• Need for rethinking, possibly restructuring some areas of our ministry.

• As we’ve had to think through the budget, so too the ministries which the budget funds.

• “Don’t waste a crisis!”  An opportunity for refocusing, not handwringing.

• The routine can become a rut.  We need to shock ourselves out of the rut.

• The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Everything we do at Farmdale Baptist Church needs to fit into our vision of what we’re supposed to be doing as a church.  My vision and I  believe our churches mission is:

“To glorify God by expositing the Scriptures, exalting the             Savior, equipping the saints, and evangelizing sinners.”

Everything we do needs to fit into that vision.  This needs to drive our ministries.  We should do no activities for activity sake.  Everything we need to do needs to be on purpose for a purpose that is based on our vision of what we as a church are called to do.

So, I ask that all our committees and officers within the church prayerfully consider their preparation and activities in the coming year with the above vision in mind.  If we do so, we will become more united and efficient in the days ahead as we seek to be faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I recently came across Wes King on Facebook and remembered this song recorded several years ago.  In 2005 Wes was diagnosed with Lymphoma and underwent many months of extremely difficult treatments and years of side-effects. Wes is now cancer free and is feeling well enough to spend time in his studio again.  He is currently working on recording a couple of new projects.  “The Robe” was inspired by a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon which Wes read while a college student at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA.

Read the lyrics below which Wes wrote, then watch the music video below:

Anyone whose heart is cold and lonely
Anyone who can’t believe
Anyone whose hands are worn and empty

Come as you are

Anyone whose feet are tired of walking
And even lost their will to run
There is a place of rest for your aching soul
Come as you are

Chorus:
For the robe is of God
That will clothe your nakedness
And the robe is His grace
It’s all you need
Come as you are

Anyone who feels that they’re unworthy
Anyone whose just afraid
Come sinner, come and receive His mercy
Come as you are

(repeat chorus)

In January I posted the list of books which I was required to read for the Spring 2009 semester of my PhD studies.  Here is the list of my favorites from that list:

• The English Reformation by A.G. Dickens
• Baptist Ways by Bill Leonard
• Richard Sibbes by Mark Dever
• The Baptists (vol. 2) by Tom Nettles
• A Piety Above the Common Standard by Anthony Chute
• 400 Years of Baptist Theology by James Leo Garrett
• The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church
• The Puritan Mind by Perry Miller
• The Stripping of the Altars by Eamon Duffy

Soldiers of Christ:  Selections from the Writings of Basil Manly, Sr. & Basil Manly, Jr. was edited by Southern Seminary professor Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin, in conjunction with Dr. Roger D. Duke and Dr. A. James Fuller.  Soldiers of Christ focuses on the writings on the father and son duo without whom, as current SBTS President R. Albert Mohler, Jr. notes in his Foreward, Southern Seminary would not exist.  This work was published by Founders Press and is available from order now from Reformation Heritage Books.

FROM THE BACK COVER:

Basil Manly, Sr. and his son Basil Manly, Jr. played vital roles in shaping a number of the central institutions of the Southern Baptist community in its formative years in the nineteenth century, including the influential Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Undergirding their churchmanship was a vigorous Calvinistic Baptist piety that was expressed in sermons and tracts, hymns and confessional statements, letters and diaries, all of which are represented in this timely volume of selections from their writings. Here we have a wonderful window onto the vista of nineteenth-century Southern Baptist life with all of its glorious strengths as well as its clear failings.

COMMENDATIONS:

“The introductory and biographical essays on the lives of Basil Manly, Sr., and Basil Manly, Jr., as well as the carefully selected collections from their writings found in this volume are wonderful and much-welcomed additions to Baptist studies. I am quite pleased to recommend Soldiers of Christ.”
— David S. Dockery, President, Union University

“The publication of these writings is long overdue and is most welcome, and the editors have done their work well.”
— Gregory A. Wills, Professor of Church History, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Michael Haykin, James Fuller, and Roger Duke have done us a service by introducing the Manlys to a new generation.”
— Nathan Finn, Assistant Professor of Church History, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“A fascinating, moving, and shocking look at piety among Southern Baptists in the middle two-thirds of the nineteenth century.”
—Tom J. Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“A superb collection of well-edited primary sources by two of the most formative shapers of Southern Baptist life in the nineteenth century.”
—Timothy George, Senior Editor of Christianity Today

FROM THE FOREWARD BY R. ALBERT MOHLER, JR.

“Humanly speaking, the formula is easy: no Manlys, no Southern Seminary. This year, as The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrates its sesquicentennial, our indebtedness to the Manlys of South Carolina is increasingly clear. As an institution, our history is inextricably tied to the lives and ministries of Basil Manly, Sr. and Basil Manly, Jr.”

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Published by Founders Press.  240 pages.  Paperback.  2009.

Order here from RHB for $18.00 $12.00 (34% off).

Each year the Andrew Fuller Center sponsors a major conference devoted to some aspect of Baptist thought and life.  This year’s conference is scheduled for August 24-25 and has for its theme “Baptist Spirituality:  Historical Perspectives.”  This conference is marked by great speakers, great fellowship, and several free books provided by the graciousness of publishers who sponsor the event.

Featured plenary speakers in 2009 will include: Crawford Gribben, Robert Strivens, Greg Thornbury, Kevin Smith, Tom Nettles, Greg Wills, Gerald Priest, Jason Lee, and Malcolm Yarnell. Other established Baptist History scholars, as well as several Ph.D. students will be presenting papers on the conference theme during the parallel sessions.

Until May 31st, a special rate of $75.00 for regular attendees and $45.00 for students (use code 09303108 when registering) will be available.  You will still be able to register up until the week before the conference, but it will cost $10.00 more.  You can register now by clicking here.  For more information about the conference, including lodging information and a schedule of the plenary sessions, click here.

Dr. Michael Haykin, professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, led a conference on the Holy Spirit on Saturday on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit at Farmdale Baptist Church (where I pastor).  The MP3s of the conference sessions and Q & A session are below:

• Session 1:  “The Holy Spirit and the Trinity”

• Session 2:  “The Work of the Holy Spirit”

• Session 3:  “Leaning on the Holy Spirit”

• Session 4:  Question and Answer Session

Three of Southern Seminary’s outstanding cast of church history professors are scheduled to release works commemorating the seminary’s history in time for the sesquicenteniel celebration during the week of the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville (June 23-24, 2009).  These three works, published by three different publishers, will offer a fitting tribute to Southern Seminary’s history.

Dr. Gregory A. Wills has authored a history of the institution for Oxford University Press.  Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1859-2009) promises to offer a fresh perspective on the seminary’s founding upon a solid foundation, the drift toward theological liberalism, and the recovery of the school’s confessional identity under President R. Albert Mohler, Jr.  Amazon.com is offering a sneak peak inside the volume, but it is not yet available for pre-0rder.  It scheduled for release on June 12.

Dr. Thomas J. Nettles new comprehensive biography of Southern Seminary’s founder James P. Boyce is now available for pre-0rder on Amazon.com.  James Petigru Boyce:  A Southern Baptist Statesman will be published by P&R Publishing and is a part of their American Reformed Biographies series.  The biography focuses on his theological development, his lifelong struggle to establish the Seminary; and the theological controversies that shaped Baptists in the last half of the nineteenth century.  Dr. Nettles has also prepared a sourcebook on Boyce which will be published by Founders Press this summer.

A final work scheduled for release by the SBC annual meeting is Soldiers of Christ:  Selections from the Writings of Basil Manly, Sr. & Basil Manly, Jr. Edited by Southern Seminary professor Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin, in conjunction with Dr. Roger D. Duke and Dr. A. James Fuller, Soldiers of Christ focuses on the writings on the father and son duo without whom, as current SBTS President R. Albert Mohler, Jr. notes in his Foreward, Southern Seminary would not exist.  This work will be published by Founders Press.

With these four releases, this Summer promises to be a great opportunity for reading about Southern Seminary’s history!

Dr. Haykin was recently interviewed on Moody Radio by Paul Butler about his latest book, The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers (published by Reformation Trust).  The complete audio feature is available online here.  The interview lasts about seven and a half minutes.

The following news was released from Union University (source).  This looks to be an important conference.

JACKSON, Tenn. — To recognize the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement, a group of prominent evangelical leaders including Duane Litfin, Michael Lindsay, Timothy George and Albert Mohler will highlight an October conference at Union University.

“Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism” will be held Oct. 6-9 on Union’s campus in Jackson, Tenn.

“This event promises to be one of the most significant conferences to be found anywhere addressing some of the most vital issues facing Southern Baptists and evangelicals as we prepare to move into the second decade of the 21st century,” Union President David S. Dockery said.

Litfin is president of Wheaton College, Lindsay is a sociologist at Rice University and author of “Faith in the Halls of Power,” George is dean of Beeson Divinity School and Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Other featured speakers for the conference will be Robert Smith, associate professor of divinity at Beeson; Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; and Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research.

In addition, Steve Harmon and Mark Devine of Beeson, Nathan Finn of Southeastern Seminary and Union’s Dockery, Ray Van Neste, Jerry Tidwell, Hal Poe and Jim Patterson will also speak.

Cost for the conference will be $85, which will include four meals and three continental breakfasts. More details, including a full schedule and registration information, will be available in the near future.

John Piper said the following about preaching (text below the video clip).  I agree 100%, though I don’t do it 50% as well as he does.

Some of you may have little or no experience with what I mean by preaching. I think it will help you listen to my messages if I say a word about it.

What I mean by preaching is expository exultation.

Preaching Is Expository

Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God’s word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all 66 books of it.

The preacher’s job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people’s lives.

The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can’t see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God’s word.

The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will

• make your spiritual bones more like steel,
• double the capacity of your spiritual lungs,
• make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God,
• and awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn’t even know existed.

Preaching Is Exultation

Preaching is also exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what’s in the Bible, and the people do not simply try understand what he explains. Rather, the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied.

Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. The preacher worships—exults—over the word, trying his best to draw you into a worshipful response by the power of the Holy Spirit.

My job is not simply to see truth and show it to you. (The devil could do that for his own devious reasons.) My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That’s one of the differences between a sermon and a lecture.

Preaching Isn’t Church, but It Serves the Church

Preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don’t have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other.

One of the purposes of preaching is to equip us for that and inspire us to love each other better.

But God has created the church so that she flourishes through preaching. That’s why Paul gave young pastor Timothy one of the most serious, exalted charges in all the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:1-2:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.

What to Expect from My Preaching and Why

If you’re used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, you won’t find that from what I’ve just described.

• I preach twice that long;
• I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful;
• and I am not relaxed.

I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there.

That’s what I mean by preaching.

(HT: Desiring God Blog)