A Vision for the Church

            In recent days and decades many churches have clamored for warm bodies to fill pews and fill the church coffers by “buying” into the “Consumer Mentality of Church,” but at what cost.

            Large Churches (the term mega-church is relative) have the means, resources and manpower many times over to create a program driven church, meeting every age group's wants and desires.  Books have been written by convention leaders expounding on the greatness of these programs in bringing in and bringing up numbers.  Leaders create research groups and sales teams to study and package what large churches are doing and then sell the concepts to smaller churches who seem to be plateauing or declining.  “If you will just do this, then God will bless you and everything will be okay.”

            But, not everything is okay. When you look deeper into the issue, are we meeting the people’s needs or are we meeting the people’s wants?  What people need isn’t always what they want.

            The Church since its inception at Pentecost thrived and grew without a “40 days to a better you” or “12 steps to a deeper meaning of life” program.  It simply did church, simply.  The Preaching of the Word was paramount, Discipleship was all consuming and Evangelism was a part of every ones daily activity.  It was not enough to do church, it was everything to be the Church.  This isn't to say everyone matured into "super-Christians,"  always growing and always obedient to the Word, all Believers in all times have struggled with complacency and the dangers of compromise.  

            The Church has been given a Great Commandment, to love God and to Love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40) and a Great Commission, to worship Jesus and as we are living life in this world we are to make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Holy Trinity and to teach them all that we have been commanded (Matthew 28: 16-20).  This is what God has commanded, if we do not do these things we have no right as a church to exist.  To ignore this is to be disobedient to our God and partial obedience is still disobedience.

            Church has become far too complicated and we have lost our Love for Christ and our love for one another.  We have segregated ourselves from one another in the common time of worship by creating artificial divisions within our church by creating programs that separate us from one another.  A Professor of mine in Seminary once explained the tragedy of breaking up our Worship of God by segregating our Youth from our adults.  The Youth bring fire with their enthusiasm and boldness. Our Maturing believers in Age bring stability and groundedness in faith.  One without the other brings tragedy to the Body of Christ.  Without the Stability of faith of the older congregation our Youth will burn out quickly and leave.  Without the fire of the youth the older will simply smolder out and grow cold.  We need both to thrive as a body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.    

 

            I believe a vision for the Church is one where the body on the Lord’s Day celebrates together in common worship.  Sunday Mornings the Children remain with their parents until the last special song is sung, then they are released to Children’ Church.  The Children will learn reverence for a Holy God and how to Worship Him in the presence of God’s People.  The Youth should be involved where ever possible within the Worship service to assure them the Church is as much theirs as anyone else’s.  Sunday evening Worship, is to be family time; parents with their children and youth and Mentors alongside the Mentored, a Common body in Worship together.  Sunday is to be a day of Family Worship and rest. 

            Wednesday Night services would be open for Children and Youth Bible studies.  Adults not serving the children or youth will be in prayer and preaching service.

            I believe that people can be saved and make commitments to the Lord regarding Baptism and Church Membership just as much on Sunday and Wednesday evening as Sunday Morning.   I have an invitation to respond to God’s Message at all three services.

            I believe every Church Member should have one Primary Ministry that their greatest efforts are poured into because they know this is what God has assigned for them.  They should have a Secondary Ministry in which they step into and/or assist someone else’s Primary Ministry when needed and a Third Ministry could be to help set up, take down or clean up with others when needed.   Statistically 20% of the people in Church are doing 80% of the work done in the Church.  I believe this is being far too generous and more than likely it is closer to a 10% of people to a 90% work ratio in many Churches.  This often leads to burn out and members quitting all their ministries and fading away right out the back door of the Church in frustration.  We must ask ourselves is it better to do a few things well and for the glory of God or do a whole lot and accomplish little. What is more valuable in the economy of God? 

I believe in these Last Days we need more Worship, more Fellowship, and more Church.

"What Do You Believe?"

This is a pretty broad question, but often times when people ask this question they are focused on one of several key issues affecting our churches today.  So,  in no prioritized order I give you my Statements of Belief. 

This list is by no means comprehensive of what I believe, but it touches on key points to establish where I stand on issues affecting Southern Baptist Life today.

Statements of Belief

Personal Mission Statement and Philosophy of Ministry

 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

As a Pastor my role is to minister to the ministers of the body of Christ; seeking their full maturity in Christ Jesus; that they may learn to love their God with all their heart, soul, and mind; that they may fulfill their mission to make disciples of a lost and dying World in need of a Savior; that they too may grow a disciple to full maturity.

I believe the best way to accomplish this is through the expositional preaching of the full counsel of God’s Word. Expositional preaching is the preaching of a complete book of the Bible from beginning to end.  This type of preaching forces the pastor to preach topics that often make both the pastor and congregation uncomfortable due to the subject matter but necessary for personal growth in the Lord.  Expository preaching protects the congregation from missing the life transforming Word of God and protects the pastor from the accusation that he chose a topic to personally attack members of the congregation.

The Great Commandment in Matthew 22:36-40 tells us what is most important and who we are to love, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” 

 The Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20 tells us how we can fulfill that love, “they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.  And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

We show our love to God through our Worship and our obedience to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a World in need of a Savior. We show our love to our neighbor by preaching and teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

 

Philosophy of the Family in Ministry

I have been married to my wife Tracy since 1993, she is a woman who openly confesses that she loves her God more than she loves her husband and because she does she can love her husband better.  We have two beautiful blessings from the Lord, my son Elias born 2002 and my daughter Erin born in 2005. Our ministry is a family ministry and I have the full support of my wife as we seek the Lord’s will together. 

As a minister of God’s Word I am obligated by God to care for my family, scripturally if I am found lacking as a husband and as a father I am unqualified to serve as a pastor of God’s Church.  As such, my Scriptural priorities are first my God, second my family and third my service to God’s Church.  Keeping these biblical priorities in their order allows me to serve the Lord’s church even better with full confidence in the blessing of the Lord and a clear conscience before God.   

Personal Statements of Belief

I affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a confession of statements of faith regarding Biblical doctrines of truth found in Scriptures.

 

I am in full support of the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention.  I believe the Cooperative Program is the great envy of all other denominations and is the best program for supporting Southern Baptist Agencies; it has served the SBC and State Conventions well since its inception.  It has been preparing young men and women for ministry and for reaching a lost and dying world for Christ both overseas (IMB) and at Home (NAMB), I believe any plan that reduces the Cooperative Program to one program among many shall eventually reduce the effectiveness of the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole.  

 

I believe the Bible is the inerrant (free from error) and infallible (incapable of error) Word of God. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the only safe and infallible revelation of God to man.  Thus, it is the infallible rule for a believer’s life and practice.  The authority of the Bible is based in that it is “inspired (God-breathed) by God,” because its authority is God.  It is necessary for knowing the Good News of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:17), for maintaining spiritual life (Deuteronomy 32:46-47) and for knowing God’s will (Romans 12:2).  It is sufficient for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4), it will guide you through life’s difficult choices and draw you to God’s purpose and expectations for you.  By learning who God is, His character, and expectations we are able (with the help of the Holy Spirit) to become more like Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).  We as God’s people are called not only to be hearers of His Word but doers of the word (James 1:22-25) for blessed are those who hear and observe it (Luke 11:28).  The Bible needs neither our opinion nor our vote only our obedience.  God’s Word is not to be voted on for approval by the Church.

           

The Church exists to Glorify God, Edify the Body of Christ, and Evangelize the Lost.  If we are unwilling to fulfill this call we lose the right to exist as a body.

Any vision for God’s church, whether personal or corporate, must be guided by the fulfillment of the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:37-40; 

³⁷ And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' ³⁸ "This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' ⁴⁰ "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

And the fulfillment of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20;

¹⁸ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

God’s vision is for His people to love Him and to love those for whom He died.  We accomplish this only through fulfilling the mission for which we remain in a sin-sick world, to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  If we do not fulfill that for which we have been called what right do we have to exist as a church of the Living God or as individual servants of the Most High God.

           

I am not a Calvinist. I do not believe God predestines some people to a right relationship with God against their will and I do not believe God predestines the rest to hell with no hope of ever an opportunity to repent and believe in the Gospel.  God is no respecter of persons and to believe such is to call God a liar. 

God does not predestine who comes to Him, but how one may come to Him.  “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will (Ephesians 1:4-5).”

I can break bread in fellowship and work together for the common good of the Kingdom’s work with my brothers and sisters in Christ who are Calvinist, but I would draw the line at their teaching within the confines of the Church I am accountable to God for.  I do not condone nor do I allow Calvinistic distinctives to be taught within the Church I Pastor

As a Bible Believing Baptist I neither adhere to the Calvinist nor the Arminian argument of God’s sovereignty vs. man’s freewill.  The argument is a fight within reformed denominations and should hold no place in Biblical beliefs of the Christian faith.  God is Sovereign and man is free to either accept or reject the Grace of God through Jesus Christ, it is not an either/or argument but a both/and truth.

I believe in the eternal life of those who place their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Once saved, always saved.”  This is not a license to sin, but the freedom to live and serve God. 

Regarding Eschatology (Study of “Last Things” in the Book of Revelation) I believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church (God’s removal of His people prior to the Tribulation) and the pre-millennial reign of Christ Jesus (a literal 1,000 year reign of Jesus on earth).  I believe the Jewish people still have a role to play in God’s redemptive history, but they too must be saved by Grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

I believe in the literal six 24 hour days Creation by God as is clearly expressed in the Scriptures.

 
The Church is Christ Ruled, Congregationally Governed, Deacon Served, and Pastor Lead.


Priorities in Life and Ministry;  My God, My Family, and My Ministry in Church.  Specifically in that order.

So if you were asked, "What do you Believe?"  What would you say? 

Be ready, we live in a world that is looking for answers.  It may not like the answers, so know why you believe what you believe and what you base your answers upon.

 

 

Blessings,

Pastor Eric

Galatians 2:20