As You Go Promo GA Baptist Convention from Alvin Reid on Vimeo.

Unlike us, our heavenly Father never has a bad day. He never takes a day off, is never surprised or caught off guard. He never encounters a situation He cannot handle. He is an everyday Father.

I am reading carefully the excellent book Everyday Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. At so many levels this book has confirmed what I see, and convicted, challenged, and encouraged me. But while much of the book (which I highly commend to you) has been of chief benefit for my ministry as a seminary professor, it has also ministered deeply to my soul.

On Father’s Day I want to recount four statements about God the authors offer, as these statements will be rehearsed by me daily for a long time. Here they are:

1. GOD IS GREAT: so I don’t have to be in control.

I am a type A, hyperactive, always-in-a-hurry male. And thus I am a control freak. I get impatient too easily, don’t like situations I cannot manage, and like to be in control. But when I reflect on the greatness of God and the great power of the gospel, I calm down. Trusting God is not something we do only at salvation; it is the very essence of our walk with Christ daily. I will remind myself daily and frequently of the greatness of God.

2. GOD IS GLORIOUS: so I don’t have to fear others.

I am a people person. I’m pretty good with people in general. But a people person is also a people pleaser (and our kind is everywhere). I too often crave approval, and I am too often moody based on circumstances. But when I reflect on the glory of God and rightly fear Him, I can replace the fear of man with a healthy fear of God. I will daily think much of the glory of God.

3. GOD IS GOOD: I don’t have to look elsewhere for satisfaction.

I too often see ministry as a burden to bear instead of an honor to serve. I can easily become a whiner, and I can began tasks far better than completing them. I give into temptation too easily, because I do not see God’s goodness. I find myself often longing for heaven and the complete restoration of all things, which is not all bad; but I do so at times because I dwell on what I don’t like more than the overwhelming goodness of God. Life is not always fair. But God is always good. I will choose to reflect daily on His goodness.

4. GOD IS GRACIOUS: I don’t have to prove myself.

I struggle to relax, to chill, although I have definitely improved on that recently. I can easily envy the success of others, and i regularly feel the need to prove my merit to others. This is utterly ridiculous, and I recognize that I have failed to see God’s grace. His grace IS amazing, and when I fail to see it, I lose the sense of wonder that marks those who walk with God. I will remind myself daily of His great grace.

Perhaps one or more of these have moved off your radar and you find yourself struggling. It’s easy to do. We must constantly preach the gospel to ourselves, rehearsing before our minds and hearts just Who God is, and our identity in Him.

God is Great. Good is Glorious. God is Good. God is Gracious. And He is that every day, every hour, every minute. May this reality guard our minds today.

Jack Welch once said, “You tell me how you keep score, and I will tell you how to win.” The things we “score” matter. The book of Acts records numbers of baptisms and conversions on several occasions, for instance. Of course there are other metrics we tend not to focus on enough, but baptisms do matter.

We baptized about 314k baptisms last year according to reports. Considering SBC churches have averaged thousands more than that over the past half century, and have experienced over that time large growth numbers in membership and moneys given, we have to ask the question, why are we not reaching more? And, if you look closer at the numbers you will see that we especially fail at reaching those in the unchurched culture.

Thom Rainer just wrote a helpful yet painful article on this at thomrainer.com. It is worth your time. I want to add this to the discussion.

–In 1971-75 we saw more baptisms than at any other time in our history. It is the only period where we passed 400k baptisms each year.
–In 1972, our greatest year ever, we baptized 130k more than last year, or 445k compared to 314k.
–That same year we witnessed the largest number of youth baptisms in history, 137k. The youth percentage was the largest ever as well, so baptisms among youth did not just increase because baptisms did, for they grew at a greater rate. That year I turned 13 in fact. It was the time of the baby boom, where we had more youth than any time in history.

Until now. Now we have more youth in the Millennial generation. But check the numbers. We baptize each year FAR less than 1972. One more thing:

–The early 1970s were marked by the Jesus Movement, a season of revival that while not rivaling the Great Awakenings in impact did witness a remarkable youth movement. I detail this in my PhD dissertation on the impact of the Jesus Movement on SBC Evangelism. Some have argued that the introduction of a witness training program in the SBC caused the baptism increase. I argue the baptisms grew before the training reached the masses. I would argue the movement helped the method more than the method helped the movement.

My point is simply this: if we will see baptisms turned, we need to repent of having evangelistic rhetoric without reality. We talk a great game, but do we really live what we say matters most? We need God to move afresh. I believe He is at work–a growing hunger for the gospel and for teaching the Bible with God at the center is encouraging; a young generation who wants more than to show up Sundays and soak in a little now cry for a God-sized Christianity; a growing awareness that if we keep doing what we are currently doing we will get what we will currently get is causing more to hunger for less programs and more power.

Praying for revival can be simplistic. It is not a catch-all to make things like we want them. I think if God truly visits us with an awakening it will wreck us. Many churches in the SBC missed the Jesus Movement’s larger impact because the young people had long hair and did not always fit the church culture. I was in a church that welcomed the hippies–would your church welcome the unchurched today?

I also want to say that the problem is not the gospel or its power. At the church I serve we saw 42 baptized last Sunday night in a lake. Where the gospel is shared with passion people are still responding. I just had lunch this week with J.D. Greear, Pastor of Summit Church. The baptism trajectory of his church over the past decades contrasts sharply with the malaise seen in the SBC at large.

Here is the issue for me, the question I must ask myself, and the question we all must ask if we lead in God’s church: who am I sharing Christ with? Who in my preaching and in my witnessing am I seeing follow Him? The gospel is still changing lost people into followers, but is it changing us?

Next week is the annual meeting of the SBC. My wife and I will be attending the whole meeting together for the first time in many years. I pray we will spend more time coming together in brokenness for the gospel and less time nitpicking. The Calvinism Report, which I gladly affirm, offers hope in moving forward while recognizing we have differences. But our differences should not define us; our love for Jesus, heart for the Word, and obedience to the Great Commission should be the cords that bind us together to see a world reached for Christ.

In the meantime I wanted to offer a workout option for you who seek to get in better shape. I am currently in week three of the following program. I use an exercise bike (or when I go to the Y, a stair machine). I also incorporate more weight training 3 days a week. But I can assure you, the following is plenty to handle if you do just this! I am doing it 6 days a week for the eight weeks. It is called The Beginner-To-Advanced 8-Week HIIT (High Intensive Integral Training) Program. You can read the full article where I found the workout with the research behind it here. Here is the program extracted from this website.

The following program can take you from HIIT beginner to HIIT stud in 8 short weeks.

It starts with a work:rest ratio of 1:4 in Phase 1 for a total workout time of just under 15 minutes.
Phase 2 bumps up the amount of time in the “work” phase, bringing the ratio up to 1:2 and the total workout time to 17 minutes.
In Phase 3, the rest ratio is cut in half, bringing the ratio up to 1:1. The total workout time increases to 18.5 minutes.
Finally, in Phase 4, the rest ratio is cut in half again, raising the ratio to 2:1 and the total time at 20 minutes. This will put you in the advanced ranks for HIIT.
The suggested time of each phase is just that—suggested. If you need to spend more than two weeks at a particular phase before moving up, go for it. Ditto if a phase seems too easy and you want to jump right up to the next phase.

You can do these workouts using tools, such as a jump rope, or simply doing jumping jacks, or sprinting, or working on a stationary cycle. Use your imagination. Just follow the work-to-rest intervals as indicated.

Phase 1 (1:4): Weeks 1-2
15 seconds: High-Intensity Exercise
60 seconds: Rest or Low-Intensity Exercise
Repeat another 10 times, followed by a final 15-second high-intensity blast.
Total time: 14 minutes

Phase 2 (1:2): Weeks 3-4
30 seconds: High-Intensity Exercise
60 seconds: Rest or Low-Intensity Exercise
Repeat another 10 times, followed by a final 30-second high-intensity blast.
Total time: 17 minutes

Phase 3 (1:1): Weeks 5-6
30 seconds: High-Intensity Exercise
30 seconds: Rest or Low-Intensity Exercise
Repeat another 11 times, followed by a final 30-second high-intensity blast.
Total time: 18.5 minutes

Phase 4 (2:1): Week 7-8
30 seconds: High-Intensity Exercise
15 seconds: Rest or Low-Intensity Exercise

Repeat until you complete 20 minutes.

There it is straight from the website. I have an aritificial hip, so I cannot run or jump rope (or at least it is not wise), so as I said I use my stationary bike at home (with moving arms) and the stairmaster at the Y.  I have found that I am much more disciplined if I have an 8 week, or 90 day, or some other set regimen than just randomly working out. I hope this will help you!

I don’t profess to be an expert on camps, but I have preached to all sizes, from as few as 40 at one camp and will next month speak to 3000 in the Arkansas Super Summers (I particularly enjoy these state Baptist convention camps focused on leaders). No camp is perfect, but having been a part of scores of camps for almost 30 years, I have a few thoughts on them. I see a lot in camp this week that I want to commend to you. Of course there are pros and cons of doing camps with multiple churches or solo, working with a set camp ministry (like one I commend, Student Life), or doing your own. Woodstock’s high school camp has hundreds of students so they wisely do their own.  Here are a few features that make this camp stand out.

1. Focus: Every camp says it is focused on spiritual change in students, but too many structure camp around (and give most praise to) secondary issues. Yes, have teams and have competition; we have them this week. But not a whole lot is said about them, because they are not the main deal. I have seen camps make it clear (unintentionally I’m sure) that the winner of the team competition is really the big deal, not Jesus. Jesus is the big deal here, and while things like competition and a talent show are part of camp, they do not get the most hype. I once spoke at a camp where I know the most important thing was the talent show because it was the only thing folks talked about, including all the adults. Not so this week.

2. The Pastor: Pastor Johnny speaks at camp every year. This year he, Matt, and I are the main session speakers. Johnny has the ability to speak across generations like few in our time. Why? A big reason is his connection to his own student ministry. That means both the senior pastor and the high school pastor have to value this. In my book As You Go I argue that student pastors should have their pastor speak to the youth every year in the context of youth ministry away from Sunday services, and camp offers that opportunity for pastor Johnny. I know David Landrith at Long Hollow in Nashville typically speaks at camp as well, as do other pastors for their ministries. In addition, key staff including Allan Taylor (education) and Scott White (worship) and I’m sure others lead breakouts. This camp is tied to the whole church.

3. Adults: wow, what a sea of adults involved. I was asked five times the first morning by different adults how they could serve me as one of the speakers. A team of parents and other adults leaders can make or break a camp.

4. The services: A lot of camps seem to think they have to spend a third of their time doing silly things, playing games, etc. We come together morning and evening to worship God. No silly songs, just songs exalting Jesus. Not a lot of fluff; bold testimonies, theme videos, and lots of preaching. And to no surprise, these students LOVE preaching. They eat it up–why? Because that is the culture. I love these students. Yes, you have some who come for who knows what reason, but you have many really hungry for God, and many who meet Christ in a life-changing way. The services set the tone for spiritual conversations all week long.

5. Encouragement to others: a former intern has his students and some leaders at camp to learn so they can better plan camp themselves. One of my PhD students, a student pastor not far away, tweeted Matt to see if he could bring some guys to camp, and today they came. Matt cleared his schedule to have lunch with them. Taking time to serve others says a lot.

6. Discipleship. Yes, a large camp can be overwhelming. But track sessions allow students to learn in smaller environments. I had about 30 or so in each of my breakouts for those called to ministry. To be honest, as much as I love speaking to the whole camp, I really love these more than anything. Let me have time with the adult leaders and/or students who are leaders and/or called to ministry, and to quote Phil Roberson, I am happy, happy happy!

7. The students. I love these students. I know, a lot of people like to whine about all that is wrong and blog or tweet or complain about everything they seem to hate. But God is at work. There is a generation of students who truly love Jesus. I put a lot of my hope in the future not in my generation, but theirs. This is why I speak to youth so much, and write so much for this generation.

If you do camp for your students, do it well or do something else. But camp still remains a viable way to teach and to show the gospel to the next generation.

Young John Wesley had experienced all the above, yet could not find peace. On today’s date in 1738, John attended a small group meeting of Moravians on Aldersgate Street in London.  Someone at the society gathering read from the prologue to Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans.

Stop and think about this. In a day of packaging nearly everything in the church to woo readers/viewers/”likes” on social media, they read from a commentary! How will know God is working in mighty ways in a church or group? When a hunger for God, not the satisfying of consumers, marks the people.

On that night the Spirit of God moved in Wesley’s life. He wrote in his journal: “About  a  quarter   to  nine,  while  [Luther]  was describing  the change  which  God  works  in  the  heart  through  faith in Christ,  I felt my heart  strangely  warmed.  I felt that  I did  trust  Christ, Christ alone, for salvation.”

Wesley’s life parallels Luther’s at several points. Each missed a violent death; Luther by lighting strike, while John was rescued from a burning fire at the last possible moment. Each experienced years of anguish while yet seeking to serve Christ. Each experienced salvation after understanding the beauty of the gospel as expressed in the book of Romans. Each led a movement; in Luther’s case the Reformation, which changed the trajectory of the church until this day, and in Wesley’s the Evangelical Awakening, which by some historians’ estimation kept England from the blood bath the French experienced in the French Revolution.

Wesley’s life epitomized that of an evangelist. In his biography of Wesley aptly entitled John Wesley: The Burning Heart which I highly recommend, A. Skevington Wood called John the “evangelical centaur” as he rode on horseback to preach the gospel across his homeland.

Wesley wrote multiple volumes of journals and so many books and pamphlets he has been called the father of the Christian paperback. He once said: “God give me a hundred men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I care not whether they be clergy or lay, I will with them alone storm the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of God on earth.”

Once a young preacher came to ask Wesley’s advice for his church. Let God set you on fire, he said to the young minister, and people will watch you burn.

As the awakening began and spread through John, his brother Charles, the great young evangelist George Whitefield, and others, John demonstrated a remarkable acuity toward organization. Taking the example of society meetings (both secular and religious), he organized the growing movement into classes, bands, and societies. Though he never left the Anglican church, his organization of the masses played no small role in the birth of the Methodist church, which for the next century spread the gospel across the globe.

I like to read the questions that were asked at the society meetings each week to my students:

1. What known sins have you committed since our last meeting?

2.   What temptations have you met with?

3. How were you delivered?

4.  What have you thought, said, or done, of which you doubt whether it be sin or not?

5. Have you nothing you desire to keep secret?

I always want to answer #5 with “all the answers to 1-4″!

So much could be said about Wesley: his relationship with Whitefield, his theological views (I am not with him at all points), his views on slavery (he was dead right and influenced Wilberforce on this issue), his writings, etc. In his life he covered nearly 250,000 miles, mostly on horseback. He preached over 40,000 sermons and wrote approximately 250 books and tracts. He and Whitefield preached in the fields, a remarkable innovation in their time. Although his brother Charles wrote far more, John also penned many hymns. To a largely illiterate population they sang the gospel well. I will simply offer a few more quotes for you to consider:

“Untold millions are still untold.”

“I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfill God’s creational intentions.”

“Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.”

“In using all means, seek God alone. In and through every outward thing, look only to the power of His Spirit, and the merits of His Son. Beware you do not get stuck in the work itself; if you do, it is all lost labor. Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul. Therefore, fix on Him in all, through all, and above all…Remember also to use all means as means-as ordained, not for their own sake…”

“By salvation I mean not barely according to the vulgar notion deliverance from hell or going to heaven but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, to its original purity, a recovery of the divine nature the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness in justice mercy and truth.”

M’Cheyne shows us many things, including the importance of young ministers. Taught by renowned minister Thomas Chalmers, in his 26th year M’Cheyne traveled to Israel with Andrew Bonar and others to Palestine, which led to the launching of a mission to Jews. In 1836, M’Cheyne began service as pastor at a new church in Dundee. Described as a town “given to idolatry and hardness of heart,” the young preacher prayed that the “wilderness of chimney tops” would become as green as the garden of God with souls changed by the gospel.

What is the significance of M’Cheyne for today?

First, he demonstrates the impact of a young man of God devoted fully to Christ. He developed an extensive Bible reading plan used to this day (get it here). Like so many used of God in awakenings, he stressed holiness. John Wesley proclaimed a century earlier his desire to spread biblical holiness across England, while Jonathan Edwards spoke of desiring a heaven of holiness. M’Cheyne followed in their steps, and his church experienced the touch of God in revival. He read many of the classic works on spirituality by those before him, including works by Baxter, Bridges, and Edwards. On October 2, 1840, he penned these words: “It is not great talent God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy man is an awesome weapon in the hand of God.” He also wrote, “I am persuaded that God’s happiness is inseparably linked to His holiness.” You can find many devotional writings of M’Cheyne here.

Second, he had a great passion for souls. He wrote to a friend of two issues that demanded ardent devotion: “personal holiness, and the honor of Christ in the salvation of souls.”

Third, he shows the impact of a short life lived well. “Live so as to be missed,” he said. Dying of an illness before his 30th birthday, M’Cheyne did more for Christ in less than a decade than many do in ministries spanning far more years.

Years ago I read a story about a minister who came to M’Cheyne’s church some time after his death. He asked a man there to help him understand the power of God in this young minister. “Come with me,” the man replied. They walked into the study.

“Sit at the desk,” the man said. “Put your elbows on the desk. Now put your face in your hands.” The minister did so.

“Now, let the tears fall,” the man continued. “This was what M’Cheyne used to do.”

The man took the minister to the pulpit. “Put your elbows on the pulpit,” he said. “Put your face in your hands, and let the tears fall.”

Finally, his life offers one worth studying for our day.  His biography was produced by Andrew Bonar. You can purchase it here. His life has been inspirational to countless believers. I encourage you to read at least one biography of a man or woman of God annually.

Santyana said those who fail to learn from history are doomed to relive it. I believe we can be challenged, inspired, and equipped by studying saints from history. M’Cheyne lived in fact to be missed. May we make a mark for God in our brief time as well.

I recently wrote a little book as a primer on revitalization called ReVITALize Your Church Through Gospel Recovery. This little book (88 pages) has been an ebook (and still is, only 2.99). But now you can order print copies. I have already had Directors of Missions for Baptist Associations order copies for all their pastors. And, the North American Mission Board, which has recently given much more attention to revitalization, will be giving a copy of ReVITALize to attendees of their revitalization meetings led by Johnny Hunt.

Michael Lewis, head of revitalization for NAMB and a former student of mine, has been extremely enthusiastic about ReVITALize as has Al Gilbert. Gilbert, VP for Evangelism for NAMB, wrote the Foreword for the book. You can see a video with Michael and me regarding revitalization here.

You can order your copy of the book in print form for 5.99 by ordering here.  You can also get the ebook here. You can also read reviews of the book here.

Summer will soon be upon us, which means for many of us a little more time to read. I love reading a variety of books.  Good books abound these days! Here are a few on a variety of topics I would suggest for your summer reading consideration:

APPLIED THEOLOGY: Tim Keller’s Center Church has already become my favorite Keller book to date. Rich with content on gospel centrality, contextualization, and urban ministry, as a lover of movements I especially appreciate his focus on movements in Part 8. Order it here.

DEVOTIONAL/BIBLE STUDY: A helpful read can be found in Joe Buchanan’s new books Cultivating a Gospel-Shaped Attitude. In this work Joe examines how the Beatitudes can give us gospel focus to shift our attitude to be more about the mission than our own personal misery.  You can order it here.

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE: If you want to get a better grasp on why young adults leave church and the issues we should confront to help keep young adults focused on Christ check out Dave Kinnaman’s You Lost Me. His research offers helpful information on why we unnecessarily alienate youth and can help in communicating with the Millennial Generation.

REVIVAL: The book A God-Sized Vision: Revival Stories That Stretch and Stir by Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge has been of great encouragement to me. I think reading a book on revival every year is good for the soul.

EVANGELISM: The little book Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan Dodson has been a real blessing to me personally. Check it out and see sharing Christ through new eyes.

FOR YOUNG MEN: The book Checkpoints by Brian Mills and Nathan Wagnon offers a devotional book for young men. We live in a day where men for the most part are far more male in terms of biology than men in terms of maturity. This would be a great summer study for young men.

JUST FOR FUN: Sometimes I read a book just because it makes me think. Ken Coleman’s One Question features interviews with individuals from Jim Collins to Malcolm Gladwell and from Andy Stanley to Tony Dungy. I love books like this; maybe you will as well.

FOR WRITERS: I often encourage young writers to grow. The first book I encourage writers to read is John Acuff’s Quitter. Another one is The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. He wrote the Legend of Bagger Vance. His work has a salty tone at times, but his insights offer concrete help for writers.

Perhaps you would like to recommend some as well?

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” Shakespeare

Summer marks that time when people take vacations and generally pull themselves away from their normal routines. I love summer — reading books in a hammock, reclining by a pool, and taking time to reflect. Summer seems to bring out the youth in all of us.

We also see a change in the summertime in our churches as well, as many talk about the “summer slump” in attendance. But if you are in student ministry you know how the summer offers unique opportunities for students to step up and step out in their faith. Youth camps, mission trips, and other activities that focus on Christ in a season of leisure offer phenomenal times of growth. But you, as a student pastor or leader, can slip into the mindset of letting weekly, consistent discipleship decline in the busyness of preparing for those activities. I believe summertime can offer a great time of growth for students who are out of school. And I have just the resource for you.

The Gospel Project offers a specifically Christ-centered approach to learning the Scriptures. If your church is not currently using it, summer offers a time to walk through the materials and give them a “trial run” while teaching some important truths to your students. Notice the focus of the summer study:

1. Knowing God: The Role of Theology in the Life and Mission of the Christian
2. The God Who Is: The Existence of God
3. Our Great God: What God Is Like
4. The Omni God: God’s Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence
5. Good God: The Goodness and Love of God
6. Holy, Holy, Holy: God’s Holy Righteous Character
7. Jesus’ Deity: The Son of God
8. Jesus Humanity: The Son of Man
9. Jesus Work: Prophet, Priest, and King
10. The Spirit’s Identity: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
11. The Spirit’s Work: The Work of the Holy Spirit
12. God in Us: The Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit
13. The Trinity: The Mystery of One God in Three Persons

You could teach this in your normal Sunday time. Or, you could have a summer Bible study where you focus on theology (as I say in my new book As You Go: Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel-Centered Students, students learn trigonometry in high school, they can learn theology in church!). You could have a Sunday evening study or a weeknight study in homes, or go outdoors, or another creative time and place.

One of the most popular features of the summer for students is going to see movies. I remember stellar movies the summer my friends and I got our driver’s licenses. Movies like Aliens, the first one with Sigourney Weaver. Freaked me out.

I love helping students see movies and their storylines from a biblical lens. Storylines we love, like a man falling in a hole and getting out (action movies from the Avengers to Transformers), rags to riches (Cinderella, Princess Diaries), and boy meets girl (Hitched, most romantic comedies), all feature a general storyline of beginning, rising action, some form of intrigue or danger, and a denouement, or a rescue/resolution/some form of heroism, ending in the ubiquitous “and they all lived happily ever after.” We love these, because there is something in the Imago Dei within us that yearns for a happy ending.

Movies weakly reflect the the gospel seen in the Story of Scripture. God created an amazing world and created man to worship Him. The fall broke creation and separated us from God. Jesus came to rescue us by His substitutionary work on the cross and His resurrection, and we have the hope of the happily ever after in the restoration. This redemptive theme is critical to The Gospel Project, which is a reason I love it. What if you taught The Gospel Project series and used it to explain our love for movies and stories and happy endings comes from our yearning for the hope found in Christ?

The summer of my youth I mentioned above offered me more than a time to watch movies. It gave me a time to grow deeper in my faith. We took a long choir tour (that was our version of a mission trip back then) where we had to memorize Scripture and songs, go through devotional work, and minister to peers in several states. We saw God change lives. I saw God change mine. Instead of joining the movement of leisure and checking out on learning, why not use the summer as a time to dig deep in the Word? The Gospel Project summer study may be just what you need.