Archive for March, 2009
Before we jump in, which Herod are we talking about here?
Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace, a Samaritan woman. Half Idumaean, half Samaritan, he had therefore not a drop of Jewish blood in his veins, and “Galilee of the Gentiles” seemed a fit dominion for such a prince. He ruled as “tetrarch” of Galilee and Peraea (Luke 3:1) from 4 B.C. till 39 A.D. The gospel picture we have of him is far from prepossessing. He is superstitious (Matt 14:1 f), foxlike in his cunning (Luke 13:31 f) and wholly immoral. John the Baptist was brought into his life through an open rebuke of his gross immorality and defiance of the laws of Moses (Lev 18:16), and paid for his courage with his life (Matt 14:10; Ant, XVIII, v , 2).
On the death of his father, although he was younger than his brother Archelaus (Ant, XVII, ix , 4 f; BJ, II, ii , 3), he contested the will of Herod, who had given to the other the major part of the dominion. Rome, however, sustained the will and assigned to him the “tetrarchy” of Galilee and Peraea, as it had been set apart for him by Herod (Ant, XVII, xi , 4). Educated at Rome with Archelaus and Philip, his half-brother, son of Mariamne, daughter of Simon, he imbibed many of the tastes and graces and far more of the vices of the Romans. His first wife was a daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia. But he sent her back to her father at Petra, for the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had met and seduced at Rome. Since the latter was the daughter of Aristobulus, his half-brother, and therefore his niece, and at the same time the wife of another half-brother, the union between her and Antipas was doubly sinful.
Aretas repaid this insult to his daughter by a destructive war (Ant, XVIII, v , 1). Herodias had a baneful influence over him and wholly dominated his life (Matt 14:3-10). He emulated the example of his father in a mania for erecting buildings and beautifying cities. Thus, he built the wall of Sepphoris and made the place his capital. He elevated Bethsaida to the rank of a city and gave it the name “Julia,” after the daughter of Tiberius. Another example of this inherited or cultivated building-mania was the work he did at Betharamphtha, which he called “Julias” (Ant, XVIII, ii , 1). His influence on his subjects was morally bad (Mark 8:15). If his life was less marked by enormities than his father’s, it was only so by reason of its inevitable restrictions. The last glimpse the Gospels afford of him shows him to us in the final tragedy of the life of Christ. He is then at Jerusalem. Pilate in his perplexity had sent the Saviour bound to Herod, and the utter inefficiency and flippancy of the man is revealed in the account the Gospels give us of the incident (Luke 23:7-12; Acts 4:27). It served, however, to bridge the chasm of the enmity between Herod and Pilate (Luke 23:12), both of whom were to be stripped of their power and to die in shameful exile. When Caius Caligula had become emperor and when his scheming favorite Herod Agrippa I, the bitter enemy of Antipas, had been made king in 37 A.D., Herodias prevailed on Herod Antipas to accompany her to Rome to demand a similar favor. The machinations of Agrippa and the accusation of high treason preferred against him, however, proved his undoing, and he was banished to Lyons in Gaul, where he died in great misery (Ant, XVIII, vii , 2; BJ, II, ix , 6).
(from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Jesus was very popular (either in a good way or not so good way) at this point. Herod, as it appears on the surface, is a bit late on hearing the news of this religious nature from the Jews. But, he did have many other things to tend to – building projects, hostilities with others (like his father in law Aretas) and attending to his life of ease as noted in the works of Josephus. But when the report did come to Herod, he wanted answers.
Some claimed Jesus was John the Baptist (similarity of their messages), or Elijah (must come before the Messiah), or some more general description of who Jesus was. But what did John in was both the crafty Herod and Herodias. Of the scene we get for this lesson, Shepard describes a part of the scene:
It seems that John was summoned previously by Herod for private interviews to see if his attitude might be altered, but various times the austere prophet repeated: ‘It is not lawful for you to have her’ (Lev. 18:16). Such a courageous denunciation of adulterous divorces is sadly needed in our own times. Mark graphically adds that ‘Herodias set herself against him.’ She literally had it in for him, according to the Greek idiom. She was desiring to kill him but she could not for the time. The power was wanting and not the will and she kept her eye on him, abiding her time.
The only reason she could not carry out her malicious design was that Herod was afraid of John. He was alarmed let the Mosaic curse should come upon him. He knew that Jhon was a just and holy man and innocent of any wrong. He ‘kept him safe’ from the plots and schemes of Herodias. He heard him gladly and was doing many things counseled by John.
Now, at this point you and I know there is more to the story. Ultimately, Herodias has a wish, and a half drunk King was caught in a trap. In the end, the death of John is a foreshadowing of the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ by the nation of Israel.
But…what about John – the teller of truth to a king? He had the guts to say it to one who had the ability to take his life. He truly spoke truth to power! This is something that is lacking in society today – but is also (in my opinion, and in general, not just to any one church) lacking from pulpits and churches.
It doesn’t have to be about divorce, or immorality, or other hot button issues. Too often we are fed tripe from those above us – a feel good mélange of sayings that intertwine with stories of struggle and triumph which some say is great teaching. Where are those unafraid to proclaim the truth of the Word of God without fear of reprisals from men? There is so much to speak out on from the Word to society that we would be hard pressed to open any page of the Bible and not find something that slaps us personally, without mentioning the smack to society. Unfortunately, we would rather sit under teaching that softens the blow and tells us it is alright, we’re only human after all!
I am thankful for this passage of scripture that shows a man of God who is consistent in speaking the truth to power. It is my prayer that we can follow his example as the opportunity presents itself (not that he was out looking for trouble mind you, he was asked and told the truth!).
March 30th, 2009
Last Wednesday Gene Cornett and I got together for lunch. We do this every once in a while, and lately we’ve always met at Panera Bread. This time we talked about going someplace different, but as we discussed it, we were joking, “I don’t know about that, we’re in a church, and churches never do anything different!” In fact there’s a good one-liner floating out there: “The seven last words of the church are, ‘We’ve never done it that way before!’” Well, we decided to meet somewhere else, but guess what? There was a mix-up, so we got on our cell phones and called each other, and we ended up at Panera Bread anyway. As we sat down, we looked at each other, laughing, and said, “See, change is hard.”
Change is inevitable, though, and the clearest sign of that is that we have a pastor search committee hard at work. Even apart from that, though, there’s the fact that our growth leveled off at a certain point, well below where most of us believe we should be as a church. We can’t expect to continue on the same path and see that improve. There’s another saying that’s floating out there: “The first sign of insanity is to keep doing things the same way and expect a different result.”
I’m in no position to guess how our church will look different six months or a year from now. My work on the church survey, however, leads me to hope we will become more effective in reaching people for Christ and bringing them into fellowship and discipleship in our church. The evidence from the survey is that for the past several years we have not done that effectively, except among children and youth to some extent.
Focusing more on outreach would mean change. We won’t get a different result by doing the same thing. This came to my mind as I was reading in Luke this morning (Luke 6:6-11, ESV):
On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
The scribes’ and Pharisees’ “fury” couldn’t have been just over somebody breaking one of the Ten Commandments. That happened all the time back then, as it does now, and though they always thought it was bad, I’m sure they didn’t rise up in such rage every time it happened.
I think instead they were angry because Jesus was threatening their control and their comfortable way of doing things. They had their way of doing “church.” Jesus came and did something different. He did something on worship day, in the worship place, to “do good” and to “save life.” They didn’t usually do that; it wasn’t in their rule book. In the process He also exposed what their hearts were like. There was something seriously lacking in their worship: they were more about keeping the forms and the traditions than they were about loving their neighbor. From elsewhere in the Bible we know that this means they really weren’t about worshiping God, either. Their real purpose was to keep things going in the Temple as they had always been, and keeping their own control over it.
Those of us who can remember the good old Westerns might think of it like it was in some of those shows: a group of men staring down the stranger in town, ready to pull their guns, saying, “That’s not the way we do things around here, Mister.” But Jesus was no stranger at the Temple—He was the one for whom it was built!
So I have to ask myself, “How do I view our worship day and our worship place?” When I go there tomorrow, I know that worship and learning will be priorities. What if helping another person was also a priority? More to the point of this Luke passage, how would I respond if someone said, “Our focus here is too narrow, too inward-oriented, so we need to really change the way we do things, even to the point of breaking some of our traditions and ‘rules’ for doing church?” Just to think about that is kind of frightening, isn’t it? But that’s exactly what Jesus did, so it can’t always be wrong to do that kind of thing.
Sure, we don’t just rush into change for the sake of change. Some traditions and rules are important and valid, so any change needs careful prayer and listening to God. When the time does come when decisions for change are made, though, I hope I would not be “filled with fury,” trying to keep change from happening just because it’s different, or because it upsets my own role in the church, as the Pharisees were. I hope I would not be overly protective of “how we do things here,” thinking, “We’ve never done it that way before!” And I especially hope I would not resist the kind of change that would “do good” to some person, and “save life”—ultimately to help more people to know Jesus Christ.
As Gene and I had the chance to laugh about with each other, “Change is hard.” Jesus brought change that saved lives. In the process he made some religious leaders angry enough to kill him. By God’s grace we can learn not to make the same mistake. Change is also unavoidable, and if we follow the Lord’s leading in our church, it can also be really good.
March 28th, 2009
I was reading a story on ESPN recently (Delle Donne finds happiness at Delaware). Part of the story read like this:
She was provided with a personal trainer from age 7.
She was obsessed with being the best, always afraid someone was working harder than she was. Her skills seemed to be exceeded only by her maniacal work ethic.
Elena Delle Donne towered over the competition. The 6-foot-4 guard from Wilmington, Del., could handle the ball as easily as the expectations. She could shoot like Bird.
She was on the fast track to greatness until her heart began steering her in a different direction.
“About age 13, I thought, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this anymore,’” Delle Donne says. “‘It’s not fun.’”
But fun was never the objective. Delle Donne was the consensus 2008 Naismith National High School Basketball Player of the Year. She saw herself as the future of women’s basketball. So did most everyone around her. She was supposed to follow her idol, Diana Taurasi, to Connecticut, win four national titles and become a superstar in the WNBA.
“I kinda was driving myself to be happy, and I was like, ‘Well, you better like this!’” Delle Donne says. “‘Because this is what it’s gonna be.’ And I was trying to force happiness upon myself, which I couldn’t find in the sport.”
Delle Donne was a Connecticut Husky for all of 48 hours. She says it took her only that long to realize she lacked the passion to play the sport at the highest level. She says she could no longer pretend.
Put yourself in the shoes of a parent in this area with a child of the same age. You watched something special in Elena, she stood out in her sport. She was committed. She excelled. You probably attended games and cheered her on, commented on what the future may hold for her. Then, in a flash, everything was turned on its head. The story goes on with information from her coach who swears there must be more to the story than we have been told. How could someone just say they have not liked this for years and turn their back on the sport right when the spotlight was about to be given to them?
Now, let’s look to our verses for today. Jesus comes into Nazareth for the last time (as far as we can tell from the record of Scripture). He keeps doing what He has been doing – going to the synagogue and teaching. The audience knew they had something special in front of them. They had watched Him from birth and knew where He came from. They knew His family, where He went to school, where He played, and they had heard what He had done in other regions. Now they get to see for themselves. And – they had a decision to make – what do they do with His person? And this was an individual decision for them, but it comes as no surprise that they discussed this collectively as well.
How could Jesus teach this way? Where did this knowledge of Scripture and insight come from? Certainly not Mary and Joseph, I mean look at the other children of this family, they don’t display this depth of knowledge, this wisdom of application. None of the other kids in the family showed any propensity towards the ability to perform miracles – that much they knew for sure! So, the crowd gathered ‘took offense at him’.
In the case of Elena, she had talent, a gift if you will, and honed it seemingly to perfection and could easily make a living having others pay to watch her play. And since she had this drive, many things were hers (personal trainer since the age of 7, good coaches and loads of camps building her skills into marketable talent). So no one questions her abilities or where they came from.
It was different for Jesus. They couldn’t figure out where He got his mojo from. And His teaching in the synagogue? In His hometown? Well, that wouldn’t cut it because they knew His roots. He didn’t have the proper credentials. He had not been taught by an accredited teacher – and because of this the discounted His words.
Multitudes had accepted His words because of the miracles He performed among them – but not those in Nazareth. They were unresponsive and that unbelief made it impossible for Christ to perform any major miracle to authenticate His words spoken to them (see vs. 5). Without faith, the works were not possible – God had been shackled of His omnipotence due to the unbelief of a blinded city. Strong words – but I am only pointing out what Scripture reveals.
Not much has changed today – some, claiming to have higher understanding than God Himself, know only certain things can happen in certain ways. And God, the giver of free will, chooses to allow Himself to stop blessings based on those things. And we miss it – we rationalize it – and we lose out on many of the things that only God can offer. Where are you at in locking up God and His work?
March 22nd, 2009
Let’s take a quick look to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 35:5-6 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
As Jesus demonstrated His messianic authority, the frequent method is to do miracles that would be attributed to the Messiah. Here, we find two blind men petitioning Jesus using the title ‘Son of David’ as they pressed Him to perform a healing. We may be able to say that by using this title these men reveal that they had heard Christ’s presentation of Himself as Messiah and were making the appeal for a miraculous healing from God Himself.
Pentecost notes: Although Christ, in ministering to the needs of people, sometimes performed miracles when faith apparently was absent (cf. Luke 22:51), in responding to a request for a messianic miracle, He demanded faith.
Jesus asks them if they believe He is able to do the thing that they asked. These men confess that they did believe, and then called Him Lord. This miracle was not only a revelation of the person of Christ (for only God can restore sight to the blind), but looking a little deeper shows what the Messiah came to do for Israel. You see, the nation was spiritually blind and could not see the Messiah in their midst. The nation chose to not turn to the Messiah in faith, and their blindness was not removed.
You know, even though the Messiah has the power to reveal the Father and heal the nation, Israel received no benefit from this because they failed to turn to Him in faith so that He could meet their needs. The leaders of the nation were determined to reject this person as Messiah. So the blind nation remained blind. And the people who followed the leaders remained blind. And the nation rejected the Messiah and remains blinded from the Messiah – Jesus Christ.
What does Christ do? He commends them for their faith and then warns them to keep this miracle to themselves. Jesus never intended for these men to be His witnesses to His person. Remember that He had said no further evidence would be given apart from the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29). So Jesus never intended for these men to be witnesses to the nation.
While Jesus was leaving the house, a demon-possessed man was brought to Him and Jesus again granted healing. And, not surprisingly, this also falls perfectly in line with the prophesy of Isaiah mentioned above.
The crowd was amazed at these miracles. The people had to acknowledge that nothing like this had happened in the history of the nation of Israel. This gives an insight into the hearts of the people here, they were willing to accept Jesus for what He claimed to be. But not the leaders, for again we see the Pharisees claiming that it was the power of Satan that was at work instead of the power of God. The evidence was overwhelming, but that did not sway these hard-hearted leaders.
What evidence would it take for us to believe? If someone had a physical ailment, and we were attuned enough with Holy Spirit to know it was the manifestation of a spiritual condition, would we – after witnessing the miracle – believe? Or would we rationalize it away?
March 17th, 2009
Jesus, no longer welcome in Perea, returns to the region of Capernaum. It shouldn’t be hard at this point to realize that there is probably a crowd around, and Jesus may be taking this opportunity to teach. And here comes an opportunity – Jairus (ruler of the synagogue) was in desperate need and fell at His feet. His need? A daughter that was near death and needed a healing touch.
How would Jarius know this is an option? Is it possible that he may have been one of the rulers who came to Jesus representing the centurion whose servant was ill? If so, Jarius had evidence that such a healing could take place in the presence of Jesus. Of course, we don’t know this for a fact, but to have a Jewish ruler come to the Messiah that has been rejected shows the desperation of Jarius.
Jesus responded to the request and started to head towards the home of Jarius. Now don’t miss that Jarius indicated a level of faith in the person of Christ – and that faith was about to be tested. His need was getting Jesus to assist his daughter in a hasty fashion, so getting there quickly would be important. And that was where the test came – the movement towards his daughter was interrupted by Jesus having to respond to another person’s needs.
For 12 years a woman suffered from a physical ailment that kept her perpetually unclean. In that state, she had to be cut off from fellowship with her community. Over the many years, she had sought the assistance of many to cure this issue, but no help could be found. In fact, Luke notes that her condition was incurable (Luke 8:43).
What the woman did was significant – so don’t miss it. It’s in verse 44 where ‘She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.’ If you think of this, and if you look at other translations, you will see that the woman knelt down and touched the hem of His robe. This is something a subject would do – kneel and touch the hem of the king’s robe to show loyalty and submission to his authority. I think this woman’s act showed her recognition of the royal authority that rightfully belonged to Christ. It was her touch of faith. And it was rewarded, or acknowledged by her immediate healing.
The woman desired to retreat in obscurity after touching the hem of Jesus’ garment. But Jesus knew someone had touched Him and asked that person to identify themselves. The disciples thought this was not a reasonable request, with the crowds pressing in on Him everywhere they went. But understand this was not the jostling of the crowd touch Jesus wanted to acknowledge, it was the touch of faith. In verse 47 we see the woman publicly confesses and reveals why she had done this. And Christ reveals that it was her faith that healed her (verse 48). Edersheim states:
Perhaps she had hoped to steal away unobserved but it was not to be so…Now, the woman, afraid and trembling, conscious of what had happened to her, knowing that she was not hidden, came and fell down before Him and told Him in the presence of all the whole truth, both as to the motive that led her to touch Him, the pitiable tale of years of chronic misery, and her present joyful experience of immediate cure. Instantly, Jesus responded to this frank confession.
‘Daughter, be of good cheer,’ He said, ‘your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Continue to be whole from your malady of body and soul.’ She had found healing for her body and with it sympathy, and pardon for her sins. The latter she would not have obtained had she been allowed to steal away and disappear in the crowd without confession.
Now for the bad news. During this time news came to those here from the home of Jarius – his daughter had died. Jesus speaks a word of encouragement to Jarius in verse 50. And then they go on toward the house. When they arrive, Jesus lets the mourners know that the daughter was only asleep. And all those that heard it mocked Him – they had seen a dead person before and the daughter was certainly not among the living anymore.
Jesus entered the room where the daughter was and took her hand. That is a no-no, this would mean Christ would incur defilement as per the Old Testament law. Instead of the corpse defiling Christ, He gave life to the corpse. Not only did the daughter respond to His command to get up, Jesus showed His care and compassion for her by requesting that food be provided to her so she could eat. What a show of Christ’s authority over disease and death!
How would we have responded to the delay? We had come forth and swallowed our pride, shown our desperation and dire need, and received the response we wanted. But then, someone else needed the miracle, the time, the touch. Would we have gotten angry? Perhaps tried to hurry that other person along? Would we have reacted with anger at Jesus when the news of a daughter’s death reached our ears?
March 10th, 2009
March 29, 2009 – Sermon: Easter Series (John 18) – Gene Cornett
March 22, 2009 – Sermon: Larry Grays
March 15, 2009 – Sermon: Easter Series – Gene Cornett
March 8, 2009 – Sermon Text: Colossians 4:2-6 – Aaron West
March 1, 2009 – Sermon Text: Colossians 3:12-17 – Gene Cornett
March 10th, 2009
In an effort to improve communication with the Church Body and to keep you updated on our activity, we are posting all past communications from the Pastor Search Committee. If you have any questions please send them to our committee Chair Tim Marshall at tkmarshall@cox.net
This information does not cover all of our committee meetings, business meeting presentations, meetings with committee, etc.
Following is a summary of previous communications from the PSC:
- 9/21 1st Bulletin insert with committee progress and request for prayer
The Pastor Search committee was elected by the Church Body to find the Pastor who will lead us in God’s work. Since the start of this effort we have been spiritually preparing ourselves, gathering information and praying to prepare us for this enormous task. We are in the process of gathering the following information to start this search – Church and community profile; Pastor Profile and compensation; search plan; interview and evaluation criteria. After this information is ready we will start advertising and interviewing for the position. We are not sure how long this will take but we trust God to bring us the person He has chosen in His timing. We ask that you support us during this process with your continued prayers. The committee will keep the Church informed of our progress through periodic announcements. If you have any comments please contact Tim Marshall the Committee Chairman.
- October Trumpet insert with committee progress and request for prayer
The Pastor Search committee was elected by the Church Body to find the Pastor who will lead us in God’s work. The Committee consists of Tim Marshall committee chairman, Doug Rutledge, Betty Burge, Mel Collins, Quinelle Duckett, John Elder, Russ Pratt, Linda Reviea, Rick Dupuy. Since the start of this effort we have been spiritually preparing ourselves, gathering information and praying to prepare us for this enormous task. We are in the process of gathering the following information to start this search – Church and community profile; Pastor Profile and compensation; search plan; interview and evaluation criteria. After this information is ready we will start advertising and interviewing for the position. We are not sure how long this will take but we trust God to bring us the person He has chosen in His timing. We ask that you support us during this process with your continued prayers. The committee will keep the Church informed of our progress through periodic announcements. If you have any comments please contact Tim Marshall the Committee Chairman at tkmarshall@cox.net or call him at home 833-7492
- 9/27 Bulletin insert requesting daily prayer at 0900
A Note from your PSC – please pray daily at 9:00 AM for God’s guidance as the team strives to be faithful to your calling. (Read I Timothy 3:1-7)
- 10/26 Insert into the bulletin encouraging everyone to fill out the survey and initial invitation to Family Forum.
Your Pastor Search Team has been busy preparing for the time when we will begin to consider candidates for the position of Senior Pastor. Because you have entrusted us with this monumental task we are trying to be faithful by fully preparing. That preparation includes understanding the Biblical as well as our local requirements for the job. We also need to be in a position to describe Seaford’s goals, expectations and requirements to potential candidates and to know how to evaluate candidates against those criteria.
We ask that you join us in this preparation by seeking God and searching His Word for a better understanding of both the mission of our church and the response to that mission by all who call Seaford home, including our new Senior Pastor.
Another major help to us would be for each of you to complete the on-line church health assessment survey and to join us on Wednesday November 12 for a special family forum where you can join your Seaford family in expressing your thoughts about the pastor God is preparing for us.
Grace and Peace Your Pastor Search Team
- Sunday November 2, 2008 bulletin insert with details of the Family Forum
The Pastor Search Committee would like to invite you to participate in a Family Forum on Wednesday, November 12th at 6:15PM immediately following a brief time of praise and worship. The committee is seeking the Church body’s feedback as to what we would like to see in a new pastor. This feedback will be combined with other data being generated to not only recommend a pastor to the church, but to provide him with information that will assist him in leading us. We are striving to follow God’s plans and become the church He wants us to be. We need to be obedient and listen to Him. Please join us on November 12th for a great opportunity of fellowship, growth, and hope.
- Sunday November 2, 2008 Performance of skit during the ministry emphasis portion of both morning worship services.
- Sunday November 9, 2008 at 5:00 pm: update committees progress in church bulletin and provide more info for Family Forum
Do you want to have input into the selection of the new Pastor for SBC?
Want to know what the Pastor Search Committee has been doing? Feel like you want to add your comments to developing the vision of where the Church should go? Please attend the Family Forum at 6:15 on Wednesday November 12th for an open discussion of the vision for our new pastor.
- Wednesday November 12, 2008 from 6:15-8:00 pm: Family Forum to gather pastor profile information from church body.
- Publish results of Forum in December Trumpet.
The Pastor Search Committee would like to thank everyone who attended the Family Forum on November 12th. There was a great spirit of unity at this meeting as we discussed the characteristics that we are looking for in our next pastor. We gathered a mountain of data that will help the committee as we move forward and will also be useful to the next pastor.
The general consensus of the forum was that we would prefer a Pastor who is married with children, has a minimum of a Masters degree from a seminary, and has at least 10 years of pastoral experience. In trying to classify over 200 comments from the group, the following strengths were highlighted; shepherding, spirituality, character, leadership, communication and administration along with quite a few others. There was an overwhelming agreement in the Ministry qualities that the Church was looking for in the new Pastor. In 134 response sheets turned in you wanted a leader who is an effective communicator of well prepared sermons; who has a strong vision for SBC; a gifted teacher and skilled counselor; a person who places an emphasis on discipleship and spiritual growth; and a nurturing leader who has a passion for evangelism.
All of these qualities are desired but as one commenter wrote, we need a pastor whose primary goal is to reach out to the lost and unchurched. This is truly Gods work for us and we need to keep that at the forefront of our worship to prevent us from becoming to self focused.
The committee is still evaluating this data and will continue to build on it as we move through the process that the Church has called us to. As was mentioned in this meeting, it is obvious that God is continuing to work through this Church body and each one of us needs to join Him where He is working. God will accomplish His work; we just need to be obedient so that we can join Him.
- Sunday November 30, 2008 update committee’s progress in church bulletin.
- Saturday 1/17/09 workshop meeting with Pastors and Committee Heads
- PSC bulletin insert for Sunday 1/25/09
The Pastor Search Committee held an all day workshop on 1/17/09 and met with the Pastoral staff, several Committee Chairmen, the Health Team Chairman and Evelyn Biles. We feel that the next steps that our committee will take are extremely important and we wanted to get input from these important Church leaders. This was an extremely beneficial time and we were encouraged with the direction that the Church leadership is taking to move our church forward through this transitional period. It was also encouraging to see that these committees were empowered to make the necessary improvements and modifications that will allow us to grow into the church that God wants us to be. Please pray for us as we try to discern Gods will for us as a committee and for our Church. This is a time of exciting opportunity and challenge.
- Article from Gene in the February issue of the Trumpet
On a recent Saturday, the Pastor Search Committee spent the entire day working together; talking, praying and meeting with key leaders and leadership groups. I do not know about everything they did, but early in the day, they met with Aaron, Jack, TJ and myself and asked us to talk with them about strengths and weaknesses of the church as we saw them, what we were hoping for, and what we might want to say to a new pastor. Each of us shared honestly for several minutes, doing our best to give an accurate interpretation, but certainly feeling no need to paint things as more positive than they are. However, after we had each shared, a couple of the committee members remarked that they found the experience encouraging. They noted that there is much good happening within the church and that they did not feel that the church body was generally aware of such things. Bad news tends to take on a life of its own, so together we felt the need to work harder to talk about positive things God is doing at Seaford. In doing so we’ll be following Philippians 4:8 which says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
One of us described the uniqueness of the unity among the four pastors as a strength. Another spoke of the improved work in caring for guests in our services, in how we respond to them within the services and in the communication and follow up with them after they have attended. Part of that work is the new signs both inside and outside of the building. We have first time guests in our services nearly every week and several continue to attend. We are praying about and increasing our focus on evangelism, attempting to be more intentional and God is opening more doors for this all the time. One of us spoke of the amazing people that make up the church. We genuinely are a unique church with many who are growing spiritually and many who have expertise in diverse areas as well as life experiences that are greatly valuable to the body.
Several people are leading in a greater emphasis on prayer and the continued development of a prayer ministry. The men’s ministry is recreating itself with several new faces emerging as leaders within this ministry. The Church Health Team report is in with 225 people having responded to the survey that generated the report. That is a very high percentage of participation from the body and a good sign in and of itself. The findings are both encouraging and challenging. We are looking to hear from them soon, probably in the first week of March.
Financially, of course the news isn’t all good. The church is currently running at 78% of the budget. However, this is not very different from recent history and we are keeping spending within giving levels. Concerning the mortgage, in addition to the regular payments, church members gave an additional $80,000 last year to the building fund, every dime of which went directly against the principal on the loan. In 2009, the church has matched that amount already through one-time gifts. On average, the church body is giving an additional $5000 per month to the building fund above regular tithes and offerings. Also, the stewardship committee is meeting every other week or so and are taking their work very seriously. They are looking carefully at transaction level details for every line item of our budget and are respectfully asking questions of ministry leaders, to ensure that we are using the money that God has entrusted to this body for the greatest kingdom gain.
I am not ignoring that there are problems, but that will always be true. Our instructions from God’s Word are to make a conscious choice to focus on what is good and right. I ask you to join me in choosing to think and talk about those things.
In Christ, Gene
- Updates on the PSC progress have also been given at Church business meetings and Sunday services during the Ministry emphasis
- Ministry Emphasis given after both services on 3/8/09
Here are the supporting documents that have been compiled in supporting our efforts (please note, each of these linked files below are in PDF format):
March 5th, 2009
The report on the Church Survey was presented this evening at the business meeting. If you missed the meeting, please email Tom Gilson for a copy (tom DOT gilson AT cox DOT net — address obscured to reduce spam). If you have further thoughts, ideas, questions, or ideas related to the survey, please leave a comment here for discussion.
March 4th, 2009