The holidays typically usher in a shopping frenzy and frantic pre-occupation with gift giving, but this year both will likely be tempered by the current wave of market anxiety. As Advent begins in this new social and economic context, and as I reflect on the approaching celebration of Christmas, I am focused on the juxtaposition of two seemingly unrelated Bible texts. The first summarizes the journey of the Magi who traveled from the East in search of the mysterious child of promise: When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh (Matthew 2:10-11 NIV).

The second text, which I readily confess does not typically invoke Yuletide emotion, is Romans 12:2 which boldly challenges believers to live out our faith with subversive authenticity: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (NIV).

Treasures construed to be the contemporary equivalent of gold, incense, and myrrh are not the only gifts you can present in honor of Jesus. As you embark upon your Advent journey, perhaps you might also consider offering something that cost you a little more of your self, a contribution from your own lode of talent or giftedness.

Do you recall the legend behind the musical story of “The Little Drummer Boy,” the song about a boy who gave of his meager talent by playing the drum for the Christ child? Introduced in the U.S. in the 1950’s, this memorable holiday carol made popular by Bing Crosby, was actually based on a Czech tune, “Carol of the Drum,” composed by Katherine K. Davis in 1941 and later recorded by the famed Von Trapp Family Singers in Austria. The more familiar “drummer boy” version details the fictional but meaningful tale of a young boy who approached the manger with nothing to offer but his drum. However, as the boy began to play his drum, his unique gift brought a smile to the face of the infant.

Throughout this holiday season a variety of colorful and thematic decorations will adorn many of our church campuses, iconic symbols such as a Christmas tree, an Advent wreath, or a manger crèche. Peculiar in the décor of the church I serve is a drum tree which is constructed annually in our church atrium. Vick Vickery, our veteran Scoutmaster, assembles this drum tree each year out of 34 percussion instruments from different eras in history. Included in this menagerie are replicas of the rope drum used in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Historically, these instruments were crucial for conveying instructions and maintaining morale, for in the days prior to advanced telecommunication, soldiers were trained to listen carefully for strategic commands encoded in the resounding beat of the drummer.

Now, stacked and configured in the form of a Christmas tree, our drum tree serves as a holiday reminder that God calls us to march to the beat of a different drummer, receiving our formative cues and motivation from the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus. While the default values of our culture may prompt us to spend irresponsibly, to consume disproportionately, and to hurry frantically, our faith calls us to march to the rhythm and cadence of a different percussionist, to be cheerful in giving, gracious in receiving, and intentional in living.

During this festive season of the year, believers of all ages are invited to invest our best spiritual gifts and our prime tangible gifts in ways that express our allegiance and alignment with the One born in Bethlehem.

(Dr. Barry Howard serves as Senior Minister at the First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida.)

Although the daily practice of giving thanks is a year round discipline, one day of the year is set aside for us to inventory our blessings and to express our gratitude to God with focused intentionality.

As you plan your Thanksgiving schedule, I pray that you and your family will enjoy a fun and memorable gathering with renewing your appreciation for all of God’s blessings.

If you are staying in town this week, consider participating in our Community Thanksgiving Service at Christ Church on Wednesday evening at six o’clock.

From the inspired words of Holy Scripture to the treasured verses of classical and contemporary authors, much has been written about the experience of gratitude. The following verses are among those I continue to treasure:

Let us come before him with thanksgiving.
– Psalm 95:2

Count your many blessings, name them one by one; and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. -Johnson Oatman Jr.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; be thankful to him and bless his name. – Psalm 100:4

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
– II Corinthians 9:15

We thank Thee that Thou hast placed us in the world to subdue all things to Thy glory, and to use all things for the good of Thy children. -Edward Everett Hale

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all. – William Faulkner

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’. – Hebrews 12:28

At Thanksgiving, may our feasts and our festivities remind us of our blessings and encourage us to live our days growing in grace and gratitude.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study, and as we begin our Advent series, Marching to a Different Drummer.

Understanding Gospel Math

All during November we are trying to better understand gospel math. In our current sermon series, Quantum Faith, we have tackled perplexing questions: How can the least be the greatest? How can two become one? Why does God have greater expectations from those who have been given greater gifts?

This Sunday we will try our hand at “Calculating 70 X 7” as we focus on the healing experience called forgiveness. At the beginning of the Midmorning service we will celebrate baptism.

Don’t forget that our Community Thanksgiving Service at Christ Church begins at 6 o’clock next Wednesday November 26. There will be no services or activities scheduled on our campus for that evening.

This year Advent begins on November 30, the Sunday following Thanksgiving. On that Sunday morning we begin the lighting of the Advent candles, seasonal music, and our Advent sermons, all surrounding the theme, Marching to a Different Drummer. On that Sunday evening, we will meet in Chipley Hall at 6:00 for Deacon Ordination.

As we fulfill our vision to mobilize for ministry and match spiritual gifts to ministry tasks, check out the new online spiritual gifts link on our church web site. Take time to prayerfully assess your spiritual gifts and your personal passion as you commit to serve on a ministry team in the days ahead.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study.

Tough Lessons for Tough Times

A few months ago a couple of the savvy business owners in our church indicated to me their concern that we were overdue a severe market correction. In other words the bull would become a bear, and probably persists as a fairly wimpy bear for while.

Now it is becoming apparent to many of us that we are not just experiencing a market correction, but we are at the uncomfortable beginning of a culture correction. While much of our discomfort is caused by the symptoms… market volatility, unemployment, personal and corporate budget reductions…at some point we must deal with the root of the problem. Dr. Vance Havner once asked, “What good is it to keep tearing down the web if you’re going to do nothing about the spider.”

My pastoral observations are somewhat naïve and certainly lack the expertise of an economist or a sociologist, but from where I sit, the following concerns seem conspicuously obvious:
1. Many have adopted unattainable or unsustainable standard of living goals, goals that are often incongruent with an individual’s faith, values, and productivity.
2. Many are experiencing great distress and anxiety as a result of the quest to achieve their desirable standard of living by utilizing excessive credit transactions. This personal crunch disrupts families and ultimately contributes to the overall corporate crisis.
3. Many feel trapped and hopeless in their personal financial dilemma or in their current business venture or vocation, with little or no hope for the future.

For further thought and reflection, I propose that a quick return to market normalcy, continued access to easy credit, and continued lifestyles of accumulation and acquisition, factors that might relieve the tension of the moment, actually only postpone the inevitable. We must adopt life goals and management strategies that enable us to live life with meaning and purpose, and embrace a way of life that minimizes anxiety, elevates passion, and enhances relationships.

As a follower of Jesus and a Christian pastor, the teachings of the Bible and the initiatives of Christ are constantly re-formatting my lifestyle, calling me to leave behind the errant ways of my past so that I might live more authentically, more passionately, and more faithfully. As I reflect on the tough times many of us are experiencing, I invite you to think with me about the life-changing lessons we can learn in tough times. For starters, consider some of the following suggestions asking whether they may be applicable to your life situation:
•Seize the current season of adversity as an opportunity to upgrade the way you approach life, order your priorities, and live out your faith.
•Base your sense of self-worth and your self-esteem on the love and uniqueness that God has given you, not on your status or your “net worth.”
•Adopt a lifestyle of “living within your means,” avoiding unnecessary credit, and making informed purchasing and investing decisions.
•Teach your children to make life decisions based on faith and values, not by subscribing to default cultural trends.
•Be prepared to assist with vocational networking or engage in vocational transitioning and re-training.
•With a non-partisan disposition, pray for the current and future leaders of our community, our state, and our nation that they may act with extraordinary wisdom and discernment.
•Invest your gifts and passions in proactive service in the church and in the community, always toward the greater good of the whole body.
•Share from your blessings with others who may have greater needs and a lesser portion.
•In seasons of prosperity and seasons of adversity, honor God with all of your assets….your tithe, your time, and your talent.
•Practice the biblical principles of Sabbath, ceasing periodically from industry and anxiety to rest and worship, and jubilee, releasing your grip on property in order to rotate, revitalize, and restore.

This season of economic adversity could be remembered as the toughest time since The Great Depression. But out of that depression came those Tom Brokaw has described as “the greatest generation.” Perhaps God could teach us a few life-changing lessons during these tough times that will shape us into more responsible citizens, more respectable parents, more competent leaders, more productive workers, and more effective servants than we’ve ever been before.

(Here are the powerpoint highlights of the sermon “Striving for Last Place” preached on Sunday November 2, 2008)

As you faithfully follow Jesus you will develop a passion to serve God by serving others. In Mark 10:22-31 after Jesus’ encounter with the young and wealthy businessman, Jesus debriefs his disciples on the costs required to follow him.

What do we learn from Jesus about serving in Mark 10:22-31?
• Those who “have it all” will find it difficult, but not impossible, to embrace the kingdom lifestyle.
• Nothing is impossible with God.
• You will be called on to make tough sacrifices.
• “The first will be last and the last will be first.”

How can we best serve God with the gifts and passions emerging in our congregation?
• Clarify our mission.
– Our mission is to share love and grace with those who are disconnected with God and the church.
– Stake our claim on 32501 and the surrounding community as our primary mission field.
– Claim the global community is our secondary mission field.
• Mobilize for ministry.
– Spend more time ministering than meeting.
• Upgrade our model.
– Re-format our model of organization.
~ Leadership
~ Discipleship
~ Service
• Match gifts to tasks.
– Discover and nurture the spiritual gifts of the congregation.
– Match spiritual gifts to ministry assignments.
• Mentor the next generation.
– Establish cross-generational partnerships.

Where do I begin?
• Commit to radically follow Jesus in your daily routine.
• Cultivate your spiritual gift(s).
• Connect with a ministry project or ministry team.

Would you take your God-given passion and use it for a God-honoring purpose?

How long has it been since you’ve been in trouble? Maybe you were traveling and took a wrong turn before arriving at your destination. After wandering around lost, you finally found the fortitude to stop and ask for help with directions.

Or maybe you were assembling that new toy you bought as a gift for one of your children, and after trying to figure it out on your own, you broke down and read the instructions.

Or maybe, you were trying to navigate a new program on your computer and after a few hours of fruitless frustration, you finally hit the “help” button on the upper right section of your toolbar for assistance.

Or maybe, your problems are a little more serious. Perhaps you have tried to determine how to stay afloat during a season of economic adversity. Perhaps you are trying to keep your marriage together during a season of mounting distress. Perhaps you are trying to stabilize your business in a season when many are operating in a deficit. Perhaps you are trying to find a sense of peace after wrestling with an excessive load of guilt, grief or anxiety. Perhaps you are trying to revitalize your walk with God after a season of spiritual dormancy.

When you are in trouble, where do you go for help? Psalm 46 begins with these words of affirmation: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” This Sunday, as we continue our series, The Music of the Spheres, we will explore Psalm 46 as we talk about how God wants to be your helper in times of adversity.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study. Be encouraged to invite a friend or neighbor who needs to hear a positive word from the Lord to join you this week.

Just in case you missed it….here is the central idea from Sunday October 12:

“Footloose with the Lord of the Dance”
Psalm 30

God wants to put a new dance in your step and a new song in your heart.

8-10 I called out to you, God; I laid my case before you: “Can you sell me for a profit when I’m dead? auction me off at a cemetery yard sale? When I’m ‘dust to dust’ my songs and stories of you won’t sell. So listen! and be kind! Help me out of this!” 11-12 You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough.
Psalm 30:8-12 The Message

*You can state your case before God with candid honesty.

*Only God can make you footloose from your past.

*God wants to choreograph your steps as you dance to a new tune.

As a Christian, God doesn’t want your life to follow “the same old song and dance.” God wants to teach you a new step and a new tune through which to celebrate and share God’s love and grace.

In recent weeks, many of our sermons, columns, and devotionals seem to be pointing us toward an upgrade in the way we worship and minister at First Baptist. We are a good church with a great heritage, but I believe God is inspiring, prompting, and leading us toward something that is more challenging and more demanding than what we have experienced in the past.

Just in case you have missed one of the Midweek or Sunday worship gatherings, or you haven’t read The Builder word for word, here are a few excerpts from recent weeks:

The way I see it, most of us are at our best doing “hands-on” ministry. If as a people of God we are much better at doing ministry than talking about doing ministry, why do we invest so much time doing the latter?

One good way to honor God is by faithfully managing and wisely investing all of the assets and resources that God places in our care.

Procrastination, lethargy, and laziness develop when we don’t take ourselves and our responsibilities seriously enough. Stress, anxiety, and depression develop when we take ourselves and our responsibilities too seriously.

In a world where faith and science are all too often portrayed as adversaries rather than partners, we need to be reminded that the natural universe joins the biblical revelation in singing the chorus of God’s greatness.

Be careful…most every generation wants to change a few things passed along from their parent’s generation but then for some strange reason they want the process of change to stop with them.

One thing we learn about stewardship from the Old Testament is that God is never pleased with re-heated sacrifices and recycled offerings.

Getting in tune with God will refresh and refocus your life.

If God is the great artist working on a masterpiece, think of your life and think of our church as God’s canvas, and remember that God’s paintbrush is still wet.

Here’s a preview of what you will hear this Sunday when we talk about being “Footloose with the Lord of the Dance” from Psalm 30:

God expects more from us than “the same old song and dance,” day after day and week after week.

God wants to teach us a new step and a new tune through which to celebrate and communicate God’s love and grace.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study. Don’t miss it for the world!

One of the great resources in the new Paul Royal Recreation and Outreach Center is First Cup, our own First Baptist café. As the vision for the ROC came together, we dreamed of a gathering space where church and community would come together, a Wi-Fi hot spot for internet access and a social and spiritual hot spot for building relationships and conversing about life and faith.

First Cup will have a new look as we upgrade our product and our opportunity by partnering with a new supplier. Beginning Sunday, October 5, we will introduce The Drowsy Poet at First Cup. As a respected mission-oriented coffee shop on Brent Lane, The Drowsy Poet purchases coffee beans directly from mission partners in Central America, roasts the beans in Pensacola, and reinvests a portion of the proceeds of all coffee products back to the mission field. This new partnership will enable us to provide a fresher product, develop a creative missions connection, and broaden our visibility in the community.

Recently, I read Three Cups of Tea, the best-selling, soul-stirring book about the humanitarian work of Greg Mortenson. The title of the book is based on the hospitality customs related to business transactions in some parts of the Middle East. Haji Ali, a village chief in the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan says that, “We drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything—even die.”

What can I do to get involved in the ministry of the cup?
*Meet a friend or neighbor at First Cup.
*Tell your colleagues and classmates about First Cup.
*Purchase a gift card from First Cup.
*Share a cup of coffee or a bottle of water from First Cup with “the least of these” in our community.
*Plan a meeting of your small group or business at First Cup.
*Commit to bring a new acquaintance for three cups at First Cup as you prepare them to join our family.

All ages can participate in the ministry of the cup. As we claim First Cup as a space for making new connections and re-affirming old ones, who will you meet for three cups…of coffee, tea, juice, latte, cappuccino, or smoothie?

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday as we gather for worship and Bible study.

This time of the year, folks along the coast experience a slight increase in storm anxiety. More now than in the past, we receive a variety of perspectives on the weather from multiple media outlets…newpaper, radio, television, and internet. While these outlets provide relevant and important updates and information, an overload of weather information can elevate your sense of anxiety.

When you see storms that could potentially hit our area lined up in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, or the Gulf, it’s a reminder to be prepared. Preparation is better than panic. Panic is when you become so obsessed with anxiety about a potential storm that you fail to prepare and unnecessarily interrupt your plans and responsibilities. Storms should not create fear but a healthy sense of respect about the powerful force of nature.

The best course to follow when confronted with the possibility of an oncoming storm is to be prepared. Stock up on items such as non-perishable foods, batteries, and drinking water. Keep your automobile fueled up. Have a sufficient amount of cash on hand. And if you have a generator, have it on standby with fuel safely stored, in the event it is needed.

Good preparation might encourage you to develop a contingency plan. For example, if you live in area where you might be called on to evacuate in the event of a serious storm, have a plan in place so that you are ready to activate the plan if necessary. A good contingency plan might enable to continue with your normal routine with a greater sense of peace and comfort knowing that you are well-prepared for any weather scenario that emerges.

While we should take potential storms seriously, we do not have to be overcome by storm anxiety. Many potential storms do not develop into their full forecast strength or follow their anticipated paths. Forecasts tend to become more accurate as the storm gets closer.

At our church, we will always try to put the safety of our members and our community above our need to fulfill our weekly schedule. When there is a need to adjust our schedule or cancel an event, we will send out e-mail notices, make necessary phone calls, post the change on our web site, and communicate the schedule change through local radio and television networks.

When it comes to storms, don’t panic. Be prepared!