By Barry Howard

While engaged in a conversation with some of my closest colleagues about the changes and challenges of pastoral ministry, Bill Wilson, Director of the Center for Healthy Churches, made a comment that summarized some thoughts that had been simmering in my mind.  He said, “Ministry in the 21^st century is like growing potatoes on Mars.”

I immediately knew that Bill and I had read the same book: Andy Weir’s “The Martian,” the popular novel, and now movie that is coming to a big screen near you this week.

Intrigued by the fact that a school teacher from our town had made the cut on an early list of “contestants” vying to travel on the first passenger expedition to the red planet, my wife and I read the book shortly after publication.  Although I’m not sure how well the movie will be received, I found myself immersed in Weir’s tale, but for a different reason than most readers.  While I suppose that some were thrilled with the science fiction and others were enamored with the whole space adventure theme, I was captivated by an inductive pastoral correlation.

Maybe it’s because I still thumb through my copy of Hauerwas and Willimon’s Resident Aliens. Or maybe it is because the novel seems to be the antithesis of the Left Behind series.  Or perhaps it was merely because I tend to perceive and interpret life through pastoral eyes. Whatever my subconscious reasoning, I found the plight of American astronaut Mark Watney to be a lot like ministry in a post-modern, post-denominational world. Despite the frequent four-letter words, I found Watney’s predicament to be spiritually suggestive.

Without giving away the entire plot of the book, suffice it to say that Watney finds himself stranded on Mars, a dilemma no one has faced before. To survive, he must learn to grow potatoes on Mars, a feat that becomes a driving metaphor of Weir’s novel.  And he tackles his cosmic dilemma with a methodical and almost sacramental strategy: “I cut each potato into four pieces, making sure each piece had at least two eyes. The eyes are where they sprout from. I let them sit for a few hours to harden a bit, then planted them, well spaced apart, in the corner. Godspeed, little taters. My life depends on you.”

How does potato-growing on Mars relate to ministry? As I read the novel I gleaned these prophetic points for our current “alien” context:

• Adjusting to a new landscape isn’t easy but it is necessary.  Address your current atmospheric conditions, not the atmosphere you are most accustomed to.
• Find creative ways to deal with your loneliness. Ministry can be isolating.  Be aware that you are not the first one or the only one to feel like you are “the only one.”
• Maximize your resources.  Learn to ration and cultivate, utilizing all available assets.
• Consult your intellect, intuition, and imagination to formulate your game plan.
• Develop a sustainable strategy with built-in contingencies to help navigate the unexpected.
• Anticipate obstacles and setbacks.  Learn to stay calm under pressure and to do good trouble-shooting.
• Merge the best of expert advice and personal innovation to make contextual decisions.
• Do not be afraid to take risks. As Watney argues, “Space is dangerous. It’s what we do here. If you want to play it safe all the time, go join an insurance company.”
• Timing is crucial in making connections. Seize the moment when the window of opportunity opens.
• Do your best work when you think that no one else is looking.  Be disciplined to do your job, believing that others are doing their job even when you are not in constant communication with them.
• Remember there are forces at work that are bigger than you.
• When you are tempted to give up, don’t!  After one near catastrophe Watney exclaims, “I guess you could call it a ‘failure,’ but I prefer the term ‘learning experience’.”

Ironically, this week there is a super moon, signaling a changing of the seasons.  In case you haven’t noticed, church and ministry are entering a different season also. For some this is a slow realization. Like Watney’s awakening, “Blissfull unconsiousness became foggy awareness which transitioned into painful reality.”

The challenges for church and ministry are daunting but not insurmountable. Effective ministry has always been challenging.  Innovation and discipline can produce a bumper crop, even in less than ideal circumstances. Take up your spade and bucket, and your imagination, and start cultivating.  The words of Thornton Wilder in Our Town ring clear this week: “Look at that moon. Potato weather for sure.”

(Barry Howard serves as the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Pensacola, and as a Leadership Coach with the Center for Healthy Churches.)

By Barry Howard

Thirty seven years ago this past month I was called to my first church staff position at the age of 18.  Thinking about those early beginnings has led me to reminisce about the peculiarity of my calling and my pastoral journey. Now, at age 55, I am a middle-aged pastor. My how time flies!

Middle-aged is an extremely relative term. A recent article in The Huffington Post defines middle-aged as beginning at age 35 and ending around age 58. In that case, I am upper middle-aged. Regardless of the definition, I suppose I am complimented by the term “middle-aged” because I have reached that central season of life with exceptionally good health, with my sanity intact, and I still enjoy attempting to fulfill my calling. However, it does occur to me that the way I see life and faith and church through the lenses of a middle-aged pastor is rather unique.  I am neither a militant traditionalist nor a rabid post-denominationalist.  I am not a hard-core fundamentalist or a soft-hearted liberal.  I reject these kinds of labels as highly unnecessary and mostly inaccurate.  My aim is to emulate the attitudes and actions of Jesus, whose mindset and mission cannot be contained or described by any one label.

In the rural context of my home church, I “felt the call” to ministry at age sixteen and preached my first sermon two weeks later.  Since that time there have been hurdles and a few monumental challenges along the way, but overall I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve alongside some good folks in some great places. If nothing else, thirty seven years of service on the staff of Baptist churches means that I have a little durability.

Supposedly everyone entering middle age goes through a stage of re-thinking life.  For some, it is a painful agonizing struggle, often second guessing important decisions made along the way.  For others, it is a time of re-direction, often resulting in a change in vocations, hairstyles, automobiles, and occasionally, even spouses.  For me, however, middle age, at least to this point, has been a time of reflecting, thinking about how I’ve changed and how much more room I have to grow.

If confession is good for the soul, maybe I will be even healthier if I confess where I am and what I believe about church and ministry at this point in my life as a middle-aged pastor:

1. I believe the local church is where the action is. The church is where faith is nurtured, where community is cultivated, and where missional initiatives are launched and nurtured to fruition.
2. Church is not a place but a people. Church is composed of flesh and blood, not constructed with brick and mortar. Being the church is more important than going to church, but I cannot fathom how we can do one without the other.
3. Church should be a clearinghouse where talents and gifts are developed, dedicated, and deployed, never a warehouse where talents and gifts are counted and stored.
4. Other churches and other ministers are my colleagues, not my competitors.
5. Credibility emerges more in the authenticity of a pastor than the authority of the pastor.
6. Doing ministry still energizes me.  However, there are a few things that drain my energy quickly, especially attending monotonous meetings and dealing with high maintenance people.
7. What we do inside the doors of the church should make a drastic difference in who we are outside the doors of the church.
8. I continue to discover the family of God to be much more diverse and inclusive than I previously imagined.
9. An open Bible and an open mind tend to cultivate a more engaging and enriching faith than a closed Bible and closed mind.
10. As a pastor and a Christian, I am called to be priest and prophet, not judge and jury. (I am free to love, share, and exercise grace toward all kinds of people without having to first judge their worthiness.  I am relieved to know that whatever final judgment looks like, I will not be the one holding the gavel.)

My full pastoral confession of faith is a lot lengthier than these ten.  At this point in my life, I have more questions than answers.  I get frustrated far too easily with petty complaint and criticism. Yet I realize that I have far more to learn than I already know, and far more to do than I’ve already done.

Even during my middle age years, I love serving as a pastor.  I have the privilege of walking alongside folks from the moment of birth to the moment of death and all seasons in between.

Paul summed it up this way: “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 NIV

Although I have not arrived, I am intent on enjoying the journey of growing forward.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at the First Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida.)

God of durable hope and eternal justice,
On this anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
We remember that horrific day as a day that we wish we could forget.

O God we confess our ongoing need of your transformative grace
   For we are all too mindful that this date still haunts us
With memories that provoke our anger
With emotions that are tinged with grief
With thoughts that trend toward vengeance.

As we attempt to apply your words to life,
And to live by faith as we hold to your promise of a better future
We confess that our anger and grief from that fretful day are not yet fully resolved
And that residual impulses of vengeance and retaliation incubate deep within.
And yet we acknowledge that our lingering hurt does not compare to the pain
of those who were touched more directly
through the unexpected and unfair loss
of family members, friends, and co-workers.

We tremble at the memory of atrocious images of death and destruction,
We fret over the ongoing terrorist acts that seem unthinkable and inhumane,
We grieve over the deaths of the sons and daughters of our nation,
As well as the subsequent casualties among our allies and our adversaries.
And we long for a civilized and lasting resolution
So that our sons and daughters may live in peace
And that those who have longed for liberation from tyranny
Might govern and be governed with dignity and integrity.

Rather than being consumed by our grief,
    And controlled by our fears and constrained by our anxieties,
Let us set our minds to addressing the injustices that precipitate hostility,
Let us direct our souls to living out our moral conviction,
Let us turn our hearts to loving the poor,
and the disadvantaged,
and the disenfranchised.
And let us determine to fight terror,
Not with our own terroristic threats,
Nor with the weapons of our enemies,
But with a responsible and courageous exercise of freedom,
And with a proactive and authentic faith.

And though it swims against the tide of our unconverted instincts,
     You continue to teach us to love our enemies,
so that we do not become like them.

Today we are grateful for first responders:
    For emergency medical professionals, for law enforcement officers, for fire fighters, volunteers, and all who serve to save, protect, and preserve life.

Today, especially today, we pray for the leaders of our nation and our world,
    And for the leaders of our state and our community
To act and react with wisdom and discernment,
And to maintain a disposition that will defuse conflict
And advance the cause of peace.
    And we pray for the leaders of our churches and synagogues
And for people of diverse faiths
To act and react with transformative grace and enduring hope,
And to maintain a disposition that will disprove propaganda
And advance the cause of truth and compassion.

We offer our prayer with abiding faith and emerging hope in the One who came to bring peace on earth and goodwill to all humankind.     Amen

When it comes to marriage, I chose wisely.  I can readily identify with Churchill’s assessment: “My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.”

Today Amanda and I are celebrating our 30^th Anniversary.  We were married on September 7, 1985 at the Post Oak Springs Baptist Church, her home church and my first pastorate.  Since that time our journey together across these 30 years has been quite an adventure with lots of unexpected twists and turns, a journey that has enabled us to learn and grow, and to forge a remarkable number of treasured friendships along the way.

After a reception in the Fellowship Hall we departed for our honeymoon and the real work of marriage began.  Even for a pastor and wife, the merging of two lives is never easy and is often messy.  Amanda and I have tasted both the “for better and for worse” experiences of life, and our relationship has grown stronger and more durable as we have confronted obstacles and embraced opportunities. Marriage is perhaps the most unique of all human relationships.  The privilege of partnering with one person for life is a blessing and a challenge.  But for the pastor’s family, I think the stressors are specific and peculiar.  While every marriage has its challenges, a pastor’s marriage is lived out in a distinct context. Here are a few of the factors that test the stability of a minister’s marriage.

• The glass house syndrome.  A minister’s family life requires a little more transparency and is often scrutinized more publicly than the average marriage.
• The swinging pendulum of emotions.  Because a minister deals with the emotion of everything in life from birth to death, a minister’s family is subject to lots of emotional fluctuation.
• The burden of confidentiality. A minister deals with sensitive confidential issues perpetually, and although a minister’s spouse is not privy to many of those issues, the duress of confidentiality often bleeds over into the minister’s home life.
• The flexibility challenge. A minister’s schedule is always tentative.  Interruptions are a constant.  Vacation plans change. Kid’s ball games and concerts are missed. A minister’s life demands extraordinary flexibility.
• The fatigue factor.  Many ministers confess that they teeter on the brink of burnout or pastoral fatigue.  A minister’s family must not only contend with a parent who is often physically or emotionally tired, but without a sense of balance and a time for refreshing, the weariness can drive the entire family toward “church burnout.”

According to Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure.” Although this admonition is for the entire faith community, it is especially important for ministers.

To build a healthy marriage, a minister and spouse cannot be naïve to the aforementioned stressors, but rather should take proactive steps to navigate these challenges with faith, discernment, and intentionality. As we have grown through 30 years of marriage, we have gained a few insights into what makes marriage work for us as a pastor and wife:

• Embrace the uniqueness of the “ministry life.”  Life for a minister’s family is not abnormal.  It is just a different kind of normal. We try to live into the uniqueness rather than avoiding it or denying it.
• Avoid unrealistic expectations. You will likely encounter a few church members who have unrealistic or idealistic expectations for your work schedule, your preaching topics, and your family life. You will be a more effective minister and you will have a healthier family life if you live out of the wellspring of your gifts and convictions, and not the expectations of others.
• Schedule time for dates. There is a lot of demand on a pastor’s schedule.  Calendaring can often be like doing triage. So I schedule appointments with Amanda for lunch dates, dinner dates, sporting events, and other fun activities. Otherwise, my schedule becomes full and we will miss spending quality time together.
• Avoid taking the stress and stories of work home.  Often when I leave the office, I am still in ministry mode, making evening visits or phone calls, working on preparation for upcoming services, or processing the events of the day. And while I may occasionally need to decompress by discussing an extremely stressful situation, I try to avoid discussing the daily debris of ministry with my wife.
• Take your off days and your vacation.  I am still working on this.  Only a couple of times during our 30 years have I taken all of my allotted vacation time. However, the older I get, I find that it is more important to take time to rest, refocus, and rejuvenate, for my physical health, my spiritual health, and for the health of our marriage.
• Tell stories involving your marriage or family life with discretion. Our congregation loves stories and they seem receptive to illustrative stories from our personal experiences, such as our adventures in tennis, golf, or travels.  However, I try to only tell stories that highlight and illustrate how our lives intersect with the application of the biblical text, and I avoid stories that are intimate or critical.
• Do ministry together occasionally.  Amanda has her own passion for ministry and she invests her time and energy in serving, just like any other member of our congregation.  However, we occasionally enjoy making hospital visits together, engaging in mission projects together, and even reading and discussing the same books.
• Take care of your health.  During our wedding, we pledged to be faithful to each other in sickness and in health. Obviously, we prefer to be healthy.  We do a pretty good job of keeping up with our doctor’s visits and we are proactive in caring for our health.
• Learn when to say yes and when to say no to invitations. We enjoy being socially active, but there is no way to say yes to every invitation.  It is a biblical imperative to “let your yes be yes and your no be no.”
• Keep growing… together.  I don’t think anyone, especially a minister and wife, ever reaches a point where you can put your marriage on cruise control.  A healthy marriage requires ongoing nurture. There is a big difference in growing old together and getting old together. We want to grow old together by continuing to grow spiritually, intellectually, and intimately.

A healthy marriage may not necessarily make ministry easier, but an unhealthy marriage certainly makes ministry more difficult. If you neglect your marriage in order to preserve your ministry, you are likely to lose both.

I love being married and I love serving as a pastor. And I hope to enjoy both for a long time. Amanda and I have shared a partnership in life and ministry for 30 years now.  And I look forward to many more.

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

But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24 NIV

During our Vacation Bible School last week I observed our students standing attentively as they enthusiastically declared, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…”. We often recite these words in classrooms and at civic gatherings. When we pronounce the pledge, is it merely an obligatory ritual or do we listen attentively to all of the words and take them seriously? The last words of the pledge are perhaps some of the most counter-cultural words of commitment we can speak: “…with liberty and justice for all.”

Our ancestors envisioned a nation wherein liberty and justice would be for all people. For some, however, “liberty” has been reduced to a license for self-centeredness and “justice” has been diminished to mere retaliatory or punitive action.

Although dictionaries routinely define liberty as “the state of being free,” liberty involves much more. The historical American concept of liberty is not that one is free to do as one pleases without accountability for the consequences of one’s actions. Rather, our heritage of liberty means that we are not owned or enslaved by another person or power. Popular pastor and author John Ortberg reminds us that, “Real freedom is not the external freedom to gratify every appetite; it is the internal freedom not to be enslaved by our appetites.” In other words, our individual and corporate freedom exists within the boundaries of ethical and moral responsibility. True liberty calls on us to express ourselves with civility, and to respect the rights of those who think differently to do the same.

Justice is commonly perceived as “the assignment of merited rewards or punishment.” But the Old Testament prophets, especially Amos, knew that justice is much more than being affirmed for right behavior or punished for bad behavior. Justice strives to create viable opportunities for all persons to succeed economically, vocationally, and socially. Real justice seeks to create opportunities for the disadvantaged. The Bible gives us many examples of the disadvantaged: the poor, widows, orphans, the sick, strangers, the hungry, the homeless, and those in prison.

In our Pledge of Allegiance we commit our lives to the pursuit of “liberty and justice for all.” The phrase “for all” is inclusive, not discriminatory. “For all” means we aim to provide and protect liberty and justice for all individuals regardless of gender, race, economic status, political ideology, or religious background. To preserve liberty and justice for the privileged few is indicative of a shallow theology and an uninformed patriotism.

While you and I are blessed to enjoy the privileges of freedom, many around our world still live under tyranny and can only dream of liberty and justice. Therefore, on the July 4th we celebrate our independence, even as we pledge ourselves to continue to work for liberty and justice for all persons in the future.

Liberty and justice are not just political ideals. They are social tenets which affirm intrinsic human worth, and spiritual values which reflect the image of our Creator, ultimately experienced through the liberty we find in Christ. John 8:32 declares, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free,” and Amos 5:24 urges, “Let justice roll on like a river.”

In order to truly “let freedom ring,” we must work together to “let justice roll!”

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

by Barry Howard

In the good ole USA, July 4^th is a time to give thanks for our unrivaled freedom, and a great time to highlight and celebrate our religious liberty. Religious liberty refers to the right to worship freely without fear of persecution. Yet religious liberty also protects citizens from compulsory religious participation. In other words, our government is to neither compel nor dissuade our participation in worship.

This weekend, while many of us have plans in place to celebrate our nation’s independence with picnics, barbeques, ice cream, and fireworks, I encourage you to seize the opportunity to celebrate religious freedom by exercising your freedom to worship.  Since religious liberty is a core distinctive among Baptists and a core motive in our country’s founding, gathering with a faith community to participate in worship is a particularly appropriate way to celebrate.

Our Baptists ancestors were among the many who contended for religious liberty for all faiths.  The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States confirms that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

As citizens of these United States, we enjoy more comprehensive freedom than any other nation on earth, but let us never forget that with great freedom comes great responsibility.

In light of our religious liberty, let us pray fervently for those who live in regions of the world that are subject to harsh religious persecution. As we freely choose where and when to worship, let us remember our brothers and sisters who will gather anxiously but faithfully in underground churches, taking risks unfamiliar to most of us, in order to worship God and gather with their fellow believers.

In my years of experience as a pastor, I have noted that joining regularly with other believers to worship nurtures spiritual growth, fosters moral character, and encourages humanitarian service. Hebrews 10:25 reminds us, “Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.” (CEV)

To neglect the opportunity to gather for worship and Bible study is to trivialize the tremendous price paid for our freedom to assemble without fear of reprisal or repercussion. Perhaps the most detrimental symptom of historical amnesia is the tendency to take freedom for granted.

Perhaps we best celebrate and preserve our liberty by exercising the privileges that accompany our extraordinary freedom. This week is a prime opportunity to celebrate.  Whether you spend the weekend at home or on the road, make plans for a fun and festive day with family and friends celebrating our nation’s independence. Take time to give thanks for our great heritage and to pray for our nation’s leaders.

Most importantly, celebrate religious liberty by exercising your freedom to worship.  And respect the freedom of others to choose when, how, or if they worship. For if one group among us loses their religious freedom, religious liberty will be in jeopardy for us all.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida.)

by Barry Howard

As a pastor serving in an active military community, I am privileged to serve alongside those who serve or have valiantly served our country. In recent days I have enjoyed conversations with two retired Army chaplains, I have dialogued with recent graduates of the United States Naval Academy, and I have listened to the career story of a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who retired with 30 years of service.

But I also serve in a community where an extraordinarily large number of residents have lost a son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, friend or neighbor on the field of battle. Even during the past year I have shared eulogies at more than a dozen memorial services for veterans or their family members at the Barrancas National Cemetery at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.

So for me, Memorial Day invokes more of a sense of observance than of celebration. The last Monday in May does not usually generate as much holiday enthusiasm as Christmas, Easter, or Independence Day. However, we should be careful that the meaning of this holiday does not become lost in the busyness of our activities.

Memorial Day is not just another “day off” but a day to remember those who have lost their lives in the military service of our country. This is a day to remember those who, according to Henry Ward Beecher, “hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.”

In a culture that is increasingly attention-deficient, remembering is a painful but necessary discipline. Revisiting stories from the battlefield may keep us consciously aware of the harsh realities of war. Exploring the historical narrative may enable us to learn from both the successes and the failures of our ancestors. When we remember the fallen we keep alive the individual and corporate legacies of valor and courage that inspire and challenge us to be responsible citizens of the free world.

When we fail to remember the sacrifices of those who came before us, we succumb to a convenient amnesia that eventually robs succeeding generations of acquaintance with our national heritage. To fail to remember creates a contagious apathy that leads to a neglect of both our freedom and our citizenship. To fail to remember can produce a false sense of security and an inaccurate perception that we are exempt from future warfare. If for no other reason, we should remember in order to guard against what George Washington called “the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

Perhaps our high tech world is at times too much of a fantasy world. When we mute the self-serving and accusative political rhetoric, remembering our unabridged heritage can stir in us both a gut check and a reality check. The kind of remembering we need to do on Memorial Day is an uncomfortable but necessary discipline, a practice that forges vision from memory and distills wisdom from history.

In The Roadmender Margaret Fairless Barber suggests that “To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”

This year, as we observe Memorial Day, let us take time to remember the men and women who served with distinction and made extraordinary sacrifices to establish and preserve our freedom. By remembering our heritage, may we be better equipped and motivated to engage the enemies of our day with courage, hope, and determination.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister at First Baptist Church of Pensacola.)

This is Holy Week, a time for re-visiting and reflecting on the passion of Christ.  As a part of our journey through Holy Week, we are looking forward to sharing in a Good Friday Service with our friends at Allen Chapel AME and we are preparing for our celebration of the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday morning.

What does Easter mean to you?  I asked a few members of our church family what Easter means to them and this is what they had to say:

I always feel Easter is a new beginning.  All of nature is waking up and breaking out in all of its beauty.  It’s like a new beginning for me as we celebrate the resurrection of our wonderful savior and what it means to us.  I try to reassess my life to see how I can better serve Him. -Grace Barry

Christ’s death on the cross, as the sacrifice for our sins, was not enough for our salvation. He had to raise Himself from the dead for those of us who believe in Him to go to Heaven. -Savannah Hatsfelt

Easter reminds me of the supreme sacrifice my Lord gave for me as He died on a cruel Roman cross and on Easter the empty tomb showing that He conquered death and sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for me. – Charles Griffin

Easter is about a living Savior who gives me guidance and lets me serve Him in his ministry.
– Gene Langston

Easter reminds us of the sacrifice God made when He gave His only Son. That sacrifice means that because of God’s love and grace and Jesus’ willingness to die, we can be forgiven for our sins, and can spend eternity in heaven with God. -Carole Thompson

Easter is a reminder that we are set free in Christ- free from death and sin, and the cynicism, anxieties, and all that other craziness that comes with it. The message of Easter invites anyone from anywhere to come to Christ and discover this freedom. -Brianna Leatherwood

The resurrection marks final action in God’s redemption plan for mankind, and the beginning of an eternal relationship for believers with Him. – Andy White

Easter is a reminder of the resurrection that happened in my life. Death, brokenness and decay do not win just as the life of Jesus did not stop with his physical death. The future is freedom from darkness, and life that has been redeemed by the blood shed on the cross and restored through an empty tomb. –Mary Elizabeth Turnage

Christmas gets all the glitz and glamor, but Easter is the Big Event. Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christ child, but Easter celebrates the glorious day that ALL of us received new life through Him. –Steve Shell

To a world that looked at the gospel with a “question mark” God gives us His assurance with an “exclamation mark” which we see in the resurrection of Jesus. – Dr. Al Butler

Easter is a blessed reminder that ALL is well….we are victorious even in death! – Dr. James Pleitz

This Sunday we will be focusing on The Resurrection Factor (John 20:1-18). Remember to bring fresh flowers for the flowering of the cross. I look forward to seeing you as we gather on Easter for worship and Bible study.

On President’s Day weekend, one of those long weekends when “School’s Out,” Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Damon Furnier, better known as Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl, joined us for worship at First Baptist Pensacola, unannounced.  In fact, there was a pretty big crowd that day and I didn’t even notice that they were in the congregation.

An extraordinarily large number of middle school and high school students were seated together, front and center, in colored “Wise Up!” tee shirts as our worship time served as a grand conclusion to Disciple Now Weekend, a huge event devoted to equipping and instructing teens to make “wise” life choices. The atmosphere in the service was charged with energy and encouragement.  And one of the most popular rock musicians in history was in the crowd, somewhat anonymously.

A few hours after the service I happened to notice a few social media posts from members who “wished they could have met Mr. and Mrs. Alice Cooper at church today.”  At first I assumed that they had seen someone in our service who resembled Alice Cooper.  However, I became a little more curious when one of our ministers reported, “Alice Cooper and his wife came out my door and shook my hand.”  And on Monday I confirmed that Alice Cooper was indeed in Pensacola, had dined at one of our excellent seafood restaurants, had played golf at our top notch Country Club, and had joined our church family for worship.

Why was Alice Cooper in our worship service? And how should a church react when such a well-known celebrity comes to church? Although I wasn’t ever a huge Alice Cooper fan, I recalled reading a story or two about Alice Cooper’s Christian faith, testimonials similar to those of Bono and Ringo Starr. After discovering that the Coopers had joined us for worship, I revisited a few of those stories and even watched a video of his testimony on YouTube.  I learned that Cooper teaches Sunday School on occasion at his local church, and that he frequently attends worship services and Bible study gatherings while he is on the road.

Both Cooper and his wife were raised in Christian families.  In one interview, Cooper said, “I grew up in a Christian house. My dad was a pastor, he was an evangelist for 25 years, and I used to go up and do missionary work with him with the Apaches in Arizona.  My grandfather was a pastor for 75 years. I grew up in a Christian home. And my wife’s father is a Baptist pastor. So, I was like, we were PK’s – preacher’s kids – so we married each other.”

After some prodigal years early in his career, Cooper said he stopped drinking and started going back to church with his wife. “I finally realized, I had to go one side or the other,” said Cooper.  “The Lord really convicted me, saying, look, it’s time to make a decision here.”

It was rather inspiring to learn that Alice Cooper prioritizes a time for worship during his busy travel schedule.  And as a pastor, I am actually glad that very few people in our congregation noticed that Cooper and his wife were present in our worship service, and those who did, allowed them to be worshippers on that particular Sunday, and not celebrities.  As far as I know there were no autographs, no photos, and certainly no “selfies” with Cooper in the background.

When a celebrity comes to church, they usually prefer anonymity.  At our church we preach that “everyone stands on level ground at the foot of the cross.”  Every individual is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). On any given Sunday in our congregation you may spot local and national media personalities, prominent businesspersons, esteemed congressmen, respected judges, and renowned athletes, well-known individuals in the community who join the rest of us as we gather to worship God and embrace our primary identity, which is “child of God.”

On the Sunday that Alice Cooper came to church, quietly and without notoriety, he heard an A+ sermon from our Student Pastor and he joined his voice with others in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. He was not there as a notorious entertainer.  He was there as a fellow worshipper alongside spiritual family members who share a common confession, yet who travel a lot of different roads through life. As it is on most Sundays, it was an encouraging day of worship for our church family. Alice and Sheryl, I trust it was a good day for you as well. You are welcome here anytime.

(Barry Howard serves as senior minister of the First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida.)