Thinking about Life and the Lord!

Leadership and management guru Peter Drucker once said, “ Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.” When I read that statement several years ago, I wondered about its validity. However, in observing churches all around me and spending time in churches as a preacher, conference leader, or consultant, I have come to the conclusion that Drucker is right. In fact I am convinced that more and more churches are only concerning themselves with "doing things right" while fewer and fewer churches are concerned with "doing the right things." The percentage of churches in decline is America is ridiculously high. Estimates state that 80% of all churches in America are either plateaued or declining. I know this is at least the case in the Southern Baptist Convention. If it is true for all churches in our country then this represents some 160,000 + churches. The largest majority of these churches have to be ‘doing things right’ to some degree as...

The other day a friend sent me the following email. I couldn't have said it better myself! The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. ''What are we so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year? Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels w...

Recently I read a statement that relates to many churches. The statement read like this: "Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited...until you try to sit in their pew." Obviously this is an overexaggeration for most churches, but there is a hint of truth. How many of us on a given Sunday go out of our way to make new people (guests) feel at home and welcome in our church family? At First Baptist Marion, we average well over 50 guests every Sunday. When guests come to FBC they often have questions in their minds like a person visiting a store for the first time. Truly many of them are "church shoppers." They are asking these kind of questions: * Am I needed? * Can I make friends here? * Where do I fit in? * Is this worth the effort of my time? * Are these people real? * Can my life really change? I am more and more convinced that before Sunday guests will buy into or believe our Sunday message of salvation or even become interested in one of our many minis...

On February 5th I turned 40 years old. Out of love for me, I was thoroughly harassed by my staff who came to work wearing all black to "mourn the death of my youth." Additionally, I was greeted with a black coffin in my office, streamers declaring that I was "over the hill," and one friend even gave me a gift of products one would readily find at the local nursing home. You know...it is a great thing to have friends who genuinely love you enough to go to all this trouble to see that I had a GREAT birthday! I do appreciate and love them. Now that I am 40, I began to think about things that I have learned and found to be true over the past 40 years. Can I share some of these important thoughts with you today? 1. My father was right when he taught me this truth: "It is not what happens to you in life that matters. What matters is how you react to it." 2. John Maxwell was right when he said, "Everything rises and falls on leadership." 3. Personal e...

In his book, Traveling Light, author Max Lucado tells the story of a man on an African safari deep in the jungle. The guide before him had a machete and was whacking away at the tall weeks and thick jungle underbrush. The traveler, wearied and hot, asked the guide in frustration, "Where are we? Do you really know where you are taking me? Where is the path?" The seasoned guide stopped and looked back at the man and replied to him, "I am the path!" We should be reminded that Jesus said the same thing when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the father except through Me (John 14:6)." Jesus is still the only way to get to heaven. His is the path. I wonder...how many people have to shared with lately about Jesus? Thom Rainer of LifeWay reports that 4 of 8 people surveyed across America admitted they would listen to someone if they cared enough about them to share with them the gospel message. We must recommit our lives as believers...

My good friend, Pastor Fernando Brandao (Director of the Brazilian Home Mission Board), recenty preached at the 2007 Arkansas Baptist Convention Pastor's Conference in Van Buren, AR. Preaching on the subject of His Mission is Our Mission , Pastor Fernando made a very clear and true statement when he said this: "The church is not a place to fulfill our own plans and/or agendas. The church is a place to fulfill Jesus' plan and agenda. The church is not a place to realize our vision, but a place to realize the vision of Jesus...Sharing the gospel is the greatest demonstration of loving your neighbor." The truth is that every Christian is without excuse when it comes to the command of evangelism. If we have truly been saved, then each of us has a "story" to tell to someone else. If our homes were on fire and someone broke in and miraculously saved us, all we could do in our community is talk to others about how we were saved and how wonderful this person was for...

I am a student of people. I watch people because they are so interesting and there are so many lessons to learn. If you really want to learn some important lessons about life, then just watch Christian people. Recently, I have been observing a group of believers who are median aged adults. Basically, here is what I have learned to be true. I believe the reason many believers are failing in their Christian walk with the Lord and falling "head over heels" into life's temptations is because they have only asked the Lord to be apart of their lives, marriages, families, decisions, and finances. What does God's Word have to teach us? God's Word shows us over and over again that the Lord does NOT want to be apart of our lives! Don't miss this... The Lord wants to completely take over our lives- every part of our lives! "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteous, then all these other things will be added to you (Mt. 6:33)." I was just wondering...Are ...