Tommy Mitchell / The Rurban Church Blog

Getting the Job DONE!

Yesterday I drove up to Columbus early to take my Dad and Mom to the doc in Tuscaloosa.  All went well with that.  Since then, I have been getting a variety of "jobs" done for them.

Yesterday we:

1. Repaired a table by the bed - kind of got "crunched" in a stumble.
2. Put up the Christmas Tree
3. Moved the book case.
4. Repaired the shelf.
5. Jumped off the truck - charged up the battery
6. Worked on taxes.
7. Something else I can't remember!!!!

Today - I have put the riding mower on a trickle charge in hopes of cranking it later.
I need to clean the leaves out of the garage.
Make a run to the pharmacy
Crank the mower and maybe mow some weeds.
Air up the tires on the mower / potentially fix a flat.
Do a little more on taxes.
Whatever needs to be done.

Keeps you hoppin'!

How Easily Our Heads are Turned!!!

Much agonizing and hand wringing has been done among evangelicals and Southern Baptists in particular as the reality sets in that the church in America is in real decline. It has been for several decades, but now that this trend has been discovered in Southern Baptists, the losses are beginning to worry some folks.

How did this happen? How could it happen?  Study after study has been done quantifying the loss. Some have even attempted to explain the loss!  Really- - we can save everyone some expense and study!

It is quite simple!  Our heads have been cleverly turned by our adversary, Satan!

When was the last time you heard a parent say, "My child may or may not get to do everything they want in life - but I just want to make sure that above all - they are obedient children of God!"   Ok, you may have heard it - when have you really seen it in action!  Some - but not much.

When was the last time you heard a parent say, "I want my child to be skilled at sharing their faith - I hope they will win dozens of people to Christ!"  Further, in all my years (more than 30) preaching in the church, I have had no more than 10 persons ever express genuine, grave concerns over the need for more people to be engaged in leading people to Christ.

Our heads have been turned.  We are, as the church, by and large living for this world - not the next. We are no longer a missionary people - but rather a settled bunch!  We would rather try to fill our days with the entertainments of this world. And the really "spiritual" people will assume a superior, intellectual position trying to explain to the rest of us why we really have little need to share our faith - We long for a better day - and it is the one behind us - the "good old days!"  The better days are really the ones ahead - the one with the Lord in an eternal home.  If we truly lived in light of the reality of the soon coming eternity, we would be much more concerned with preparing people to leave this life instead of trying to be ready to stay here as long as possible.

You may protest these thoughts - I would welcome that!  However, actions speak far louder than all our grand statements of faith!  Why are evangelicals declining?  We don't believe in what we say enough to live it!  That is not the kind of faith that gets us where we need to be.  And that is reason to weep, mourn, repent, and get busy caring about eternity instead of just today and tomorrow.

Five.. Maybe Six Things I Love About Morning Worship

1. Greeting People - Before, during and after the service.  There are so many great exchanges - encouragements, quick prayers, news gathering, heart sharing etc. 

2. Expressing Praise - Every week several hundred people stand on their feet and sing to the Lord!  WOW! Where else do people do that regularly outside of worship in a church? I'm talking about as a group!  It is wonderful.

3. Expressing Gifts - Each week someone or a group express their gifts - whether musically in singing or playing an instrument, in drama, or in prayer.

4. Prayer - I love it when our men share scripture and prayer.  The prayers are all over the map (that's good.) They may be prepared or spontaneous! They may be deeply personal or highly corporate!  But I hear so many wonderful thoughts expressed in those prayers.

5. Preaching - God called me to that - and I love it when He fills my heart full!

6. Invitation - I just love it when people respond to the Lord. It is wonderful when new members join the fellowship. God has been blessing us!

Great Day! - 1/25/09

Today was truly a wonderful day of worship at ABC!  We had excellent worship and the choir was on musical steroids!  Robby Myrick did a great job with the music and we had one person join our fellowship.

We also had a very good number of guests.  We are looking at "Four of the Greatest Statements You Can Share With Your Spouse."  Last Sunday was "I am Satisfied."  Today, we had a great time looking at "I'm Sorry!"    We discussed the brokenness that leads to repentance and the mandate to offer forgiveness. 

Telling your spouse you are satisfied - and telling them you are sorry are great ways to say "I love you!"

Tonight we had a great KidStuf and evening worship.  Our students did a great drama moment at the beginning of the service. 

It was just a great day.  This morning we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 316 in Bible Study and about 400 in worship.

Surviving "Tough" Economic Times!

We have all been hearing the warnings of impending gloom and doom!  Banks are going belly up - etc. I've noticed that my bank is doing fine - they did not make crazy loans to unqualified people!  Imagine that!  Well, I need to stay on topic here. 

In a generation or two that have had plenty - that for the most part have every gadget known to man and seldom have seen the inside of a kitchen - I guess these times already seem like the great depression to them! 

Might I make a few suggestions! It will put money in your pocket!

1. Don't purchase any "technology" this year! You probably, like me, have enough techno stuff, even old stuff, to keep you satisfied for one year. 

2. Don't eat out so much!  I didn't say "not at all" - just cut back. After all, I don't want anyone to starve.
CASE IN POINT!  I had been eating out at the local cafe for breakfast every morning, Monday - Saturday.  1 biscuit, 1 Mt. Dew, bacon, and a dip of grits.  That is around $4.00.  That is also $24.00 a week - $96.00 per month!!!!! Now that is "real" money.  I also used to each lunch at this same establishment at least 3 or more times per week for around $8.00.  That is another 24.00 to 32.00 a week  or 96.00 to 128.00 a month.

Here is what I have done.  I only eat breakfast twice a week at the cafe. I try to only eat lunch out once a week.  I have saved roughly $144.00 per month the last two months!

I eat a single pop tart for breakfast with cold ice water - and a turkey sandwich for lunch - or peanut butter and jelly!!  Hey - PB&J's were in the garden of eden .... well ... they are time tested.  I have survived - and actually enjoy being at home for a few minutes.    You can't be at home?  Pack a lunch!

3. Use cash!  Debit cards somehow remove the idea of immediate withdrawal from our accounts.  Card spending always leads to higher spending.  But if you have to get cash out and use it for purchases, you will tend to spend less.

4. Make a menu for your meals each week.  Take 10 minutes and decide what you want to fix for meals during the week.  Then go to the grocery store WITH A LIST of just those items needed and make your purchases.  You will save somewhere between 10% - 25% in costs.  Also try to go to the grocery store AFTER you have eaten - not while you are hungry!

5. BEWARE OF BARGAINS - Merchants know how to sell - they create a need by presenting a price for an item that you "just can't refuse!"  And it may be a GREAT deal! But if you really don't need it - why buy it?

6. Carefully consider making some purchases over the internet.  Items that you must have are sometimes cheaper - and many places offer free shipping.  If there is a shipping charge - weigh the costs carefully - shipping can sometimes wipe out the savings on an item.

7. We are spoiled by "instant gratification!"  We run out of something - we run to the store.  Try to go once a week - and if you forgot something that is not absolutely essential - do without it until the next week.  Running by to pick up "this or that" results in higher expenditures!  They add up!

8. Stay Home!!!  Sounds weird - but we have all these DVD players, internet access, every kind of tv imaginable - and all kind of movies!  Why have all this stuff and still load up and go to a theater?  Get to know your family - entertain at home.  Hey, when we were kids, we used to actually enjoy playing outside.  We did not even need batteries or electricity to do that!  Just an imagination.  Imagine that!??!!?

Yuck Saturday!

Today was a day I hoped to get a lot of STUFF done!  This morning I did manage a couple of things - but it has basically been a SICK day!  Don't know what went wrong - but the old stomach has been YUCK all day!  Headache! Nausea!  YUCK!

I am trying to feel better - (think your way there!!!!) so I can preach tomorrow!  It may be a SPRITE sermon instead of a Mt. Dew sermon!

4 Wonderful Surprises!

Occasionally a pleasant surprise comes along! Here are a few of my favorites:

1. A card or note of encouragement.  Though I appreciate any expression from anyone - I'm not talking about a card that comes just under a sense of obligation - like you give a wedding a gift and you usually get a thank-you card.  When you get a card with a handwritten note that just expresses encouragement and love - that is such a blessing! Every such card I have received was timely!  It will help you learn to send such cards.

2. When people lead someone to salvation through Jesus Christ!  This is just fabulous. The excitement, joy, and wonder of having participated in seeing someone's life go from darkness to light is unmatched by anything.  When people actually do this - they are so pumped!   You rejoice with them.  You know they will lead others too - because the blessings of doing so are beyond this world!

3. When people act to care for others. (without being prompted)  It is such a blessing to see people providing meals, keeping children, driving folks to the doctor, helping with projects, you name it...  Sometimes you get a real surprise when you hear of how fully people have provided for someone else. 

4. When someone I don't know who is from somewhere else brags on our church. They may have been blessed directly or indirectly through utility assistance, or rent assistance, or the food bank - they may have been fed at Ronald McDonald house by our students, they may have been helped during the Great Day of Community with lower gasoline prices or home repair - or during the month of service in July with home repairs, home building, nursing home visits etc. or dozens of other ministry projects of the church.  But it is always good when people outside your church speak well of it! 

5. When someone informs you that God has used you to make a difference in their life.  That is so humbling. You know that only God could do that - and you rejoice.

Three Things That Disappoint Me!

1. People with no vision! - No matter what it relates to in life - family, business, church, one's personal journey. People who have no vision - who never buy into a vision - are wasting all the valuable creativity and purpose that God has for them and for others through them!

2. People who resist vision!  Some people - and it is often people without vision - just seem to exist to destroy, resist, inhibit, hold back of those who have vision!  It is really unfortunate to say - but people who are persistently like this find themselves in really bad company - SATAN!

3. People who give up on vision!  This is too often the result of frustration with those who resist the vision!  God certainly gives us vision - He enhances the vision - The Lord may increase, adjust, redirect, fine tune, or even give a whole new vision.  But we can ill afford to just give up on it if He has given it.  For me, not giving up is the hardest part!

Worship Recap - for 1/18/09

We had a wonderful day of worship at ABC!  It is always exciting when someone makes public their profession of faith - and we had that happen yesterday morning, along with two other additions to the church. 

The music went pretty good - the choir did a great job - and we are always glad when Deanna can be with us to sing. 

The first of the "Four Great Statements You Can Share With Your Spouse" went well. That statement was
"I Am Satisfied!"  We talked about Godliness, Contentment, and Great Gain!  We talked about rejoicing with the wife of our youth - being satisfied at her breasts - and being ravished with her love!

The cult of dissatisfaction is epidemic in America.  In almost everything, consumerism and advertising has caused us to live much of our life dissatisfied with who we are and what we have. We are in a constant state of wanting something else - or something more.

If we are Godly - God-like - we will come to a place of contentment - and that contentment brings great gain!
That will enable us to look at our spouse and say to them - "I Am Satisfied!"  In all things, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and materially - I am satisfied with you! 

We talked about much, much more.  Many marital difficulties would be solved if two people would love Jesus to the point of contentment - and love each other the same way. If we would resolve to "be satisfied" with each other - then we would find great gain.

It was wonderful to see so many couples in the altar during the invitation. Praise God! 

Sunday evening was also a great time in the Lord.  We looked at the Lord's great statement in Malachi where He said, "You have shown contempt for my name."  After looking through the scripture, I think we all discovered that there are ways that we show contempt for His name. 

Great Memories - and Fabulous Talent!

For a few minutes tonight I went crazy on Youtube looking at some great old songs.  I found this great Victor Borge piece - done on his 80th birthday.  His talent (and comedy) along with Michala Petri's talent are just unbelievable.   ENJOY!!!