Yes!

I have had a fast and furious past few weeks. From a nice extended weekend at the lake to a week with 200 children at Children’s Camp to this week which has been full of meetings, it seems as if it never slows down! That being said, I love so much being a pastor that even though my schedule is full, I couldn’t be happier! Tracy and I were talking the other day about how unique it is that each of us is getting to fulfill our dreams for our lives. She is a stay at home mom and I’m a lead Pastor at an amazing church which is being used by God to take the gospel to the world. What a blessing!

Coming up this week, however, is a couple of very exciting events. We start our new sermon series this week entitled “Oasis”. Just as an oasis appears in the midst of vast desert, so to Christ appears out of the midst of our depravity and offers us hope in a hopeless world. I’m excited about the new series. On top of the exciting series, the good folks who design our stage for each series have built a 10 foot waterfall which looks incredible! I’ll try and post pictures in the upcoming weeks once the stage design is complete.

Beyond that we start VBS next week. Last year we had over 200 children and this year we are praying for 400! We’ll see how God blesses our prayers and how God uses our VBS to draw children to Himself.

Finally, below is a picture a friend took of my wife and girls as we played with fireworks last week at the lake. I thought it was particularly good so I thought I would post it.

I don’t KNOW if I will, or will not, correspond with anyone for the next few days. Tracy, the girls and I are taking advantage of the extended weekend and we’re heading to the lake for a few days thanks to the generous hospitality of some friends from our church. I’m looking forward to relaxing, spending time on the water, and coming back from Osage Beach nice and tanned (and hopefully not sunburned ). We should have wifi while we’re down at the lake but I’m not planning to spend excessive amounts of time using it. So, I’ll talk to you each when I get back. Until then, have a fantastic Independence Day.

Well, today was a big day for me. After researching smartphones, I finally decided which phone I wanted to purchase. The Blackberry Curve 8330 is going to be my new phone. So with great anticipation I traveled to the local Sprint store to acquire it. Unfortunately, they were out of stock. A bit down, but still excited, I headed over to Best Buy to check out their selection only to be a bit more depressed to find out that they too were in short supply. Heading back to the office I placed a call to the national Sprint store only to hear that they too were out of said phone. Taking one final chance I went online and perused the Sprint website only to confirm that, yes, the entire company is currently out of 8330s. For most of you this is not altogether sad news, but trust me as a bona fide geek and one who loves anything that can sync with my laptop, this was not a fun afternoon for me.

So, I’m currently on a waiting list to be notified as soon as Sprint has some more in stock. Until then I continue to make do with my Katana. Oh well, life is full of little disappointments, right?

Although I already have an enormous appreciation for the life of Dr. Adrian Rogers, I’ll have to admit that my admiration grew a bit today. While having lunch with a friend of mine who is a member of our church, but who also grew up at Bellevue, I was surprised to learn that Dr. Rogers was a diehard Gators fan. My friend loved Dr. Rogers but is also a fan of FSU so it pained him a bit to share it with me, but I couldn’t be happier.

After a bit of searching, I ran across this Baptist Press article that confirms it. It’s good to see men of God who not only love God’s word and His church with a passion, but who also love the greatest team in America with a passion.

Last week in North Carolina, I got to do something that I don’t get to do more than every 2-3 years…I got to hang out with my brother and sister both during my brother’s wedding. We’re a pretty good looking bunch, don’t you think?

Well, Wednesday is not generally the popular day to post photos, but I took a few today that I wanted to share. We drove our girls over to Hannibal, on the eastern side of the state, today to drop them off with their grandparents who are taking them to Florida. On the way back Tracy and I walked through the woods to see an old covered bridge. The bridge used to be over a creek and used to be in use. Neither of those things are true today. It’s now preserved as a Missouri State Historic Place. It was beautiful. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Well, exactly one week from today my lovely wife Tracy and I will jump in our minivan (I know, I’m getting old) and make the 8 hour drive to Indianapolis, Indiana. Normally I prefer to fly, and it’s become cheaper than paying mileage, but since we are leaving after the convention to head to Wilmington, NC for my brother’s wedding, this year we’ll make the drive.

I’m excited about this year’s convention for a number of reasons. One of the chief reasons I’m excited is that I will have the privilege of serving this year on the Committee on Committees. This will be my first experience serving on the national level. I’m one of those strange individuals who gets a kick out of serving on committees so this should be an enjoyable and educational experience.

I’m also very excited this year as I watch what happens with the Presidential election. Two years ago I was thrilled to watch as Frank Page won the election on a first ballot to become the President of the SBC. This year I am convinced that it will take a second ballot for a candidate to to receive the necessary 51% approval. Nonetheless I am very encouraged to see a number of qualified Southern Baptists all placing their name into nomination to serve as our President. It’s indicative of an increased level of involvement from people who previously would not have been engaged in the process, and for that I’m grateful. I’ve had the privilege of meeting 4 of the 6 candidates but have not yet met Frank Cox or William Wagner. I count one of the candidates, Les Puryear, to be a very good friend and I could be satisfied with a number of the candidates being elected.

That being said, my vote will be cast for Avery Willis. I mentioned earlier that I had the privilege of building his website that conveys his desire for the SBC as well as his track record of success to this point. I would encourage you to run over and take a look at it. Beyond that, Avery has recently responded to a written interview request from Baptist Press that is very enlightening. I would strongly encourage you to read that interview as well as the interviews with each of the other candidates. I am convinced that Avery’s passion, track record, humility and plan is in line with what our convention needs to become an effective, Kingdom growing organization again.

Finally, I’m looking forward to Indy as I will get the privilege of spending a week with my wife without any children. I love my children more than my own life, but as anyone who has toddlers can tell you, they can be a bit draining at times when it comes to quality time with your spouse. Although the convention is a very, very busy time for me, I’m looking forward to enjoying it together with Tracy. This should be the longest amount of time we’ve had together, without children, since Grace was born almost 5 years ago. We’ve got our reservations set for the University Place Conference Center and Hotel and we’re excited about getting there.

Oh, and one more thing, one of the more enjoyable experiences of SBC gatherings since I started this blog 3 or 4 years ago now, has been meeting many of you who read this. Since you can see my picture at the top of the blog (I’m sorry about that, it’s not really nice of me to subject you to it, I know), if you see me introduce yourself. I’ve already received correspondence from a number of you who will be there and I’m looking forward to getting together in person. So, please take a moment to stop us and introduce yourself to Tracy and me. It would be a privilege to meet many of you.