New Monmouth Musings: On Being a Good Steward

Dear Friends,

Her name was Bertha Adams, and she was 71 years old. I first learned about her in a message I heard from the pulpit while pastoring in Fort Lauderdale. She died alone on Easter Sunday in West Palm Beach, not far from where I was serving on staff at Calvary Chapel, Fort Lauderdale. Years later, I read the details of her death in Chuck Swindoll’s The Finishing Touch. The coroner’s report read “Cause of death . . . malnutrition.” She had wasted away to just fifty pounds.

When the state authorities made their preliminary investigation of Mrs. Adam’s home, “they found a veritable pigpen . . . the biggest mess you could imagine.” One seasoned inspector declared he’d never seen a dwelling in greater disarray. The woman had begged food from neighbors’ back doors and gotten what clothing she had from the Salvation Army. From all outward appearances she was a penniless recluse, a pitiful and forgotten widow. But such was not the case.

Amid the jumble of her unclean, disheveled belongings, the officials found two keys to safe-deposit boxes at two different local banks. In the first box was over 700 AT&T stock certificates, plus hundreds of other valuable certificates, bonds, and solid financial security, not to mention a stack of cash amounting to nearly $ 200,000. The second box contained $ 600,000. Adding the net worth of both boxes, they found well over a million dollars.

Charles Osgood, reporting the story on CBS radio announced that the estate would probably go to a distant niece and nephew, neither of whom dreamed their aunt had a thin dime to her name. The Finishing Touch, Charles Swindoll, p. 448

When I heard and then read this story a number of years ago, my thoughts turned to a passage of Scripture that I had never noticed before. I had been reading in Ecclesiastes and came across Ecc. 6:3 and read, “A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.”

All of this got me to thinking about the wealth and stewardship of one’s possessions. How sad to have amassed all that money, and yet to have never shared it with others. How tragic to have riches and a long life, and yet live so wrapped up in yourself that you never think of how you might provide for the needs of others. It reminds me of what Solomon said” “Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.” Proverbs 15:16

I shall never forget the words of the great saint Corrie Ten Boom who said on a tape on stewardship I was listening to (some of you may not even remember tape recordings) “I have learned to hold on to things loosely because when I hold on to them too rightly, it hurts when the Master has to pry open my fingers.” Would that all of us learn that great lesson of stewardship.

“It is possible to give away and become richer. It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. Yes, the liberal man shall be rich! By watering others, he waters himself. “(Proverbs 11:24-25 TLB)

Yes, when our fingers start squeezing our money too tightly, it may be time to gaze into heaven and be reminded from where all our “riches” come.

Yours in faith,

Pastor Tom

New Monmouth Musings, How Are Your Listening Skills?

Dear Friends,

Who among us has not heard the expression, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so that we could listen twice as much as we speak”? Unfortunately, while many of us know the truth of this little axiom, there are all too few who practice it.

From time to time, I am reminded of my need to be a better listener, and over the years I have clipped and filed away some stories and quotes on the importance of listening.  I have kept them as a reminder of my need to continue developing my listening skills. I share them with you in hopes that they may be of help and encouragement to you as well.

“There are times when nothing a person can say is so powerful as saying nothing.” Ruth Perry.

“Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather be talking.” Aristotle

“I remind myself every morning that nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I am going to learn, I must do it by listening.” Larry King

“A wise old owl lived in an oak.

The more he saw, the less he spoke.

The less he spoke the more he heard. 

Why can’t we be like that wise old bird?”

And one of my favorites comes from the martyred German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who reminds us that we can discover a neighbor’s needs by becoming better listeners. He writes: “Listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening.”

“There is a kind of listening with half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient, inattentive listening that despises the brother and is only waiting for a chance to speak and thus get rid of the other person.”

“Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener, and whose work they share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.”

And finally from Chuck Swindoll who once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He got nervous and tense about it. He was snapping at his wife and children, choking down his food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated every time there was an unexpected interruption in his day. He recalls in his book Stress Fractures that before long, things around their home started reflecting the pattern of his hurry-up life. He said the situation was becoming unbearable. Then it happened.

After supper one evening his younger daughter, Colleen wanted to tell him something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, “Daddy, I ‘wanna’ tell you something, and I’ll tell you really fast.”

Suddenly realizing her frustration, Swindoll answered, “Honey, you can tell me - and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.” He has never forgotten her answer: “Then listen slowly.”

The above are all good reminders for us, as we continue to develop our listening skills. Let’s be sure each of us takes the time to listen a little more slowly to the people with whom we interact. Let’s slow our pace down a little. Nothing is too important to keep us from giving our full attention to the person with whom we are speaking. Let’s make them feel important by listening to them. Let’s help them to know that we really do care about them and let’s show them our love by being the best listeners we can be. We need to slow down and listen long enough to hear the real hurts of the people God brings across our path today.

And yes, don’t forget the words of one man who was inspired to pen the words that God wants every one of us to hear and never forget: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry . . .” (James 1:19)

Have a great day and be a GREAT LISTENER.

Yours in ministry,

Pastor Tom

P.S. I almost forgot to mention the classic words of Abraham Lincoln who was reported to have once said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

New Monmouth Musings “For Those of You Who Find It Hard To Change.

Some of you are old enough to remember one of the most unforgettable sports clips in the annals of sports broadcasting. For years, the opening of “The Wide Worlds of Sports” television program illustrated “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump. The skier appeared in good form, as he headed down the slope heading for the ski jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing off the supporting structure in what looked like a life-threatening fall.

What I never knew, however, was that the skier chose to fall rather than finish the jump. Why? As he explained later, the jump surface had become too fast, and midway down the jump, he realized if he completed the jump, he would land on the level ground, beyond the safe sloping landing area, which could have been fatal. As it was, the skier suffered no more than a headache from the tumble.

Changing the direction of one’s life is not always easy, but sometimes it is necessary for one’s survival.  Change, however, is not always easy. The “older” I get the harder it is for me to change. Some of you know what I am talking about. We resist change. If it is something we have grown up with, something that we are comfortable with, we generally prefer to preserve the status quo. We like routine, the familiar, and we often avoid new challenges because they involve new learning. Someone once wrote the only people that like change are wet babies.

But change is necessary. Without change we stagnate, we shrivel, we won’t survive. We live in a world where we must learn welcome it and learn from it, even if we don’t love it.  If we are not willing to change and try new things, the world is going to pass us by. As one business consultant has written, “we need to accept change even though it may be disruptive. And even if it is uncomfortable or disruptive, you ‘gotta’ do it anyway.” Yes, we are living in an era where, literally, to learn to love change is a matter of survival.

A night watchman on a huge battleship alerted the captain that their ship was headed directly toward a light in the distance. The captain immediately sent the message, “Change your course 10 degrees south.” A few minutes later came the reply, “Change your course 10 degrees north.” Perturbed, the captain signaled back, “I am a captain. Change your course to the south.”  Five minutes later came the reply, “I am seamen first class. Change your course to the north.” Fuming, the captain sent one final message: “I demand you change your course.  I am on a battleship, and I strongly recommend you change your course.   And the response of the seaman was “I am in a lighthouse, and you are heading for a disaster if you don’t change your direction.” You Can’t Steal Second with Your Foot on First, Burke Hedges, pp 31-32.

When Paul and Barnabas visited Antioch, the Gentiles gladly heard the message and their lives were changed. We are told that almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord, but when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were jealous, so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said. When the Gentiles heard that the message of Paul was for them, as well as the Jews, they were glad and thanked the Lord for His message; and all who were appointed to eternal life became believers. So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region. The Jewish leaders stirred up both the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.” Acts 13:44;48-50

The Jewish believers refused to accept the truth, for they knew it meant change. Change in their rituals, change in their routines, change in their attitudes and change in their religious way of thinking. When confronted with truth, people often respond the same way. It is easier to resist a new idea than to receive it when receiving it may mean the need to change one’s actions or way of thinking. But when God points to something in our life that needs to change, we had better listen else we run the risk of “pushing the truth so far away that it no longer affects us.” Life Application Study Bible, p 1724

Is there something that you need to change in your life? A habit, a behavior, a style of life? Why not do it today. Give it over to the Lord and let him provide you the power to make that change. I can honestly promise you that you will be glad you did. And yes, remember you “cannot become what you need to be by remaining what you are.” Max Dupree quoted from 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, John Maxwell, p 141.

Have a great day and enjoy the change!

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom

 “A Sad Conversation I Had with a Member of the Church”

Dear Friends,

One of the great disappointments most every pastor faces is seeing good people leave the church. Now while I know the church is not perfect and it can’t always be everything to everyone, a sense of personal failure often creeps in as you wonder what I or the church could have done better to prevent the person from departing.

There will always be times when, for whatever reason, people just fail to fit in a church. Sometimes it may be the fault of the pastor and or the congregation and sometimes it may be the fault of the persons leaving, and frequently it may be a combination of both.

Having said this, I confess I am one who desires to see every single person walking through the doors of the church find a home where he/she fits in, is excited, and can thrive in the midst of a loving and embracing fellowship of people who are seeking to grow in their friendship with Jesus and with each other. Call it community, or fellowship or “koinonia” as the New Testament Greek word expresses it. Whatever name you give it, the word is the super glue that binds people together in one family.

And the main ingredient in that super glue is love, love for Jesus, and love for one another. And that love was not passive; it was an active, seeking, searching, and unselfish kind of love that created a kind of community that amazed those on the outside.

Dr. Luke describes it this way in Acts 2:42, 44, 46-47. “They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Every day they continued to meet together . . . they broke bread in their homes and ate together . . . and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

A few years ago, I talked with someone who had chosen to isolate herself from church involvement. She expressed that she was unhappy with life and that recently her life had been filled with a number of disappointments. She also acknowledged that she no longer had much personal involvement with anyone in the church. On several occasions I had sought to involve her in a ministry where she would be connected with other people, and on both occasions, she declined saying she was just not ready and just not interested. I felt sad for this person, but unless and until she becomes willing to engage with people, the chances are good that she will continue to grow more and more dissatisfied with her life.

We need each other. We need to be involved with others. We need to work together, serve together, worship together, and spend time together. We are exhorted in Scriptures to bear each other’s burdens, love one another, serve one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, and we can’t do this effectively if we are living in isolation from one another.

We as leaders are always looking for ways to connect those in the body. We desire to do everything we can to foster community, whether through small groups, work days, fellowship breakfasts, Sunday school classes, or fellowship time following services, for we know that when people get together, church ministry not only takes place but relationships are formed and friendships are born, and in the process hurts are often healed and new life is fashioned.

If you are one of those who has chosen to function exclusively as a consumer of what the church offers, I challenge you to risk jumping in and getting involved in some group, or class, or project. If you are comfortable coming to church each Sunday, enjoying worship, only to scoot home as quickly as you came, I suggest that you may not only be cheating the church of the gifts you have to offer, but you, may be cheating yourself of the joy that comes from serving alongside of one another.

As I close, let me provide an option for serving for those of you who might be willing to venture into ministry.  Our fellowship hour following services continues to grow, and we need to help support those few who have been responsible for serving us. How about volunteering to be one of those who help in the set up and clean up for our Sunday morning Fellowship time? If you want more specifics as to how you can become involved, drop me an e-mail, and I will happily provide you more information. I think I can promise that you will be glad you did.

Yours in faith and friendship.

Pastor Tom

tom@nmbchurch.org

P.S. “Be united with other Christians. A wall with loose bricks must be cemented together. “Corrie Ten Boom.

Change, The Difficulty of Waiting For Change

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1-3

Dear Family,

“The hardest part of faith is often simply to wait. And the trouble is, if we don’t, then we start to fix the problem ourselves-and that makes it worse. We complicate the situation to the point where it takes God much longer to fix it than if we had quietly waited for His working in the first place,” so writes Jim Cymbala, in his book Fresh Faith, p 111

Anyone who has worked with alcoholics knows that all of your efforts are for naught, if the alcoholic is not ready to change. This is true in relationships as well. One cannot change the other person by any exercise of the will if the person is not willing to change. Change generally cannot be forced if it is to be permanent in nature. A person may be pressured to change for a season, but more often than not, that person will revert back to the same familiar pattern of behavior if the motivation for change does not come from within.  As someone once said, “Consider how hard it is to change yourself, and you’ll understand what little chance you have of trying to change others”.

So what is the solution to that marriage partner that who so desperately wants to see change in the life of her spouse? What about those parents with an alcoholic child who want to rescue him or try and change him? The answer is wait and pray.

Waiting is hard. Most of us prefer to fix things ourselves, but if you are like me, anything I fix doesn’t stay fixed very long. Just ask my wife, Jean. The solution is to do as David did: wait. Things were not going very well for him. We are not sure what the circumstances were, but he is in the pits. But it was while he was stuck in the mire that he learned a very valuable lesson in ‘patient waiting’ for he testifies, “I waited patiently for the Lord,” (Psalm 40:1).

Instead of taking matters into his own hands and despairing of anyone, including God to help him, David learned the lesson of patient waiting. He was willing to let God work out His plan in His time according to His purpose. So instead of trying to arrange his own solution, which so many of us are tempted to do, David just waited and trusted the Lord to provide. And you know what? God did just that.

Chuck Swindoll talks about waiting as “compassion in slow motion,” when he describes how hard it is to avoid trying to rescue someone from sinful, destructive behavior. He writes “There are times (not always, but often) when the better part of wisdom retrains us from barging in and trying to make someone accept our help. The time isn’t right, so we wait . . . The Lord would love to piece together the shattered fragments of (that) life. But he is waiting . . . graciously waiting until the time is right. Until (one) is tired of the life (he is) living, until (they see) it for what it really is…until (they recognize their need for Him”). The Finishing Touch, p. 214.

In Psalm 40, David received a number of benefits from his waiting, and so can you and I. God lifted him out of his despair, set his feet on firm ground, steadied his walk and gave him a new purpose. That was good news for David, and that will be good news for you, my brother or sister, as you struggle in that war of waiting. He will “put a new song in (your) mouth, a hymn of praise to (your) God.” Psalm 40:3

On a lighter note on the subject of change, it was Mark Twain who reportedly said the only one who likes change is a wet baby,” and he was probably right.

Yours in faith,

Pastor Tom

Spring Sports and Sunday Church

Dear Friends, 

As a former college athlete, father of a college athlete, and a director of athletics for 8 years at a Christian School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I have always been immersed in the athletic world.  As a dad and pastor, I have had to navigate through the often-sticky challenge of balancing athletic involvement with church commitment, and I know many of you are currently dealing with the same tensions.  How does one resolve the pull between sports’ involvement and the desire to cultivate your child’s spiritual development?  The following article is a well written response to the tension so many of us have felt, as we have tried to balance the two conflicting activities.  If you are one of those parents who has had to address this challenge, I would strongly encourage you to read the following article.

I would also encourage you to share with me your personal stories of how you have addressed the tension between the two.  Send your responses to me: tom@nmbchurch.org and I will consider using your comments in future follow up on this very subject.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom.

SPRING SPORTS AND SUNDAY CHURCH

BY: TONY REINKE

FIVE SUGGESTIONS:

Serious athletes surround Mary Kassian, a celebrated ‎‎author‎‎ and ‎‎speaker‎‎, and co-founder of the True Woman Movement.‎

‎Her father-in-law played professional ice hockey for the Canadian National Team. Her three sons are all accomplished athletes, two in hockey and one in volleyball. One of her sons, Matt, is a former NHL hockey player. Mary’s husband, Brent, is a bi-vocational pastor and serves as an Athletes in Action chaplain for pro football and soccer teams in Canada. He also works as director of a physical therapy sports medicine rehab center. With so many sports connections, Mary says, “We have professional athletes through our home all the time.”‎

‎With decades of experience, Mary is conversant with the amateur athletic world (as well as the professional), so I value her wisdom in helping parents navigate the high-pressure, specialized world of youth sports. In anticipation of the upcoming spring and summer seasons, I asked Mary Kassian questions about the costs of team sports, the value of travel teams, and the tensions that come along with sports and church attendance.‎

‎Kid-Driven?‎

‎The first area of caution she offers is a check on parental drive. Are the athletic aspirations driven by the child? Or are they driven by mom and dad? She’s concerned about kids who carry the vicarious ambitions of parents who take amateur sports too far, too fast.‎

‎“I fear we push our children to be far too busy, and to specialize far too early, and to commit far too much time. And it can be parent-driven, rather than driven by a parent discerning a child’s natural bent and inclination and abilities.”‎

‎Before long, kids grow weary of the over-specialized sport.‎

‎“I’ve seen 13- and 14-year-old boys burned out by a sport, and sick of it. Or they feel that they need to excel at it in order to please their parents, and their parents have communicated that their worth and value are wrapped up in how well they do at a particular sport. They get to high school and they’ve already had so much of it, they don’t enjoy it anymore.”‎

‎But obviously a lot of sports are driven by the aspiration of the child, which raises questions about the cost of the sport on the family.‎

‎Weighing the Costs‎

‎As sports specialize and demand year-round practices or training, the costs add up quickly. The price tag is a huge consideration, an expense some families attempt to justify because of potential college scholarships. “Given all these team costs — training, registration, travel, hotels, equipment — the amount of money that you pour into sports to get to the level where you’re going to get a scholarship, you could have probably paid for a lot of college tuition by the time your child turn s sixteen,” she says honestly. And that’s no exaggeration, especially compared to the small sliver of high school athletes who land major-college scholarships. ‎

‎But the cost is not only a drain on the budget; it’s also a glut to the schedule. Serious amateur athletics come with intense practice schedules, training, and weekend competitions at distant places of various range. Travel sports is not just a question about Sundays (more on Sundays below); it also may cost a family its summer vacation time together and needed downtime. Summer-sports travel is hardly relaxing, especially when you add in the adrenaline — the wins and thrills, the losses and disappointments. A full schedule of sports tournaments can be a taxing abuse of the summer months.‎

‎Parents must weigh whether a summer without all these demands on their kids is better for everyone. “Whenever you say ‘yes’ to sports, you must say ‘no’ to other options,” she says. Sports commitments always come with a price. “Often that means saying ‘no’ to giving your child the time and space to simply run around in a field till their feet turn green, or time to kick back and enjoy a childhood that’s not regimented and scheduled.”‎

‎Team Travel on Mission‎

‎But good reasons remain to take up spring and summer athletics. Travel teams provide missional opportunities for us to enter the lives of other families and athletes in ways often not otherwise possible. Sitting in the stands with the same families offers new opportunities. “Everything we do is missional, or ought to be,” Mary says. “So when we’re sitting in the stands with parents, or doing team fundraisers, and the weekend travel — in all of this, you invest a concentrated amount of time with people in a way that you will not spend time with people again in your life.”‎

‎Even without mentioning the potential of Christian athletic coaches, simply being the parent of a child on a travel team can push us into the lives of people we otherwise would not know. Travel sports can “take our families out of the Christian bubble, into the real world, and into people’s lives, and into the broken places of what those people’s lives are really like,” she says. “You need to take that into account when you’re making your decisions, because it definitely is an amazing, concentrated season for sharing the gospel, for displaying your faith, and for just being present and ministering to people where they’re at in terms of their needs. I still have friends from those sports years — hockey-mom friends and volleyball-mom friends. We spent so much time together in the stands, that we’ve remained friends over the years.”‎

‎Christian Life on Display‎

‎Sports can be a place to share life together with others. To be real. With the pressures of travel sports, sports tournaments compress life and raise the stakes for kids — and for parents.‎

‎“All the emotions in your own heart come out when you’re watching your own son or daughter treated unfairly. These pressures really bring out what’s on the inside of the heart. I’ve seen Christian parents — and I’ve been the Christian parent that’s fumbled the opportunity at times — getting so caught up in the game, and wanting your child to excel, and to do well, that you lose sight of greater, bigger, more important things.”‎

‎“You don’t have to be a ‘perfect Christian,’” Mary reiterates in these moments. “These are great opportunities to show what you do when you mess up. It provides opportunities to confess to the other parents and to say: ‘You know, it was wrong for me to lose it like that at the ref, and I’m really sorry. And I ask your forgiveness, because I’m sure it was offensive to you as well.’ These are gospel opportunities to be a ‎‎real Christian‎‎ who admits their sins and to be transparent in a way that many families would never otherwise see.”‎

‎Five Ways to Navigate Sundays‎

‎With the potential of amateur sports, we come back to the question of weekend games and travel sports. How do you balance the demands of travel sports with the priority of the weekly gathering of the local church? ‎

‎For the Kassians, the question was amplified with Brent serving as a pastor every Sunday. They had to get creative and think about youth athletics in ways that could balance the unresolvable tensions. ‎

‎1. Consider a rec league with fewer demands.‎

‎Mary says that parents can step back and consider whether playing recreational league sports is better than higher level sports, which require more travel. “Our son Matt got to the NHL in a way that was really unusual. Because Brent was pastoring at the time, it wasn’t until our oldest son started driving that we could consider higher-level leagues that required significant travel. Our son never attended summer hockey camps. He never went to the developmental programs. Yet he had a lot of natural athletic ability that he developed by playing lots of different sports — baseball, basketball, and football.” All locally.‎

‎2. Weigh the specific costs with each team.‎

‎Parents should go into any sport or team with an up-front knowledge of the cost in terms of practice time and travel. Mary stresses this point. “Even when you’re in grade school, some of the commitment levels that are required are astronomical. Never commit to a team blindly. Ask, Is this team commitment going to cost us five Sundays at church? Eight Sundays? Twelve Sundays?” Be realistic up front.‎

‎3. Embrace the consequences of missing practices or games.‎

‎Consider absorbing the consequences of missing sports on Sunday. Even the recreational league featured Sunday practices, and this posed a problem. “Because it was a rec level, we felt free to tell the coach that we were going to miss some Sundays,” Mary says. “There were times when we went to church and missed hockey practice, and that meant that our son was sitting out the next game.” The consequences were worth it.‎

‎4. Find creative ways to prioritize church attendance.‎

‎You may have some flexibility with church. For those who are not pastors, “If you have a Sunday morning game, see if you can attend church on Saturday night. And maybe you go to church on Saturday night in another city as you travel. Or, if a game is at noon, there may be time to go to church first.”‎

‎5. Draw your child into the conversation.‎

‎Maybe most importantly, before you make any decision about Sunday morning sports, and before missing church because of travel, bring your child into the tensions.‎

‎“Your child will sense what is most important to you. So I think it’s really valuable for a child to watch his or her parents wrestle with keeping Jesus at the forefront, making the planets of our lives revolve around the sun of Christ at the center. Let them know that whatever we decide in the end, they should see a parent wrestle with the tension, asking, ‘You know what, this team is a really great opportunity, but missing church is hard, and we must pray about the costs and the opportunities.’” ‎

‎There’s a teaching moment here for our kids, educating them on the family’s greatest priority. “The bottom line about these hard church questions,” Mary says, “is that we don’t have pat answers or easy formulas. I think you can have a professional athlete, who must play on Sundays, who upholds Christ as supreme. It can be done.” Yes, and when appropriate, we can work that logic back into youth athletics, too.‎

‎Athletic Idols‎

‎In this conversation, there’s no doubt that amateur athletics have claimed a central place in the pantheon of our culture’s false gods, and youth athletics is a further subset of the idolization of children. A Sunday morning drive past any youth sports fields will show just how far-reaching these idols have become in our culture. ‎

‎“Athletics is such a competing god,” Mary says soberly. “I think that it’s so critical that the parents are always checking their own hearts. I needed to check my heart through our process. Where are you drawing your identity? Where are you drawing your sense of meaning? What is in your heart? If this were to end tomorrow, what would be left in terms of your sense of wholeness, and well-being, and who you are? Are you drawing that from the Lord? Is hockey a bigger delight for me than God is? I asked my son to wrestle with that question on an ongoing basis, too.”‎

‎For Christian parents, the questions over teams and leagues and travel opportunities require a lot of humble wisdom and prayer — exposing our motives, evaluating the missional potential, and reaffirming the family’s love for the local church. Given our culture’s love of amateur athletics, and the increasing specialization of these sports, these questions will only become more complex for us and for our kids, requiring greater wisdom — which is what our Father is eager to give us when we come to him in faith (‎‎James 1:5–6‎‎).‎

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Featured Stars at New Monmouth Baptist Front and Center

Dear Church Family,

What an exhilarating time we spent last week, as we worshiped together and witnessed the baptism and testimonies of our new members. The church was packed and there was an incredible spirit of love throughout the sanctuary. As elder John O’Neill stated, “my tie was wet with tears of joy, as I listened to the remarkable testimonies of those who stepped forward to join the church.” John’s charge to the congregation along with Gary Steidl’s closing remarks, coupled with Bill Roberts’ prayer were all a reminder of how blessed we are to have such mature and committed church leaders, as we continue to move forward into the future.

It happened. I have been encouraging people to go the extra mile in greeting and welcoming people, and Chris and Tanuja Kailas did just that. When a new visitor came, Chris escorted her over to sit with Tanuja, so that she would feel more comfortable worshiping in a church for the first time. Chris and Tanuja, thanks for your great example. 

When you see a visitor, especially one who is here for the first time, don’t just say hi, greet them with a handshake or a hug, but go the extra mile. Ask them if they would like to sit with you and then spend some time after the service getting to know them.

Vanessa Briggs’ elementary school teacher visited us on Sunday, thanks to Vanessa’s continued encouragement to her to visit. She had grown disenchanted with her church, and she was finally ready to venture out to church again. I sat with her in the Family Ministry Center and was blessed to learn of her relationship with Vanessa, and how that relationship resulted in her presence and her decision to worship with us in the future. 

When was the last time you invited someone to church? The sign of a growing church is seen in the number of people being invited to worship each Sunday. Don’t give up after one effort, but keep asking, keep inviting, and keep praying.

I was so blessed this past Saturday our combined men’s and women’s fellowship program with Scott Fritz and Joe Gratzel, who addressed the subject of suicide. Around 75 people, both young and old, were present for an outstanding presentation, but highlighting the day for me was the music presentation by our talented young people. They sang three selections and their contribution was the highlight of my day. Thank you Mark Best for encouraging and pouring your life into these young people. I feel confident that if they stay together they will one day be using their gifts to bless other churches and other ministries. They are a terrifically talented group.

The newly formed deacon board has been meeting for the last three months and they are presently engaged in a calling and visiting ministry. Teddie O’Neill recently spoke at our monthly meeting, providing training on hospital and home visitation, and each of our new deacons are now stepping out of their comfort zones to reach out to a number of people in our church.

I can’t wait for you to see our new welcome area. Not new in the sense of just built, but new in the sense of being refreshed and updated with a special woman’s touch. You will see new wall hangings, posters, tract racks, all of which are a present reminder of our commitment to welcoming new visitors. Thanks Erin Nicastro for your special “welcoming touch.” Thanks also to all of the Welcome Table volunteers, who each week serve behind the welcome table, helping to make new visitors feel so very much at home

I am encouraged by the increased number on our worship team. Thanks Walt Graczyk for your efforts to recruit new people, both young and old, to this ministry. Just two Sundays ago four of our young people were upfront playing drums, guitar and keyboard along with our adult worship team members.

Every week, we are blessed to have a number of U Turn for Christ members on campus to help address all kinds of facility needs. U Turn for Christ is an addiction ministry with a spiritual component designed to help men find recovery through Jesus. Each week, we have the opportunity to pour into their lives through lunch and a devotional we share. They are a great resource, as they share their time and expertise to help maintain our facilities. Of late, they have done a lot of painting in the downstairs kitchen area. They work under the able oversight of Dennis Durant. Our intentions are to renovate the downstairs kitchen area and plans are now being made for new carpet, new lighting and a new stove.

Thanks to Donna Bisgrove, who once again helped provide a beautiful array of Easter Lilies up front, as we celebrated Easter with the largest attendance we have had in a number of years. 

Thanks also to our custodian Evie Best who is the premier church custodian. I often tell her that she maintains the cleanest facilities of any church I have ever visited. Many first-time visitors will judge a church, not by the sermons, but by the spotlessness of the facilities, especially the bathrooms. No need to worry about that with Mrs. Evie, for our bathrooms, and all our church facilities are immaculate, thanks to her conscientious attention.

Also kudos to Eileen Thomas and Karen Bottari, along with a host of other weekly volunteers who set up such and clean up for our Family Fellowship time on Sundays following the service. We are presently looking for volunteers to help share in this ministry, and if you would be willing to help with set-up and clean-up once every two months, please speak to either one of them. And by the way, if you haven’t visited the Family Ministry Center of late, you need to. You will be amazed at the number of people who congregate following services. There is no better time or place to meet and greet new people.  

I could go on and on extolling the various ministries here at New Monmouth Baptist Church. Suffice is to say, we are blessed by these and so many others who have stepped up to use their gifts in the service of Christ. A growing church is one where there is no “unemployment”. So, if you are currently unemployed and looking for work there are ministry needs available, so why not speak to one or our pastoral staff. I think you will be glad you did.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom