Gettin' Started

Well this whole blogging deal has fallen to the wayside in light of all that's going on in our lives now. This coming weekend is my first to preach as the offical pastor. Emily and I have signed a contract on a house, and we'll probably get to move in around the 11th of September. So, I'll be commuting for a week until we get moved. It's about a 40 minute drive, so it's not that bad. Hopefully by the end of September we can get set up in the house and I can get my computer out and update our website with some new pictures. I've also got some new heretical papers that I'd like to post:) You'll enjoy reading those.

We're Goin' to Smithville

First Baptist Smithville has called us to come and pastor the church. Our first Sunday is September 3rd. We are really and excited and can't wait to get started. If you prayed for us we really appreciate it.

Some dates for you to pray for...

Here's what Emily and I will be doing of the next couple of weeks with the church in Smithville. If you're praying for us sometime you can pray for these events. The purpose of all these events is to allow the church people to get to know us before they vote on the 20th.

Sun. 6th - speaking to youth group in the evening
Mon. 7th - meeting the senior adults for lunch and a time they can ask me questions
Fri. 11th - cookout with a small group from the church
Sun. 13th - church's homecoming; will be there in morning and afternoon; preaching evening
Mon. 14th - meeting in evening with the brotherhood group (men's fellowship)
Sun. 20th - preaching morning service; church votes after service

A Little Road Map

Here's how the next month might pan out for us as we meet with the new church. I'm currently working on a short DVD movie about us that the church will play next Sunday in order to start introducing us to the congregation. We'll be going to preach on Aug 13th and spend the day with the congregation b/c that day is their homecoming service. Then on Aug 20th we'll go preach again and the church will vote after the service on Aug 20th. Assuming they like us, we'll probably start around the beginning of September.

Keith...don't you love suspense???





















































Smithville, TN

Job Offer...

Emily and I have accepted a job offer to pastor a church. Hurray!!! We will be going sometime in the next couple of weeks to preach and allow the church to vote on us (that's how Baptist's do it). So you can be in prayer about that for us. I'll let you know when we're going....

Hurray for 5 Years

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary. God has been good to us for the last five years. We celebrated our anniversary by going to the Smoky Mountains and doing some tubing down a river, spending some time at Cades Cove, and relaxing a few other places.

Genesis 1 and Creation Timeline

I've been studying Genesis lately in my time off. As I was studying Genesis 1 a few thoughts occurred to me.

1. The reason Genesis 1 was written is explained in verse 1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This is the summary statement for the whole chapter. Genesis 1 serves as a record of God's creative activity, and displays that our God is creative. But more than this verse 1 makes a clear statement of fact that God is the one who brought our world into existence, not any other power or force.

2. Genesis 1 does not exist to serve as a timetable so we can figure out the amount of time God used to create the world. First, Biblical Hebrew was a pre-scientific language. The Hebrew language was a very artistic and picturesque language. So, rather than describe exactly and scientifically the amount of time it took God to do his work, the activity of God was described and summed up by days.

3. In biblical interpretation we must allow the author's original purpose of the text to come though in our interpretations. That means we don't force the text to mean something in today's highly scientific world that it didn't mean in Moses' pre-scientific world.

So, what was Moses' purpose? To make a very direct statement that God is the sovereign author of all creation. He is bigger than his creation. So as the Israelites sat poised to take the promised land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, when they read the account of creation it would cause them to know that God is over all. Also, they would see that other nations were worshipping the mere things (sun, moon, stars, trees, rocks, etc.) that had been created by the God of Israel. Therefore, the gods of the other nations were powerless while the God of Israel was in full and sovereign control.

Does Genesis 1 describe 7 literal 24-hour-days? Maybe, but what does it matter because that was not Moses' purpose in writing Genesis 1. Unfortunately we major on this one point when we come to Gensis 1. Can you see the Israelites as they're about to move into the promised land arguing over whether Moses meant literal days or figurative days? Doubtful. They knew that their God had created the land and so he had the power to give it to them as he was doing.

Okay...so I suppose that will stir you all up and get some fun comments. Don't be too hard on me.

Yard Sale

To keep myself occupied over the past week I've helped Emily's parents clean out the house so they can have a yard sale....and boy have they done a major job. This is literally the biggest yard sale I've ever seen, not that I'm an experienced yard saler. Anyways, tomorrow's the big day, and whatever doesn't sale is going to the dump (that was my one stipulation for doing this thing...you can't bring the leftovers back in the house).

Pictures of Luke

Some of you have wanted to see some recent pictures of Luke. Since I can't update our website now, I'll put them on here. Enjoy...

Decision Making???

Do you think the Christian community is valuable in decision making and discerning the will of God? How much should we seek the advice of others? I'm reading a pretty good book about God's will called The Mystery of God's Will.

Our Florida trip was really good. Nice break.

Sunny Florida

The sunshine state is really nice...except for the hurricane coming our way that blocks out all the sunshine. Going to the Kennedy Space Center today...

Tennessee Weather...

Hey folks. I can't say the least bit that I've missed the hot Texas weather. Here in Tennessee the mornings are cool and the afternoons just about perfect. Emily and I have slept with the windows open for the past two nights. Can't say we did that very often in downtown Dallas. Okay enough ragging on the hot Texas weather, where it cools to a lovely 95 degrees at night...

We've had a good first week in Tennessee. We pulled in last Tuesday and unloaded our truck into a storage unit. The two churches we preached for were both very kind and we had good conversations with both pastoral search teams. Now we have to wait as the churches consider some other people also. We need your prayers here b/c one of the churches was very interested in us, but they are a very elderly congregation (only about 5 people under 60 yrs old). This would be a major challenge, and so we need lots of discernment about this one.

On Saturday, Em and I are headed to Florida for a week for a much needed vacation. I'll let all you Texans know how the weather is down there also.

Peace

Preachin' Man

In the first week that we're back I'll be preaching at two churches who are considering us to be their pastor. You all can be praying for Emily and I to know if one of these churches is the place where God is leading us. This will probably be the last post for a while with our move coming on Monday, and visiting churches after we get back. See you later world...

I'm Feeling Boxed in...

Monday 29th is our move out date, and the boxes have replaced all the pictures on our walls.  We're now about 4 boxes high around the walls of the living room.

Follow Greg's Treatments

I've got a link on the right sidebar to Greg Fay's blog. His family set up this blog for family and friends to keep track of Greg's progress in treating his cancer. I'm the same age as Greg's son, Ian. We grew up together in the same church.

New Photos Up...

I loaded up some new photos to our website last night. Click here to see them. Happy viewing.

A Meditation on Faith...

I read Hebrews 11 in my devo this morning. Verse 1 says, "Faith is the reality of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen." Have you ever stopped to think about how faith could possibly be the reality or the proof of future things???

We don't understand so that we may believe. We believe so that we may understand. The Christian life is faith seeking understanding. As you read Hebrews 11 you find in verse 39 "All these (the people written about in ch. 11) were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised..." The great giants of our religion had only their faith in this lifetime (how's that for you prosperity gospel people???). Their faith was reality and it became their eternal hope upon death.

Chapter 12 tells us that these great giants of faith are now a great cloud of witnesses around us as we make our trek through the world. Will you make your trek by faith???

I haven't dissapeared

Well, it's been a while since I've written. A lot has happened. Both my parents and Emily's parents came down to visit for graduation. I am now master of the theological universe (my degree says something like that). Our church also ordained me as a minister in the Southern Baptist denomination. I have not found the church that Emily and I will be ministering at yet. God will bring it about in his timing.

Close vote...

The church voted in the service this past weekend as to whether or not I should be ordained to the ministry. I had 50.3% of the popular vote but in the electoral college I fell short by a few votes...but they're going to ordain me anyways because I filed a lawsuit to have the hanging chads recounted and it ends up that I got 100% of the vote...close call.

Ordination is on May 13th. Same day as graduation. Same day as Luke's dedication. Geez...who's planning these events???

It is finished

All my classwork is turned in as of today. I can hear the applause. If I passed everything this semester then I'll graduate on May 13. (I hope that's a small if). Later...