DEEP // WIDE // LIGHT

You might have a need that seems entirely too big to fill. You might have a situation that seems positively too impossible to solve. What if God were ALREADY at work setting up just the help you need for just the time you will need it? There is an impossible need right now for the International Mission Board . They are doing a right thing, while doing a heart-wrenching thing. They are required to reduce the number of missionaries and workers in numbers as large as 600 - 800 people in order to be good stewards of God's blessings of financial receipts and of manpower. ( See the story here. ) This situation is in spite of an increase in annual receipts from their annual Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions . I want to tell you an inspiring story. In the tiny town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, a high school senior, who is a leader in his church youth group, wanted to plan a 3 on 3 basketball tournament for his community. The church leadership here at First Baptist Ch

In my town, there is an annual triathlon in the summer. There are strict rules about drafting as the competitors make the 27 mile cycling leg of the triathlon. What is drafting? Drafting is cycling behind or beside other competitors or a passing vehicle to reduce the drag (air resistance) that cyclists push through as they race. A competitor's drag can be reduced as much as 50% when they draft. I have seen a cyclist pull in behind a bus, and draft his way from 40 mph to 60 mph while putting out much less physical effort. In ministry, we often struggle with creating MOMENTUM. What does ministry momentum look like? It can seen in several ways: people are EXCITED about a program in the church, LOTS of people are coming to the church program (this would look like an attendance number that is higher than average or much higher than predicted), people are TALKING (in person and on social media) about the program, etc. In other words, ministry momentum is when others are FOLLOWING you

"Though he (God) slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face."                                                          -Job (from Job 13:15) If you have been a believer in Christ very long, you have been there -- that place of pain. It is perhaps most difficult to love God in that moment. You often wonder if he still loves you at all. After all, if he loved you, would he not take that pain away? As bad as your pain is, Job almost certainly had greater pain than yours. All of his belongings were taken from him. He went from rich to poor in an instant. All of his 10 children died. He went from a large family to a small one in an instant. Incredibly painful sores broke out all over his body. He went from healthy to painfully sick in an instant. All of this pain seemed to pour upon him so very quickly. He sat in anguish of heart and pain of body for days, asking the same questions we ask of God so often. "Why?" "Can you take away th