(no subject)
as part of one of my classes i have to keep up with the blog of Joe McKeever, the director of Missions in New Orleans for the SBC. I thought i would s hare this one with you because it speaks so huge of the community in Christ. We definitly need one another in crisis such as Katrina, but why not all the time? We fail so terribly at being "friends' and being vulnerable to one another,sharpening one another and even really loving one another. I know am far from the biblical example of "friend". "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."John 15.13, this "newsletter" again grabbed my attention and thought id share.
The Wednesday Pastors Meeting: A Work Session
Each Wednesday, our ministers/pastors meet at First Baptist Church of LaPlace for fellowship and information. Around 50 of us gather there each time, but it's never the same group.
Today, November 2, a young pastor who serves a non-Southern Baptist church in Kenner addressed the group. "I've been in this area for nine years, and I've been impressed with the work of Southern Baptists. I know what you believe and it's the same thing my church stands for. After Katrina hit, I did not see any of my denomination's people down here at all. The first people on the ground were Southern Baptists, and they're everywhere, ministering in Jesus' name. It's outstanding. And I want my church to be a part of that. So I am here, officially requesting to join the Southern Baptist Convention." Everyone applauded. We may have lost 30 or more churches from the hurricane, but we just gained one! (We'll deal with the details at another time, and explain how one goes about becoming a member church in the SBC.) He brought a laugh of understanding when he added, "I would have been here a couple of years earlier, except I was waiting for one key deacon to go to Heaven."
After prayer time, our two-hour-and-a-half meeting was jam-packed with one person after another rising to address the group. Disaster relief workers talked about cleanup, building people about permits, and financial people about insurance and loans. One pastor gave a report that Franklin Graham will be leading a two-day festival at the New Orleans Arena, next to the Superdome, on Saturday and Sunday, January 28 and 29. Another spoke of plans to invite all the "first-responders" to a banquet or barbecue to show them proper appreciation for all they did to secure the city. Others told of the counseling available for those having trouble dealing with this crisis. On and on it went. I felt sorry for Lynn Gehrman, trying to get it all down in the minutes.
The First Baptist Church of Covington, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, has invited our ministers and spouses to have our Christmas banquet in their facilities, as their guests, no charge. We gladly accept and agreed on Monday night, December 5.
One of the most heartening things I heard was a simple word about our weekly meetings. A denominational worker told the group how he was serving a church in South Florida years ago when a hurricane did massive devastation. He said, "We did not have weekly gatherings like this. Each pastor was pretty much on his own, and it was tough. Within a year, most had bailed out and gone to other places. I want to commend you for getting together like this." I suppose I needed to hear that. We started these weekly sessions during the evacuation, the first being Wednesday, September 14, at the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi, when twenty of us drove from every direction to meet. We've not missed a Wednesday since. I have found myself wondering how much good we were doing, looking to the attendance as a clue. But probably the best gauge is that when the meeting is dismissed for lunch at 11:30 sharp, no one leaves. Some are still standing, talking, 30 minutes later, still not having eaten. Something important is taking place here.
One speaker said, "There's a verse of Scripture that comes to mind. 'As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.'" Everyone nodded. No one told him we've heard that verse from Proverbs 27:17 at every meeting, without fail. We keep discovering the truth of our ministry to and dependence on one another.
One of our chief failings in the pre-K days was the isolation of our churches and pastors, and the resulting insulation of our church members. But God is showing us a better way. We've received so much from God's people from one end of the country to the other and even beyond, none of us will ever brag again about our independence. We are so dependent on the Lord and so inter-dependent with each other, we've found a far superior way to live and minister.
No one knows yet what our churches in the new New Orleans will look like. But we are determined to be part of a new Team of God, partners with one another and with all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Toward the end of the meeting, I said, "I almost forgot. Someone sent some presents to us, and I promised them to you today--luggage filled with what?" Several called out, "Goodies!" The church had received the shipment of these backpacks-on-wheels and stored them in the choir room. Each one contained personal items such as shampoo, lotions, combs, flashlights, and such. A yellow sheet inside identified the donors as "Open Door Missions, Inc." of Choudrant, Louisiana. There must have been a hundred of them. We asked the ministers to take two each and if they had no need of them, to pass them along to those who do.
We have received so much from so many. We will be eternally in debt. Which is just fine, because a wise man once said, "No one unwilling to be eternally in debt can ever be a disciple of the Lord Jesus."
heres the website if you wanna read anymore, he has been a great link back to new orleans and informative to what is going on there and what God is doing.
www.joemckeever.com
The Wednesday Pastors Meeting: A Work Session
Each Wednesday, our ministers/pastors meet at First Baptist Church of LaPlace for fellowship and information. Around 50 of us gather there each time, but it's never the same group.
Today, November 2, a young pastor who serves a non-Southern Baptist church in Kenner addressed the group. "I've been in this area for nine years, and I've been impressed with the work of Southern Baptists. I know what you believe and it's the same thing my church stands for. After Katrina hit, I did not see any of my denomination's people down here at all. The first people on the ground were Southern Baptists, and they're everywhere, ministering in Jesus' name. It's outstanding. And I want my church to be a part of that. So I am here, officially requesting to join the Southern Baptist Convention." Everyone applauded. We may have lost 30 or more churches from the hurricane, but we just gained one! (We'll deal with the details at another time, and explain how one goes about becoming a member church in the SBC.) He brought a laugh of understanding when he added, "I would have been here a couple of years earlier, except I was waiting for one key deacon to go to Heaven."
After prayer time, our two-hour-and-a-half meeting was jam-packed with one person after another rising to address the group. Disaster relief workers talked about cleanup, building people about permits, and financial people about insurance and loans. One pastor gave a report that Franklin Graham will be leading a two-day festival at the New Orleans Arena, next to the Superdome, on Saturday and Sunday, January 28 and 29. Another spoke of plans to invite all the "first-responders" to a banquet or barbecue to show them proper appreciation for all they did to secure the city. Others told of the counseling available for those having trouble dealing with this crisis. On and on it went. I felt sorry for Lynn Gehrman, trying to get it all down in the minutes.
The First Baptist Church of Covington, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, has invited our ministers and spouses to have our Christmas banquet in their facilities, as their guests, no charge. We gladly accept and agreed on Monday night, December 5.
One of the most heartening things I heard was a simple word about our weekly meetings. A denominational worker told the group how he was serving a church in South Florida years ago when a hurricane did massive devastation. He said, "We did not have weekly gatherings like this. Each pastor was pretty much on his own, and it was tough. Within a year, most had bailed out and gone to other places. I want to commend you for getting together like this." I suppose I needed to hear that. We started these weekly sessions during the evacuation, the first being Wednesday, September 14, at the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi, when twenty of us drove from every direction to meet. We've not missed a Wednesday since. I have found myself wondering how much good we were doing, looking to the attendance as a clue. But probably the best gauge is that when the meeting is dismissed for lunch at 11:30 sharp, no one leaves. Some are still standing, talking, 30 minutes later, still not having eaten. Something important is taking place here.
One speaker said, "There's a verse of Scripture that comes to mind. 'As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.'" Everyone nodded. No one told him we've heard that verse from Proverbs 27:17 at every meeting, without fail. We keep discovering the truth of our ministry to and dependence on one another.
One of our chief failings in the pre-K days was the isolation of our churches and pastors, and the resulting insulation of our church members. But God is showing us a better way. We've received so much from God's people from one end of the country to the other and even beyond, none of us will ever brag again about our independence. We are so dependent on the Lord and so inter-dependent with each other, we've found a far superior way to live and minister.
No one knows yet what our churches in the new New Orleans will look like. But we are determined to be part of a new Team of God, partners with one another and with all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Toward the end of the meeting, I said, "I almost forgot. Someone sent some presents to us, and I promised them to you today--luggage filled with what?" Several called out, "Goodies!" The church had received the shipment of these backpacks-on-wheels and stored them in the choir room. Each one contained personal items such as shampoo, lotions, combs, flashlights, and such. A yellow sheet inside identified the donors as "Open Door Missions, Inc." of Choudrant, Louisiana. There must have been a hundred of them. We asked the ministers to take two each and if they had no need of them, to pass them along to those who do.
We have received so much from so many. We will be eternally in debt. Which is just fine, because a wise man once said, "No one unwilling to be eternally in debt can ever be a disciple of the Lord Jesus."
heres the website if you wanna read anymore, he has been a great link back to new orleans and informative to what is going on there and what God is doing.
www.joemckeever.com