"Times A' Wastin"

Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter-Cash sing a song entitled “Times A’ Wastin” that speaks about a couple noticing that “times a’ wastin” in their relationship and that they need to get a move on with their lives and focus on what’s important to them. Granted it uses little euphemisms popular in the type of songs that Cash and Carter-Cash sang together that detailed their rather interesting marriage, but their song speaks truth in the sense that time is slipping by quickly and we do not make time for the things that are important to us anymore. The question I have for you today is this: Since time is “a’ wastin” how can we better regulate our time that is reflective of both our spiritual walk with Christ and our daily lives in the real world?

In  Gordon MacDonald’s book Ordering Your Private World, MacDonald devotes a section of his book to the use of time in a Christian’s life. One of the chapters is entitled “Has Anyone Seen My Time? I’ve misplaced it!” While a catchy title, it was convicting to me because we all struggle with time management and have forsaken other tasks for the “more important” ones. In the book MacDonald opens the chapter on time with a story of a young pastor who approached him after a lecture where he had just concluded with a list of books he had just read. The young pastor ever eager to learn some tricks of the trade asked him this “Where do you find the time to read all those books?” This seemingly harmless question opened the door to the pastor’s private world where MacDonald was able to discover that this young pastor was disorganized in his outer world because he was neglecting his private world. This is not an uncommon issue for men in the ministry or even the most devoted believer because we tend to fill up our schedules with meetings, assignments, extracurriculars, events, etc.  Because of our busy schedules we often find it difficult to devote any time to our own personal walk with Christ. When we neglect or fail to devote time to our personal walk with Christ, we suffer in our ministries, our families, and even our own lives. This often leads to us to feelings of inadequacy and fatigue. We slowly begin to see our outer lives become more and more disorganized due to our neglect of personal time with God.

As followers of Christ we must develop a time to spend with God because everything else in our lives depends on it Believers both in the secular world and the ministry world understand that time management is crucial for their jobs and if they do not manage their time now, their time will manage them in the future. Spending time with God is the most important time that a believer can manage in their personal life. Christ was the expert on budgeting time during his 3 years in ministry. He was able to accommodate the smallest of children to the sickest of people he came across all because he knew how much time he had on this earth, and he knew that to be most effective he had to follow God in all work and deed. Christ budgeted his time when it came to discipleship and preaching. Even in the busyness of these demands, he still spent time with the Father. We must follow Christ’s example and budget our time effectively so that we do not let one of two things happen: Either we face burnout and pure disappointment in life due to a hectic and overfilled schedule, or we completely neglect our walk with God thinking that we can always make it up some other time or double up at the next quiet time or pray an extra 10 minutes longer. Both of these outcomes are easily avoided if we learn how to place importance on our personal time with God, and learn how to budget the rest of our time most effectively in a way that glorifies Him. No matter what we do in life, whether it’s a simple “Honey Do” list your wife may leave you on a Saturday or when preparing to preach on Sunday, budgeting your time effectively will improve your personal walk with Christ and leave you feeling accomplished with your day.

The Cross Church School of Ministry

The Cross Church School of Ministry

A series on who we are, what we do, and why we do it

Part 2- Who is the Cross Church School of Ministry?

When I first heard about the Cross Church School of Ministry I was sifting through my Twitter feed and stumbled upon something that my friend Nick Floyd, pastor of Cross Church Fayetteville, had tweeted about a new ministry being put together by his father, Ronnie Floyd, Senior Pastor of Cross Church, and Jeff Crawford, former pastor of Grand Avenue Baptist Church of Fort Smith. What I came across intrigued me and almost instantaneously I replied to Nick and he directed me to contact Jeff Crawford about what was all going on. Two days after I had initially seen any information about the Cross Church School of Ministry I was meeting with the president of the school, who turned out to be Jeff, and I was listening to a vision that spoke to my very heart and soul. I came to see who the Cross Church School of Ministry is, and it's with that thought I'd like to share with you who we are and how we can totally and completely excel your ministry trajectory and equip you with the tools and skills that most seminaries are lacking in teaching the called men and women of God.

The Cross Church School of Ministry is a one-year residential ministry opportunity that will prepare you for life in ministry, life in your home, and living a life committed to the Gospel advancement worldwide. This is not something that replaces seminary education or undercuts it in any way shape or form, but it supplements it and expedites your ministry opportunities and launches your ministry trajectory to new heights. The Cross Church School of Ministry couples you with well trained, experienced, and tenured ministry leaders across all facets of ministry in a church where a mentorship can occur and thus hands on ministry experience. The vision Pastor Floyd had for the school began almost a decade ago when he began to ask the question "If God has used Cross Church to impact and send out so many when this was not necessarily our focus, what if we made it our focus? In short- what if we became intentional about raising up, training, and sending out leaders?" The summer of 2012 was the time for this vision to begin to take shape. Pastor Floyd recruited Dr. Jeff Crawford to head up the school as president, he began to formulate partnerships with several seminaries and Bible colleges, and missionary sending agencies, and by late spring of 2013 the Cross Church School of Ministry was being talked about in thousands of Southern Baptist churches not only nation wide, but world wide.

Upon learning of some of these details in late February I was instantly hooked so to speak. I had originally planned on attending The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary this fall, but God had something far better planned for my life. It took me less than two days of prayer and asking guidance from mentors that this is what God intended for me to do, and after those two days I called Dr. Crawford and told him I was sold out for the Cross Church School of Ministry. I was all in. Some people might question why I put all my chips into this one hand, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God was doing and would continue to do amazing things with Cross Church under the leadership of Pastor Floyd. I knew God had a place for me there.

All this being said I know several people are asking how can I become involved? How can I send students there? How can I be in the school myself? Am I over-qualified if I have a college degree or even an M.Div from a seminary already? The answers to all those questions is a simple one best answered in this way: "The School of ministry will provide a unique opportunity for any young man or woman called to ministry and Kingdom service to gain practical ministry experience in the Cross Church setting. Students will come to the School of Ministry pre-college, during college, post college, pre-seminary, mid or post-seminary, or whenever in ministry to have classroom, mentorship and hands-on experiences preparing them as leaders for life, ministry, and Gospel advancement globally"(Taken from the School of Ministry website at http://www.crosschurchschool.com/ ) In short it doesn't matter whether you are 18 or 24 or 50 you still can learn, and you still can be a part of what God is doing here at Cross Church.

Please visit our website and listen to the countless videos and read through the blog post of our students to get a first hand account of what we are about. I pray that God does a great work in your life no matter what season of life or ministry you are in, I hope to hear from you soon and tell you more about what God is doing in my life, and in the life of the Cross Church School of Ministry.


God bless,


James

The Cross Church School of Ministry

The Cross Church School of Ministry

A series on who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

Part 1-Why I chose The Cross Church School of Ministry

 

People in all areas of my life keep asking me this one question. Why? Why spend a year with Cross Church and not go straight into seminary or the mission field? I responded of course with “Why not?”. Why not give my life over to a multiplying, disciple making, Holy Spirit driven, Great Commission bound, Gospel preaching church? The Cross Church School of Ministry serves not to replace seminary, but to compliment the academic training a person receives with real life ministry instruction from a staff that has extensive ministerial experience led by a man who has the vision to change the world through the preaching and proclamation of the Gospel through equipping and sending men and women out to plant churches. I chose this route because I was called quite literally to become a part of it. I was introduced to it and fell in love with it on the very front end because I saw the vision God had lain upon Pastor Ronnie Floyd’s heart and knew that this was something that was essential for the success of my ministry and future church plant. My calling to this school was confirmed almost instantaneously by several mentors and men in my life. Men like Dr. Lynn Loyd, former Director of the University of Arkansas’s Baptist Collegiate Ministries, Dr. Nick Floyd, Campus Pastor of Cross Church Fayetteville, Steve Moore, Connections Pastor of Grand Ave. Baptist Church in Fort Smith Arkansas, and Brad Carr, current Director of the Baptist Student Union at Central Missouri University; all of whom have mentored me and played a huge role in my life in some capacity since coming to Arkansas 6 years ago as a college freshman. All of whom which told me that this was meant for me, that this is why God had called me to Fayetteville in the first place, and that this experience of a lifetime would forever transform my ministry trajectory. Needless to say I was sold on the spot and have known from the get go that God would do an amazing work through CCSM in my life this year. I have complete confidence and faith that God is already calling men and women to be a part of the next cohort of students for next years class, and I urge you to pray about and consider two things: “Am I called?” and “What am I called to do?”. If you can discern those two things and know without a shadow of a doubt that your life is meant to glorify God through Kingdom work then join us at The Cross Church School of Ministry. Your very life and the lives of the people you minister to may depend on it.

 

God bless,

 

James

Back to the grind!

Hey y'all! I am back at it! I had to take off from writing for a while due to different things going on in my life, but now that my year at Cross Church Springdale is officially kicking off this Sunday I thought it would be good to ease back into writing again and get ready for the weekly updates that I'll be posting every Friday as this year goes on. This summer has been super busy and enlightening and God has definitely revealed himself to me in so many ways. I want to thank you for praying for me if you have and ask you to continue to pray as I start work on Sunday and officially start seminary this coming Monday. It will be an awesome and Holy Spirit filled year, and I am excited to see how God changes me, molds me, and directs me. I will fill you all in on something that has been heavily weighing upon my heart this whole summer. Next year after my year with Cross Church I feel God is leading me to pack up and move to Boston, MA and begin preparations to plant a church there in the city or in its surrounding area. I've been in love with the city of Boston eversince I went there as a freshman in college during spring break and have felt God calling me to that city since then. I am excited and scared, grateful and in awe, but more so than all those feelings I am so amazed that God has chosen me and called me to do this great work for His Kingdom. I don't know all the specifics and I'm not sure at all how I will go about this, but I do know that my year at Cross Church will prepare me and my time with them spent as a North American Mission Board church planting apprentice will equip me with the tools and skills I need to plant in an unreached area in our country. Pray for me, pray for Cross Church, and pray that God does a great work not only in my life, but that He is magnified and glorified in all that is accomplished.

God bless,


James

Preach the Word!

This past week and last weekend I was able to spend my time hearing and learning from some of the worlds greatest Evangelical Christian pastors that God has blessed us with in this era. Myself and a friend of mine attended The Gospel Coalition conference in Orlando, Florida from the 6th-10th, and during that time we experienced what I've come to call "theological overload". We heard from men such as Tim Keller the Presbyterian pastor and author from New York City and David Platt the Southern Baptist pastor from Birmingham, Alabama, and several other phenomenal pastors from all denominations in between.

The central theme and goal of the conference is uniting under the banner of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and putting aside all denominational ties and discrepancies and just focusing on the Word of God. I can honestly say that the goal of the conference was accomplished and that the message from the narrative Gospel according to Luke was successfully exposited and the Scriptures were preached with authoritative exegesis by all men who led us in worship. One thing did stick out to me throughout the entirety of the conference and it was through a book that was handed to me by the publishing company The Banner Of Truth Trust. The book entitled Preaching The Centrality Of Scripture by Dr. R. Albert Mohler of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and it was by this book how I've judged the preaching that I heard throughout the course of the conference.

Dr. Mohlers book is outstanding and one that I highly recommend for your personal pastoral library, your churches library, or just as a personal use to further understand what preaching is all about. He first charges the reader to "think seriously and soberly about the task of preaching. As we do so, I would direct us to the text of Scripture, to 2 Timothy 4:1-5." As ministers, elders, and pastors preaching is essential to the teaching of the Word of God and essential to the growth of the local church and the global Church. Preaching is the food that congregations desire and need to further their spiritual growth, it is equivalent to the milk a newborn baby needs from its mother, and it is the teaching we receive from preaching that builds our understanding of intense and hard to follow passages in Scripture. Preaching is necessary and required in my opinion to understand who God truly is and understand His purpose for our lives as followers of Christ.

Dr. Mohler goes on to say in his book that there is a crisis within the church that is endangering the ministry of the pastor and endangering the ministry of the local church body through inconsistent, incoherent, and weak preaching "Might the true evidence of a crisis in preaching be instead immature and even ignorant Christians falling prey to false doctrine? Or a worldly church proclaiming an increasingly worldly message? Or confusion and secularity? Or a lack of discipline in our churches? Or the development of factions and factionalism? Perhaps such a crisis in preaching cannot be quantified statistically at all. What if such a crisis were more fundamentally evidenced by the substance of what we preach or fail to preach?" Obviously there is a problem with the way some pastors are preaching and the Gospel is not being communicated effectively and the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy are concerning just that. To preach only the Word and preach it effectively and clearly.

" I Charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teaching to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5

Here Paul charges Timothy his own son in the faith to remain diligent in his preaching of the true Gospel and always contend for the faith even amongst false doctrine and in times of rough ministry. Ultimately what Dr. Mohler and what Paul is saying is PREACH THE WORD! Dr. Mohler goes on to say that "The link between the preaching of the gospel and the preaching of the Word is indissoluble and unbreakable." this means that we must never distance ourselves from our preaching of the written Word of God and that we must always, always be accurate in our preaching. What we are preaching is not a new message, nor is it something that was fashioned by men "We are heralds, not originators. We are charged to preach a message we have received-not to invent a message that will be well received. We are to preach that which has been sent, delivered, and addressed to us, not a message that has been developed or altered." We are charged to always hold fast to the Truth with which we were brought up in and contend its claim as the Word of our Sovereign and Holy Maker.

This post is not meant to come across as an indictment against anyone, but it is meant to encourage and urge pastors and elders to PREACH THE WORD! After the week I had in Orlando amongst several Godly preachers I was encouraged and adamant about sharing the over arching message relayed to me! If you are offended by this than maybe you should examine your own preaching and teaching, maybe your aren't preaching the Word that God commanded you to preach. Maybe you are, and maybe you just needed to be reminded as to why we do so!

Therefore I urge you brothers to always PREACH THE WORD and always contend for the faith in which Christ our God has given us.

God bless,
James

All scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway

Mohler, R. Albert. Preaching: The Centrality of Scripture. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2002. Print.

20 Schemes

20 Schemes

Gospel Churches for Scotland's Poorest

What is 20 Schemes?

20 Schemes is a sending network that seeks out missionaries and church planters willing to do the Lord's work in the ghettos or schemes as they are called in Scotland through Bible clubs, planting churches, and urban-lower income housing districts.

Why Scotland?

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "unreached people group-primitive tribes of people living in remote depths of the jungle, or perhaps some nomads in the far reaches of the world? 20 Schemes was founded with the sole purpose of preaching the Gospel to the unreached people who number in the millions, who live in modern housing, and who speak English living in Scotland. These people live in or near urban areas and are plagued by demoralizing poverty, unemployment, crime, explicit use of drugs and alcohol, and prostitution. Scotland which is historically known for its abundance of evangelical Gospel centered preachers has now fallen into ruin and depravity from Gods Holy Word. 20 Schemes believes that they must lead out with the saving message of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ as the answer to the staggering need among those living in the schemes. People do not change people, only the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change people.

20 Schemes was launched in the fall of 2012 with the purpose of planting and revitalizing Bible based, Jesus preaching, evangelical churches within twenty housing schemes over the next ten years. Their 5 points to doing so are as follows:

1. Identify 20 Schemes as priority areas
- They currently have seven planting opportunities within the first few months of existence, and five of them already have buildings/facilities for holding services.

2. Identify, where possible, church revitalization partners in those schemes
-They recognize that the work is hard, often discouraging, and sometimes even dangerous.

3. Recruit church planters, female outreach workers, interns, and ministry apprentices
-They realize the need for help and that it is urgent when fighting against Satan and the powers of the dark principalities he controls.

4. Develop church partners to support and resource our work in the shcemes
-They are called to faithfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they need support to achieve that purpose.

5. Raise up and invest in indigenous leaders
-Train up leaders amongst the schemes so that they may better relate to their impoverished kin.

I personally invite you to partner with and pray for my friends the Jackson family, specifically Jeff who is the father and husband, and the missionary being sent out by his church in Bardstown, Kentucky. Jeff has passion and zeal that I have only encountered in a few men to proclaim the Gospel akin to what Jim Elliot had when he gave his life up for the Gospel. I firmly believe in Jeff's calling and ministry and I urge you to pray for him and his family as they transition from living in the United States to moving to a scheme in Scotland and planting a church amongst the lost. If you would like to know more about Jeff and the entire Jackson family you can reach him here at jeff20schemes@gmail.com or jeffzanne1@gmail.com or at their blog at http://jackson4scotland.blogspot.com. For more information about 20 Schemes you can go to their website here or click on the link on the left hand side of my blog. www.20schemes.com

God bless,
James

 

Death, and why it matters

This week millions of Christians around the globe are preparing their hearts, minds, and souls for Easter Sunday and the worshipful experience to be had celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This week is also a time for reflection, sacrifice, and understanding of what Christ death and our own deaths truly mean.

These past two weeks have been rather hard for my family and I because we had to say goodbye to the patriarch of my mothers family. My Grandpa, Norman Wisely, passed away last Saturday at 2:30 in the morning and he met Christ for the first time in that exact moment. My Grandpa, albeit dead on Earth, was alive in Christ and experiencing glory and a glorified body for the first time! His death brought forth his new life with Christ in Heaven! Of course I was sad to know he would no longer be on Earth with us, but I was joyfully jealous of him because he was where any Christian would rather be right now in the presence of the Maker and Perfecter of our faith.

His passing spurned me to think on death and well this post is dedicated to my Grandpa and to the thousands of Christians who have gone on before him.

As the great Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer said often "When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die", and we who claim Christ have already died in some ways. We have died to our old selves and died to the sinful passions that fueled us and have been reborn and awakened to the sweet grace that Christ gives us in salvation and new life. In his book The Cost of Discipleship in the foreword the late Bishop of Chichester G.K.A Bell goes on to expound upon Bonhoeffers quote and says this "There are different kinds of dying, it is true; but the essence of discipleship is contained in those words." Bells words speak on dying in a whole new sense that many Christians overlook in their own lives and I want to speak plainly to you now and break this down logically and biblically so you can truly grasp the nature of death, and why it matters.

Death is all around us, it is in nature, in movies and literature, it is in schools, hospitals, churches, businesses, and even within our own bodies. As I type this thousands of cells are dying inside my body and new ones are taking there place. Death is natural, emotional, physical, and spiritual and necessary. Death is not something new, but it wasn't originally Gods intention for mankind. Death is a product of sin and thus a separation between God and mankind. Death is not beautiful as some poets and lyricist may have you think, but it is not as gruesome as the authors of horror novels and screenplay will have you think either. Death is mysteriously dangerous and yet satisfying in more ways than none. Death as I said before is necessary, it is a payment for the live we have lived on Earth, and it has been fulfilled by the death of Christ on the cross.

The reason death matters is the Gospel. The reason death is important to Christians is because of how we as followers of Christ are no longer separated from God by the chasm of Hell. Death had to occur for us to obtain access to God. Death had to occur to atone for our sins. Blood had to be shed in a sacrificial way in order for sins to be forgiven and in order for death to be conquered. Death matters because Christ died for you and I so that we may no longer wander this Earth bound for Hell. Death matters because God sent His own Son to die for us so that we may be saved through Him. The call to Christ is to die because to truly call oneself a Christian you must have put your old ways to death and been reborn a new creation by Christ blood. As Paul the Apostle says in Philippians 1:21 " For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" To die is to gain eternal life with God and to live is to live out Christ through our lives here on Earth. We are called to do such so that when the time comes for our physical death we will have already been through one death and this time this death brings about eternity in Heaven. That is why death matters and that is why this week is most important for Christians because we are constantly reminded of the sacrificial death of Christ and the life that He brings.

God bless,

James

All Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) published by Crossway