A pet peeve of mine is teaching children “memorized” prayers. I want children to learn that their faith is a personal faith and so we have encouraged our daughters, since they began to talk, to formulate their own prayers to God. At the close of our family devotional time each evening we let the girls each pray. Grace has been a pretty avid prayer since she was 2 and a half or 3. She loves to pray and she can pray some amazing prayers at times. Kessed, however, has just recently decided that she needed to begin praying. She listens to her big sister a lot and often copies her, but she is also beginning to develop her own personal ability to converse with God. It’s pretty amazing to watch.

Tonight after she prayed, we thought it was so cute that we had to get it on video for the sake of archiving it. We asked her to pray again once the camera was rolling. She obliged (which is definitely not a guarantee when you’re talking about Kessed) and I love the video. I’ve posted it below.

In case you don’t speak Kessedese and need a translation, she says: “Jesus thank you for today. Help us. In Jesus Name, amen.” I love watching my girls begin to grow in their faith.

**UPDATE** Dr. Pollock and his son have been found. They did not survive the crash of their private airplane. Please be in prayer for the Pollock family.

Please pray for Pastor Forrest Pollock, of Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, FL. Pastor Pollock was flying his private airplane along with his 13 year old son, Preston, and he never arrived at his intended destination. They believe they have found the emergency transmitter signal in North Carolina and are currently searching. Please pray diligently for Pastor Pollock, Preston as well as his wife and his 5 additional children.

Updates on the search can be found at the church website, located here.

Here in St. Joseph we have a phenomenal partnership among churches of various denominational stripes. We work together in a number of areas to promote unity and enlarge the Kingdom of God. The National Day of Prayer is one such area. A few years ago it was transitioned to something we refer to as “One Church”. We have personalized it to reflect St. Joseph and year after year it continues to reflect a beautiful picture of the Body of Christ coming together to honor God and seek Him in prayer. This year proved to be no different.

The St. Joseph News-Press has written a wonderful article outlining this year’s event. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d encourage you to do so. You can read it by clicking here.

My wife’s grandfather is like a grandfather to me. We are an incredibly close family. This morning he was found in the yard of his home without a pulse. The paramedics were able to restart his heart but he is only breathing through the help of a ventilator. All of us in the family are gathered here in the ICU waiting room.

Floyd is a wonderfully godly man who I not only love but who I desire to be like. Please pray that the doctors would have great intelligence as they deal with him. Please also pray that all of the family would experience God’s great peace and would also be able to bring honor to the Lord as we go through this time. Please pray specifically for Floyd’s wife, Mary Jane. They have been married for 58 years and this is very difficult for her, as can be expected.

No, I’m not thinking about the upcoming US Presidential election. Instead I’m thinking, once again, about the upcoming SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis and the implications of the presidential election that we will take part in. There are two announced candidates, William Wagner and Frank Cox. Besides those men, Wiley Drake has announced he is planning to run but, as of yet, no one has been announced to nominate him.

This year’s election is an unusual one in SBC life in that no significant “name” candidate is running. Dr. Al Mohler was originally running but had to withdraw a month or so ago, and it could be argued that the most significant player in this election is the man set to nominate Frank Cox, evangelist Junior Hill, who stands as one of the most well known men in SBC life. Wiley Drake has become fairly well known as a convention gadfly but stands apart because he is most likely to be unable to garner any serious support for a substantial run at the presidency.

This year’s election is also unusual in that both major candidates have campaign websites. Frank Cox’s site does not announce itself as such, but it fits all the basic criteria necessary, and so in both cases we are operating with much more information about the candidates than we have in the past.

As I have personally found myself thinking about the convention, and the candidate I wish to support, I have put together a list of 5 qualifications that I find to be incredibly important. I thought I would list those and then share my plans in regards to presidential voting for this summer.

1. An irenic spirit: Over the past few decades there has been a significant amount of turmoil in SBC life. A difficult battle was waged for the prominence of scripture, and due to that we have a number of scars within convention life that are still open and festering. Beyond that we still seem to have tremendous difficult laying down the swords and moving towards Kingdom expansion. We desperately need to continue the pattern of peacemaking that Frank Page has established for us.
2. An open door: We have some pretty unique individuals in SBC life. We are made up of a number of people who look and act differently but who are united around the banner of the Bible and our distinct baptistic characteristics as seen in the Baptist Faith and Message. As an example we have Calvinists and non-Calvinists, Dispensationalists and Amillenialists, Elder-rule, congregational rule, traditional, contemporary and emerging churches, all within the framework of SBC life. All of these varying groups can stand within the borders of orthodox, baptistic theology and as such, each should be welcome to have a place the table of SBC life. I am committed to voting for a president who is committed to preserving the unity of the body while not attempting to divide those who stand in some sort of divergent stream from himself. For a more detailed description of my desire for greater diversity, you can read a previous article I wrote by clicking here.
3. A fresh perspective: It is important to me to elect a president who is committed to investing in the lives of those who have historically not been involved in convention life. There are a significant number of pastors and laypeople from faithful, conservative SBC churches who have given their lives to Kingdom work within the SBC. It is important to me that we find ways to utilize those people in the life of our convention. As I spoke with Frank Page this past week he shared with me how he has worked to do just that. We need to continue that pattern. In an article that I wrote almost exactly one year ago, I briefly highlighted the tight circle of leadership displayed for a while in convention life. If you haven’t read it, it might be a good place to start thinking about this process. You can read it by clicking here.
4. A new face: There are too many incredible, faithful men in SBC life for us to ignore. While it is more difficult to find someone who is not currently prominently known, it is worth it I think, to find a pastor or layman who is faithful where they are at and who would serve well in SBC life. In my opinion, we would do well to consider someone who is from outside the Bible belt, who is a racial minority or who is serving in a smaller church. All of these are fairly unusual characteristics that have not been true of an SBC President in a long time, if ever. It is important to me that we invest our time and energy to elect someone who has not been a part of the “system” up to this point.
5. A faithful man: Finally, although all of the prior thoughts are important to me, the most important is that the candidate be a faithful “Bible man”. A strong commitment to God’s word and an unshakable conviction regarding the application of that word are necessary components to me. While I think it is probably almost impossible for someone to be elected who is not a conservative in our current climate, it is important to me to emphasize that I won’t vote for someone who is not.

After thinking through these concepts, I have come to the conclusion that none of the announced candidates will receive my vote. After seeing my poll in the sidebar, it appears that at least a few of you agree. I plan to pray and ask God to bring a candidate to the forefront who is committed to these characteristics. I’m looking forward to what happens in Indianapolis.

If you are anywhere in the St. Joseph, MO area and you are not already committed to a local church, you need to make plans to be with us at Frederick Boulevard this Easter Sunday morning! It is going to be one incredible day!

I listened in this evening as the worship team prepared and they sounded incredible! The service will mix a combination of dynamic music, baptism, multimedia communication and a message from Colossians 2:13-15 to celebrate the cross and resurrection in an unbelievable manner.

You can choose between our 8:30 and 10:15 services and also enjoy a continental breakfast served from 9:45-10:45 am in our new building that we’re opening up on Sunday! You will be able to tour the new building which includes our Biblical Counseling Center, the extension of our KidsLife Children Department and the new atrium area that I’m calling Frederick’s Living Room. It will feature comfortable sofas, chairs and tables along with free wifi and coffee.

This Sunday should be one of our most amazing worship experiences yet! I hope you will plan to be with us. 

This week for Weekend Worship I want to share with you something that God has been dealing with me about. I struggled, as a teenager, with trusting God. I worried about everything. The worry became so extensive that I was placed on prescription Zantac as a 16 year old and the doctor told me that I was in the beginning stages of a stomach ulcer. I asked God for the ability to trust Him and He gave it to me in supernatural ways. For almost 15 years now I have had the ability to simply trust Him regardless of what came into my life. Recently, though, the sin of worry has crept back into my life. I have struggled with trust and as I’ve been seeking God’s heart, my wife reminded me of a powerful passage from Philippians 4.

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

As I read that again, I was struck by verse 7 which claims that God’s peace will “guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” What a powerful statement! God is working to protect my heart and mind as I trust and rejoice in Him and His goodness.

This week, the song I want to post is a story of the amazing grace of God as we walk by faith. Jeremy Camp’s song, “Walk by Faith” is a wonderful song on its own, but when you listen to it and realize that he wrote the song after experiencing the loss of his wife to cancer after being married for only 4 months, it takes on an even more powerful meaning. I hope that you will enjoy listening to this song, and Camp’s testimony of God’s faithfulness, and that you will walk by faith this week.

Blessings!

News came out today that Caelen Cross, son of my friend Alan Cross, does not, in fact, have cancer. 

God is good!

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