On that day, we met Elda.  Here is her story:

In desperate need of stable housing and a job, 36-year-old mother of three Elda knew she needed help, but didn’t know where to turn.  When she needed it most, she got a timely phone call from her sister-in-law telling her that she might find help at Project Connect at the First Southern Baptist Church of Avondale.

After being a homemaker for more than a decade, Elda is now the main breadwinner for her family.  It has been difficult to find a job and she struggles to pay apartment rent each month. At Project Connect, Elda found the housing and employment assistance resources she was looking for.  She also received needed information about crisis services and utility assistance.  She was able to apply for Social Security cards and birth certificates for her family and get an identification card for herself.  While she was here, she received a haircut for herself and her son, set up a free voicemail box, and selected some clothing.  And she was able to do this all for free and all at one location–our church.  And she and her family had a free lunch as well!

For Elda, Project Connect was the light she needed to get out of a dark situation.  She now hopes to be a help to others by spreading the word about project connect and volunteering at future events.

Elda is only one of 159 adults we helped on that day with the help of over 110 volunteers.  Like Elda, some people tood advantage of the free transportation to the Motor Vehicle Department to get identification cards.  Others were assisted though the Maricopa County Housing Authority.  They could apply for food stamps, medical assistance, vision vouchers, and assistance with Social Security.  150 of them received free backpacks that the guests were able to fill with clothing, hygiene items and snacks.  Before they left, they had a opportunity to shower, shave, and get a hair cut.  By the end of the day, we had provided over 450 meals, and many of the guests took advantage of the opportunity to pray with a pastor or a volunteer.

It was an incredible day!

Project Connect is only one of the many ministries we participate in designed to help others.  And helping others is at the heart of our own personal discipleship.  These ministries give us a chance to be the disciples of Jesus we really want to be!

There was little on my “to-do” list that I could do.   I couldn’t answer email.  (My laptop battery worked; wi-fi didn’t.)  I couldn’t make phone calls, print the prayer sheet, or access my saved sermon notes.   The volunteers and staff couldn’t accept phone appointments for Mission of Mercy, vacuum the floors, prepare Sunday’s PowerPoint presentations, or update the webpage.   And to my immediate frustration, we couldn’t even make coffee!

We checked the breakers and equipment.  We called in key volunteers who knew more about our electrical system than we did.  We devised some temporary workarounds.  We had the church phone forwarded to my cell phone so we could receive calls, but that meant, of course, that I had to surrender my cell phone to the receptionist.  We rescheduled some of the things that could be rescheduled. And we used other ways to do our work.  (I’m actually writing this from a McDonalds on my IPAD, using their free Wi-Fi and drinking their coffee.)

And then, of course, we called the power company.

While I waited for the volunteers and the power company to figure out the problem, I started thinking. Is the church as a whole experiencing a power issue of a different sort? Is that why we’ve made little difference in the world, and why we have to try to so hard to “work around” the lack of spiritual power?

While I was thinking about this, the power company figured out that an underground power cable had shorted out.  Within a couple of hours, they had a temporary cable in place, and our power was restored.

Is it time for our church to call our other and more important power company?

If you understand my drift, join me at one of the least attended meetings of the week . . . prayer meetings on Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm!

Pastor Jack, from his IPAD

The truth is that he has lived in our recycling dumpster for about 2 1/2 months.  Our members made sure that he had food, water, showers, and transportation.  Maybe even more importantly, he met many of our members who befriended him and help him.  In his way of thinking, he had been burned at homeless shelters in the past, and he was more comfortable living in our dumpster than anywhere else.  He was respectful to us, made friends with many of our members, and often attended our worship services.

Here’s the latest update.  One of our members made contact with a guidance counselor at our local High School.  Because he had attended the school in the past, their guidance counselor was able to get him re-enrolled (even though he is 20) in a special needs program.  And since he is attending High School, the local youth homeless coalition was able to get him a place to stay.  Tonight, he is staying in a local (and pretty nice!) hotel.  By the end of the week, if all goes well, he will be in an apartment and working on his High School diploma at Agua Fria High School once again.

We thank our members for their love for “the man in the dumpster.”  And we thank the guidance counselors at AFHS who went beyond the call of duty to work out a solution for him.  Since he still has a long way to go, we ask you to continue to keep him in prayer.  And if you’re a student at AFHS, look him up.  He could use some friends!

Here are some of the reasons Kentucky won, with applications for the way we “do church” at FSBCA:

They played as a team. Frankly, I had my doubts about how well they would do.  In the crazy world of college basketball, the most talented teams frequently lose to less talented teams with better teamwork.  Kentucky’s ability to work together without any one player dominating the team made them a great team, not just a collection of great individuals.  The same is true in church life.  Our ability to love each other and work together for the good of the team is absolutely necessary for us to be a great church.

They downplayed themselves. Anthony Davis could have been the high scorer in the championship game if he wanted to be, but instead he worked hard to contribute to other players’ success and to the team’s ability to win.  In church life it‘s the same.  It‘s not about making me or my ministry look good.  It‘s about contributing to the glory of God and the success of the church as a whole.

They did the little things with excellence. They played great defense.  They passed well.  They made free throws.  They blocked out and rebounded well.  They hustled.  They ran hard every play.  They executed their plays well.  They limited turnovers.  They blocked shots.  Most of those things won’t make anyone’s highlight reel, which are reserved for massive dunks or buzzer-beater-three-pointers, but all of those things contributed to the championship.  Successful churches do the little things well.  They greet people well.  They pray often.  They have great classes and groups.  They proofread their bulletins.  They make a difference in their community.  They find ways to meet new people.  They love and show it at all times.  And it‘s often the little things, not the obvious things like preaching or music, that lead churches to greatness.

They did it now. They acknowledged that many of their players were “one-and-done” and would be leaving to the NBA by next season, so they adopted a “this is the year” mentality.  They didn’t have the luxury of a four-year-plan.  They had to make this year count.  Successful churches have a “this is the Sunday” mentality.  We may have long-term plans, but we’re not going to have a four-year-wait for excellence.  We are going to serve, preach, sing, teach, love, greet, minisiter with excellence this Sunday, because we haven’t been promised another chance next Sunday.

In the big scheme of things, college basketball isn’t all that important.  But the lessons we could learn if we live the same way championship teams live could be life (and even eternity) changing!

PS.  Next year, when I write about the championship team, I will be writing about a different group of Wildcats!

The USA, of course, was still embroiled in World War Two.  The Pentagon had just been completed in Washington.  The latest movie was Lassie Come Home, and Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra were the hottest musicians.

Early in 1943, on the corner of Western and Central in Avondale, just west of downtown, a tent was erected and a four week long revival was held under the leadership of some Phoenix churches.  At the end of the revival, an organizational meeting was held for what would become our church.  They decided to begin worship services immediately, and the first worship service of what was known as First Baptist Church was held on Sunday, March 7, 1943.  They purchased a corner lot and erected a simple frame building by September of that year.

We’ve moved twice since then, expanded our ministries many times, and changed our name.  We’ve had some great times and some real obstacles in the 69 years since we opened our doors, but God blessed the vision of those first members and FSBCA is now a strong and vibrant church with over 500 in attendance on a typical Sunday.  There are only a handful of people left from that era–most of them have gone home to be with the Lord or have moved away–but I thank God that they were men and women of vision who wanted to start something that would last well beyond their own lifetimes.

Let’s pray that our current generations of leaders and members are just as committed to God and to the leaving a legacy that will last for generations.  Our work makes a difference today, and it also sets the stage for even greater work in the future.

Happy Birthday, FSBCA!

Holly was right.  There is a man in our recycling dumpster.  I banged on the side and said, “Hello!” and I heard a muffled “Hello” in return.  I opened it up to find a young man sitting on cardboard and newspapers eating a bologna sandwich and drinking a Dr. Pepper.

His story was simple, and he doesn’t know what to do or where to turn.  He’s 20 years old and he had a blowup with his mom, who kicked him out.  He got mad and got into trouble and he now has a court date in a month as well.  He bought a sandwich and a soda, saw the dumpster, and hopped in as a place to be alone and to think.  He has now been there–off and on–for about 48 hours.  I go out to him and talk to him and see what he needs.  I talk to him about God’s love and tell him I can find him a better place to live and that we can get him some help.  He listens respectfully, declines help, and says he is working on a plan.

I was thinking about him while I was writing a newsletter article about “Getting Lost In The Crowd.”  It’s easy in today’s society–and even in today’s churches–to be part of the crowd but still be lonely.  Jesus excelled at loving the crowds who came to him because He loved the individuals.  Hurting people.  Sick people.  Lonely people.  Grieving people.

If we’re going to be like Jesus, we’re going to have to do the same.  I will start by loving a young man in trouble names Tommy, living temporarily in a church’s recycling dumpster.

I don’t know all of the facts in the cases (maybe no one does), so my goal is not to comment on those incidents.  They do serve, though, as a reminder that church leaders and churches themselves need to make sure that these kinds of things don’t occur in our ministries or in our churches.  They can be absolutely devastating.

Here are the things we do to make sure that these things don’t destroy our church staff and that they don’t destroy FSBCA.  I hope that you do similar things:

• First, I admit that as a human being, I am susceptible to sexual immorality and scandal.  I am not super-human.  I could make the same mistakes that others have made.  I need God’s help and I need a plan to be who God wants me to be in this area.
• Secondly, I have built walls into my life that keep me from situations that could cause problems or that could hurt my reputation.  I don’t meet with women alone, unless it is in the church office and there are others nearby.  I don’t visit women in their homes or in restaurants.  I don’t travel by myself (or even drive) with women.  I don’t allow myself to be the only adult alone with teens.  I’ve put safeguards on my computers.  I don’t go to movies or read magazines that promote sexual promiscuity.
• I do actively pursue a healthy relationship with my wife.  I value her.  I date her.  I compliment her.  I hope I never take her for granted.  A healthy marriage relationship sets the tone for a healthy sex life.
• I regularly teach and preach sexual purity to our church as a whole, and I especially emphasize it to our staff and leadership groups.  None of us is immune; we need reminders, teaching, and helps to remain sexually pure.
• We have specific guidelines in our church that we insist that all workers follow.  All workers with children and teens must be screened before they are approved.  All ministries that include minors must have at least two adults present at all times.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a coaching situation, a teaching situation, or a counseling situation.  Two adults provide accountability and (in case of a false accusation) a witness.
• All workers are reminded regularly that we will report any illegal incident with the proper authorities beginning with our local police department.  We don’t handle things internally.  If something happens, we will report it and let the police handle the investigation and the legal system handle the consequences.
• And I regularly pray, whenever I hear one of these stories, that these scandals won’t harm my personal ministry or the work of FSBCA.  I want to be what God wants me to be, and I don’t want to be the source of another horror story.  I don’t want there to be any questions about me or about our church.

That’s what I’m doing and what FSBCA is doing.  What are you doing?

The truth is that most churches–and our church more than most–are ”open” seven days per week, with a variety of outreach events and ministries.  So what’s my real job?  Here is my schedule from this last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  They are three typical days in the life of a pastor:  

• On Saturday, I arrived at the church by 8:30 am to set-up and get ready for our basketball games.  Every hour, from 9:00 to 3:00, I greeted guests and started the games with prayer.  I also met with the coaches and referees before each game for prayer and final instructions.  During one game, I had no responsibilities, so I re-keyed and installed a lock on a storage room.  (Unfortunately, things were mysteriously disappearing.)  I served as a referee for the final two games of the day, and then took down the baskets, put up equipment, and went home earlier than normal (about 4:30) since there was one less game than normal!  That evening, I took my family and met some friends for a movie.
• On Sunday, I arrived at church at 6:00 am, to make sure that I was ready for the day and that I would be “prayed up” and “studied up” for the day.  I preached in the 8:30 and 11:00 services and attended Sunday School in-between, going home for lunch and some rest time before returning at 4:30 to make final preparations for my 1 Corinthians class, which I taught at 6:00 pm.
• On Monday, I dropped two of my kids off at school and headed to the office at 8:00.  I had a prayer time, returned phone calls and emails, planned the rest of the day, uploaded my sermon to the internet, did some preliminary reading of the my sermon passage for the following Sunday, and contacted Sunday’s visitors.  At 10:00, I took some potential volunteers through a one hour tour of our Mission of Mercy medical ministry.  By 11:15, I was back in the office taking care of more ministry details, reviewing a draft of next year’s budget, and doing some planning for my November sermon series on “Contentment.”   At 12:00, I broke for lunch.  By 1:00, I was at a local hospital praying and counseling with a family that had just been told that their sister was brain dead.  By 3:00, I was back at the office counseling with a young man who wants to get married, wants to do it right, and was seeking advice on how to know God’s will and approach his fiance’s family.  At 4:00, I was setting tournament schedules and emailing our basketball coaches.  By 4:30, I was in the gym, setting up baskets for practice, and meeting with a father who has just been told that he has some pretty severe medical issues and wanted to know what we believed about prayer and healing.  Monday evening, after dinner, I went on a 5 mile walk, with the dual purpose of getting in shape and preparing for our upcoming Bethlehem Walk.

So what’s my real job?  Preacher?  Marriage Counselor?  Grief Counselor?  Webmaster?  Sports administrator?  Accountant?  Fund Raiser?  Referee?  Building Superintendent?  Teacher?  Medical ministry coordinator? 

All I know is that I love serving God.  I love the variety of situations in which I’m called to serve.  I love the people (most of the time) that I am called to serve.  And I love the church in which I get to serve God.

What’s my real job?  I don’t know how to answer that, but I love it!

But we did not fail.  In our discussion, I was extremely proud of a key member of our congregation who stood and said, “I don’t want anyone to think of this as a failure.  I recommitted my life at EFBC.  My wife was saved at EFBC.  We were baptized together (and in a hot tub!) at EFBC.  Many others had their lives changed at EFBC.  No matter what happens to our Sunday morning meeting, this church will always be part of our lives.”

We had high hopes that the EFBC congregation would be a self-supporting congregation by now.  And for a while, it looked like that is where we were headed.  But, in the end, for a lot of reasons, the congregation stopped moving forward.  Key members moved away.  The community stopped growing.  Money was tight.  Maintaining and leading two congregations was challenging for  me personally.  We stopped reaching new people. 

But I would rather attempt to move forward in God’s kingdom, knowing that not everything I try is going to work, then sit back on my heels and do nothing.  At FSBCA, we still want to reach people.  We still have a heart for the people of Goodyear.  We still believe in planting churches.  We will still begin new ministries, even if we know that success is not guaranteed.  Many times in my ministry I helped start a ministry I really believed in.  Some of these ministries grew tremendously and are still growing.  Others never really took off.  I am positive that I will experience both extremes in the future.

We didn’t reach all of our goals at EFBC, but when people come to faith in Jesus and lives are changed, then we did not fail!  And even if we were to call it failure, it is better to have tried and failed than to not try at all.  As Teddy Roosevelt said, “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.”

We dared greatly.  We will do so again.

Last week, my wife Dawn went for four days to visit our daughter Kimberly and her husband Tim in Utah.  Dawn was just a little bit worried about leaving me with a busy church schedule and responsibilities for the rest of the children.  I told her repeatedly that the kids and I could handle things.  ”No problem.  I’ve done it before and I can do it again.  Piece of cake.  We’ve got this under control.  Have fun.  You deserve some time away.”

I should have looked more carefully at the skeptical eyes of our kids as they wondered about my cooking, my ability to get them on time to all of their activities, and my ability to coordinate a busy household for four days.  My confidence convinced me, but it never really convinced them.  

“Dad, did you forget to get my lunch money?  Who is taking us to choir retreat?  Who is taking us to piano lessons?  What about basketball tryouts?  Did you remember that we were going to the football game?  And that my friends are coming over this afternoon to practice a song?  And if you go early to church like you usually do on Sunday morning, who is taking us?  What’s for dinner?  Don’t forget that I have to be at church early this afternoon because I’m helping with the sound system.  When does Mom come home?”

Relax, kids.  I only forgot about half of those things. 

How does Dawn keep track of all these details while maintaining her calm composure?  And how does she manage to do this while working full time as an excellent RN?  And how does she find the time to still teach Sunday School and volunteer a couple of shifts a month at Mission of Mercy?  And go to choir practice?  And do a thousand big and small things for me?  And still be romantic and cuddly when she probably just wants to take a nap?

I managed, finally, to get most everyone where they needed to be (with my daughter Angela’s help, but that’s another blog), but without the steady and calm presence that my wife provides.  And though the kids all managed to get where they needed to be (more-or-less on time), some household details were apparently forgotten in the meantime.

“Hey, dad, I don’t think anyone let the dog out today . . . so watch out where you step.  And, dad, who was supposed to take out the garbage?  ‘Cause the kitchen really smells.  How come we’re out of milk?”

There were forgotton details, but there was one thing I didn’t forget.  Dawn came back into town at 8:41 pm Sunday evening on a flight from Salt Lake City.  I was there at the airport.  Early.  Real early.

My wife is back.  And life is somehow back to normal, and I’ve been reminded once again to thank God for an excellent wife!