Chocolate Chip Cookies & Boiled Cabbage! Ewww!

Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Chocolatey Graham Squares, and Nutter Butters! Would someone shout “Amen!” to variety? Aren’t you glad there’s more than one kind of cookie to choose from? Don’t you get tired of eating the same cookie all the time? I know I sure do! I’m not opposed to an Oreo now and then, and those chocolatey graham squares are tasty, but don’t soak up milk very well. I have to really be in the mood for a Nutter Butter because I’m just not that into peanut butter cookies. But in the cookie world, the giant that stands as King of Cookies and eclipses all others (in my humble opinion) is the mighty Chocolate Chip Cookie! Oh, my goodness! There is nothing like a plate filled with chocolate chip cookies beside a tall, cold glass of milk after supper! They are my absolute favorite!

Now, anyone who knows me will vouch that I am an old, died in the wool, staunch, chocolate chip cookie lover! Of that, there is no doubt. And until chocolate chip cookies start looking and tasting like boiled cabbage or brussel sprouts, I’ll keep eating them. But I have seen some developments among chocolate chip cookies over the past couple of decades that have caused not a small stir among the cookie world. I have even seen with my own eyes and tasted with my own mouth that not all chocolate chip cookies are created equal! That’s right! There are the classic chocolate chip cookies, which are my favorite cause they soak up milk really well, then there are the chewy chocolate chip cookies, and the extra chocolatey, double chipped chocolate chip cookies, and the white chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chip cookies with nuts (whoever thought of that is a traitor to the cause!), and then there is…I have a hard time even saying this one, but, ok, here goes, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! Now that borders on getting right outside the cookie camp altogether!

All this rhetoric might seem a little superfluous, and maybe even downright silly, but I figured it was a good satirical way for me to explain my observation of independent Baptist churches as I preach along this deputation trail. Bear with me as I try to make the analogy.

Of all the Baptist churches out there, I am partial to the conservative, independent Baptists. That’s not to say that Southern Baptists, Northern Baptists, General Assembly Baptists, American Baptists, Freewill Baptist, Primitive Baptists, and ABCDEFG Baptists  aren’t Baptists, because I truly believe that many of them or maybe even all of them are adhering to the truths of the Word of God and ministering the way they believe God would have them to. Maybe they are not, but that is between them and God. But nothing satisfies my palate like a conservative, independent Baptist church, so I’m only qualified to comment on these familiar fellowships of believers.

I love the fact that independent Baptists are just that – independent. It gives wide parameters to work the ministry and allows a pastor the freedom to develop the church that God has called him to around the framework of his own personality and philosophy of ministry, which really is one and the same. A philosophy of ministry might say one thing on paper but will always be worked out according to the pastor’s personality and character.

The fact that God calls a specific man to any church ought to create enough incentive for other pastors to let him “do his own thing” within that church. Even if it hairlips Hogan’s goat, it’s none of my business, unless it’s the church God called me to pastor. Now, granted, I’m not talking of going off into heresy or stepping outside of the “chocolate chip” world. But, I’ve seen enough within the independent Baptist ranks to make me appreciate each one. They are all different! Every single one of them. As different as trees, or snowflakes or fingerprints. No two churches are exactly the same! Even if they are birthed from the same body, they are not the same. There are going to be differences because people are different!

So far, I’ve been in churches that enjoy the sound of their orchestras while singing the grand old hymns with symphonic splendor, and I’ve been in churches that use only acoustic guitars while old “Joe” stands behind the pulpit and leads the “sangin” in true bluegrass byte! I’ve listened while choirs sung to the cadence of their pianos or organs or Clavinovas or even to soundtracks. I’ve fellow shipped with pastors who decided to have 2 p.m. “evening” services rather than 6 p.m., and I’ve been in churches that have mid-week service on Thursday instead of Wednesday. I’ve preached for pastors who wouldn’t dare have screens up on the wall, as well as for those who swore by them and couldn’t imagine services without them. I’ve been in churches whose pastors are old school and still bring their written outlines to the pulpit and at the same time I’ve had the privilege to sit down and chew the fat with those pastors who bring their I-Pads to the pulpit instead of even their traditionally bound Bibles. Some pastors will preach against Facebook while others use it as a daily source of encouragement and edification. Some preachers go “calling” while others “visit” and still others go “soul-winning.” I think you get the picture, but I’ll end this list by sharing the fact that I’ve even preached with an over-the-ear microphone one day and the next day with no microphone at all! And alas, I am still an independent, conservative, extreme, right-winged Baptist!

One of the things I’ve learned by being around independent Baptist pastors the past 28 years, and being one myself for the last 20, is that most of us spend our entire ministries trying to figure ministry out. What’s right? What’s wrong? Where is that perfect balance? And just about the time we think we have it down, culture throws us a curve ball which forces us to adjust if we are going to continue reaching an ever changing society.

I’ve determined to focus on just trying to please God in my ministry. I know that if I busy myself trying to please God there will be two areas I will avoid; trying to please the brethren and judging them.

I love chocolate chip cookies too much to stop eating them just because there are so many different kinds, and I found out that those people who enjoy all the other types of chocolate chip cookies felt the same way. We’re all gonna sit back with our cold, tall glass of milk and enjoy our own plate of chocolate chip cookies!

Deputation: Update (The Good, Bad and the Ugly)

I have purposed to chronicle all facets of this church plant and would be remiss to speak only of the good and leave out the bad and the ugly. To be so prejudiced would cause some to view the church planting process through rose colored glasses. To make sure that doesn’t happen, I would like to share with you an episode that unfolded last week.

I arrived early at the preacher’s fellowship so I sat down at a table to drink coffee with a couple of men who had also arrived early. One of the men who introduced himself as a street preaching evangelist learned that I was going to Corpus Christi to start a church. He offered his services, saying he would like to come help with some door knocking, soul winning and street preaching. Well, this all sounded good until I asked which church he was a member of and sponsored by to which he replied, “Oh I don’t hold to any one single denomination, I work with conservative baptists, southern baptists, Catholics, Charismatics, etc.” The fact of the matter is that if he “works” with Catholics and Charismatics then I guarantee you he’s not working with conservative Baptists and probably not many Southern Baptists. Catholics and Charismatics can work together because they both have erroneous doctrines of salvation (Gal. 2:21), eternal security (1 Peter 1:5) and the local church (1 Timothy 3:15). Well, if you know me at all, you know I wasn’t about to leave that dog just laying there. I tried to explain our positions regarding these doctrines as well as the doctrine of tongues and divine healing from the Scriptures, but he kept cutting me off and interjecting his own “philosophies”. And that is exactly what they were because he had absolutely no scripture to back up what he was propagating. He did not see the error of placing a new Christian into a “church” that did not believe Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient to save and keep all who believe. That is heresy! Without getting into all the details, I basically told him that two can’t walk together except they be agreed (Amos 3:3), and there is no way under heaven I could ever have him come and “help” me because he would actually only “hurt” the cause of Christ! In spite of all the charisma he brought with him to this independent, fundamental Baptist pastor’s fellowship meeting (probably for the free food), he had absolutely no idea what the Bible teaches about those three fundamental doctrines! Brother, I would be a fool to even let that guy near a new Christian or anyone I was trying to win to Christ! This is why it is so essential to know what you believe and why you believe it BEFORE you ever go to start a church (2 Timothy 2:15). I’m not even on the field yet and already I am meeting people who think they have a better idea than God about how to build a church and increase the kingdom. It will only compound after I get the church started, but by God’s grace, we’ll be ready for them (1 Peter 3:15).

Deputation: Weekly Update

I really didn’t feel like sitting through a Sunday morning service at a someone else’ church during their “Stewardship Emphasis”. I didn’t have a scheduled meeting and really wanted to go to a church where I thought I might get some good preaching rather than a lesson on stewardship. Boy oh boy, did God ever flick my ear for having such a selfish, pouting,  know-it-all attitude! I decided to suck it up and go to the Northeast Baptist Church in Southlake, TX where Jerry Summy is the pastor. I’ve known Pastor Summy for a long time and know that he is a very capable preacher, but I figured, stewardship is stewardship, so I settled in to my pew not really expecting very much in the way of a sermon. My goodness I couldn’t have been more wrong! It is quite possibly the best sermon I have heard so far this year. I know the year is early but I’m just sayin. Never underestimate the Word of God! I’m sure they recorded it and it would be worth your while to go to their website to listen to the archive.

Sunday night found us at Countryside Baptist Church in Mansfield, TX.  where Bro. Claude Sutton is the pastor. Bro. Sutton is passionate about the ministry and loves souls. This church has been a friend of ours for many years and supported us while we were getting the Liberty Baptist Church started in Tacoma, WA. There was such a good spirit as I preached from the book of Nehemiah regarding the state of our own country and the need for Jesus Christ and conservative, Christ honoring churches in our land to get us back on track.

Earlier in the week, I was able to attend the Metro Area Independent Baptist Fellowship meeting at the Crown Southwest / Norris Seminary Raymond Barber Preaching Center where I heard three outstanding messages from three different men of God; Pastor Kevin Hymer, Pastor Paul Shelton and Pastor Jerry Siler. There were over 50 pastors in attendance and several of them told me to call them this week to schedule a date to come present the ministry to their church. Amen and praise the Lord!

Deputation – Part 2: Meetings Along the Way

Did you ever get stupidly hooked on one of those programs where you had to wait until next week for the next episode and you thought you were going to pull your hair out because it left you at an absolute cliff hanger? No? Well, me either. I usually just purchase the entire season and stupidly watch 10 episodes in a row until I realize it’s nearly 3 A.M. and I have to get up in four hours!

Somehow, I feel like I’m doing that by not updating this blog more often. Not that anything I write in here is cliff hangar material, but there is just so much that happens in any given week that I feel like I’m short changing everybody by not putting it in here. So, I want to share at least a little bit each week.

The very first meeting we had was with the Friendship Baptist Church of Boyd, Texas. Most people get to Boyd, Texas on purpose because it’s a good ride out in the country. As Sim and I were standing in the foyer greeting the folks, they just kept coming in like ants from a hole in the brick! Never underestimate what God can and is doing in these small back road country towns! When God has a man whose heart is fixed upon Him, it doesn’t matter where he is, God will work miracles through him. I was blessed to see what God was doing with Pastor Terry and the good people of FBC. I was amazed as I sat in the pew after the service and listened while Bro. Terry cast out a vision to his people for the next year. He invited anyone who had to leave to go ahead and do so but no one left. Every single person stayed! That thrilled my heart! I can only pray that God will allow me to pastor people who have a mind to do the will of God and not be content with the status quo. It was an absolute blessing to be with them and I thank God that our very first meeting went so well. Thank you Bro. Terry and Friendship Baptist Church.

January 3, 2012 Deputation: Part 1 – Booking Meetings

I believe I can speak for nearly every church planter when I say I am now embarking upon the most distasteful part of church planting – raising support! Many good missionaries shoot themselves in the foot by cutting this part of their deputation trail short. It’s not fun, but it is necessary! I understand! This is my fourth effort to raise support for a church plant. One would think that I have this down to a science and could breeze right through it, but no matter how many times I’ve done it, it is still painstakingly arduous. And the reason is because every phone call is different. Every pastor is different. Every church is different. Let me give you a few examples of a typical day in the life of a church planter or missionary on the phone as he tries to book meetings and raise support.

First of all, it is more than possible that the list he acquired is not completely up to date. One phone call with an outdated list might sound something like this:

Church: Baptist Church, may I help you?

Missionary: Yes maam, may I speak to pastor Jones please?

Church: Pastor Jones!? Who is this?

Missionary: Uh, my name is bro. Stone, I’m a church planter and I wanted to talk to pastor Jones about the possibility of presenting the work to the church.

Church: Well, sir, you’d better get your mailing list up dated cause pastor Jones went home to be with the Lord nearly 5 years ago.

Missionary: Oh! I’m sorry to hear that. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?

Church: This is Mrs. Jones and I can tell you that we just don’t have any money!

That might sound somewhat satirical, but I can tell you that scenario has played itself out more than a few times. Then the missionary will inevitably be subjected to the “My Four and No More” pastor. That call will go something like this:

Church: This is Pastor Jones, how can I help you?

Missionary: Pastor, this is Bro. Stone. I’m a church planter on my way to…

Church: Where’d you go to school Bro. Stone?

Missionary: I graduated from Norris Bible Baptist Seminary back in 93

Church: Well, brother, I’m sure you’ll do a good job but that’s not the crowd I run with. God bless you.

The missionary will be tempted to ask the pastor why he is taking a salary from the church after a conversation like the following:

Missionary: Hello Pastor Jones. Brother Stone here. I’m a church planter on my way to Corpus Christi and I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of presenting the work to you and your people and giving you the opportunity to get in on this great work!

Pastor Jones: Well Bro. Stone I’ll tell you, we don’t have any mission money and don’t really anticipate having any for the rest of this year.

Missionary: Well, Bro. Jones, it’s only January 3rd. Don’t you think that at some point in the year y’all might be able to do something to increase your missions giving?

Pastor Jones: Brother Stone, I know my folks. They’re doing all they can and I aint about to ask them to do any more! Now God bless you! Just keep me on your mailing list and we’ll pray for you.

Missionary: No, that’s all right Pastor Jones, I’ll pray for you.

And, believe it or not, there are more conversations like this than I care to elaborate on.

But in all fairness, just a couple of hours on the phone today yielded 3 meetings with very promising possibility of support from at least 2 of them. I hate to put it like this, but it’s a numbers game. The more calls the missionary makes, the more meetings he will get. In sales, every “no” puts you one call closer to “yes”, and that is exactly the way one has to look at booking meetings.

I have a postcard tucked away in my Bible that says, “One success erases the heartaches of a thousand failures!”  And though there are some pastors and churches out there who make the missionary cringe just to think of booking meetings and raising support, there are also men of God who live by faith and trust in God for the increase to continue putting missionaries on the field. They believe this is God’s work, and if it’s done God’s way, God will provide. I’ve been privileged to be in a multitude of churches over the years. I could write a book of some of the episodes involving deputation, but I’ve also got a ton of stories about the friends I’ve made along the way and the relationships that have been forged because of deputation, and I wouldn’t trade those for anything.

Missionary, it’s worth it! Just hang in there and keep calling, keep booking meetings and keep raising the support you need. Don’t be a financial casualty! Just keep on the firing line and remember that each “We ain’t got no money” (which translates, “We ain’t got no faith”) gets you one call closer to “Brother, we’d be honored to have a part in your ministry.”

For Souls Till Jesus Comes!

Bro. Stone

Let Me Share A Blessing or Two! Dec. 27th 2011

In my last post I had mentioned how that the arduous task of raising support must now begin, but that was actually out of sequence with the real arduous task of packing and storing all our belongings. And oh my goodness, how does one family acquire soooooo much “stuff”???? We have given away living room furniture, dining room sets, televisions and tv stands, bedroom sets and a host of dishes and miscellaneous items and still it looks as though I might have to rent a second storage locker!!! But, praise the Lord, I finally see light at the end of the tunnel as today I should have everything out of the house and the new tenants can move in. Oh did I say “new tenants”? Yes, I did! Well let me tell you about the blessings that God has bestowed upon us lately.

First of all, the house itself was my biggest burden. Not having enough equity in it to even begin thinking of selling, the only option was to rent it out, which, that in itself can be a blessing or a nightmare! But all that stuff is trivial when the Lord is in control. When I began to post on facebook that I was planting a church in Corpus, a friend of mine, whom I have known for 20 years or more, asked me if I would be willing to do a lease option on our house. With that agreed upon, he then told me that the timing would be contingent upon the sale of his double-wide. He then called me a day or two later and said he’d put it on Craig’s List and the very first person who called bought his home! That’s not odd, that’s God!!!

My next set of worries had to do with how I’m going to feed and shelter my wife and myself but then I remembered that the Bible said something about “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” God reminded me that I am His child and that He will take care of my needs and some of my wants.  As a missionary trying to book meetings, the first couple of months are always the toughest because most pastors schedule their missionaries way in advance. So, I began to call preachers whom I knew and who knew me and told them my predicament and so far I have every Sunday in January booked and a few of the Wednesdays and some of February as well. Not only that, but my pastor spoke to the finance committee at the church and they voted to extend some extra support to me through February! I’m telling you, God does things we don’t expect when we decide to quit worrying about it and just put it in His hands!

One more burden I was carrying was the need for a more reliable vehicle. The only vehicle we have left is our F-150 with 200,000 miles on it. We thought about purchasing a camper top so we could haul our luggage and stuff and just drive it till the wheels fall off but that didn’t seem prudent. So I asked the Lord what I should do about that and He provided a sizeable down payment on a new to us Ford Expedition with pretty decent mileage and a more than decent price tag!  At first, I thought I could use my F-150 as a partial down payment but then the money was provided and so I thought I could keep the truck for future use when we get to Corpus, but God had other plans. It seems He wanted me to be a blessing to a young family who has fallen on hard times. The husband drives a truck for a living and is not home very often and they recently lost their home and their vehicle.  The mom is having to pay someone to drive her to work and pay for child care for two toddlers and an infant. Well, I can’t do a whole lot, but I can do a little.  I can see to it that she at least has a vehicle to drive so she won’t be completely dependent upon others to get her from point a to point b. I’m not gonna worry about a second vehicle right now. When the time comes and it becomes a need, I have no doubt my Heavenly Father will provide. He always does!

 

Return From Survey Trip / Monday, Dec. 5, 2011

After surveying both Corpus Christi and Victoria TX, Sim and I both agree that, by God’s grace, we will start the new church in Corpus. We found 2 very promising areas where a good church could be planted but settled on the area that has the most potential for future growth. South central/Southeast Corpus is an area of the city where the most growth is happening. It is also the nearest area to the Naval Base.

We were actually sad to leave and wished we could turn around and begin knocking doors tomorrow, but we both know that to try to start without the proper amount of funding would be foolish. So, tomorrow begins the arduous task of trying to book meetings and raising the support we will need.

A huge thank you is in order for Pastor and Mrs. John Hinton and the wonderfully sweet people of Faith Baptist Church for the way they spoiled us while we were there. The accommodations were outstanding, the steak dinner at the pastor’s house was tremendous, the opportunity to preach to such a receptive congregation was the icing on the cake and the love offering was extremely generous. Thank you all so very much! I am looking forward to many years of sweet fellowship and labor of love in the Lord with you all!

Pastor & Mrs. John Hinton                                                   Faith Baptist Church in Aransas Pass, TX