Follow Up on the Letter that Got Me in Trouble

Last week, I wrote about one of the early Barnabas Letters that got me in trouble.  The earliest letters were all mailed out with envelopes and stamps before email was even a thing.  Then as I finally figured out email, I started gathering email addresses from various places.   If you are old enough to remember this activity, it was almost as exciting as the first login to America On-Line.  Back in the day, that was an early form of Facebook.  AOL was passed out on the small floppy disks back when our hard drives were huge sitting at forty megabytes.  I can remember getting a floppy from a cereal box and signing up with the login name “barnabas14” because “barnabas” had already been taken.  The seeming innocence of AOL was because we lived in a world where naivete was the king of the day.  As much as I have benefited from all the technology that changed our world since then, as I have aged and read and researched about the detrimental effect it has had on our world it gives me pause to think about the future.  What it holds for my grandchildren is the greatest concern that I have now.

A Story Behind this Barnabas Letter from September 12, 1995

I am reposting a Barnabas Letter that I wrote over thirty years ago.  Recently when I was trying to track down some Bible study notes, I found a treasure.  It was a three-ring binder that was full of letters that I had written to others and that had been written to me.  A long time ago, we used to write letters to each other and frankly I do miss some of those days.  I can remember the first prominent minister that I wrote a letter to.  It was to T.F. Tenney, the long-time district superintendent of Louisiana.  I had heard him preach in 1994 at our UPCI General Conference and in that message, he had mentioned that he wrote letters to young preachers and so I wrote to him one after I got back home.  I found that letter along with several others that he had written to me that had the Louisiana district letterhead on it. Two of those letters were personal letters and five others were ones that he had written to other young men. 

On Pastoral Criticism--Part 2

We are continuing this brief series on pastors and dealing with the fact that a pastor will have to deal with criticism on a fairly regular basis.  In the last post, I dealt with what criticism does to a pastor and the ways that he can let it work productively for him.  By no means am I insinuating that criticism does not have a mark that it leaves on a man who generally is working to do his best to help people to grow in their spiritual walk.  Over the years, I have had multiple conversations with pastors who were enduring some form of criticism for decisions they had made concerning the churches they pastored.  What I have found to be true is that the size of the church really does not matter.  It can be a small church or a mid-sized one, or a large church and all of these men of God found themselves having to contend with the critics they were attempting to lead.

A Conversation with UPCI Assistant General Superintendent (Eastern Zone) Paul Mooney

Yesterday, I shared with you the conversation that I enjoyed with the UPCI General Superintendent, David Bernard.  This blog is going to cover the gist of several conversations that I had with UPCI Assistant General Superintendent (Eastern Zone) Paul Mooney.

I have known Brother Mooney for quite a number of years.  I suppose the first time I officially met him was around 2004 or so at an Alabama District Men’s Conference.  Since that time he has preached at several camp meetings in Alabama in addition to a district conference.  He is one of the most uniquely brilliant men I have ever met!  He has a very gifted mind and you find that to be very obvious when you begin to interact with him because all of the times you spend with him there isn’t an ounce of wasted energy or time.  He also serves dual role as the pastor at the historic CalvaryTabernacle in Indianapolis and as the president of Indiana Bible College.  If ever there was an ardent supporter of apostolic doctrine and identity in this generation, he certainly falls into that category.

Apt to Teach - Part 2

I have a few more thoughts to add to the idea of this challenge that comes with being “apt to teach.”  As I revisited this passage again in 1 Timothy 3, it is important to point out that this is the only skill or practice that Paul notes is specific to the church.  He very well could and must be a teacher to his family but the overarching purpose of being apt to teach is that he provides instruction to the church.  We also must give consideration to the idea that all of the character traits that Paul lists; blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, not given to wine, no striker (not violent), not greedy of filthy lucre, patient, not a brawler, covetous, ruling his own house well, having his children in subjection, not a novice, and having a good report of those that are around him; that all of these matters will have a great impact on his ability to teach.  If these matters are compromised, his public ministry of teaching will be publically ignored and privately mocked and scorned.  This matter of character in apostolic ministry has far more reaching boundaries than most of us who are in public ministry grasp and understand.  You cannot separate your life and practice from your doctrine. 

Apt To Teach - Part 1

Last year as I floundered through writing out the Pastoral Epistles in a journal with a fountain pen (all in the great hopes that my cursive handwriting would improve), I found an intriguing quality that was listed by Paul.  He instructed that a man who was desired the work of a bishop (KJV), overseer and bondservant (ESV), servant (ESV), and superintendent and overseer (Amplified) be “apt to teach”.  I was particularly struck by this phrase as I wrote the words from Weymouth.  He translated 1 Timothy 3:2 as “with a gift for teaching” and in 2 Timothy 2:24 as “a skillful teacher.”  The Amplified Bible also had a remarkable rendering also for in 1 Timothy 3:2 it is “a capable and qualified teacher” and 2 Timothy 2:24 it was “he must be a skilled and suitable teacher.”

I am certain that all students have at one point had a teacher or two or three who really stood out from the rest of the mix as someone who pushed your life in a direction of excellence.  I personally have had some who did that very thing for me as I have navigated through my years of education.  I have been incredibly blessed to have taken part in a wide range of education both in the classroom and clinical setting.  What I have realized is that of all the teachers that I ran across there were just handful who could fall into the category of being an excellent teacher.  It is apparent that Paul fell into the category of exceptional.  You can see his excellence coming through in a variety of ways when you read the account in Acts and scattered throughout his epistles.

OSTINATO RIGORE

Leonardo da Vinci was a man who marked the world far beyond his lifetime.  He made some valuable contributions to the hometown he grew up in.  But it was his drawings that would outlive him.  The principle behind electric doors that are present at department stores was one of his ideas.  The principle behind the lamps and bulbs that have the ability to operate with varying degrees of power was another of his ideas.  I am certain that most people are familiar with his drawings of what he called “flying machines.”  These drawings would be proven true later on as the field of physics and the study of aerodynamics developed.  While some would categorize da Vinci as a genius, from various biographies it is clear that da Vinci had a gifted mind but it was not what many would classify today as an exceptional one.  So what was it that separated da Vinci from the rest of his fellows both in his time capsule and those beyond it? 

It was a principle that is noted very early on in the journals that da Vinci seriously began to write in while he was in his early ‘20’s.  He lived by a principle called OSTINATO RIGORE which means a stubborn, relentless and persevering work ethic.  This is what da Vinci did.  Once he started working on a project or a certain pursuit, he would not let it rest until he had completed it.  This is what made him one of the masters of the world as we know it.  His voice was one of the prevailing voices that came out of the Renaissance.  It was through his commitment to this principle that he allowed science, art, military strategies, and machinery to be forever changed because he stayed with it. 

Continuing Education for Ministers--Preaching the Psalms by Steven J. Lawson

Because continuing education is a part of what a minister ought to do, I have been attempting to put up some resources that have been useful for me. In the fall of 2012, I attended the Expositors Conference that was hosted by Steven Lawson in Mobile, Alabama. At that conference a very nice “grab-bag” of books were given to those who attended. I think the cost was $75 but just what was in the bag alone was worth more than what the registration fee was. A number of Christian book publishers were represented that had focused their publishing on matters of preaching and other resources to help preachers. The commentaries and the books on preaching were incredibly priced. One of the books that I bought was “Preaching the Psalms: Unlocking the Unsearchable Riches of David’s Treasury.” I had little idea that this book was going to be as good as it was.

The Power of Discipline

Nothing can push a man to heights like a commitment to discipline.  It shapes his hours, his thoughts, and the very direction of his soul.  There are absolutely no obstacles that can withstand the assault of a disciplined life.  History is filled with men and women who had lesser gifts and talents but through their commitment to discipline they climbed far beyond those who had great gifts.  Don’t lament what you don’t have outwardly but see what is budding inside of your soul that can have a harvest if it finds a blessed discipline.  I believe wealth, talents, personal gifts, and even good looks have ruined more than a few who thought they could get by on them without any effort at harnessing their whims, moods, and habits.  Discipline will help you to push beyond the certain coming calamities of life that will do their best to take us by the throat and choke out our faith and our hope.  O God, I don’t won’t talent but grant me by Your grace that hearty and full-orbed blessing of discipline!    

Top Ten Books of 2013 - #2 - The Church Awakening - Charles Swindoll

We are at the number two spot in my book reviews of the best books that I read in 2013.  This book is one that published in 2010 and I got around to working with it in 2013.  Chuck Swindoll has been around for a long time and the majority of his books are primarily devotional in nature and it is rare that he would take on a subject like this concerning the need for revival in the church. 

I noticed something about my reading patterns in 2013 and that they were mostly concerned with personal revival and corporate revival among the church.  Anyone who is involved in ministry has to understand the reality that when a church is in a state of revival and devotion that things in churches go much smoother.  Churches that aren’t experiencing a climate of revival often turn inward and over the course of time will ultimately die.  We cannot afford for the local church to collapse even though it is under a very heavy attack both socially and spiritually in our day.  On the other hand, it is clear that when a church has well-defined boundaries and encourages its members to have a high input that the Lord can do great things with it. 

Author:  Charles Swindoll

Title:  The Church Awakening—An Urgent Call forRenewal

Publisher:  Faith Words, 2010

Top Ten Books of 2013--#5 - The Conviction to Lead - Albert Mohler

The next book that comes in at the #5 is a book on leadership but it comes at it from a bit of a different angle.  Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, believes that all leaders must lead from a formed set of convictions that are unchanging.  He writes that leadership is more than just a man filling a role to accomplish a purpose or fulfill a certain task.  Also if you are a history buff, Mohler has multiple stories woven throughout the book that helps to illustrate what he is writing about.  One notable mention is of Ronald Reagan and how that Mohler actually worked in his 1976 political campaign. 

This book is written in such a way that you might read through it on an initial run but there are multiple things to be harvested the second time through.  I found the book to be one that was begging for a highlighter and penned notes to be placed in the margins.  The chapter where he writes about intelligence is very good because he cites a Harvard Business Review study that took into consideration those with a very high IQ.  What the study found was that people can have a very high IQ but if there is not an emotional aspect where they are willing to care, make adjustments, and occasionally totally remove a program they thought would work, these people will not survive as a leader.