Happy new year, church!

Just three hours before I sat down to write this article, we approved a budget, and a series of nominations, and a few new members.  Let me thank every one of you that were in our Sanctuary this evening.  Thank you for what you did, and more importantly, the spirit with which you did it.  Within that budget, we just took a quarter-million dollars we received about a decade ago, and elected to (over the next five years) spend it.  Two fifths (plus some interest it’s earned) we will use to invest in our building and property.  Yes there is a degree of “spending it on ourselves” that we’ll do, but ultimately, we want to use it to be good stewards, maintaining that which we already have, and making it better for those who will follow after us.

Three fifths, as we decided tonight, we’ll give away.  I could not be any more excited about this than I am right now.  We have a new committee (that you just elected) who will prayerfully consider who we already have partnerships with, and who we may cultivate partnerships with, and how we can bless others, maximizing Kingdom impact!  I know that $150,000 can only go so far, but I hope that we can invest right here in Walnut Cove, and to the ends of the earth, and anywhere in between.  I hope we can invest in church planters and clandestine missionaries.  I hope we can find ways to increase literacy and protect the unborn, clothe the naked and feed the hungry.  We must do our part to adopt the fatherless, and provide for the widow (James 1:27).  Perhaps we will even help provide shelter for the homeless and visit those in prison.  If we want to be found faithful, hearing “come… inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” then we WILL care faithfully for the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40).  As we love our neighbors, near and far, we must plead for God to take our offerings, multiply them as only He can, and give us platforms from which to proclaim the great Good News of salvation in Jesus’ name.  Ultimately, we do all these things in an effort to see souls saved and lives changed!  Join me now, in praying for God to give us wisdom as we discern where to go and with whom to partner.  The vision that God would have us see is found in Revelation 5:9; the mission is found in Matthew 28:19-20; we just need to yield to the Holy Spirit’s leadership as we strive to be faithful.

During and after we talked about the dollars and cents, I was encouraged by the shift our collective discussion took.  Since the 2020 pandemic, frankly, we have struggled to build and sustain momentum within our student ministry.  Luke tried and tried to regather the kiddos, but to no avail.  Braydon tried to rebuild a group of youth from the bottom, up.  This summer, I have tried personally to get our middle and high school students in the same place, at the same time.  This is a frustration that has broken my heart, and it’s broken many of your hearts too.  Allow me to find a silver lining here: what I heard expressed tonight was a collective burden that our church family shares.  We heard it from parents and grandparents, and from others that have no real personal reason to care about ministries to the next generation.  Thank you, each of you, that shared your heart on this matter.  Thank you also, to the many who didn’t say anything out loud, but nodded along.  I sense a unified willingness to do whatever it takes to invest in our young people, to reach more young people, and to maintain ministry to our next generation as a high priority in our church.

Join me in doing your part (and yes, YOU have a part) to pray for our young people (those within our church family, and their friends beyond); pray for their families, that Mom and Dad will be faithful disciple-makers at home; pray for our Personnel Committee, that they will have wisdom to discern who God is sending our way and that they have the patience to await His timing.  Finally, please, pray for me.  I have been mulling on this for about four months now (each year I like to have a “big thing” that I work on organizationally), and the conversation this evening solidified my leaning: my personal “one big thing” for 2026-27 is middle and high school student ministry.  Pray that I have some free evenings to go to ball games.  Pray that I have the energy to keep up during a lock-in.  Pray that God will give us opportunities to partner alongside other churches to give more exciting events, trips, etc. to our young people.  Pray that God will work in and through me to equip our own young people to be ministers/missionaries in their own class rooms.  Pray these things over yourself too?

As I mentioned already, thank you for the decisions you’ve made, but thank you all the more, for the spirit in which you made them.  I am always encouraged by the humility with which we conduct our business.  We as a church family are always quick to set aside personal agendas, seeking instead for God’s will to be done.  We may see random issues from different perspectives, we may even disagree on a decision from time to time, but we strive to walk in unity, loving one another at every step along the way!  Our unity, remember, is not in conformity of opinion.  Our unity is found in Jesus the Christ, and He is the one who binds us together as brothers/sisters!  We have profoundly gifted leaders, our committees work so efficiently, and I am always reminded that of all our great resources to steward, the greatest is people.

Our church turned 135 years old this year.  I doubt He will, but should King Jesus tarry another 135 years, what will become of the First Baptist Church?  Will Walnut Cove remain a better place because we (or our spiritual descendants) are still here?  Will we still be faithful to obey and proclaim God’s Word?  Will we still be committed to the Great Commission?  I’d like to think that our spiritual ancestors, 135 years ago, envisioned generations of souls being saved and lives being changed right here in Stokes County.  I believe they, and the many generations since, prayed for us, you and me, who would be here today.  It also seems to me that pondering what, or rather who, was yet to come spurred them on to love and good works those many years ago.  I believe Rev. Sidney F. Conrad, and the flock of his day, were very simply committed to biblical fidelity, striving to obey the Great Commission, attempting to steward that which was entrusted to them, faithfully.  May the same be said of us.

We’ve come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord,
trusting in His holy Word; He’s never failed me yet.
O, we can’t turn back; we’ve come this far by faith.
In Jesus’ name, we press on;
dear Lord, with the prize clear before our eyes,
we find the strength, to press on!
--A.J.

Brothers and sisters,

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “home” as a noun, meaning “the fixed dwelling place or abode of a person, family, household, or animal”.  It can also imply “where someone was brought up, with reference to the feelings of belonging and comfort associated with it”.  An additional O.E.D. definition is “a refuge, a sanctuary; a place to which one naturally belongs or feels at ease”.  Is your “home town” the place you live, or the place where you were raised?  If it’s the former, my father’s “home town” is Greensboro.  If it’s the latter, my father never really had a “home town” (military brat).  I generally think of “home town” as the place where I grew up, and the idea of it being a “fixed dwelling” resonates with me because I think of “home” as a place of permanence, furthering the idea of it being a place of stability.

From time to time, some of you may hear me refer to “my home church”.  Sharpe Road Baptist Church in Greensboro is the church in which I was raised, from the time I was about one-and-a-half until I was 22, when I came to work here at First Baptist Church.  If I subtract my college years, when I was only attending my home church fifteen times per year, I was really only part of that church family for about seventeen-and-a-half years.  This just so happens to be pretty close to the length of time I have been a part of this church family!  In fact, I don’t even know a majority of the people who attend my “home church”.  So it is clear to me that “my home church” is certainly not “my church home”.  Though it absolutely remains a place of “comfort”, because I feel “at ease”, I can’t say that it is a place of “belonging” because I don’t naturally fit in the way I once did.

A few of you have made comments to me appreciating my use of “church family”.  I prefer to think of our body in that way, because there are members on our roll that aren’t really part of our church family anymore.  There are also active participants who may not yet be covenant members of our church that are absolutely part of our “family”.  I like this idea of family; it most certainly is a biblical idea.  When we think about what “home” is, it seems very difficult to define if we alienate it from the idea of the family.  Indeed if the First Baptist Church is your church home, you surely appreciate the idea of it being a refuge or a sanctuary, a “place” of belonging and comfort, acceptance and love (I am talking about the family of believers as a “place”, not a building).

So then, what does it mean to “go home” or “come home”?  Could I “go home” to Sharpe Road on occasion?  Sure.  Do we want former members of First Baptist, or members that we haven’t seen in a while, to “come home” to worship and celebrate with us?  Absolutely.  In September each year, we have a home-coming celebration.  This year, our former pastor, W. Robert Glasgow, will return to worship with us, preaching 55 years after he became our pastor.  I very much hope many others come back to worship with us too.  It should be a great day of reunion, when we reflect and give thanks for what God has done in and through our church over 135 years!

Annually, on our home-coming Sunday, we actively lean into the idea of “home” being permanent, where we were raised (as little ones or not).  The other fifty-one Sundays, my hope is that we actively lean into the other idea of what makes “home”.  I want us to actively cultivate the spirit of a dwelling place where someone naturally belongs and feels at ease, right here, right now.  I hope our guests quickly experience feelings of belonging and comfort, whether brought up in our church or not.  May we indeed be a sanctuary for anyone and everyone.  May we, as a church family, be a refuge.

In so doing, our church family will be a place of genuine New Testament fellowship.  We will bear one another’s burdens; we will encourage one another, pray for one another, and love one another, just as God’s Word instructs.  My hope is that we continue to cultivate a sense of comfort and belonging such that more and more and more people will become part of our church family.  Fifty-five more years from now, I want many, many more people to want to “come home” to First Baptist Church, and I don’t want them to return to worship with us.  Rather, I want them to be fixtures within our church family that reinforce the idea of “home” being an abode of permanence.

Additionally, if some of our friends and loved ones are able to worship with us for the first time in a while, and haven’t been attending another church, let’s do our part to draw them back into our church family.  Obviously, we don’t shame them or try to guilt them into returning to the fold.  Instead, we love them, and remind them of how much we have missed them, and we highlight the value in being a part of this church family as a home.  Hopefully, folks will come back home in the months ahead.  Hopefully, others will become part of our church family for the first time!  Either way, may we all work together to actively strengthen our culture and atmosphere such that more and more feel “at home” amongst us!  I want others to experience the sense of home that I experience, especially you!  May God continue to bless us as we continue to faithfully serve one another and our neighbors, for another 135 years … or until He calls us to our eternal home!

God the Father of Your people, You have called us to be one;
grant us grace to walk together in the joy of Christ, Your Son.
Challenged by Your Word and Spirit, blessed with gifts from heaven above,
as one body we will serve You, and bear witness to Your love!
--A.J.

Fellow travelers,

“Fat & lazy” is the phrase I have used recently to describe the Israelites in the Old Testament.  If you have listened to any parts of our Roll Through the Bible series during the mid-week Adult Bible Study sessions, it is highly likely that you have heard Pastor Pat or me refer to the four-fold cycle of relationship between God and the children of Israel.  Simply, the Israelites receive blessings from God.  The comfort from which, allow them to grow happy, complacent, “fat & lazy”, and disobedient, failing to faithfully follow the Law.  Thirdly, they begin to experience God’s punishment and just (fair) judgment against their sin.  Seemingly every cycle of this involves harsher and harsher punishment because they are hard-headed and “stiff necked (Exodus 32:9)”, refusing to pay attention to God when He is trying to get their attention.  Fourthly, eventually, once God has gotten their attention the hard way, they acknowledge the errors of their ways, confess their sins, repent, turning back to God in a posture of faithfulness and obedience.  Having done so, they [firstly] receive God’s hand of blessing all over again.

That second phase of the cycle has given me much thought in recent weeks.  I have befriended a church planter in Winston-Salem that refers to himself as a “theological mutt”, having come from a rather eclectic mixture of different denominations before landing in a much more liturgical tribe than ours.  He talked about the beauty of the more “high church” tradition, where creeds are read weekly, the Lord’s Supper is commemorated more frequently, and they practice congregational responsive readings often.  I agreed with him about how beautiful those practices are, and the positive value of actively cultivating a spirit of togetherness, driving a feeling of smallness and humility into the individual church member.  Then again [I told him] “we don’t do that stuff very often.”  He then admitted the tendency of those things just becoming rote repetition, growing “stale”, and losing their meaning.

Are we “fat & lazy”?  I am certainly not accusing our church corporately, nor any individual herein, of growing disobedient or unfaithful to God’s Word.  I am questioning if you or I have become complacent or stale in some way.  Only you can answer this question for your own soul, but ponder a few things with me before you solidify your final answer.

First, how is your spiritual temperature with respect to personal worship?  As a disciple (follower) of Jesus, how is your prayer life?  How is your time of reading/studying the bible?  Do you hunger to spend more time with God, by studying scripture and communing with Him in prayer?  Have you grown spiritually over the past season of life?  How so?  Are you experiencing the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit?  Would others (who see Jesus in you) agree with this assessment?

Second, how is your spiritual temperature with respect to corporate worship?  Is attending a church service just a thing you do out of habit?  Is it just an event on your calendar?  Do you arrive on Sundays with a sense of eagerness?  Have you experienced the glory of God lately?  If you’ve vacated this summer, and missed a Sunday or two in a row, does your soul long to be back with your brothers/sisters to lift high the name of Jesus?  When you leave Sunday afternoons, do you feel like you’ve experienced the presence of God?  Do you “put in” active participation, or do you just show up, expecting to “get out” as a consumer?  1) If we have areas where improvements are needed [and we do], please come see me; I welcome feed back.  2) If some Sundays are “drier” than others, that is a completely normal thing for most people, and could be a result of a dozen different variables; be encouraged to keep participating, asking God to reveal Himself to you afresh and anew.  3) What could you do, internally or externally, to become a more active participant in corporate worship?

Third, as a disciple (follower) of Jesus, what are you doing to make further disciples (Matthew 28:19)?  Are you walking the walk, setting an example of holiness and humility, pointing others toward Jesus?  Are you talking the talk, graciously, lovingly, boldly having conversations about spiritual things with family, friends, and co-workers (those who may be saved and/or lost people)?  Do you feel equipped to have those conversations about the bible, or about ethics, or about doctrine, or about living a life of wisdom and understanding?  Do you pray for hurting hearts as much as you pray for hurting body parts?  Do you ask God to give you opportunities to share your testimony?  Do you live daily, looking at people, wondering how you might be able to brighten their day?  Does your heart ache for those who are hurting?  Are you just cruising through life accomplishing tasks, or are you influencing others (loved ones AND strangers) in a positive way?

Fourth, as a part of our church family, what are you doing to serve?  Are you investing in the lives of your brothers/sisters in Christ?  How (this could be formal within our church organization, or not)?  Are you investing in missions and evangelism?  When is the last time you participated in one of our mission projects?  Are you giving money, for the glory of God and the good of others?  Are you giving time, through our church’s programs (or beyond)?  Are there projects we should do; do you have a passion or an idea that we need to pursue?  Are you struggling in some way, regarding the previous paragraph [we strive to teach, equip, train, and encourage you practice missions and evangelism personally, irrespective of our formal programs/projects]?

Fifth, back to your spiritual temperature with respect to personal worship, is faith a private or public matter for you?  Are reading, studying, and praying just an academic exercise for you?  Are singing and listening to sermons just an experience for you?  Is being a disciple just a mental exercise?  Is following Jesus just an emotional exercise?  Is worship just an event you attend, OR is worship a lifestyle you live?  Is your daily life marked by walking in Jesus’ footsteps, following His commands, yielding to His precepts, faithfully striving toward obedience, holiness, humility, and spiritual maturity?  Is faith a public matter for you, pointing others toward the Christ?  In other words, do others see Jesus in you, as you talk the talk and walk the walk?

We all experience seasons of comfort that can devolve into complacency and downright laziness.  None of us are immune from spiritual staleness or becoming “dry”.  It seems to me, however, that thinking through the above prompts fix our eyes where they ought be fixed, upon Jesus.  As we do, His Spirit begins a freshening work in our soul.  Are there elements in the questions above where I need to improve?  Absolutely yes.  I imagine there are a couple for you too.  May God show us what we need to see.  As we behold His vision, may we be spurred onward to love and good works.  May we walk a bit more closely with Him tomorrow than we do today.

If they lead through the Temple holy, preaching the Word,
or in homes of the poor and lowly, serving the Lord;
foot prints of Jesus that make the path way glow.
We will follow the steps of Jesus, where e’er they go!
--A.J.

My fellow Americans,

As many of you know, I generally shy away from “God and country” days.  As a kid, I saw that devolve very quickly into the worship of these United States, which, I need not remind you, is simply a form of idolatry.  It is also worth noting that rarely does the Christian faith adulterate our love of country, but all too often does patriotism adulterate our commitment to the faith as articulated in God’s Word.  As we turn 250 years old, however, it is certainly worth paying attention to one of God’s greatest gifts to our church family: the fact that we get to live in this great country.  So, as we and our fellow countrymen celebrate a “semiquincentennial” (what a fun word; “half of 500”) this year, I’d like to offer you some food for thought.

First thing first, remember fellow followers of Jesus across the globe.  It is worth noting that they are brothers/sisters in Christ; and many of them do not share the liberties we have the joy of sharing as Americans.  Let’s be mindful of these brothers/sisters, and remember what binds us together.  When we celebrate the things that warm our hearts, wear our red/white/blue, watch fireworks, and enjoy what bind us together as Americans, remember people of different cultures and languages and ethnicities with whom we have something much greater in common: salvation in Jesus’ name!  What binds Americans together is a great thing indeed, but what binds fellow Christians together is much, much greater.  In what does your highest pledge of allegiance lie?

Second, may we all fall on our knees thanking God that we get to live here.  As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the independence of our 13 states, may our natural thought processes quickly move toward gratitude.  Is our country flawed?  Yes.  Are there appalling, or disappointing, or even angering things about our country?  Probably.  Is our country perfect?  Emphatically no!  Let’s be quick to agree that despite our weaknesses and flaws, this country is the greatest country in the history of this planet.  We ought to fall on our knees thanking God that we have the great blessing of living here.  Take a moment and ponder Earth’s other countries; now thank God that you don’t have to live in many of them.  May we be quick to acknowledge that being American is one of God’s most precious gifts to us, and that we are way, way too quick to take God’s gifts for granted.  Let’s pause and reflect, thanking God for His many, many blessings in allowing us to be here, now.

Third, read the Declaration of Independence.  There are eighteen “He has/is” paragraphs accusing George III of tyranny; consider the over-bearing governmental oppression that our colonial fore-fathers had to endure.  Let’s all ponder how good we have it, and how incredible our rights and liberties are.  It may be worth reading the Bill of Rights too, amending the Constitution, just to get a taste for beautiful ways in which our pre-eminent law actively protects little ol’ us from over-reach on the part of our government.  May we recognize how precious these things are, and value them accordingly.  As we read the Declaration, it’s also worth noting that Abraham Lincoln stood on the battle field of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and called it a “promissory note”.  Was our new nation perfect on July 5, 1776?  No.  Is it perfect now?  No.  Is it better than it was 249 years ago?  Yes!  As our Constitution’s preamble reads “in order to form a more perfect Union”; it’s a good thing that we have a system that allows for continued improvements.  May we, as citizens of God’s Kingdom, be the best citizens this country has, and may we be continually working to make life better for those around us.  This is done daily apart from government, but occasionally it is good for us to make use of governmental tools to accomplish these improvements “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence”, just as the Declaration’s signers did.  Finally, as we read the Declaration, may we agree that government doesn’t give or grant us rights.  Rather, governments are instituted to secure our rights.  Government ought simply recognize the rights we have, and the fact that they are self-evident, unable to be alienated from us, and given to us by our Creator!  Now we can be even more thankful to God that it is these truths upon which our independence was based!

Fourth, put your “history nerd” hat on this year.  Watch a YouTube video about Dr. Benjamin Rush, or about the Battle of Saratoga.  There are lots of biographical sketches available, as well as depictions of events surrounding the Revolutionary War.  Consider what happened, and how, and let your heart be filled with pride at the incredible men and women who have gone before us.  Take a dive into colonial history, or the War Between the States, or World War II.  Dig into civilians, dig into military heroes, dig into the history of the Supreme Court, or the geography of the states.  Take advantage of this time to learn a bit more about the people, the places, and the events that have made this country so great.  These can be around our founding, or present day, or anywhere else along the time line.  In so doing, we will quickly gain an even greater appreciation of the old mantra that “freedom is not free”.  As we study and learn, we are counting the costs of what we have today.  From Valley Forge, to the Alamo, to the California gold rush, to Antietam, to Henry Ford’s assembly line, to Kill Devil’s Hill, to Yellowstone, to Pearl Harbor, to Guilford Courthouse, we have a great story.  Do something this year to take in a new bit or piece of this story.  It will cause you to feel small, and this humility will cause you to become yet more thankful.

Fifth, commit yourself to being the best citizen this country has.  Because we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are here but for a little while.  While we are here, let’s be faithful stewards.  Vote.  Pay your taxes.  Serve jury duty (though everyone doesn’t have to get as weirdly excited about it as I do).  Volunteer.  Support a local school.  Thank a fire fighter.  Go to the library and tell a child and his mother what that flag up the pole means to you.  Simply put, just be a good neighbor.  Brighten someone else’s day, leaving this community a little better than you found it.  That is biblical stewardship.  That is obedience to Matthew 22:39.  When you hear The Star-Spangled Banner this year, stand up just a little taller, get a lump in your throat, and recognize that we are profoundly blessed.  Let’s remember Who to thank, remembering also to share those blessings with others.  May America bless God, and may He continue to bless America!

Our fathers’ God, to Thee, author of liberty, to Thee we sing:
long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light;
protect us by Thy might, great God, our King!
--A.J.

Hello friends,

If you aren’t a regular attender of Adult Bible Study on Wednesday evenings, let me challenge you, now that the kiddos are out of school, and it is still a plenty light at 7:30pm, to join us in the Sanctuary as we wade into the summer.  If you have particular supper traditions at particular times, or if you need to be home and readying for bed by specific times, I respect that too; but let me challenge YOU to watch our Adult Bible Study sessions via YouTube on Wednesday evenings, or another time.  It is worth noting that you cannot experience the sweet fellowship of brothers/sisters in Christ on YouTube.  Since it is going to be so light out, so late this summer (and so hot), you can go with a friend or few down to Main Street and grab some ice cream before heading home!  That’s just another benefit to such a Wednesday evening excursion!

I don’t mean to be ham-fisted about this plug, but I do want to earnestly commend to you the Roll Through the Bible series we are presently in the midst of during our Adult Bible Study sessions.  It has been so fun for me to teach in this series, and from what I have gathered from so many of you, it’s been fun to hear too!  We are clipping along at a one-book-per-week pace.  It’s been a challenge to distill a 35-chapter book down to a one-hour study (minus prayer request time = about 48 minutes).  Needless to say, each week, there has been much left on the “editing room floor”, but the study has been fun for me.  This is a very different pace of study than we are accustomed to, but this change of pace is helpful in a few different ways…

First, y’all know I love the “weeds”.  I like to go slow, digging into the depths of God’s Word, walking through passages, paying attention to details and soaking up everything I can learn along the way.  In this “Roll Through” series, we aren’t crawling, or walking, or even running; we are “flying over” a book from a 5,000- or 10,000- or 15,000-foot level.  If a book has only four chapters, we can swoop down and see more of the “trees”, but to see all 50 chapters of Genesis in one evening, we had to pull back on the joy stick, climb pretty high, and see only the large “forests” along the way.  This inability to go slow and pay attention to detail naturally allows us to pan out, seeing the over-arching story of redemption from Genesis to the Revelation.  This pace of study causes us to maintain a focus upon God’s grand story, and helps us to see how a particular book fits into the broader whole of the bible.

Second, a fun effect of this pace of study is to side-swipe really great stories.  Obviously, we couldn’t spend more than about 60 seconds on the low-light of Tamar & Judah (Genesis 38) while we “flew over” Genesis.  My hope, is that several of you went home and read through that chapter on your own time later that week.  Along the way, I have attempted to make a point of mentioning high-lights, and low-lights, along the way.  I hope you will read these stories, or vignettes, on your own.  What always amazes me, is how God works even through the sad moments of failure, profound sin, or hurt.  So, by joining us for this “Roll Through” series, your appetite might be whetted to further investigate the weeds of particular stories on your own!

Third, by deliberately charging through the whole bible, we will roll through books that perhaps you haven’t studied before, or that you may not have read in a long time.  I don’t think I have ever preached from Song of Songs, and rarely do we spend time studying random passages from relatively obscure minor Prophets.  This series will force us to touch all the books, even the ones we rarely touch, and this is a very good thing!  My hope through this is that God will elevate our individual levels of biblical literacy, which will advance our church’s corporate degree of biblical literacy.  My hope is that we will stumble across random stories that you learned many moons ago, but you can’t even remember where they are in the bible.

Fourth, and this is not in stone yet, but Pastor Pat and I have nearly decided that we are going to NOT adhere to canonical order (the order of the Table of Contents in your bible).  Instead, we are mulling the idea of trying to maintain (as best we can), a chronological order.  My hope in this effort will be to help us see more clearly how the various sections of God’s Word fit together according to the time line.  We aim to complete the Old Testament, circle back to the O.T. over-view, review the four centuries between the testaments, give a New Testament over-view, and then moving on into Matthew!

Finally, this pace of study will give us the freedom to pause and restart the series.  None of us thought that we began this series in February 2026, only to take 66 Wednesdays in a row to mow through it all (we blew that in March!).  We will have advent events, alternate schedules, social evenings, guest speakers, and perhaps inclement weather again.  That will result in fits and starts, and it will be alright.  We aren’t bound to a hard, fast time table; we will get through the 66th book whenever we get through it!  I have so enjoyed our Roll Through the Bible thus far, Pastor Pat has enjoyed it thus far, and many of you have already expressed to me that you are enjoying it thus far.  My hope is that more and more of you will come to enjoy it too!  Historically, Baptists have claimed to be “the people of the book”; this is a great way for us to put our money where our mouth is.  Isn’t it a good thing to be continually renewed in our love for God, by falling in love with Him over and over again by studying His Word?

Holy Bible, book of love, tell me of our God above;
He who made me loves me still, helps me know and do His will.
Holy Bible, once again tell of God’s great love to man;
how He gave His only Son, how Christ died for everyone.
--A.J.

Aaahh choo!

I hope your head isn’t as full of pollen as mine is!  It’s been a struggle in recent Sundays to have a clear enough voice to speak, but at least my ability to sing bass has never been better!  My Jeep has a coating of yellow on it too, but aren’t we thankful for the beauty of the flowers this spring?  “March winds and April showers bring May flowers” as the old saying goes.  I so love the crisp mornings before it gets too warm for my liking.  Many of you have been praying for rain like I have been, because we have been so dry in recent weeks.  Multiple people in our church family have bee hives, and I hope those amazing little creatures have been busy lately too, because I love good honey!  It is staying lighter, longer (irrespective of “Daylight Saving” Time) also, which makes many of us happy.  It is indeed a beautiful, and in many ways encouraging, time of the year!

As many of you may know already, we hold a weekly Chapel service for the children of our New Life Center.  We sing some songs and we teach the little ones a brief bible lesson.  Since spring began, we have been teaching about the different days of creation, and God’s day of rest, and how Eve was made to be a companion for Adam from Genesis 1 & 2.  It has been a great joy to see the wide-eyed marvel of the little ones when we think about the stars in outer space, and how vast God’s creation is!  We’ve talked about the different kinds of plants, some of which we eat, others of which we get to look at and enjoy their beauty.  We have also talked about the many, many different kinds of animals and how fun they are to study.  All of these aspects of creation are given to human beings as gifts.  We, and only we, are made in the image of God, and He has given dominion over His creation to mankind, and only to mankind.

I have never considered myself a “tree hugger”.  In fact, I usually prefer the comforts of in-door life, but it is a good thing for Christians to behold (and protect) the beauty of God’s creation.  From the stunning colors of spring (yes, even while watching The Masters) to the glory of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the autumn, it does our souls good to slow down and enjoy God’s creation, and it’s many gifts to us.  From the top of Hanging Rock, looking out for miles and miles, to the edge of the sea, where we are reminded of Genesis 1:9, to looking at the night sky, where indeed we are made to feel small, all of us ought to pause regularly and bask in the beauty of God’s creation.  The beauty of creation should remind us of the beauty of its Creator, our Creator.

I am neither smart enough, nor do we have here the time or paper space to unpack what it means to be created in the image of God, but at least one of the ways we reflect God’s image is that we too can be creative.  I asked the little ones what it means “to create”.  One of the young fellows said “like to make something”!  We can make things, and in so doing, we are image-bearers of God.  Aren’t we thankful for men and women that are creative in expressing the performing arts, and those that write the music, and those that fashion the instruments from raw materials?  Isn’t it amazing to watch painters, or potters, or sculptors, or caricature sketch artists capture the beauty of things God created?  Doesn’t it take our breath away to think of folks designing and building a car, or a home, or a sky-scraper, or a computer [that you can put in your pocket].  Whether engineering from Lego bricks, or massive beams of steels, or tiny pixels, we can build, reflecting the image of a Master Builder.  I ponder the greatest minds in laboratories deconstructing molecules in attempts to find cures for cancer, and the fact that God created those molecules in Genesis 1.  We can be creative, because we bear the image of our Creator!

From the barely-touched sections of creation, to the most complex systems of the greatest metropolises, if we slow down enough to consider it, we ought to be left in awe and wonder of our great and mighty Creator.  We ought also cultivate a mentality of stewardship over these things.  We should be faithful stewards of the raw materials of the natural world.  “Reduce, reuse, and recycle” is just a fancy way of telling us to not be wasteful.  As we steward the natural world, we should also be faithful stewards of the knowledge we share.  As we research, and learn more, God has blessed mankind with the understanding of how to better use our resources such that output is maximized.  As modern medicine and technology continue to advance, it is incumbent upon us to make use of these tools in God-honoring ways, promoting the blessing and flourishing of our fellow man.  We practice biblical stewardship, because we want to honor the great Creator who has given these good gifts to us.  He gives us gifts for our good and for His own glory!  Isn’t our Creator beautiful?

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze,
then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
how great Thou art, how great Thou art!
--A.J.

Hey gang!

Christmas or Easter!?!  Here we go!  What do you prefer?  Which is more fun for your family?  Which is more fun for us as a church family?  I was asked last week whether I enjoy Christmas more, or Easter.  Without even letting the question mark come out of the mouth of the person asking me, I fired back “EASTER!”  No doubt, no hesitation, I didn’t have to think about it.  So, here, let me attempt to give my best defense of why I answered that way.

First, let me go ahead and acknowledge how little I enjoy “special events”.  Many of you know that about me already.  I absolutely subscribe to the Adrian Rogers approach to church events: our church has 52 special events per year; that’s enough for me.  I love worship services on Sundays, every week.  I want them to be well-planned, well-executed, high-quality affairs.  I want the sermon to be clear, stirring, convicting, encouraging, Spirit-driven, and completely centered around God’s Word.  I want music to be good; I want the Choir to sound great (they do!).  I want prayer to be a central component, I want God to speak to our hearts, I want us to leave looking more like Jesus than we did when we arrived.  If Sundays are quality events, what else do we need?  I have a soft spot for out-reach events, because I want the unchurched to be drawn to our fellowship, but “special services” usually just stress me out.  I don’t love “special events” around Christmas; I don’t love “special events” around Easter.  That can’t be why I prefer either.

In my family (my mother’s side in particular), both days involve a trip to Gramaw’s house, and both occasions involve ham.  It may go without saying that the food is spectacular both times, but I’ll give the edge to Christmas.  When I account for having to bring gifts (and the shopping that’s required before that), Christmas loses it’s edge, so it remains a wash.

Special church events aside, let me score the trappings surrounding each of these holydays.  Christmas is in winter: that’s one point (or a dozen).  It’s cooler, I can wear a coat and be comfortable.  Easter is in the spring.  I love a chilly early Easter, but it’s always a gamble, because on many years, I’m sweating already.  Spring is when the flowers are blooming, or to put it more accurately, spring is when the pollen is blowing up my nostrils.  The new life of spring is why pastels and eggs become symbolic.  I know that rabbits mate in the spring, but I still don’t understand why a bunny represents anything!  For that matter, the word “Easter” has pagan roots.  For these reasons, Christmas takes a strong lead.

In the words of the angel Gabriel (played by Nate Bargatze) to Mary and Joseph [in Nate’s 2024 Christmas special]: “it’s going to have a real Scandinavian feel”.  Saint Nicholas (Ni’Claus) didn’t wear a fuzzy red suit or a stocking cap, and the reindeer entering the picture is a particularly weird piece of the imagery.  Add the special music and movies and decorations (tasteful and not) and hilarious sweaters to the mix, and Christmas pulls way ahead.  For that matter, it has such an over-whelming cultural lead, that Jews and Muslims and Hindus and atheists the world over are completely comfortable celebrating Christmas with their families!

Christmas is sweet; it makes us feel warm and fuzzy.  Few are really offended by the story of a baby.  Even the folks who refuse to believe the bible, like the Christmas story (I mean, who doesn’t love a baby?).  Easter is offensive.  Death is not fun to discuss; crucifixion is particularly gross.  The idea that sin has consequences because God hates it and is the righteous judge, tends to step on too many toes.  When we talk about which groups of people are responsible for killing Jesus, things get awkward.  So, let’s just prefer Christmas.

However, when we discard family traditions, and shove all the trappings and ridiculous traditions aside, let’s ponder – simply – Jesus life and the biblical story.  When decorations, and menus, and music, and even church services are stripped away, all we are lift with is God’s Word, and the ministry of Jesus in our hearts.  When we sharpen our focus upon Him, we can see Him in the manger, and preaching by the Sea of Galilee, and healing just outside the Temple, and drinking wine at a wedding banquet, and feeding a great crowd, and napping in a boat during a storm, and kneeling in the garden, and silently taking the beating, and hanging upon a cross, and walking by the Sea again, and ascending to heaven!  His life and ministry culminate in redemption.  His atoning sacrifice is THE reason for His incarnation (and birth) to begin with; and aren’t we all-the-more thankful that His redeeming sacrifice was not the end of His ministry.  On the third day, once and for all, He defeated death and sin, vacating His own tomb!!  This is why Resurrection Sunday is my preference.  This day is the day of celebration!  This day is the day where we receive the benefit of His birth, and life, and death, through His resurrection!  Were it not for Easter, we wouldn’t have anything to celebrate on Christmas.  Join me in preferring Easter!  Nah, I don’t care what you prefer.  Join me in celebrating, and worshipping Jesus!  Join me in making and keeping all the holydays (and every day) all about Him!  Hallelujah!

Christmas has its cradle, where that Baby cried;
in the Easter garden Christ lay, crucified;
when death’s power was conquered, God’s life through Him poured;
Christmas has its cradle, and Easter has its Lord!
--A.J.

Greetings and salutations!

If you’ve previously been part of a Catholic, or Orthodox, or Lutheran, or Anglican, or Methodist church (or a dozen others), you may have observed Lent at some point or other in your life.  When I was recently asked about it (or lack thereof) in our church family, I wanted to say “baptists don’t do Lent” and let it be that simple, but join me as I think through Lent.  It’s good to understand what it is, and what it isn’t.  It’s good to unpack its symbolism, ponder its purpose, and consider what God might have to say to us.

Let me first tell you Lent exists (as most liturgical traditions exist) because for a majority of Church history, the Church was illiterate.  The recitations of memorized prayers and creeds trace their roots backward to the fact that with the exception of the clergy, no one could read God’s Word for themselves.  The same is true of ritualistic worship services that seem exactly the same every week.  The same is true of seasons of feasting and fasting across the liturgical calendar.  All of these things reinforce the understanding of biblical principles in the lives of congregants.  In other words, now that we can read and study God’s Word for ourselves (in our own language), it’s perfectly legitimate to eliminate some of these traditions.  It’s perfectly legitimate to continue them too, but it’s certainly not necessary.

Let me second tell you why Lent is dumb (yes, I am using hyperbole, like Jesus did in Matthew 5:29-30).  It begins 40 (or so) days before Easter; it’s actually 46 days ending on Maundy Thursday, but that explanation is too long for this article.  Certain traditions have particular rules about what you can and can’t eat on particular days of the week, but that too would be too long to explain (though everyone should search the advent of the McDonald’s Filet o’ Fish on Google!).  Many observers of Lent begin the season by receiving the “imposition of ashes” upon their foreheads.  This reminds me of what a member of my ordination council once said to me about the process of ordination (paraphrasing): ‘what does it matter if a bunch of unholy men put their unholy hands on my unholy head?’  I do see so many people on television news wearing the smudge on their heads, and wonder if they participated just to look the part for the world to see (then again, sometimes I am just a cynic).  What makes the Lenten season even more absurd is that the day before Ash Wednesday is known as “fat Tuesday” (“Mardi Gras” if you speak French).  For many, who will abstain from some thing during Lent, alcohol perhaps, or sweets, or some other indulgence, “fat Tuesday” (and the days leading up to it) provides a time to use up all that they already have.  This is the beginning of the drunken, debaucherous, gluttonous, hedonistic party traditions that characterize the Gulf coast, culminating on that Tuesday.

Alright, now that I have lampooned some of the frivolous aspects of Lent, let me encourage you with its beauty.  First, seasons of feasting and fasting are indeed biblical.  It is good to abstain (from whatever) for a period of time when we earnestly seek the face of God.  It’s also good to break the fast with a celebratory feast, having heard from God.  It is a precious thing to “taste and see that the Lord is good”, as Psalm 34 declares.

Second, hearing “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” is a direct quotation of Genesis 3:19.  It is good for our soul when we hear this truth.  It reminds us of our smallness, our insignificance, our unrighteousness, and God’s contrasting majesty.  We ought to know this daily.

Third, whether receiving the smudge of ash physically or not, we would do well to spend more time in the ashes.  Sackcloth and ashes were common symbols throughout the bible of a good posture: repentance.  Spending 40 days of repentance is a good thing; spending 365 days of repentance is a better thing.  Repent.  Repent more.  Indeed we are dust, and we have sinned against a holy God.  I deserve an eternity in hell, and I need to repent, every day.  May we mourn our sinful selves; may we mourn the cost of our sin; may we be poor in spirit, as the Beatitudes teach us.

Fourth, it is a good and godly thing to experience a season of preparation.  May we set things aside and focus our hearts upon God.  May we cry out for Him to reveal Himself in a new way.  May we seek His face, expecting for Him to show up!  May we Q-tip our ears, and get on our knees, and dig into God’s Word, and cry out to Him, and expect Him to show us aspects of His goodness and grace that we haven’t ever seen before!

Fifth, about the rhetorical question near my ordination, the answer is: “it doesn’t matter”.  It matters not if unholy men put their unholy hands upon my unholy head, unless the Spirit of God is in it.  However, if the hands and the head are seeking the will, and empowerment, and grace of God, it can be a most precious symbol.  Whether you’ve had a smudge upon your forehead or not is frankly irrelevant to me, but if the Spirit of God is involved, it is a precious and powerful symbol.  With or without the symbol, may God hear our prayers of repentance, may the Holy Spirit indwell our souls, direct our paths, and instill the peace of Jesus throughout our lives.

Whether you give up something or not is irrelevant to me too.  Sometimes I laugh at symbolism; other times I worry that participants are most concerned with the shallow symbols.  It’s good for us to learn what the symbols mean, and appreciate the beauty of the substance beneath.  I challenge you to metaphorically clothe yourself in ash, bending to a posture of repentance, understanding and appreciating your own lowliness and unholiness.  I challenge you to repent.  I challenge you to seek the face of God, crying out to Him, preparing your heart, and waiting, waiting for Him to show up.  As we wait, let’s remember that the Lord’s Day is coming!

Savior, when in tears and dust, low we bow to you in trust;
when repentant, to the skies, scarce we lift our weeping eyes,
mindful how you suffered pain, that God’s love in us might reign;
help us claim what we would be; hear our solemn litany.
--A.J.

Hello dear friends!

As I sit down to write this article, I can look out the window and see frozen precipitation.  I believe I am seeing a thin layer of snow, laid atop a thicker layer of sleet.  Regardless, it is white, and has beautified all the buildings, trees, surfaces, etc.  While I enjoy feeling the luxury of gas logs, I know that it is cold outside, and will get colder as the sun sets.  The coming days are supposed to get yet colder, which causes me to think of those who have to work outside: first responders, the Walnut Cove public works crew, those who work in hospitals, and folks who work for the electric companies.  I am also concerned for the people whose home may not be as warm as mine.  I haven’t lost electricity, yet.  Not everyone has gas logs.  Not everyone has this kind of roof over their head.  May we be mindful of those in need, and may we do what we can to be a blessing to our neighbors, no matter the circumstance.

I didn’t set an alarm clock this morning, and it is admittedly nice to have a lazy Sunday.  I am so thankful for Ms. Leigh and Andy & Dakota Cheek for meeting me yesterday afternoon to record today’s worship service.  I won’t have to go “to work” tomorrow; my job doesn’t require me to be in a specific place.  If you have the option to work remotely, or have the flexibility to take a day off on short notice, let’s remember our childhood.  I remember praying for winter weather as a school kid, waking early to turn on the television and wait for the scroll to announce what my school system would do (by the time I got to high school, I would fail to complete my homework, go to bed, and hope I didn’t have to finish in the morn).  Every now and then, there it would read “Guilford County Schools: closed”!  Mama would dress my brother and me [not unlike Randy in A Christmas Story] and let us go outside to play for hours at a time, coming inside to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, drink hot chocolate, and make snow cream together.  After we thawed, we’d go back outside to play.  O what fun we had, and the biggest care we had was whether we could get the snow balls to stay packed together.  The kid inside me is praying for school to cancel tomorrow, just so these little ones can have a day to play, a day like I remember.  Aren’t we thankful for the joys that God gives, filling our hearts?

As I [barely] work ahead [until football kicks off], I am chewing on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which we will preach through in the coming months.  It is heavy in the theme of sanctification, and full of practical applications in “Christian living”.  This has me thinking: will any of us go to heaven because we walk in obedience?  Will we inherit the earth because we strive to be holy, or follow certain rules, or serve our neighbors better, or vote a certain way, or stop others from doing certain things?  Most certainly: no!  Does God care about what we do?  Yes.  Does God care even more about the heart behind our actions?  O yeah!

May we act, and think, certain ways because Jesus is the Lord of our hearts.  May we hold certain values, or opinions, because we have been shaped by the truths of scripture, because God has our hearts.  May we strive toward holy living, toward spiritual maturity, because we want to look more like our Savior.  May we walk toward humility, looking a bit more like Jesus tomorrow than we do today, because His presence is transforming us from the inside, out.  May we be a blessing to our friends and neighbors, because we want them to walk with Him too.  We know that God cares about our obedience, our thoughts and actions; we also know that God cares about our hearts, the hearts behind our actions, the hearts of which He wants to be Lord.  Will any of us go to heaven because of our “Christian living”?  No, not one.  Do we live, striving to honor the Christ, because we are already bound for heaven?  O yeah.  We think, and do, and hold opinions, and treat our neighbors, and care for the needy, and strive for obedience, because we are inheritors of the Kingdom of God.

We “live Christianity” because the Christ already has our hearts.  The Holy Spirit is conforming us into the image of Jesus day by day.  We have been credited with His righteousness, making us justified.  As we walk with Him, growing in faith, striving toward spiritual maturity, we are being sanctified.  All this is possible because of what He has already done for us.  He has conquered sin and death, and given us the grace of eternal life.  He has taken away the hell we deserve, paying for our own sin, and given us an inheritance as sons of God (Matthew 5:9).  This is all because of what He accomplished upon the cross, His blood cleansing our hearts as white as snow.

Lord Jesus I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to ransom my soul.
Break down every idol, cast out every foe;
now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
--A.J.

Hello friends,

At approximately 10:08, on Sunday morning, December 21, we were as distant from the sun as we ever get in Earth’s orbit.  At that point, the solstice began the winter season.  I love winter, for several different reasons, but I freely acknowledge that many of you do not!  In recent weeks I have learned a bit about “seasonal affective disorder”; whether because of the cold temperatures, or other reasons, it can be a difficult time of the year for many of us.  Be encouraged!  Between now and the third Sunday of June, our days will continue to get longer and longer and longer.  We’ll see more sun light, and indeed temperatures will rise (which, in turn, will make me sad, and sweaty)!

From Thanksgiving Day, through advent, and into the Christmas season can be difficult for many families.  Whether your loved ones live far away and aren’t able to travel to be together, or whether your family members have jobs requiring them to work on holy days, or whether you have experienced the loss of death within the past year, often times traditional events with family and friends can be bitter-sweet.  To these families and individuals, I want to offer you a bit of encouragement too.

A proper theological view of Christmas should force us to look backward, into the Old Testament.  Between Malachi (who most believe to be the latest of the writing Prophets) and Matthew (the beginning of the New Testament), were about four centuries of time.  Much happened in world history, perhaps most importantly the Roman Empire’s conquest of the Promised Land, but bible scholars refer to it as the “400 silent years”, because we have no written scripture.  In some respects, the children of Israel went without hearing from God at all.

Pastor Jim, on December 14, preached from Isaiah 11.  This text, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 7, Micah 5, and Jeremiah 31 are but a few of the Messianic Prophecies that would have seem to have gone unfulfilled… but, indeed the Messiah did come!  “In the fullness of time” Galatians 4 teaches us, God the Son became a human being, in the womb of a virgin girl from Nazareth!  As Isaiah 11 teaches us (like Pastor Jim said), we see all in one Prophecy, both the first coming and the second coming of the Christ!  Even seven centuries before Jesus was born, Isaiah had the privilege of catching a glimpse of His eternal Kingdom!  We see an even clearer picture in Revelation and other New Testament books!

Pastor Pat, on December 07, preached John 1.  John’s account of the “Christmas story” is found in John 1:14 – “the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us” – John goes on to proclaim “we observed His glory; the glory as the One and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”!  Have you observed His glory?  Do you have a personal relationship with Him?  If so, you know hope!

We live in a dark world, literally.  We are just past the longest night of the year.  We also live in a dark world, metaphorically.  Relationships are broken, people are enslaved to addiction, wickedness seems to prevail everywhere.  The curse of sin is apparent in our world.  Indeed it is dark.  Whether you experience seasonal depression, or grief has cast a pall over your family gatherings, or you seem to experienced the brokenness of our world acutely in recent days, we can have hope.  I Thessalonians 4 encourages us that we [who have a saving relationship with Jesus] “will not grieve like the rest” of the world, “who have no hope”.  Though our lost neighbors have no hope, we who know Jesus, and are known by Jesus, have hope!  Simon Peter calls it a “living hope”, because the embodiment of our hope resurrected the third day!!

Jesus is the embodiment of hope, the embodiment of grace, and the embodiment of light.  As Pastor Pat reminded us from John 1:5, “life was in Him, and that life was the light of men”.  May our encouragement, our hope, be found in this truth: “that light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it”!  Regardless of how dark the world seems to be, it cannot overcome the light of King Jesus!  Regardless of how difficult days might be for us, we can have a hope of His Kingdom yet to come to full fruition.  Even during the shortest days of the year, we have a hope of what is yet to come!  Spring and summer are coming; comfort and healing are coming; even on the day Jesus was crucified and died, Sunday was coming!  Be encouraged, church!  We know Hope, and His name is Jesus!

o sing “hallelujah”, our hope springs eternal,
o sing “hallelujah”, now and ever we confess
Christ, our hope, in life and death
--A.J.