BGCT Presidential Journal 30: Border Lessons/The Santa Clause

Eagle Pass: This weekend I had the privilege of participating in the Del Rio/Uvalde Baptist Association River Ministry Retreat. It was my first time to the border since of was a teenager and traveled to El Paso with the North Fort Worth Baptist Church youth group on a mission trip. Over the years the situation along the border has dramatically changed since the early days of the River Ministry.

I was asked to be a keynote speaker, but I must admit I learned a great deal more than I suspect I shared. I traveled to Eagle Pass with a hunger to learn more about how our Texas Baptist family can positively impact the Kingdom work along the border.

After the evening session, I had a very enlightening conversation with Jeff Johnson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Del Rio, and one of his mission pastors Moses Reyes who serves across the border. Moses is a BUA graduate and has many years of experience along the border. As we discussed the needs and challenges, Moses shared a deep concern he has with our traditional approach to border ministry.

Moses referred to our efforts as the “Santa Clause” effect. He shared how the people of his village were “trained” to chase the “white church vans” to get the gifts and hand outs. The “Santa Clause” effect left the local churches and pastor in a strange bind. Due to their limitations, the local pastors could not “compete” with the gifts of the Americans, and so their churches were limited in their ability to reach out effectively. The well meaning American Christians sought to help, but in reality they were hurting the work.

As I listened to this pastor’s frustrations, I thought back to numerous mission efforts I had participated in and wondered how much we had really helped. We wanted to help, but I fear that because of naïve enthusiasm we only had a limited positive impact on the people and the churches.

I believe as we seek to redouble our efforts along the border that we need to look long and hard at our strategies and efforts. It would be wise for those sitting in the “headquarters” of our churches to talk to those in the “foxholes” on the front lines before we deploy our people. Of course this challenge is only magnified because of our freedom and autonomy as churches, I believe with the help of the Spirit of God, and communication and cooperation, we can transform the “Santa Clause” into the “Spirit’s cause.”

Reformating the Baptist General Convention of Texas Annual Meeting

Dallas: Have you make your travel plans to travel to McAllen for the BGCT Annual Meeting? If not, why not? One of my priorities this year as president is the make the annual meeting a meeting you will not want to miss.

As you probably know, last year in Houston we had the fewest number of messengers in years. In jest, I attributed this downturn in attendance to my effective leadership and the restored trust of the people. The harsh reality I believe we were hit by a perfect storm of circumstances including an economic downturn, high cost of a downtown venue, lack of meaningful elections or controversial issues, and a continued downward spiral of denominational interest. If the BGCT had a hard time drawing a “crowd” in Houston, imagine the challenge we face going to the Valley.

In light of this reality, I have led the Committee on Convention Business (COCB) to color outside the lines a bit and to put together a meeting that will not resemble what we have done in recent years. Of course, there is very little that is new under the sun, so these innovations are really not radical, but I hope they will bring freshness to our gathering.

We are currently in the dreaming and planning stage, but let me paint with a broad brush where we are heading. Many of the suggested innovations were a byproduct of my personal reflections after meeting with the committee appointed to study our annual meeting. This committee under the leadership of Kyle Henderson, pastor of First Baptist Church of Athens, has nicknamed themselves “The Green Hat” committee. The “Green Hat” represents their passion and priority to present “new ideas” for our future. During their meeting, Kyle encouraged the committee to think “outside the box.” However, I loved the comment by Dub Oliver, president of East Texas Baptist University, when he suggested that we get rid of the box altogether. I suspect this excites some and terrifies others!

So if you come to McAllen what will be different?

1. The corporate meetings will be divided between inspirational meetings and business meetings. In others words, we will not try to blend the business and inspiration together. Each gathering will have a purpose and a focus. So we will have three “empower sessions” and two “business sessions.”  During empower sessions we will focus on casting vision, inspiration and telling our story. During the business sessions we will do the “work” we were sent to accomplish.
2. The schedule of the sessions will be as follows: We will open on Monday afternoon with our first empower session during which the Executive Director and the President will cast the vision for the future. After this session, we will take a break and return in the middle of the afternoon for an hour and half business session during which we will seat messengers, approved the agenda, elect officers, introduce new business and have the Executive Board report.

After this first business session we will break for the dinners. We will end the day with an empower rally that will focus on telling the amazing stories of  what Texas Baptists are doing together, and we also will have a nationally known speaker who will challenge us to be the people of God.

On Tuesday morning, we will have a “morning on mission.” During this morning, the messengers and guests will be invited to get their hands dirty in ministry or to go exploring the mission opportunities in the Valley and along the River. It is the hope that this morning will instill in us the importance of missions, and will make a positive impression on the people of McAllen. How this morning will flesh out is still in the works, but the commitment is in place to do this.

On Tuesday afternoon, we will return for a second and final business session. During this business session we will elect any remaining officers, approved the budget, elect trustees and Executive board members, and handle any business that needs to be addressed by the body. (Note: The exhibit areas will only close during the evening empower rallies and during the “morning on mission.” Otherwise, they will be open for fellowship and networking.) After this business session we will break for another set of dinners and reunion events.

The “official” convention will conclude Tuesday evening with our final empower session. This session will feature the annual sermon this year by Victor Rodriguez, the president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention, and an address by a second nationally known speaker. This second speaker will also stay over to be the keynote speaker at our G5 meeting that will be help on Wednesday morning.

As you can tell we are intentionally lengthening the meeting rather than shortening it. The reason is simple. We want to slow the pace, so we can have more time for fellowship and networking. I don’t believe shorter is better. Most of us go to the convention to do the business of our convention, but also to be with our friends.  This takes time.

1. Morning on Mission

The “Morning on Mission” will still need to be fleshed out, but it will take two tracts. One track will be hands on mission projects in cooperation with local churches and agencies. The second track will be exploring mission possibilities for future partnerships.

Other items: This new format will extend the time available to our exhibitors since we will only close the booths during the evening sessions. The exhibit area will open on Monday morning rather than Sunday and will close at approximately 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The format will also provide two prime times for alumni events and institutional gatherings on Monday and Tuesday evening. There will also be a projected reduction of workshops due to the format change and limited space available.

These projected changes are still in the works, but I am excited to see the possibilities of this new format for our annual meeting.

A Paramount Story about Helping Haiti

On Sunday, January 17^th the Texas Baptist Men were preparing to be deployed to go to Haiti to provide water purification systems for the people struggling in the aftermath of last week’s earthquake. By faith they were ready to go even though they were $60,000 short in paying for the equipment.

Meanwhile, Paramount Baptist Church gathered for worship as usual, but this was not going to be a normal Sunday. Pastor Gil Lain and the leaders of the church decided to do something quite out of the ordinary. They decided to give away Sunday morning’s offering to help the people of Haiti through the efforts of the Texas Baptist Men. They made this decision even though they were running $140,000 behind their budget. Disaster relief is a passion for the people of Paramount, so this act of sacrifice was quite within their DNA.  When the offering was collected and counted, the people gave over $62,000.

A call was made to the Texas Baptist Men’s headquarters to report the news. God is good. God revealed himself on Sunday through Gil Lain and the sacrificial generosity of his people. One group moved ahead in faith while another group gave by faith and together God is glorified in the midst of a tragedy.

Community and Authenticity

As I was reading Gary L. McIntosh and Daniel Reeves book, Thriving churches in the Twenty-first Century I was caught off guard by this quote:

Size and location of church are not as important as they used to be, a trend that could cause a lot of consternation in church board rooms. Many church leaders and consultants, however, see that in the near future the optimum size for the typical church is about three hundred to five hundred. The emphasis, though, will be on community, authenticity, and a move away from the primacy of buildings.

In a time when we think “bigger is better”, and “mega-church envy” has been baptized as normal, we may need to revisit our aspirations. Community and authenticity were the marks of the early followers of Jesus. St. Patrick founded his revolutionary work in Ireland on these timeless core values. During this days of seismic, God appears to be calling us back to His values of “loving and being loved.”

A Day to Remember Martin Luther King Jr.

On Tuesday, January 15, 1929, a segregated nation walled in by centuries of hatred, bigotry, and prejudice was given prophetic leader—a revolutionary leader. In Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr. was born into the home of a young Baptist preacher, and following his father and grandfather’s calling to the gospel with a passion—a passion for the gospel to not only save the soul, but also to save a nation from itself.

Today across our land, Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but I fear most of us have forgotten this man and his legendary struggle for civil rights. Like all great leaders King was loved and hated. He was followed and misunderstood. Like all men, King was a man of clay feet, but his voice changed the world.

In 1964, when I getting ready to go off to kindergarten, King was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his struggle for civil rights during which he and his followers meet violence with a “turned cheek” and a loving heart. Gunnar Jahn, chairman of the Nobel Committee said of King:

“He is the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence. He is the first to make the message of brotherly love a reality in the course of his struggle, and he has brought this message to all men, to all nations and races.

Today we pay tribute to Martin Luther King, the man who has never abandoned his faith in the unarmed struggle he is waging, who has suffered for his faith, who has been imprisoned on many occasions, whose home has been subject to bomb attacks, whose life and the lives of his family have been threatened, and who nevertheless has never faltered.

To this undaunted champion of peace the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has awarded the Peace Prize for the year 1964.”

King took the timeless principles of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as his marching orders from above, and changed to world. Sadly, his life was cut short by an assassin’s bullet as he stood on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis. On that dark day, his life ended, but his dream lived on—and changed the world.

Today, President Barak Obama, the first African American president of the United States, leads from the Oval Office, but he owes a great debt of gratitude to young Baptist preacher willing to dream “with eyes wide open.”

On August 28, 1963, King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the presence of 250,000 loyal followers yearning for freedom. As the statue of Lincoln towered over him, King captured the hearts and minds of a generation by the simple, yet profound words—“I have a dream—I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Thank you, Dr. King for helping to make that dream come true for my four little girls.

Born Again?

The days so quickly pass, and another year has come and swiftly slipped through my fingers. As I complete this first week of the year of our LORD two thousand and ten, I am beginning to realize afresh how important and precious each day is.

It has been my lot to stand over the graves of two of the long tenured members of my church. One was a teacher to pioneer special education after the birth of her Downs syndrome son nearly seventy years ago. Gladys was the single mother of six children after the tragic accidental death of her husband in a farming accident in 1945. She was pregnant with her sixth child, a precious girl. When she heard of her husband’s demise she went into a terrible labor and was in such a state of sorrow she could not name her own child. Her little girl Linda was named by the women who cared for Gladys in her grief. Gladys rose from her sorrow to live an amazing life of 105 years. Her journey began in 1904 and ended in 2010 and all along the way she walked by faith and with a smile and a song.

Today, I stood over the grave of a hard determined man named George. George was hardened by life at a young age. He fought as a Marine Raider during the bloody dark days of the war in the Pacific against an enemy that was ruthless and relentless. He knew the valley of the shadow all too well. He was a Marine from that day forward. Often misunderstood, he was a good man at heart. He was one of the men who were willing to stand the post, and die for you if duty called. George liked me. I will miss him.

Moses composed the 90^th Psalm looking over the river to a land that was fairer than day, but a land that he would never know. He knew all too well the fury of the LORD, and the rebellion and sin of his people. He also wrestled with his own rebellious heart. Out of this context he wrote:

“Teach us to number our days aright that we might gain a heart of wisdom”

I fear I do not make the days count as I should. Do I really value the significance of each morning, and the sweet sleep of the night? I probably have more yesterdays than tomorrows. Am I wise enough to embrace today?

G.K. Chesterton was a newspaper columnist, author, theologian and Christian thinker of an earlier time in England. One of my favorite quotes of his cuts me between the bone and the marrow. He observed:

“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

It appears he knew all too well the cost of discipleship, and had no taste for cheap grace.

As we begin this New Year, let me share with you Chesterton’s challenge for a new day.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

May you begin this New Year with a “new soul…backbone…ears…and eyes”  and it is my prayer we will be born again the fresh winds of the Spirit blow over us.

Happy New Year!

A Prayer for a New Year–A New Day!

In preparation for a sermon to begin the new year, I stumbled across this quote from Elisabeth Elliot. Elisabeth followed the LORD with an abandonment that we all should adopt as our own. She knows the deep hurt of loss beyond measure, and the joy of following the LORD with a whole heart.

“Here is my heart, Lord God, thankful for a thousand mercies…Sweep out the discontent. Give me a merry, humble, ever thankful heart that honors You.

-Elisabeth Elliot in The Music of His Promises

This lesson of humble submission she shared with her husband Jim who laid down his life at the hands of those he was trying to reach. He was murdered in a horrible spear attack by a violent tribe who were eventually reached by the loving actions of Elisabeth.

Jim said:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

In spite of all deep sorrows and hurts of life, Elisabeth learned to place her heart in the tender hands of her LORD.

I pray I will learn to do the same.

Fifty the New Thirty!

On December 22, 2009, I crossed the threshold of the ripe old age of fifty years old. My daughter Madison, who is fifteen going on twenty-five is mortified her father was born in the Fifties! In my defense, I spent only nine days in the Fifties and most of those were in the hospital!

I have received my fair share of well meaning wishes, and practical jokes these past few days. My “former” youth minister read a satirical poem at the close of our church services last week noting that I entered the world when Alaska and Hawaii joined the United States of America! I am still trying to let that sink in. In my front yard is a sign celebrating my birthday complete with “black balloons.”

Many of those who cross this threshold before me had shared words of encouragement to me like “fifty is the new thirty” or maybe the new “forty.” Who are we trying to kid?  Fifty is fifty. I am getting older. I  have already received my AARP card in the mail, but who gets to retire at fifty years old any more. I suspect I will have to work until I am at least seventy—that is if I can find a church willing to have an older pastor in the cult of the young.

In Numbers 8, the Levites were commanded to actively serve from twenty-five to fifty, but at the ripe old age of fifty a change was called for.

“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the Tent of Meeting, ²⁵ but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. ²⁶ They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.” Num 8:24-26 (NIV)

This transition implies the “older” leader was to pass the mantle on to the next generation of leaders who would claim the next day. I wonder if this principle still holds true today for those of us who have served our time on the front lines?

In the recent past many pastors left the “active” pastorate to serve the LORD in a number of different ways in religious life. Among Baptists, these effective pastors became denominational leaders and consultants, Directors of Missions, college and seminary professors, or other forms of investing ministry that had less of the day to day grind of the pastorate. However, most of these traditional paths no longer exist or have lost their savor. My generation will have to blaze a new path, but what path will we take? Better yet, what path will I take?

This change in the landscape of ministry also coincides with a looming pastor shortage especially among traditional smaller churches across the land. Young men and women no longer have a sense of calling to the traditions of the past and are venturing out in new ministry forms and structures leaving the local traditional church in the lurch looking for leadership. Sadly many of the leaders who are willing are not really able to be effective pastors and think ministry is an easy escape or life. True effective leaders ready for the rigors of communal life are few and far between.

This year I am completing thirty years of active ministry, and twenty-seven years of being a full-time, on-call, pastor. Last week I met a former pastor who had completed twenty-five years of being a pastor and who was thrilled to be an auto mechanic!  He joked he would never had to attend another deacons meeting or conduct another business meeting. Burn-out is a real challenge for the veteran pastor. The day to day grind of useful ministry takes its toll on the pastor and his wife. I fear I have hit the wall from time to time in recent years.

As I venture into the new world before me, its my prayer that I will have the passion of Joshua and Caleb and that God will allow me to inspire a new generation of leaders by finishing well. I realize now whether I continue to be a pastor or take another form of meaningful ministry I need to pour myself into the next generation. The challenges of tomorrow will demand the best of all of us, I pray I will continue to grow so I can be up to the challenge of speaking into a new day.

As I enter my fifties, I believe the best days are yet to come. I like what Robert Browning wrote:

Grow old with me!  The best is yet to be.

I am especially challenged by the words of John Barrymore who wrote:

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

It’s my prayer, that I will always be a dreamer!

Wright Moves

As I prepare to celebrate Christmas this year, I must admit there is heaviness in my heart. My dear friend and mentor Bill Wright, pastor of First Baptist Church of Plains, is living out his last days among us. As many of my readers are aware, Bill was diagnosed with cancer a couple of months ago. With his indomitable spirit Bill took on cancer like David took on Goliath. The doctors used experimental drugs to destroy the cancer, but the cancer continues its death march.

A few days ago, Bill received the news that his days had a small diminishing number. As we all know our days are numbered, but when the number is less than one hundred eighty days it gets our attention. So if you had six months to live what would you do? Would you pull out your “bucket list” and busily get to work finally living.

I doubt Bill had a “bucket list,” but if he did I suspect the list is marked off from A to Z. Bill lived and loved with a gusto that inspired me to be more than I thought I could be. I realize I would not be the president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas if it was not for the fact that Bill believed in me, and was willing to stick his neck out for a young, naïve leader.  Many have wondered how we became lifelong friends. The journey will take you back to a hospital hallway as we waited together with a young couple whose little girl was in surgery again. Little Shelly had countless surgeries from birth. She was born under Bill’s watchful care, and she came into my life when her parents moved to Flower Mound and join my little mission church. It was our love for people that brought us together, and I suspect it has been this same love that has kept us together.  In fact, Bill and I stood over the grave of Shelly’s father Rusty, and I stood at the front of the sanctuary when Bill escorted Shelly down the aisle in her wheelchair when she got married.

In many ways, Bill is everything I hope to be when I grow up. He lives with abandonment. He says what he thinks. He is not calculating or manipulative. Bill is real. Bill is Bill. He is not what you want him to be. Bill is who you need him to be. Too often, I test the wind before decisions. Too often my fears color and hide my faith. I needed a push onto the stage, and Bill gave me a gentle firm shove.

When Bill and I started this adventure of calling for change in the BGCT many questioned our sanity. They wondered how two so unlikely friends ever got together. I remember vividly when I was being strongly encouraged to accept an offer to be vice president one year, so I could be president the next without opposition, that I was asked, “Exactly how many people approached you about being president?” I answered, “You mean besides Bill Wright?” The answer was “yes.” I replied, “No one.” Yes, only two crazy West Texas pastors came up with this plan. Talk about two Texas Baptists that needed to be “committed” in a place complete with padded walls. Like Bill said, “if you can’t vote for David, vote for Joy!” (My only instructions to him about the nomination speech were “please don’t cuss!”)

I want to let you in on a secret, Bill had a covert motive. Bill wanted to get back to the hallways at the annual meetings. This is where Bill shined as he held court with a laughing circle of young pastors. Bill made disciples just like Jesus. He lived out his faith in such a way that young men wanted to follow him, and wanted to be just like him. So my mission was to put our core values of evangelism, Christian education, and caring back on the front page, and then get back to the hallway as quickly as I could.

In Bill’s world, Baptists were at their best when we were out in the hallway together laughing, loving, and caring for each other. Don’t get me wrong, Bill was about making first things first, but the annual meeting was supposed to be a family reunion, a reprieve from the front lines. It was R & R for the warrior, it was not the battle. Bill knew who the real enemy was and it was not a brother or sister wearing a label attached to them by others. Besides, labels like moderate and fundamentalist don’t make for good relationships. First names are a much better starting place.

Even though Bill’s days may be numbered, I am so thankful Bill has an amazing way of making every day count by loving like he does.

Courage in Face of Opposition

Recently I read an op-ed piece written by Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari. The article was entitled “How to Mend Fences With Pakistan.” Zardari pointed out in the article many of struggles between the Pakistan people and the United States. From his perspective, the U.S. has used Pakistan as a pawn in its international struggles with superpowers like the former Soviet Union, or in its current war on terror.

To be frank, I learned a great deal from the article. It helped me to put together some of the pieces about the struggles in the Middle East. However, it was a quote in the latter part of the article that captured my imagination, especially in light of the fact that this morning I began reading Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve.

Zardari wrote:

“In recent days, I have thought often of something my wife, Benazir, wrote in the days before her death: ‘It is so much easier to blame others for our problems than to take responsibility ourselves.’ Benazir added that conspiracy theories and ‘toxic rhetoric’ were ‘an opiate that keeps Muslims angry against external enemies and allows them to pay little attention to the internal causes of intellectual and economic decline.”

Zardari’s wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated for thinking like a leader, calling for her nation and her people to take a hard look in the mirror and to accept responsibility for its future and its current plight.

Friedman wrote for leaders ready for “adventure” rather than “safety”, and for those daring few who chose “progress” over “peace.”  However, with a note of caution and warning, he points out that people often seek to “sabotage” such leaders. He wrote:

“For, whether we are considering a family, a work system, or an entire nation, the resistance that sabotages a leader’s initiative usually has less to do with the ‘issue’ that ensues than with the fact that the leader took initiative.”

Benazir Bhutto found herself in the crosshairs of opposition, when she stood up to lead for meaning and real change.

Jesus challenged a crowd to be world-changers warning:

²² Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. Luke 6:22-23 (NIV)

Jesus knew all too well that real leaders for positive change must move from an inner conviction of truth and right and cannot be motivated or manipulated by the pull of the crowds. Sadly, we long for leaders we can control, not leaders who lead from inner strength, and a higher sense of right.