Month: December 2013

SBTC offers resources, pastoral training for church revitalization

DALLAS—Good news and bad news accompany the latest statistics that show about 75 percent of churches landing in the plateaued or declining bracket among Southern Baptists congregations.

The bad news—more churches land in this category than do not, indicating a need for significant revival and revitalization throughout the nation. The good news—pastors of churches in this category need not feel alone. They are surrounded by about three-fourths of their fellow pastors. 

For those churches that do find themselves in the plateaued or declining category, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention offers help. Through the support of the Cooperative Program, the convention has tools and training available to churches, some of which it offered to Texas pastors during two recent events—the SEND North America Church Growth and Revitalization Conference held Nov. 14 in North Richland Hills, and a Church Revitalization Orientation held Dec. 2 at Criswell College in Dallas. The events, held just before the end of the year, were offered in time to assist pastors and churches looking to begin revitalization efforts in January.

Kenneth Priest, director of convention strategies for the SBTC, spoke at both events and guided pastors and leaders in devising strategies to revive their churches. The Church Revitalization Orientation at Criswell College was the first of its kind and debuted a new strategy that focuses the renewal effort on the pulpit and pastoral leadership.

Priest said the SBTC has five different tracks of resources to help churches at different stages of stagnant or declining growth—a renewal track, a revitalization track, a re-engineering track, a re-starting track and a network track.

One of the tools available, Priest said, is the Ezekiel Project, which focuses on renewal. Another is the sermon-based small group approach debuted Dec. 2 which addresses revitalization.

“You go through, in your Sunday school hour, a video series as well as a Bible study that’s a 40-day study related to personal spiritual renewal,” Priest said in explaining the Ezekiel Project.

“The sermon-based small group track impacts the pastor’s preaching,” he said, outlining the series that helps the congregation focus on revitalization. “You have teaching you do with a lead team to help them understand what’s happening in the life of the church and how to make some transitions in the life of the church.”

Both the Ezekiel Project and sermon-based small group approach are centered around processes that the church is going through, Priest said.

A third option—the re-engineering track—is a consultation process.

“This is a total makeover in the life of the church,” Priest said. “We send in a number of different consultants, we conduct a number of different church ministry analyses in the life of the church and we figure out what’s going on here, and then we help you develop a strategy for what needs to go on here.”

Dubbed re-engineering, the church will not look the same when the process is completed. “It has to look different in order to have an impact in the community, because what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working. Therefore, a shift has to be made.”

The re-starting track involves looking at the church as a new church plant.

“When we get to the point of looking at a true re-start, that’s when we involve our church planters,” Priest said. “We talk about putting a planter-pastor there and re-starting that church as if it were a brand new church. That normally requires changing the name; it definitely requires changing the leadership and everything that’s taking place.”

The final track is the network track, in which the SBTC partners with other churches that are willing to step in and assist a church that is on the verge of closing its doors. The partner church takes on financial responsibility for the dying church and agrees to basically take it over as its own—a vitally important part of the track since no Cooperative Program funds are available for this type of revitalization, Priest said.

“We have churches … all over the state of Texas that are part of our church revitalization network,” Priest said. “What these pastors have said is that if you have a church in the state of Texas that is just at the point that they can no longer keep the doors open, and they want to do something differently, we will come in” to help revitalize  ministry in that location.

Priest said the transition can take shape as a satellite, another campus or even a re-start, where the church sends leadership and resources to give the church an entirely fresh start. The shape, he said, is between the network church and the church receiving the assistance.

In presenting the new sermon-based small group approach Dec. 2 to leadership from about 14 churches at Criswell College and others via online streaming, Priest said pastors’ leadership styles play a large role in how they are currently guiding their churches and how they should be leading them. The SBTC, he said, can help pastors pinpoint their “core” style and learn the positives and negatives of that, then help them discover what their “adjusted” style should be.

Describing the varying approaches of diplomats, analysts, directors and inspirationals, Priest said, “As a pastor, you actually need to function in all four of these leadership styles. Jesus did it and we need to try to do it.”

Priest also said that church revitalization requires “tribal leadership.”

“You have to become a part of the tribe in order for them to give you the right to lead them,” Priest said, adding that it will likely take between three and seven years to become fully integrated into the church or “tribe.”

Austin teacher slain in Benghazi mourned yet honored at home church

AUSTIN—Ronnie Smith and his family moved to Benghazi, Libya, 18 months ago so he could teach chemistry at the International School Benghazi, sensing God’s call to be a light in a war-weary land. But on Dec. 5 while jogging, Smith was shot multiple times by perpetrators yet to be captured or claim responsibility for the attack. 

Friends, students and fellow teachers in Libya and the U.S. were stunned by the sudden loss. Some despaired at the apparent meaninglessness of the murder while others voiced hope in God’s providence. 

Ahmed @Criminimed posted on Twitter following the shooting: “He left his wife, his son and his country to come to Libya and help our kids get better education and we rewarded him with [sic] bullet.” 

The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin in a prepared statement, however, noted: “Although we grieve because we have lost a friend, a husband, and a father, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has a greater purpose than we can imagine right now.” Smith was an Austin Stone member as is his wife Anita. 

The church held a private memorial service for Smith on Monday (Dec. 9). Smith served as an associate pastor at Austin Stone for four years prior to the family’s move to Libya. But his desire to serve others drew the 33-year-old to share the gospel with an unpredictable yet lovable people. 

Smith was alone in Benghazi having sent Anita and their young son Hosea back to the U.S. Nov. 12 to begin the Christmas break. Smith was scheduled to leave Dec. 13 after his students completed semester exams. 

Principal Peter Hodge, describing Smith as a beloved teacher and friend of the International School Benghazi, wrote on the ISB website that Smith “supported students in their learning and always had time to help when asked. He was a professional who gave his time freely and without question. We cannot begin to comprehend why this has happened and it is extremely difficult for his students and his colleagues to accept.” 

Libya’s violence left the students “in a state of depression” but Smith was “like a light,” wrote Dave Barrett, Austin Stone executive pastor of operations, in an email response to questions from the Southern Baptist TEXAN. 

Smith’s death focuses attention once again on a region torn by sectarian violence. Four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stephens, were killed in a September 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate roughly six kilometers from ISB. Smith reportedly was jogging near the compound when his assailants shot him and drove away. 

On Nov. 8, Smith had written on Twitter: “Bed time. Cue the bombs,” referring to the all-too-common sounds of violence. 

Three days earlier an unexploded bomb was removed from the Benghazi Medical Center six miles from the school. On Nov. 11 an anti-tank mine was defused in a popular shopping district. 

On Nov. 2 when the Rotana Café, popular with women and their children, was blown up, Smith tweeted: “Wanna blow up something harmful? How about those cafes and sheesha [hookah] spots where men spend all night neglecting their kids and wives.” 

So why would a young father and husband move his family to such a place? Barrett sent The TEXAN a link to Smith’s video response. He had obviously given the question plenty of consideration before leaving. 

“If there is any single person in the entire universe that you can take a chance on, it’s God,” Smith said. 

Yielding to God’s call to go to unfamiliar and potentially dangerous places goes hand-in-hand with a commitment to follow Christ, several Austin pastors told the TEXAN. Though they did not know him, they said his faith was evident in his obedience and his death a cause for reflection. 

“God may be calling us to go some places—not places we’d pick to live,” said Rod Minor, pastor of Anderson Mills Baptist Church in Austin. 

Minor was preparing a sermon on circumstances of Jesus’ upbringing as he considered the Smith family’s call to Libya. Nazareth was not a pretty place to live, Minor said, noting that Jesus was derided for being from a “less than desirable” town. 

“That begs the question, ‘Where am I supposed to be? Where is my life going to count?'” Minor said. 

The Austin Stone statement answered in part. 

“Ultimately, Ronnie’s desire to serve others was motivated by his faith in a God that loves the world and calls us to be a part of making the world a better place.” 

Minor said, acknowledging the risk of sounding trite, that the safest place to be is in the middle of God’s will. It may seem absurd to the lost, but it makes Smith’s testimony all the more profound, Minor said. 

Ryan Rush, pastor of Bannockburn Baptist Church in Austin, said Smith’s death hits close to home. And it convicts. Following God’s call to Libya—and staying there after the deadly consulate attack last year—should compel Austin Christians to live missionally. 

Christians may be at odds with the cultural milieu of an uber-liberal city whose motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” Rush said, but churches like Austin Stone are proactively engaging the community, seeking to bless others as a means to an end—sharing the uncompromising Gospel of Christ. 

More than one member of the congregation posted video links to Smith’s 2010 sermon “The History of Redemption.” The 30-minute presentation, all memorized solely from Scripture, outlines God’s plan for redeeming his fallen creation and again the words echo a prophetic message of a life lived and laid down for the glory of God.

Smith’s Twitter feed reflects a man seemingly nonplussed by the inherent dangers of the community where he lived in Libya but engaged in the lives of his students—if only to lovingly goad them. 

The night before Smith’s death, @RazanYMR posted to his teacher: “Knowing I’m getting 100% on my sci exam tomorrow makes me soo happy @ISBchem right?” 

To which Smith replied Dec. 4: “Yep. I already recorded it. 10%.” 

Though he developed a good-humored rapport with his students, Smith’s motivation for being in Libya was deadly serious. 

“But the whole point of Ronnie’s life is that there is something worse than death,” author John Piper wrote in a Dec. 7 blog titled, “When we send a person to his death.” 

Smith had noted that one of Piper’s messages was significant in leading him to Libya. 

Piper wrote: “Ronnie is not the first person who has died doing what I have encouraged them to do. He won’t be the last. If I thought death were the worst thing that can happen to a person, I would be overwhelmed with regret.” 

Piper called on thousands of others to replace Smith not seeking death but the “everlasting joy of the world—including our enemies.” 

Hodge, in his message to the school’s parents, wrote: “We are all saddened and shocked by this tragedy, but we must continue the important task of teaching your children. There is no doubt Mr. Smith would have wanted us to do so.”

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Former first lady invites Texans to post-9/11 White House Christmas decorations exhibit

DALLAS—For the first time ever, America has the chance to see what Christmas at the White House was like in 2001. Because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks just a few months earlier that year, the White House was closed at Christmas and the decorations largely unseen by the public. Twelve years later, however, the decorations have been placed on display in the first ever special exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.

Former First Lady Laura Bush welcomed news cameras to the exhibit for the first time Dec. 2, and said she was elated to share a glimpse into White House Christmas celebrations with fellow Americans.

When asked by the TEXAN about the role faith played in the 2001 Christmas celebration, Bush said she believed it played an even more poignant role than other years for her family and for millions of other Americans.

“Of course that year, especially, I think many, many people turned to their faith, including me and George, because of the tragedy that had happened on Sept. 11 and just the whole feeling that we had in the United States of grief and sadness and vulnerability and fear—all of the feelings that we had after that attack,” Bush said.

She said prayer played an integral role as well.

“I think there’s always—for any president—a lot of prayer,” Bush said. “The American people prayed for our president. It was amazing how many, many times people—strangers—would say to us, ‘We’re praying for you.’”

Bush also said that 2001 became the first year a U. S. president lit a Menorah in the White House. That very Menorah, on loan from the Jewish Museum in 2001, has again been lent and is on display in the Bush Center’s Christmas exhibit.

Also on display in the exhibit are holiday gowns worn by the former first lady, 18 scale models of presidential homes created by White House staff in 2001 and an 18-foot replica of the White House Christmas tree set in the midst of a 360-degree mural of the White House Blue Room.

All together, the exhibit—for which work began in March—boasts 500 feet of garland, 650 feet of ribbon, 125,000 lights and 1,459 Christmas balls. The exhibit will run through Jan. 5 and will have special programing throughout, such as live music and story hour for children. The center will present Merry and Bright Nights, Dec. 18-19, as well, offering musical performances by the Dallas Boys Choir and the Dallas Girls Choir, crafts and Christmas treats.

For more information about the Bush Center or the “Home for the Holidays” exhibit, visit bushcenter.org/home-holidays.

Disaster relief teams minister after North Texas ice storm

FARMERSVILLE—After ice storms pelted North Texas on Dec. 5, Pastor Bart Barber and members of First Baptist Church of Farmersville seized the opportunity to help the community 35 miles northeast of Dallas in Collin County.

First Baptist Farmersville opened its doors to shelter those displaced by the storm. Since Dec. 6, the church has fed hundreds and provided showers and lodging for dozens.

Volunteers from the church also ministered directly to the community with chainsaw teams from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief ministry deployed to the Farmersville area within a day of the storm.

The icy blast woke Barber and his wife, Tracy, early Dec. 6 when they heard limbs snapping in the front yard of the church parsonage, across town from the church. By 5 a.m., Barber was checking on the situation in the town. The city had cut power because of five electrical fires, Barber said.

Barber phoned SBTC DR director Jim Richardson that morning. On Saturday (Dec. 7), an SBTC DR chainsaw team headed by Jim Howard, pastor of West Side Baptist in Atlanta, Texas, arrived in Farmersville.

“Within 12 hours of the storm, we talked to the Farmersville city manager, Ben White, and I was able to tell him that the SBTC had a DR chainsaw unit on the way and that we were going to open a shelter at FBC Farmersville on Friday night,” Barber said.

The city was able to restore power to the church, which is near an electrical substation, Barber said.

“We opened the shelter at 5 on Friday and we served a hot meal at 6,” Barber said.

As of Monday afternoon (Dec. 8), 41 people had received shelter at the church. Volunteers had prepared and served more than 300 meals, Tracy Barber said.

The family of Kelley and Scott Wagner sought shelter at First Baptist. The Wagners, who attend the church, have seven children, five of whom live in the Wagners’ country home. The youngest is 9 months old.

“We lost power and tried to tough it out with a generator and space heater,” Kelley Wagner said .

“They have actually let us use the entire preschool wing for my children,” said Kelley, whose husband works for an Oncor energy subcontractor. Scott Kelley had been working round the clock to restore electricity to the community. First Baptist has also provided meals for the Wagners’ older son and Scott’s parents, who remained on the family’s country property to look after the animals.

Instead of regular services on Sunday, First Baptist encouraged all members who could safely do so to come to the church for breakfast at 9:30 a.m., and an abbreviated worship service at 10. More than 60 members came, “from kids to folks 65 and older,” Bart Barber said.

Following the service, First Baptist members joined the SBTC DR chainsaw teams in assisting the community, cutting down trees, clearing limbs and debris and helping elderly citizens.

The SBTC chainsaw teams have been housed at First Baptist. “They are very hospitable here,” said Doug Scott, DR volunteer from Atlanta, who added that SBTC volunteers expected to be in the Farmersville area for several more days before possibly heading east to the Paris area.

Facebook posts, cell phone calls and referrals from the city of Farmersville requesting assistance have been addressed by the people of First Baptist.

“Over the past decade, we have been very active in helping others in this kind of situation,” Bart Barber said. “We have responded to the need of those affected by hurricanes Rita, Katrina and Ike. We have sent volunteers to Joplin, Mo.

“We now get to mobilize here in town for our neighbors, doing what we have been doing for our neighbors around the world,” Bart Barber said.

“I am not surprised by how our church has responded,” he added. “I am very proud to be their pastor.”

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Benghazi victim served at Austin Stone Community Church, was UT grad

AUSTIN—American teacher Ronnie Smith, who was gunned down during his morning jog near the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, served on staff at Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, before moving to Libya. 

The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and Acts 29, an independent church-planting network. Smith was director of equipping and resources at Austin Stone from 2009-11, and before that he served for two years as a pastoral intern. 

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Smith’s Dec. 5 murder, but Islamist militants in October had called for the kidnapping of U.S. citizens in Libya. Hospital officials said the teacher had been shot multiple times. His death came 15 months after an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. 

Grieving friends on opposite sides of the globe remembered Smith, 33, as a devoted teacher, family man and Christian. 

Smith held a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and had been teaching chemistry at the International School Benghazi for 18 months. His wife Anita and their young son had returned to the United States several weeks ago for Christmas break. Smith stayed behind to help his students through midterm exams and had planned to join his family in a few days. 

“Ronnie and his family moved to Benghazi to teach high school chemistry and to be a blessing to the Libyan people….,” a statement from Austin Stone said. “Ronnie’s greatest desire was for peace and prosperity in Libya and for the people of Libya to have the joy of knowing God through Christ.” 

A profile of Smith on the church website identified him as a deacon and a native of Michigan who had been married for 10 years. In the profile, Smith listed Minnesota pastor John Piper as his hero because God used Piper to introduce him to the writings of Jonathan Edwards and to teach him “the meaning and the joy of the supremacy of Christ in all things.” 

On the same page, Smith said if he could spend an evening with anyone who lived in the past 1,000 years, he would choose Jonathan Edwards because Edwards understood “that God gave us minds for the [sole] purpose of glorifying Him…. As a man of supreme intellect and prestige, he was refreshingly humble and holy.” 

In recounting his life story on the profile page, Smith wrote, “I was raised in the church from the time I was an infant. It was only by the grace of God that I went through my high school and college years free from the major struggles that many of those I knew dealt with. It was not always sunshine and lollipops but God’s hand was always leading me and He brought me to where I am today. I really have no idea when I gave my heart to Christ, I can’t pinpoint a date or time, all I know is that the only life I desire is only wholly sourced in Him. Over the last year or so, God has really shown me what it means to exist for Him alone, and that is where I have found my joy and satisfaction.” 

Back in Benghazi, Smith’s students described him as a teacher who inspired and cared about them. 

“He was the most amazing person, more like a best friend or family member,” Yomna Zentani, 18, told NBC News. “After everything that happened in Libya, we were losing hope and he was the only one who was supporting us, motivating us…. He dedicated so much of his time for all his students. He chose to come here and help us and risk his life.” 

Other students memorialized Smith on Twitter. “He was the best teacher I ever had. Always ready to work, always in a good mood,” one wrote. Another student tweeted that Smith “baked me 2 batches of peanut butter cookies on my birthday and sang happy birthday in arabic.” A Libyan wrote, “Thank you, sir, for believing in our Libyan children when half of their own country had given up on them. #Smith.” 

As Smith’s family and friends prepare for his funeral, Smith’s words on his church profile offer a reminder of his desire that “we strive for and treasure Christ above all things. I don’t want the church to be about people, programs, or numbers, but rather a body that reaches out to the hurting and that speaks the truth of the gospel uncompromisingly into people’s lives.” 

Smith also wrote, “If at the end of the day people look at our church and say that we are hip or cool or trendy then we have failed miserably. If they are challenged to live a life wholly devoted to Christ and His name and His purpose are exalted over our agenda, then I think God will continue to bless us with His Spirit. Our vision must always be God-centered.” 

Meanwhile, Smith’s students in Benghazi may remember him best as the man who once described himself on Twitter as “Libya’s best friend.”

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Based on a report by Jamie Dean of WORLD News Service. To watch a video of Ronnie Smith recounting the history of redemption by reciting Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, visit historyofredemption.org.

Are good works part of the gospel? Clearing up some Christmas confusion

“Would you like to donate two dollars to the local Rehab Center?”¨”Can I add a children’s book to your order to be donated to the hospital?”¨”Would you be interested in donating a dollar to the animal shelter?”

These are but a few of the holiday donation requests I have received over the past couple of weeks. Whether I am buying a sandwich, a book or a toy for my pet, I find myself showered by requests to support a local organization. And while I believe that some of these requests are warranted, and while I believe that some of these organizations are good, and while I believe that donating to some of these organizations is a worthy cause, I also believe that followers of Jesus ought to be prudent in how they give to organizations that don’t explicitly promote the gospel.

This is to say that, while it is good to give to rehab centers, hospitals, and even animal shelters, such donations should not be confused as explicitly participating in the gospel.

This is because Christianity isn’t essentially about doing good things; it’s about advancing the name of Jesus. Organizations like rehab centers and hospitals can prolong the quality of physical life, but only Jesus can provide everlasting life. Both are good, but one is better. Much better. And this is the real message of Christmas.

Unfortunately, this is a concept that is often muddled. And, ironically, it’s most often muddled during the Christmas season.

Some weeks ago I read the following comment, which in my estimation reveals the confusion of the relationship between good works and the gospel: “Compassion for the poor is uniquely tied to the gospel & unalterably linked to the Great Commission.”

At first glance this statement seems impressively theological, but upon further investigation it attempts to recalibrate the gospel into something other than what it is. Jesus warns of such efforts in his parable of unleavened bread: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened” (Matthew 13:33).

In this, the gospel is the pure “three pecks of flour” recipe to which we should not add “leaven.” In Scripture “leaven” is always bad, and it causes the finished product to turn out much differently than intended.

Jesus’ message is that we ought to be careful to not add extra ingredients to the gospel’s recipe. And confusing the doing of good things as the gospel is, without question, adding extra ingredients.

This of course isn’t to say that compassion for the poor isn’t “tied” or “linked” to the gospel. It is. Nor is it to say that compassion for the poor is an evil ingredient. It isn’t. But to go as far as to say that it is “uniquely tied” and “unalterablylinked” might be altering the recipe a little bit.

Digging wells for a poor village in Africa, for example, isn’t, in and of itself, the gospel. It’s a wonderful thing to do, especially if it is being done because of one’s redemption in Christ, but it isn’t the gospel. The gospel can be preached without the digging of wells. Digging wells to create a segue to preach the gospel is good, but if the gospel isn’t preached then one has essentially only done a good thing that is no better than what a non-Christian organization can do. Many organizations participate in this compassionate effort for the poor without any gospel motivation. In this, physical life is sustained, but the village remains spiritually dead.

When we replace the backing of organizations that don’t support the explicit gospel message for the backing of organizations that do, we confuse the gospel with doing good things, which isn’t the gospel. Giving to good organizations is a good thing, but participating in organizations that advance the gospel is better. Christians should do both, but we should also know that our resources go further when we explicitly support the gospel. And if we have to choose one, we should choose the one that shares the gospel with its recipients.

This is because it’s not necessarily true that compassion for the poor “is uniquely tied and unalterably linked to the gospel” so much as that it can be “tied to a unique and unalterable gospel.” This idea preserves the gospel’s unique ingredients without altering its recipe. It places the power of the gospel in Christ, not our actions, and shows that it’s the gospel that has the power to save, not our ability to do good things for the less fortunate.

 As Matt Chandler writes: 

“If we confuse the gospel with response to the gospel, we will drift from what keeps the gospel on the ground, what makes it clear and personal, and the next thing you know, we will be doing a bunch of different things that actually obscure the gospel, not reveal it. At the end of the day, our hope is not that all the poor on earth will be fed. That’s simply not going to happen. I’m not saying we shouldn’t feed and rescue the poor; I’m saying that salvation isn’t having a full belly or a college education or whatever. Making people comfortable on earth before an eternity in hell is wasteful (83).”

Christmas favorites

This year, I asked our SBTC staff members to relate a favorite Christmas tradition or memory. Food entered heavily into the results but some of the stories are evocative. Here they are, in the words of your SBTC staff. By the way, my own favorite is Christmas Eve in Arkansas. We attend a service at our home church (the best 57 minutes of the church year) and then eat pizza from Mellow Mushroom. Perfect! GL

Stephanie Barksdale, communications assistant—Driving around to look at Christmas lights!

Barry Calhoun, missional ministries director—Putting up the Christmas tree, having family members over for dinner and watching football.

Sharayah Colter, communications assistant—For as long as I can remember, one day after having as non-traditional Thanksgiving meal as possible (steak, enchiladas, etc.), we have cranked up the CITGO Country Christmas cassette on the stereo, pulled the well-worn Christmas boxes from the attic and set up the tree while sipping Mom’s [delicious] hot apple cider. Moving across the country every two years, this scene has played out in 90-degree, sunny Arizona, Christmas-postcard-perfect up-state New York and about 15 other places in between—even multiple times in the Residence Inn between moves. The necessity of being flexible has produced the tradition of purposefully unique celebrations each year.

Jesse Contreras, language ministries associate—We like to open our gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve, but a few minutes before that time we have the kids go to a room and wait to hear Santa’s “Ho! Ho! Ho!” and reindeer bells. Afterwards we let them come out of the room and open their presents.

Easter Cooley, operations and finance assistant—I make decorated Christmas sugar cookies with my son. He is now 13 and we still look forward to doing it together.  It’s something I did with my mother and sometimes when I visit her in Houston, we get all the stuff out to make Christmas cookies together.

Terry Coy, missions director—A relatively new tradition in our family is for our oldest granddaughter (10) to read the Luke 2 Nativity story on Christmas Eve. We look forward to expanding that tradition to include the other grandkids as they get older.

Joe Davis, operations and finance director—Telling my kids, “No we won’t open one gift on Christmas Eve.” It’s a tradition that they ask and I decline.

Kelley Edwards, missions assistant—My favorite Christmas tradition: Every year on Christmas Eve morning, my mom gets up super early and goes to get our family chocolate sprinkled donuts, then we open presents with our immediate family, then go eat a steak dinner. Not the most spiritual part of our day, but it sure is good! After all, we are Baptists—we like to eat.  

Chris Enright, operations and finance associate—It’s a tie—reading Luke 2 before bed on Christmas Eve or our pj, lights and caroling evening. After dinner in the week leading up to Christmas, we change into comfy pajamas, grab a favorite hot beverage (cocoa or cider) and drive around looking at Christmas lights and strategically caroling a few houses along the way. Family fun and bonding!

Ashlee Garcia, operations and finance assistant—My favorite tradition involves spending Christmas Eve with my childhood best friend and her family. Our families always got together over homemade pasta and cream puffs (they are Italian). After dinner my friend’s grandma would read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Last year Grandma Lib was too sick to read the Christmas story. There was not a dry eye in the house when her oldest son sat in her chair and read the Christmas story in her absence.

Denis Hammit, SBTC Foundation—Since I gave my life to Christ in 2001,  I have started a little personal tradition that I have not really spoken of publicly before.  I find a few minutes to go outside or just find a place to be alone with the Savior and say thanks for what he did by coming to earth in the form of man and dying to save my life. The simple joy of remembering what this season is all about and watching as one of my grandchildren read the Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel are my new favorite traditions.

Karla Hammit, SBTC Foundation—A tradition that I doubt many others have experienced is my grandmother preparing the dough for homemade egg noodles, rolling the dough in a long, tight roll, wrapping it in paper and storing it in the refrigerator until time for cooking.  In the hour just before cooking, my grandmother would call all the kids to the kitchen table and as she cut the rolled dough into quarter inch slices each of us kids would carefully unroll the sections so that each noodle was ready to dropped in the pot for cooking.  Ummmmm.

Shawn Kemp, missions facilitator—Definitely my family’s favorite Christmas tradition is when we all go shopping to fill our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. It reminds us of how blessed we are as a family. We also love praying for the children who receive the shoeboxes to come to know Christ.

Tammi Ledbetter, communications facilitator—My favorite tradition is one we began with our oldest and continued with each year, involving each child in making the dough, cutting, baking and decorating the cookies for a Nativity scene. We did this with our family, involved our church friends in Indiana one year, our homeschool group another, our church plant in Missouri and most recently our new pastor’s kids who had just moved to our town. I have a set reserved for each of my kids to receive when each produces a grandchild who can make, cut, bake and decorate—never too early to start passing down memories.

Fallon Lee, minister/church relations assistant—My extended family always gathers at one house on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts, play “White Elephant,” monitor the Santa Clause tracker, and of course, eat!  An even more unfailing tradition though (and running family joke), is that my sweet grandma will be the very last person to arrive, as she has inevitably spent the day running around like a mad woman trying to find last-minute gifts.

Steve Maltempi, evangelism associate—Our tradition involves eating seafood (gumbo, fried, broiled, boiled, baked) on Christmas Eve.

John McGuire, field ministry strategist—I am the oldest of five children born into the home of a Southern Baptist pastor. Our parents would awaken us before daylight every Christmas. We would gather in a circle and my father would read from the Bible about the birth of Christ. He would teach us that every gift in life comes from God, and that his son was the best gift of all. Then he would pray and we would begin to open our presents.

Bruno Molina, evangelism associate—Gathering the extended family around the Christmas Eve dinner table (the aromas of roast pork shoulder, Caribbean empanadas, rice, beans and fried ripe plantains wafting about and prayerfully giving thanks for the incarnation of Christ—not to mention the meal!

Heath Peloquin, minister/church relations director—My favorite family Christmas tradition is having all our family members share what they are most thankful for each year before we exchange gifts. To hear the children share their moments and memories, and to hear the wisdom of older family members share is priceless to our family each year.

Joe Perkins, field ministry strategist—We get together with our grown children and their families to eat, open presents and just enjoy being together. We emphasize that it is Jesus’ birthday.

Andrea Preissler, SBTC Foundation—On Christmas Eve, our family let each person open one gift and it was always pajamas.  Then we read “The Night Before Christmas” and Luke chapter 2.

Jim Richards, executive director—At some point during our Christmas family time, we read the Luke 2 account of Jesus’ birth and pray together.

Emily Smith, church ministries associate—Having my grandmother’s deer steak as the main dish—yes I’m from Arkansas!  Also playing dirty Santa gift exchange … always interesting to see which popular present will be stolen the most and watching my relatives’ reaction when it happens. 

Judy Van Hooser, church ministries associate—Mine would be the fact that we get up Christmas morning, open just a few gifts—one by one—and then stop to eat dinner. Then we do the dishes, get everything cleaned up, and finish opening gifts. We do not usually finish until around 7 or 8 pm—so it is an all-day event! 

Mark Yoakum, church ministries director—When I grew up they were bright red stockings looking like Santa Claus boots. Each person in the family had his name on the stocking and stockings stayed empty until Christmas morning when we all awoke to find them stuffed to the brim.  My kids and grandkids look forward to Christmas morning and emptying their stockings.

The Christ of Christmas cannot stay buried

Recently I was standing with a group I had taken to Israel inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The altar area of the church sits above a series of caves underneath where, according to tradition, Jesus was born and placed in the manger. The altar is incredibly gaudy, with icons, decorations and all kinds of other objects of gold and silver. It seems that the manger has been buried under the altar.

I thought of a conversation Thomas Aquinas had with Pope Innocent II. The Pope was showing Aquinas some of the riches of the church and said, “You see, the church is no longer in that age in which she said, ‘silver and gold have I none,’” to which Aquinas replied, “True, Holy Father, but neither can she say to the lame, ‘rise up and walk.’” We forfeit the power when we bury the purpose.

Martha was in a sense burying the opportunity of having Jesus in her home by her busyness, while Mary sat at his feet embracing the moment and the joy. Martha buried the purpose, Mary gloried in his presence.

There’s no doubt Christmas has been buried under profits, presents, and parties. Ten minutes of chaotic joy around a Christmas tree is followed by months of payments and a return to the pre-Christmas misery of life endured by so many. But really, should it surprise us when lost people bury the true meaning of Christmas? Under our watch the church has lost much of her influence as our culture turns away from biblical truth and from Christ. Some folks get stirred up when “Happy Holidays” takes preference over “Merry Christmas,” but the question remains, why should we expect lost people to act like saved people? A greater issue to be addressed is this: Is it too much to expect saved people to live like saved people? How can we dig Christmas out of the grave in which our culture has buried it?

We can make that answer more complicated than it has to be. Vance Havner had it right when he said “we don’t need something so new as much as we need something so old that it would be new if anybody ever tried it.” God became flesh and dwelt among us. His name means that he is with us. That promise intensifies as we make disciples of all the peoples. Ten minutes of obedience to our Lord can unleash more power through us than 10 years of study or sacrifice.

I’m not too alarmed that our culture is burying Christmas. I would expect a lost culture to do so. I am somewhat concerned that sometimes God’s people are helping in the burial. But I am also mindful that Jesus never stays buried very long. We must never disconnect his resurrection from the celebration of his birth. He was born to die and be raised from the dead. Many will try to bury the true meaning of the gospel, but the fact remains that today Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father and we have the privilege to carry out his marching orders to speak and live the good news.

We don’t have to dig Jesus out from under anything. We must preach him crucified. No one knows what God might do if we refocused our lives, energy, and resources on his Great Commission rather than our Great Convenience. May spiritual awakening break out during this Christmas season.

God is with us. Yes, he is.

Elliff reminds pastors of “crunch time” in reaching world

It’s crunch time, according to International Mission Board President Tom Elliff. Elliff issued a plea to pastors to help confront the “lostness” of the world as they emphasize giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

“All over the world there are literally billions of people who are broken, desperate and thirsty for the Living Water,” Elliff wrote in this year’s LMCO appeal. “For more than 160 years, IMB has partnered with churches like yours to share the truth of Jesus with those who desperately need to hear. But for us to fulfill the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations, we must all be totally committed.”

“Giving no less than our heart, soul and mind is what’s required of us as believers in Christ,” Elliff said, noting this year’s theme of “Totally His.”

“Right now, standing on tiptoe, we can literally see the ends of the earth,” he wrote. “But it’s crunch time, pastors. We can’t live where we live, drive what we drive, wear what we wear and eat what we eat—and at the end of the day call it ‘sacrifice.’”

Aware that pastors are often the gatekeepers to LMCO promotion, Elliff reminded readers, “Your church’s giving truly makes a difference. Those God has called are sent and supported, and thousands of lives captive in darkness are set free by the glorious message of the gospel. Let’s give abundantly and sacrificially, totally from the heart.”

Tools for promoting the offering are available online at imb.org/offering.