Tireless Service

Wednesday night I was preaching to a wonderful group of people in our auditorium…while it was a great crowd in that room, I mentioned that we have A LOT more children in AWANA! (In fact, a lot more than we expected we would have for our first year of AWANA) I let them know that we needed some more people to help in that ministry right away. To my surprise, before I made my way out of the auditorium there were already six names of members willing to serve! While our AWANA volunteers are from a variety of ages, one of the groups that blessed me the most was that of our young couples. Many of the men and ladies that I saw serving, and even those who signed up that night, were already actively involved in nursery and in several other ministries… and I am sure after a long day on a Wednesday, it probably would be very helpful to come in and just sit down and hear the Word of God. The blessing is they “esteemed others more highly than themselves.” I thank the Lord for our families with children at Trinity… many times they are doing the most and are still the first to serve! There are dads and moms with children who have homework and sports activities, and yet who still make it to outreach, who still teach a class, and still faithfully serve or sing or minister! They are the group we have seen the most numerical growth in on Sunday night and they are actively growing through Sunday School and Bible Study. I would love to tell you how much each of these families encourage me… the way many of our young men have stepped up to begin leading their families in worship and being willing to be held accountable to other men! This has been one of the greatest blessings for me personally as a Pastor! All this to say, thank you Men and Ladies for your hard work and service for the saints at Trinity. I know you may grow weary at times, I know you come to church tired many days. I know you have run your children around for the entire week… thank you for making Christ your priority! I truly am honored that I get to be your Pastor, I love you dearly and appreciate your dedication to your Lord and your Church family!

An Important Date....

Over the last several weeks we have been studying the wonderful chapter of Psalms119. This study will take us quite some time to complete but, if there is one thing this chapter has taught us - it is that it is imperative that, as God’s people, we need to be under the Word as much as possible! It is impossible for me to overdose on the Word of God! All day on Sunday, October 18th and Monday evening of the 19th, we will have Bro. David Miller preaching the Word of God to us. Bro. David is from Heber Springs, AR and is the founder of Line Upon Line Ministries. While he suffers from a degenerative muscular disease called peroneal muscular atrophy and must preach from a wheelchair, Bro. David stands head and shoulders above most preachers in our day. He is an incredible man of God in and out of the pulpit! If I knew the exact day I was going home to be with our Lord, and I had only one last sermon to hear, without a doubt I would choose to hear a sermon from Bro. David Miller. I have known him since I was in grade school and every single time I have ever heard him preach, he has done nothing but clearly exegete the Word of God.

When I came to Trinity I was asked by several individuals if we would have evangelist come in for revivals. My answer was “yes”, after all the Word of God tells us in Ephesians that evangelists are gifts to the church. So, if we are going to be a Biblical church, we should be using those gifts God has given us. I must confess however, when I answered yes I gave two things we must do: (1) Support them: This may come as a surprise to some of you who have spent most of your life at Trinity or in churches like her. But, most Baptist churches are small… Bro. David has been with me at both of my previous pastorates. The first time he was with me, I believe was my first year as a Pastor and we were averaging about 60 people in Sunday School. I can tell you that size church is more of the “norm” than a church Trinity’s size. In saying that, we are not only giving to Bro. David’s ministry, we are also enabling him to go to other churches much smaller than ours when we invest in his ministry. We have done this with every man who has filled Trinity’s pulpit since I have been here. (2) Attend the meetings: The service we have on Monday will take the place of our normal Wednesday services… so come and invite others to come with you! It is impossible to have church if the church doesn’t come.

I tell you all this because I want you to PLAN and PRAY. I want you to plan to be here and pray that God does a great work through Bro. David Miller!

Deacon Nominations

We are currently taking nominations for men to serve as deacons at Trinity: in many churches, this becomes a popularity contest or a question of who has been here the longest. Obviously, these are some of the reasons so many churches are in such a mess - because we place men in positions who are not biblically qualified. So, let me encourage you, before you speak to anyone and ask them to fill out our nomination form, and before we meet with them, please take the Word of God and turn to 1st Timothy 3:8-13 - read and think it through this passage. Here is what you will find:

The name “deacon” means servants. Deacons at Trinity have never tried to be the “guard” or the “head” of all other ministry teams. They are expected to do what the Word of God calls them to do and that is to serve. So, the first question you need to ask is this: Is the man that I want to nominate already serving in some capacity? It is not the title that should cause them to serve, it is the heart and love for our Savior that should cause them to already be serving. After you answer that, let me encourage you to ask the following questions before you make your determination:

• Verse 8—Are they serious about the things of God? Meaning, are they faithful to church? Do they seem to be serious about the truths of God?
• Verse 8—Are they double tongued? Do they gossip or, are they inconsistent with their speech at church and their speech at home, or at work? Do they say one thing in front of you and another thing when you leave? Are they Peace Makers?
• Verse 8---Is he given to wine? This is more than a prohibition against drunkenness. It means he doesn’t have a reputation as a drinker. Our expectation at Trinity, in order to keep our testimony, is no alcohol at all.
• Verse 8—Is he greedy? Our financial secretary will simply give a “yes or no” as to whether a potential deacon gives in a systematic way. If we have no record of this because you give in cash, then you need to let that be known on your form. Will he use his position for gain in finances, in power, prestige? Does he desire to serve or does he desire a title?
• Verse 9---Does he have a firm grasp on the Gospel? Does he understand the necessity of the cross, repentance and faith? Does he understand this is by grace alone? Does he understand it well enough to live it and share it consistently?
• Verse 10—Are they blameless? Is there overt, flagrant sin that mars their life? Are they an example worthy to be followed?
• Verse 11-12---Is their wife a gossip? Are they faithful to the things of God? Do they do their best to live out Titus 2? Do these men lead their home according to the Word of God? Does their wife live under his submission? Does he submit to God? All we should look at and attempt to discover is what the Word says. Outside of verse 11, it gives no other standard for the wife. Outside of that, the focal point is on the character of the man.

The bottom line is if we are going to be a biblical church we must have a biblical standard for our leadership. Please use this text as your deciding factor. I know fine men, men who love the church who may not yet be qualified - it doesn’t mean you do not like them if you do not nominate them. It simply means that we are chained to the Word, and I can’t think of anything better to be chained to!

A Precious Ministry

One of the joys of being able to be at the church during the day is that I get the opportunity to see ministry done that most other people have no idea is going on. I just walked into Mrs. Jerebeth’s office, and I saw bags containing 36 receiving blankets and burp cloths for precious new born babies. For about four hours today, we had 24 senior adults that took their time and hand made these beautiful blankets for new babies. They did this because there was a need in our local crisis pregnancy center - a center that literally saves the lives of preborn babies throughout the mid-south area. When I saw these blankets and thought of these sweet men and ladies who not only gave their time, but gave their money to make these for babies they will probably never see, must less hold, I thought of Christ taking time to pick up little children and in fact, gave them as an example to teach truth concerning the Kingdom of God. It is a wonderful thrill for me as your Pastor, to have just written a couple of weeks ago about how so many of our young couples are serving in so many areas, and now I have the opportunity to write about the number of our senior adults now serving in this ministry! I love the fact that so many of you, of so many ages, are finding ministry needs and reaching out to meet them. I also find it amazing that both ministries mentioned are dealing with children - it is not by coincidence that we are seeing so many boys and girls come in the doors of Trinity Baptist Church! When across all age groups we see people being servants and understanding that as believers we must “esteem others greater than ourselves”, then and only then will we begin the process of being a healthy church. I believe we are headed that direction - we have so many of you who are so faithful in your service for our Lord and in this body. From making blankets (that this side of heaven you will never know how God used them), to changing diapers, holding a crying baby, helping a child learn Scripture, to singing in the choir or playing in our orchestra…and all of them are real ministry actions if the goal is to glorify God and encourage other believers! I praise the Lord for the variety of gifts and talents He has given the body of Trinity Baptist Church.

An Amazing Opportunity!

In the coming months we will have more prospective members walk in the doors of Trinity than any other time of the year! That ought to perk our ears, huh? The amazing thing about these prospects is that many of them do not know Christ, and they will be here for several weekends in row! Here is the question of the hour for Trinity Baptist Church…
Will we give them the Gospel?
Will we care enough to be here for them?
Or will we just go about our church life never really noticing?

The opportunity that is set before us is our All Star Basketball League. Boys, girls and their parents (many of whom do not know Christ), will walk through the doors of Trinity and we are faced with the question, “What will we do with this opportunity?” We need coaches (you will receive training and plenty of materials for not only basketball, but for Bible Study and Evangelism!), we need members to be there to represent Trinity, we need parental involvement, and we need a passion for the lost.

I want to ask you to go ahead and begin praying that God sends us boys and girls who need the wonderful grace that only our God can deliver! Pray that coaches will not only teach basketball, but more importantly proclaim the Gospel. Please invite boys and girls to be involved with this wonderful ministry…talk to neighbors, families at the grocery store, friends at school and work, families on your sports teams in the community…tell them all! Bro. Bubba has directed us toward the All Star Basketball League this year in an effort to minimize your costs for involvement (it is almost half the cost, per child, of Upward) while at the same time, he and his team have worked very hard to be sure that this league will have the same great quality that we have had in the past. Please pray for him and his team as they carry out plans for this great evangelistic opportunity. Make it a high priority, as we head into the winter months, to make this whole league and the families that will be impacted, a matter of prayer….. See Bro. Bubba to find out how you can get involved so we will not let this harvest opportunity pass us by!

Sing Unto the Lord.....

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a visitor tell me that they had experienced what they believed, was the most God honoring worship and music service they had ever been involved in. There has not been a week since Bro. Jon Rushing’s arrival that I have not stepped into the pulpit believing His Church was ready for His Word. I have served with Worship Pastors in the past that were good men, with good families - but what separates Bro. Jon from all of them is his desire to sing doctrine, to hold to truth, and, more importantly, he knows and lives the doctrine he sings about! We live in a culture that doctrine is minimized everywhere and, sadly this is never more pronounced than in many of our present day “Christian” songs. I am saying all this not simply to express my overwhelming joy that the Lord has sent Bro. Jon to Trinity, but also to express to you the opportunity you have to participate in it!! On September 18-19th we will be having the Trinity Baptist Church Choir Retreat. During this time you will be introduced to the upcoming Christmas music, as well as have a time to simply worship our great God with others that love Him as well! There are many of you whom the Lord has blessed with a great voice and, others of you simply make a joyful noise (smile) - regardless this is an area of ministry that truly enhances our worship. If you have been thinking about becoming part of the choir - this is the perfect time to do it. There have already been many new members joining the choir over the last several weeks, but this will be a time where everyone can start “on the same page” so to speak. This retreat will be about worshipping our Lord, becoming a “family” in this ministry and then, hearing and learning the Christmas music together for the first time - so come and get involved. This is one of the first ministries a visitor will see when they walk into Trinity. Come celebrate and help lead out in our worship of our wonderful Savior!

Wow! What a Wednesday!!!

What an amazing night last Wednesday was! As we began discussing AWANA, we decided that we were not going to really do a big push to advertise it - simply because we thought that if we could have 100 children that would be a really good start! And it would have been a good starting point seeing that as a church, Trinity has never done this before. So in a low key way, we kicked off AWANA last week - to our surprise, we did so with 176 children registered the first night! Not only were we surprised by AWANA, we had waaay more than expected for our first Wednesday night fellowship meal, had a wonderful worship service and a great choir practice with more new choir members! The Lord allowed us to have a resounding success on our first Wednesday of our new schedule and we should thank Him as a Church Family! I also want to thank you - our membership at Trinity has stepped up in an incredible way: we have so many volunteers in AWANA (we are now in need of about 9 more because of the number participating), we had a wonderful meal and had so many assisting in the cooking, cleaning up and setting up so AWANA could begin on time! I am just overwhelmed at your sweet spirit and at the joy we are having as we serve the Lord together!! We are a blessed Church to have this many children, to have so many workers, and to have such an amazing Savior! Thank you Church Family for your work and dedication to this great task – can’t wait to see you Wednesday!!

Nothing Short of Amazing!

This week I got a call from a man who is not a member of our Church, but lives in Desoto County. During his call he shared with me what he was hearing about Trinity Baptist Church. He explained to me about the number of people sharing with him how God is working and how individuals are being saved. To that I say, “TO GOD BE THE GLORY!” We have truly had some incredible worship services over the last 8 to 10 weeks. We have watched as God has brought in Bro. Jon Rushing and his family, we have watched how God has brought in Bro. Brad Walker and his family - and one of the greatest blessings to me is not just that the Lord sent us such wonderful men of God, but that He has allowed such a sweet spirit and such unity to prevail in all things! I want to remind you that what we are seeing here, is not something that man can receive any accolades for, nor can we find joy in some plan set up by Trinity. The only thing we can attribute this work to is the amazing grace of our amazing God. I implore you, that as we begin this study of The Peace Maker - to keep your focus on the “log in your own eye” and to understand that the only person that can keep you (and me) from walking with God is you (ME)! The greatest obstacle in my walk with God is me and your greatest obstacle is you. May we continue to live out Phil. 2:14 “Do all things without complaining and disputing.” To be quite honest, this has been the most joyful time I have ever experienced in the ministry - in the last 8 months I can say that Hebrews 13:17 has been a reality in my life. It has been a true joy to “watch out for your souls” and I do so as it says, “with joy!” I love you and am blessed to be your Pastor!

WOW!

As I got the news of our commitments for our Love Offering for Jesus, “WOW” was my response! In a short 18 weeks we have committed to give almost $57,558.49 for missions! This is above and beyond our tithes and offerings. This amount, along with our Cooperative Program giving and other budgeted missions that we give towards, we will have given over $260,000 just to missions this year (based on this committed amount). Our Church will be very active in missions this year: we are helping Bro. Jeff Phillips plant a church in Vancouver, Canada, we are looking at partnering with a church in Mexico, and we are in the preliminary talks of working with a church in South Africa. This doesn’t include the ways we currently are, and will be reaching out to the Desoto County area! Right now our Missions Team is focused on not being “all over the board” with little purpose in our missions - but rather we are wanting to make sure that the work we participate in will be in partnership with local Churches who have a firm grasp on the Gospel and are committed teaching Biblical doctrine. As we refocus our efforts to make sure we are good stewards of every dollar given, and as we spend time helping our Missions Team develop their vision and guidelines, we will better be able to communicate this direction and goals to the Church as a whole. We will be able to accurately account to where we are investing and look more closely at the impact that our giving is having in local areas. I believe in the days ahead we will see Trinity becoming more and more passionate about the advancing of the Gospel into all the World. This missions giving commitment will end on December 27th, but our passion for reaching a lost and dying world… I pray it would burn red hot!

When you look at the above figure and at the amount of our budget that goes to missions, I want you to think of how wide spread this investment is: this covers not only foreign missions, home missions, but it also includes Mid-America Seminary, the Gideon Ministry, and our Memphis Union Ministry! Many lives are touched for the Kingdom of God because of our offerings, but also because there are many of you who serve in these (and many other) areas! May God raise up men and women from Trinity Baptist Church that will make an eternal impact on this world! When we see this, and this passion continues to grow, it should leave us all simply saying… “WOW!”