On Sunday morning, I arrived just before Sunday School began.

General impressions:

• The place looked great! The church was meeting in a “Day School” – a glorified day care center – and is “converted” into a church every weekend by a very dedicated group of volunteers. The building was modern and easy to find on the street.
• People were exceedingly friendly. Many churches advertise as the friendly church … yet few are ever really that friendly. At this church, I was worn out by the friendly! Not the fake smiles and quick pat on the back, but genuine interest in me and my travelling companion.
• It was easy to park. They had a team of people helping people find parking places.
• It was clean.
• Kids were taken care of. Because they meet in a day care center, they have great facilities for children. Outdoor play areas, toys … you name it.
During Sunday School, I saw room after room full of excited children being taught tremendous Bible lessons with great graphics. Most of the adults stayed in the auditorium and listened to the pastor teach.

During the church service, the following things stuck out:
• The service was well done.
• They kept things moving. No five-minute interruption for announcements. Everything moved.
• The auditorium was absolutely packed. I sat on the front row because there were no other seats available.
• They had a great Sunday night crowd. There were even fewer seats available on Sunday night. It was 100° outside and the AC couldn’t keep up, but 262 people came back for more on Sunday evening. How many of us can say that?


Take a look at the growth trend in this church’s average attendance:

2004 — 51

2005 — 123

2006 — 152

2007 — 216

2008 — 256

2009 — 295

Taken in context, those are incredible numbers!

General observations:

1. Pastor Edwards respects people’s time. The kids had put on a special camp service on Sunday evening, and during his preaching time, he said, “I am only going to preach for 15 minutes, because I want you to come back next week.”
2. They have been wise about real estate. They have avoided the big building/lease payment and have been able to save up enough money to buy an incredible piece of property for future building needs.
3. To many, using a day care center would not seem to be an optimum choice, but it has been great for this church. People feel good about having their kids in such a nice, secure environment.
4. Setting up and breaking down for services on Sunday and Wednesday are incredibly labor intensive and require dozens of people to move literally hundreds of pieces of furniture and chairs. To many, this would seem to be a great hindrance, but to this church, it is a great bonding point and opportunity for cooperation.

5. This church is not about the staff. They don’t have much staff, so volunteers handle pretty much everything. There is a tremendous level of participation in the ministry from the people of Grace Baptist.
6. The pastor was fun. I know this doesn’t seem very Independent Baptist, but that guy has a good time! He is constantly cutting up with people. (You ought to hear his Alison Krauss imitation)
7. The people were excited about what was going on at that church. There was a tremendous liberty in the services.
8. Pastor Edwards’ wife is well loved and respected by church members. Pastor Edwards told me many times how key his wife has been in what has happened around Grace.
9. Pastor Edwards (like Pastor Neal in the previous blog) is a second-generation pastor. He seems to have had a tremendous head-start in ministry from the experience gained by being around his father.
10. Pastor Edwards has attracted a key group of “driven” young couples around him.
11. Pastor Edwards works. He had several 18 to 20 hour work days the week I was there. The Lords blesses a disciplined approach to ministry.
12. Pastor Edwards connects the Bible with people’s hearts. His messages were easy to understand, Bible-centered, and practical.
13. The music was well done. Several of the specials involved violins and other instruments. It was obvious that people had practiced and were prepared.

Pray for Pastor Edwards. He has some needs and important decisions must be made with regard to building space. If you are a young church planter, I would encourage to visit Pastor Edwards’ ministry and see for yourself.

You can find out more about Grace Baptist Church at www.gbcsc.com.

Here’s how it works: I will Twitter a trivia question at 10:00 PM Central on the dot. The first person to send the correct answer to @clayreed will win a free copy of the book…CHURCH STILL WORKS. (via Twitter direct message or Facebook okay) and a 10.00 gift certificate to Starbucks.

Make sure to include the hashtag #BAPTISTTRIVIA in your answer.

You can either answer on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/clayton.reed or www.twitter.com/clayreed.

The question will be about our Independent Baptist Movement….either a current statistic or something from our past….

Blessings!

As Baptists, we profess a living faith, a heritage rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ, who is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” The sole authority for our faith and practice is the Jesus Christ whose will is revealed in Scripture.

Vintage evokes a strong sense of community. It says our church family endeavors to connect with each other, to encourage one another as we continue the mission Jesus began.  Over the past quarter century, America has experienced a significant loss of community.  In many ways, churches have reduced people to numbers, while Christ commanded us to love people as neighbors.

Vintage speaks to a need for authentic Christianity – Aren’t you tired of the show?  Shouldn’t there be somewhere we can go every week that isn’t a performance?  A place where we can hear the truth and find real answers? We believe people are looking for a place to hear God’s honest Truth, spoken in love, without the pretense or ritual of empty religion.

Vintage speaks to the need for a simpler Christianity. We live in an over-programmed world.  In some ways, this attitude has crept in to our churches.  We contribute to the hectic pace of life, rather than giving frazzled people a calm place to encounter the Living God and experience community with one another.

Vintage is timeless and relevant to all generations. We will endeavor to apply the timeless truths of Scripture in timely ways to the challenges of everyday life.  It does not grow stale like man-made religion or human philosophy.  It is fresh and timeless.

A living faith must experience a growing understanding of truth and be continually interpreted and related to the needs of each new generation. Throughout their history, Baptist bodies – both large and small – have issued statements of faith that succinctly describe a consensus of their beliefs.

For my grandfather’s generation, “Independent, Fundamental, Bible Believing, Premillenial, Separated, KJV 1611, Soul Winning, Local Baptist Church” was a statement of faith. We embrace and believe each of these important theological points.  But those words don’t always communicate the right message with this new generation. For us, “Vintage” is a significant part of the statement of faith we want to share with our neighbors.

Pastor Clay

P.S.  I realize that the phrase “Vintage Church” is the title of a recent book by a pastor named Mark Driscoll.  I claim no originality of thought.  Our use of the word, however, is not an endorsement of Mark, his theology, or his preaching.  It does do a good job of describing what our church endeavors to be.

“In a world dizzy with change, people have a deep-seated need to immerse themselves in something ancient and transcendent. Unfortunately, all some churches offer is a splash in whatever hip new trend happens to be stylish. And while that kind of worship can draw a crowd, the heart cries out for something deeper and more authentic.

As independent Baptists, our faith is deeply rooted in historic Christianity. Our theology is as profound as Scripture. Yet we are not always seen as an attractive alternative to today’s shallow evangelicalism.

One reason for that is the way we position ourselves in the “marketplace of ideas”.

For instance, the signs in front of our churches say: “Independent, Fundamental, Bible Believing, Premillenial, Separated, KJV 1611, Soul Winning, Local Baptist Church.” Now that’s a mouthful! The sign makers who charge by the letter love to see us coming!

But who are these words for? What do they communicate to the people around us?

Yes, many people a generation ago knew what most of those words meant. Today, however, most of the people who drive by our churches barely even know what distinguishes a “Baptist” from a “Catholic.” But when they see the word “Fundamentalist,” they don’t think of good doctrine; they’re as likely to think about radical Islamists – people who spend their time thinking of ways to blow us up.

How do we communicate to our neighbors that we offer something they value highly?

I like the word “Vintage,” because it says our church is connected with the best of the past.

Not everything from the past, of course, is worth keeping. Not everything is “Vintage.” Some things, over time, wear out. They get stale. They get weak and outdated. They go out of style.

But some things stand the test of time. Classics. They stay strong. They transcend the ages. They’re Vintage.

When we say we are “Vintage” Christians, we conjure up the very best of our past – all the way back to Jesus Christ himself. Strong theology. A strong sense of loving community. A mission emphasis with a call to a crucified life.

Vintage is not a little wade in the kiddie pool of hip, feel-good religion. Vintage is not a passing fad; it is timeless.

Vintage says, “I’m not trying to reinvent Christianity with cheap innovations.” Vintage speaks to a historic body of Bible truth and biblical practice that we treasure, honor, and preserve so it can be handed on to the next generation. Vintage is firmly anchored in God’s Word and Baptist traditions.”

MORE TO COME….

I recently attended a retreat with several pastors from around the United States. There I met a young church planter named Mark Neal. A pastor at the meeting mentioned that Mark’s church in Las Vegas had experienced some pretty phenomenal growth after he planted it about five years ago.

That intrigued me, because I have been conducting a large-scale research project about Independent Baptists and knew very few church-planting projects in the United States had experienced substantial growth — much less “phenomenal growth.” So I decided to check out Oasis Baptist Church for myself.

I flew into Las Vegas on Saturday evening and drove around to see a bit of the city. I had traveled through Vegas on business trips many times but had never taken time to see the city. As I drove down the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, I was struck by the multitude of ways the city catered to a person’s worldly dreams and desires. I thought to myself, “This would not be the most hospitable place for a church plant.”

On Sunday morning, I arrived at church just before the early worship service ended. The auditorium – which seats around 400 — was packed. I watched from the back as the invitation was offered and the Lord moved in a great way. The Sunday school hour was next, scheduled between the two worship services. I walked around the campus and saw room after room, filled with adults and children learning about Jesus. The usher who escorted me regaled me with stories about their experiences in starting the church.

One story in particular stuck with me.

This happened back when the church facility was still under construction, but the congregation was planning to use the auditorium. A city official came in on a Friday afternoon and told Pastor Neal he couldn’t use the auditorium because of a permitting issue.

What to do? Pastor Neal arranged for a large tent to be set up on the property, and the congregation worshiped in the tent for the next several months! Do you know how hot Las Vegas gets in the summer?

That indomitable spirit epitomizes the entire membership of this church: “Hey, no auditorium? It’s OK. We’ll just have church under a tent for a while — and grow through the process!”

The singing and the message during the 11 a.m. worship service blessed me immensely. The auditorium was mostly full for that service as well. When the invitation was opened, people were saved and many decisions were made.

Take a look at the growth trend in this church’s average attendance:

2004 — 150
2005 — 220
2006 — 350
2007 — 490
2008 — 680
2009 — 720

Taken in context, those are incredible numbers. Think of all the changed lives represented. To God be the glory!

General observations:

1. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. The light of the Gospel is brightest in the planet’s darkest locations. A towering Christian figure of yesteryear, C.T. Studd, once wrote: “Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I wish to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” Oasis Baptist Church is a rescue shop very close to the modern-day “gates of hell.”

2. We need more church planting in urban centers like Las Vegas. Independent Baptist church planters typically have shied away from the big city. The Apostle Paul’s church-planting methodology was exactly the opposite, however. He targeted the urban centers of his day because he understood that culture flows from the city, not to it.

3. Pastor Neal understands he is not pastoring in Jacksonville, Florida, where he grew up. He recognizes that he is a Christian missionary to a pagan culture — and he ministers with that understanding.

4. Pastor Neal is effective at reaching people with the Gospel. When I quizzed him about this, he said that most of the people he reaches are those he “bumps into” while he is out in the community. When I arrived on Saturday night, he was out on a beat with a police officer, serving as a volunteer chaplain.

5. You might not like everything about Oasis Baptist Church. That’s fine. Go do it your way in Las Vegas or wherever God calls you. I dare you! When Dr. Jack Hyles was voted out of his denomination, he received a phone call from a friend, Lester Roloff, who said, “Jack, welcome to the fraternity of the free.” There’s plenty of room in America for us to give each other some space and serve the Lord. On the other hand, you could make excuses: “It’s a great story, but ….”

6. The people of Oasis were really friendly. Most churches think they are friendly, but I was truly blessed by the kindness of the people in this church.

7. The auditorium and facilities were modern. Colorful graphics, contemporary paint colors, and a generally fresh impression spoke volumes about an on-mission church creating an appealing environment where today’s lost souls can hear the eternal Gospel.

8. The people were pumped. They had “it.” They were excited about being at church.

9. Pastor Neal is a second-generation pastor. His life should speak to all PK’s: We can use our experience as a stepping stone and a built-in head start or let it become an excuse to be depressed and silly about our lives. Some of the greatest churches ever built — some of the greatest churches being built – are being built by preachers’ kids.

Pray for Pastor Neal. He is understaffed and a little tired. He is struggling with some health issues and growing pains. But God is at work and will meet the needs of His servants. The Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified through Oasis Baptist Church.

If we learn from their example, He will be glorified even more among us.

In many homes, you would be pleased to find one Bible this worn from use. In my father-in-law’s home, however, there are nine. How did they get this way?

When my in-laws were raising their eight children, they ate together twice a day around a large table. Dad would pass out Bibles to everyone at the table, read for 10 to 20 minutes, and pray. They did this every day, twice a day, without fail. It’s just the two of them now, my in-laws. All their children are married. But they still read the Bible, twice a day, every day, without fail. The wear and tear on these Bibles is an amazing testament to their years of faithfulness in reading the Word of God.

When my wife and I were married, my father-in-law passed on to me a collection of his family’s beliefs. One of those convictions reads like this:

THE FAMILY EATS TOGETHER. (This is far more important than most people imagine.) The entire family sits down together for breakfast and supper. No one starts eating until all, including father, are there and seated. And before they eat, the father leads in thanks and prayer to God. When done eating, no one leaves the table until after the father has read from the Bible and prayed.

My father-in-law believed the Bible when it says, in Deuteronomy 11:18-19, “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Because my father-in-law believed and practiced what these verses taught, he now has a great heritage of faithful children and grandchildren – 46 grandchildren at last count! He would take no credit for any of it, but the Bible tells what results from our faithfulness in teaching our children the Scripture: “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” (Deuteronomy 11: 21)

My wife and I have endeavored to make this a habit in our home as well. Some days it is not easy; we all understand the obstacles to eating two meals together every day. Dark forces work to destroy this discipline. But I want my children and their children to enjoy the benefits of this faith legacy my father-in-law passed down to his family.

All of us want our families to be strengthened and protected by the power of God’s Word in their hearts. God has given us, as father, the privilege and responsibility of rearing our children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4)

Fathers, we have a New Year before us – a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. Can we resolve together to make the Bible the center of our homes? Let our children hear the words of God through the mouths of their fathers!

Does that sound like the right resume for someone God would call “My friend”? Is it the kind of life plan a guidance counselor would put together for someone who would one day be “father of many nations,” the man from whom would come “nations and kings”?

But isn’t that just how God is? He takes a messed-up life and, through His grace, turns it into something magnificent.

The truth is, the story of Abraham isn’t the story of a self-made man who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps; it’s the story of a man built up by God himself. We can find a lot of encouragement that the same God who made Abraham into the father of many nations has promised us, in Philippians 1:6, “… that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

So what was it about a badly flawed person like Abraham that made him someone God could turn into a hero of the faith?

When Abraham was called out, he went. Even though he didn’t know where God was leading him, he trusted God and obeyed. Abraham didn’t try to make a deal with God; he just went. Because of that simple act of faith, in spite of all of Abraham’s shortcomings and character flaws, God took his willingness to accept risk and made him into the kind of man God would trust with anything.

Over the next eight weeks, beginning this Sunday, I will be teaching a series at my home church on how God made Abraham into the most influential father who ever lived. We will be posting links to each of the lessons as they are edited.

• Week 1: The call – Hearing and executing God’s plan for your life
• Week 2: Out of Egypt – Getting back on track
• Week 3: Dealing with conflict – Splitting up with Lot
• Week 4: Fighting for your friends – Rescuing Lot
• Week 5: Intercession – Honesty with God: “Shall not the King of the whole earth do right?
• Week 6: The mess with Hagar – Dealing with sinful decisions
• Week 7: The final exam – Sacrificing Isaac
• Week 8: He being dead yet speaketh – Abraham, Lazarus, and the Rich Man

You can be signficant without being prominent. You can prominent without being significant. My nose is prominent. Everyone can see it. But you could remove my nose, and I could still live and function in society. On the other hand, my heart is significant but not prominent. I could not live without my heart. In Scripture, there was a group of people named the Pharisees that Jesus criticized because they sought prominence and ignored true significance.

In Matthew 6, verses 1-18, Jesus contrasts prominence and significance by the following:

1. Prominence seeks the attention of men, but significance seeks the attention of God.
2. Prominence seeks the glory of men, but significance seeks the glory of God.
3. Prominence seeks the reward of men’s applause, but significance seeks the approval of Heaven.
4. Prominence seeks instant gratification, but significance is patient with God’s timetable.

My Grandfather never accumulated material wealth, pastored a mega church, or became famous in this life. However, he faithfully started and pastored 7 different churches over a 62-year span. His descendents include 11 ordained ministers, 2 evangelists, 4 missionaries, 7 college professors, and 30 teachers.

I am thankful for a grandpa who was committed to being eternally significant!

I began to consider that we needed to have Jack skillfully prepare to face adulthood and had few years left in which to do this. One of my personal challenges is that I have a hard time weighing the immediacy of the moment with the quiet demands of really important long-term issues. Somewhere last year, I read about a man who transferred marbles from one jar to another to represent some segment of time. So I bought two jars and 468 marbles to help me conceptualize that I had only 468 weeks left until Jack turned 18.

Every Saturday since then, I have conducted my own “private” marble ceremony where I moved one marble from the full marble jar to the other marble jar. This weekly ceremony has helped me to stay focused on the quiet urgency of the biblical mandate to train up my children. It also helps in making decisions about accepting travelling engagements and new responsibilities that would take me away from my home responsibilities.

I now have about 400 marbles left before Jack turns 18. 68 marbles are gone and can never be recovered. As I live, I often ask, “Is it worth a marble?”

He was everything “great” about “the greatest generation.” He was more concerned about the needs of others than his own personal comfort. This was most manifested in the way he treated his wife. He was wrapped up in giving her everything she wanted and being everything she needed up until the moment he died.

By the time I met Carl a few years ago, he had already fought and won one round with cancer. He became a teacher to me in a very non-traditional way. He never set me down and said, “Here is the way you do this….”. His sermon was his life. Charles Spurgeon said, “A man’s life is always more forcible than his speech. When men take stock of him they reckon his deeds as dollars and his words as pennies.” Carl was rich in good works.

When I think about the “sermons” that Carl preached to me from his ushers station in the back of our church, the following lessons come to mind:

1. He taught me to suffer with grace. When I suffer, I like to complain. I enjoy sympathy. Carl was so strong through suffering that you almost never knew he was in terrible pain. He was full of joy even during times of personal agony.

2. He taught me to love my wife. Oh how he loved his wife. She was his treasure. He loved her like Christ loved the church.

3. He taught me that you are never too old to do the right thing. He changed churches well into his senior years. Not because he had to, but because he felt it was the right thing to do.

As I was thinking about his suffering through the last days and trying to be a comfort to his wife, I remembered a story that I read about a conversation between a preacher and his sister…

I called my sister who has terminal cancer and we were talking on the phone and I said to her, “Well, Julie,” I said, “look,” I said, “the worst thing that could happen to you is the best thing that could happen to anybody.”

She said, “I know that, I’ve never questioned that.”

I said, “You know, the worst is that you’re going to be in the presence of the Lord, in the glories of heaven.”

She said, “And that’s my confidence.” And she said they sent a psychiatrist in here today in the hospital with somebody and they said we’re going to put you in group therapy and we’re going to put you under special therapy because we want you to get in touch with your inner child. And she said, “No thanks.” She said, “I don’t need to get in touch with my inner child, thank you. I’m in touch with my Lord Jesus Christ, everything is fine, everything is fine.”

Carl Sheffield is pain free and in no need of any therapy or chemo….he is in touch with Jesus!