DEEP // WIDE // LIGHT

LOVE HAS COME, AND HE'S GIVEN ME HOPE TO CARRY ON   What give you hope? What helps you keep taking steps forward?   I was reminded today through a song that the LOVE of God - the love that IS God - gives us HOPE. It helps us. Helps us every single day. Give us reasons to keep taking one step forward.   Take a minute to THINK about the love of Jesus Christ from these song lyrics.   (From the song "Hope To Carry On," written by Rich Mullins, performed by Caedmon's Call)   I can see Jesus, hanging on the cross He came looking for the lost   I can hear Jesus, saying "Father forgive" What a thing He did   I can see Peter, he put away his sword He won't fight no more   LOVE HAS COME, AND HE'S GIVEN ME HOPE TO CARRY ON     Take a minute and hear from the Book itself these moments of LOVE.     Words of Jesus to a repentant Zacchaeus, from Luke 19:10 (emphasis mine): "For the Son of Man came to seek and TO SAVE THE LOST."     From Luke 23:32-38

In 1998, Billy Graham was 80 years old. He was invited to give a TED talk in California. This video is almost 30 minutes long, but I hope you will make the time to consider his words. He speaks to those on the front lines of technology and ideas. He speaks of a man from ancient Israel who benefited from the technological revolution known as the Iron Age, David (king of Israel at that time). And he notes that technology has still not solved 3 of mankind's greatest dilemmas: -human evil, -human suffering, -and death. But he notes that David has written about these problems, and that he found a resolution for them in his belief in God. Rev. Graham goes on to note many famous names in modern history, each one having their own personal religious beliefs, but each one wrestling with these same human dilemmas. Rev. Graham highlights that they all have in common this wrestling, and encourages his listeners, pioneers in ideas and in technology, to consider these human dilemmas, even as th

To my church family at Raymond Road Baptist Church: Be in prayer with me about the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 14-15, 2022, in Anaheim, California. This post is long and a bit complex, but I want you to know what is happening in our beloved Southern Baptist Convention. If you choose not to read through all this, just know that the SBC is currently trying to make reforms to how they handle sexual abuse allegations at the national office in Nashville. There is misinformation out there about the things that have occurred recently, and some news articles misrepresent the situation. Among other things, there will be discussion and voting at the Annual Meeting on June 14-15 about what to do in response to the report from Guidepost Solutions (not affiliated with Guidepost magazine), an independent investigative firm that released a lengthy and detailed report about the SBC Executive Committee and about the Executive Committee staff in Nashville. The report showe

To my brothers and sisters in Christ at Wynndale Baptist Church : From Aaron Tucker and family: After three months of intense prayer, we as a family all believe that God is calling us to a new ministry, and away from Wynndale. I will be with you for another two weeks, and my last day of ministry with you will be Wednesday, March 30, 2022. I have accepted God’s call to a new ministry. Raymond Road Baptist Church of Jackson has asked me to be their next senior pastor. I am both grateful for the grace of God and humbled by the responsibility for this opportunity to preach and to lead. Please pray for me. Pray that I will honor Christ as I seek to follow Him and as I seek to lead others to Him. I am praying for the continued blessings of the grace of God to help me, because I know that I will need Him. But any excitement we feel about a new ministry is tempered by great sadness as we now have to say goodbye to our Wynndale church family. In fact, to be completely honest, I wrestled quite