New Website!

I have decided to post the church website. I still need to add some more content, but at least it is up and running. Any suggestions would be helpful!

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http://www.midlandheightsbc.org/

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Dad's surgery went well yesterday. He will be recovering in Baptist for at least the next two weeks, possibly three.

Nursery is Complete

The last stage of the nursery is complete. With Stephanie reading the instructions and supervising, i was able to put the crib together late last night. We only have a few weeks to go.

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I have been spending an unusual amount of time at different hospitals lately. A member of MHBC is in St. Thomas and my dad was in Baptist. My dad only has one kidney due to a childhood accident, so when the kidney doctor came in to talk with my dad I asked on simple question. "Since my dad only has one kidney, are you charging him half price?" I managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds and the then the doctor started to crack up and just walked away. It doesn't take much to entertain me.

Another Church Update

I have another church update. If you are tired of Church updates, this is a warning! You don't have to read this post unless you are interested in what God is doing at Midland Heights Baptist Church. If you are the few that want to be updated than by all means, proceed.
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We had a great service yesterday morning. We are going through the book of Ephesians verse by verse. That is not usually my style, but I have enjoyed it so much. We finished the third chapter yesterday. We finished them service with two more being baptized. Mary Ann and Cliff Carlock joined the church last week and requested to be baptized. We took care of that yesterday.
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Yesterday afternoon we had a deacons meeting. I enjoy these deacons. We discussed quite a bit, but laughed and cut up most of the meeting. Shhhhhhhh! I have a secret to tell! I have yet to announce it to the church, since we discussed it yesterday in our deacon meeting. But, we are going to have a revival at MHBC! It will start Sunday night on September 27th and run through Wednesday night September 30th. I have asked two people that I love to hear preach to hold our revival. Bro. Dan Reed (my younger brother) from El Bethel Baptist and Bro. Rob McKamey (Fair Haven Baptist Youth Pastor) will alternate nights to preach. I have confirmed both speakers. I am also planning on asking the FHBC Youth band to come lead in worship the nights that Bro. Rob preaches. I want to use our awesome choir the nights Bro. Dan preaches.
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The church website is up, but I don't want to give the website until I have had a chance to put some content on it. I am meeting with the site builder later this week and he is going to teach me how to add content. It looks good!! I can't wait to share it.
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On a sad note, Cary Cawthon, a member of MHBC, is in St. Thomas and is not expecting to make it to the end of the week. Please keep Cary and Cheryl in your prayers as well as their family. They are such good people.

The Nursery

My wife had the brilliant idea of how to decorate the nursery. She went with a "zoo" theme, with lions and tigers, monkeys and giraffes. If I can't have a Dallas Cowboys nursery (which meant repainting the room), the zoo works for me. What little boy doesn't like monkeys and lions? We bought some wooden animals to hang on the wall, but Steph thought it would be cool to let Lynna and Leah paint a picture to hang on the wall of the nursery. All we did was hand them a canvas, paint and some brushes. What you see is the imagination and artistic ability of our daughters. All we need now to complete the nursery is for our bed to come in and a set of bi-fold closet doors. After our devotion last night, I was laying on Steph's belly feeling Logan move around and I looked at Steph and asked the question, "I wonder what he looks like?" We can't look at our girls and say he is going to look like them, because they don't look alike. It doesn't matter if he is ugly as a mud fence, I will think he is the most beautiful (handsome) baby in the world (you know how parents are). My question will be answered in 4 weeks or so.

Something to Ponder

I am not a Biblical expert. I have never claimed to be. I do have a degree in Biblical Studies, but that is far from expertise. I just want to write some thoughts down on a pretty controversial topic. What I have seen in the teachings of Jesus is He was very seldom straight forward. You have to remember who His audience was at the time. You have to study the culture and traditions of the times to truly get the meaning of His teachings. With all that said, I am well aware not everybody will see things from my point of view. I am okay with that.
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John 15:1-6

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men

gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

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I think it is pretty clear that Jesus refers to Himself as the Vine. God is the one "taking care" of the vineyard. I think the controversy begins when it says "every branch in me that bears not fruit is taken away." Some people believe it is referring to someone who is "saved" and is not producing fruit so God "cuts them off" and takes them away, thus losing their salvation. I, on the other hand, have a different take. In a vineyard EVERY branch is vitally important. It was the vine dresseers responsibility to care for each plant. If he noticed a branch had fallen down in the dirt, being covered in dust, sometimes even stepped on, thus being rendered "unfruitful", the vine dresser did not cut if off, but he took a bucket of water, and gently lifted it out of the mire and washed it off and in some cases would tie the branch to the vine to keep it off the ground. This is, in my opinion, what happens when we fall into the mud of life, we make bad choices, we say or do the wrong things. God doesn't cast me away, He lifts me up so I can become fruitful again. The words "taken away" in Greek is "ah'ee-ro" which can mean "to lift" or to "take up".

Now the last verse (6) Jesus says if a man doesn't abide (live) in me he is withered and gathered by men to be burned. That statement is referring to someone who does not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. The branch is dead!

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Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

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We were all dead until we were "quickened" by the Holy Spirit. Now because Christ died for my sins, He is Lord of my life, I AM ALIVE! There are times I have to be picked up and washed off, but never cast off!

Home Again!

I am back from the great state of TX. San Antonio was absolutely beautiful. The River-Walk was awesome. Some highlights of the trip included finding an "official" Dallas Cowboys Store in the mall at the River-Walk. I visited the Alamo. I took a riverboat tour and I ate plenty of Tex-Mex. This picture is from the roof of the Hyatt Resort where I stayed. The only "low-light" of the trip, was after visiting the Dallas Cowboys store, I got lost on the river walk and ended up a couple of miles from the hotel. By the time I got back to my room, I was drenched in sweat.

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Sunday was awesome at MHBC. We had a little boy walk down the aisle and tell me, "I want to be saved!" Noah Arnold gave his life to Christ yesterday and will be baptized next Sunday along with Cliff and Mary Ann Carlock who joined the church yesterday as well. Last night the Tennesseans Quartet sang at the church and then we ate super. It was an all around good night.

A Rarity

I played in a softball tournament Saturday. I ended the game with a "walk-off" home run over the right field fence. We lost the game. Let me explain. The tournament we were playing in only allowed 4 home runs. The 5th home run ended the inning. I hit a home run in the 1st inning, Rob McKamey, Troy May and Andy Delk all hit home runs. That makes 4. Top of the 7th inning with no outs and 2 men on, we are down by several runs, but we are starting to hit the ball. I step up to the plate and on the 1st pitch, end the game. The 5th homer of the game. Sorry fellas, I should have used the single wall bat.