On the Ordination Council of David Field

Yesterday I had the privilege to join a group of Pastors at Hardingville Bible Church in Monroeville, New Jersey as we questioning David Field regarding his life, his beliefs, and his call to the ministry. As expected, Dave did an excellent job of answering the questions. His thorough preparation for this task was obvious as he dealt with questions in all major doctrines. In addition to the accuracy of his knowledge, his humility and Christ-like spirit were evident throughout the ordeal. I had the privilege of being Dave's Youth Pastor a number of years ago. I also had the privilege of helping him prepare his first sermon (on Deuteronomy) back in the day. Dave was a serious-minded teen in a time when many teens are far from serious-minded. Throughout his time at BJU and now as he serves as an Assistant at Hardingville Bible Church, Dave's growth in Christ and his desire to serve God's people has been evident. Occasionally I hear of ordination councils that are essentially just rubber stamps and do not really question the candidate. I am grateful that in the circles where I live and minister that the men questioning seem to take their responsibility seriously. The office of a Pastor is not for the faint-hearted and is not the place for a novice. While I have never been to a council where the candidate has been rejected, I do not think this is from a mere rubber stamp mentality, but rather due to the careful guiding of the candidates by their Pastors. At Hardingville, for instance, the candidates write out their statements one doctrine at a time and then the very experienced Pastoral staff (Pastor Franklin and Pastor Smith must have at least 75 years of ministry between the two of them alone) take the time to grill the prospect on that doctrine and suggest areas for further study. This process is done on each doctrine over the course of months and the candidate is not presented until Pastor Franklin and the church feels that he is ready for examination. I count it as a privilege to have been able to participate in this council and look forward to the ordination service on Sunday night. Congratulations, Dave. Job well done. Just my thoughts, Frank

Where are the Men?

Missionary David Hosaflook was a classmate of mine at school and is an occasional blogger. His most recent post asks a question - and proposes at least a partial answer - that is a question many of us have - Where are the Men? While he rights this in respect to where are the men preparing for the mission field, the same question is asked by many Pastors today regarding men to take leadership roles in their churches and to provide a model for those that are growing up in the church. If you have a few moments, stop by and read David's article here. Just someone else's thoughts, Frank

Tourney Time - Round 2 Standings

As the NCAA Basketball Tournament has wound down to the Sweet Sixteen, the standings at A Thinking Man's Tourney have adjusted a little, but not much. Andy Efting has dug himself out of the bottom of the pile and has forged ahead of Ron Bean by two points. This may be a battle between the two of them as we go further in the tournament. On the other side of the spectrum, Mr. Sam Knisely has a pretty comfortable lead in the overall standings, with 181 points. I am in second place - all the way down at 163 points with my "gut" picks and 159 with my "mind" picks. Matt Jury is right behind me in third place with 158 points and Andy Rupert is in fifth with 151 points. Don't have much time to comment, except to say that those who thought Eric Gordon was going to lead Indiana through a couple rounds of the tournament (like one of the ESPN analysts) should have taken time to look at some tape of the Illinois-Indiana game earlier this year. As some may recall, Gordon had originally indicated that he was going to play for Illinois and then was "persuaded" to play for Indiana instead. When he came to Champaign to play against Illinois, the crowd let him have it - and he stunk up the place. It was very clear that he was rattled most of the game - which was a sign to me that he would have some problems with the pressure of the tournament. (I know, it would have been more impressive if I had said this before they lost and then they had lost.) Anyway, just my frivolous basketball thoughts. Frank

Sam Knisely leads after the first round of NCAA Tournament

A Thinking Man's Thoughts Tournament Bracket Challenge is off and running. Last year's winner, Sam Knisely from PA is again performing nicely and has taken a lead after the first round of games. Sam Knisely - 140 points Frank Sansone - 124 points Andy Rupert - 121 points Andy Efting is struggling a little this year and is bringing up the rear. Can't blame him too much. His big hit is the loss of Clemson, who he had making it to the Elite Eight (perhaps a little alma mater pride there?). At a quick glance it looks like everyone still has their Final Four intact and most of us still have our Elite Eight in tact, so things could be tight as we get to the end. BTW, I nailed the San Diego game - on both my hunch bracket and my "real" bracket. I was thinking that the San Diego coach's time with Gonzaga would be an asset in a first-round upset type of game. (The Zags were great as underdogs, they can't seem to do it as a higher seed.) If anyone looks at the standings and wonders why I did not list "Pastor Frank" in our scoring on this sheet, that is because Pastor Frank is not a real player. For him, I entered the results from "What If Sports." What If Sports put all of the games into a computer simulator and simulated the tournament 1000 times. The results of those simulations (percentage-wise) is the picks that I made for Pastor Frank. BTW, Frank Cheek is simply picking the higher-seed of each game. Well, gotta go get some real things done. Just my thoughts, Frank

It's Tourney Time

Every year, we have a friendly and free NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts. Last year, Sam Knisely from Pennsylvania won first place and Ron Bean from Virginia won second place, with me coming in third place. Well, it is that time again. If you would like to participate, simply go to http://athinkingmansthoughts.mayhem.sportsline.com/e. When asked for a password, enter "tourney." This game is only for fun (no money) and I will periodically highlight how things are going. The rules for this tourney are as follows. 1. The games are weighted by round with a bonus equal to the seed number of the winning team. (E.g. a 1st round victory by a number 10 seed awards 11 points - 1 for the round and 10 for the seed). 2. Each particpant should be able to fill in two brackets if you want (one for your head and one for your heart) If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Just my thoughts, Frank

Some quick thoughts

I know it has been awhile since I have written on here. I am hoping for some upcoming articles on the National Leadership Conference and some comments on the 9 Marks E-Journal regarding "What Can We Learn from Fundamentalists?" and the surrounding discussion (if I plan this right, everything useful will have already been said and I can just link to it:) ). In the meantime, I did want to make a few quick comments. 1. As many of you are aware (especially if you read this post), this week was supposed to be a week of Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury with Evangelist Mark Kittrell. Unfortunately, Mr. Kittrell's mom has experienced some serious medical issues and the Kittrell's needed to go to Florida to see her. Please pray for her and for the family as the next couple of weeks could be a very difficult time. 2. Moments with the Book is sponsoring a "Million Tract March", with the goal of spreading One Million Gospel tracts during the month of March - especially in the week leading up to Easter/Resurrection Sunday. In order to help accommodate that goal, they are offering some free tracts to those who go to their website and sign-up for them. Check them out at the Million Tract March. 3. Take a minute to read this from Andrew Naselli - Childlike Faith About Heaven. The article discusses the reaction of the classmates of a 5-year old girl who was tragically killed. Just some quick thoughts for now, Frank