Book Review: Earth Gospel by Sam Hamilton-Poore

Earth Gospel is a four week guide to Christian prayer and meditation for God’s creation. Compiled and written by Sam Hamilton-Poore, Professor of Christian Spirituality at San Francisco Theological Seminary, this resource offers scripture readings, reflections, and prayers for morning, midday, and evening meditation times, all focusing on aspects of the environment, stewardship, praise, and the connectivity between God, humanity, and creation. At a time when issues of conservation and the environment make front-page news, Christians often find themselves on the backburner of environmental care, viewed as setting sights on heaven above to the neglect of this present earth. Hamilton-Poore contends that creation care is an essential part of our Christian discipleship, suggesting in the introduction that he hopes this prayer book summons Christians to “embrace and care for God’s creation with faith, hope, and love—not in spite of but precisely because of our relationship with the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ” (9).

 

I’m losing my faith!

I encounter so many people who are bored in their faith. They have been Christians for longer than they can remember; yet, they have forgotten what they are to be about. I hear many of them confess their hunger for spiritual depth but boredom with their churches. Too many of us are going through the motions of our faith; needing a miracle from Jesus, and wondering why He remains silent. Spiritual hunger is perhaps the worst hunger of all!

Journey with other Fellowship Christians this year. Spend forty days listening to the New Testament; you’ll be amazed. In 28 minutes a day for 40 days, you’ll go through the entire New Testament. And, you will be transformed!

We’re providing free mp3’s of the New Testament in a dramatic recorded format. You’ll hear the voices of the New Testament come alive in dramatic fashion. You’ll be drawn into the Bible in ways like never before. (www.thefellowship.info/ygtt for more)

This is not a boring reading. This will not be a boring journey. Listen by yourself or with a small group. Listen with church members or with neighbors. Listen, engage in spiritual conversation around what you hear, pray. Go deeper.

Your spiritual hunger will begin to be satisfied. Your spiritual boredom will begin to disappear. And, you might just find your faith and discover a miracle. You’ve got the time! We’ll give you the disc! No excuses!!

Today – a poem written by Melody Harrell

Today my heart broke . . .

for the 10 year old boy whose widowed and slummed mother beat him almost to death,

because she had no more capacity for the stress of her life.

And my heart was quietly grateful . . .

for the neighbor, also a slum dweller, who took him in to nurse his wounds and let him stay the night,

sharing her nothing, while the police arrested his mother.

Today my heart broke . . .

as I drove through Kibera, distracted by graffiti and garbage, and the grime of the harshest living,

compelled to give a drop in the ocean of deep poverty.

And my heart was quietly grateful . . .

as one six year old knelt in front of another, whose body convulsed with cerebral palsy,

and helped him drink a cup of cool water after his mid-day meal,

half of which was all over his clothes, the spoon taking mind of its own at the end of his uncontrollable arm.

Today my heart broke . . .

as I became so blatantly aware of the distance that separates us

that I will never know with every cell of my being what it means to struggle to survive.

And my heart was quietly grateful . . .

that some times, somehow love prevails even in the darkest places.

Today my heart broke . . .

that I am too small, too concerned with me

to be the hands and feet of Christ.

And my heart was quietly grateful . . .

that perhaps crying His tears is the first step in what He’s asking of me.

Work in North Korea highlighted by The Baptist Standard

The relief work led by Yoo Yoon, pastor of Glory Baptist Church in Dallas and CBF Korean consultant, was recently written up in The Baptist Standard. Read about this life-changing ministry.

A Flood of Compassion

This post comes from Reid Doster, coordinator of CBF Louisiana and leader in CBF’s domestic disaster response.

After last Fall’s flash floods devastated communities west of Atlanta, CBF Georgia, under the leadership of Frank Broome, resolved to intervene, trusting the Lord to provide the manpower and materials.

CBF Coordinator Frank Broome, center, with Austell, Ga., homeowners, from left, Beverly Stewart and Lana Lorde.

Frank invited Charles Ray, CBF National Disaster Response Coordinator, and Reid Doster, CBF Louisiana Coordinator, into the disaster area to help identify needs and formulate a response-plan.

Charles and Reid made their way to Austell, GA, a relatively new subdivision with homes in the $150,000 range, where sewerage-contaminated flood waters had risen above the eaves and wrecked the bottom floors of many structures.

To their credit, FEMA had already issued emergency checks, which did offer some immediate, temporary relief. However, in no event could the amount of those checks exceed $28,000, while actual repair costs could involve tens of thousands more. To compound the misery, residents had never been able to obtain Federal flood insurance, because this particular Austell neighborhood had not been officially designated as a “flood plain.”  Complicating  things even more, many residents were automatically disqualified from low-interest SBA loans, due to having been recently laid off by a depressed economy.

Bottom line, many residents were between a rock and hard place – unable to repair their homes or sell them.  

Charles and Reid were first greeted in Austell by Randy Shepley, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Tucker, GA, and his team of volunteers already on the ground mudding out a home. Randy had gone there to check on another homeowner, LeAnna Anantaran, whose brother is involved in a CBF church. LeAnna’s restoration work was already well underway, and she unselfishly introduced Randy to a neighbor with more urgent concerns.

The most immediate need was for manpower to remove soaked carpet, sheetrock and furniture, and to help homeowners salvage and clean what they could. Dumpsters were at a premium, with soaked carpets and sheetrock piled high to the curb. City officials were overwhelmed and could not keep up, which created even more anxiety for the traumatized residents who possessed a growing concern about contamination from a nearby sewerage treatment pond.

Charles and Reid selected two homes, owned by Lana Lorde and Beverly Stewart, for a focused CBF restoration effort. Both two-story dwellings needed “mudding out” on the first floor, followed by electrical and plumbing work, insulation, sheetrock, paint, doors, cabinets and so forth.

The following churches and partnering organizations sent volunteers to assist Lana and Beverly:

• First Baptist Church, Tucker, GA, with Randy Shepley as Team Leader
• First Baptist Church, Fort Oglethorpe, GA, with John Wyatt as Team Leader
• First Baptist Church, Pendleton, SC, with Wayne Patterson as Team Leader
• Johns Creek Baptist Church, with Rickey Letson as Team Leader
• Volunteers of America, with Paul McLendon as Team Leader
• Hub1 Logistics, with Marvin Walton as Team Leader

Funding for the project came from:

• CBF National Disaster Response
• CBF Georgia
• CBF Florida
• Bridgewater Church, Madisonville, LA
• Volunteers of America

Accommodations for the South Carolina team were graciously provided by Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church.

The beauty of this experience is in how so many caring people worked together seamlessly to make a real difference in the lives of two people who were profoundly discouraged.

It was a fleshing out of the CBF Disaster Response mission statement:

Reaching across racial, religious and cultural barriers,
extending the unconditional love of Jesus Christ,
to the most needy, neglected and forgotten,
without any expectation of return.

There is still work to do in Austell, Georgia. To volunteer, contact reid_doster@hotmail.com or call Reid at (985) 778-6049.  Donations for this ongoing project may be sent to The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, 2930 Flowers Road South, Suite 133, Atlanta, GA 30341, and designated for “CBF Response Fund #17006.”

A reflection on the shooting at Fort Hood

This post comes to us from CBF-endorsed Army chaplain Capt. Larry M. Van Hook, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. The following are his reflections on the day of the Fort Hood shooting.

I was sitting in my office when I heard the cacophony.

“There has been a shooting at the SRP,” Staff Sgt. Asaah told me when I peeked out. She said the post has been locked down and that I should call headquarters company to report in. I couldn’t leave the building and no one outside could come in. All the schools were locked down. I am the Special Troops Battalion chaplain attached directly to the III Corps, so I was at “command central” making it easier to provide and check on accountability of all my soldiers. Of course the higher ups were getting a lot of intel, but I am just a captain so I watched FOX News with the enlisted to find out more. It is funny how wrong the news is when you know more than they do! However, I was worried.

Accountability didn’t reach 100 percent for a couple of hours. Three of my soldiers were wounded but not killed. Numerous others were traumatized after seeing the mayhem. Over the next couple of hours I heard horrific stories of blood and gore mingled with acts of heroism and bravery. I was intimately familiar with the location of this terrorist act; in fact I was due back there myself. Had my physical health assessment not been delayed, I very well could have been there. We are preparing for deployment and many in my unit had not finished. For the next 48 hours I counseled soldiers and civilians, participated in trauma debriefings with mental health, and visited all the wounded at Darnell Medical Center and Metroplex Hospital. We visited our soldiers at their homes and prayed with them. As the Memorial Ceremony approached, I helped the Corps staff with whatever I could. They were weary and some of them had seen things unimaginable. I attended the “Ramp Ceremony” of our fallen brethren. The ramp ceremony is the solemn occasion when the bodies are loaded on to the C130 for Dover. I remember seeing Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson there among other important people. The ceremony usually takes less than 10 minutes but for 13 people it lasted over an hour. I was reminded of why I believe I am called to be a chaplain and what I am doing at Fort Hood — being the presence of Christ. Jesus came “that they might have life and life more abundant.”

It was over a year ago in Iraq that I stood over the body of a soldier killed by a deeply buried improvised explosive device (IED) and put my arm around a distraught comrade. I remember how, with tears streaming down their faces, the soldiers stood at attention as the body of their friend was loaded onto the truck. I never could imagine that the enemy would attack us at home; now I’m not so naïve. I didn’t get to see the Memorial Ceremony and the president in person. I was assigned to the Spiritual Fitness Center to be ready for anyone who might need my help, but we rigged a flat screen TV to the Internet and watched the ceremony. Except for the VIPs and extra speeches, it was just like ceremonies I’ve participated in myself. Such ceremonies are for soldiers–to help them find closure and get back into the battle–but this one was for our whole community. Chaplain Lembke was very encouraging, I thought. I was proud of the senior chaplains and hope I can be as capable and wise as they!

The Army has a mission to enact justice upon terrorists; however, I have another mission–to bring Christ’s peace and grace. I remember vividly how the Lord directed me to Luke 15, the passage where Jesus tells his followers the parables of lost things. Christ’s mission is now the church’s mission, my mission: to seek and to save that which was lost. We should seek justice but that is not our primary mission. Our mission is to leave the 99 and find that one lost sheep. Our mission is to find that one lost precious soul. Jesus is the lifeline in our search and rescue mission. May I never forget that.

Thank you for your prayers!

Making a god out of being nice

Honest feedback and helpful evaluation are difficult to come by in the church.  While a “culture of gratitude and affirmation” is important, we need constructive assistance in becoming the ministers that God wants us to be.  Far too often in the church “we have made a god out of being nice.”  In such a context, the church and her ministers never attain their potential relationally or spiritually.

• FBC, Asheville tries to create a climate where the congregation and the pastors “speak the truth in love” to each other even when it is painful and difficult.  How well do you receive “the truth” when it is painful or uncomfortable?  If you tend to become defensive, how can you begin to open yourself to listen, process, and use this “truth” in a positive and redemptive fashion?

• Do you have a covenant with your church clearly articulating expectations both of the church as well as yourself?  If you are in a multi-pastor church, do you have a covenant with the other pastors regarding how you will work together?

Layne Smith

A recent publication by the CBF Initiative for Ministerial Excellence, Well-Being and Excellence in Ministry—A Practical Resource for Ministers and Caring Congregations encourages ministers and congregational leaders to consider what good conversations they might share as they create their life together.  Download the resource and get more information at http://thefellowship.info/ime

Tithing: A Millennial’s Perspective

The Millennial Generation (roughly those born between 1980-2000) tends to get a bad reputation with many people in local church communities. Members of these churches tend to say they are too open-minded in regards to society’s controversial issues or that they are too willing to do away with the established modern church traditions. But it is the issue of financial giving (tithing) or “the lack there of” which has become associated with Millennials by many in the older generations.

This stigma has many contributing factors, which is caused by a misunderstanding about Millennials.

Ministers run out of gas too

Ministers run out of gas too.  No—not just in their cars, but in their lives.  A good minister is sensitive to the circumstances of their people.  A good minister is inquisitive about their parishioners, asking about their sick aunt, about their child away in college, about their health, etc.  But if the church folks never ask the same kind of questions of the minister, the minister runs out of gas.  A good minister is an encourager and looks for ways to compliment church members.  But much of what a minister does is “behind the scenes” and out of public view.  In fact, a minister often works hard and never sometimes finds it hard to measure his/her own effectiveness. If church folks seldom encourage their ministers—the ministers run out of gas.

How long has it been since you asked your ministers how they were doing, physically, emotionally, spiritually? How long has it been since you encouraged your ministers to eat right, rest right, take off a sufficient amount of time? Ministers run out of gas too.

We ministers are not too good about taking care of ourselves. We work at a job that has few ending points. We never catch up. We seldom see the fruit of our labors. We labor in a good work, it is holy work, it is God’s work. We often labor under the illusion that since we are doing God’s work we must work harder, longer, and more intensely. We must eat right, play hard, rest regularly and exercise properly. Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, is the guru of aerobic exercise in the United States. He recently wrote in the Dallas Morning News that a person in their thirties ought to se 70% of their exercise doing aerobic exercise and 30% doing resistance training.  In our forties we ought to do 40% resistance and 60% aerobic.  In our fifties we ought to do 50% aerobic and 50% resistance. In our sixties we ought to do 60% resistance and 40% aerobic.  We ought to exercise 45 minutes to an hour at least three times a week.  We too run out of gas.

Bill Bruster

A recent publication by the CBF Initiative for Ministerial Excellence, Well-Being and Excellence in Ministry—A Practical Resource for Ministers and Caring Congregations encourages ministers and congregational leaders to consider what good conversations they might share as they create their life together.  Download the resource and get more information at http://thefellowship.info/ime

Mission Principles Today: Lessons Learned From Yesterday

Earlier this month I attended the Asian Pacific Baptist Fellowship meeting in Singapore. Much of my time was spent in dialogue around missional practices and how they are being lived out in Asia.

One presenter, Dr. F. Hrangkhuma of India, began his presentation with the following introduction:

“After almost two millenniums of Christian missions starting from Jerusalem, the majority of people in today’s world still do not name Jesus as their Lord and savior. Asia, the birth place of Jesus and where Christianity has its beginning, still post the greatest need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many people groups are still to be reached with the Gospel. For example, the gospel reached India in the first century, China around 635 AD, Japan in 1549, and most of the Asia Pacific countries received the Gospel in the 19^th Century. Some areas received the Gospel in the early parts of the 20^th century. But as a whole the entire Christian population in Asia is about 3% only. Has something gone wrong? Why, especially the people of Asia, are so hard to convince that Jesus Christ is the only Savior? Has something gone wrong with our missionary communication? Or is it not God’s intention to save all? Or is God’s intention only to preach the good news to every nation before the end for a witness (Mt. 24:14)? and leave the rest to God? What constitutes successful Christian mission? We need to ask relevant missional questions for every age and every situation. What is the nature and characteristics of our age in our particular context? How should we share and communicate the Gospel of the Kingdom most effectively to people today?”