Wow! What a Great Week! -- And, boy, am I old!

This week I have had the privilege of preaching eight times at Heritage Christian Academy in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey for the 2008-2009 Spiritual Emphasis week. (I also had the privilege of preaching in chapel last Friday at Faith Baptist School in Salisbury, Maryland and three time on Sunday at Mosherville Bible Church in Mosherville, Pennsylvania, to make for 12 times in the last 8 days.)

I love to preach and I love to preach to our folks here in Salisbury, but I also love it when the Lord gives me opportunity to preach at a different location and (having served in youth ministry from 1990-2003) preaching to young people is a special joy.

The theme for the week was "profit that matters" with a theme verse of Mark 8:36

Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Heritage Christian Academy is a great school that is led by Mr. Ron Hamilton (no, not THAT Ron Hamilton). Mr. Hamilton (whome I knew as "Pastor Ron") was my Youth Pastor at Heart to Heart Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona when I was a fairly new believer in Christ as a teenager. Pastor Ron's influence in my life has been an ongoing and profound. As a teenager, his life and consistent faithfulness for Christ were an example and challenge to me - a challenge to me that has continued to this day. In addition to the overall effect of his life, he also helped me specifically in giving me a chance to preach as a teenager and helping me to prepare my first "real" sermon and a sermon I heard by him as a teenager encouraged me that God can use me, despite (perhaps because of) the weak vessel that I am.

It was also a special treat to me to see a number of my former teens who are now serving the Lord by teaching at Heritage Christian Academy and helping out in other ways in the ministry there at Heritage Baptist Church. There were four teachers at the school who had been in my youth groups at various times in their lives. This fact was encouragement to me - but it also made me feel very OLD. To see Pastor Ron's daughter Beth (a 24-year old nurse at the same hospital in New Jersey where my wife worked for 9 years) especially made me feel old, since I knew her when she was still in a car seat when I was a teenager in Arizona and she was later in my youth group there at Heritage.

I also had the privilege of meeting up with some other friends and students from years gone by. It was an exciting week. Thank you to all who made the time enjoyable.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

A Great Weekend with Hardingville Bible Church

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to go up to Hardingville, New Jersey to preach the morning and evening services at Hardingville Bible Church in Monroeville. It was great to be back up at Hardingville and to spend some time with good friends and share some fellowship together.

Going back up to Hardingville is a lot like going "home" for me. The over four years that we lived in the parsonage on Whig Lane Road rank as the longest that I have ever lived anywhere consecutively in my life. (We will have equaled that amount of time in this house in August of next year.)

I thank the Lord for the opportunity to open up His Word and preach at Hardingville this weekend, for the receptive congregation, for liberty as I preached, and for fellowship that we were able to have with the Frasers (who hosted us over night) and with the Shaws and Stimpsons (who had us over for food) and with all the other folks we were able to spend some time with. It was a great and encouraging time.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Merry Christmas from the Sansone family

Merry Christmas from the Sansone family,

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

With all of the great things of which Christmas reminds us, the greatest would have to be the reminder that God sent His Son to be our Savior. I recently read a quote that helped to capture the importance of this truth.

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;
If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;
If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

The year 2008 has been a busy year for the Sansone family. We have all grown a little older and have started some new adventures and we are thankful to God for His working in us and through us and for our family and friends who support us, pray for us, and love us.

One of the new adventures we are experiencing this year is the homeschooling of the Josiah and Christina. Having the three kids at home all the time is a blessing and a challenge. Josiah and Chrissy like homeschooling, but also miss being around their friends at school. We are using the Hard Drive/DVDs from BJU Press for the homeschooling, so the teaching load is not bad, just trying to keep everyone on schedule - especially with Missy still working part-time at PRMC.

We were able to enjoy some special times this year. In August, Christina was baptized by her daddy at a special baptism service that we held in a church that we borrowed for the service. We also enjoyed an extended visit by Grandma Cheek for a few weeks in August. It was great to have Frank's mom here for his birthday this year and it worked out to have her visit extended a little bit so that she could still be here for Christina's baptism. We also enjoyed some visits to Assateague Island to see the wild horses roaming the island and to Ocean City to spend some time on the boardwalk. Missy and the children made a couple of extended visits to Ohio, including Rebekah staying for almost a month with Mom Mom and Grandpa Lewis and Great-Grandma Marken. (While Mommy, Josiah and Chrissy were with her for part of the time, Daddy missed her greatly.)

Part of the reason Rebekah was in Ohio for so long was that the rest of the family was able to go to The Wilds Christian Camp in North Carolina for a week. It had been a few years since we have had the opportunity to go down there. This year, we had enough teens and juniors to justify a trip as a church and traveled down for a great week.

We also were able to enjoy a great week at Tri-State Bible Camp for the Annual Conference of the FFBC. We always love the week of Annual Conference. The opportunity to see some friends and fellow-laborers in ministry is one that we look forward to each year.

As we celebrated the birth of our Savior, we rejoice in God's goodness to us for another year and look forward to what God is going to do in and through us in the next year. We pray that this year and this season has been a time of blessing and reflection upon the King of Kings. May God grant you a prosperous new year, as well.

In Christ,


Frank and Missy Sansone
Josiah, Christina, and Rebekah

Hey, that's me on TV

Today I had an interesting experience. I was actually on TV on our local station, WBOC, in a segment called "Heart and Soul" regarding the issue of the death penalty or capital punishment.

In a recently released report by by a panel commissioned to study capital punishment in the state of Maryland, the commission voted 13-9 to recommend the abolition of capital punishment in the state of Maryland (more details here).

This morning I received a call from a reporter from WBOC who asked me some questions regarding this commissions study and arranged to interview me on camera. I have never done anything like this, so I was (understandably, to me) nervous.

A little while later, Kim Holmes and a camera man named Rob were meeting me at the church.

The interview was very short and they only used about one sentence, but the whole article was short, and while they did not include any of the Scripture passages that I quoted in answering the questions, they at least did not misrepresent me in their editing. (Something I was concerned about.)

The reporter and camera operator were both nice and professional. I understand the need to edit (after all, I served on the editorial staff of my high school newspaper so many years ago), but I wish there could have been a way to keep in some of the verses I discussed. (Genesis 9:6 and Romans 13:3-4)

I was hoping to find a link to it online at the WBOC site, but I can't find it. We did try to record it, so if I can figure out how to get it up here, I will do so. (Be warned, it's not much.)

The actual article that aired had a quote from a Catholic priest that was for getting rid of the death penalty and a quote from me saying that we should not get rid of the death penalty.

I don't know how these guys like Dr. Bob Jones, III, Dr. Mohler and others go on all these shows for longer segments.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Frank

A Great Week at The Wilds

Last week, we had the privilege of taking a group of teens and juniors down from Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury to camp at The Wilds Christian Camp in Rosman, North Carolina.

The Wilds is a great camp that focuses on doing all things excellent for Jesus Christ. The camp verse is 1 Corinthians 10:31 and is not just a verse put on a sign and forgotten about, but serves as a driving force behind all that is done at the camp - "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

The speakers for the week were Evangelist Will Galkin for the teens and Evangelist Ed Dunlop for the juniors. I was pleasantly surprised at how generally low-key the invitations were from both men.

To the parents, thank you for giving us the opportunity to take your young person to camp. Pray for and with your children. Talk to them not only about the fun adventures at camp, but also about what God taught them through His Word.

To the teens and juniors, thank you for a great week. You were a joy to take down to The Wilds. Don't allow the distractions of the world to draw your focus away from Christ and "continue thou in the things thou hast learned." (2 Timothy 3:14)

To the others in the church. Thank you for praying for the young people and praying for our safety. Thank you, as well, for giving generously to help offset some of the expenses.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Some Belated Independence Day thoughts

While my ultimate citizenship is in Heaven (Phil 3:20), I also greatly appreciate the country in which God has allowed me to be born and raised. America has its faults, but America is a great country.

It is alleged that Alexis de Tocqueville (the author of Democracy in America) stated:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerc - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it vas not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.

Sometimes with the encroaching liberalism and ungodliness that is rampant in areas, I wonder how long it will be when we have to finally say that "America has ceased to be good", but the idea of America is a great idea. While the great freedom in our land allows for the ungodliness to run rampant, it is that same freedom that allows Christians in America to have relatively few restrictions when it comes to being able to exercise our faith with little fear of imprisonment or punishment.

One of the great traditions we have in celebrating Independence Day here in the United States is the small town parade. Complete with firetrucks, clowns, marching bands, and floats by local groups and candy thrown out to watching children, small town parades represent an American spirit that says "take some time off, be with folks you don't know and celebrate something great."

Yesterday, I had the privilege of visiting the parade in Pitman, New Jersey with my children. While we did not see a lot of the parade, it was a great chance to catch up with a few friends from Hardingville and have a little visit "back home." The parade is proceeded by a 4-mile race and I noticed a number of folks I know still had their numbers on from having run in the race. One of these days, I hope to show up and run the race myself - it has been far too many years since I ran any kind of race. (I think my last road race was when I was on staff at BJU back in the early 1990s.)

For those looking for quotes regarding America or Independence Day, I have a few posted at my "Daily Quotes and Illustrations" Blog - http://dailyquotesandillustrations.blogspot.com/ (click the label for America or Patriotic or Independence Day.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

May is over

In May, I gave challenged myself to "30 days of blogging" in which my goal was to write a blog post every day.

I did not quite accomplish my goal of blogging every day (at least if you count only A Thinking Man's Thoughts - I think I may have posted every day on one of my side blogs - Daily Quotes and Illustrations,but it is much easier to maintain and a weak attempt to make some aspect of computers pay for itself) but this will be my 27th post since I started what I hoped to be "30 days of blogging" - so 90% is not too bad.

I learned a few things during the process that I hope will help me in the future (and had some things reinforced.)

1. I do still enjoy blogging, so I probably will keep doing it. (Besides, as my recent post indicated, Blogging is good for you.)

2. I am probably not an "every day" blogger. There are too many things in real life that necessitate attention to commit to posting every single day. (And, besides that, see number 6 below.)

3. I am long-winded (although I do not know if that is the right terminology when used in connection with writing instead of talking). I admire the skill of guys like Chris Anderson to get their point across succinctly. This will have to be one of the things that I seek to develop.

4. Blogging is much more fun when it is interactive - which is probably why a forum like SI tills appeals to me (even if it can be frustrating at times). Posts that receive comments and feedback seem to be more enjoyable, even if they are posts that are not as "deep" or involved - or even if they do not get as many hits as other posts.

5. People who come here looking for specific information from a search engine tend to only look at that information and move on (for instance, I still get a lot of hits of people looking for information on Pastor Jim Schettler - but most of the people who come to the site looking for him don't hang around and look at other pages).

6. Very few people pay attention to blogs (or at least, my blog) during the weekends. (I think the same is true of other, larger blogs - like SI - on the weekend as well.) This tells me that posting a lot on the weekend would be a waste of time.

7. Posting at least somewhat regularly is good for readership.

Just a few thoughts,

Frank

Prayer Request

In much of Fundamentalism (including the church where I serve as Pastor), tonight - Wednesday night - is prayer meeting. I should have posted this earlier so that it could be included in prayer bulletins, since many of those have already been printed by now (depending on where you are located).

Pastor Mark Franklin, who is the Pastor of Hardingville Bible Church in Monroeville, New Jersey, is undergoing lung surgery tomorrow (Thursday, May 15) to remove a cancerous mass in his lung (among other things). Pastor Franklin is a friend and mentor of mine and a great asset to Christianity and Fundamentalism. I had the privilege of serving as his assistant for over five years and I learned much from him.

I would appreciate your prayers for Pastor Franklin and his family as he prepares for and undergoes this surgery tomorrow. (I am sure Pastor Franklin and his family would appreciate the prayers as well.)

Just my request,

Frank

On the Ordination Service of David Field

On Sunday night, March 30, I had the great privilege of being able to take part in the Ordination Service of Pastor Dave Field at Hardingville Bible Church in Monroeville, New Jersey. Dave is a great guy and I greatly appreciate his asking me to take part in this significant milestone in his life. I look forward to continuing to watch and rejoice as Dave walks and serves God - along with his wife Dawn and the rest of the family.

My part of the service included giving the "Charge to the Candidate", which is designed to be a challenge to the one being ordained concerning life and ministry. In preparation for this, I re-read the books of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, especially noting the commands regarding life and ministry that the Apostle Paul gave to these two young ministerial men. It was a good reminder of the types of things that ought to be our higher concerns in the realms of life and ministry and it was a challenge to me as I re-read these familiar passages.

Trying to narrow down the charges that Paul gave to Timothy and Titus into something that could be preached in 15-17 minutes is a bit of a task. There are around 50 different charges that Paul gives in these few short books. Some of them are repeated in the different books, some of them are unique to the situations, and some of them are unique to the addressee, but overall there is much in them that should apply to all of us who stand behind the sacred desk.

As I sought to narrow it down, I went with a little thematic view, taking a separate passage for each main point. My main points were all taken from common passages from the Prison Epistles and each is deserving of their own sermon. (Which may explain why I accidentally went over my allotted time by about 10 minutes - oops!)

I. Be a Pattern in Your Character (1 Timothy 4:12-16)

While the 1 Timothy 4 passage expresses this specifically, the same idea is included multiple times within these three books, both in specific charges to Timothy and Titus or in the concern for character expressed in the requirements for office that are listed.

As Pastors, we must be concerned that our character serves as a pattern to other believers. It is not enough to be able to stand up and give a "preaching performance." It is not enough to be able to "do" things. God is more concerned with our person than our performance. Repeatedly Paul focuses on what these men in leadership are like in their character.


II. Be Purposeful in Your Charge (2 Timothy 2:1-7)

Men in ministry have been given a special task - the edifying of the saints for the work of the ministry, the holding forth of the Word of Truth, the training of others who will, in turn, train others, the proclamation of God's Word.

If we are going to accomplish these tasks, we must be purposeful about it. We must be purposeful in our responsibilities, not allowing ourselves to be caught up in a lot of wasteful activities. As a soldier endures and a runner strives and a farmer labors, so must the man of God endure and strive and labor in the task that God has given us.

III. Be a Preacher who Continues (2 Timothy 4:1-8)

We are to proclaim as a herald the message of the Word. We are to be instant and ready whatever the circumstances may be. We are to carefully take the Word of God and use it to reprove, rebuke and exhort, being careful that the manner in which we do so is with all longsuffering and doctrine.

As Paul continued in this task until the end - so much so that he could confidently rest in the fact that he had fought a good fight and finished his course, so must the man of God continue in the task of faithfully preaching the Word of God no matter the circumstances.

If you are a Pastor reading this, may I encourage you to take a thoughtful re-reading of the Pastorals some time in the near future. It will do your heart good.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

P.S. In an earlier post I wrote regarding the Ordination Council and the process of preparation that Dave went through in regards to his preparation for that Ordination Council. (You can read that post here .)

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

A Father's Day Poem

Below is a poem I wrote for Father's Day a couple of years ago. I printed this and put it on some wooden bookmarks and gave them out for Father's Day at church. I think I have posted this before.


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

Yes, I am still alive

I know that you have not heard from me lately. I imagine that not many of you care, but some of you are still coming by and checking things out occassionally, so I will at least put something up today, especially in light of the fact that Pastor Don Johnson has practically called me (and others) out about our lack of writing in this post and Pastor Chris Anderson has "tagged me" in this post.

I will wait until Chris is back from vacation to respond to his tag - I'm sure that will disappoint everyone.

I have just about completed my reading and review of "When You Pray" by Philip Ryken. I hope to submit it to Jason Button of the SI staff by the end of this week. (I was actually hoping to submit it today, but we'll see.)

This coming weekend is our second annual "Father-Son Camp-Out" for Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury. Last year we had a great time as we camped out by the Nanticoke River at the Insley's. The Nanticoke is a beautiful river and the time of fellowship with the men was great. I am looking forward to this opportunity of fellowship again.

In a couple of weeks we will be having our second Vacation Bible School at Fellowship Baptist Church. We are using the Regular Baptist Press VBS material called "Rescue Zone." We had in the twenties for our first-ever VBS last year. This year, we are hoping to have a few more as we try to reach out to some additional children in the area around the church.

My job at WM is going well, but is very tiring. Having both husband and wife working nights is a tight juggle with kids. Trying to schedule our nights so that one of us is home with the kids every night and still get in the needed hours has been an interesting juggle. When we were first married, we were able to both work full-time nights, but we could both be gone on the same nights because we had no children at home to be watched.

I have been trying to figure out some additional sources of income (like many others, I am sure). I have not had much progress in this area, however. I have been thinking of starting a couple of side blogs that would have as their purpose to provide some useful information and to provide a revenue stream, but I really do not know if these things actually make any normal people money. I have thought about doing a site of links for Christians (in fact, I even started a blog for this site - here - but have not posted anything but my introduction - and have not put up any ads on it, yet.)

I also have toyed with the idea of doing a "This Day in History" type of site and made a couple of test-posts on a blog for this at http://whathappenedonthisdate.blogspot.com/ , but I am not sure about that either.

I was wondering if any of my readers have any experience with Adsense or with affiliate programs and if they would like to share that experience. I cannot imagine that it is really that worth-while, after all, Jason must have felt that the adsense ads were more problem than they were worth at SI, since he dropped them a long time ago and Greg only had them up briefly on www.currentchristian.com.

Anyway, I am rambling. I hope to make a useful post soon.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Hello, again

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but I plan on doing better.

As most of my regular readers know, I started a new part-time job a few weeks ago. This has made things a little bit busy and it has taken me a little bit of make some adjustments.

With the second job, blogging has been put a little further back on the back burner (okay, it was temporarily taken off the stove). I have actually written some things over the last few weeks, but they are on my notebook and my PDA (I wrote part of what will become a post while on lunch break at WM) and I have not been opening up my notebook where I have internet access as much. I also have generally blogged at night, but since I am at other places at night ... well. You understand.

Anyway, I am planning on adding a couple of posts over the next few days. On one of them, in particular, I would really like to have some input.

I also have finished reading and writing a review of Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger's book entitled Simple Church. This review will be posted on SI soon and then after that I will be posting it here and on The FFBC Blog. I am also in the process of reading and writing two other reviews for SI (This Little Church Stayed Home and When You Pray: Making the Lord's Prayer Your Own) and may be writing a couple of reviews for A Thinking Man's Thoughts on some secular books that I have read lately.

I have also been in the process of researching and trying to develop an additional income stream or two to be able to focus more on the things at the church without working a regular secular job. If anyone actually has some really good ideas, let me know (I hope this is not soliciting a lot of spam :) ).

Anyway, this is just to update things while I had a minute. An actual real post should be coming by Monday night (or maybe Tuesday).

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Thursday begins a new adventure

On Thursday, I do something I have not done in a long time. I re-enter the secular work-force.

I am not resigning from beign Pastor or anything like that, but, with the expense of the new church building, our church was in need of making some difficult choices if we wanted to balance our books this year.

So, in our January meeting, I took a 20% pay decrease to help us get things back on track. So far, it has worked out pretty well from the standpoint of the church, but for the last few weeks, I have been trying to find a part-time job that I could work around my church responsibilities and around my wife's job. (Missy is a labor and delivery nurse at PRMC.)

Last week I was hired to work overnight stocking at Wal-Mart. I am pretty sure that fellow blogger and very poor NCAA Tournament participant Scott Bothwell also works overnight at Wal-Mart if I remember correctly.

Anyway, on Thursday I have my orientation. I think I actually start working some time next week. The job is a temporary assignment (the store is hiring for a 90--day remodeling project) and I am not sure what our situation will be when the temporary assignment is completed. (They indicated that they will likely hire some of the temporary hires for more permanent positions after the remodeling, but I don't know if I will be chosen for this or if I will need it still at that time.)

I expect I will be trying to streamline some processes in my life over the next few weeks, but I also figure that there are 416 employees at the Wal-Mart that I have not yet met, so "a great door and effectual is opened unto me."

I do not know what the policies are regarding blogging and the job, but orientation is on Thursday and I will probably find out then. If you think about it in the next few days, pray for me and my family as we make this adjustment.

Just my thoughts,

Frank