Preparing for 2010

I wanted to write this note last night when I got home from the church's annual business meeting, but a few minutes after I sat down on the coach and I was gone. It was a good kind of exhaustion though, like the tired that you feel after a good workout, both sore and content.

It seems like we got a mountain of work down yesterday. The evening began with my presenting a "state of the church" celebrating our successes and identifying our challenges for 2010. From there we marched through the business of the church which included approving next year's budget, our church's first ever Statement of Faith, adding Mark Staples (a great guy!) to our deacon board, and approving a project to renovate the church's basement.

When I sit down and reflect on what God has done over the past year I can truly say that it was all Him, because we could never have accomplished this much on our own. I can't wait for 2010!

- Aaron

Living like the Church

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about the best way to relate to people outside the church. Within the last couple of decades there have been all kinds of different strategies of how to get people into our churches. On the one hand that's a good thing because hopefully they will hear the Gospel, accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, and grow as a Christian. On the other hand I think we have to ask the question, what sacrifices did we make to get people to come into the church?

Recently I heard a pastor remark (unfortunately I can't remember which pastor) that Christians have had no trouble convincing the world that we can live like them. What we struggle with is showing them that we can live differently.

Christian merchandizing has created a Christian knockoff of almost everything secular. One of the things that I have learned over the years in dieting is that when you eat a no-fat, no-calorie candy bar, not only does it not taste very good, it makes you crave a real candy bar. Sometimes it's just better to learn to live without candy bars.

Food for thought... It may be time for the church to start worrying more about how to live like the church than how to live like the world.

- Aaron

The Faith/Life Balance

The last few weeks have pushed my ability to remain balanced. With the planning for the Community Picnic, the actual picnic, the preparations for the church's annual meeting, thesis deadlines approaching, and my strong desire to spend quality time with the family; I have thought a lot about balance.

Most of these things relate more to time management skills with a bit of overcommittment thrown in. There's another kind of balance that I am seeking in my life, the faith/life balance. By 'life' I mean the way that I live my life.

On the one hand I know for certain that God loves me and that because of my faith in Jesus Christ my sins are forgiven (Eph 2:8-9). On the other hand there is this business of how I am supposed to be living my life (Eph 2:10). How do I keep these two in balance?

To do this I think we need to maintain another balance, a proper understanding of the love of God and His righteous judgement. We need to be careful not to compartmentalize God into the loving God who forgives and the angry God who judges. God's judgement is not an emotional response to His anger about the way we live, it is what He must do, because He is holy. He continues to love while He mourns for those who will not love Him back.

I have found that the better I understand God the more I am drawn to love Him. This causes a chain reaction in the way I live my life as well. Instead of trying to live obediently, out of a sense of obligation, I truly want to live differently out of a place of love. When you acheive this kind of faith/life balance I think you'll find clarity in other areas of your life as well.

- Aaron

What is Church?

Years ago I would have never even thought to ask this question. Somehow the concept of church just made sense to me. I'm sure that this had a lot to do with growing up in a single church from a very early age. Now that I am a pastor I meet people who have come from a wide variety of different church backgrounds and styles. Sometimes the challege is seperating what is biblical from what is traditional.

Others have already tackled this question from a biblical perspective. I'd certainly recommend reading Clowney's Church or Dever's analysis of a healthy church.

I certainly wish the Bible was more clear on certain aspects of church government and administration, but at the same time I have discovered that the essentials really are clear. The church is made up of the body of all Christians who by virtue of their faith are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the head of the church and we are called to gather regularly with some portion of the overall body.

This afternoon I got one of those annoying chain letters in my inbox (no offense to the wonderful person who sent it to me). I think that the thing which annoyed me the most was that the story was so compelling that I read the whole thing. After the author worked her way through a beautiful illustration of faith in action she said "we're [her and her husband] not really church people". This comment had nothing to do with the story she told. Her subtext was, "to be a faithfilled person you don't really need the church".

What a shame that this family has disconnected itself from the rest of the body. It strikes me that God created community as a blessing for us. From the very beginning God there were relationships. God walked with Adam in the cool of the garden. He created Eve so that Adam would not be alone. The very nature of God Himself, the Trinity, embodies community.

What is the church? It's a God-created, God-intended, and (when done well) a God-blessed community of believers growing together in the image of Jesus Christ.

- Aaron

9 Marks Weekender

It's Thursday and I am finally starting to get to the bottom of the mountain of things that built up last week while I was away at the 9 Marks Weekender. It was worth it though. For those of you who are not familiar, 9Marks (www.9marks.org) is a ministry of Capital Hill Baptist Church in downtown DC. The name refers to 9Marks of a healthy church. It has been pointed out that there could be quite a few more marks added to the list, but these are ones that seem to be absent in many of our churches today.

On the top of their list is expository Bible preaching, biblical theology, and the Gospel. Amen.

Small Group Formation

Last night we held an informational meeting about the possibility of starting a small group ministry here at Franconia Baptist Church. The meeting was a great success and ended with a strong affirmation that people who really like to have this ministry at our church. We are looking forward to launching a number of these small groups starting in September.

The purpose for putting these small groups together is to provide a place for discipleship and growth within the context of authentic Christian relationships.

If you would like to be a part of one of these new groups, please send Kati an email (kati@franconiabaptist.org).

- Aaron

Sharing Christ on the 4th of July

Every year for the past 24 years an event called Christ on the Mall has been held on the 4th of July. This year COTM was given two blocks worth of space between the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and the National Gallery of Art. On that prime realestate we hand out free water, share the Gospel, and play live music for some of the nearly 700,000 people waiting all day for the fireworks.

What an unbelievable opportunity this is. This was the first year that our church participated in the event. We brought 11 people from our church as well as a couple of my friends from Indiana. Some of us even had an opportunity to be there when people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The real work begins now in following up with all those who made professions of faith. We are working to make sure that they get connected with a quality church where they live. Please pray that all those who heard the Gospel would be called and that those who accepted would begin to grow.

- Aaron

Welcome Kati and Jessica

God continues to bless the ministries at Franconia Baptist. This time he has blessed our church with two new additions to the church staff.

Kati Love has just begun as the church's new administrative assistant. Kati and her husband, Trevor, are recent graduates of Cedarville University. In the short time that Kati has been working in the office it is apparent that her gifts and talents coupled with a passion for ministry are going to greatly bless Franconia Baptist Church.

Jessica Eaglin has joined the team as our new director of the Child Development Center. The CDC is a Christ-centered preschool program that has been serving our community for more than 20 years. Jessica is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and is currently pursuing an MA in Educational Leadership from George Washington University.

I am completely blown away by the talented and passionate people that God continues to bring to our congregation and now our staff. Maybe our church is the place that God wants to use your gifts and talents?

-Aaron

Be On Guard

My brother and I used to run around the house with anything that even closely resembled a sword yelling “On Guard!” This was the gentlemanly way of telling the other person to pay attention because the battle was about to begin. In the battle that we fight with the devil we never hear those words. Satan never warns us to be prepared before he attacks. The apostle Peter warns us to be on the alert because the devil is like a prowling lion, seeking someone to devour.

It has been very exciting to see how much God has blessed the church these last few months. At the same time this reminded me that we need to be prepared for the battle to come. I can't imagine Satan allowing this ministry to grow unopposed.

New Members, New Leaders, and New Ministries

God is doing good things at Franconia Baptist Church. I wanted to share with everyone that in the last few weeks he has brought new members, new leaders, and new ministries to our church.

To be honest it hasn't been the easiest thing for me to learn patience, to wait on God's timing. It sure is exciting to a sometimes impatient person when the timing is right and things start happening.

Not only is God brining new people to be members of the church, He is identifying biblicall-sound, spiritually-mature people who see the vision of what God can do with this strategically located church. If you go back to the earliest posts in this blog you will find that specific thing as a prayer request. Praise Him for answering prayer!

Some of the new ministries that we are thinking about are: Vacation Bible School, Small Groups, and some Outreach/Evangelism opportunities.

We need your continued prayers for Franconia Baptist Church as we ask God to finish bringing it back to life.

- Aaron

New Series - The Joy of Philippi

It's very exciting for me, as a new pastor to complete my first major sermon series. Last year in late summer I had no idea that we would be closing in on the end of Mark near Easter. This allowed me to finish this series "Walking in the footsteps of our Savior" with the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

We have no worked through an Old Testament narrative, Ruth, and a New Testament narrative, Mark. I would like to begin a detailed study in Romans soon, but thought that it might be nice to have a breather in between the two lengthy studies.

This made me think about a relatively short study in the book of Phillipians. The joy, the confidence, the encouragement that resonates through this short letter is just as helpful to me today as it must have been to the church in Philippi.

We welcome you to come and join us for this time of encouragement.

- Aaron

God blessed our Easter service!

Praise God! He has been exceedingly good to our congregation these last few months. In addition to the fresh new faces at Franconia we were blessed by an amazing Easter Service.

This year we decided to have a joint service with the Franconia Korean Baptist Church. They supplied an excellent music program directed by Pastor Hong Kim, Clarient US Army Band Retired.

Our prayers were answered when we had to start directing people to the balcony to accomodate the overflow. When I went up for the offeratory prayer I noticed that the deacons had moved all the couches from the entry way into the back of the sancturary to create one more set of pews. In fact, I didn't find out until half way through the service that the deacons were so busy seating people that they forgot to take the offering. Everyone got a big laugh out of that.

After the service FKBC hosted a wonderful Easter buffet. The fellowship between the two congregations is developing in ways that I have not seen before.

At the beginning of the service I joked with everyone that it would be great if they could all come back next week. I wasn't really kidding. :)

Baptisms Rock!

This Sunday I had the privilege of performing my first two baptisms. It was great! I have been getting to know this couple for several months now. They have been incredibly patient with me. Not only are they the first two people that I have baptized; they are also going to be my first wedding in June.

Let me tell you a little bit about the significance of these baptisms for our church. Not that I doubted it, but God is at work. I met with several of the leaders on Saturday to figure out what we were doing. What I discovered was that no one could exactly remember the last time that our church baptized anyone.

Not only had everyone forgotten the date of the last baptism, they had also forgotten how to operate the baptistery. One of the trustees had to run down to Home Depot and get a piece of rubber that could be cut to the correct size to prevent the water from draining faster than filling. On Sunday morning when we started to fill the baptistery we only got about 8 inches of water before the hot water tank ran out. The other 4 feet was bone chillingly cold. I felt terrible for our engaged couple. We all pasted smiles on as the shock of ice water numbed our minds.

The service ended with this couple and another joining the church. If you cry at weddings you should have been with us on Sunday. I saw at least five longtime members of our congregations wiping their eyes by the end of the service. They deserve it. They deserve the opportunity to see God begin to use Franconia Baptist for His glory again.

- Aaron

Change is Here, Now

This week I had the opportunity to make my way down to the National Mall for the 56th presidential inauguration. One of the principle reasons that I went was because we live in a country that is experiencing radical change and not the kind that came up in the campaign speeches. Observing the skeptical and sometimes angry way that many of the 2 million people responded to the invocation prayer made me very sad. Talking about God in America is quickly becoming the one acceptable intolerance.

I believe that Christians should become students of culture in order to effectively communicate the Gospel . What I observed on Tuesday was that American culture has dramatically shifted. We must also be willing to change for the sake of the Gospel.

Not once, but twice

Not once, but twice – This week our study of Matthew has brought us to chapter 11 where we celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus as He enters Jerusalem humbly on the back of a young donkey. This scene is depicted 500 years before the birth of Jesus in Zechariah 9:9. When you read this verse please continue to the end of the chapter. You will notice that the remaining verses describe what is still to come, the day when the people of God will sparkle like Jewels in a crown. Jesus comes as a savior not once, but twice.

The Church

The Church – This week I had the opportunity to fly back to Dallas and take one last theology class. Appropriately the class was all about the doctrines of the Church. The definition that we settled on was the “New Covenant community of the Spirit”. We are a people under a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31). The Father normatively relates to His people within the context of a community. The Church was inaugurated on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell all believers as a fore taste of what is yet to come.

- Aaron