The link above is to an article about Bishop Eddie Long and the "brand" he built at his church. It centers very much around himself. As popular as he is, I feel very strongly that he has missed the point. We are not supposed to be the "brand" of the church. The church is the body of Christ and HE is the head. Jesus said clearly that those who would be leaders should be the servant of all. To promote a leader into a position as "head" of the church and make him the focus goes against what God taught and how the church best works. Paul, the apostle tried to set an example for people to follow, but his example was one of humility and hard work, not a life of indulgence and ease. Read 2 Thessalonians 3 to see him talk about how they worked hard so as not to live off of others and to provide an example of hard work. I hope that our church's "Brand" is Christ. That we, as church members, do not become the focus, but instead show Christ through the way we live our lives and conduct ourselves.

The Bible says that the heart of man is desperately sick, who can understand it. (Jer. 17:9) Here is a great interview with Michael Vick who fell from NFL star to prisoner for running an illegal dog-fighting operation. I love his reaction to his situation. I hope that he really goes beyond this realization and is on a true and meaningful walk with God now. For a similar situation, read Daniel chapter 4.

Vick calls prison "the best thing that ever happened to me" Posted by Michael David Smith on October 3, 2010 11:18 AM ET As Michael Vick talked to his former Falcons coach Jim Mora about falling from NFL stardom to prison, Mora asked, "What could I have done?" "There was nothing you could do, Jim," Vick told Mora in an interview on NFL Network. "The best thing for me, that ever happened to me up to this point, as crazy as it may sound, was me being shipped off to [the federal prison in Leavenworth] Kansas. Because other than that, I wasn't going to change. I wasn't going to get all the people away from me that was leeches and wanted to be around. I wasn't going to stop fighting dogs." Vick said that he wouldn't change his life because, "I was thinking, hey, man, I'm Mike Vick, what's the worst thing that's gonna happen to me?" Vick told Mora he wouldn't have listened to his coach telling him to change the focus of his life because he wasn't listening to anyone. Vick says he now thinks his federal prison sentence was God's work. "My mom tried to tell me," Vick said. "In one ear and out the other. There was nothing nobody could have done to change my situation but the man upstairs, who said, 'Listen, before this goes any further, I'm going to take all this away from you for a while.'" Mora asked how Vick misled his coaches and the whole Falcons organization about his off-field activities. "My whole life was a lie, Jim -- everything, A to Z," Vick said, adding that he went to his dog-fighting facility in Virginia, "Every week -- every week. . . . I just told you, my whole life was a lie, Jim."

Did you know that I have superpowers?  All dad's have them although all too many don't use them and end up losing them.   God gives dad's awesome superpowers.  I am constantly humbled and moved by mine and I am working hard to use them well.

I have the power to create value and confidence in my children, especially my daughter.  If I cherish her, honor her, love her and affirm her, you will see a woman emerge who is confident in her value and strong in her resolve.    With my sons, I can create men who will cherish and care for women, who honor them and esteem them.  Men who will in turn raise up Godly families themselves.  With all my children I have been given the power to call who God made them into fuller being, giving them hope and helping mold them into the person they are going to be tomorrow.

In my adopted children (some even young adults now), I also have some superpowers from God.  I can help melt cold hearts that have been frozen by the world and be a part of healing those wounded by the world. To reset damaged pictures of what dads should be and give them the strength, confidence, and self-value to make wise choices and keep themselves from being victimized and dominated by others for the sake of some "love" and attention.   With all my daughters, I have the power to protect them, not by building strong walls, but by building strong daughters who don't chase a man to feel loved and lovely and who won't accept any man that treats her as less than the complete, competant, fully developed person she is.

These are awesome powers and I must be careful.  With great power comes great responsibility.  I must remember that God is the author and source of these powers and He has provided the template and guidance for me to use them.  I must seek Him every day and submit myself to His control and will if I am to have any power at all.  The minute I work in my own strength and wisdom, the power is gone and I can do great damage.  When I do submit myself in humility to Him, I will be less of a focus for my children and more of a picture of Christ that will allow them to move beyond me into a powerful personal connection with their God that will shape them, define them, and empower them for the rest of their lives.  What Power!

O God, grant me the humility, wisdom, discipline, and strength to be the man you would have me be to my family.  They are the greatest and most important congregation I will ever serve!

I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth. (3 John 1:4 NAS)

The RHMA conference in Lancaster was great!  Once again I found myself deeply challenged and inspired.  It will take a bit for me to absorb and apply all that I heard and received at the conference, but it was great!!  There were two different general session speakers and both were amazing.  I came home with a book by each of them which I can't wait to read.  Both really challenged me in areas that I need to grow and develop as a pastor.    Although I feel that BCBC is moving in the right direction, God had so much more that He wanted to impress on me.  I clearly felt the Spirit speaking to me in deep and profound ways.  I am still sorting it all out, but you will see it emerging in the next few weeks.  It will definitely show up in this week's message which I am hard at work on.

As we have already been preaching, it is all about the Gospel.  It is about the Word of God.  There is a simplicity yet a depth that needs to characterize our church as we pursue the Gospel and the Word.  That makes disciples.  That makes disciple-makers.

What do I focus on as I seek to encourage people?  What do I preach?  When I preach the Gospel, how do it do it?  These are all things running through my head.  I always come away knowing that I have so much to learn and so eager to learn more.  I remember one of my college profs reminding us, "you have not arrived yet."  I certainly have not, and this conference was a great reminder of that but also an awesome sign post, pointing me forward to where we need to go as a fellowship.

May I have the discipline, patience, humility, trust, wisdom, guidance, grace, and submission I need to be the shepherd that He has called me to be!

Here is a really interesting article on divorce.  It takes the point of view of the kids who are affected by it.  It is NOT from a Christian or even conservative perpective which makes it even more interesting.  Here are a couple of observations I made.

1. Throughout the article, divorce is treated as a negative.
2. Kids work to "overcome" divorce and express an ideal of intact, non-divorce, marriage.
3. Putting lie to the claim that kids "get over" divorce, it reveals that children are divorce are much more likely to divorce.

I find this whole article very interesting. It gives a view of marriage and divorce that sounds rather familiar. Oh, that's right, it was in my Bible. :)