Tommy Mitchell / The Rurban Church Blog

Great Gifts for Your Children!

I've noticed that over the last few years, birthday parties for children have changed.   Birthday parties used to be four or five kids, cake, a few gifts, and playing outside!  They have evolved into a big cash business for retailers.  Now it seems that 10 - 20 kids are there - anything from cake to a full meal is provided - and then some major entertainment is provided - jumpers - sliders - movies - theme parks!!!!!  And the gift giving looks like Christmas!  I'm not complaining - my kids are grown!!! But I do want to suggest that there are some very important gifts that kids need that many are missing.  Be sure to give your children these gifts:

1. The gift of responsibility!  At a fairly early age, kids need to learn the gift of responsibility. Simple, but important tasks can be assigned to them - make up their bed, clean their room, pick up their dirty clothes and put them in the hamper etc.   They can be assigned duties as they grow older - helping with dishes, doing the laundry etc..

2. The gift of self-sufficiency!  Some of those above mentioned tasks also help a child to learn to do things for themselves.  Many kids grow up these days and basically can't take care of themselves. They need MUCH parental help well into their 20's and beyond.  They need to learn to do things on their own.

3. The gift of work!  You may be "wealthy" enough to provide everything your child needs financially, but it is a mistake to do so.  Children need to learn the value of work and the value of earning their way!  They want an IPAD!  Consider the value of having them save their money to buy one!  Then they realize the cost and value of their purchases.  Of course you will give them gifts! But don't give them everything!  Children need to have a work ethic!

4. The gift of losing!  Children need to learn that they don't always win!  They will not always be the best at everything they do.  Let children compete - and learn to win with joy and lose with grace! Don't go "make it up" to them when they lose! This instills in them that losing is not fair - and that they should be compensated when they lose!

5. The gift of service!  Children should learn to be "others oriented" early on.  Involve them in helping others! Involve them in meaninful service projects. Expose them to real need so they will appreciate the blessings they have been given.  Help them learn to personally sacrifice their own time and resources.

6. The gift of Christ!  From the beginning teach, model, talk about, love Jesus Christ!  Help your child learn of the Lord!  Help your child come to a point of genuine repentance and faith in Christ. Without Christ, all that you teach your child will be useless for the next world - eternity!  Celebrate Jesus! Live authentically for Christ! Your kids can spot a phony!  Give them Jesus!

A Word of Advice for Kids With Aging Parents!

Trust me! You need to do the following!

1. While you and your parents are younger, try to insist that they invest in some long term care insurance!

2. Before your parents "need" help, start preparing for the day when they will!

3. While your parents still have sound minds, make a plan, preferably in writing, for what they will do, where and with whom they will live etc., if one or both become disabled.

4. If at all possible, get your parents to start transferring titles, accounts, possessions to you and your siblings while they are still up and going.  Assure them they will go right on living as if it is theirs.  Believe, me - this one is important. Failing to do this will lead to the potential loss of assets depending on the kind of care your folks end up needing.

5. Plan for the best - prepare for the worst!

If you fail to plan in these ways, you will find "end of life" issues to be very unpleasant. You will also find that you will not have much control over assets if you are faced suddenly with a "nursing home" situation. 

One thing I have learned from helping my parents - I do not want to own a home past my 60's!  I want to give my kids first option on anything I have - and then rent an apartment or home with no yard responsibilities or maintenance.  A TV, internet, and a good couch you can take a nap on will be sufficient for me! 

Day Two of a Tragedy!

Here is how you can pray for the Police Department in Pearl, MS today!

1. Pray for the family of the Mike Walter, the officer killed in the line of duty!  Specifically, pray for emotional and physical strength for his wife and daughter.   They will need every support available.

2. Pray for those injured.  The emotional stress of losing a brother officer and their own injuries will be a challenge for them.

3. Pray for the Police Department.  Specifically:

       Pray for their endurance.  The department must simultaneously give information to those investigating this horrible loss while greiving at the same time.  Their work does not end - even in the midst of their grieving.

    Pray for their encouragement.  The loss of an officer in the line of duty reminds every other officer of the real and present dangers of the job.  Pray that God will encourage them and keep them safe.

    Pray for their patience.  I mentioned this yesterday, but in every community there will be some "self-appointed" experts who make unfounded and ridiculous statements without any facts.  These type of people essentially grind "salt into wounds" with their commentary.  Pray that these fine officers and their families will be shielded from those who use tragedy for their own advantage.

    Pray for their leadership.  The Chief and the command staff are all under a tremendous amount of responsibility and stress today.  Among their top concerns will be the families of those killed and injured, and the morale of the rest of the department.  Pray for their wise decision making.

4. Pray for the spouses and children of the officers in the Pearl Police Department. Pray that God will strengthen them for the days ahead. Pray that God will restore to them a sense of safety and security.   

An Open Letter to Agricola Baptist!

My heart is so full today!  I am excited about what God is doing!  Some great things are happening and are about to happen!

1. This Sunday! We will examine the topic "Do Worship Right!" this Sunday! As I prepare for this message I am reminded of how easily we make "worship services" about anything and everything other than focusing on Christ!  God is reminding me that there can only be one true object of our worship! Of course, worship is about far more -- far, far, more than Sundays!

2. This Sunday Night!  We will take some time to have fellowship towards the end of AAD with Dusty Sherrell, celebrating his recent earning of the Master of Divinity Degree!  That will happen at about 6:15 pm. 

3. This Fall!  Wow! The planning is not quite done - but God has laid an awesome theme on our hearts for August through December!  Each month will be different expression of this theme and I can hardly wait to unveil it to you!  Be praying! We are going to be doing some stuff for families, the community, and for our spiritual growth that will be fantastic! 

4. NEWSBOYS!  Have you heard?  Newsboys will be the featured group at Praise in the Park this year!  That is absolutely the hand of God at work!  ABC will go and participate!

5. Wednesday Night! In the adult study, we will be looking at Ananias: The Reluctant Disciple! What do you do when God tells you to do something you are not too sure about?  What do you do when you are instructed to do something by the Lord that seems.....well..... maybe dangerous?  We will see what Ananias did!  That is Wednesday night at 6:30 pm.

6. Wednesday Night Meal!  Hey! I just thought you might want to know!  We are having a baked potato bar and salad! That sounds great to me!

7.  God is blessing so much! We are enjoying serving our community!  Please remember Backpack Buddies this Sunday and bring a pop-top soup, little juicers etc.! We will take them during the $1.00 offering time to supply our Backpack Buddies for the rest of this school year! We are serving 41 children in two elementary schools by assisting them with weekend nutrition!  Praise the Lord!  I am thankful for the Lord raising up Melissa Smith to oversee this ministry!

Bring someone with you this Sunday! They will be introduced to the Lord and to genuine worship! Get excited! NOW!  Prepare for worship -NOW! How do you prepare for worship? You worship God now - today - with all your life! Obey Him - and come to the worship service with your heart full of God overflow from the week! 

Dr. T

No Compromise!

Compromise seems to be "big" thing these days!  Everyone wants everyone else to "compromise" truth, morals, even common sense so we can all "feel good" about ourselves! People want to believe that compromise takes from many good ideas and standards and then creates a way of living in which we will have utopia!

But friends, genuine truth cannot be compromised without damaging everyone!  There may be some compromise that is insignificant - you want to go to a steak house and I want to go to a fish house - so we compromise and go to an oriental restuarant!  No big deal!  Of course, the result of compromise was that neither of us got anything we wanted - we just both settled on what we could tolerate.

When it comes to God's Word, the push is on, as much from inside the church as outside, to compromise!  God's Word says to be sexually pure before marriage and have fidelity to your spouse in marriage! Right now our society is not arguing about compromise on the first - we don't find much sexual purity even in the church before marriage! What we are being encouraged to compromise now is the institution of marriage itself!  If you want to get married, fine! If not, then accept it!  The problem - God's Word cannot be compromised.  It can be disobeyed - but not compromised.  You know why? Because God wrote it - and He doesn't compromise.

The marriage deal was just one illustration!  We are being bombarded to compromise all Biblical standards! The problem of compromising scripture is that we end up declaring eternal truths invalid! We essentially make ourselves the "deciders" of what is truth and what is not!  It is to reject the Lord Himself as truth!

The longer I preach, the more Biblically centered I am becoming! This is not a form of Biblical "idolatry!" It is the understanding that God gave us His Word to establish eternal truths and boundaries for our lives. He gave us scripture to reveal truths about Himself!  The more I preach, the more I am impressed to "let the Word speak!" 

The more I do that, I find the Holy Spirit "stirring" hearts!  Sometimes that "stirring" is like hitting a wasp nest with a stick!  Sometimes that stirring is a deep moving of the heart towards righteousness.  I have a lot to say - but I am trying to defer to staying out of the way and just letting the Word speak!  God uses us - He speaks through His servants - but His Word must outshine anything we have to say on the matter! 

One thing is for sure! In the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who teach and preach must not compromise on the Word of Truth!  To do so will likely end in disaster for the church and the teacher / preacher!  I, for one, want to avoid that!

Evaluating Easter!

Today is Easter! Praise the Lord!  It is 100% appropriate that the church gives special notice and celebration to resurrection Sunday!  The achievement of the Lord on this day is the completion of a great miracle of forgiveness - sin bearing - and defeating death and sin!  The day is worthy of our special notice!

How will we evaluate Easter?   Huge crowds will appear at most churches today!  It is quite likely that most of our churches will have the largest crowd of the year!  We will  polish up the worship center, break out our best clothing,  sing our best songs,  and hopefully, preach great sermons!  Extra seating will be available!   And if our people show up wearing their new look, and sing our best songs, and listen to our messages of resurrection - and if they fill up our extra seating - then on Monday we will look back at this day and say, "WOW, we had a fabulous Easter!"

And, I will concede the point - it is always great to fill the building - hopefully for the glory of God!

But I would submit to you that the best way to evaluate the success of Easter Sunday will be on April 15th!  Yes - the Sunday following Easter!  Because, you see, Easter is such an amazing event that we don't celebrate it once a year!  A once a year celebration is so old school for something so utterly life-changing, history-making, and future impacting!   THE church of the Lord Jesus Christ celebrates Easter as the body of Christ every Lord's Day - every Sunday! 

So, next Sunday, April 15th, will be a much more realistic mark regarding how successfully and how completely the Holy Spirit has transformed lives as a result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!   My prayer is that today - all who come - will be renewed in their faith - or come to faith in Jesus Christ - because Easter is worth all your devotion and your life - until He comes!

Times are Tough! What Do We Do?

Without question, times have become more difficult!  Expenses are up! Gas and groceries, our most common and necessary expenses, have risen greatly! All of us feel the pain of these two items! And although I can name many other areas where our expenses have risen, there is not much need to do so! We all have enough first hand experience to not argue this reality.

People have become more difficult as well!  We see more evidence of a society that has become more unhinged than ever before from moral truth!  People have always sinned - and for the most part - acknowledged that reality! These days, folks may or may not acknowledge their own sinfulness - but it seems many more just don't care whether their actions are sinful are not! 

In addition, we see great changes taking place in society where we are quickly losing our "work ethic" for an insidious dependency - mostly on government!   There are as many if not more who are "takers" than there are producers!

So, what do we do about it? We can moan! We are good at that! We can see who can state the above with greater force, deeper clarity, and with more clever and compelling speech!  We can analyze it - endlessly!  None of these things will make much difference.

While the challenges are great - the opportunities for the church - the body of Christ - have never been greater!  And there are many things we can do to take advantage of these times of challenge!

1. In the body of Christ, we can love one another - by pooling resources, sharing creative ideas for surviving the times, by bearing one another's burdens - by meeting one another's needs!  Loving one another is a grand theme of 1 John!  And that love is noticed by a love starved world!

2. We can learn to live more for Christ than this world!  Food, shelter, and clothing are our basic needs!  Everything else is much less essential.  We can learn to once again live more for Christ and His purposes than all of our many and sometimes trivial pursuits!  Living with less on the plate frees us to meet the basic needs of others who have need!

3. We can return to the GOOD NEWS! We can return to the centrality of Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Gospel is the message of genuine liberation - genuine freedom! It is the "truth that sets you free!"The Word of God, prayer, and devotion to Christ are essential to making a difference!

4. We can set a righteous example! We are not really great examples of anything if we do not live by God's holiness!  Moral failure, in some areas, is as great in the church as in the secular world! We must be devoted to Christ in every way - including how we live out our daily lives.

5. We can see ourselves as missionaries!  We are after all!  Start praying for wisdom, understanding, and opportunity to reach our own neighbors, co-workers, friends, and associations!

There are many more ways we can help in these times - but I hope you will consider these!

 

The True Church!

What is a true church?  What follows is not a DEEP theological treatise!  Just some of the more simple observations from years of being in the church!

1. The true church lives to bring glory to the name of the Lord!

2. The true church clings unswervingly to the truth of God's Word!

3. The true church lives a life that has been and is being transformed by the Spirit of God!

4. The true church does what the Lord says do, goes where the Lord says go, and speaks what the Lord tell us to say!

5. The true church cannot be stopped by man or circumstances!

6. The true church does not compromise with the world!

7. The true church does not isolate itself from the world!

8. The true church declares without embarrasment the claims of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

9. The true church rightly divides the Word of Truth, and rests on faith for what it cannot fully grasp!

10. The true church belongs to God - not to us!

11. The true church lives to please God - not man!

12. The true church is dependent on God for success, the definition of success, and the expression of success.

13. The true church recognizes it cannot live without the empowerment and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

14. The true church does not look so much like the church we have created!

Remembering Some Influential Men!

It has been my great privilege to serve with some great men through the years!  Some stand out in terms of their influence on my life. Each of the following men had a particular impact on me at various points of my ministry! There are dozens more who could be on this list - but these are particularly influential.

1. Dr. W. Levon Moore - Dr. Moore was my pastor at FBC Pontotoc as I grew up and graduated from High School. Dr. Moore was a fabulous mentor to me as a young - teenaged preacher!  He was a brilliant administrator - and helped me again later in life when I entered seminary. He taught me the value of excellence in ministry.

2. Waymon Needham - Mr. Waymon was wonderful layman at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Benton County, MS.  Mr. Waymon served as Chairman of Deacons and was one of the kindest, most generous men I have ever known. He had a kind spirit and gave me consistent, sound advice.  He taught me generosity!

3. Leon Anthony - Mr. Leon was also a Chairman of Deacons, serving at Liberty Hill Baptist Church. Mr. Leon was more like a second father to me!  He was closer than a grand-dad!  We prayed together, worked together, helped people together! Mr. Leon taught me the value of working in the community!  He also was one of those guys who had their pastor's back!  Pastor's will know what I mean!

4. Robert McKinney - Robert was (and still is) a member of a church I pastored in Kentucky, Trammel Creek! Robert and I, in my opinion, were as close as brothers!  We talked about, and still do sometimes, everything. Robert taught me how to be resourceful! He could (can) do just about anything - fix anything - if he has some time to give it some thought!  He has been a great friend.

5. Gene Paul Hellebush - Gene Paul was (and still is) a member of FBC Ludlow, KY - just across the river from downtown Cincinnati.  Gene Paul was a tremendous friend and deacon at FBC! He was also quite resourceful - and we did a lot of projects together.  But I think Gene Paul's greatest contribution to me was teaching me how to listen to people and help them with their needs.  He was (is) a great listener and was the best at resolving difficulties in the lives of our people! 

6. Doug Gray - Doug was the Chairman of Deacons at one point at FBC Pearl, MS.  Doug was another of those men who had his Pastor's back!  He was a great worker in church - and I know that God used him the most to teach me a love for lost people!  Doug was passionate about lost people - and was used by the Lord as a wonderful soul-winner! 

7. Simmie Hollinghead - Simmie was at one time the Chairman of Deacons here at Agricola Baptist. My heart broke the day he died of a massive heart attack! Simmie was one of the closest friends I have ever made within a  church family.  Simmie was definitely my confidant - and encourager. That 82nd 101st Airborne blood ran deep in him and he was a guy who was willing to "take a bullet" for you.   When I would pour my heart out to Simmie about some need or problem or challenge - invariably he would say, "Whatcha gonna do about it?"   That was Simmie's way, after giving some advice, to make sure I could tell him something of a plan or solution!  Simmie taught me to toughen up - and how to work through a problem.

There are two other men in my life who are at the very top of my list.

Jeff Eaton - my long time Kentucky friend who I may talk to weekly and then talk to him months later! No matter when we talk - it is like we just hung up the day before. We walked (and rode) a lot of miles together going through seminary - and Jeff taught me how to live free in Christ!  

My Dad - J. C. Mitchell - Dad taught me the value of holiness! I know other man who is as righteous as my Dad!  For all my years in ministry - he has been my number one confidant - my advisor - my infinite walking book of real knowledge!  My heart breaks and the tears are running down my face as I type this because now he is no longer able to interact with me at this level.  He struggles through these days awaiting a heavenly home that he has told me he is ready to occupy!  One of my last meaningful doctrinal /spiritual conversations with Dad was one that I will never forget.  He sat in a chair in front of me -weeping over the glory of approaching God on His throne in prayer! He could hardly describe the glory he felt when in prayer at that throne.   

There are many more who have had great influence on me outside ministry. It is a blessing that there are so many the list would be long.  I am blessed!

Basic Rules Still Apply!

1. If you break it, fix it! 2. If you make a mess, clean it up! 3. If you hurt someone, apologize! 4. If you did it, don't blame everyone else! 5. If you took it, return it! 6. Unless you know it, don't repeat it! 7. If you are not sure what to say, keep your mouth shut!