Elves Shelves 2009

What started about 5 years ago with our Children's Minister Christy Butler learning about a few families that needed help at Christmas has grown into what we call Elves Shelves.  I was so proud of the family of First Baptist last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Over 500 people gave their time as volunteers during those three days to distribute toys to 577 families representing over 1300 children right here in Denton!  And hundreds more brought toys over the past several months as well. 

I'm proud of what First Baptist has done over the last decade in missions.  We have sent hundreds of people all over the world on mission trips and we plan to send hundreds more in the years to come.  But missions begins right here at home.  In the first message of our Christmas series yesterday I used the verse from John 15:12 "My command is this: Love each other as I loved you."  That is exactly what you did this past week.  you loved the needy of Denton as Christ loves you.

As I worked Friday morning as a volunteer at Elves Shelves I had the privilege of being at the "exit" door where the parents left the building with a bag full of toys for their children.  Over and over I heard things like "thank you for making our Christmas special."  "My kids would not have had Christmas without this."  "God bless you for giving to us."  It was a joy for me to see smiles on the faces of people who seldom have much to smile about.  It helped remind me of what Christmas is all about. 

Brad Cockrell was our staff liason to Elves Shelves this year and he did a great job.  Jane Naugher, Brenda Eckel,  Tracy Lau, and Mary Tickner were our "head elves" but there were so many more that gave of their time not only the past couple of weeks but all year long.  Elves Shelves is now a year round ministry at First Baptist.  So if you are interested in being a part of next year's ministry the first meeting is this coming Thursday December 10th!

Can the Family Survive?

The family is in trouble in America in 2009.  The signs are all around us.  I came across 15 signs recently that confirm the family is in dire need of resusitation in America. 1. 60% of children born in the 1990's have lived in single parent homes at least part of their childhood.  2. 1/4 of girls and 1/10 of boys have been sexually abused.  3. 3 out of 5 teens have tried illegal drugs.  4. 10% of adolescent boys and 18% of girls have attempted suicide.  5. 72% of teens have sex by their senior year in high school.  6. Boys on average are 13.3 years of age, girls 14.6 years of age when they lose their virginity.  7. 1 million girls, that's 1 in 10 under age 20 become pregnant every year.  8. 40% of 14 years old girls beocme pregnant at least once before age 20.  9. 2.5 million new cases of adolescent sexually transmitted diseases are reported every year.  10. 9 of 10 have tried alcohol by their senior year and 39% get drunk at least once every two weeks.  11.  72% of adolescent murders are from fatherless homes.  12. 70% of all long term prison inmates come from fatherless homes.  13.  25 million children grow up in a home without a dad.  14. 40% of adults have no contact with children.  15. The average mother spends less than 17 minutes a day, and fathers less than 7 minutes a day with their teenage children.  The family is broken and if we dont' "fix" it, things are only going to get worse.

How do we "fix" it?  By going back to the original intent of the family.  God designed the family as a man and a woman bringing children into the world. Teaching them the things of the world and then sending them out into that world to live and to start the process all over again.  That's is how God first designed the family and put it into place in the Garden of Eden.  Unfortunatley satan came along one day and changed all of that.  He tempted man to take things into their own hands and now in 2009 the family is in the mess it's in.

Now don't get me wrong the family is not dead.  There are great examples of what the family is supposed to look like all around us.  There are some who are still fulfilling God's original plan and are raising children to follow in their footsteps.  There are no perfect families but there are millions of families in Amercia who with God's help are raising their children and teaching them to continue to be the family as God designed it.

I believe God wants you to have a family that honors Him and that meets your needs as well.  The family certainly looks different than ever before.  We have the traditional family with a husband and wife and children.  But we also have single adult families with children and without.  Each of them have their own unique strengths and weaknesses and each meet the needs of those involved in different ways.

I believe it is the responsibility of the church to build families that thrive.  To equip husbands and wives to have marraiges that stand the test of time, that survive through the storms of life.  It is the church's responsibility to teach parents how to raise their children to be responsibile adults and raise their own children.  All of the answers for how to do that are found in the Bible.  God doesn't leave us out in the cold and ignorant on how to have a family that thrives.  Instead the Bible is full of tools and principles that will help you to have the kind of family that "makes it" in 2009. 

On Sunday mornings in October and November we are learning some of those Biblical principles.  "Buiilding Families that Thrive" is our theme.  We are spending four weeks on marriage and three weeks on parenting.  If you live in the Denton area I invite you to join us on Sunday morning at 9:30 or 11:00 if you don't go to our website at http://www.firstdenton.org/ and you can listen to these messages about the family.

As the family goes, so goes our country.  If the family is thriviing our nation will as well.  But as long as the family is not what it was intended to be our country never will be either.  Let's put the family back where it was created to be, at the very center of our lives and our community.  We can do that if we listen and follow the principles found in God's Word! 

Is "Winning" the Most Important Thing?

Those who know me know I am a competitive person. I like to win. It doesn't matter if I'm playing ping pong on the patio, cards in the kitchen, softball at the park or my "team" is playing on the football field or any other sport. I like to win and I like to be around winners. Sometimes my competitive nature takes over and I make a fool of myself. Thankfully those occasions have become less frequent as I have aged! But the point is I like to win. I think you should always play within the rules, respect your opponent but you should do what you can to win. When my kids were growing up I very seldom if ever "let them win." I wanted them to work for it and earn the win so they would feel good about themselves and what they had accomplished.

Having said all of that I was not really surprised but a little saddened when I read two articles in Sports Illustrated last week. I just recently subscribed to Sports Illustrated once again. For 25 years I have been a Newsweek subscriber, but last month I canceled that subscription and used my refund for a year of SI! Not sure what that will do for me, but it's already given me a blog idea so it must have been a good choice. Back to the stories. One was about Michael Vick and the other about Rick Pitino. As you know Michael Vick spent time in prison for dog fighting, was recently released and now is playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, who by the way I cannot stand! Rick Pitino is the head basketball coach of the Louisville Cardinals who had a sexual encounter with a woman in a restaurant a few years ago. She became pregnant with his child (she says) and he gave her $3000 for medical insurance with which she says she had an abortion.

Both articles detail the pasts of these two men and both went on to say that their past "indiscretions" should have no bearing on their roles as player and coach. The articles said as long as they WIN it doesn't matter what they do outside of their respective athletic endeavors. One fan was quoted as saying the first time Michael Vick scores a touchdown in an Eagles' game all will be forgiven. Another fan said that if Louisville beats Kentucky this year no one cares what Rick Pitino does in his personal time.

From someone who is an competitive as anyone you will ever encounter I say those articles are WRONG! It does matter what people do in all areas of their lives. Both of those men are role models to the young athletes and coaches or our country. Winning is important but it's not the most important thing. Who wins the Super Bowl and the NCAA Basketball Championship this year will soon be a distant memory but Rick Pitino's wife and kids will have to live with his "indiscretion" the rest of their lives.

Winning is fun and winning is important but how we lead our kids to live their lives is much more important. Let me know if you agree or not.

Sweet Sixteen

The day finally arrived last Monday, June 29, 2009. Alyssa, my youngest child and only daughter, turned 16 years of age. We celebrated all week long. We went to dinner on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and lunch on Saturday all to celebrate her birthday. She left for Jamaica on Sunday morning or I'm sure we would still be celebrating this week.

In some ways I couldn't wait for her to turn 16. For the last couple of years it seems that Tami and I have spent an increasing number of hours taking her places and picking her up. When her brother left for college last Fall it seemed to multiply. So from that point of view I'm glad she can now get in the car herself and drive to her destination and back home. On the other hand I'm sad that my little girl is no longer a little girl. Tami and I know from experience that once they get their drivers liscense everything changes. With more freedom and opportunity they need us less and less. As I said in my last blog I will miss taking her to school this coming Fall. I will even miss taking her to events and other things all across town. I will miss our conversations in the car and her "need" of me.

But while I will miss those things I'm thrilled at the young lady she is becoming. Tami and I are very proud that she is spending part of her Summer on a mission trip to Jamaica. She left last Sunday morning and was thrilled that she was "leaving the country without either of us," something even her big brother has never done! I know that she will love on the children there and be a great asset to the team.

When she gets back she will take her first "college class" this Summer. Hard to believe they can earn college credit before they even begin their Junior year in high school! This Fall she will be on the sidelines with the VARSITY Ryan Raiders cheerleaders! They told me it all happens too fast, I believe it now!

Happy birthday Alyssa. I love you and am proud of the Godly young lady you are becoming!

The Little Transitions of Life

For some 15 years now I have been doing the same thing every day of the school year. My job has always been to take my kids to school. It's been an event that I have thoroughly enjoyed for the last decade and a half. In the early years it was a time to talk and find out what they were anticipating for the day. As they grew older and became teenagers it was more a time of silence or listening to the radio. Neither of my kids are really "morning people" so the past few years they haven't been real big on conversation at 8:00 in the morning!

I can still remember the first time I dropped Ryan off at day care in China Spring, Texas. He was about three years old and up to that point in his life Tami had been a stay at home Mom, but I was going back to school to get my doctorate and she needed to work for "tuition" money. I cried all the way to the church that day! After I finished the degree Alyssa was born and Tami was again a stay at home Mom.

When Ryan began preschool in Pleasanton I took him to school. When he went to Kindergarten and First Grade in Pleasanton I took him to school. When we moved to Denton and he started second grade I took him to school. You get the point! Alyssa joined our trips when Ryan was in third grade and for a few years I took them together. Then Ryan moved on to Middle School and the trips were separate again. I took Ryan to Ryan High school for the last time in September of 2005 when he got his driver's license. But I have still been taking Alyssa since then.

For the past couple of years Alyssa and I would listen to WBAP on the way to school. She got to know the personalities on that station and we had some fun with that. But she sort of "grew out of that" last year and it has been KSCS or The Wolf since then. But one thing has never changed in 15 years at least for Alyssa. When we arrived at the school before she would get out of the car she would lean over to my side of the car for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. Even at 15 she still did it!

I have known it was coming all year long. The last time I would take one of my kids to school. The last time we would ride together in silence or me asking questions and getting really short answers. The last time to listen to a favorite song together on the way. The last time for her to lean over for a quick hug and a kiss. I knew it was coming and this week it did. I took a kid to school for the last time! Alyssa will get her driver's license at the end of June and when school starts back in August she will drive herself to school.

In some ways I'm really sad. Its the end of an era, one of those little transitions in life that we all experience. I'm certainly excited to see my kids grow up and begin new things but I have to admit I'm going to miss those morning rides to school, the conversations, the songs on the radio, and most of all I'm going to miss the hugs and the kisses. But at least we still have her at home for two more years before the next little transition!

What would you do if you knew you had one month to live?

That is the question the people of First Baptist Church Denton are asking themselves every day for the next 30 days. If some how you knew that you only had one month to live how would you live your life? It's a very clarifying question and a question that most of us cannot answer on the spur of the moment. It takes some time to think through it and really come up with an answer that reflects how we feel and what is most important to us.

Unfortunately most people don't get that one month "warning" before they die. Instead death comes unexpectedly or suddenly to most. However the reason we are asking that question every day for 30 days is not because we expect to be dead in one month, quite the opposite we expect to live many more years on this earth. The reason we ask that question is we want to be "fully alive" for however many more days God gives us here on this earth.

If you think about it we don't really get to choose many things. We didn't get to choose who our parents are, we didn't' get to choose when we were born or where we were born. We certainly don't get to choose when we die. Most tombstones have two dates and a dash. The date of the person's birth and the date of their death, the dash in between represents the time they were alive here on this earth. The one thing we do have a say in is what we do with our dash. We get to decide how we will spend the time we have here on this earth. We can choose to waste our dash or we can choose to live it with passion and purpose. That is why we are asking that question for 30 days. Because if we begin to live like we were dying then we will really learn how to live.

If you knew you only had one month to live I bet you would want to spend time with family and friends. You would probably want to restore any relationships that were not what you wanted them to be. If you are a believer in Christ you would probably want to tell some of your closest friends how they can know Him as well. If you had one month to live you would probably want to do those things and more. So the question we need to answer is this: why don't we go ahead and do those things now? Why don't we live our lives like we only had one month left to live.

That's what we are going to be exploring for the next six weeks or so at First Baptist Church Denton. Go to www.fbcd.net to find out more about the One Month to Live challenge and how you can get involved and how you can begin to live life to the fullest with no regrets!

Everyone Loves an Underdog

Whether it be in sports or politics or just about anything, everybody loves an underdog. That is why I have had several phone calls and e-mails this afternoon. My "underdog" Baylor Bears men's basketball team "upset" the number one team in the Big 12 tournament - the Kansas Jayhawks. Although its not the first time Baylor has beaten Kansas it is the first time in a long time and certainly on the biggest stage.

Baylor's men's team started the season with great expectations. After making their first trip to the NCAA tournament in "forever" last year they were expected to finish in the top half of the Big 12. Instead they finished in 9th place losing their final regular season game to Nebraska of all people. In Nebraska Basketball is just something to do to stay warm until Spring football starts! But when the tournament started on Wednesday the Bears got a second shot at the Cornhuskers and put it on them winning by 16. Next up the mighty Jayhawks. Safe to say no one in the country with even a little knowledge of college basketball gave my Bears a chance. Yours truely included!

But the underdogs got after Kansas from the start. I'm eating lunch at On the Border and a friends says Baylor is up by about 10 in the first half. My thought - it's early, lets see if it continues. To be honest I then forgot about the game, went back to the office and about an hour later Drew Null comes into my office and asks if I heard about my Bears! They won! they blew a 17 point lead but they hung on to win! It's not exactly the second coming of the Miracle on the Brazos, but the Longhorns just won so we will see what happens on Friday night!

I'm not making any reservations for the big dance yet, but it is fun to see the underdog come through on ocassion, especially when its your team. I guess that's what March madness is all about! Wish we could get some of that madness in Waco in the Fall!

SNOW DAY!

It is Tuesday afternoon January 27th. If you are reading this on that day or soon after you know that most of Denton is shut down because of an "expected" ice storm! I can remember as a kid hoping that every day in January and February would be a snow day because that meant NO SCHOOL! Now as an adult I really don't like Snow Days, but I will admit, as a pastor, I like them a whole lot more during the week than on weekends! If they don't' interrupt Sunday worship and other activities I can tolerate them a whole lot easier! I am amazed at how quickly bad weather can shut things down in North Texas and how quick we are to cancel everything that's happening. I'm convinced my staff at First Baptist Church is still like I was as a kid, they hope for a snow day, and since I'm the only one in the office today I guess the proof is in the pudding!

On days like this where schedules are interrupted, things don't get done like we hoped and everything comes to a halt we at least have the opportunity to catch up on some things. I spoke to a mother of three in our church this afternoon and she said they were using today to catch up on homework at their house. Great idea! My wife and daughter went to the mall instead! Regardless of what you do with a day like today it is a reminder that everything doesn't always go as planned. The older I get the more I realize that's OK. It's OK to have a day that doesn't go as planned or a day where everything is turned upside down. After all God is still in control and you will most likely have tomorrow to get the things done that you had hoped to do today.

So have fun on the SNOW DAYS of life although the worst part about this one is: there is no snow to go out and play in!