Posts from May 2022

ADDRESSING THE DISCONNECT

Back in the early nineties, I decided to do a career assessment. I was searching for answers, and I was somewhat confused concerning Thee Almighty’s plan for me. I was a minister of miscellaneous, a generalist who did quite a few things, but none of the tasks were up to my self-imposed standards. At the time and I simply wanted to do one or two things well. I filled out numerous evaluations, reflections, and I think a few tests for…

…To Be Young Again

I first met my dear friend Paul back in the late eighties when he was a student at our own Gardner Webb University. Paul was a part of a group of students that were called a FOCUS TEAM. This group of seasoned 18-20-year-old students were the cream of the young Christian crop, sent out by the University as ambassadors of goodwill, exemplary champions for Christ, and just plain old good PR for our beloved GWU. They also provided youth ministers,…

Discovering Your Purpose in Hindsight

I have been doing evaluations of my call from God for many years now, often asking the question, “God, what was the purpose in that particular ministry?” I will be the first to tell you that I probably spent 20 of my 40-plus years of service to God trying to figure out if I needed to do something else. But He continually brought me back to church as I felt Him saying, “You may be done with organized religion and…

MISSION DIGNITY

Our own Rachel Hamrick has taken a special interest in Mission Dignity, a ministry that provides financial support to retirement-aged Southern Baptist ministers and surviving spouses who are experiencing financial difficulties due to economic hardships like medical bills and other unexpected expenditures. Many of these individuals served smaller churches that lacked the resources to fully cover retirement benefits for these pastors and spouses and families who ventured out in faith to serve these smaller congregations. Mission Dignity is an avenue…

Generosity

I believe it was William Barclay in his study of Jesus’s Sermon On The Mount who offered some tremendous insights concerning the importance of giving and generosity as it pertains to time, talent, service, material, and monetary possessions. He moves from preaching to meddling as he dares to venture into the realm of motivation. He talks about the objectives of some of us at times when we practice this much-needed and appreciated attribute today …. generosity. Why do we give…