God to act like He did with Moses. No, our world and our success in it, depends on us.

I have a word translated painstakingly from the original languages for that sort of thinking.

Baloney.

God can do more. He can do exceedingly more. God can do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine. The world renowned theologian Shel Silverstein wrote this:
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
[from Where the Sidewalk Ends]

Friends, just because you're caught up right now in a "World of Me" where you can't hear God, doesn't mean He's not speaking. Stop your struggling. Cease your schemes.

Listen! God can do! And He's thrilled to bless His children.

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

Caught and Taught

This past week, I didn't have anything going on, so I decided to go to our decon's meeting... okay, I always go - but nothing usually happens. But this time, we were finished talking about our assigned families and their needs, when our chairman, a much beloved man of 80 years, asked if we were through.

Now in churches past, I'd have shivered in anticipation of some bombshell being dropped, like "pastor, a lot of people have told me..."

But what he said was, "Men, we need to wear our name badges each Sunday, so visitors will feel more comfortable in a place where they don't know anyone. We need to make every effort to know them, and have them know us as their newest friends."

I was blown away.

Yes, I wear my badge on a lanyard every single time we gather. Yes, I had suggested/asked the staff to do the same, but not a one has done it consistently. Yet here was this deacon - a man who wears a suit to church when his pastor wears hawaiian shirts and khakis, who sings praise songs (sort of), but reserves his loudest voice for the hymns that only occasionally come - catching what I had been trying to say for a year.

He connected, and used his influence to bring others along.

One the hardest things for me is to wait for others to come along. Everything I do is bathed in prayer and out of a genuine belief that it is exactly what God wants us to do. Doesn't mean I'm infallible - LOL - but it means I'm trying desparately to follow God and be an example of a man sold out to Him. And when I don't see others follow, I get tired of waiting. But I'm learning. Learning that sometimes the ones you want to follow simply need to see your heart in their context.

And when it happens - WOW!

Grace!

David

From New Hope, With Love

10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

It's sometimes hard to describe what God has done here at New Hope. The goal was to see God create a place where people came together to share life's struggles and multiply life's joys, while learning and growing in our love for God and for our neighbors.

We've welcomed all sorts of people into our family here, and seen some move away. The one we sent out last night may very well be the best illustration of the Scripture above as any we'll ever send.

And he's a dog.

Bobbie the Labrador Retriever has been part of the New Hope family ever since Doug and Ellen Fannon brought him here. Their mission was to help him learn about becoming a "guide dog" and part of that training is his learning how to handle crowds.

So Bobbie became our "church dog". He went to all the usual Baptist events. He came to Sunday School, Wednesday night Bible study, but I can tell you as his pastor, what I most enjoyed was his attitude.

It never changed. You'd greet Bobbie, and he always had time for you. He never stopped to answer his cell phone, or began a conversation with someone else. So I was willing to overlook his one flaw - he slept through every one of my sermons. But he didn't snore too loud.

Last night he left us for the last time, and we threw him a party, complete with a special cake just for him. We recognized him for his cold nose, his soft snores, and his willingness to serve. We'll all miss him here, but we know God will use him to bless many others.

Each one of us has the same opportunity. Let's each of us be the "living letters" and sign our lives, "from New Hope, with love."

Grace!

David
www.newhopevalp.org

Hi, my name is David, and I'm a John Denver fan.

Wow! I feel so much better now that's out in the open. And yes, there are a lot of other artists I enjoy, from Stevie Ray Vaughn and BB King, to U2 and REM, all the way to Nickel Creek and Garth Brooks. But John Denver has always been one of my favorites. I bought his music back when it used to come on these round vinyl disks, and also in a black plastic box you shoved into an 8 track player in your car. I used to watch his TV shows and all the PBS specials.

I even spent $70 once to go to a concert to hear him in person.

For weeks I was filled with excitement, knowing that finally I'd get to see and hear someone I had always wanted to experience. The evening came, Bunny and I sat down. John Denver came out, and everyone around us stood. After a moment or two, we realized that they weren't going to sit back down, so we stood too. Then he began to sing, and for a brief moment, it was glorious.

Then everyone else around us began to sing too.

I didn't pay $70 to hear their voices. And they weren't very good, in fact some were pretty awful. This continued all the way through, until at last, the concert was over and we went home. I've never felt so cheated in my life.

Today I was praying for those around us here, and for people outside the faith community everywhere, when it hit me.

What if the reason people aren't in a church fellowship is not because they don't love Jesus, but because they can't see or hear Him for all the "pretenders" who are in the way?

That's an area that Jesus was frustrated often by. God the Father was desperate to tell the world of His love and plans to help them live life with grace in truth. The religious people did everything they could to keep that message from being heard.

" `These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God's commands with their own man-made teachings.' " Mark 7:7

Friends, you need to hear God's song to you expressed through the love of Jesus Christ. Not what you hear on TV, or through others pretending to sing along with Him but never on key with grace. As a pastor, I don't come to church to tell people how to live, I come to hear God's voice and share what I've learned in my own struggles to love Him with my whole life.

I believe with every fiber of my being that once you know Jesus and love Him completely, you'll always want to hear Him. Make a way. Find a place free of interference from the world and its din of noise and meditate on God's Word. Take a moment to appreciate the wonder of God's creation. Find something in your life you can give Him thanks for, and spend a moment in prayer doing just that. Then come to worship with your fellow strugglers and enjoy the wonder of praise.

Don't allow yourself to be cheated out of a relationship with God.

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

Ordinary Time

Wow! Did we just celebrate Christmas? Time flies!

Here at New Hope, we had warm, Spirit filled worship, and great fellowship as we tried to get our hearts around the fact that because our God is so full of love for us, He sent His Son to live with us. Advent, the season of anticipation of our Savior's birth is over.

Now we begin what the church calls "Ordinary Time".

But is there such a thing?

This week will be one when people look back over the year past, reflecting on the events that occurred. I'm spending the week in prayer, asking God to help me learn the lessons He placed before me this year, and asking Him to prepare me to learn more of Him.

This morning in my devotionals, I came across this poem by Hugh Prather.

If I had only...
forgotten future greatness
and looked at the green things and the buildings
and reached out to those around me
and smelled the air
and ignored the forms and self-styled obligations
and heard the rain on the roof
and put my arms around my wife
.... and it's not too late.

Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day." Luke 9:62 MSG

It's not too late friends. God is so close. Love means action. Do whatever it takes to live an extraordinary life in Jesus.

Grace!

David
(headed home in a little while to put his arms around his wife)
www.newhopevalp.org

I Wonder As I Wander

Today's the day after Christmas. The tree has come down, the decorations have been boxed, and if you came to our house today you'd have a hard time believeing we celebrated the birth of our Savior yesterday. We've moved on.

All except our hearts.

My wife was visibly moved yesterday during my sermon, and as I try to stay in eye contact with the crowd, I noticed her, seemingly in dismay. Then I forced myself to move on. While speaking the words to the congregation I had researched and prepared for all week, my mind was also going through a checklist of - was it something I just said? Did she suddenly confront a memory? When we talked later, she said that she just hasn't been able to get past the reason for the season - that we sinners needed a sacrifice paid for our sins, and it came within the package of a baby boy.

My heart is unsettled, as I'm wrestling with what to do, what to initiate - how to lead - deep and lasting change in the lives of the people God has given me to shepherd. In recent days, it's been made very apparent that the depth of commitment through lifestyle actions is shallower than I thought among our people. So what to do, I wonder?

One approach is to go "back to the Bible". Never realized we left it behind. Then too, I've met too many mean and hateful people who could quote chapter and verse. It never hit their heart - never changed their lives.

Another is the more terrifying. Get closer.

Closer to the people I serve, though intentional discipleship. Closer through small groups where intimacy and accountability coexist. That's foreign to our programmed SBC culture.

I've been wandering around bookstores, reading online, searching for a sign to guide me. Wondering as I wander is a good way to put it.

But I know this - I'm not going to intentionally fail at helping people know Christ and live in the Spirit.

So pray for me.

Grace!

David

"How Much More"

I've scoured toy stores, searched discount store's back rooms, used every connection I had - just to get the right toys for my boys. You see I had this idea that if I made sure their Christmas gifts were up to their expectations, that what would result would be happiness on a level never before matched among humans.

Just so you'll know, it didn't work.

Some years, the very toys we fought to get them broke within 15 minutes on Christmas day. Other years, the toy they wanted - had to have - couldn't live without on December 14th, was old news on the 25th.

I'm not here today to tell you not to want to show your love to your kids, your spouse or your family through presents. Nope.

What I am here to do is to let you know someone else does it better.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:11 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

That's one of my favorite verses.

"How much more?"

We are loving but flawed, giving to get.

Oh but our loving Father..

sets no limits on His love for His children. You are loved. Wholly and dearly loved by God.

Grace!

David Wilson
www.newhopevalp.org

To Know Him



One of the great privileges of being a pastor is watching people as they grow and mature. I've been here long enough now that some of the little kids are becoming the young adults.



Today I was listening to one who used to be "little Katie Shermer" as she practiced a song with Bunny. She was singing one of my favorite hymns, "What Wondrous Love Is This". I was awestruck by how this young woman was expressing her love for Jesus through the song.



What a joy!



I walked back into my study, and my mind immediately thought of these verses.



1From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in--we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. 2The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

3We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! 1 John 1:1-4 The Message



That's why Bunny, Sean and I left home to come here. We had a need to share with others what Jesus means to us. All we want for Katie and every other person we meet is for them to love Him too. When it happens - and when on those occasions like today we can see (or hear) it expressed, that's the best present ever.



May you know Him more.



Grace!







David Wilson



www.newhopevalp.org

God's Timing



Christian churches around the world began the season of Advent this past Sunday. For those who came in late :), Advent is the 40 day period prior to the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It's usually celebrated with Advent wreaths and with readings each day of the prophecies and events leading up to Jesus' birth.



We celebrate in abundance.



But the event we celebrate was set among the poorest and most marginalized of people.



We open our Bibles knowing the full revelation of the Messiah's life and work both on earth and among us through the Holy Spirit.



But they only had the promises of ancient prophets and their hope.



Each godly Jew prayed daily for the coming of Messiah, hoping against hope that this would be the year. Yet years came and went, entire generations passing away. Reading the Old Testament, you'll come across people crying out to God, "How long, O Lord? How long?"



The apostle Paul must have been thrilled to put quill to parchment and write this:



But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. (NLT)



"When the right time came..."



No one on earth could see what God saw - a common language among most of the people (koine Greek); a road system better than ever before (Roman Roads); and a people who turned back toward God - not religion, but God (Israel in Jesus' day).



The time for their release from bondage had come.



Friend, maybe you've been crying out to God about a hurt or a need in your life. Don't give up! God hears your hurts and even now is "working all things together for your good."



That's God's timing. And when He delivers His promises - they are awesome indeed.



Grace!



David Wilson

www.newhopevalp.org

Guaranteed



Last Christmas, we decided as a family that the time had come for us to purchase a digital camera. We had one given as a free promotion (read that cheap), and really wanted to be able to take pictures we could instantly view, save, and email. So after a grueling study of all the available choices in our price range, we made our decision. On December 21st 2004, we made our choice.



A week or so ago, the camera started malfunctioning. After a search, we found the manufacturer's guarantee, and after reading through the mind-numbing fine print we read - the guarantee was one year. So now I have to box it up and send it to them for repair. We're hopeful of receiving our camera back in good shape, but we still don't know. It could be lost in postage, it could be misplaced once it arrives at the service center, there's a lot of possibilities that could keep us from receiving what was promised.



Today I was reading a familiar Advent Scripture.



6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor,* Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this!

Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 (Is 9:5-7).



Usually, we focus on the beautiful promises contained within this passage. They've always warmed my heart, to know the love behind those promises.



But did you ever notice the last sentence?



"The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this!"



Promises it is said, are made to be broken. That's the way we've learned down through the years.



Ah, but in this case, we have a guarantee! And not one designed to make it difficult to see whether the promise is good. This guarantee is shouted to us with very blessing we receive, within every instance when we realize we are God's chosen.



God's passionate commitment, beloved, is to you and me.



What wondrous love is this, Oh my soul, Oh my soul. Every promise comes with love.



Grace!



David Wilson

www.newhopevalp.org

Expectations



It's that time of year again - when children and adults are making their lists and checking them twice. It begins early, this idea of sitting down and deciding what you want from Christmas. In our family, the boys used to grab the Sears "Christmas Wish Book" and circle what they'd like to have for Christmas. I can remember looking at the results of that with Bunny and laughingly saying "Is there anything on these pages that they haven't circled?"



A couple thousand years ago, it was the adults that were making lists. If God really loved them, He'd send:



A mighty warrior to throw off Roman oppression.

A king to rule them with law.

A provider, always willing to give them what they want.



And God sent a... baby.



14 All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel—‘God is with us.’

Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 (Is 7:13-14).



In the passage this was lifted from, the prophet delivers the message that Israel doesn't really understand what God's will is. What they are asking for, expecting to receive, isn't what God had for them. So finally, Isaiah was told to tell them to revise their expectations. "The Lord Himself will choose the sign."



Can I ask you something? As you make lists, and pursue that which you want, can you really sense the peace of God? There are times I wonder if we've swapped the Prince of Peace for the Prince of Stress.



Take a moment today and see if your expectations might need corrections.



Grace!



David Wilson

www.newhopevalp.org