Pain Management

The day my dog Buffy died, I shut down.


It was a summer afternoon and I was playing in the front yard.  My dog had decided a few weeks before that he would be able to catch a car tire if he tried hard enough.  He was persistent even though we yelled at him.  I'm pretty sure he would not have known what to do with it if he caught it.


A teenage guy in a jeep hit him.  I looked up as Buff flew through the air and then I ran over screaming as my dog lay in the middle of the road.  He was taking his last few breaths as he died in my arms.  I cried really hard.  It still hurts to think about it.


I don't remember ever wanting a dog again.  Even now, as my son is getting older, I think about him having a dog.  Every little boy needs a dog.  But I don't want him to have one because I don't want him to experience his dog dying.  I want to shelter him from the pain of losing something he loves.  So if I can shelter him...and me...from ever loving, then I can shelter him from the pain of losing.


That sounds healthy enough doesn't it?  Don't engage in relationships because if you do, you might get hurt.  


In my current life, I am planting a church.  I hear from smart people that this kind of thing is a strain on relationships.  "People who start with you don't stay with you," they always say.  I begin to posture so that when it happens, I can be numb to the pain.  It feels like getting a dog.  


I need hope in the gospel so that I am free to invest in people in spite of the pain and disappointment. 


And I think we need a dog.  

Waving At The Bus

Now that I am a dad, I can appreciate the fact that as my son gets older, I will become more and more of a dork.

In Utah, one dad is taking "dork" to a completely new level.  His 16 year old son's school bus comes back by their house every morning.  So Dale decided to stand outside one morning and dressed up in a San Diego Chargers jersey and helmet. Each morning of this school year, he has been creative in waving at his son and his friends.

You can read about the rest here.

(via Mark Ostreicher)

Jesus Storybook Bible

Bradens's bedtime routine is one of my favorite times of the day.  After he gets a cup of milk and his blanket, he climbs into our bed for a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.  This is a tremendous resource for parents.  Every story from OT and NT whispers Jesus' name and points to Him as the hero of the BIG STORY. I highly recommend it as a parent who has been reading it to him from before he was born.

You can look at a sample of the book here.

You can get it HERE. 

Healing and Restoration

The tornadoes that went across the southeast on April 27th were some of the most destructive in over 50 years.

Here is a story in the New York Times today about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams.  I am proud to have worked with some of these folks following Hurricane Wilma in 2005.  Good people doing good work and partnering with organizations to bring restoration to hurting people.

You can give to their efforts here.

I'm Back

After some time hanging out with the folks over at typepad, I decided to come back to my blogger account.  That may or may not have to do with the fact that my church was paying for the blog over there and I am not going to pay for a blog myself.

I actually am looking forward to writing again.

A Day In The Courthouse...

Last week I was thinking a lot about the area in which we live and the opportunities we have to live missional, loving lives around people who hurt. To be honest, South Florida is a place where people live who 1) are getting away from something or 2) think that they have no other option for opportunity and a better life. It makes it hard because if you aren't fluent in "crazy" you have a hard time making it through many conversations.

I met this guy Sunday who was going through a lot. He was facing a court hearing the next day and was scared of the outcome. He is a young black man with a wife and 3 kids (with one on the way). As he sat in my office coming to grips that Jesus was all he had, he began to ask me if I could make sure that someone looked after his family if something happened to him. Did you catch that. Here is a guy who blindly asked the church (defined here as a local gathering of Jesus followers) if they would sacrificially live in such a way that the least of these would be loved and cared for.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but some things take me a while. Although there are endless possibilities to show love, it seems that this one actually came to sit with his family and ask me point blank, "will you love us."

Trust me...I am a selfish person and I still spent time fighting the idea, but this is one that I couldn't pass up. I sat with the man and his wife for about 5 hours on Monday while we waited for his case to come up...together. It was pushed back for a few weeks, so for now, he is sitting at home with his family.

And I am sitting here convinced that those 5 hours of sitting on Monday were the best days of "real ministry" that I have experienced in a long time.

A Simple Apology

No really...I'm positive that all the pope needs to do is a simple "I'm sorry." I mean, does this look like a group that holds a grudge.

Note to Pope...you might not want to do it in person. These peaceful demonstrators might just rip you a new one.

Things I Miss...

There have been so many things that I have been considering over the past few weeks about the geopgraphy of ministry and what role family plays in it. Many mentors of mine would be quick to call me to a life of leaving (home, parents, friends) for the sake of the gospel and planting ourselves in a new place...which we have done these past 3 years. But most of those people live in the same town that they grew up in. I do find it odd that even Jesus had his family very close as he was calling his disciples to follow while leaving all others behind.

Please understand, these thoughts are coming from a very shallow motivation. This comes as I am sitting here watching Alabama football today in a quiet house. I called my brother, my dad and some of my friends and they all are hanging out in tailgating situations and I have to say it...this time of year, I miss being in Alabama.

But that isn't gonna stop me. I do have my good friends James Westfall and Dr. Kenneth Noisewater with me and I will do my part to pull the TIDE past Vandy.

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!!

Loving and Ready

Mark 12:29-31 - Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength (I think that I kept that one about 15 minutes today).

The second greatest commandment is to love people (I think that one was much less).
I think that there is a link from the greatest to the next greatest.

I was thinking this morning of the times that I helped someone out. A couple of those were when I was driving down the road and saw someone with a flat tire and a look on their face that tells me that they have never changed a tire before. I have pulled over and tried to beat my personal best time in changing said tire and beating my personal best time (just under 4 minutes). A few other times I have helped someone move out of a house when they have just been evicted. I have even helped a couple of old ladies out now and then. One of the things that these have in common is that they are spontaneous acts that arise out of a perceived need.
And the problem is...these are the only things that come to mind.

This might sound funny coming from a pastor (or par for the course depending on your perspective). But most of the serving that I do is planned. Planned or not, giving and serving is THE life of a Jesus follower. I love being involved in planned acts of service. Whether it is a mission project, larger social action or teaching others about the same, they are acts of grace that we show to the world because of the grace given to us.

But I want more of the unplanned things. There is no doubt that there is need everywhere. I do not want to be so self consumed or agenda driven that I miss the God moments. I don't want to be like Jacob (the guy in Genesis) that woke one morning and had that sinking feeling that God was there the whole time and he didn't even know it.

I don't want love to be something that I plan to do, but I want love to be the driving force behind all I do, which causes me to be led by a love agenda.

Love Wins....

Baptists and Beer...or sipping saints

The outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention got a chance to write a farwell letter in a paper called the SBC LIFE. It gets put in my mailbox at the office every month, so I glance at it to see what category I am getting associated with currently. So you can imagine the look on my face to see the tone of this letter. Of all the things in the world that could be a problem...notice the theme. (The bold emphasis is mine...as well as the parenthetical comments).

A Word From Our Former President
June 27, 2006

Dear Southern Baptists!
Thank you a million times a million for the unspeakable privilege of serving you the last two years as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. While I earnestly plead for your continual prayers, please, please begin now to pray long and hard for our new president, Dr. Frank Page.

Recently I've been asked several questions from across the Convention which, in a fashion, summarizes these days.

"What came out of this year's meeting at Greensboro?"

While the Convention dealt with a number of important issues and items, it most definitely had several defining conclusions. There was a spirit of oneness and a unity of purpose as the Convention did, in fact, very enthusiastically reconfirm that the Great Commission and soul-winning evangelism are still the main thing for the SBC and that the Cooperative Program is the best way to collectively finance the cost of world evangelism.
Additionally, the Convention voted almost unanimously (actually...it was about 85 %) that they wanted pastors and people who are leading them not to be persons blinded by a theology that encourages and promotes drinking alcoholic beverages of any kind.

"Were there any surprises at the Convention?"

Oh yes! Undoubtedly, the greatest surprise to almost everyone was that several Southern Baptist pastors actually came to a microphone and publicly promoted the drinking of alcoholic beverages and wanted the SBC to do the same! Actually, I never thought I would see that take place, and it is not only a surprise but an outrage! My father was addicted to alcohol, which contributed to his early death. He advised me that if I would never take the first drink I would never end up like he did. I did not, and he was correct! (sounds like the problem was abuse...not use)

I understand one pastor's blog site indicates he believes his drinking assists him in soul-winning! What a pathetic joke! These blogging Baptist pastors just blew their collective cork! (terrible attempt at sarcasm)

From my vantage point, as presiding officer of the Convention, I took a slow and deliberate look at the number of ballots raised in support of such foolishness and comparatively, there was hardly anyone who was in favor of encouraging the use or promotion of the use of alcoholic beverages. In fact, the overwhelming voice and raised ballot vote made it clear that Southern Baptists do not want leaders that use or promote the use of any type of alcohol.
We have many outstanding young pastors and others on their way to leading this Convention to its greatest days, and they are smart enough to know they will not do it as "sipping saints," but as sober soul winners! (my only hope is to be as clever with my words) God help us to never, ever elect a user or promoter of the use of alcoholic beverages to any leadership position, and I am personally sorry and ashamed if we have any in those positions now! (are we all convinced that Jesus would have been able to be elected to a position in the SBC)

The next three months of our attempt to witness, win, and baptize one million is of large interest to many. Accelerate — Accelerate — Accelerate! Just as I urged on page 13 of the Convention program, we need to do a number of things to go all out these last three months: Have a revival, do another associational baptism rally, have a local one-day Crossover, conclude this church year with a major event centered upon reaching the lost and baptizing. In short, "Do all you can with all you have where you are ... NOW!"

The other most-asked question is, "What will Bobby Welch do after being president of the SBC and 'retiring' as pastor of First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach?"

My deep commitment to the Lord is to give the best of the rest of my life to multiplying soul winners to reach the world through the SBC. My quest is to see the Convention do MORE then ever before — MORE going and MORE giving! I plan to do this by encouraging MORE going and giving through state conventions, pastor's conferences, evangelism conferences, local churches, and association-wide meetings. Already a number of these are scheduled, and I am preparing to do all of these meetings I possibly can in the future.
By the work of Christ, you of the Southern Baptist Convention can win this world now!
To that end ...

With You In His Certain Victory!
Bobby Welch

I don't really care what your stance on alcohol is. I just wonder if there could be better, more encouraging use of an article that is going out to hundereds of thousands of people. I really think that it could have spent more time majoring on the majors. This sounds entirely self righteous...but then again, I guess I do too....

Welcome to another episode of adventures in missing the point.

And Sam...be nice.

Brad