11.28.08
Posted in Missions at 11:57 am by Administrator
Greetings brethren. I am writing this from the Protea Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is has been by the grace of God that I actually made it here. Yesterday I had the most eventful trip to the airport I’ve ever experienced. Our plane was to leave at 11 AM from Pensacola and connect to our International flight in Atlanta. I had a great morning with my family and we left the house around 8 AM bound for Pensacola. We moseyed down, stopping at a gas station to get the boys a drink. We hit Langley Road off of Scenic shortly after 9 AM. And then, within a mile of having sight of the runway it struck me: I don’t have my passport! Talk about panic and distress. I wheeled around and headed frantically back toward Brewton. By this time my Dad was just getting off the interstate en route to the airport. There was no way to get home and back in time to catch the flight. There were no other flight options once my Dad made it to the airport. And in order to get my luggage checked they said I’d have to make it by 10:30 AM. That’s as of 9:15 or so while I haven’t quite made it to Pace! We prayed fervently (that’s kind of like “frantically” right?). I called Bro. Ernie at home and asked him to go to our house and attempt to get in to retrieve the passport. We did about 80 mph through Woodbine and on to the Chumuckla Hwy. Ernie called back to say the house was locked down tight. The only thing to do was break a window. Once inside he would have to locate a key, open a safe, and shuffle through a myriad of paperwork to locate the passport. He had trouble finding it, but did locate it at last. Just as we were making it through Jay! We waited a couple of minutes at the landfill in Brewton for Ernie to arrive with the Passport. The kids were starting to get nauseas and it looked certain that we wouldn’t make it in time. But we were going to try. I drove furiously (like Jehu in the Bible). I won’t tell you how fast I was going. Around Woodbine the Low Fuel Light came on. We were on Empty with no time to stop for gas. By the mercy and providence of our mighty God I pulled up to the airport just after 10:30. The lady already had by bags checked when I made it to the window. I got through security and to the gate with 10 minutes to spare. Glory to God! I called Kelly to find out if she made it to a gas station. The truck had shut off as she pulled up to the pump! And as it turned out Ernie didn’t have to break a window after all. He crawled through a window. Actually, through the kitchen window if I understood right. Ernie must have been doing some praying too! Thank you Bro. Ernie! The sweatshirt I was wearing read, “they shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa 40:31). Well Praise be to God, for nothing is too hard for Him.
On the flight to Atlanta I sat next to a British woman named Celease (sp?). She was in her 60’s and had been visiting family in Pensacola. She is a Methodist, sort of. The Church of England type any way. I got to talk to her about the Lord and it was an incredible experience for me. She had never heard the gospel before! She was genuinely fascinated as we looked up the verses together! She didn’t get saved, but she seemed interested. The gleanings are out there! This little encounter has granted me even more confidence that God is in this trip to Zambia. I’m looking forward to the preaching and teaching.
My future entries should be much more brief, but I trust I’ll be able to give further updates in the days ahead.
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11.25.08
Posted in Outreach, Soul-Winning at 9:46 pm by Administrator
It seems that evangelism in the church age has gone through three stages. That pattern, which is so very common in scripture, can be described by the different stages of a harvest. The first phase is the firstfuits. This might account for the first 1500 years or so of church history. The second phase is the harvest. This might take in the Reformation right on through the sweeping revivals in England and America, and on in to the modern missionary movement. The third and final phase is the gleanings. This is the phase we’re in now. The sweeping revivals are over. The weeks long city-wide campaigns where hundreds and sometimes thousands of adult souls are converted are a thing of the past. This is not to be lamented. This is nature. But we should be reminded that the gleanings are worth going in to the field for. A Savior that commands that the fragments be gathered “that nothing be lost” (John 6:12), is not the sort of Savior that lays out during the gleaning season. As for me, I’m just thankful to be in the field to be a part of it. We had two men saved tonight at the jail. Two grown men, with tears in their eyes, that stood to their feet in the presence of their peers, and asked Jesus Christ to save them. Nobody got saved last week. But it sure was worth going back!
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11.22.08
Posted in Books at 8:54 am by Administrator
My attention span isn’t always too good when it comes to book so I always have several that I’ll be reading at any given time. Some I’ll finish and some I won’t, but this is what I’m working on.
The Pilgrim Church by E.H. Broadbent. This is basically a history of missionary activity from the time of the apostles onward. Its very hard to find a church history volume that doesn’t get bogged down with Romanism. Beyond the book of Acts there are very few reliable sources of the history of the true church (not the “Catholic” church). The Pilgrim Church is about that less recorded history. A lot of it is interesting, but its slow reading.
In My Shoes by Randy Winton. Randy is the youth pastor at FBC Brewton and this book is a collection of stories about his young sons (he has four) and what they have taught him about life and the Lord. Call Bro. Randy at FBC if you’d like a copy.
No Greater Joy Volume One by Michael and Debi Pearl. This is a collection of articles from the Pearls No Greater Joy Newsletter. Its mostly about parenting and some material on homeschooling.
Fight On! by Samuel Gipp. This is a collection of stories about people that overcame amazing odds to survive or advance a cause. All of the stories are very short, but each one is very inspiring.
Praying Victoriously: Studies in the Lord’s Prayer by Alan Redpath. I started thumbing through this the other day and it has arrested my attention. It is a thorough look at what Redpath calls “the Family Prayer” (Matt 6), and so far I’ve found it to be both doctrinally sound and devotionally rich.
The Holy Bible I just arrived in First Chronicles. 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings are some of my favorite books in the Old Testament, but I must admit, things usually slow down a bit when I hit the geneologies of 1 Chronicles.
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11.21.08
Posted in Books at 10:44 pm by Administrator
In the case that those of you who check this blog from time to time might care, I thought I’d update you on what I’ve read recently.
Books I’ve completed lately:
What Hath God Wrought: A Biblical Interpretation of American History by William Grady. I finally finished this a few months ago. This was a tremendously eye-opening history for me. He traces America’s Baptist roots to its pre-Revolution origin all the way up to the present apostasy and gives a brief, but stirring account of the revival and revivalists that made this country great. There is a good bit on the Roman Catholic influence in the War Between the States that I had never heard of before. Very interesting. There are a lot of facts as well as analysis. I’d recommend it highly.
The Question of Freemasonry and the Founding Fathers by David Barton. This too was very interesting. It is really a vindication of the Christian Heritage of the United States given the common (and sometimes frivolous) claim that most of the founding fathers were Masons.
To Train Up a Child by Michael and Debi Pearl. Kelly and I read this one together. It had such a profound impression on me personally that I ordered about 30 of them before I even finished the book and then mailed them out to every family in our church with small kids. I have a few left if you didn’t get one.
The Coming Destruction of the Baptist People by James Beller. This is a briefing for parents and leaders on what essentially amounts to a conspiracy to sever Baptist people from their Baptist roots. A lot of it was quite enlightening. It may be a bit heavy-handed on the denominational emphasis for my liking, however it is a legitimate issue given the common knowledge among American Christians of this country’s “Reformed” roots and the absolute dearth of information on the significant Baptist influence on the founding of our nation. Can you name one great Baptist from the early part of this country’s history? That’s what I thought. This book explains why you can’t think of one.
Henry and the Great Society by H.L. Roush. This little book so arrested my interest that I finished it the same day that I started it. It left me somewhat depressed, but it is probably the most important book I’ve read, along with the child training book, in a long time. It is an allegory that illustrates the principle of 1 Tim 6:6. Get the book. Read it. And then do something about it!
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11.19.08
Posted in Missions at 2:40 pm by Administrator
Dearly Beloved- My dad and I are prepared to leave for Zambia on Thanksgiving Day. We’ll be gone for two weeks and we greatly covet your prayers. So that you might pray specifically over the course of this trip I thought I’d post our itenerary here.
Thurs. 27 Nov – Depart Pensacola 11:00 AM
Fri. 28 Nov – Arrive Johannesburg, South Africa 5:15 PM
Sat. 29 Nov – Depart Johannesburg, South Africa 12:20 PM
Sat. 29 Nov – Arrive Ndola, Zambia 2:30 PM
Meet Mike Dobbins at airport and commute to Chingola
Sat. 30 Nov – Preach for Mike Dobbins in Chingola
Meet Kevin Peske afternoon and commute to Luanshya
Mon. 1 Dec – Settle in at Kafulafuta Baptist mission and rest (after about 22 hours on airplanes over the previous four days!)
National Pastors begin to arrive, Preach in the Evening
Tues. 2 Dec – Begin Pastors Refresher Course
Teach 9 AM – Noon, 2 PM – 4 PM, Preach at 8 PM
Wed. 3 Dec – Teach 9-12, 2-4, Preach at 8
Thurs. 4 Dec – Teach 9-12, 2-4, Preach at 8
Fri. 5 Dec – Teach 9-11 AM, Conclude Refresher Course
Sat. 6 Dec – Preach Graduation Service of Northstar Bible Institute
Sun. 7 Dec – Preach (?) at a local church
Mon. 8 Dec – Depart Ndola 8:05 AM for Livingstone
Tues-Wed. 9-10 Dec – Sightseeing and Leisure at Victoria Falls
Thurs. 11 Dec – Depart Livingstone 1:15 PM for Johannesburg
Depart Johannesburg 7:20 PM
Fri. 12 Dec – Arrive Pensacola, FL 10:16 AM (Kiss ground, head for Brewton!)
Thank you for your prayers. Assuming internet connectivity I will try to post some entries to the blog while in Zambia.
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11.10.08
Posted in Country at 7:09 am by Administrator
That’s what Peter said to do. And believe it or not the guy who was in power when he wrote those words was one of the most tyrannical, God-defying, Christ-hating rulers to ever live (check out the history of Nero and his persecution of the church in the first century). It’s official, come January Barack Obama is my president. That’s right. I’m a citizen of the United States of America and the states of this union have elected him to lead our nation. I didn’t vote for him, but most Americans that voted did (an overwhelming majority by the way). But I’m not going to pout over things not going my way, I will try to honour (Lord help me) President Obama. With that said, I’ve got a few thoughts on the recent election.
For starters, Barack Obama is not the antichrist so just relax. He is definitely a liberal, he is not a Christian (I don’t care what he says), and he is probably a Muslim (I guess we’ll find out), but he is not Satan incarnate. There are some that seem especially fearful (1 John 4:18) that there are hard days ahead for the church (persecution, etc.). I don’t look forward to that and I have concerns for my children if that day comes, but at the same time that is probably exactly what spoiled rotten American Christians could use: a little persecution. It did wonders for the early church (Acts 4,8).
On another note, something that made me cringe as the election neared were the constant Christian-celebrity talking heads and circulating e-mails that demanded we all hit our knees trusting that if we would just pray hard enough that God would somehow “fix the numbers”, “rig the election”, or make all of the Obama supporters sick on election-day. Maybe somebody forgot to pray… or vote. I’m in favor of prayer (Luke 18:1). And by the way I’m in favor of voting (Luke 17:1). But God “removeth kings and setteth up kings” (Dan 2:21). He’s got an agenda several thousand years in the making that most Christians know nothing about and your “Nehemiah prayer” isn’t going to be the one that puts that agenda on hold (so the party of your choice can keep on spending billions of dollars that they don’t have while lying about being “conservative”). We might should have tried obeying what the Bible says about prayer and government over the last eight years (1 Tim 2:1-2). By the way that prayer is for those who are in authority and the prayer centers around them leaving us alone! When we suddenly muster all the prayers of the church with the confidence that “we can change this thing” only to lose the election by nearly 8 million votes we look like a bunch of fools and drag the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ with us. That kind of presumption is the same thing about televangelists that makes all of us want to puke.
This election has seen our country not only get what we deserve, but what we wanted (and don’t try to opt out of being an American just because the results don’t suit you). I don’t intend to “speak evil of dignities” (2 Pet 2:10), but I’m thankful to still have the constitutional right to tell the truth about the “double-minded” (James 1:8) “fools” (Prov 12:15) that elected those “dignities”. In California and Florida hundreds and hundreds of thousands of stupid Americans voted for a scriptural definition of marriage for their respective constitutions at the same time that they voted for a President that defies that same position. Sometimes God gives wicked people exactly what they want. This election is a great example of that.
Well, I thought I might preach on how pathetic America is, but thank the Lord for “blogs”… I think I’ve gotten it out of my system. Me and my family are going to pray for President Obama and (Lord help me) try to honour him (1 Pet 2:17). We’re also going to count our blessings for the privilege to live in this great country, pathetic as it may be. I know one thing, I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Well there is one other place…
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
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