Mission Trip

Some video highlights from our mission trip to New York City.

VBS

From Vacation Bible School - Gameday

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With a few friendly reminders from some who read this on occasion, it was brought to my attention that we hadn't updated or thrown any pictures on here in awhile. We are getting ready for VBS starting tomorrow and then we are a few short weeks away from going back to New York for our mission trip. The picture here is from a speaking opportunity I had at the National Day of Prayer. The summer is truly going to be packed with stuff in the church and especially in the student ministry. It is that time of year again and we're trying to stay on top of things. I think we've been to four or five graduations in the past month. Our pastor will be out of town for the SB Convention after next week so I'll get to fill in some there too. That's a glimpse of what life is like for us at the moment and what it will look like in the weeks ahead. We hope you all are doing well and don't YOU forget to keep us "posted" on things too!

Seeing Tragedy with Reborn Eyes

Our nation was struck with a great tragedy this week with the shootings at Virginia Tech. There are countless stories pouring over the media from those sharing thoughts and perspectives. The one common thread running throughout the papers, radio, television, and web pages are the cries of the community for answers. We rightfully want to know who is responsible and if others are now safe. Many of you no doubt have been and will continue to be a part of conversations about this horrifying day. I’ve heard talks about nature vs nurture, the human psyche and conscience, and all the possible remedies for such evil. It is important that we not stand idly by and let the pop psychologists and talk shows provide all the answers to our family, friends, and coworkers, instead we must see this and every other area in life from a biblical worldview. We believe Scripture when it says that every person is a sinner and in need of a radical transformation that can only be brought about through Jesus Christ. Although we have seen sin in various forms on the front pages on the news, we also know that it separates those same family and friends from God. Apart from God’s grace, any one of us could be turned over to our sins and be involved in such a story. This horrific event should call us to intercessory prayer and remind us that those reading the headlines are also broken people in need of mending and renewal through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we mourn with those who mourn I pray that believers will also stand as ambassadors of Christ with a message of hope amidst the pain.

Cars, Conferences, & More!

Well things still haven't settled down much with Easter this weekend but we have finished race week and the student conference. The size of the race crowd was mind numbing with cars and campers literally as far as the eye could see. I preached in 26 degree temperatures (see picture) the day of the kickoff and thawed out later that week to join in an exciting Family Day. We had campers in our yard, lined down the street, and up the road. As little as I know about racing we still had fun with some of the lesser intoxicated individuals in our area. The Spring Student Conference went well overall with a few bumps along the way. There were roughly 1,500 students and adults in attendance and I felt like I met most of them at some point. I'm relieved that we are done (for now) with some of those areas so we can turn our attention to some new opportunities for parents and volunteers at our church. Bethany is doing more work with our small groups and teenage girls. She is also singing several times in our Easter Cantata this Sunday which should come as no surprise! We pray you have a wonderful Easter week celebrating the death and resurrection of our Savior. Never lose the wonder!

March Madness

With all due respect to college basketball, I think the activity at our church the next couple of weeks will generate plenty of excitement as well. Raceway Ministries is in a full charge to make preparations for the people coming in to watch the races in Bristol. I have a great opportunity to speak at one of the early chapel services this weekend during the official kickoff to race week. There will be tens of thousands of cookies spread throughout the area and a lot of opportunities to help the medical crews as first responders. As many of you know I'm not exactly a racing fanatic, or even a casual fan. Ok, so I don't know much at all about racing and wouldn't recognize most of the drivers if they walked by me going down the street. Don't people just go for their driver and to watch the others crash anyway!? I am excited about the opportunities going on with Raceway Ministries and can't wait to see what all the fuss is about. We are also putting the final touches on planning a Spring Student Conference for our Association with well over a thousand students in attendance. There are also plans in motion for the Mission Trip that need to be finalized in the next couple of weeks. In other words, March is madness and I've got to get busy! We'll let you guys know how everything goes once we've survived!

A Growing Sense of Urgency

It has been a while since we've updated on anything so some of you would be interested to know what is going on this weekend. We are meeting with parents and volunteers to discuss some important issues for the student ministry at First Baptist Church. There is a growing sense of crisis in this thing called youth ministry. I'm not a big stats person but, when legit, some of these can be quite alarming. We are losing the overwhelming majority of our youth by the end of their freshman year in college (75-88% according to Glen Schultz, Kingdom Education, and the 2002 SBC Council on the Family). Also, other research suggests less than ten percent of churched teens have a biblical worldview (The Barna Group, Nehemiah Institute Peers Test). The cry from youth minister land is how they can possibly go to battle against so many hours of school and home influence that is a direct contradiction to what they teach a couple of hours a week. While there are plenty of new trends and approaches, the results have been all too much the same. Former youth ministry guru Mike Yaconelli lamented:

The curtain must be pulled back. If we are to keep young people involved in the church and if we are to renew our congregations, we first must acknowledge that any of our current forms of youth ministry are destructive." (Mike aconelli,"Youth Ministry: A Contemplative Approach)

While I don't always agree with some of the methods utilized by groups like Youth Specialties, I really respect the openness of a former leader about their struggles. The current evangelism rate of this generation is 4%. The adolescent years are such a critical time for this because such a high percentage of believers made that decision during those formative years. There are as many opinions as noses out there (and probably more) of what should be done but it should be clear that our starting place is Scripture. Spiritually connecting students to their home family, when possible, and their church family must be a priority in any lasting ministry. Unfortunately, at times this mindset will end up losing teens to the church on the other side of town that does anything necessary to bring in the numbers while offering less substance. I don't claim to have all the answers but I do know that we need to start asking the right questions. For example, what percentage of our church's teens will be active in a church body and a committed disciple of Christ 5 years after they leave the youth group? 10 years? 20 years? How many of them are being poured into now by people in the church other than the youth pastor? Are we as a church strengthening families or fragmenting them? How are we reaching out to families of our youth who don't attend?

I'm looking forward to a good conversation on some of these issues this Saturday. I pray that others that are involved in student ministry of some sort (hopefully the majority of you) will begin or join in the conversation at your church as well.

Mission NYC

Last night we had our first missions team meeting for a trip to New York City. For Bethany and I it will be a return trip (our third) to serve in several ministries in Brooklyn and the surrounding areas. I love doing mission work in New York City because of the diversity you find there. We will encounter different ethnicities, cultures, and languages within a few blocks of where we are staying. It reflects the diversity that we strive to reach with the gospel and the very diversity we become as the body of Christ. We will be leaving June 30th for this project to do evangelism and construction so we appreciate your prayers as we assemble the team and make preparations.

We have also received word that our family now has Kayli and will be traveling over the next few days. The pictures on her website are worth more than a thousand words and everyone here is anxiously awaiting their return. Continue to pray for them as they travel and bring her safely home. You can read more about their travels and see pictures of Kayli here.

Prayers for Kayli

This is Kayli Madison Ling Alexander. If you are reading this any time in the next week I want to ask you to pray for her and my family members who are going to China to bring her home. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law left with their parents yesterday for a long flight overseas and will be returning home on the 17th. This has been around a three year wait and we are all incredibly excited to see the newest addition to the family. This child is going to be so loved (and spoiled for that matter) and there will be a long line of people waiting to hold her and play with her.

I love adoption. I believe in it for several reasons, especially considering I was adopted myself. No, I wasn't adopted the way Kayli is adopted, but I am adopted in the way I pray she will be one day - by God. In fact, the whole concept of the church is grounded in adoption (Romans 8:14-23). This is reflected in the diversity of the universal church. If you read this passage it is clear to see that the unity of the church is not centered around an age, ethnicity, economic status, worship style, or background. Personally, I believe the greatest impact of the body of believers comes when there is no other reason that two people would meet together except to profess, "Jesus is Lord". That in of itself is enough reason to be unified and celebrate the common adoption that has made us part of this family. At the end of this age, Christ will stand victorious with the cosmos as his inheritance. Just as Kayli is now family, those in Christ are sharing (and will share) in the sonship and inheritance of our "Abba". I've heard several people comment about the adjustments that Kayli may face that will be helped by her young age, not to mention the adjustment of her parents! I can't help but think of the more dramatic and eternal adjustments that our spiritual adoption has meant. When this precious young Chinese girl looks at her new parents and says "momma" and "dadda" it will be perfectly and beautifully true - and a joyful reminder that you and I can come before our Abba as His child.

First Month

Hey everybody! I have officially completed my first month of ministry at First Baptist Church and am very excited about where things are headed. We finished up our first Wednesday night series, "The Gospel According to Duct Tape" and are moving on to something new next week. We are starting some music and drama ministries and working on getting an E-Team (Evangelism Team) assembled in the next few weeks. This month has flown by and I am worn out but having a blast along the way. It feels like yesterday we were in Louisville "walking the stage" and now we are hitting our stride in full time ministry - and trying to pace ourselves! Bethany is still enjoying her job but would like more time to spend with the students as well. She has been sick this week so I'm playing nurse and trying to take care of her. Anyway, there are a lot of exciting things going on and some anticipation in the air as new things come about in the days ahead. One of these will be a new addition to the family, I will write more about that later (by the way for those of you who haven't seen us in a while it isn't our new addition). I hope you all have a great rest of the week and check back for an update later.

Stars

Stars

Great song and meaning from one of my favorite bands

Getting Settled

Bethany and I are settling into a new time in our lives. We've finally unpacked. (ok, so maybe we haven't completely unpacked but who has!?) We started work at the church and Appalachian the same day. Bethany works with new customer accounts for her company, which provides material for Christian bookstores across the country and the world. The group has changed ownership to a missions group and is non profit. The money they clear is sent to missions which means her job has some ministerial effects as well. It is keeping her busy but she is really enjoying it so far.

I'm getting settled in to my role as Associate Pastor at First Baptist. The church provides so many opportunities for ministry and I am really excited to join the team. I preached the New Year's Eve service and we had the students of the church over to our house for a party that night. I have more resources to do ministry than I have had before so I'm taking it in slowly and trying to carefully plan the next step (something I'm working on!) Serving full time has helped me see how I have been changed during my time in seminary, especially in areas of leadership. If you haven't received our new address and phone numbers, send me a message and we'll be sure to get it to you. We hope you all are doing well and we'd love to hear how things are going your way when you get a chance.