Timothy's Thoughts

How the Organic Church People See Themselves I ’ll admit it; I don’t keep up with all the latest fads. When the organic church came up in a conversation with my pastor the other day, I was pretty clueless and then showed my ignorance by opening my mouth. So, I went looking to see what I could find out about this thing called, the organic church . The first thing I came to realize was that the words in the name have little meaning unless you understand how the people using it are defining the terms. As a friend pointed out, to be organic, something has to contain carbon compounds. That’s probably not what is intended by the use of the term. Neither can we use the etymology of the word church . The word originates from a word used to refer to a place of worship. (In other words, a “church” is the building, not the people.) In looking for a definition I found the statement, “an Organic Church is born out of spiritual life, not constructed by human institutions and held together by religi...

P icture this scene: a group of people are gathered in a room. Someone, the president, gets up and calls the meeting to order. A few reports are given. Some miscellaneous business is discussed. Then the people begin getting up and giving ten-minute speeches on various topics. What organization is that? If you are in the business world, you might say, “That sounds like Toastmasters.” And in fact it does sound like that well respected organization in which people learn leadership and speaking skills by doing. But the scene I described comes from a monthly youth meeting I attended when I was a teenager. The churches of the Cane Creek Baptist Association held these meetings (still do) and called it the Youth in the Harvest. At one point or another, I held most of the jobs within the Youth in the Harvest. I had to give “a part.” I was elected treasurer. I led the singing. I was vice-president. I was president. And not once did I think, “I hope they elect me.” Not once did I think, “I hope o...

I n our Wednesday evening services, our church is discussing the book, I Am a Church Member . Our pastor asked how we should plug in a new church member to a place of service. There were several answers, but I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the answer, “They can plug themselves in.” That is most certainly true. There are some people who join a church and whether the existing membership knows how to use them or not, it won’t be long before they’ll be busy doing something. In some cases, they end up doing things the existing church members wouldn’t have thought of. This is the case with the lady who made the observation. Since the time they joined the church, she and her husband have been asked to serve in various ways, (and they have done so willingly) but they ministry they are most known for is one that they were the first to see the need for. As a church member, I feel that I have a responsibility to “plug myself in.” Whether someone asks me to do something or not, I have a resp...

A few years ago, in a Sunday school class I was teaching, one of the students asked the question, “Who is my enemy?” At the time, he and I came to the conclusion that we really didn’t have anyone we could call our enemy. Oh, there were people who didn’t get along with us as well as they should’ve, but they weren’t our enemies. It’s a lot easier to follow Matthew 5:44 when you don’t have any enemies: …love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you… After the week we’ve had, that verse has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I put a few comments out there in the social media channels concerning gay marriage and abortion, both of which were heated topics this week. It was like holding a lightning rod over your head in a storm. And yet, the comments directed at me were tame compared to what I heard some other people had to put up with. One blogger mentioned that he had received a threat via e-m...

D ear friends, As you know, I am single, but what you may not realize is that I’m content with that (most of the time). Don’t get me wrong; I have no desire to remain single my whole life, so I appreciate your questions. "Are you dating anyone?" "There’s this girl I met the other day. Would you like her number?" "Have you tried these online dating services?" They show you care, even though I sometimes think they are the most hurtful things you could ask. So let me explain my situation. I have as much of a desire to share my life with someone as anyone, but I am more convinced than ever that I should be highly selective in who I date. Dating individuals that I know I would never marry is just a distraction from the things that are really important to me. Relationships take a lot of time, and since I believe I am serving the Lord in the way he wants me to serve him, I want to be a good steward of the twenty-four hours a day he has given me. I ask that you al...

W hat is the BMA? It took me by surprise when a church member asked me that question. But it also reminded me that we all come from different backgrounds. I have been involved with the BMA since before I remember. My love for the BMA is part of what led me to our church, but isn’t the experience of all of our church members. For many, they developed a love for our church first. The association was not a priority for them and for that reason they may still have only a passing awareness of what the BMA is. Because of my great appreciation for the BMA, I would feel remiss if I didn’t try to increase their knowledge. The BMA is an Association of Churches The Baptist Missionary Association (BMA) is an association made up of Missionary Baptist churches that are conservative in doctrine. To fully appreciate the importance of the BMA, we must first appreciate the need of churches to partner together in associations. The primary reason for the BMA is multiply the ability of the local church to...

O ur lesson on Sunday included an illustration. A professor put rocks into a jar until they reached the top. He asked the class, “is it full?” Then he poured sand into the jar, shaking it so it would fall between the rocks. “Is it full?” He then poured water over the sand. I’ve heard this illustration used by several preachers. Usually, they are saying to put God first, then add the other things in life. On Sunday, it was used to say that putting worldly things in your life can limit the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But today I saw a similar illustration on Facebook. A professor filled a jar with golf balls, then pebbles, then sand, and finally beer. He used it in much the same way pastors do, but when a student asked about the beer, he told the student that it was because there is always room to drink a couple of beers with friends. That’s the problem with object lessons. They give the appearance of proving our point, but two people can use the same object lesson to say ...