How is your budget…

… your time budget, that is. How well have you invested your time? Today, I will begin a short series of posts on a wise use of time.

So how much time do you have? Have you stopped to think about that recently? One important reality is, whether you are rich or poor, you have exactly the same number of minutes in a day. Celebrities have no more time than soccer moms.

It all boils down to how much time you have left. In Psalm 90, Moses asks God to “teach us to number our days” (v.12) and “establish the work of our hands” (v.17).

So how have you used your time this week. All said, you have 168 hours to invest this week. How do you think it divides?

For those who want to know more on “Fight Clubs”

Here’s an interview that Doug Wolter at Life2gether blog did with Jonathan Dodson. Jonathan recently spoke at Lead 09.

It’s a privilege to welcome my friend Jonathan Dodson to the blog. I met Jonathan at Bethlehem Baptist Church about 10 years ago. Both of us were newly married at the time and met regularly for encouragement and accountability. A couple years ago, we reconnected through the blogosphere. Jonathan is a church planter, pastor and author. His new book, Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship, just came out in August. Jonathan has also written several published articles for various journals and webzines such as The Journal of Biblical Counseling and Boundless. He blogs at Creation Project and Church Planting Novice.

I love Jonathan’s heart for the gospel and developing gospel-centered, missional communities.  I’ve learned much from this man!  He was kind enough to do an interview about his new book, Fight Clubs, with me over email.

Click here to read the whole article.

Missional Communities Update

If you are looking for a Missional Community to join, we have a new resource for you! Elisa created a Google map of our region with interactive information for you – just click on a flag or a name at the left and you will find out the where, when, and how to get in contact.

Thank you, Elisa!

Missional Communities

How Healthy Is Your Soul?

I posted a brief article on my blog for the youth ministry course that I teach at New England Bible College. It asks the question, “How is your soul and how are you feeding it?”

Well the question is just as valid for each of us – how healthy is your soul? How do I know? Well there are many questions that we can ask, but one great diagnostic tool is simply to check your time in God’s word. If you are not reading the Bible regularly, then it is a pretty safe bet that regardless of feelings of peace or well-being, your soul is not well.

How can I say that? Because Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” So if faith comes by hearing it, what happens when it does not hear it? Faith begins to falter and become weak and emaciated. Faith starves. And when faith starves, it has a hard time trusting God and worshipping and rejoicing and resisting sin.

We need to feed our souls on the word of God.  We need to memorize God’s word.  We need to read God’s word with our kids, and our spouses, and our friends.  We need to hear people preach the word.  We need to read what others have written about the word.  We should sing it, we should say it, we should hear it.

We need more than one little taste of it at the beginning of our day.  We need to feast on the promises of God as contained in the word of God so we will love and trust God and find our life in Him.

Marriage, Maine, and you.

Stand for marriage Maine sent out the following plea for help:

We have only a few days before the future of Marriage in Maine is decided.  I need to tell you what we are facing in these few days.
     Together, we worked very hard to get the veto of same-sex marriage on the ballot. We have continued the work throughout this campaign. The Stand For Marriage Maine campaign team has been tirelessly working to raise funds and build a network of volunteers. We have faced the attacks from the opposition against us and our consistent message about the consequences of changing the definition of marriage.  Compared to our opponents, we have a very small staff and a tight budget. In spite of this, polls consistently show the race to be almost exactly even with a tiny percent of Mainers still undecided.

Songs of Redemption…Almost Finished

The recording for the Songs of Redemption project is almost finished! A big “Thanks!” goes out to the team…Jarred Bridges (drums), Mike Jones (bass, electric guitar, background vocals), Karl Anderson (producer, keys, background vocals), and Dustin Burnett (sound engineer, electric guitar). The songs sound fantastic thanks to these guys!

I can’t wait to share these songs with you! The songs plead with us to trust the goodness of our rescuing God as we wait for final redemption at the Return of our King, Jesus. We live in the already, but not yet…confident and convinced of the redemption Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection, but awaiting the redemption Jesus will complete when he returns! It’s my prayer that these songs will fuel lives of worship in the face of every temptation and trial we face as we serve King Jesus together, through the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God alone!

• “There is a Fountain” (Christ’s cross)
• “He is Risen!”(Christ’s resurrection)
• “Look Ye Saints the Sight is Glorious”(Christ’s exaltation)
• “Christ is Coming! Let Creation” (Our life in the already, but not yet)
• “Come Lord Jesus to Redeem Us”(Our prayer for Christ’s return)
• “Upon this Mount” (Isaiah 25:6-9) (Our celebration in the New Creation)

We hope that CD’s and downloads will be available before Christmas. We’ll keep you in the loop. And again–please continue to pray that God will use this music to compel many of the supreme joy found in worshiping Christ alone!

See You at the Mission Conference, Nov 6-8!

You’re invited to WBC’s Mission Conference this November 6-8! Our theme this year is “Church Planting and the Mission of God.” Together we will…

• Find out how WBC is partnering with Dwight and Jess Bernier to plant churches in Montreal.

• Learn how the church is God’s “mission program” for the world.

• Hear updates about and pray for our supported missionaries.

• Strategize about our mission field, across the street and across the sea.

Friday

6:30PM-9:00PM

• Ice Cream Social
• “The Nations at Our Doorstep” Jean-Pierre Tshamala, All Nations Outreach Ministries
• WBC Missionary Update and Prayer

Saturday

8:00AM-9:30AM

• Men’s Breakfast, Dwight Bernier
• Women’s Breakfast, Jess Bernier

5:00PM-9:ooPM

• Sharing a Meal Together
• “Church Planting in Montreal”, Dwight and Jess Bernier, Initiative 22
• WBC Missionary Update and Prayer

Sunday

9:00AM-10:30AM

• Gathered Worship
• WBC Missionary Update and Prayer
• “Church Planting in New England and Beyond”, Barry Murry of Lakeside Community Church

One eye on Him and one on me

I read a great quote this morning from Octavius Winslow (1808-1878) in a work called, “A Sight of Sin and a Sight of Jesus”.

If Jesus did not bear my transgressions and curse, He did nothing for me; and I am yet in my sins. If He did, then the load is gone; the burden is annihilated – all transferred to Him and by Him borne into eternal oblivion. I am no longer my own sin and burden bearer: my sins were all laid on Jesus, not by my hand, but by the hand of God. Since Jesus has cared for my sins, then my only care should be first to realize their full pardon and then to walk so holily as not to recommit those sins the Christ bore…

His argument is that we all, every one of us, needs to sit at the cross of Christ regularly to turn from the corroding power of sin in our lives and look at Jesus – wounded, bleeding, dying for our sins – and we will find Him divine, glorious, and precious. “We must know Christ crucified before we shall know sin crucified.”

No fact in Christian experience is more certain than this: sin is never properly seen until Christ is known; and Christ is never fully known until sin is seen in its existence, guilt, and power. It is a sense of our vileness, guiltiness, and condemnation that takes us to Christ. When we see Christ, accept Christ, and enter into believing rest in Christ, we then have the deepest conviction of the greatness, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and at the same moment the most assured conviction of our full and eternal deliverance from its guilt, tyranny, and condemnation.

Heavenly Dad, we ask that you would help us to be a people that linger at the cross, though we do not like what it says about us. But may we remain there: to see the costliness of our sin, admit how impenitent and cold we tend to be, then see the blood that cleanses us, and the love that pardons us fully, freely, and forever. Please fill our lives with spiritual vitality, joy, and hope in the soul.

Boulevards has Begun

Josh Foster has written a post on the first night of Boulevards, and posted it on our children’s ministry blog: WBC Children’s Ministries.

Take some time and check out, “The First Night of Boulevards”.  Also, say hi to Josh on Facebook and connect to the “Windham Baptist Boulevards” group.

Senegal Team Presentation

On Sunday night, October 18, we will have our annual Fellowship Dinner from 5 to 8pm. Each year we set aside time to eat together as a church family – it is a great time to meet people and enjoy catching up with those we know.

This year we will focus on the Senegal team, and their experiences from their trip in September. We will begin the night with a traditional Senegalese dinner. Now, before you freak out (you know who you are!), we are going to offer the experience at three different levels –

• If you want to experience what we did, then you can sit on the floor around a common bowl and eat ceeb with your fingers (yum!!).
• If you want some of the experience, we’ll give you a spoon and even maybe a chair.
• If you are entirely “creeped out” at the thought of sharing food, we’ll give you a plate, some silverware, and maybe a brownie.

In case you are not up on your Senegalese cuisine, Yassa Ginaar is essentially marinated chicken with rice, cooked onions and garlic. Not too spicy, but very filling. Please come, while this is a little different, it is not a reason to stay home. If you come and can cook, please bring a dessert to share.

During the night we will see more pictures from the trip, and have a discussion with the group about what they learned and experienced. This is a good night to invite friends. We will cap off the night with communion, as is our custom.

So come at 5:00 – hey, if you are unable to make it on time, better late than never.