A couple of months ago our church voted to purchase a new car for me to drive. Up until then I was driving my 2000 Chevy truck with 250,000 miles on it. I am very blessed to pastor a church where the folks attempt to express their love for their pastor in tangible ways. I don't ever want to take that for granted.
Today I took our 2010 Taurus to the dealership for service. I've already driven 7,500 miles and according to the owner's manual, the car was due for service. As I looked at the manual, I found that Ford has a very detailed maintenance plan. It covers everything. Simply put, regular maintenance will extend the life of the automobile and enhance it's operation. The service manager recommended, "the works."
As I left the Ford dealership I thought about my spiritual maintenance plan. My "owner's manual", the Bible, gives detailed instructions as to how I can extend my spiritual life and enhance my spiritual performance. Reading the Word, praying, confessing my sins, attending church on a consistent basis, etc. are all things that are needed if I'm going to optimize the new life that God put in me almost 33 years ago. I hope you have a scheduled maintenance plan for your spiritual life. It may not be convenient, but it certainly is necessary.
Pastor Rick Finley's Blog
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
"It's Just A Youth Conference"
This week a group of our teens from Fellowship Baptist-Durham are attending the National Youth Conference at First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana. This is one of many youth conferences that are held each year in churches around the country. There are dozens of them. We even host our own Youth Conference in April of each year.
Right about now you might be thinking: "It's just a Youth Conference." I understand why you might feel that way, but let me tell you a story. In 1978 an eighteen year old teenager attended a Youth Conference with a small group from his church. He and the other teens traveled almost 900 miles in a caravan of cars in order to participate in the meeting. On Thursday night of the conference this young man walked the aisle and surrendered his life to serve the Lord. It was just another decision, not unlike tens of thousands of decisions that are made by young people at camps, revivals and conferences each year.
The difference, in this case, was that the young man was me. At a Youth Conference in Hammond, Indiana in July of 1978 God turned my life upside down. I came to the conference as recent high school graduate with little or no direction in my life. I left that conference with a vision of what the Lord wanted to do with my life. Thirty-three years later lives are still being impacted because of that one decision that one young man made at one Youth Conference!
Please join me in praying that this week's conference would not be "just another Youth Conference." Ask God to bless our teens, as well as the thousands of other teens from around the country. Pray that the Spirit of God would have freedom and that the Word of God would be preached with great power. There is no way of knowing what God might do in this week's conference. There is no way of knowing whose life might be changed.
Right about now you might be thinking: "It's just a Youth Conference." I understand why you might feel that way, but let me tell you a story. In 1978 an eighteen year old teenager attended a Youth Conference with a small group from his church. He and the other teens traveled almost 900 miles in a caravan of cars in order to participate in the meeting. On Thursday night of the conference this young man walked the aisle and surrendered his life to serve the Lord. It was just another decision, not unlike tens of thousands of decisions that are made by young people at camps, revivals and conferences each year.
The difference, in this case, was that the young man was me. At a Youth Conference in Hammond, Indiana in July of 1978 God turned my life upside down. I came to the conference as recent high school graduate with little or no direction in my life. I left that conference with a vision of what the Lord wanted to do with my life. Thirty-three years later lives are still being impacted because of that one decision that one young man made at one Youth Conference!
Please join me in praying that this week's conference would not be "just another Youth Conference." Ask God to bless our teens, as well as the thousands of other teens from around the country. Pray that the Spirit of God would have freedom and that the Word of God would be preached with great power. There is no way of knowing what God might do in this week's conference. There is no way of knowing whose life might be changed.
Monday, July 11, 2011
A Blessing of Summertime
If you've been around me much at all you know that Summer isn't my favorite season of the year. I love Spring and Fall, and I tolerate Summer. It's not that I hate the hot weather and the high humidity. It's not that I don't like the longer days. It's not that I abhor the "critters" that creep and crawl at this particular time of the year. (Yes, I did kill a Copperhead in my driveway last week). The thing that I don't like about summer is the mindset that so many people have about their Christian service. It's like the months of June, July and August are one, big vacation from Christian responsibility! There isn't a service during the summertime when we don't have many of our folks out of town. There is hardly a day during the summertime when our entire staff is at work. It seems that every day someone is somewhere other than in the office. I hate it!
However, there is one thing that I really like about Summer. I love the fact that many of our college kids are at home. As I sat on the platform last night and scanned the congregation, I saw more than a dozen young adults who will only be here for about another month. In late August or early September they will return to college somewhere in America to pursue their dreams and follow the will of God.
I love it when our college "kids" are home! God has given us some outstanding young men and women in our church, and many of those folks are somewhere else nine months out of the year. During the summertime when they are at home, I love having them actively involved in church. They have such a fervent spirit and for the most part, they're pretty excited about life. They are a blessing to their pastor.
I hope that you'll enjoy the time that we have with our college kids. Let them know that you're glad they're home. Convey to them that you are proud of their accomplishments. Pray that God will provide the much needed finances that will be necessary for them to return to school in the fall. Enjoy them while you can because in just a matter of weeks, they'll be gone.
However, there is one thing that I really like about Summer. I love the fact that many of our college kids are at home. As I sat on the platform last night and scanned the congregation, I saw more than a dozen young adults who will only be here for about another month. In late August or early September they will return to college somewhere in America to pursue their dreams and follow the will of God.
I love it when our college "kids" are home! God has given us some outstanding young men and women in our church, and many of those folks are somewhere else nine months out of the year. During the summertime when they are at home, I love having them actively involved in church. They have such a fervent spirit and for the most part, they're pretty excited about life. They are a blessing to their pastor.
I hope that you'll enjoy the time that we have with our college kids. Let them know that you're glad they're home. Convey to them that you are proud of their accomplishments. Pray that God will provide the much needed finances that will be necessary for them to return to school in the fall. Enjoy them while you can because in just a matter of weeks, they'll be gone.
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