9Marks eJournal

Mark Dever, Pastor at Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC has a great resource on church health and related aritcles that you may find of interest from time to time. 9Marks published a journal of various topics you can subscribe to here. 

The May/June 2009 issue became an imediate read for me because of the topic of multi-site church growth thoughts. This reminded me of a pastor in Colorado in the early 70s who preached in New Castle and Rifle (about 14 miles apart) every Sunday morning while both churches were new and shared the support of their pastor. How could this be a model for church planting in rural Idaho and Utah as well as the cities of Salt Lake City and Boise?

Prayer For New State Staff

Dear Utah/Idaho Southern Baptist,
Join together in prayer as the process continues in the search of new state staff positions.

Church Shooting March 8, 2009

Today at First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill, pastor Fred Winters was shot to death while preaching.

"Senior Pastor Fred Winters was preaching during the 8:15 a.m. service when a man entered the church, walked down the aisle and started shooting, a parishioner told FOX News. Four others were also reportedly shot." FOXNEWS

Please pray for this church and his family.

Repent!

While still reading the classic, "the Overcoming Life" by D. L. Moody in Chapter four he says;

"When the ungodly see that Christian people do not, you cannot expect them to repent and turn away from their sins."

Moody then proceeds to walk through five things that flow out of true repentance.

1. Conviction 
2. Contrition
3. Confession of sin
4. Conversion
5. Confession of Jesus Christ

I'm surprised and encouraged to hear Moody's boldness from the pulpit. He frequently pleads with the listener to 'repent' and he is clear about what is ment by repent. He must have been a fun guy to listen to, but very straight forward about Truth. At first glance, the title of his book sounds like a modern day 'self-help' book, but with every word I hear it as bathed in Scripture.

Act Like a Man

A classic song by Isaac Watts entitled "Am I A Soldier of the Cross" has captured my attention while reading a biography of D.L. Moody. This song is rooted, according to Watts, in 1 Corinthians 16:13; "Be alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong." (HCSB). 

I'm captured by this song mostly because of its reflective strength within my spirit. The First and final verse (isn't that how hymns are supposed to be sung?) speaks to the duty of proclamation upon the follower of Christ.

v.1  Am I a soldier of the cross,

       A foll'wer of the Lamb?

       And shall I fear to own His cause,

       or blush to speak His name?

v.4 Sure I must fight if I would reign,

       Increase my courage, Lord:

       I'll bear the toil, endure the pain

       Supported by Thy Word. 

Was Isaac Watts writing this song to men? When I look at the Scripture text he claims to have used as background text, it does seem to fit that this is a song written to men. So if that is the case, men, 'act like a man' and be a soldier of the cross.

I mean no disrespect at this point (or at any point for that matter) but where are the men in the church in America? This song was a favorite of D.L. Moody and seems to have been a regular theme of this second great awakening in our land. Leave the song aside and look at the Scripture again and look at the landscape of our churches today. Paul was not telling women to 'act like a man.' Where are most of the men? Who's doing the teaching? Who's leading the music? Who's taking up the offering? Who's meeting the needs of the orphan and widow? Who's doing the preaching? Who's going on mission? Are we soldiers of the cross? I'm praying (like others I trust) for a fresh awakening in our land, I'm calling out the call to the men in our church to stand up and 'act like a man.' There is an equal need to call out the women to act like a woman; however, this is not a article about if a woman could or should, this is an article calling out the men. (at this point, I do wish to express my awareness that there are men doing these things with brave boldness, and I do not wish to diminish the courageous behavior of women, I'm simply raising the question.)

(SIDE NOTE: I enjoyed reading Isaac Watts' explanation of why he wrote songs, he was tired of the ones being sung in his day (this was met with opposition) so he wrote new ones that were fresh.)