Happy New Year

Happy New Year! That's the greeting going around this weekend. It is a good time to examine who we are in Christ and what He would have us to do with out lives! It has been a LONG time since my last post (on any blog), so my first New Year's Resolution as it relates to "social media" is to post more often on the blogs and sites I maintain.

Not just posts, but posts "with purpose." Some of you understand that term. It is not my desire to fill up my time with useless info. Rather, I want my posts to have some value to the reader. So, whether it be an actual blog, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or TRBA's website, it is my prayer you will find information useful that I post in 2012.

As I have thought of what to post in 2012, I have prayed and then examined what I am "hearing" from various sources in denominational life. To that end, I have determined to focus on the purpose of the association, as well as issues related to overall church health. I will be looking a LOT to Transformational Church and Transitional Pastor as I am working with both LifeWay and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in those areas. Truthfully, I think there are things we can glean to strengthen the church and impact lostness (our purpose as an association of churches).

In a conversation with a Sunday School director today we began to discuss some information we had obtained during a Josh Hunt conference several years back. In fact, I bought a book by Hunt today that reiterated the idea of "how to double your Sunday School in two years or less."

The gist of the conversation centered on the fact that the classes seemed content with where they were and had not grown in several years. Basically, we talked about the lack of evidence in many area churches (from conversations the two of us have had with other church leaders in neighboring churches from three associations) that churches want to grow.

I think that is perhaps the first thing we need to honestly look at as we begin the new year. Do we have a genuine desire to grow closer to Christ personally and to grow both spiritually and numerically in our churches. Or are we content with where we are. I would invite you to pray and search with me this simple fact over the next couple of days. After the first of the year I will examine the idea of doubling Sunday School attendance in less than two years. I am pretty confident I will address it from the standpoint of IF we REALLY want to see growth.

I have become convinced that we have all the tools we need to advance the kingdom. We have attended conference after conference. In the YEARS we have attended, there has been little kingdom advance and virtually no SUSTAINED evidence of growth in many of our churches. Yet - we have the tools sitting idly beside us as we moan about our lack of advance.

What do we have:

1. The authority of Christ who commanded that we make disciples.
2. His Word.
3. His presence to instruct, lead, guide, empower.
4. Prayer.
5. His promise to hear, answer, empower as we walk in obedience to Him.

Then we have other tools to assist. Among the ones I have emphasized in TRBA are Link2Lead, The Mapping Center, continued training of church leadership, Transformational Church, Transitional Pastor, etc. etc. etc. Over the next few weeks, expect much info to be shared. As it is shared, pray about your participation individually and as a church.

Do you want to see kingdom advance in 2012? If you do, please join me and the other TRBA staff members as we answer the call to prayer by our denominational leaders. Pray with us daily for kingdom advance. Join us on Monday, January 23rd at 7 PM for a corporate time of prayer.

Again, I wish you the best for 2012. I look forward to walking alongside you as we set out together to strengthen His church and impact the lostness of THIS generation!

2010 - A New Year For TRBA

It is still early in the New Year - a new decade. As we enter 2010, TRBA also begins full implementation of its policies and procedures under the "new" ByLaws that were approved by the association. I am grateful for all the hard work that has been done to prepare for the implementation. I am excited as I see how God will use these efforts to help us go forward in the new decade.

By now, you should have experienced our enhanced efforts to communicate the life and work of the Association. We have established both a FaceBook Group and Fan Page. We will use these pages (and the services offered through FaceBook) to communicate to the many members of Tar River that daily use FaceBook. We will advertise TRBA events (inviting you to RSVP to the various events) and also invite you to participate in discussion topics as well.

One very important feature on the FaceBook is that YOU - any member of the group - can send out messages to all other members. This way, you can get the news out to all our member churches regarding activities in your church and community.

We will expand our use of e-zines. Pastors should be receiving a weekly e-zine entitled THE NAVIGATOR. Everyone on our "Constant Contact" list should receive THE MID-STREAM around the 15th of each month. These detail important information to our members and we would appreciate your sharing them with your church family. If you are not receiving these, please email us at tarriverbaptist@hotmail.com and ask to be added to the e-zine lists.

Third, we are also expanding the use of TellBlast. You should have received the first mass effort to get the word out about the Sunday School training on January 30th. We will utilize this a great deal more during 2010 to get information to you in a timely manner.

Fourth, we will utilize both TRBA blogs (one for general membership and the second for pastors) to communicate ideas and discussions about major changes taking place in the life and work of the association. Please participate.

Finally (in the arena of communication) we will also be altering our monthly newsletter, THE CURRENTS OF THE TAR, pretty soon. It is our hope that any changes we make will enhance our communication efforts to our member churches.

There are a LOT of quality events coming forward in the next few weeks:

January 19 - 7 PM: Treasures IRS Update (TRBA Center)
January 23 - 9 AM: Pastors' Families Fellowship Breakfast (Ephesus Church)
January 25 - 6 PM: Associational Council Meeting (TRBA Large Conference Room)
Janaury 25 - 7 PM: Quarterly Executive Board Meeting (TRBA Large Conference Room)
January 30 - 8 AM: Sunday School Training (Pearce Church)
Feb 16 -10 AM: Monthly Ministers' Fellowship (TRBA Large Conference Room)
March 6/7 (TBA): "Life Is A Mission Trip" Training (Duke Memorial)

One final announcement for this post: EVERY MONDAY at 9 AM your TRBA Associational Staff gathers for prayer. All persons in the building will be invited to join us in the small conference room for a season of prayer. During 2010 there will be invitations for all to join in prayer for the ministry that is before us.

Next week's post will be a brief update of efforts regarding the CURRENTS OF THE TAR and some of the particular training events for 2010. We will begin to share our goals as an association in our weekly (hopefully) blog posts. Please join me in praying for the life and work of our member churches as we work together to accomplish the work God has called us to do together.

The Choices Before God's Church

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything. Truth is, it is difficult to find enough time to deal with all the tools we have to better communicate AND still do all the work that is required. I HOPE to become more regular in posting, but can make no real promises.

I am in the process of adding 2 Corinthinas 11:28 as a life-verse as it relates to my calling to serve as Associational Missionary. It reads, “Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” When I read through that earlier this year it truly spoke to me. I am concerned gretayly about "the church." I am burdened about the stats I see related to the church of North America in particular. I see the baptism rates in TRBA churches and my heart aches as well.

I have to admit to you, the ideas expressed in this post come from reading an article in the newsletter of a friend of mine - Bud Parish, Associational Missionary for the Robeson Association. His original remarks sparked ideas for me and I have chosen to modify them to share a piece of my heart and calling for Associational Missions.

Some have stated that the church of North America has been in a "spiritual drift" for the past 150 years and there is a need for a spiritual awakening in our country. I think we will agree that many of our churches throughout America have been "sliding backwards" for at least the past 30 - 50 years when it comes to reaching the people that are not in relationship with Christ. Sometimes we have looked to the convention (state and national) to provide a new program or a "quick fix" for us. All the while, God is calling us - the local church - to simply be His church and be faithful where He has placed us.

What are our options/choices?

I believe there are three basic choices we have as churches:

1. Separation - we can escape into ourselves and "hide" from that which God has placed in our path.

I think you can tell from the "tone" in my writing that I am NOT for such a choice by the local church. We are IN the world and not OF the world, but we certainly can not hide from the realities before us.

2. Assimilation - we can assume our culture and look "just like the world."

Again, there may be a little in my "tone" here as well. Yes, we must be relevant to ouyr culture, but I think there is inherent danger when we look JUST like the culture. There is a natural, marked CONTRAST to the ways of the world when God transforms our lives.

3. Association - we must.............

....work together and pray together
....move from limitations to innovations
....step up to the challenge God has placed before us (no matter what that
is for our local church and not be concerned with the "measurement
stick" used by others)
....move from preservation to penetration of our culture ("go and see")
....become pro-active as opposed to re-active
....start NEW ministries - ministry is seeing a need and meeting it

Oh well, I think from the "tone" here you can see where I am as well. Think with me for a minute - why were Sunday Schools started? They were started to teach children how to read. That says something to us. What is the greatest need in your community? Don't you believe that's what God has placed you there to meet. I am sad to report to you that there are many church leaders I speak with that do not have a clue as to what the greatest need is in their community. Sure, I think we can all agree their real greatest need is Jesus, but there are temporal needs to be met to bring them in to listen to the Gospel (and if you think their greratest need is Jesus, are YOU busy sharing Jesus with your community?).

TRBA is made up of what would be classified as "smaller membership churches." That simply has to do with the numbers that gather weekly for praise and worship in their local assembly. It has NOTHING to do with the calling of God on our individual church. I believe strongly that God has equipped us to do ALL that He has called us to do. We are to be obedient to that call and step out in faith believing God is God and we are His church.

IN ASSOCIATION with one another, the churches of the Tar River Baptist Association have committed to minister to the needs of hurting people in our community. Each of us have a roll to fulfill. All are equally important to the total need of the community being fulfilled. All of us are to be faithful to the call of God. We are working in concert with one another - not in competition. That is a key concept for us to grasp as churches.

I ask that you join me in praying for the member churches of our association. Pray for your church, but also pray for the leadership of your neighboring churches. Pray that God will bless us all as we step out in faithful obedience to His calling for the local church we serve. Just BE READY to be the instrument that God has called YOU to be in His work.

My friend Bud closed his article by saying, "God is always ready for a New Thing, are we ready?" It is my prayer that we will be ready to respond to the Lordship of Christ and the leadership of the Holy Spirit to do that which God has called us to do as His church.

What "NEW THING" is God calling YOU to today? Will you be that faithful servant that yields to the Lordship of Christ and follow Him wherever He leads and whatever He demands?

"What More Can A Body Do?"

I have to be honest. I am PERPLEXED! As a staff we discussed this issue at length today. No matter how hard we try, it seems that nothing we do helkps the situation. What am I talking about? Well--it's communicating the life and work of the Association to our member churches, pastors, church contacts, and Associational leaders.

I send out a weekly e-zine to pastors detailing events relevant to their work. Liz sends a "Mid-Stream" e-zine to almost 600 people around the 15th of each month to update known events in the life and work of the Association. Toward the end of each month, we e-mail the Currents of the Tar to 600 people and send about 750 out in the mail. Throughout the month we send emails with important information and we keep the website as up-to-date as we can. My grandmother used to have a saying, "What more can a body do?"

This was her way of saying, I have tried all that I can and I simply do not know what else I can do. That's the way we often feel after HOURS of work as staff members. We try to get information out in a timely fashion, but it appears that many do not read anything that we send out and many others fail to read through everything.

Think with me for a minute. Let's say we plan a major Sunday School training event. For MONTHS we have it on the calendar; at every meeting of the Association we publish it and/or speak of it and ask messengers to share with our member churches; we send out email reminders and updates; we place articles in the newsletter and/or inserts as reminders; we spend hundreds of man hours publicizing and bring in quality trainers to assist our member churches. We may or may not have good attendance - and that is irrelevant to the point I am attempting to make. Then--the next morning when we get into the office we check messages or get an email and it reads, "When is the Association going to offer some Sunday School training?"

The truth of the matter is---at least 4 or 5 people in EVERY TRBA church have received information and been asked to share with their church. We need your help in getting the word out. PLEASE help us!

Before I started this blog I checked the last 10 association-wide e-mails that have been sent out by Constant Contact. In not one email that was sent did more than 44% of the recipients open the emails. 56% never opened an email from TRBA.

One of our neighboring Associational Missionaries became so tired of hearing church leaders say that they had not received email and mail about events in his association that he began to send mail through certified mail/receipt returned. That is an expensive proposition when emails are free, but I understand his frustration.

I know we get a lot of junk mail (both hard copy and email), but the information TRBA sends out to you is information that people in your church need to hear about. We are asking you to help.

If you have ideas as to how we can more effectiveky get information to you and others in TRBA so that we can more effectively serve you, please let us know. And again I ask you--please get the information we share with you to your church.