Posts by Aaron Hinton (Page 3)

Anticipation

In the days of Amazon Prime 2-day deliveries and businesses’ constantly improving their ordering process, we have gotten used to packages arriving at our door. However, do you remember the feelings you had when ordering things over the phone or online for the first time? You would make your final selection and then watch the calendar for the expected arrival date or refresh tracking updates online. You knew that special thing you’d ordered was on the way. Your excitement would…

Thanksgiving

My childhood pastor, Dr. David Smith (who preached my ordination service in August), writes a email devotion a couple times each week. Having listened to his preaching many times, I can hear Dr. Smith’s voice when I read his messages. In his most recent email devotion, he reflected on the same scripture we looked at on Sunday from Luke 17 where Jesus heals the ten lepers. He included an illustration that is too good not to pass on to our…

Gratitude for the Simple Things

When was the last time you thanked God for clean water? I’m serious. Think about it. How often do we overlook simple blessings that we enjoy freely and abundantly here in America? Many of you will remember when Rev. Michael Nhonya and Rev. Arnold Manasse from Tanzania visited PSBC. This is a picture of Michael with a $6,000 water project, the largest community development project that we have worked on together, which features a borehole well and a pump that…

Attitude of Gratitude

This Sunday, we started a new series on Gratitude. What does it mean to have an attitude of gratitude? We began to look at what it takes to have a constant mindset of thankfulness. A few years ago, I learned about an interesting guy affectionately named Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a monk who had the very nonspiritual task of washing dishes in his monastery. Through this mundane task, he discovered deep insights into spiritual disciplines and wrote a book…

The Power of Sanctuary

A few years ago, the Lincoln car company produced a series of ads with actor Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey would be driving a Lincoln through some vast wilderness, fishing on some remote lake, or enjoying the interior of the car at a noisy train crossing. All the ads end with the phrase, “The Power of Sanctuary.” The obvious implication was that the new Lincolns were so nice they brought you peace just driving them or simply sitting and enjoying the plush…

More Than Words

Our Fall Festival is this week and will be a blast. The costumes, food, bingo, and fellowship around the table will make for a night to remember. The icing on the cake will of course be the lip-sync battle. Every year, we get to experience hits from across many genres of music. Each song is masterfully performed by members of our church. It is always fun, full of surprises, and lots of laughs. A lip-sync battle is about more than…

Masks

Halloween can be so much fun. I remember dressing up as a cowboy, ninja, professional ball player, fireman, and many others. My friends and I patrolled our neighborhood like a candy mafia. We were determined to bring in as much sugar as humanly possible…or as much as our moms let us keep, whichever came first. As a parent now, it is fun to watch the same joy on my kids’ faces as they venture from house to house in search…

Momentum

Yogi Berra, the great professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach, may likely be known more for his quotes, or “Yogi-isms,” than his baseball career. Last night, the Atlanta Braves came back to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in a wild and exciting baseball game. It reminded me of a Yogi-ism, “The game of baseball isn’t over until it’s over.” Go watch the ending. It’s crazy. For those baseball fans in the room, it was…

On Mission

This Wednesday, we are excited to welcome back Mark Wakefield to PSBC. It has been a couple years since we’ve been able to host him so I’m excited to hear the updates from his Zona Juvenil Ministries in Guatemala. If you are new to Poplar Springs, Mark is one of the missionaries that our church prayerfully and financially supports. We have partnered with Mark for many years and have sent mission teams to Guatemala to help with his ministry. Zona…

A Season to Serve

There are so many people in our church that serve in a variety of ways. From the nursery to Wednesday night meals, small group leaders to Sunday School teachers, it takes a village of people to do ministry well here at PSBC. We are very fortunate that so many volunteer their time and talents, some on a weekly basis, to our church. This past Sunday, a special group of those called to serve met in the small dining room. Our…