Vidalia

This Mississippi River is rising! You’re probably asking, “What does that have to do with us way down here in Florida?” Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with us directly, but there’s a body of Christ in Vidalia, LA that I care a great deal about. Vidalia is RIGHT on the Misssissippi River. I’m writing to ask you to pray for the people of Vidalia, LA. I’m asking you to pray for people that we called “brother, sister, and friend” for 7 years of our life.

You see, in 1927, the Mississippi River flooded the little river town of Vidalia, LA with up to 30 feet of water. In 1937, the river reached its high water mark. That year, the river crested (reached its maximum height) at 58.04 feet. In 2008, the river crested at 57.03 feet. I remember that time very well. It was pretty scary as the immense river lapped the lip of the Vidalia Riverfront. A couple of teenagers ran out into the river on a dare. Before they knew what had happened, they were being swept down the raging current out of control. If it were not for the heroics of a couple of men that happened to see the whole thing develop, those two boys would have been picked up somewhere around Baton Rouge (about 90 miles downriver.)

The current prediction is that the river will crest at 64 feet on May 21^st. Yes, you read that right…SIX FEET above the top level it reached in 1937. Recorded history has never seen river levels as high as they will be this year. Thankfully, after the 1927 flood, the Flood Control Act began developing a system of levees to prevent any such disaster ever happening again, but there is great fear in that little river town right now. Should a levee fail (remember the images from Katrina in New Orleans)…should the river reach greater heights…should the water overtop the levee at any point…any of these scenarios would spell disaster for the people of Vidalia.

It was all put into perspective for me today when I saw a picture of the river reaching the Vidalia Riverfront (a featured development of that little town.) In the background of the picture was a steeple. I know that steeple very well because I placed the cross on top of that steeple as we renovated the sanctuary of FBC Vidalia.  Literally, a mere mile from the Mississippi River lies the center of that congregation that means such a great deal to me. They are scared. They are nervous. And, I ask you to pray for them.

Many of our Louisiana friends are packing up their precious belongings and moving to high ground. Photographs, keepsakes, and memories are all moving to flood-proof locations, but houses can’t be moved. So, I’m asking you to pray for the people of Vidalia.

Now, to make this more personal. Put yourself in the place of the people of the Miss-Lou. If you had to evacuate your home, what would you take with you. Let’s just assume that you’d take your family (including pets). Other than that, what is most important to you? What would you want to save if you knew that everything left in your house would potentially be destroyed? Let’s limit it to ONE thing. What physical thing is MOST important to you? What would you not want to do life without?

I hope that we’ll never be in that situation. I know that some of you HAVE been in that situation before. I also hope that the things that are most important in your life promote your faith and your family (two of the most important things that God gives us.) Thank you for praying for Vidalia and the people of that little town. I know that God has a purpose in all things and, even in this, I’m praying that He will receive the glory!!!

I'm not back, but I'm trying...

I'm a terrible blogger, but I was inspired by this post from Jon Acuff. So, I'm taking the challenge to write something once a week for the next 90 days. We'll see from there.

This morning, I introduced a concept that is challenging for church people (me included.) That concept is that we shouldn't give to satisfy our need to share the Gospel. We were challenging our church to reach a $13,000 North American Missions goal this morning, and I told the church that if they weren't willing to "go" then they shouldn't "give." That might just hurt our ability to reach our goal because my experience is that giving is much easier than going. But, Jesus didn't send us out by saying, "Give ye therefore into all creation." No...he said "GO into all creation." So, we're supposed to GO into the world and share the message of Salvation in Jesus Christ. Then that going should be a motivation for us to GIVE to others who are doing the same!

We'll see how the offering went later, but for right now, I'm thinking about my own challenging of "going." Who am I "going" to? Who am I trying to reach for the kingdom of God right now? Equal question...who are YOU trying to reach for the kingdom of God right now? We have the message of salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, and a better life...who are you sharing it with???

Jello Jigglers

If you were in either of our morning worship services today, you heard the illustration about Jonah and the Jello Jigglers. I am linking the blog post from that day. Click HERE to go there.

Wordless Wednesday

Remembering...

On Sunday, August 28th, 2005, First Baptist Church had a normal church service. It would be the last normal church service we would have for a while. As a matter of fact, I would say that our church was NEVER the same.

On that night, one of our members was at the church when a couple came to the door of the gym and knocked seeking shelter for their family from traveling. They were from New Orleans, and Hurricane Katrina was making a beeline for that part of the Louisiana coast. The church member called me at home and said that she was going to allow the couple to spend the night in the gym. I went up and met with the couple and told them that we would be happy for them to rest in our facility, but that we weren't equipped as a shelter. You see, there were several Red Cross shelters in our area and LOTS more north of Vidalia in places like Monroe and Shreveport. We were able to secure a couple of air mattresses for the family and some bed linens. We were happy to do our part to make this evacuee family comfortable for the night. But the job was not over...

While we were getting that family situated, another car pulled into the parking lot. Another family got out and wanted a place to stay. I didn't know if we could find another bed, but they were insistent. I remember what they said (in a pretty strong cajun accent)... "We're so tired, we don't need a bed. If you'll just let us lay on the floor and sleep, we'll be SO appreciative." We couldn't do that, so we called around and found another couple of air mattresses for the couple to sleep. They WERE appreciative! Another couple...another car...another family... Before morning, we were housing over 110 people in our gym. To this day, I don't know where they all came from. I don't know how they found our church. All I know is that it was our privilege to serve these hurting people.

Before long, there were about 25 church members at the gym bringing mattresses (like real ones...not the blow-up kind), extra clothes, food, drinks, supplies.... Basically anything that could be needed. I was amazed as I saw FBCV come together in a way that it never had before to help these people. The next morning, as people began to awake, we realized that they needed something to eat. I think that morning, somebody went and got LOTS of donuts to feed people. That would be the worst meal our "friends" would eat in the time they were with us. By lunchtime, we had a FULL-ON SOUTHERN BAPTIST POTLUCK going on! It was amazing! By the looks on their faces, I think some of those people had NEVER seen food like that. (If there's one thing a Baptist church can do...it's throw an "eatin' meetin'.")

For three weeks, it was our privilege to serve those wonderful people. They thought we were doing them a favor, but it was us who received the blessing. They thought we were serving them, but in many ways, they were serving us.

Some stories from that time...

One couple was made up of an un-believing husband, daughter, and son-in-law--and a believing wife and son. The wife told us later that all the way out of St. Bernard Parish, the husband kept asking his wife, "Where's your God now? Why won't some of these churches open their doors and help us? Where's all of those people that you say are so good?" She said that she had come to a point of thinking some of the same questions and looked up to ask God and that's when she saw our church! We saw that son-in-law and daughter make decisions to follow Christ in the time they were here. We also saw the hard exterior of that husband start to crack as we just continued to serve that family (don't know if he ever made a decision for Jesus, but I know he was closer when he left than when he came). They stayed with us for quite some time. We threw a baby shower for the daughter. We ended up putting them in a house right down the road from the street where they stayed until they could return to their home.

One lady was there with her daughter. You could tell by one look at the lady that she had a rough life. A conversation would only confirm that suspicion. She had dabbled in wicca, voodoo, occult, and just about anything else you could imagine. She also had a rough background with drugs and alcohol. She dressed very inappropriately. Her daughter was really messed up. It was a tough situation. I remember something she said after she started attending church services AND Sunday School. She said, "I've never had a group of people treat me like you all have treated me." You see, some of our ladies adopted this young lady. They took her shopping for some appropriate clothes. They tried to help her get a job. Most of all they just prayed for her. I saw her the other day in Wal-Mart. I would love to tell you that she's still in church. I can't say that (she may be, but not in our church,) but what I can say is that the evil that lurked in her eyes is gone! It's been replaced by love because she felt the power of that love in her life.

I remember our first Wednesday night after our shelter opened. We announced to everyone that we were going to have a service and they were welcome to come. We didn't force anyone to come, but we certainly welcomed them. I was kind of disappointed when we started the service and only one of our evacuees was in the Sanctuary. However, about ten minutes later, the doors opened and another couple filed in and sat on the back row. Several minutes later, the doors opened again and an entire family sat on the back row. Before the end of the service, about 15 of our evacuees had joined us for worship and prayer. Compare that to the last Sunday that we had our shelter. Not only were almost ALL of our evacuees in our church, but they weren't sitting on the back row anymore. No, they were sitting among our church members....the ones that they had learned to call their "family."

It was a sad day when we had to close our shelter. We announced on week two that we would be closing on week three. Several of the local Red Cross shelters had emptied out, so there was room for the people in our shelter. Even our evacuees had dwindled by some of them going home and some of them seeking a more permanent solution. I remember telling them that we would not allow them to go unless they had a place to go to. That meant that we had to work with them individually to find either another shelter or (for many of them) a home. One by one, we would pray for each evacuee and then send them off to what would be their more permanent dwelling.

Some would think that the FBCV shelter was for the evacuees. I would disagree. I think our shelter was for us. I think God allowed us to host those wonderful people in our church to show us how to love again...to show us how to reach out again...to show us how much HE loved US!

You see, we were serving those people because they had no one else to serve them. In the same way, Jesus came to serve us because He knew that there was no other way for us to get to Him. He provided us shelter from the storms of this life. (Not that we don't get rained on...but we always have a refuge.) He provided us sustenance for our souls. He provided us rest for our weary backs. He provided for us what we couldn't provide for ourselves. And when there are those times that the world begins to ask us difficult questions about our God and we begin to ask those questions ourselves...let us look up to heaven and see the answer...it's the Cross! That's the answer! The simple fact that Jesus came to live on this earth to redeem us from ourselves and our sin...that's the answer. And THAT is worth remembering...

Way Back WHENsday

We're moving...

If you haven't heard, the Glenn family is moving to Florida. This is a bittersweet moment for us. We're VERY excited about the new possibilities at Stetson Baptist Church. God is moving there in a mighty way and we're so excited about be a part of that movement. However, this also means that we're going to be leaving some REALLY great people at FBC Vidalia. This church is special. God has done some miraculous things here in the last 7 years. We've seen so many barriers overcome. We've seen people come and make life-changing decisions here that 7 years ago would have never darkened the doors of our church. We've seen God do more than we could have ever asked or imagined. And, this morning, I had to say goodbye to the people of this church. That was not easy! I didn't shed tears this morning, but that does not mean that I haven't shed some tears over this decision. This has been tough. However, following God's will always requires a step of faith, and that's what we're taking.

However, we've been confirmed over and over in this decision. So it's a step of faith with a whole lot of promises to back it up. Stetson Baptist Church has so much promise. I believe that God is going to do a WONDERFUL work in that place. And I, just like here, will be able to stand on the sideline and cheer the work of our GREAT GOD on. What a job!!!!!

Anyway, there's something interesting that's been happening today on mine and Nicki's Facebook page. FBCV members have been sending open letters to the members of Stetson and Stetson members have been sending open letters to the members of FBCV. It's been so cool to see these two churches that had never heard of each other get together. Kind of reminds me of what the CHURCH is all about. It's not about Stetson Baptist Church or First Baptist of Vidalia or any other church for that matter. It's about THE CHURCH. The one that Jesus established. The one that Jesus gave His life for. The one that Jesus loves and will one day return to take home. Let's rejoice in the furthering of THE CHURCH. Let's do everything we can to grow THE CHURCH. Let's support THE CHURCH. Let's love THE CHURCH.

Come to think of it, we're not moving (churches) we're just moving addresses. Such a cool thought!

Wordless Wednesday

Waiting to board our plane

Wordless Wednesday (from July, 2007)