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October 2011Be Encouraged!
Discouragement seems to be epidemic these days and understandably so. With the continuation of a deep economic downturn, popularly called The Great Recession, there are reasons abundant for discouragement to go viral. Very few sectors of our economy have been insulated from the huge impact of this ongoing recession. Politicians are playing the all too familiar "blame game," which now has become systemic, and it will remain so until the elections next year. Business people are doing the "hunker down" approach seeking to buy time until things improve. People in our country are divided in ways we have not seen in generations. Various groups are holding rallies expressing their concerns. Others have taken to the streets to become protesters, venting their frustrations in ways reminiscent of the 1960s. Meanwhile the church of Jesus Christ, His people, is seeking to make a difference for Him, despite the bad news and difficult times. In periods of history like the one we now face, Christians have often done some of their most effective service for Christ. But in order to be an effective servant, we must find our source of encouragement in the face of these discouraging situations. As many of you know, I am fond of Barnabas, a saint behind the scenes in the New Testament. He was an encourager to the early church when it was most needed. Barnabas stood up for Saul, later to be known as Paul, as the apostle was being challenged early in his ministry. Barnabas further was an encourager to the church at Antioch, as they developed their evangelistic and missionary spirit. Later, he was a masterful encourager to John Mark as the young disciple sought to rebound from an earlier misjudgment. In I Thessalonians 5:11, the apostle Paul must have had the ministry of Barnabas in mind when he wrote, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up...” Barnabas was indeed an excellent encourager and one who knew how to build people up in the Lord. Now more than any time in my ministry, I am seeking to follow in the footsteps of Barnabas. I want to be an encourager to the discouraged. I want to help build people up so they can become all the Lord wants them to become. In that spirit, let me offer three affirmations of encouragement to you in these discouraging times. I. Be encouraged about the promises of God. The promises of God are for all situations and for all times in your life. Claim the promise of His presence. Know that He never leaves you or forsakes you. This should be embedded deep within our thinking, praying and living. The Bible has been appropriately called a "Promise Book.” Read those promises He makes and inculcate them into your life so that the promises shine when the problems stand tall. This is not meant to be a Pollyanna view of life but rather a Biblical one. II. Be encouraged about the person you are. For many Christians, this is a huge issue and like a dragon in a fairy tale adventure, it has to be slain for one to be effective in service for our Lord. Because we are human, the problems we face in life often bring out the worst part of ourselves. We allow our human nature to override our spiritual nature. Years ago, I heard the sad testimony of a preacher who was struggling in ministry to make a difference. He attended a Billy Graham School of Evangelism to train as a counselor for an upcoming crusade. During a break, this pastor said something I have never forgotten, "God made a mistake when He created me. He should have created two Billy Grahams and just left me out of the picture.” Although we may not have expressed ourselves like this discouraged pastor, we have all struggled with our sense of success in ministry. It is easy, so easy, to compare ourselves with others who have become "successful" and, therefore, we can feel like failures. Our Lord wants us to be the best we can be through His empowering Holy Spirit in our lives. That is the key to overcoming the discouraging notion that we have to measure up to someone else as the standard of achievement. Through Him, we become what He wants us to be! III. Be encouraged about the place where you serve. Every place of service for the Lord is challenging and, at times, discouraging. Pastors in the largest of churches have their moments of discouragement, just like every other pastoral leader. There is no immunity to down times for anyone seeking to serve the Lord. Some places are demographically challenged. They are losing population, and the trend is not a positive one. Recently, I visited with our partners in the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. Arguably, they have been hit as hard as any place economically. However, I noted a strong sense of hope among the pastors and church leaders. They are facing unprecedented obstacles, but I detect they have what we Southerners call a "get 'er done" attitude. Alabama has been through so much this year. The tornado outbreak was the worst in our history. The economy is not healthy. Churches are facing all kinds of different challenges. Yet I believe we can be encouraged by the fact that our God is still on His throne! We still have the one mission, the Great Commission. We are continuing to be faithful in giving through the Cooperative Program. We are all called to be Great Commission ministers. The word "occupy" is in prominent usage today. Our Lord said to us that we are to "occupy" until He comes. That is another way of saying, be on mission with the Great Commission until He comes. That sounds encouraging to me.
The following interview is reposted by permission from SBC Today:
Additionally, Southern Baptists will need to do all we can to work together as a missions people as we look to the future. I have learned from the past that, in working with people, we as human beings do not naturally unify. We tend to divide in various ways. Building partnerships among our family of faith represents hard work. Partnership is a two way street. Paternalism is a one way street. This is an integral part of team building leadership. In the future, the SBC will, by necessity, need leaders who are called and gifted in developing and nurturing partnerships. SBC Today: What do you think are the greatest opportunities opening to the SBC? For the future, we will have to seize the opportunities to make sure we are reaching all kinds of people in all kinds of places. This is where Acts 1:8 becomes the Biblical methodology for the Great Commission. We have Jerusalem, local missions, Judea, state missions, Samaria, North American missions and the ends of the earth, international missions all described for us in that one verse. Some years ago, IMB and NAMB set forth this template for us to follow. I believe that was a wise course of action. To be deterred from that strategy, in a balanced way, is fraught with dangers for us. SBC Today: What is one of the key mistakes you see pastors and other staff members making in their ministries which causes them problems in their churches? If we cannot manage ourselves, we cannot lead others. Without trying to sound like a conflict managing expert, which I am not, I believe this principle is most applicable to church leaders today, perhaps more than ever before in the past. Managing ourselves means more than controlling the calendar, staying morally and ethically pure, reading the latest books, keeping family time balanced, and running things smoothly in one's ministry. I am convinced this means staying in touch with Lord and with yourself in such a way that you make the right decisions and lead in the right direction. SBC Today: What is the toughest lesson you have learned in ministry? SBC Today: What are some of the best things happening in Alabama Baptist life? To me, that borders on the miraculous. Please forgive me if that sounds over the top, but our state has been devastated by 62 tornados in one single day. We had five F5 tornados in one day. Given the fact that we average only one F5 annually, that is something historical indeed. Disaster relief volunteers from our state convention and twelve others were in action in short order meeting the needs of people. This is a 21st century way of "giving a cup of cold water in Jesus name." I know this may sound a bit old fashioned to say, but in Alabama, we really emphasize Vacation Bible School. As a person who can date his conversion experience to VBS, I am glad that is the case. Each year, we will have as many as five to six thousand professions of faith during VBS, as reported by our churches. I praise the Lord for this fact. I believe VBS has just as much relevance in the 21st century as ever before. If done well, it can be the best outreach tool most churches have annually. NAMB launched GPS, God's Plan for Sharing, in 2010. Through the State Board of Missions Office of Evangelism, led ably by Sammy Gilbreath, Alabama Baptists have been engaged in this long term effort of making Christ known in our state and beyond. We have taken this challenge seriously, and we pray that it will be effective tool in helping our people share Christ with others, who need to know the Truth. Collegiate and student ministry is a huge emphasis in our state too. We have three hundred thousand college and university students and we see them as a mission field. Some may be surprised to know how many internationals number among those collegians. Reaching them for Christ is a very high priority in our Great Commission ministries strategy. This is a generation about whom we have ready and studied for a while now. They may be different from previous generations, but one commonality remains the same. They need to know Christ. Our state convention has numerous North American and international missions partnerships as well. For years now, we have partnered with Michigan Baptists in an effort to strengthen churches there and to plant new ones. At the same time, we have been involved in doing similar work in Ukraine, Guatemala, and Haiti. Haiti is a special effort, which followed their horrendous earthquake in January of 2010. We currently have them as a partnership, similar to the aforementioned ones. Recently, we began efforts in metro NYC in assisting in church planting efforts. Our first partnership is with the Cornerstone Church in Brooklyn. We do look forward to helping other church starts in the Send New York City emphasis fostered by NAMB. SBC Today: Who are some of your heroes in ministry? I loved to hear Adrian Rogers preach. He had the best preaching voice I have ever heard. His style of presenting his messages was noteworthy as well. Adrian Rogers had a commanding presence, which filled up a room when he appeared and stood tall on the platform. I miss that presence among us today. Since I am from Alabama, I would have to name Herschel Hobbs as a one I admired greatly. He was a pastoral scholar and so well beloved during his ministry. To this day, his practical commentaries serve so many very well as they prepare their Sunday School presentations to adults. A few years before his passing, Herschel Hobbs was with me for a week at the First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa. That is a pleasant memory for me. I loved Landrum Leavell too. He took an interest in my ministry in ways I cannot describe. He was an encourager and a dear friend, not just the president of my alma mater. Landrum Leavell was a man's man in the truest sense of the word. He was serious minded, but he possessed a unique sense of humor as well. I miss him greatly, but I am proud of my colleague Chuck Kelley, who is offering stellar leadership for NOBTS. SBC Today: How do you balance ministry and family responsibilities? As a younger pastor, I spent ten years on the board of trustees with what is now called IMB. This is by far the most time intensive board on which to serve in Baptist life. During that period in my life, I served our state convention in various ways too, including serving as president two terms. This meant a lot of time away from home. One could say these experiences helped prepare me for the current ministry assignment and I would agree with that assertion. Still, I believe I could have done a better job of managing myself in terms of overall priorities. SBC Today: What are your two or three favorite TV shows? Movies? SBC Today: What do you do for fun? I love reading good books and my favorites are biographies and other historical works. In recent years, I have gone to electronic books and I have been surprised how much I love it. I am ashamed to say that I own 8-10 thousand print books. On the Kindle, I have already purchased 700 books. Many of these are reference works I use on the road. This has been a fun way to read and to lessen my packing for travel. Regrettably, I did not major in history, but I am doing so now with my current reading habits. SBC Today: Thanks, Dr. Lance. We appreciate you and your leadership of Alabama Baptists. We've also heard that you enjoy watching University of Alabama football games!
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