Frogs, and hail, and locusts, oh my!

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live through the plagues of the Exodus? Take Exodus 10, for example. Here we have a locust plague so devastating that the insects "covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant..." (Ex. 10:15). God's judgment on Pharaoh was very severe.

But they're just cute little bugs, right? Um, no. One or two grasshoppers on the front lawn might be fun to watch and pick up, but multiply them by millions and millions, and you have sheer destruction. Nearly a hundred years ago, a modern version of this story took place. In 1915, millions of locusts swarmed through Palestine, devastating crops and attacking people. Just listen to this description:

Whenever touched, or especially when finding themselves caught within one’s clothes, they exuded from their mouth a dark fluid, an irritant to the skin and soiling the garments in a most disgusting manner. Imagine the feeling (we speak from experience) with a dozen or two such creatures over an inch long, with sawlike legs and rough bodies, making a race-course of your back!

Check out a couple amazing pictures of the locust plague at Todd Bolen's site here.

Reading habits, pt 3

Here's part 3 of an interview I had last November with a student from Cal Baptist University. This section actually shifts from reading habits to other forms of education and enrichment available to pastors.

4. Do you attend professional meetings, seminars, and conferences? How often? How helpful are these?

Meetings and conferences are another great way to be sharpened, while also networking and establishing good Christian fellowship. Here are the meetings I typically attend:

Morongo Basin Evangelical Pastors Fellowship – President is a local EV Free pastor. We meet once a month for business and prayer, and we meet a second time in the month strictly for prayer. I am the secretary for this group and take all the minutes.

SBC pastors luncheon – once a month, our Director of Missions comes up to the high desert and the local pastors get together at Sizzlers with our families. Very informal.

SBC annual meetings – this year, I attended our associational, state, and national SBC annual meetings. These have not always been as enriching and biblically centered as I would prefer, but I saw a definite improvement this year. I also believe if young pastors are going to make a positive impact in our convention, we need to be supportive as team players and attend our regional meetings.

Bible conferences – as money and time allow, I like to attend other conferences. This year, I attended:

• Truth  Life Conference at The Master’s College (speakers were John MacArthur, Erwin Lutzer, and Sinclair Ferguson). This conference is free for alumni.
• Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church (speakers were John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Tom Pennington, Phil Johnson, and Rick Holland). I attended this by myself for spiritual renewal, but met up and ate meals with many pastor friends while there.
• Men Discipling Men Conference at The Master’s College (speakers were Carl Hargrove and Stuart Scott). I attended this with three men from our church as a way to expose and equip them in biblical counseling issues.
• CSBC Pastor’s Conference at Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church (speakers were Mark Dever, Jeff Lewis, and the presidents of IJM and Voice of the Martyrs)

In 2008, I attended Together for the Gospel in Louisville, which was outstanding.

On top of conferences I have attended, I'm also blessed to live in a day and age when a ton of free conference podcasts are available right over the internet. I like to listen to sermons and lectures on my MP3 player while exercising.

Related post:

• Reflections on my first  years as pastor
  

Reading habits, pt 2

Here is part 2 of an interview I recently had with a student from Cal Baptist University on my reading habits...

2. How much writing do you do? What kind? Do you ever publish? What is the primary purpose of your professional writing?

I have not done any formal publishing. I blog regularly at “Life Under the Sun” (http://stephen-jones.blogspot.com) as a way to think through issues, disciple pastor friends, and educate the general public. I would be interested in doing more publishing someday, whether for a curriculum or a book, but I don’t have any projects in the foreseeable future.

As a pastor, I’m writing constantly – everything from interviews like this, to emails, to bulletin announcements, to biblical counseling advice, to prayer lists, to monthly church newsletters, to sermon notes. I also submit a Minister’s Message for publication to our local newspaper once a quarter.

It’s very important for pastors to be clear communicators not only in speech but in writing. In fact, it’s probably true that the better you can write, the better you will be able to speak.

3. How much education do you need? What kinds of certification or licensing are required? Do you need to update this? How often?

In California, it’s required to have a minister’s license to perform weddings and to be eligible for tax benefits like the Housing Allowance. Many churches also expect you to have this license in order to preach, perform funerals, and administer the Lord’s Supper. The process in churches will vary, but it’s usually just a matter of having your church vote to license you at your next business meeting.

Ordination is a more in-depth process where you study, exercise your gifts, and then sit before a council of pastors and leaders for formal questioning. I did this a year after becoming pastor at First Southern, and do not regret waiting a little while. By then, we had been “tested” for a while, and our flock and denominational leaders knew us better. It made the event much more special and did not occur until after the Lord had truly confirmed He had called us to serve Him full-time in ministry.

As far as education, I highly recommend at least an MDiv for those pursuing full-time ministry. Undergrad is great, but you simply cannot delve into the complexity of issues, original languages, Bible survey, preaching skills, theology, and pastoral training necessary with a BA.

I think it’s OK to begin pastoring while still getting your education (particularly if you are associate). But long-term, I think it’s best to have at least an MDiv. I wouldn’t want to go to a doctor who had merely a bachelor’s degree in biology. Why would we settle for anything less from preachers of the Word of God?

Pastors must be life-long learners. As Howard Hendricks says, the day we stop learning, we stop being effective teachers. Whether this education is formal or informal, we need to be men of the book and men who understand the hearts of our people and the spirit of the times. If we are to ‘guard what has been entrusted to us” (1 Tim. 6:20), we need to be thoughtful, perceptive, discerning, and articulate. It is no wonder that Paul, just months before his death, asked Timothy to “bring the cloak…and the books, especially the parchments” (2 Tim. 4:13). As long as he was on the earth, Paul never stopped learning! We should expect the same.


(to be concluded tomorrow)

Reading habits, pt. 1

My dad used to say, "Leaders are readers," and I've found that to be very true. The most influential people in my life are people who read continuously. In my own ministry, I know it's critical to keep growing in knowledge, reading comprehension, and effectiveness with words - three things that will never occur if I don't read.

In November, I was interviewed by a student at Cal Baptist University about my reading habits. It was part of an English project he had to complete, interviewing someone in the field he wants to go into (pastoral ministry). It was good for me to think through these questions and even caused me to adjust some of my reading habits. Today through Wednesday, I'll post his questions and my answers...

1. What kinds of professional materials do you read?

There are three kinds of materials I normally read. We might call them (1) instant content like blogs, websites, the local newspaper, magazines, denominational newsletters (2) contemporary research and analysis like what is found on some websites and in journals (3) and in-depth content found in books either in print or on my computer.

I follow many blogs and read through every issue of The Family Handyman, World Magazine, and our local newspaper, The Hi Desert Star. I also look through SBC Life, On Mission, and The Master’s Seminary Journal when it arrives, though I don’t read these cover to cover. Last year, I subscribed to The Briefing and The Founders Journal also but discontinued because I found I just couldn’t keep up on them all.

I read and consult many other books, journals, magazines, etc. on an “as needed” basis. Some journals and reference works are available online, while others I own on computer. For example, I own the Journal of Biblical Counseling CD-Rom (.pdf format) and have volumes 1-10 of The Theological Journal Library (Libronix) and use these when I’m researching a particular topic or Scripture passage.

Apart from The Family Handyman magazine, nearly all of my reading relates in some way to ministry, whether in refining my theology, studying for sermons, staying aware of current issues and events, sharpening my preaching, addressing pastoral issues, looking for illustration material, etc. I can only think of one book I’ve read in the past year strictly for pleasure – The Unforgiving Minute, by Craig Mullaney. It was a memoir about an Army Ranger in Afghanistan. And even that had some uncanny parallels to ministry!

A. Who publishes/sponsors it?

There are many different publishers, including book and magazine publishers, theological schools, the SBC, and many other Christian and secular businesses. The list of publishers is quite diverse. Most of my Christian reading is very theologically conservative. Some of my favorite book publishers are Crossway, P&R, Holman, Baker, and Moody.

B. How often does it come out?

Multiple times a week – blogs, local newspaper
Twice a month - World Magazine
Monthly - Family Handyman, the Clarion Inland Empire Association newsletter, California Southern Baptist newspaper
Semi-annual - The Master’s Seminary Journal

C. How does one find it (via subscription, online, etc.)?

It takes a long time to learn which authors, resources, websites, schools, publishers, etc. are reliable and which ones are not. I’m still learning, but I’ve found a lot of good material through my pastoral mentors, college and seminary teachers, and just good old-fashioned word of mouth.

Blogs – RSS feed
National news and current events – Foxnews.com and ESPN.com
Newspapers and some magazines – subscription and delivery to my home
Encyclopedia Britannica – available online
Websites – monergism.com is one of the best
Magazines and Journals – some of these I own on CD-ROM; others I access through a local library database called EBSCOHost.
Books – I buy most of my books through either Amazon or Christianbook.com. To know which books are best I would recommend starting out with these websites:
ttp://bestcommentaries.com/
http://www.9marks.org/CC_Content_Page/0,,PTID314526_CHID598032_CIID,00.html
http://www.tms.edu/pdf/850Books.pdf

Try to get familiar now with resources in your local library, personal library, digital library, and online. As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, respectable scholarship cannot be done simply through Google. Learning how to research now will become invaluable later. A great book on this is The Survivor’s Guide to Library Research by William B. Badke.

It’s also important to start developing a good filing system now. I use a combination of a filing cabinet, folders in Microsoft Windows, and a Microsoft Access database to file quotes, stories, articles, etc.

D. Who is the primary targeted audience?

It varies, but a lot of my reading is geared toward those who are pastors or at least somewhat theologically educated.

(To be continued tomorrow)

Times changing for the US Marines

Our church is located within half an hour of one of the largest Marine bases in the world, so naturally, we try to stay informed of what's going on in the military world. What affects them affects us, and likewise, our church needs to know how to minister to the many demands facing families in our US Marines.

Here are twelve areas the Marines anticipate change in the new year:

1. A new commandant
2. Pay and bonuses
3. New combat swim qualifications
4. New training for PFT, CFT
5. Expanded safety push
6. Unit training plans
7. New personal gear
8. Vehicle upgrades
9. Aviation upgrades
10. The Japan-Guam shift
11. Don't ask don't tell
12. Marines in pop culture
    

You can read the whole article here.

Top ten SBC stories of the year

It's been a busy and encouraging year in our state and national Southern Baptist Convention. Reprinted below is an article by Baptist TwentyOne, recounting their "top ten" events of the year...

1. Missionary Work Overseas – It’s hard to imagine what it’d be like to grow up amongst a people and die without ever hearing the gospel. Yet, there are large numbers of peoples who still find themselves in this situation. That’s one of the key reasons that Southern Baptists continue to pool their monies and people together in order to reach these peoples and cultures. What’s it like to lead the first person from a completely unreached people group to Christ? Many have never done this. But, by God’s grace and great sacrifice by men and women, many more will have this experience. The nations need Jesus. In order to hear of Jesus, they need missionaries. That’s why their work is so significant to the SBC and the kingdom of Christ.
2. Changing Presidential Leadership – The significance of Southern Baptist entity heads is often under-appreciated. The decisions that these men make impact massive amounts of people for good or for ill. Southern Baptists are at a critical point in time with three key presidencies opening up. The Executive Committee, NAMB, and IMB presidencies are all open or opening soon. B21 is praying and asking you to pray for the men who will fill these positions. Placing the right men at the head of these entities will do much to advance the Great Commission.
3. Dr. Danny Akin’s GCR Sermon – Whether you’re talking about Dr. Danny Akin’s passion, his preaching, or, simply, his love for the Great Commission, it would be misguided not to mention his work in 2009 as one of the most significant stories. Standing behind the pulpit in SEBTS’s chapel, Akin delivered what would become a great rallying point (and point of controversy) in his GCR Axiom sermon. Clearly coming from a heart for nations, Akin set in motion a movement (or gave it a BIG push) that would change 2009 and, by God’s grace, the way SBC approaches the Great Commission.
4. Increased SBC Unity – By almost all accounts, there seems to be a growing unity in the SBC. That is, we are more unified today than we have been in past years. What this means or implies is up for some debate. Yet, B21 thinks that there is a growing unity around the Great Commission. For instance, at the B21 event at the SBC, the panelists came from all kinds of theological and methodological stripes. Yet, these men were unified around the Great Commission and the BF&M. Still more, the lunch for the 600 attendees was provided personally by SBC President, Johnny Hunt (a man that has embodied unity around the Great Commission as much, if not more, than anyone).  Hunt, as many know, would disagree in many ways with the panelists. Yet, because of its Great Commission purposes, he supported the B21 panel. In fact, B21 believes that the unity that Southern Baptists presently enjoy, in large part, is due to the excellent leadership of Johnny Hunt. With men like Hunt leading the way, Southern Baptists have a lot to hope for in the coming days.
5. Union University’s “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism” – Dr. David Dockery has, amongst other things, turned Union University into one of the leading think tanks for Baptist life. Like in his past conferences, Dockery put together a line up that included the most significant and helpful voices in Baptist life. And they didn’t disappoint. Southern Baptists owe a debt of gratitude to David Dockery for putting this conference together, the effects of which we are still enjoying.
6. Higher Attendance at SBC Louisville – Okay, so it didn’t hurt that the SBC was in a town filled with young people and in the heart of the church-saturated part of the country. But, we’d argue, it is still quite an achievement to get that many people in this kind of economy to attend the SBC. Even if the economy wasn’t in the shape that it was (and is), it’s still hard to get people to spend their time at a convention. Come on, there are Southern Baptist associational meetings that know how difficult it is to get people to participate. The numbers at the 2009 SBC pointed to great life and health. It pointed, perhaps, to a resurgence in Great Commission engagement in the SBC. It will be interesting to see how many show up in Orlando.
7. Cancer Classroom – Several prominent Southern Baptists found out that they had cancer this year. This, of course, is terrible news. But, by God’s grace, these men who have taught the church so excellently in their preaching ministries are now teaching the church in a different way. They’re showing the church how godly men suffer. Johnny Hunt and Matt Chandler, to name a couple, continue to battle cancer. They continue to teach us of Christ. Pray for these men and that their cancer will provide great opportunity to advance the kingdom of Christ.
8. Christmas in August – After the heart wrenching news of the IMB financial shortfall, causing them to stop sending “M’s”, Southern Baptists responded to calls from Hunt, Akin, and others to take a special Lottie Moon Christmas offering in August. Thus, the “Christmas in August” movement was born. It’s this kind of responsiveness in which B21 finds great encouragement.
9. SBTS’s Sesquiencentennial – Southern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated its 150^th Anniversary. This is even more significant in light of an economic situation that’s included the closing of several schools’ doors. SBTS survived the Great Depression, Liberalism, and is currently thriving under the excellent leadership of Dr. Albert Mohler. Their story is amazing and a testimony to God’s grace. SBTS professor, Greg Wills, masterfully tells the story in Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 1859-2009. We’re praying for at least 150 more!!
10. GCR Task Force – There aren’t many things that you can get 95% of Southern Baptists to agree on. Clothing style? No. Worship style? No. GCR? Yes! When Southern Baptists were given the opportunity to affirm or deny the formulation of a Great Commission Task Force, they overwhelmingly voted for it. Thus, President Hunt put together a 23 member, GCR task force. The task? They are to examine the Southern Baptist entities and structure in order to bring an assessment to the 2010 SBC in Orlando. Everybody is looking forward to this report. They need our prayers. Sign up to pray here.

A very strange nativity scene

Are we the only ones who find this nativity scene strange? That looks a lot like a mosque behind the stable. But the Muslims didn't exist for another 600 years. This came from a picture story book in the Playmobil Nativity Set. It's a really cool set, but this is a very strange picture.