Coldest Baptism Ever

Congratulations to Mike and Kimberly H. on the occasion of their baptisms, Tuesday evening, January 29, 2008.

From Jared's personal blog:

We had a baptism last night that may as well have been in the 20º temperatures outside. Mike and Kimberly H. were baptized last evening but the baptistery heater failed to work properly. The heater had been on all day but failed to circulate any warm water so we got into very frigid water.

The cold water in a old, cold church building still shouldn't have been any worse than maybe 50º but it felt so much worse. It was breathtaking… in a bad way. In fifteen years or more of baptisms, indoors and out, I can't remember one more shocking than that.

After the ceremony and a little tinkering from Leonard H, the heater appeared to work fine, shooting warm water into the baptistery… too late to do us any good. We won't forget that one anytime soon!

"Jars of Clay"

“I can’t do this…It’s not my thing…You don’t really want ME, do you?…I’m not that guy…Have you seen my track record?...You know what I’ve done…You can do better than me…I don’t deserve this…Find somebody else.”

Have you ever felt like this? You come to church and hear the preacher calling you to do something…maybe even something great. You even feel a burning, like maybe God really is calling you to be this…world-changer. But immediately doubt creeps in. You know yourself; you know what you’re like, who you are and what you’ve done, and your first instinct is to dismiss the call altogether. How could God use you? Filthy, weak, broken little you?

You realize, don’t you, that this is Saul’s story? The great man we now call the Apostle Paul, who traveled the world planting churches and reaching people for Christ, who spoke before emperors and preached the gospel to millions was once an overzealous, violent man who persecuted the Church of Jesus Christ, even putting Christians to death.

Read Acts 22:1-16.
Even though Paul once stood in direct opposition of God, He was called for a special task.

Read 1Timothy 1:12-17.
How did Paul view himself? Do you ever think of Paul as the “worst of sinners?” What things are you holding on to? Is something keeping you from doing what God is calling you to do? Pray that God would reveal these things and remove them.

Read 2 Corinthians 4:7.
Paul recognized that God’s mercy was shown to him as an example. If God could forgive Saul and use him, then he could use anyone, no matter how broken and blemished. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, how many times you’ve strayed or ignored or turned away from God. He wants to love you. He wants to use you. He’s calling you now…will you follow?

Take time to pray. Pray for God’s healing, pray for His forgiveness, and pray that he would give you the strength and courage to follow His call, no matter where it takes you.

Bible Reading Group

The Bible Reading Group is up and going, working through Proverbs at a chapter per day. Both classes, Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, had 8 to 10 people each with no overlap this first week. By word of mouth, I would guess there are maybe twice as many people reading along but not attending the discussion groups.

If the classes go well, we may extend the Reading Group with new daily reading schedules covering different books of the Bible.

Unspoken Prayer Requests

I had this question posed to me recently: Why do we pass along unspoken prayer requests?

That's an excellent question. I think the question reveals two purposes for asking for prayer requests and announcing them publicly in the first place. First, to share information, bearing burdens together as a Christian community. Second, to prove our confidence in God's ability to answer prayer.

We Christians share some details about our prayer requests, not to gossip, but to share our lives together. Various individuals in the Body are equipped to provide comfort or encouragement in some situations and this kind of ministry can only happen with a certain amount of transparency.

But what about the "unspoken," or more properly, the unrevealed, vague, or confidential prayer requests? Without any details the fellow believers are left wondering what they're praying for, but God certainly knows. In this circumstance the believer prays depending on God's complete knowledge to fill in the gaps. I often pray in very generic terms: that God would bring wisdom and/or comfort to whomever needs it. And that Christians would be prompted by the Holy Spirit to minister where they're needed, even if no one else knows where that may be.

I also use "unspoken" prayer requests when the issue certainly needs prayer but is so explicit or salacious that public mention would be imprudent.

As such, the "unspoken" prayer request can be a great act of faith, that God can provide the help needed without depending on human determination. But the unspoken prayer request can also be misused, held up as a wall of dysfunction to keep out fellow believers and actually prevent help. It cuts both ways.