New Monmouth Musings: Don't Miss This Special Summer Activity

Dear Friends, 

I was reading the Asbury Park Press this morning, and one of the articles featured detailed a host of summer activities that are taking place in and around our immediate area. The list was long, and anyone who lives near the Jersey Shore should have no excuse for not finding things to do with your family this summer. However, of all the activities mentioned, there was one activity that that was noticeably absent, and it is called Bridgefest.

For those of you who may not know, I was blessed to be a part of the staff at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge, and during my five years of ministry there, I was blessed to be involved with Bridgefest, the church's annual summer outreach held in Ocean Grove. If you and your family have never taken advantage of this summer activity, let me encourage you to put it on your calendar today.

This year's Bridgefest will be held on Saturday, June 22, in historic Ocean Grove. There will be a youth rally, surf clinic, kids’ activities, boardwalk games, food trucks, vendors, and for me the highlight of them all, beach baptisms where as many as 200 adults and children are baptized in the ocean waters.

Throughout the day you can choose to sit under the teaching of some of your favorite radio speakers who appear daily on The Bridge, on 95.1 FM. In the evening, Big Daddy Weave will perform and Pancho Juarez, pastor of the Ark in Montebello, Ca. will be the crusade speaker. Each year hundreds of people stream forward following the invitation to receive Jesus.

Pastor Lloyd Pulley, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Old Bridge will preside as the concert host and teacher.

If you have never taken advantage of this gigantic spiritual buffet of family activities, you owe it to yourself to take part. I promise that you will find it one of the highlights of all your family activities this summer.

Bring your beach chairs and blankets, your Bibles and bathing suits and enjoy the time of your lives at this year's Bridgefest.

And by the way, if you want to listen to encouraging and spiritual uplifting radio, then why not turn to The Bridge, as it shares the wonderful message of hope on 95.1 FM.

For more information or to reserve tickets for the concert or event, call 888.861.6100 and tell them Pastor Tom encouraged you to attend. No, it won't get you any discount or special treatment, but what it will get you is the spiritual time of your life, and a day that you will never forget. 

See you at Bridgefest!

Yours in faith and friendship,
Pastor Tom

New Monmouth Musings: DIMITT, an Acrostic I used to Share with My Basketball Team

Dear Family,

Determination is a wonderful quality to possess. It is the key ingredient for success in any endeavor we undertake. I remember someone describing determination as "the ability to hang in there for just one more round. It is the willingness to get up one more time than we get knocked down.

A young fellow wanted to be a star journalist, but he lived in a small town where there was not much opportunity for advancement. One day the stream upstream broke and the town was flooded. He got into a rowboat and headed out to look for a story to write. He found a lady sitting on her rooftop. He tied up his boat and told her what he was after. They both watched as various items floated by.

He said to the lady, "Now there is a story."

"Oh no said the lady that's not a story." Finally, a hat floats by and then does a 180 degree turn, goes upstream a ways and does another 180 degree turn. The fellow says, "Now there is a real story to write about."

 "She said, "Oh no, that's not a story. That's my husband Hayford. He said he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water."

Now there is a man who wasn't real bright, but you couldn't criticize him for his lack of determination. He possessed the determination of a Ulysses S Grant who was quoted in Readers' Digest as saying, "One of my suppositions has always been when I started to go anywhere or do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished."

The Apostle Paul was like that, wasn't he? He writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (Living Bible) "We are pressed on every side by trouble, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we can't know why things happen as they do, but we don't give up and quit. We are down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going."

I love that kind of determination. When Jesus tells us to "seek first the kingdom of God," the very word 'seek' implies a strong-minded pursuit. J. B. Phillips paraphrases the idea with the words "set your heart on”.  The Amplified Bible says, "Aim at and strive after." The thought in all of these translations is whatever the obstacle you face, don't ever give in and don't ever give up."

I don't know what you are facing today or how great the temptation might be to throw in the towel. You may be thinking to yourself, I would like to pick up, pack up and pull out. I would love to get out of Dodge as fast as I can.

Nehemiah faced the temptation to do just that when those around him began looking at a half-built wall surrounding Jerusalem. The people began to question whether they had the strength to complete the task. And with the critics quick to plant the seeds of discouragement, and enemies threatening the lives of the workers, Nehemiah remains undeterred, and he presses forward despite the obstacles. Nehemiah encourages his people by his example of determination.  "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes." Nehemiah 4:14.

Nehemiah knew that "the difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination." and he wasn't about to quit. When we are faced with such situations, we need to do two things: "Remember the Lord," as Nehemiah exhorted his people to do, and "resist retreat" knowing that "The Lord who is great and awesome (will) will fight for (you)."

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom

P.S. When I coached, I used to give my basketball players an acrostic. It was DIMITT. It was to remind them that "determination is more important than talent."

New Monmouth Musings: Words That Changed My Ministry

Dear Friends,

Last week I attended the funeral of a dear friend of mine, whose words back in 1969 changed the direction of my life and ministry. Those words came from the lips of Dick Armstrong, who had been a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, and who had passed away at age 94.

Dick enjoyed a varied career in both the secular and religious worlds. He was a professional baseball player, an accomplished pianist and composer of music. He was the director of public relations for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, and the first person to introduce the idea of team mascots to professional sports, his Mr. Oriole being the first professional team mascot to appear on the field. Dick, who had pastored one of the largest churches in the Presbyterian denomination, was also a prolific writer who authored seven books and had been working on three others at the time of his death.  Dick was the most amazing and multi gifted man I have ever met. His obituary filled a full page of the Princeton newspaper. 

I first met Dick thorough the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, while he was serving as President of the National Trustee Board for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Our interests in sports and faith provided a natural attraction, and thus began a friendship that we maintained for almost 50 years.  Living in the Princeton area provided me the opportunity of visiting with him on a number of occasions, and I never left our times together without feeling encouraged and inspired to be a better person and a better pastor.

But now about those words that changed the trajectory of my life and ministry. Dick had been serving as interim pastor at the Cedar Park Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and one day he called and asked me if I would be interested in considering the pastorate at Cedar Park.  Cedar Park was a predominately white church in a 90 percent black community, and the challenge facing the church was one of integration.  At the time I was serving a small church in Syracuse New York. I knew little, if anything, about urban ministry, and having grown up in a predominately white community of Watertown, New York, I  felt totally incompetent and unprepared for the kind of ministry the church needed. Dick was persistent, however, and on two different occasions he called and encouraged me to at least explore the possibility. Each time I politely told him I was not interested. 

After our third conversation, however, he closed with the words that changed my thinking about my direction for ministry. Dick said, "Tom, I believe You're the man for this ministry." Dick believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. He had confidence in my abilities at a time when I felt totally inadequate. I couldn't  get those words out of my mind. Dick believes in me!

Belief in someone is a powerful force in shaping one's life, and it was those nine words, and, of course,  the power of the Holy Spirit that changed my attitude about my limitations and inadequacies to serve Cedar Park. I accepted Dick's challenge, pursued the position and became Cedar Park's pastor. The next seven years of my ministry were life changing for me and our family as our church became one of the few integrated churches in Philadelphia, and I grew in my ability to pastor in ways I never imagined.

Encouraging words are powerful and life changing as Dick's words were for me. They can become the positive push that can alter the direction of our lives. They can become "the wind beneath our wings" that enable us to soar beyond the limits of our own expectations.

The Apostle Paul fully realized the power of the 'positive push' when he exhorts us "To encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are already doing. " 1 Thess. 5:11

Is there someone in your life who would benefit from your words of encouragement?

Why not drop them note or pick up the phone and give them a call. I promise you that you will be glad you did, and so will the person you contact. Who knows what your words might be as life changing as Dick's words were for me.

Yours in faith and friendship,
Pastor Tom

New Monmouth Musings:  Why I Don’t Believe in Tithing

Dear Friends,

With our annual year coming to an end on June 30, your leadership will be presenting a new budget for the 2019-20 year. That means we will be asking you to attend our annual meeting on Sunday, June 9th, where the budget will be presented, discussed and approved.

Once again, we will be asking you to prayerfully consider what you might give to help New Monmouth Baptist Church continue to move forward in its ministry. You have been a most generous church in the past, and your habit of sacrificial giving is one of the greatest legacies passed down from the generations of faithful givers who have helped make our church what it is today, a church of sacrificial givers intent on helping to fulfill the Great Commission.

Giving like all other subjects in the Bible, is the revelation of God and it needs to be understood. A faulty understanding of giving will have significant impact upon not only the giver, but on the Kingdom of God.

We are most like God when we give and most unlike Him when we withhold.

Paul in 2 Cor 8:7 tells us that we are to excel in the grace of giving. The idea of excelling assumes that like playing the piano, we can get better, and that with spiritual growth comes growth in spiritual giving. As Christians grow and mature spiritually, their growth should reflect a growth in the area of stewardship. Good stewards are always growing

Likewise, for me or any pastor not to declare to you the principles of giving or to withhold certain subjects contained within the whole.

The counsel of God would be to rob you of blessings God desires you to experience.

I think it is important for God’s church to understand the principle of giving. And so this morning I hope to provide a clear understanding of our role and responsibility when it comes to biblical giving.

I have never been embarrassed or ashamed to talk about one’s giving, and next to equipping the greatest number of topical sermons I have preached over my years of ministry have been on this very subject of stewardship. In fact, as some will tell you who were a part of a former church I served, I delivered a Mothers’ Day sermon on stewardship. In retrospect that was probably a sermon I would never preach again, at least on Mother’s Day. I did get their attention, and some today are still talking about it for good or for bad.

Interestingly enough, Jesus talked a lot about money and our use of it.

Why did Jesus speak so frequently about money matters? Simply because He knew that money matters! One can’t divorce finances from faith, money from maturity because our giving provides a drain plug to our greed.

Jesus knew that when a man get’s rich, God gets a partner or a man loses his soul. Just read the portrait of the rich man who came to Jesus in Mark 10. He was close to faith, but in the end it was his money that kept him from the kingdom.

Some people react when the pastor discusses money. “I go to a spiritual church; we never have to talk about money”. Well, if this is. the case than Jesus must have been pretty unspiritual, for he was never embarrassed to discuss the use of our possessions. In fact 16 of his 38 parables address the use of our possessions. One in every 10 verses in the New Testament have to do with one’s use of money or  possessions. Jesus talks more about money than he does heaven and hell and faith combined.

One day we will all give an account for how we have handled God’s resources, and one of those resources will be our possessions.

Let me briefly share my thoughts about how you might consider what you will give. You have probably heard some teachers say you need to tithe your income as the Jews did who used the tithe as their giving standard. I used to teach that because I believed as many do that the tithe was what we ought to give. It was the believers; goal for giving. The tithe, in fact was the old testament, or the old covenant standard for the Jew. We, however, no longer live under the old covenant of law, but we live under the covenant of grace. And so my questions is for those of us who live on this side of the cross, should we be expected to give less than the old testament Jew living under the law. In other words, can we lower the spiritual ceiling because we stand on higher ground?

Now the tithe is what I consider to be a logical place for the believer to begin his/her giving. Having said this, however, I would point out that every New Testament example of giving goes beyond the tithe, and none fall short of it. Jesus raised the bar. He never lowered it.

If the Old Testament Jew gave ten percent of his income to the Lord, should we be expected to give anything less than ten percent?  Can we who live on this side of the cross give anything less than those who only lived in the shadow of the cross?

The bottom line for me is that I believe that the tithe should be the starting place for giving not the finish line.

For the believer, the question we should ask is not what should  be my tithe, but what should be my spiritual sacrifice. For some the tithe may represent your spiritual sacrifice. For others your sacrificial giving may even be less than your tithe. When we consider our giving, we should ask ourselves is our gift worthy of the sacrificial giving of our Lord Jesus who went to the cross to forgive us our sins, and to purchase a place for us in heaven.

To tithe or not to tithe is not the question we need to ask when confronted with the question of what should we give. The question confronting us is what are we willing to give that for us represents a sacrifice.

Jesus gives us a great example of giving sacrificially when in Mark 12:41-44 we see Him as He  watches many rich people throw in large amounts of money into the temple treasury. “But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to Him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she,  out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on.”

It is not what we have in our hands that determines if our gift is of a sacrificial nature. It is what we hold in our hearts that is the key to our sacrificial giving.

Someone once said “a living church is a giving church” and because you at New Monmouth Baptist Church have always been a giving church, you have been a living church; one that has continued to impact our world for all eternity. Thanks be to God.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom

New Monmouth Musings: A Favor to Ask Everyone Who Attends New Monmouth, Baptisms and Need for Prayer.

Dear Friends, 

Last week I went online in the interest of checking out other area church websites. I was impressed with many of those I examined, and in the course of my search I noted that many of the church websites had an extensive number of reviews from those who had visited or were members. Out of curiosity, I then went to our website, and to my surprise I found only a few reviews-I recall four in number, the first of which was from our own Dave Furniss.

Those who know me realize I am not a computer guru-far from it-but I do recognize the value of social media in reaching our world for Christ. One way of doing this is by having an attractive and inviting website that encourages our community to check out our church. To facilitate this, I am asking you to consider writing a church review on your impression of New Monmouth. Whether already a member or a friend, your witness is important in letting those seekers in our area know about our ministry in the hopes of encouraging them to visit us and experiencing what we have to offer.

Some may think this is self-serving and wonder why we would seek to promote our church in this fashion. I think of it as just another means or pre-evangelism - an effort designed at attracting and inviting those who may be looking for a new church home. We want such people to be drawn to explore our church because of what they read from other's experiences. 

We would especially love for each of you to participate and share in our efforts to attract people to New Monmouth Baptist church by writing a personal review of your experience at New Monmouth. Would you be willing to take a few minutes to let others hear how you feel about New Monmouth Baptist Church? Would you share a few words about what you like about the church, the things that have impressed you, and those aspects of church life that outsiders might find appealing? Your message doesn't have to be long, only few sentences will be sufficient. . Here is how you do it:

     1. Use a Google search engine

     2. Type in New Monmouth Baptist Church in the Search Bar 
         (Do not open the New Monmouth Baptist Church Website)

     3. Look to the right and click on "Write a Review"

This past Sunday was a wonderful day of worship as we celebrated our church's 165th birthday with baptisms, testimonies, and the recognition of new members followed by a wonderful time of fellowship in the Family Ministry Center. Thank you Glenda Petruzeli for the beautiful birthday cake you made for the celebration of this historic event. Those baptized were Lena Finley and Erin Fuller and those also joining the church with them were Rev. and Mrs. Paul Krause, and Vince Borelli. 

Would you continue to remember Jiju Johny and his son Jeffery, as they continue to wait for Jiju's wife Prassana to return from India. The family visited family in India four months ago and because of work related issues, Prasanna was not cleared to return to the States with her family. Jiju, who works at AT&T, has been serving as both mom and dad while waiting for government clearance for Prasanna to return home. They are a wonderful couple who have been worshipping with us the past two years. Pray that government red tape would not further deter her return home. 

Jean and I will be heading up to Lake Ontario to our cottage this Thursday to visit Jean's sister, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer, and watch my grandson play baseball for St Lawrence University. We will be returning Monday. Please keep us in prayer, as we travel. 

Yours in faith and friendship,

Pastor Tom