Fathers and Sons

One of the great things that I picked up from my time at Hardingville Bible Church is the concept of a Father/Son Campout. Each year on the Friday before Father's Day, HBC holds a camp-out specifically for the fathers and sons in the church. It is a great time of informal fellowship and spending time with our sons. My son loved it (and won the fishing contest that was part of it on our last year at HBC.)

This last Friday night, we held our first-ever Father-Son Campout and I think it went well. Jimmy and Linda (who own a house on the Nancticoke River) opened up their yard for us to come and throw up some tents and have a great time as fathers and sons.

Dave Reese and my son, Josiah, managed to hook and haul in a huge "skape" or sting ray. It took about 30 minutes and a broken net to wear it down before they were able to bring it to the dock. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for the line of Josiah's pole, so it became an "escaped skape." We did get a picture of it up close and personal though.

Dave also managed to catch the smallest fish of the night and John & Shane stayed up late pulling in about a dozen fish for a fish-fry. Tyler & Alex also cought themselves some pretty nice fish as part of the night.

We also played a short fathers versus sons soccer game (sons won) and had a cookout for dinner and a campfire for s'mores. Jimmy also took us out on the river for a ride and it was a great time of fellowship as men and boys.

We concluded with a time around the Word as we considered some advice from David to his son Solomon as David was nearing his death.

In a day in which fathers are often absent or absent-minded, it was nice to have a time where fathers and sons could spend some time together for the night.

If you are a Pastor out there, may I recommend this activity to you for some consideration.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

P.S. Sorry Chris, maybe you can do a Father-Daughter thing instead!

A Father's Day Poem

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I will probably write a little more about this later, but for now I just wanted to post a poem that I wrote last year and we put on some wooden bookmarks that we gave to our men last Father's Day.

I am not a poet or the son of a poet (although my mother is an artist), but I submit this for your reading and challenge. Feel free to use it if you so desire.

A Father's Day Poem

I must be careful
as I live as father,
Love my dear children,
not count them a bother.

Teach them truth
in the way that I live
Show them God's wisdom
in the teaching I give.

Walking in Christ
as I walk before them.
Pointing them always,
always toward Him.

And this is my prayer,
as I pray all my days,
That they live for Christ,
both now and always.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

A Couple of Recent Events

With all of the computer and other issues going around, I had neglected to give any type of report about some events that occurred at our church, Fellowship Baptist Church in Salisbury, Maryland, during the last month.

I am not going to blog about them here, but I did do a couple of late articles on my Pastoral Blog - The Pastor's Pen.

The articles are

BJU Drama Team at FBC Which (hold your seats) talks about the BJU Truth in Action Drama Team presentation of "A Grain of Wheat" on May 18.

Hardingville Bible Church Choir at FBC Which talks about the choir from the church where I previously served coming down for a sacred concert at Fellowship.

BTW, Dave Hibbard, the choir director, has also put out an excellent CD of sacred music entitled, Along Life's Road: Songs for My Savior. I believe that Dave still has some left if you would like to order them. He can be contacted at dhibbard@juno.com or at 856-863-4992.

Just some belated thoughts,

Frank

A Plea to Name Names (sort of)

One of the things that sometimes gets to me with the internet (as well as with other ways of conversation) is when people make statements against something and use nebulous examples to support their points.

So that I do not commit the same thing that I am complaining about, I will give a couple examples of what I mean. Please DO NOT take this as an attack on these individuals (I have areas of disagreement with these individuals, but those disagreements are not the point of this article), as I am sure that I myself have probably done the same thing.

Recently, Dr. Dan Burrell wrote a couple of articles for Sharper Iron (which I may comment on later). In the last article, he makes the following statement.

This author could type the name of an extremely well-known, nationally influential (retired) pastor who is legendary for swearing in private and in the pulpit. (We’re not talking about saying “gosh” or “darn” but words that used to get people’s mouths washed out with soap.) BUT . . . he’s been a major fundamentalist leader for nearly 80 years. So we just roll our eyes and mutter excuses. But if Franklin Graham or John Hagee or Bill Gaither were to use such language, the same eye-rollers would roundly and soundly condemn him as a foul-mouthed reprobate."

Now, I do not know of whom he is speaking. In fact, when someone on SI mentioned that it sounded like Dr. John Rawlings, I still did not if 1) the accusation was true, 2) who John Rawlings is, or 3) whether people knew about this and were covering it up - other than the one publicly commenting about it and 4) whether the person in question really fit the description(s) given. (I have a hard time identifying a person I have not heard of as "extremely well-known" and a "major fundamentalist leader", but I admit that I have not heard of everyone who is considered by others to be a "major fundamentalist leader".)

Another example of this situation was demonstrated on Bob Bixby's blog, Pensees, in his article entitled, Rise Up O Men of God. In that post, Pastor Bixby commented:

I have personal experience with fundamentalist leaders (many more than five) who are/were liars, adulterers, child molesters, and/or cheaters. This does not figure the ones who have been disgraced formerly, but who are currently held in high esteem.

My concern is this:

When we make comments about "a major fundamentalist leader" and then the kind of comments that Dr. Burrell makes, or when we make comments about "fundamentalist leaders" and the type of comments that Pastor Bixby makes, in our attempt to be general, we slander all others who may fit the general description. We would be much better off to state publicly who we are talking about (and if the accusation is true, they deserve all the shame and ridicule that comes with such public indentification) rather than leaving the accusation as a possible indictment against any who happen to fit the description.

So, I wonder if it would not be better for us to just go ahead and name the person we are using as these negative examples in the discussions rather than given descriptions that may lead people to think what is being said is true of someone of whom it is not true.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

What's A Pastor to Do? Great Article

Those of you who have visited here very much know that I do not generally just point you to other posts without commenting myself, but Larry Rogier over at Stuff Out Loud has an excellent post on the Pastor's preaching role that all Pastors should take the time to read (hmm, does that contradict what he has said in this post? :) ).

The article is entitled, What's A Pastor to Do?

Just his thoughts (but good ones),

Frank

Why is this News?

Ben over at PaleoEvangelical asks "Why Would an Independent Fundamental Baptist Preach in a Reformed Presbyterian Seminary?" and comments on Dr. Kevin Bauder's recent address to the graduating students at Geneva Reformed Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina where former BJU professor (and a teacher I endjoyed very much at school) Dr. Michael P.V. Barrett is the president. There are also some comments going on about this at SharperIron.

My take:

Why is this news?

Now, if it is news because it is a great message. That is fine. I have downloaded it, but have not yet had the opportunity to listen to it. I hope to do so tomorrow.

What I don't understand, however, is why some like Ben and some of the commentators over at SI seem to think this is unusual or that this is some kind of "shift" in the practice of separation among Fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism has always been a multi-denominational movement/idea. From the Niagra Bible Conferences to the writing of The Fundamentals to today includes a continued history of this type of multi-denominational emphasis at places and organizations such as BJU and The World Congress of Fundamentals and the American Council of Christian Churches.

Fundamentalists fellowshiping with other Fundamentalists across denominational lines has happened for years. In fact, Dr. Barrett, the President of the Seminary that hosted this event, taught alongside a number of Baptist and Bible church guys for years at BJU.

It seems to me, that some are hoping that this will somehow open up fellowship with "conservative evangelicals" using the logic that "we can fellowship with those with whom we disagree, so let's fellowship with them, too." The problem with this thinking is that Dr. Bauder is not advocating fellowship with those who involved in compromising relationships, but rather with other separated believers with whom we have differences. It is important to understand about Bauder at this seminary is that it is a Fundamentalist at a Fundamentalist seminary. He is not by action or word advocating acceptance of compromise and that seems to be what the people who are wanting to make this out to be unusual are wanting to push.

Me thinks this is not what some are wanting to make it out to be.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

It's All Over

There is no joy in Suns-ville, the mighty Phoenix Suns struck out. It is hard to believe that a team that started the game so hot could give up a third-quarter lead and loose by double-digits the second game in a row. I thought the Suns still had a chance until Josh Howard hit the three-point shot to put the Dallas Mavericks back up by 10. The way this team had overacheived this year and the way they kept on winning with their backs on the wall, I thought this might be a Sunderella season (to borrow an expression from legendary Suns writer Joe Gilmartin.) You knew that there was now Dirk was going to put up another 50 and I figured Steve Nash was due for a big game, but alas, it was not to be. As a Suns fan, I feel the words of the tin-man are especially relevant - "Now I know I have a heart, because it is broken."

The good side of this is that the Suns should have Amare back next year and if they can do this well without him, let's hope that next year will bring in the era of the Suns as Amare, Shawn, Steve and company start a run of multiple championships. (Hey, we deserve it!) Since I have already borrowed about every expression I can think of, I might as well add another favorite expression of my favorite basenall team (from their Brooklyn days) - "Wait 'til next year!"

Just my bummed thoughts,

Frank

We interrupt this silence

Last week was a very frustrating week. I lost not one, not two, but THREE computers in one week! I am hoping and praying that these losses were not permanent.

(In case you are wondering, they were all three "e-machines" (read really cheap) and they were bought in 1999, 2001, and 2003 and were running Win 98, ME and XP). The newer one is the one that really hurts, as it had a lot of pictures on it that had not been burned to CD yet as well as a bunch of sermons and a bunch of other things that it will take me a long time to replace/re-do. Two of the computers and the hard drive from the newer one are at a computer repair place. Best case scenario: He is able to get one good computer out of the three. Worst case scenario: My wife murders me because of loosing all the pictures :). Minimally hoped for scenario: He is at least able to recover the hard drive from the new one.

I was wondering about other people's philosophy of computer buying. Do you go and get the nice $1000 - $1500 desktop system that has all of the newest bells and whistles when you buy a new computer reasoning that it has all you need for awhile and it is better built or do you get the cheap little e-machines (or HP, etc.) that is still a generation or so behind on the bells and whistles but costs under $500?

My thinking (up to now) has been to buy the cheap machine for the less money and then buy the next generation up in a couple of years, etc. For instance, I bought the newest of the ones that just died at Christmas time of 2003 for around $150 (after rebates, etc.). Even though it died, I figure that I had a computer that would do what I needed it to do for about 2 1/2 years at a rate of about $60 a year. At that rate, the $1000 computer would have to last me until 2019 to have been as cost-effective. By that time, anything that the $1000 computer could do better than the $150 computer would have been obsolete long ago.

So, from a cost analysis, the cheaper computers seem to be the way to go, but what are the arguments on the other side? After an incident like this last week, I am sure that I am missing some good arguments on the other side.

(FWIW, I don't blame the dead computer on my picture and data loss - if it ends up being lost - that is simply my own stupidity for not using the CD-R/RW for what it is designed.)

I will likely be buying a new desktop in the relatively new future, so I would actually like to hear some input on this question if you have thought about it much.

On another note, I do plan on returning to more regularly scheduled blogging soon. (And, oh yeah, GO SUNS!)

Just my thoughts,

Frank