No Longer Pastor of MRBC

It is with a heavy heart that I have resigned from Missionary Ridge Baptist Church. I believed God would do great things there, but alas, if He does, it will be without me.

I could rant here about bad things, and vent frustration, but this is not the forum, and I'm biased. I think it would be extremely wrong for any man claiming to be mature enough to be an Ordained Minister to follow such a path. I'll only say that I regret my own shortcomings. The last year before my Sabbatical were hard on me. Hence the complete absence from blogging. I was very discouraged, and it affected everything. In January I began a short 2 month Sabbatical in order to over come this. During that time God began to renew my heart and overwhelmingly impressed me with what I believe is the direction the Church should go.

Simplify! I believe there comes a time in a Church's existence when it has to step back and ask hard questions. I believe like Ronnie Stinson Sr. of Trace Creek Baptist Church in Mayfield, KY says, "The light that shines the farthest shines brightest at home." I don't believe that cookies and donuts and coffee before Sunday School, or candy for kids is what really grows a Church. There are a great many churches that are large, but they have compromised their message doing so. They replaced, "God commands all men everywhere to Repent!" with "come and we'll give you a cookie". Don't get me wrong, I think social events and possibly giving kids a treat once in a while is not necessarily a bad thing. However, Jesus noted that the large crowds that followed Him only did so because of the miracles, and free food.

What we have to do is strip away everything except the core of what makes a Church a Church. Sunday Morning Worship. That's it. Most folks don't know that in the Grand scheme of things Wednesday Night Services, and Sunday Schools are new deals in the Church. That's right. Neither started getting anywhere before the mid 1800's. However, being a practical man, I believe they are greatly useful, and many communities just plain expect them. So, I proposed that MRBC strip away every program, or service except for the main four, Sunday School, Sunday Morning Worship, Sunday Night Worship, and Mid-Week (Wednesday) Services. And then look at how each service could be used to help Christians go from Won to Winners. The Steps were simple: Worship, Edified, Serve, Win.

1. Worship was to focus us on Jesus Christ, and help us to grow in our devotion and Love for Him. No motivator known to man will take a person to the ultimate commitment in their life like Love. Money, Fear, Fun, Food, or whatever else will only keep folks just so long.
   
2. The Next Step is Edified - That is to be taught, Discipleship. This is where the basics of the Faith are established, and fostered. Every Christian should be rooted and grounded in their faith and know what they believe, not what their Pastor believes, or what the Church, or denomination believes. I've often taught that folks should search the Scriptures to see if what I say is so, and NEVER EVER take what I say at face value. If you know the Scriptures on your own, you'll know when a man has gone off his rocker.
   
3. Next is Serve. Every Christian should be involved in serving other Christians. The Bible is clear in Ephesians 4 and other places that God places each member in the Church to contribute. The saying I hate the most is, "I don't think this Church will meet my needs." What they're saying is this Church doesn't serve me. Godless. My question is always, first is this where God is planting me. 2. Where in this Church can I serve. You'll note that Jesus always got the Apostles involved in Ministry, first in basic ways, and progressively more advanced.
4. Last, and very important, Win. This is where the Christian has grown to become a Soul Winner. Both through a formal outreach ministry in the Church, and through informal personal outreach. Its important that Christians know with absolute certainty that God has never saved a Christian that He intend to keep faith to himself!! Those who say, "I think its just between you and God." are just looking to cover up their lack of a testimony! Every person you find in God's Word who was truly affected by the presence of God couldn't keep it quiet.

That's the base vision. There's more. Every level of ministry has its foundations, the things that give it sure footing and power. I don't care what anyone says the fact is plain, unless a person is truly born again he can have no personal ministry, and if he has no personal ministry he cannot be involved in Church ministry. However, the foundation of the personal ministry of the Christian is found in three things:

1. Drawing Near to God in Faith. Initiating faith. That is not about gaining salvation, so much as it is about getting faith started by picking up the cross and following Jesus.
2. Adding to Faith. Faith that is not growing is dying, its that simple. 2 Peter 1:1 - 11 exhort us to "add to" our faith. So, its not just enough to come to Jesus, we must move on.
3. Maintain Faith. We do this through three spiritual exercises that integrate the whole person:
1. Mental Exercise. 1 Timothy 4:11 - 16 God tells Timothy to give attendance to Reading, Exhortation, and Doctrine, to meditate on these things and give himself wholly to them that his profiting would appear to all. The battle starts in the mind. That's where sin starts, and so God says that's where we start battling sin. If you note in Romans 6 the word "know" shows up a lot. Note that in verse 3 “Know ye not", verse 6 "Knowing this”, verse 9, “Knowing that”, verse 11 "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves", then in verse 16 "Know ye not”. Get it?
2. Spiritual Exercise. Watch and Pray. Simple. A little bit of pay attention goes a long way. Stay alert.
3. Physical Exercise. Morality, that is how you behave. Act like a Christian. God's Word is full of commands to live Righteously in this evil world.
   

Well, somehow in sharing this I evidently did so in a way that was offensive and upset some folks that I care a great deal about. I was completely crushed after being skewered for over an hour on a Wednesday night, and then again last Sunday. All of the excitement I felt that God had finally answered my prayer was gone. All the effort I had gone through and the overwhelming assurance that I truly had a confirmed vision from God about the direction of the Church was trampled under.

They never heard the Sermon about the foundations of Church Ministry, and when I did get to preach the one about the four functions of the Church I doubt they paid attention to it. Now, don't think I'm blaming them, I'm not sure now what I may have said, nor how badly I may have said it. I'm not going to blame them. I think a man takes responsibility for his own actions, then moves to correct what he can. Too many people are so eat up with pride that they could never bear the thought that any problem they face could be their own doing. But I digress.

I tried this, but in the end my heart was devoid of the desire to fight the battle. It appeared obvious to me, and my wife, that I had lost the confidence of the people, and nothing I could do at that point would win it back. I Long to see this vision carried out. I believe that God gave me this vision so certainly that I put every thing I had worked for on the line. I still do. However, now I wonder was it for MRBC, or was it for another Church? I also wonder, of course second guessing yourself is never good, whether the battle was over, and I rushed leaving. The folks at MRBC have been very good to me over the years, and I'll never forget their generosity, or willingness. They are good people, as far as people go. That's the problem. We're all sinners, and no one, nor any Church is perfect. The key is Love. We must learn to love like Jesus loved. As I often said, "Love anyway."

With that I'll leave you. Saying Thanks to the folks at MRBC for all the good memories. My prayer is that whether present or absent I will hear of their faith, and that they continue in all things excellent.