Pastor Prayer Time at Pregnancy Resource Center

Today I was privileged to be invited to "Pastor Prayer Time" at the Pregnancy Resource Center of Henry County. Karen Garrett (left) invites a different pastor from the Henry County area to come at 9:00 AM each Tuesday and pray with the staff. I am very embarrassed to tell you that I was supposed to attend last month, and let it slip my mind. I felt terrible, but Karen was gracious and merciful and allowed me to reschedule. Thank you Karen. One of the prayer needs today was for the personnel committee to be able to find a replacement for Donna Barney (second from left). Donna is the current CEO and Executive Director. She is retiring and moving to the Warm Springs, GA area. Please pray that a suitable CEO/ED will be found. Pray also for Donna to be able to get her house sold in this soft market.

The other two ladies there for our prayer time were Jennifer (second from right) and Pat (far right). All of these ladies were great company, and prayed with such a sweet spirit. Any pastor would have enjoyed sharing an hour praying with such tender hearted ladies. While we were waiting for everyone to get there for our prayer time, a lady came in to do some court ordered community service. She asked Karen how busy the center was, and I heard Karen tell her that they served over 1600 clients in the last year.

It excites me to think how many innocent children's lives may have been saved by this wonderful ministry. Before we went over the prayer list we read Psalm 116 together. Donna remarked how wonderful it was that the "cup of salvation" was mentioned in the Psalms so many hundreds of years before Jesus told us that the "cup" at the Lord's supper represented his blood shed for us. The Pregnancy Resource Center is located at 3834 Jodeco Road in McDonough, in this beautiful home converted into office and ministry space. Please put them on your prayer list and remember them in your giving this Christmas season.

Related Story: Georgia Cops Impound Anti-Abortion Billboard Truck, Jail Driver

Four Ways to Trim Your 2007 Tax Bill - WSJ.com

I've done my own income taxes since I was old enough to start working. My father was a corporate accountant, but he also used to help my aunt, a tax preparer, during the busy tax season. I never thought of paying anyone else to do my taxes because I always saw Dad doing his own. I just assumed you fill out the forms, and if you have questions you look in the instructions. I'm sure that many other people who are paying to have their taxes done really could do their own if they just took the time to read the instructions.

Also, today there are many great software programs that make the task even easier. Prices vary, but all are less expensive than paying a professional to do your taxes. And by the way, many "professionals" don't know much more than you do. I had an eye-opening experience working for one of the major tax preparation chains as a part-time job a few years ago. I went to one of their classes, for several weeks, to learn to prepare returns, even though I had been doing my own and those of a few friends for years. What shocked me was that they hired people who had not participated in their weeks long class. When tax season rolled around and they didn't have enough tax preparers, they hired a lot of people who had literally just a couple of days worth of training, and had never prepared taxes before.

Another thing that bothered me about the business was the fees. The preparation fees were high. Most of the people who came into our offices were poor and could not afford to pay these fees in advance. They needed to pay when they got their refunds. In order to accomodate them the firms used "bank products." We had an arrangement with a bank to open an account in the customer's name, and have the IRS deposit the refund in that account. Then we could cut the customer a check for their refund minus our fees, and minus a heavy fee from the bank. If the customer wanted their money sooner, the bank would actually let us cut them a loan check before the deposit was received from the IRS, but the interest rates from this loan were excessive, sometimes resulting in an APR of over 100% after fees were added in.

As the time nears to prepare 2007 returns I've been thinking about some of the ways the tax preparation industry takes advantage of the poor in our community. I am committing myself to prepare some returns for free for low income tax payers. I especially want to help senior citizens who have the least opportunity to increase their earning potential. In the month of February I plan to set aside a few hours each Saturday morning for preparing returns. The preparation will be free to individuals with incomes below $20,000 or families (head of household or married filing jointly) with incomes under $40,000. If you want to efile your return there is a $15 fee, but that just covers my cost. Additionally, I'll take a postdated check for the $15, dated for the expected date of your refund. I hope that members of our church will bring friends and neighbors who need this service. I'll need church members to help with printing, filing paperwork, possibly entertaining children while I interview parents to prepare their returns. It would be nice to have coffee and snacks available to anyone who comes in to have their taxes done.

Although I will still do a few returns as a "paid preparer", these Saturday mornings will be set aside for the free returns only.

Four Ways to Trim Your 2007 Tax Bill - WSJ.com

A Word from Abe Lincoln

President Lincoln's original Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day, dated Oct. 3, 1863.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

- A. Lincoln

Christian Index reviews "Golden Compass"

In my last post I gave a link to a Baptist Press article on the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass. I have since discovered a copy of this book in my home. It seems my son, who is away in Arizona in the army, owns a copy. My daughter also told us she has read it and that it was a "great book." It was given to her to read by a seventh grade English teacher. Having not read it myself, I can't say whether:

1. the teacher had not read the book and was therefore unaware of it's anti-Christian message,
   
2. she had read it, but the message was so subtle she didn't catch it, or
   
3. she had read it and agreed with the message, and therefore sought to pass it on to the kids.

The most recent edition of The Christian Index (the official newspaper of the Georgia Baptist Convention) has a review of the book and movie that may give you more information. I also found reading the author's own words on his web site very informative. In his FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) Pullman says:

His Dark Materials seems to be against organised religion. Do you believe in God?

I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away.

Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them.

For further reading...

Golden Compass Warning
www.FamilyLifeCenter.net Why Golden Compass is Anti-Catholic CD Helps Parents & All Christians

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

And in the Interest of Fairness....
Pullman not promoting atheism in ‘Golden Compass’

"Golden Compass" movie opening to controversy

Baptist Press - 'Golden Compass' movie opening to controversy - News with a Christian Perspective

The Christian Crushing Movie - Brent Bozell III

Last year C. S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was a big hit at the movie theater with Christians and non-Christians alike. Seeking to capitalize on the popularity of the fantasy genre, New Line Cinema is releasing The Golden Compass this Christmas season. But beware, this isn't your Father's Narnia! This movie is based on the first of three books by author Philip Pullman. The Baptist Press article says Pullman has a strong distaste for Christianity. It quotes him directly as saying his books are about killing God.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia series written by C. S. Lewis. This Baptist Press article says that Pullman has expressed disdain for Lewis' Narnia, calling it "propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology."

Beware of this movie, which has been toned down to pave the way for more explicit movies based on the latter two books in his series. But don't let your vigilance stop at the box office. The Golden Compass is the first book in Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, which are being marketed in public schools through Scholastic Book clubs. Christian parents will want to keep these books out of the hands of their children.

If your children liked The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe then turn them on to the rest of the books in the Narnia series. They'll make great bedtime reading, and lay a great groundwork for sharing the gospel with your children.

Convention Summary

All in all the Georgia Baptist Convention was pretty uneventful. That's mostly a good thing. Eventful is often a sign of strife and disharmony. Bucky Kennedy, our first vice-president, and pastor of First Baptist Church of Vidalia, was elected as our president for the new year. I don't know Bucky well, but we did go to college together in the early eighties at Brewton Parker. I liked what I knew then. He has a fine record since then as a pastor and a servant of Georgia Baptist. I have no doubt he will serve us and the Lord well.

The only piece of business that produced any debate was a resolution on blogging. I honestly wasn't sure what precipitated this resolution, and was a little uneasy about supporting it. The resolution simply stated that Georgia Baptist should not use blogs to be critical or divisive toward others in our convention. On the surface that sounds fine. The only area of "critical blogging" I was aware of related to Wade Burleson of Enid, Oklahoma, who was recently censured and suspended from four meetings of the trustees of the International Mission Board for comments on his blog. I wasn't aware of this being an issue within the Georgia Baptist Convention.

The resolution passed, and perhaps it should have. Georgia Baptists should refrain from personal attacks and open criticism of one another. But two things concern me about the resolution.

1. Lack of Context. I'm admittedly not an insider, but several other pastor friends I talked with said they did not know what had precipitated this resolution either. It would be nice to know who is doing this blogging and exactly what they said and who was "attacked." I certainly think there is room for dissent for Georgia Baptist bloggers, as long as that dissent is offered respectfully and civily. I'd hate to think we approved a resolution that the "insiders" know was directed toward a particular blogger, who was simply daring to dissent over some issue and not actually making any "personal attacks."
2. Lack of Scope. If personal attacks are in fact being made, the resolution should have focused on all personal attacks and not only those being made on blogs. Fellow Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren was openly criticized on the floor of the convention for hosting Jewish leaders at his church who want to learn how Saddleback draws such a crowd. The implication was that Warren or his church weren't sharing Jesus with Jews in the community if they were teaching Jewish leaders how to reach a crowd. I don't know, but I wonder if Warren might be building bridges with the Jewish community in order to earn a hearing to share the gospel. Warren was also tied to Bill Hybels, who admitted that he and his church had "made a mistake" by sacrificing doctrine to reach large numbers. The implication was that since Warren teaches "seeker sensitivity" that he had done the same thing. Anyone who has read Warren's books or followed his ministry knows that he teaches sound doctrine and is seeking to lead his people to become mature followers of Christ. Personal attacks don't become more acceptable just because they are illustrations for a doctrinal sermon.
   

Jerry Peele preaches at Georgia Baptist Convention

I grew up in a small town in South Georgia. At least if you live in the Atlanta area you would consider Eastman to be in South Georgia. We called it Middle Georgia. And in all fairness you've still got a good hour and a half to two hours of driving from Eastman before you get to Florida, so maybe it is in the middle of the state. I think we called it Middle Georgia more because we got our newspapers and all of our TV stations, and many of our radio stations out of Macon, an hour to our north. You don't get much more central to Georgia than Macon, but we were an hour further South.

When I first moved away from Eastman, people would ask me where I was from, and when I told them I'd always get a "Where's that?" response. I used to be able to tell them our claim to fame was being the home of Stuckey's fine pecan candies (pronounced PEE CAN if you are actually from Eastman). Twenty years ago that struck a cord with people no matter where they were from, as Stuckey's stores used to dot the highways all over our nation. Although candy is still being manufactured in the same plant in Eastman, it no longer carries the Stuckey's brand and the generation after mine has no recollection of those ubiquitous highway stores.

So now when I try to tell people where I'm from I have a hard time coming up with much that Eastman is known for. Don't get me wrong. It's still a fine community and a great place to raise a family. I love going back there to visit family and friends. But if you get more than 30 or 40 miles away, it's just not really well known in other parts of the state. The most painful response I get when trying to tell people about Eastman is when they respond, "Is it near Cochran?" How absurd! Eastman and Cochran are only about 17 miles apart, but anyone can clearly see that Cochran should have to use Eastman as a reference point and not the other way around, after all, the folks in Cochran have to drive south to use OUR Walmart! (We conveniently forget to mention that Eastmanites have commuted north the 17 miles to Cochran to attend Middle Georgia College for decades now.)

Tonight I was very proud to be a small town boy from Eastman. Dr. Jerry Peele, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Eastman, brought the mission sermon at the Georgia Baptist Convention in Augusta. (You know Augusta. It's near Hephzibah. I think they have some kind of golf tournament up there each year.) Dr. Peele did an excellent job. He even managed to get in a good plug for the local high school football team. Go Indians!

Dr. Peele spoke from Psalm 67, demonstrating that we don't have to wait until we get to the New Testament to find the call to missions in the gospels. He talked about verse 3 where the Psalmist says, "May the peoples praise you." Being that so many of us were educated in Georgia public schools, Dr. Peele explained why "people" which is already plural, needed an "s" on the end.

You see, we think people just means more than one person, but here it means an ethnically distinct group of people. So the psalmist was saying, may people of all different ethnicities, from all the different cultures, praise you in all the different languages on the earth. We know that Jesus told us to take the gospel to all the nations, but here, centuries before, God speaks to his people Israel and tells them that all the nations should be praising him. But the other nations didn't know him. The only way the nations, the peoples, the other ethnic groups of the world could praise him would have been if Israel had told them about him!

All the people in other nations had god's they worshiped, but they were not worshiping the one true God. They had not heard of him. This is the part where Dr. Peele got very brave. He actually said that all religions are dangerous, deadly, and diabolical except for the one true faith. The next thing you know he'll be saying that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and that only by faith in him can we ever be rightly related to God! How exclusivistic! How arrogant! How Biblical! The heart of Dr. Peele's message was this. The reason many of our churches aren't reaching people, the reason that they aren't "doing missions" is that we don't really believe. We don't really believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. If we did we'd be shouting it from the rooftops. Far too many of us have bowed at the altar of the gods of acceptance and tolerance, and we have demonstrated by our silence that we believe one faith, and one god, is as good as another. Thank you Dr. Peele for not being silent. Thank you for challenging us to believe again.

Veterans' Day Service

Thanks to Jimmy Livingston and Martha Stone for a very moving tribute to our veterans and soldiers yesterday.

Thanks to all of you who provided pictures of yourselves or your loved ones to make this presentation possible.

But thanks most of all to those who wore the uniform proudly and bravely. We are thankful for your sacrifice and service. God bless our church, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.

God's Pie

I found this on another pastor's blog. It speaks volumes about our stewardship of God's resources.

Georgia Turns to Prayer to Ease Drought | ajc.com

Georgia Turns to Prayer to Ease Drought | ajc.com

Many Georgia Baptist pastors will be in Augusta for the Georgia Baptist Convention annual meeting on Tuesday when the governor hosts his prayer meeting on the steps of the state capital for rain in Georgia.

May we be found faithful to be praying with him even if we can't be found standing on the steps with him. Thank you governor Perdue for calling our state to prayer.

Christian Scholarship vs. Penn and Teller

Baptist Press - Scholar lists reasons for Gospels' reliability - News with a Christian Perspective

A few days ago I was looking through YouTube for any videos that related to the Bible. I was appalled when I found a video by the comedy/magic team of Penn and Teller. The name of the Video was "Why the Bible is Unreliable". Ok, I lied, they didn't say unreliable, but they instead used a crass term with the same initials as Barbara Streisand. I found it very offensive. And no, I won't give you a link for it. They attacked the Bible's historicity and reliability as a moral and ethical standard. Of course, they gave a completely one sided presentation, never giving anyone an opportunity to defend the historicity and reliability of scripture. When I read the article above this morning I realized that some of the reasons that this scholar gives for the historicity and reliability of scripture are the same reasons these atheists gave NOT to trust it. Penn and Teller pointed out many "difficult" passages of scripture, such as the command to stone to death children who disobey their parents, as a reason why we should not trust the Bible.

Blomberg in this article lists some of the difficult sayings of Jesus, as evidence of the reliability of the gospels. As an example he mentions Jesus command that if we would follow him we must hate our father and mother. If the gospel writers were trying to fabricate stories to build up Jesus, they would be unlikely to include such a difficult saying. Likewise, by examining the things Jesus didn't speak on, we can assume that the gospel writers sought to be historically accurate. Two major areas of controversy in the early church were speaking in tongues and circumcision. The gospels don't record Jesus speaking on either. If the gospel writers were playing free and loose with history they could have put words in Jesus mouth to settle these issues, but they did not. Knowing that they did not shy away from Jesus difficult teachings, and that they did not fabricate things Jesus did not teach, gives me all the more reason to trust what they did record. You know, little things, like Jesus' immaculate conception and birth to a virgin. His miracles of healing, raising the dead, feeding thousands with the contents of one boy's lunch pail, calming the seas with the sound of his voice, and most importantly, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.

Penn and Teller pride themselves on being intellectuals that would never fall for the silly superstitions of scripture. I believe, however, that if they were as confident in their intellect as they pretend to be, that they would have included prominent Biblical scholars and Christian Archaeologists to provide a rebuttal. Anyone can make a case for anything if they don't have to defend their facts and logic. And why did they feel the need to make this video? What is it that compels them to attack the foundation of Christian faith. They certainly have a right to be atheists, and not to believe the Bible. But why the need to attack the Bible? In a day when the likes of Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, Don Imus, and so many others are raked across the coals for hateful and disparaging remarks, why do entertainers like these two feel free to attack the predominant faith in this country with impunity? It seems that Christians are the one people group that can be maligned without consequence in our culture of political correctness. Had Penn and Teller created such a video attacking the Koran, we'd see major news coverage of their hate speech, and the need to ban them from performing in Vegas and appearing on TV.

I challenge Penn and Teller to debate the reliability and historicity of the Bible with genuine Jewish and Christian Biblical scholars, but I won't hold my breath. And I won't be watching any more of their magic/comedy acts.

It's so dry in Georgia...

I found this article on another blog this morning, and I thought some of you might enjoy it.

Trunk or Treat '07

Thanks to everyone who made Trunk or Treat a success last night. We didn't have as many as last year, but it was still a good crowd. Special Thanks to Deborah Beasley who planned and coordinated the whole event.

Click here to see the pictures. If you have more pictures please send them to me and I'll add them to the slideshow.