This year I preached a short three-part Christmas sermon series using traditional Christmas movies/stories to illustrate contemporary biblical messages.

• Dickens’ The Christmas Carol underscored God’s continual call for social justice. As Jacob Marley’s ghost articulated- Mankind is our business.
• The story of George Bailey’s wonderful life served to help demonstrate how God defines what life is truly about. To really discover  life we must first lose our life.  This is the wonderful paradox of heaven!
• In Dr. Seuss story of the mean ole Grinch we see echoes of Christ’s warnings against defining  life by our possessions. The Grinch learned that  stuff does not define real joy.

This is how we celebrated Christmas-time at Gateway this year. Well this and some Christmas caroling!

I pray that your celebration brings you closer to Christ- and not just at this time of the year, but always.

Remember, he is the reason for every season.

Thanks for reading the blog this year!

God bless you and Merry Christmas!

Theologian Mark Biddle in his book Missing the Mark: Sin and Its Consequences in Biblical Theology defines sin- at least in part- as  underacheiving. That is, we human types trod through life never fully living up to the glory God created within us. We are slothful. We make excuses. We fail to allow God to fully engage us with his power.

I think he is on to something.

Regularly I hear folks speak of themselves in less than biblical ways. Summarized it comes out something like this: “Well, God probably could use me to a greater extent but I (or my family or my faith or whatever) is so dysfunctional that he can’t.” In other words- I am just too messed up.

Really?

Have your ever traced the ancestral family of promise in the Old Testament (that would be  Abraham and his generational kin)? Talk about dysfunctional! Lies, deceit, betrayal, sibling rivalry, lust, adultery, murder- all seemed to flourish within this bunch. Their problems could fill an entire season of Dr. Phil. Yet God used them anyway- and in incredible ways.

In spite of it all they still got his annoiting- his unction and God’s work in them still blesses us.

So don’t go excusing your way out of this thing. You were created in God’s image to reflect God’s glory- dysfunction and all. He is waiting to use his power to accomplish in you- more than you can ask or imagine. 

Let’s quit underacheiving. Instead let’s lift the veil of sloth and be “transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 2:18).

It is our anointing.

Several new things (at least to me) are in the getting-crisp fall air. Just thought I would share.

Recently one of our elder’s wives, Kay Watson,  here at Gateway wrote a new book entitled Becoming Myself Becoming His.  It is an excellent resource for women and women’s study groups.  Go here to better see the book and find out more information about it and Kay. If your women’s group is needing a fresh resource- this is it!

Last week I had the fantastic opportunity to address over 4000 students in the chapel services at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. What a joy to be in that atmosphere and on that campus. Harding is now (in terms of student population- of which I am one in their grad program) the largest university affliated with Churches of Christ. It was a blessing being there!

My friends from Lithuania, Ilia Amosov and Juozas Puodziukaitis are scheduled, God willing, to arrive in Dallas on October 6th for a two-and-a-half week tour of the states. Their purpose is to spread the good news about their ministry in Vilnius. From Dallas they will go to Jackson, Forest, Brookhaven and Gulfport, MS; Lake Charles, LA and Houston TX; Pensacola, FL; Statesboro, GA and Windsor, CT. It will be an exciting and no doubt tiring journey for them, but they cannot wait!

And the last new thing to report is about our four year-old Jordan. Recently she played in her first-ever soccer game! She was pumped and ended up runing almost non-stop-  sometimes to the ball and sometimes away from it, but it sure was fun.

P.S. Jordan scored her first-ever goal in soccer this morning. Yay!

News out of Kosciusko, MS is that the dates of December 11-12 have been set as a day of remembrance and celebration for Magnolia Bible College. Among others, Cecil May, Jr. will be a participant on the program.

So, spread the word among the MBC family and plan to attend. Let’s give MBC a farewell worthy of her years of service.

Les Ferguson, Sr. who is the preaching minister at the South Huntington church in Kosciusko is the contact person for this event.

BTW, The Christian Chronicle has an article about the school’s closing on its website. It just reports the same official story as the college’s website.

Efforts are underway for MBC to host one last gathering of her family. This would be a celebration occasion for all who love the college to join together to remember and say goodbye. There are no definite details yet, but I will use this space to keep you updated.

Jon Mark Smith is also frequently blogging about the school’s closure.

And a statement from MBC’s board is now posted on their website- for whatever that is worth.

It is my understanding that my undergraduate alma mater, Magnolia Bible College located in the quaint central Mississippi town of Kosciusko, will shutter up the class rooms at the end of this year. Finances or lack thereof and an ever dwindling student population- are the cited reasons.

This breaks my heart.

I arrived at MBC when it was a fresh but fledgling school- started with the noble goal of “Mission Mississippi.”  The idea was to train people to serve as full-time ministers,  preachers and workers to strengthen Mississippi Churches of Christ. I do believe with God’s help this mission was accomplished. MBC has now provided preachers and workers for the Magnolia State (and beyond) for over thirty years.  Churches have been planted and strengthened all throughout the state as a result of the work of MBC students, teachers and graduates.

MBC has always been a small college. If I am not mistaken it is actually the smallest school accredited by SACS. It has remained small largely because of its singular purpose. The only degrees offered are in Bible and theology.

For me personally MBC was a gift from God. It provided me a wonderful education, offered me all kinds of practical ministry and preaching experience and has given me many of my closet and lifelong friends.

The most significant lesson MBC taught me was to take a balanced approach to study and ministry. MBC also provided me the foundation and tools to respect the Word of God while approaching it and studying it for myself- with few preconceived ideas. This has kept my study fresh all through the years and I am ever grateful to those at MBC who taught this to me.

But I am really saddened to know the doors will close after thirty-three years. I have incredible memories of wonderful times as a student and  later as Admission’s Director.

I came to know Christ in a much fuller sense at MBC. I captured a passion for preaching and ministry there. MBC is family and I am already mourning her loss.

A cherished friend, brother, mentor and model for my ministry and family was called home to be with God over the weekend. Ronney Wheeler was truly an inspiration to me and I will greatly miss the opportunity to talk and visit with him.

I first met Ronney, Sylvia and their family in Kosciusko, MS while in college in the early 80s at Magnolia Bible College. This fireball of  man uprooted his crew of five kids from Phoenix, AZ and landed in small-town Mississippi to better prepare himself for full-time ministry in God’s kingdom. He and Sylvia quickly began blessing everyone around them. In Ronney I saw a tremendous example of a man of faith who took seriously God’s call to share Christ.

Since those days Ronney and Sylvia have remained a blessing to me and many others. Ronney’s passion for Christ was always his driving force and everywhere he ministered- the church grew. I always made it a point to have Ronney and Sylvia come to my congregation in hopes that their enthusiasm would rub off.

I will greatly miss interaction with this incredible soldier of the cross, but I know heaven is even sweeter because he is there.

For anyone who knew Ronney you can leave a message on the guestbook of the Gold Canyon Church of Christ in Phoenix where Ronney was ministering. The link is http://www.gccofc.org/index.htm

P.S Just got this word from the family: “In lieu of flowers we are setting up a memorial fund, Gold Canyon Church of Christ, Ronney Samuel Wheeler Memorial Fund, POB 5248, Apache Junction, AZ 85178 or POB 4815, Apache Junction, AZ 851784 “

 

Little kids camp (ages 7-13) rocked this year! It was just fantastic. What impressed me the most was the leadership of the Lithuanian Christians. Like no session before they directed and led the week. Most of the Lithuanian staff was made up of college-age young people who grew up going to camp.

Our theme was Jesus is the Price of Peace and his peace reigned at camp.

Emjoy some pics from this blessed week.

Good Food!

Stealing the bacon

Oleg Teaching

Sam Garner at morning blast

Martinas

camp craziness

Counselor class

Gediminas and Indre

Singing

Ilia and Daiva

Chickee chickee

Juozas and family

Smiles and fun

The last morning

I solicit your prayers as I journey off to the beautiful Baltic country of Lithuania on Thursday (July 2) to help with the little kids session of Lithuania Christian Camp.

This is our eleventh year hosting the camp. (A teen session follows a week later) Both sessions are full with waiting lists.

On this trip I have to overnight going and coming in Dublin, Ireland.

I know I will miss my family.

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

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Why would anyone want to ever tear down Fenway Park?

Why does a hot dog- even though its price is highly inflated- taste so good at the ball park?

Why can’t I play softball like I used to?

Why does God love us so much even though we let him down regularly?

Why haven’t people figured out that violence is not the way to accomplish anything that benefits anyone long-term?

How do planes fly?

When did summer get so hot so soon?

How can anyone not like the song styling and voice range of George Jones?

Why are my fantasy league baseball teams so average this year? (The talent is there!!)

Why are we hesitant to share our faith in Christ more often?

Why can’t Terri go to Lithuania with me next week?

Why does TV just stink?

Why have all the “experts” ranked the Ole Miss football team so high in the pre-season rankings? (We do not need that pressure!)

Why is it so difficult to follow the Golden Rule?

Why is Twitter so popular?

Who is going to answer all these questions?!