Category Archives: Uncategorized

What I Learned about Missionaries

Posted on December 9, 2014 | 6 comments

My wife and I recently spent a couple of weeks in Madagascar with our son-in-law, daughter and two grandbabies who serve as career missionaries with the International Mission Board. Here are some lessons learned while there.
1. We should be very grateful for American plumbing. It is a good thing. Perhaps you haven’t thanked the Lord for those many blessings that other places don’t take for granted. The Western world has unbelievable riches compared to much of our world. With those blessings come some responsibilities.
2. Missions is hard. After the idealism wears off there is the reality of difficult language study- or in the case of my family, sort of two languages to learn with the dialect of their people group. There is the reality of bad smells and undependable electricity and strange food and customs. It is hard.
3. The call matters. If you become a career missionary to see the world and have fun and take some neat pictures you will undoubtedly Continue reading →

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Posted in baptist, International Mission Board, missions, Uncategorized

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Saved to Bless

Posted on November 11, 2014 | 2 comments

Salvation is about more than a ticket to heaven.
Heaven is awesome. That last sentence is a terrible understatement, isn’t it? Saying that heaven is awesome is certainly not enough to describe the greatness and the wonder and the excitement of heaven. Saying heaven is awesome is like saying the sun is bright: true, but inadequate.
When we are saved, we are “created in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:10) That means that we are made new by Him. Our sins are forgiven and our lives are changed. We are born again. There is a spiritual rebirth. We die to the old life and live new lives in Christ. We are God’s creation spiritually when He saves us.
We are not saved by good works. The two previous verses- Ephesians 2:8-9- tell us that we are saved by grace through faith and not by our good actions. We place our faith in the good works done for Continue reading →

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My Top Ten Books

Posted on October 20, 2014 | 8 comments

My wife recently posted her 10 most influential books. (She put my books on her list. Danger of nepotism?) So, here is my stab at my most influential. (Not counting my own. Danger of ridicule?) And, I’ve doubled and trebled up to get in some more. And, I’m leaving out some books that ought to get me banned from libraries and sitting rooms as penance.

1. The Bible. I read through the bible every year at least once and have for many years. It is more thrilling to me every year and is the foundation for my faith and my life. It is really 66 books, of course, but I’ll count it as one for this. If you haven’t read it yet, try starting with John and then Acts. Finish the New Testament a couple of times and then read the entire book.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. This is a 7 book set. It is lots of fun to get lost in them. Very easy reading. I love the spiritual connection and the fun. I read them to my children and look forward to reading them to my grandchildren. And, add to this Mere Christianity (Lewis’s best non-fiction, I think) and The Screwtape Letters (tremendous insights into our spiritual battles) by Lewis. A serious Christian thinker not reading Mere Christianity is sort of like a serious student of English novels never reading A Tale of Two Cities–these things ought not to be done.

3. Trilogy of the Civil War by Shelby Foote. These three Continue reading →

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Posted in books, Christianity, education, history, revival, Uncategorized

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Love the Church?

Posted on October 13, 2014 | Leave a comment

Different people view the church very differently. Our views are affected by our history, our problems, our preferences, our inclinations and- at our best- by our theology.
The church, of course, is not the building. I really appreciate the building God allows my church to use. It is helpful and it has come at great sacrifice. We use it well at FBC O’Fallon where I am pastor. There are large numbers of people using our church building in some way almost every day. I love that.
But I’m not talking about the church building here. I’m talking about the church. You know, that messy conglomeration of believers that gather together to glorify the Lord through our worship and discipleship, our ministry and our fellowship and through our missions and evangelism. I’m talking about the local church of gathered believers and the more general sense of the church- believers all over the world who gather in their own local expressions of the church.
There are at least 5 different views of the church I see.
1. Some hate the church. I don’t believe a Christ-follower can hate the church. After all, Christ is the one who formed it and is the foundation of the church. But many in our world hate the things of God and, therefore, hate the institution God founded.
2. Some dislike the church. They were Continue reading →

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Posted in Christianity, Church, faith, Uncategorized

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Sometimes A Girl’s Gotta Cry

Posted on October 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

Good words from my wife’s blog!

Vickie Munton's avatarwateringcanblog

Sometimes…

A girl’s just gotta cry.  

Sometimes it is joy, sometimes it’s grief.

Sometimes it’s both–at exactly the same moment.

The wonderful and the painful joined together in such raw emotion that no single word could describe it…

And you think that there is absolutely no one that really understands.

Except maybe Winnie-the-Poo.

Winnie the Poo

One of my most precious gifts, my daughter, gave birth to our fifth grandchild on Saturday–in South Africa.

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Buying what doesn’t satisfy

Posted on October 1, 2014 | 1 comment

I have a special love for Isaiah 55. It is a powerful chapter in the bible that speaks to our generation just as it did to the generation that first read its words.
When revival came to my life and church 20 years ago, this is the chapter I preached on for the next several Sunday evenings. A couple of those services last 4 hours and longer. Without complaint. Let the thought of those last two sentences sink in a moment.
God has Continue reading →

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Posted in Christianity, revival, Uncategorized

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Football and God

Posted on September 27, 2014 | 2 comments

I love this time of year- warm days, cool nights and beautiful colors. But I also love it because it is football season! I’ve enjoyed football since I was a kid. Dad told me about playing football in the Army, we watched football together on TV (I miss my Dad’s arguments with Howard Cosell through the television screen) and played in the backyard.
I started playing football for real as a scrawny freshman in high school. I was unprepared for the pain and sweat associated with the sport. Somehow I survived and talked myself into playing again as a sophomore. I grew a little and got faster and found some success. I found more success as a junior and senior.
Small though I was, I played football at Wheaton College. I played a lot as a freshman, started every game the next three years and was captain my senior year. (The talent level was lower then!)
I can’t play anymore, of course. (I just pulled my hamstring typing that last sentence.) But Continue reading →

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Posted in Christianity, Church, faith, football, Uncategorized

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7 Changes When Revival Comes

Posted on September 20, 2014 | 1 comment

I was asked to write a couple of short things on revival recently. (One for the Illinois Baptist coming out in a few weeks and another for an update on “The Revival in Brownwood, TX and beyond” from 1995.) It has caused me to consider what happens when genuine revival comes to a person, church or region. By the way, I am speaking of a revival- a return to God among believers, not just a revival meeting or an evangelistic campaign- though I love them too.
I care about revival from two vantage points. First, I studied revival during my Ph.D. work. I wrote my dissertation on J. Edwin Orr, the greatest historian of revival and my mentor was Dr. Roy Fish, who taught and loved revival. Second, I have experienced a touch of genuine revival at several moments in my life- the time in 1995 being especially noteworthy. I’m not an expert, but I have some background.
Here are 7 things that change for us when revival come to our lives.
1. We Continue reading →

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Posted in Christianity, Church, evangelism, faith, revival, spiritual awakening, Uncategorized

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Scorecard on my unsolicited advice for the International Mission Board

Posted on September 3, 2014 | 5 comments

Some time ago I gave some unsolicited advice to the International Mission Board of the SBC as they sought a new president to replace Tom Elliff. David Platt was recently elected. I want to note the areas where the IMB followed (if inadvertently) my advice and where they didn’t. Some quick notes-
-Failure to follow my advice is not necessarily failure. I’ve been wrong many times about many things. Sometimes the wisest course is to reject my advice. (More often than I would like to admit!)
-Disagreements do not stop in any way my prayers for, and support of, Dr. Platt. He is our President and I hope he succeeds fabulously. I want the IMB to be more effective for the cause of Christ than ever before.
With that, I give my original recommendations (in bold) and my thoughts on how that stacks up against their choice of David Platt.

1. Don’t worry much about who recommends them. We don’t need any kingmakers because we don’t have any kings. (Further free advice extends to my recommendation that you read that last sentence again.) Continue reading →

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Posted in baptist, Christianity, International Mission Board, missions, southern baptist convention, Uncategorized

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It Just Takes One

Posted on August 18, 2014 | Leave a comment

“There is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
Just one salvation is all it take to bring joy to heaven.
Some think of people like pennies–there are lots of them and they aren’t worth much individually. God thinks of them like diamonds–each is unique and of tremendous value.
Our focal verse nestles in the middle of three parables told by Jesus The first tells of a lost sheep, the second of a lost coin, and the third of a lost son. Each tells the same message. There is great rejoicing over Continue reading →

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