Keeping the Door Open Takes More Than Feeling…

Okay, you have taken down a picture of a child in Old Naledi and have begun to pray for that child. Your heart was stirred by Moruti James Mpopang messages. Tears came to your eyes when you heard Scott Shipes share the call God has given his family to go and serve as missionaries to the children of Botswana.

But as you are praying, the phone rings and its your friend in a crisis. Before you could really digest what Moruti James shared, your kids presented you with a crisis – a homework project forgotten until Sunday afternoon. When you got home from church after Scott and Tonya shared their news, you found out there were no groceries in the house. Life intruded and the feelings retreated.

The needs we are talking about continue, even when our feelings go into hibernation. There is a feeding station that needs to be built. God has put before us the opportunity to participate in its construction. There is a family that will need support every week for at least three years. There are people in our own community who will need us to serve them – and it will take resources to do it.

So what do you do when the feelings diminish? Feeling alone will not take care of these needs. You need to pray as a family about your contribution. You need to get a plan about how your family will provide the gifts God calls you to share.

Some suggestions:
If you a person that’s hard to buy for, tell people to make a donation in your honor to the Open Door Offering (ODO).
Have you recently sold something? Give a portion or all of it to ODO.
Set aside a sum each week through the end of December. Give it each week or all at once at the end of the year.
Some of you will get a Christmas bonus. Don’t spend it on yourself; give it to the ODO.
If you did well in the stock market this year, share the blessing with ODO.
Find something to do without over the next two months – and give the funds to ODO (for example, how much to you spend on Diet Coke each week?)
If you are parent who spends a specific amount on each child for Christmas, give an extra portion so the children in Botswana will be helped and people around the world will know God loves them.

Bottom line: The only way we will meet the need of $115,000 for the Open Door Offering is for all of us to do our part. To do your part, you need a plan. A plan requires prayer and action. Get started.

Salute to a Veteran

Like everyone else in his generation (the greatest generation ever), when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he knew he would serve. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and learned to fly.

His first assignment was not combat, but was to train others to fly. Then in 1945, he and his crew, along with their B- , went to England to prepare for the final push to destroy Germany. Before he flew one bombing mission, the Germans surrendered. The Army took their time trying to decide what to do, but eventually orders came to begin flying around the world to join with the forces fighting the Japanese. They made it as far as Greece when word came that the Atomic Bomb had ended the war, having never dropped one bomb in combat.

He got home quickly (I never knew how he managed that), got married, went back to his civilian job, and had his first child.

He never talked much about the war or flying, or the time he spent in Europe, or the men who flew with him. In fairness, he was not a talker about much of anything. Ocassionally, he would let slip out a reference to the war; for example, we never ate lamb because he had eaten it in Greece during the war and had gotten sick.

If you knew him, like I know him, you would understand that he did his duty; wasn't a hero in the flashy sense; was a small part of giant effort to overthrow tyrannical governments.

My step-father, Lawrence Prescott serve his country well. He did his part to keep freedom free. Pop, on this veteran's day, I say, "Thank You."

What a Leader Does

What does a leader do?

The best and most simple definition was giving years ago by Peter Drucker: A Leader Does What Needs to be Done.

To expand on this a little, I think a leader pays attention to five things:

1. Core. A leader has to take care of his core - his or her call from God; his or her relationships; keeping his or her own boundaries intact; resting; and nurturing the spiritual disciplines not as "have to's" but as "want to's."

2. Care. People care what leaders know when they know that leaders care. You can't fake this for long. People know when they are being used. If you have trouble caring, you need to ask God to give you a bigger heart.

3. Coach. The people you lead need you to tell them what needs to be done; they need you to show them how it is done; they need to do with your help; and they need your encouragement as they do it for themselves.

4. Communicate. Leaders have to be able to communicate why something needs to be done. Or as Andy Stanely said, "What problem are you trying to solve? And why does it need to be solved now? And why are we the ones to solve it?"

5. Courage. A leader has to lead people to decisions. Someone will have to compromise. Someone will get mad. Many people will have a comment about how it could be done better. A leader has the courage to make the right calls about the right things.

Sunday Download

By now, most of you know the story - Gina and I were got stuck in the subway in NYC (one of our deacons said to me, "You can get stuck anywhere, can't you?"). As a result, we missed our flight on Saturday night, the last flight from NYC to the Carolinas.

I knew our staff team would rise to the ocassion and they did. Nathan preached with about 12 hours notice. All my other Sunday functions were taken of care of.

When I got back Sunday afternoon, the first word I received was that Nathan had a done a good job. But Monday, I began to receive a different message. Three people told me essentially the same thing. They said, "I was the reason you missed your flight in New York. It was like Nathan was speaking directly to me. God knew I needed that message."

Okay, I don't know why we missed our flight - although I can tell you there were a series of odd events that kept us from getting to the airport. What I do know is this - it is God's message that matters, not the messenger. So thanks for being a good servant, Nathan. It's just one more reminder that God is able to work good in all things.

The Call…

This past Sunday night, during the Why Botswana service, we shared with the church family God’s call to Scott and Tonya Shipes to serve on the mission field, in Botswana.

Scott had sensed a call to children’s ministry about ten years ago, but had no peace about opportunities that came his way. Job responsibilities led him to Sumter about five years ago. He and Tonya plugged right in and began to serve. Scott has served as a deacon, a Bible Community Teacher, a member of the music ministry, and a leader in children’s ministry. Tonya has also served extensively in our church family, coordinating our VBS experiences and, most recently, stepping up to serve as interim Children’s Pastor at ADBC.

Scott and I journeyed to Botswana this past August, joining with a team from Freedom Fellowship in Greer. During that time, Scott shared with me his struggle over his call, and was wondering what God had in store for him. Two things impressed us both: God seemed to working most clearly in churches that had a strong ministry to children; and there was no full time children’s minister in the entire country of Botswana.

On our last full day in Botswana, Norman Schaffer, pastor of Open Baptist Church in the capitol of Gabarone (which partners with our partner, Naledi Baptist Fellowship), shared with Scott and myself that he sensed God calling Scott and his family to come and serve the children of Botswana.

The moment Norman laid out this possibility, I had a strong sense that this was from God. Scott had the same awareness. We began to talk, pray, and we brought Tonya and their children into the conversation. It seemed like all signs were pointing that this was a call to explore.

Scott and Tonya made a return trip to Botswana two weeks ago. During this time, the specifics of their call became clearer. They will work with an initiative called The Botswana School Outreach, which goes to schools in Botswana to teach abstinence and to share to the gospel. They will train children’s workers throughout the country, working specifically with Open Baptist Church’s mission points throughout the country. In short, they will be champions for children’s ministry in a country of 1.4 million people.
Scott and Tonya will need to raise support in the States to support their family in Botswana. We have been contacting other churches and their friends to ask them to pray about joining in support.

This family is one of our own that God has reached down and called. I believe that God would want us to join in their call and support them. For this first year on the field, our share of their support will total $30,000. We will use the gifts to the Open Door Offering to support this family.

So often when we give to missions, it seems so distant. Not this time. This time, it is personal, it is a family we know and love. They are answering a call to go. We must answer our call to give.

PowerLunch for November

Don't miss PowerLunch tomorrow! I talking all this year about Next Level Confidence. Tomorrow we will focus on "State of Mind is a Choice." We start serving lunch around 11:45 and we promise that you will be out by 12:50. Hope we see you!

This Weekend at ADBC

Don't miss three big event in the next 24 hours:

• Fall Festival - a great evening of fun, food and fellowship - Saturday from 6 to 8. Then go home and SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR!!
• Moruti James Mpopang from Naledi, Botswana will speak in all three services!
• Why Botswana will be a special service Sunday night at 6. Moruti James will share, as will our mission teams and we will share a major announcement!

Don't miss the great stuff at ADBC!