Preaching Jesus

One of the blessings of living in Searcy, AR the past 4 years was the opportunity to spend time with Jim Woodroof. For those of you who might not know Jim, he preached in Searcy during the 70s, including the 4 years I was at Harding. He left about 1980, but now is semi-retired there.

I suspect that everyone who tries to characterize Jim would say something similar; his life was and is absolutely wrapped up in Jesus. I have never known anyone whom I perceived to live more closely in the presence of Jesus on a daily basis. And the really good news for those of us who listened to him every week is that his preaching was an overflow of his life. Jim preached Jesus when few within Churches of Christ did.

Occasionally over the past 4 years I would have breakfast with Jim. I don't know if he had any idea how meaningful and enriching those times were for me. We always talked about Jesus, but I remember one conversation in particular. We were discussing some of the challenges of the preaching ministry. As we walked out of the Main Stree Cafe, he looked me in the eye and said, "You just preach Jesus and everything will work out."

To this day, whenever anyone asks me about people who have influenced my life and ministry, Jim is one of the names at the top of that list. I received from him a conviction that the very best I can do from the pulpit is to help people see Jesus. That is one of the foundational principles of what I think preaching ought to do, to help people come face-to-face with Jesus.

All of which makes me even more amazed--frustrated, really--at how little I am doing that these days. Part of it is due to the fact that I am in a new ministry, having moved to Georgetown this past August. Hopefully what we have focused on has been from God--at least from my perspective it has been--and I hope it is making a difference. Looking back over these first few months, though, I am surprised and a little disappointed at the choices I have made about what this church needs to hear from its preacher. I wonder what would have happened if on week 1 I had said something like, "There are a lot of important things I need to tell you about, but none is more important than Jesus, so we're going to spend the first few months just looking at him."

Well, that time is coming soon. There are a few more sermons related to specific ministries or needs, then I am going to what I should have done in the first place, I'm going to preach on Jesus. I can't wait.

Thanks, Jim, for helping me and a lot of other people "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

BTW: In the "Recommended Links" section of this blog, there is a link to a website where you can listen to many of Jim's sermons. If you're not familiar with Jim, for starters I recommend you scroll about half way down and listen to the sermons from "The Four Realities" series.

Techno challenge revisited

In the spirit of my last post, here's another reason for me to like Bobby Bowden, the head football coach at Florida State University.

One of the gifts players and coaches in this years Champs Sports Bowl received was a $400 Best Buy gift card. A few days before the game, the FSU team went to enjoy their shopping spree. When reporters later asked Bowden what he bought with his $400, he said that he got his wife a Christmas gift.

"What did you get her?" they asked.

Bowden replied, "One of those things you use to heat food."

Uh, that would be a "microwave," Coach.

Still Techno challenged

Having admitted that I am technologically challenged, yesterday was quite an adventure. The contract was up on our family cell phones, plus we wanted to switch to local numbers, so the day after Christmas Belinda, Jeff and I were the first customers into the AT&T store. My game plan was simple: Go for it. It was time to expand my horizons, to go from a 2 year old basic phone to some level of a smart phone; maybe not a Rhodes Scholar, but at least one that might make the dean's list. When we left 2 hours later, I was hoping my phone could dunk a basketball, because it definitely isn't going to go far with its smarts. In fact, it isn't all that different from what I went in with, except for a few updated features.

When it came time to make a two year commitment, I just couldn't get excited about paying all of that money for features I felt were unnecessary. I'm usually not far from a computer for more than a couple of hours, so the ability to access the internet or to receive e-mail didn't impress me. I see text messaging as an interruption. Honestly, do we need to be that accessible? (I was in a Body Pump class last year when a high school girl was texting between each exercise set. Was it really that urgent for her to know that Heather heard that Kevin might ask Julie out unless Britney breaks up with David?) I already have a 4 year old mp3 player with a whole 1 mb of memory. All of the really good songs ever recorded easily fit on that.

The only feature I was interested in was the ability to sync my calendar with my phone. But why pay $200+ for a phone, plus an extra $20/month added to my plan just for that? Besides, they're making sticky notes in some really cool colors these days. So Belinda and I got cheap, "buy 1 get 1 free" phones that make blurry photos and can be used for texting, if you don't mind spending 5 minutes to write a one-line message. But they do make phone calls, so I'm happy.

However, just to show that I do intend to stretch myself technologically on this blog, as promised, I will post the first photo taken by my new phone.



Now where are those John Denver albums?

My Turn to Write

It seems appropriate that in my first blog I give something of a rationale for why I'm undertaking this little project. After all, to offer something in such a public forum ought to be done for a reason. One ought to have a cause to promote, or at least an axe to grind. Wish I could come up with one. I just like to write. I'm not much of a talker, which probably seems ironic given that I'm a preacher, but I do like to write. It's like talking, but with backspace and delete buttons. (Don't you wish you had those in some conversations!)

I also enjoy reading blogs, but it seems that the authors of several of those that I have regularly read in the past have come down with bloggers cramp. I understand that and anticipate experiencing that malady too--we only have so much we can say--but hopefully not for at least a week or two. So, I guess it's my turn to take up the pen, or in this case, bang on the keyboard.

Although I have written blogs in the past, they were short-term and related to a couple of ministry emphases. This one will be free-flowing, but hopefully not too rambling. Here's what those of you who care to check in from time-to-time might expect:

-I'm sure I'll talk about God some, since he is at the center of my universe. I may also talk about Christianity, but not religion; not a fan of the latter.
-Will likely occasionally tell you about life in central Texas. But don't worry, I'm too new here to be arrogant.
-I'll try to be brief. Not a fan of long blogs either. My attention span isn't that long. My writing approach is the same as preaching, "Always leave them wanting more."
-I'm going to try to stretch myself technologically. You know, really out there things like put some pictures on, which will require major study for me. I feel I'm in need of an upgrade, so if I can find a way to get some of my instamatics on here...

Feel free to comment (especially if you agree with me), or just to stay in the background (especially if you disagree). I do like the quote from Ps. 84 in the description above, and I guess that makes a good theme for what I envision with all of this. We're on a pilgrimage. I welcome your company and hope that we can enjoy the journey together.