A Wedding, Baptisms, and the Presence of Christ

I performed my first wedding this weekend and I was really nervous. I can preach in front of a thousand people and it never phase me, but weddings and funerals freak me out. They are pretty formal affairs, and it doesn't seem too appropriate to ad lib. You pretty much better know what you're going to say and stick to it. I stink at that. When I preach, it is a living thing and I tell a bunch of stories as I interact with the text. It is dynamic and I'm able to be myself and speak from my heart. Weddings seem much harder and the bride and her mother are probably not going to be too forgiving if you screw it up. So, I was feeling the pressure.

But, it all seemed to work out rather well. God showed up in answer to a great deal of prayer, and people seemed to be really blessed. Oh, and the couple got married too (I really shouldn't make this all about me, but it is my blog, so I guess I can write what I want!). Seriously, they are an awesome couple, and I pray that God richly bless them in every way.

There was a great reception afterwards. It wasn't one of those Baptist receptions where the wedding is in the sanctuary and everyone slides over to the fellowship hall for a rowdy throw-down of punch, cheese straws, cashews, and cake. Nope, this was one of those full blown affairs with food and everything! We even had a DJ and a dance floor! Now, I can cut a mean rug, but I have to say that it was great fun to party with the church folk. Seriously, we all danced with our wives (gasp!) and the kids were twirling about as well. We laughed and shared life together. We didn't want to leave. It reminded me of a wedding that Jesus went to in Cana, but without the wine (we are still baptist, for crying out loud! We had sweet tea!).

I love our church. We are able to enjoy life through celebration and we also enter into people's tragedies. When there is struggle or pain in someone's life, you always find someone from the church around to minister, pray, and just be a friend. My family has definitely experienced this with our son's cancer, as have so many others. You don't have to be perfect or have it all together to be accepted in our body. People don't have to dress a certain way, or even act a certain way. Just be real. But, we're really passionate about Jesus and we aren't comfortable with staying the same. We want to grow in the Lord.

We had 3 baptized today. I love our baptisms. We all leave our seats and gather around the baptismal. It takes a long time, as we speak to each person words of encouragement and direction. Tears are shed and laughter is embraced. It is beautiful and far more how I think the early church did it. Our services end around 11:40 (we start at 10:00) and there are almost always still people hanging around talking at 12:30. People hang out together and really are friends. We share life together, encourage and challenge one another, and are passionate about Jesus. We have a lot of young people and are passionate in our worship and our witness. We are having a conference in two weeks with Thom Wolf called "From the Ordained to the Ordinary: How God is Using Ordinary People to Disciple the Nations," and I think that we are starting to understand that God wants to use us right we are in life to reflect His glory. I think it's called being missional or something.

Maybe you're wondering why I am writing this. Well, there seems to be so much negative talked about in regard to our churches and  Christianity in America. I'm often a major spewer forth of such negativity, unfortunately.  So, I wanted to take some time to say that I am seeing God at work in a major way right in my own church. We aren't huge (we have around 200 people), and we aren't wealthy (we've had a little over $200,000 given to our budget this year, but over $100,000 given to missions). God has provided for all our needs and we're actually way over budget and are paying off our mortgage and trying to get rid of the temporary mobile units that we've had as our classroom space for around 17 years!

We really love one another. And, we are seeing God save people through the witness of this church. We are having around 3-4 more baptized again next week, and we will have had almost 20 baptisms in the past year. So, we praise God for that too. I praise God for all the parents who are loving their children and all the husbands who love their wives and wives who love their husbands. I praise God that the gospel is chattered over coffee, lunch, and breakfast as people meet together spontaneously and in small groups. I am thankful that the Word and prayer are important to our church and that Jesus is the focus. There is a deep awareness of our desperate need for the Lord and how He is our Savior from the power of sin. I praise God that we have a heart for the nations and around 20 of us will gather as the missions team on Tuesday night to praise God for the past year and begin to ask Him what He has for us in the future. We've sent teams to India, Brazil, Jordan, the Ukraine, and the Gulf Coast over the past 2 years and have seen God move in miraculous ways.

So, I see Jesus working through His church that I get the privilege of being a part of, in large ways and small. This church had this heart long before I arrived and it will have it long after I'm gone (as long as I don't mess it up). This body is so easy to pastor and they long to be innovative, reach the community, and try new things. There is a great deal of humility and almost no turfism. God is pouring out His Spirit in this body, and it is refreshing to see a group of people experiencing joy in the Lord and peace about who they are. We don't aspire to be the next big church, but we do want to know a big God. No, this little church isn't perfect by any means, but it's amazing what God can do when you ask Him. It's amazing how much life He can pour in when you open yourself up to Him and seek His face. He seems to cover over the flaws and when you see Jesus, everything else melts away.

So, I wanted to praise God today for the blessing of the body of Christ by thinking about what we have, instead of what we don't.  As I experienced the presence of Christ in a wedding and through baptism this weekend, it reminded me of how glad I am that Jesus saved me.  God truly is good.  And next week, we get to experience it again as my 7 year old daughter is set to join others in baptism! Praise God!

Comments

[Bryan Riley]

Praise God for His faithfulness and the joy He is bringing to your congregation. Our church baptized 3 as well yesterday, including the one I had the blessing of baptizing, my eldest child, Tanner.

[Bob Cleveland]

I bet if I looked real hard in this post, I could see some hints as to why you and your congregation are blessed. Maybe I wouldn't even have to look very hard.

Selflessness in giving (50% of operating budget to mission causes).

Loving one another.

Longing for innovation, which means willingness to accept God moving you in new directions. I mean, who told David to dance before the ark? God seemed to have liked it.

A desire to be around one another. Reminds me of the first "church" I recall reading about (Think Acts). Doing good to the household of faith

Talking about God's word when it isn't "church service" any more. That indicates the sort of eminence in the mind that the philacteries on the forehead or left hand were supposed to generate.

Yup. That was easy.

Oh, and yes the fire preceded you. But I've met lots of fire extinguishers in my life. Praise God you aren't one of'em. Reminds me of Joseph Garlington's statement that he thinks God prefers wildfire, to no fire at all.

Amen to that.

[Charles]

You did a great job friday night.

Your not a bad dancer either, especially for a Baptist Pastor !

I am glad to see that we as Baptist are breaking out of some of the old hang ups when it comes to enjoying life. Sonya and I talked about how some folks are still hung up on the dancing thing and thought about the term "What would Jesus do" at a reception like the one that Chuck and Alycia had the other night.

I personally think that he would have enjoyed being in a group of Christians that as you have stated, love each other, enjoy each others company and live life to the fullest. I don't think that Jesus wants us to be as the puritans and throw off everthing that has any symbolance of fun.

[Paul Burleson]

Alan,

Way to go. it took me a number [too large to be stated] of years to come to the sheer joy of life you have expressed in this post. Not to mention a clear understanding of the fun it is to dance with the sweetest gal on earth. [Your wife? no mine, your wife is second sweetest I'm sure.] My wife and I now do the Texas twostep and have finished a ballroom dance course. She is a clogger and clogs every year at the National clogging convention in San Antonio Texas.
I don't. I just am able to keep up with the first two kinds of dancing.

Having said all that, I must confess to a bit of a loss of respect for you at this writing. You did fairly well in your football picks of the last post, but, my respect has dwindled as you DIDN't EVEN MENTION the University of Oklahoma. As Bob Cleveland will attest, I believe football BEGINS there. But, you're forgiven as I know in my heart you are at this moment chagrined that such a thing could have happened. All is well. OU won big over the Washington Huskies. :)

Paul Burleson

[Andrew Hicks]

(1) You did a great job Friday night. During the ceremony itself, and afterwards kicking up your heals too.

(2) You did a great job yesterday (Sunday) as well, encouraging us to be missional in our Domains...and what it that will look like.

(3) I LOVE OUR CHURCH TOO !! No, we're not perfect, but by and large we have a vibrant congregation excited about: Jesus, prayer, sharing life with one another, Jesus, learning, helping others in their time of need, Jesus, trying to bless the community around us....and Jesus.

(4) I didn't know Charles McInvale was online....WASUP !?!?

(5) I am SO jazzed about Dr Thom coming in two weeks. If you don't know brother Thom I encourage you to follow Alan's link above. The man is a living example of modern apostolic leadership.

see ya'll later

[Alan Cross]

Paul,

I'm sorry that I lost your respect! That really is something that I value highly. Being an LSU fan, I think of Oklahoma often. I often replay in my mind the 2003 Sugar Bowl when LSU won 21-14 to secure the National Championship! I know that's not what you had in mind, but I thought I'd throw that in. :)

Seriously, I love college football because it has so much pagentry and excitement. It's also great to rib other fans, as long as you don't take it too far and keep everything fun. I'll be sure to include Oklahoma in my picks this week, just for the Burleson clan!

[Steven Taylor]

Alan,

For what it is worth, it didn't seem like that was your first wedding.

And, I do understand what you mean about interacting with the text. I hate trying to lecture/teach from a script. It just doesn't work for me.

[Paul Burleson]

Alan,

Believe it or not, right after that debacle of 03 I was speaking to about fifty Elders and staff of a large Bible Church in Baton Rouge on Fri. and Sat. in a retreat setting in a HUGE lake cabin just out of town when, as I started addressing the group, they broke into peals of laughter. I was standing in front of a big screen TV set and they had the tape of the game on running silent behind me. Boy did they get a kick out of me that night. But always remember the speaker has the last word. I got them back which created even greater laughter, but I'll keep that a secret. By the way, I went home fully clothed in LSU gear. The life of college football, I love it.

Paul B.

[Charles]

memo to Andrew:

Just because I am an old Man does not mean that I can't use a computer, ha ha, or is it lol. I am usally a silent observer and I also can't type very fast, just ask sonya about my two finger pecking technique it is truly an amazing thing to see.

Charles

[Phil Hoover]

sounds like your congregation is where it is "happening" these days! Praise the Lord.

Now if the rest of the nation can just catch on, and realize that "being the church" is more than just "having the ecclesiastical theatrical performance" on Sundays.

Sounds great, and a great blog by the way.

[Chris Black]

Alan,

I know it's been a while since you posted the blog, I try to check in every now and then and see how things are - by the way, first time posting! Anywho, I just wanted to let you know how much of an encouragement the body at Gateway was (& continues to be) in my short stint at Maxwell. I have never been to a church that cared so much about each other and those around them, sought growth, welcomed others with open arms, and put Christ at the forefront of their lives as Gateway. It is evident that Jesus is at work and a great encouragement to see y'all respond in obedience. I just wanted to pass along those words. The Air Force has me in San Antonio now for about 9 more months, then Pueblo, CO, and onto Del Rio, TX, for pilot training. God bless!

--Chris Black