Tucker and Talan
Tucker and his buddy Talan from church ran in a fundraising run (Boosterthon) for their elementary school. They look like they had a really good time.
Brian “BJ” Jennings, Example of Good Samaritan
I remember when I first met BJ. He was volunteering in the student ministry at Crestmont Baptist Church in Burleson, TX while I was attending Southwestern Seminary. Yes, that Burleson, home of Reba McIntire (or owned a huge mansion up on the hill anyway–or so I understand that to be the case. You know how rumors get started, right?), and American Idol’s first ever winner, Kelly Clarkson. Kelly was a high school student at the time and was actually at the event that I first met Brian–a DiscipleNow that my buddy, Rick Murray and I did together with his church, Crestmont and my church, Cedar Ridge Baptist Church (right down the road from Alsbury Baptist Church where BJ was on staff.)
I got a text last night from my buddy last night that he had just attended BJs funeral. It had been almost 11 years since Rick had been in Burleson. After Rick left Crestmont to go work for Student Life Camps, BJ became the student pastor at Crestmont. I graduated from Southwestern and saw him at a conference when he was at Crestmont. I honestly had lost track of BJ over the years. I thought that he might be serving in another church, but not necessarily a church right around the corner from Crestmont. But honestly, that makes a lot of sense–he was a Burleson boy ministering to Burleson kids. Pretty cool, really.
I think that you can see what kind of leader, believer, husband, and father BJ was from just reading the articles about the accident he was involved in on Father’s Day night. You can also see it in his son, Evan, at a press conference that was held at Alsbury Baptist Church where BJ was on staff. Amazing young man! Pray for Evan.
BJ had stopped late at night on a two lane road to help a lady with a flat tire. He was headed home from a graduation party for his son earlier that evening. He was hit and killed while being a Good Samaritan. That is what I remembered of BJ, a good samaritan. A great guy that would do most anything for anyone that needed help. He will be missed terribly in the Burleson community and especially with the Alsbury Baptist Church youth group and his dear family.
Please be in prayer for the Jennings family and friends there in Burleson, TX as well as Alsbury Baptist Church and the other churches in the area that were very well connected with each other “contending as one man” for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/06/19/4948320_son-of-minister-killed-on-fathers.html
http://www.wfaa.com/news/At-least-four-people-killed-in-crash-near-Rendon-211722701.html
KC Church Responds to Murders
Talk about a church and a pastor that is living out the gospel in its context! Pastor John Mark Clifton and the Wornall Road Baptist Church in Kansas City are having a “Longest Night” event to pray for the over 100 homicides in Kansas City this year. They are gathering to pray for the victims and their families as well as peace over their city. Check out their story of a church almost at death just 5 short years ago that has been reborn and is thriving, and making a huge impact in their community. They are a great motivation for me as I lead our church through similar change. Check them out on their website.
NEEWOLLAH 2011
Here is a slideshow of pictures from last night’s outreach party we had at church called NEEWOLLAH. I am so thankful for a great group of volunteers who love Jesus and love this community. You will get a chance to see some of the great people who make up this great community in the Glades.
BTW, the camera adds 40 pounds! Actually, I need to lay off the Southern food and sweet tea! Also, there are several of Taylor’s football teammates in the pictures wearing their red Bears jerseys. There is also a sighting of Keith Stone as well. Enjoy!
[tentblogger-vimeo 31410334]
Joplin Extreme Makeover
Really excited to see the Extreme Makeover that is happening in Joplin, MO with SEVEN houses built in 7 days! The project manager is a friend and former classmate of mine, Sam Clifton. We went to the same church together and were in high school band together as well. He is also the mayor of Nixa, MO.
Sam has been building homes for many years now and this is actually his second build with Extreme Home Makeover. What a good guy and what a great cause! Here are some video interviews from the Springfield ABC affiliate KSPR. Can’t wait to see the episode when it comes out this year!
6:00 pm
Well, it is well after 6:00 p.m. in most all time zones and Judgment Day has seemed to have come and gone with much less hoopla than the lead-up to the actual hour. It really is extremely sad to see people who will so quickly, blindly follow a false prophet such as Mr. Camper. It really does, however, make me desire to study and know better the Bible I read so as to “be ready to give an answer for the hope I have.” (1 Peter 3:15)
There is a really good post from Scot McKnight from Jesus Creed about the coming and going of 6 p.m. I really appreciate men like Dr. McKnight that have given their lives to the accurate study and teaching of God’s Word.
You also need to check out my friend, John Hill’s comments on this day…particularly the etymology of the word “Rapture.” Good stuff.
May we all live like tomorrow is “the Day”–without need for predictions…just as Jesus taught us.
Have a blessed Lord’s Day!
Undercover Boss – United Van Lines
I absolutely LOVE Undercover Boss. It is really cool to see how great leaders are able to assess whether the vision and values of the organization are working or not out there in the workforce. There are some really smart leaders out there making things happen.
Rich McClure is longtime friend of our family. He is the CEO of United Van Lines based out of St. Louis. His sister is a dear friend and hero of mine. His family grew up at my home church First Baptist Church, Springfield, MO. Before going to United, he was Chief of Staff for former Governor of Missouri, John Ashcroft and worked in the public service sector in both Missouri and Illinois state governments. He was a student at Missouri State University (Go Bears!) when my father was a political science and public administration professor there. (He couldn’t remember if he had Rich in class or not as he taught a lot of those huge lecture sections that his colleagues didn’t like to teach.) Link to the full episode and bonus videos after the break! Read more
Soundtrack
Student Weekend at FBC Oronogo–Saturday Night I preached on the Disciple’s Identity: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” out of Colossians 1:27. The students had been out all day serving at Ronald McDonald House and Watered Gardens; which is really cool to see them getting out into their community to serve. Again, the worship time was really sweet.
I am reminded when I am at these kind of worship experiences of the “soundtrack” of our lives. Read more
March Madness!
I absolutely love March Madness and this time of year! Since moving into the “Stone Plex,” we don’t have good television reception at all. We get ABC, sometimes…awesome! So, we have had to resort to other means of watching games. If you don’t have cable or satellite, check out what we have been doing–NCAA’s March Madness On Demand. It is pretty cool…and the best thing it is free! Read more
C3 Conference 2011
I attended the C3 Conference at Fellowship Church in Grapevine way back in ’06 or ’07 (the year the conference packet was a big question mark.) I was profoundly impacted by all of the speakers, but specifically Andy Stanley’s talk. I remember he talked about having the courage to change things in your church, even if it would be really, really difficult.
I had the opportunity to attend the conference this year with a few people from Calvary Baptist Church. They have been attending the conference for many years as well. I didn’t know what, but I knew God was going to speak to me through this opportunity. Even though I am kind of “in between ministry assignments” right now, it was really great to go and “dream again.”
This years theme was “EXC3ED: Go Beyond What is Allowed.” Here is a Finale video that will give you a taste of the conference.
C3 2011 Finale from Fellowship Church on Vimeo.
I will post later some of the nuggets of truth I took away from this year’s conference. I am very thankful for the opportunity to go and it was a great blessing! I really missed Jenny and the boys, but it was worth it to hear from the Lord in a powerful way!
Plus, we got to see some old friends from our church I served in while attending seminary; which was awesome! Mike and Kris Zumwalt were some youth workers. Jerrell and Brenda Fiske were youth workers as well and Brenda was the church secretary. And Ruby Tucker was Jenny’s prayer partner and our Tucker’s namesake. It was awesome to see them and catch up with all God is doing in their lives!
