Sunday (make that Tuesday) is for Students
Okay, I am on vacation so I missed Sunday. This weekend I had the joy of hanging out with a pile of single adults from the great Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte. HGBC has two campuses, Main and North. They stole, er, called one of my colleagues, Stephen Rummage, a few years back. But I still love them.The two singles pastors are Brian Boyles and Jimmy Smith (Brian and Main, Jimmy at North). Both are students at SEBTS. Hickory Grove has sent us a ton of students over the years and hosts one of our extension centers as well. My first spring at SEBTS I taught every Monday at Hickory Grove. That class remains one of my greatest ever–about fifty students, most actively serving churches, hungry to learn how to be effective. I am so grateful that so many from that course have become such key leaders–Michael Lewis, pastor at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, Texas; Hampton Drum, still at South River in Statesville after all these years, so many more. I just got a facebook message yesterday from Brad Borders who was in that class. He is in Nepal at the moment sharing Christ and encouraging more of my former students. So many great memories from that class and those days.The singles at Hickory Grove blessed me so much. I do a lot of youth events and I love them. But I am really at my best I think when ministering to those in their twenties and early thirties. I do not do a lot of singles events, so when I do I am pretty excited.After the retreat my family and I have remained at Myrtle Beach. I am sitting in a gazebo within reach of wireless where I watched the sunrise this morning. My thoughts are on the SBC annual meeting, my students and colleagues there. I pray the meeting will move us forward toward a Great Commission Resurgence. In the meantime I will get a little sunburned, enjoy a little down time, and read several books. My family is still sleeping, but once awake we will play like children at the beach and the pools. I am grateful for a little break. But I will be ready to get after it once returning home. It is hard to be a part of changing the world sitting on a lounge chair at a resort :-).