Posts from June 2018

Posts from June 2018

SBC Recovery

The SBC must recover a high view of the meaning of conversion and membership, and must bring back or expel non-attenders through a loving and thoughtful process. We must pursue the doctrinal understanding and biblical practices necessary to overcome the remaining membership bloat, and the ongoing increase of unregenerate membership. We have much to be thankful for—for instance, the quality and training of young leaders is the best I remember it. Yet, we must address unregenerate membership—or we die. It’s…

It Isn’t About Me

When you meet with the body of believers in which God by his sometimes secret design has put you, remember this great truth: it’s not about “me.” You don’t gather mainly about you, but them. “Let all things be done for edification,” Paul said. That is, do all you do together for the building up of others. Amazingly, you will be most edified yourself if you think of the body of Christ in this way. And, it may well lead…

A Letter from Jim | June 2018

I’ve just listened to a young man named Marcin Patrzalek playing Nicolo Paganini, “Caprice No 24” and “El Colibri” by Julio Sagreras. I’m shocked to hear this young man play as he did, and with such difficult pieces. Look him up on YouTube. He could not be more than 15 or 16 years of age. I love classical guitar, but it isn’t just the music that makes it for me, nor the quality of the guitar—as you know, it’s the…

Pain to Gain for Others

Muslim extremists murdered Ayub’s grandmother on one of the many islands of Indonesia. We stayed in the home of this warmhearted Christian leader. He serves as an elder for the church meeting in a home nearby. We loved this brother and his wife immediately and shared some really happy moments together in Christ. But, Ayub’s life was a troubled one at first. When he was a teenage boy, as a consequence of declared Jihad, Muslim zealots insisted that everyone on…