Look at your watch. It's late. It's 11.06, so we're going to get out of here about 1 o'clock.
No, I'm going to preach about 30 minutes, and I'm going to be done, but we will be a little bit late, and that's okay.
I got up about 4 o'clock this morning because during the night I just wasn't comfortable with the message I planned.
So I abbreviated it and cut about four points out of it. It had 10 points, believe it or not.
So you're still going to get a bunch, but it's not really a sermon.
It's just things that 40, 50 years of being a pastor have taught me that I thought would be helpful to you to know about Daniel Herring coming in
and helping you to make him successful as your next pastor.
But the Lord also put something else in my heart that I had just planned to share with you very, very, very briefly,
but I really feel led to tell you more about that, and so I'm going to do that at the end.
So you're getting two messages this morning for the price of one, okay?
But I promise you I'm going to be done in about 30, 35 minutes.
If you have your Bibles, look quickly to Titus chapter 1, verses 7 through 9,
and I'm not going to preach this passage, but I do want to read it this morning.
I'm just going to talk to you today about how you can make your next pastor very, very successful.
But in Titus 1, verse 7, Paul writes these words to Titus,
For an observer, for an overseer, rather, as God's manager, must be blameless, not arrogant.
You hear that? Not arrogant.
Not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not a bully, not greedy for money,
but hospitable, and loving what is good, and sensible, and by that he means loving what is sensible,
and loving what is righteous, and loving what is holy, and loving what is self-controlled,
holding to the faithful message as taught,
so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching,
and to refute those who contradict it.
I'm going to tell you, that's a big, big job.
To be a pastor and to do it right, to be honest, is just something you cannot do on your own.
It just requires more of you than you're capable, any human being's capable of doing.
And so he's going to need God's help, and he's going to need your help.
And I'd plan to tell you 10 things that you could do to help him,
but as I look back over it, you're going to figure some of this out on your own.
And so I'm going to cut out those last four and tell you the six I think are most important this morning, okay?
So here goes, and remember, I promised a book to whoever could guess the first point.
I said that in a news article a couple weeks ago.
So if you guessed the first point, I say the first point, you say,
that's what I put on my list, preacher.
Then you come see me.
I've got two books here at the front that I'm going to give you, and you can have them.
I'm not thinking anybody's got this down, but maybe you do.
I hope I give those books away, okay?
You ready?
Here goes.
Tell him your name until he tells you to stop.
Anybody think of that?
I didn't think so.
But if any of you want two books, I still got them on the front,
and you can come get them after the service is over, okay?
They're yours to take home.
Tell him your name until he tells you to stop.
I got a real problem with the way I see some guys today pastoring,
where they get the mentality they're the CEO,
and their job is to come to the pulpit and deliver these wonderfully orchestrated messages,
but then they don't see you again for seven days.
I really believe being a pastor means you've got to know the folk,
and I know that's what Daniel Herringup believes,
and he wants to know you.
I want to tell you something.
At Brushy Creek, we had 3,300 members when I left,
and I wanted to know every one of those 3,300 members,
and I've got to be honest with you.
I wanted to know.
I liked them.
I loved them.
In fact, out of 3,300 members, and I'm here today so I can say this,
I liked everybody but one guy, right?
And I just didn't like him.
I really didn't.
I had a hard time believing Jesus liked him.
I know he loved him.
But I just didn't like him.
But most everybody I not only liked, I loved,
and I wanted to know them.
But I want to tell you something.
I can't know everybody unless you at some time meet me
and tell me your name and let me get to know you.
For me to know you, you've got to get to know me,
and I've got to get to know you.
So tell me your name, tell me your name, tell me your name,
and one day he'll say,
you don't have to tell me your name anymore, Christine.
I know your name.
It's Christine.
And you can stop telling him your name.
Now here's just a quick addition to that.
I know everybody hates this.
Wear name tags.
Beginning next Sunday for about five or six weeks,
put on a name tag.
Now somebody said, I don't like those little name tags.
I ain't going to wear no name tag.
Everybody knows me.
No, they don't.
That's why when you ever meet anybody in the hall,
have you ever had somebody,
and every time you see them, they say,
hey, bud, how you doing?
Man, good to see you, friend, neighbor.
Because they don't know your name.
If I ask any of you in the congregation right now
to stand and tell me the 15 people nearest you,
a lot of you go, uh-oh.
In fact, I think I'm going to do it.
No, I'm not going to do that.
You'd be embarrassed because you think,
man, I see all these folk,
and I know them by face,
and I know something about them,
and I really do care about them,
and we have conversations,
but I don't know their name.
You know what happened?
You saw them, and you spoke to them,
and you spoke to them,
and you spoke to them.
They told you your name somewhere and all that,
but you forgot it,
and then they kept seeing you,
kept seeing you,
and then you'd been here so long,
you forgot to ever say,
hmm, I don't know your name.
Would you tell me your name?
So it's going to be good for you.
Wear those name tags,
and see everybody's name,
and begin to memorize names,
and let him see your name,
and know who you are.
So tell him your name
until he tells you to stop.
Here's the second thing.
Pray for him every day.
Boy, there's nothing you can do
for your pastor better than to pray for him.
When I say pray for him,
I want to tell you what I mean by that.
I don't mean to have a list of names,
because a lot of folk kind of do this,
and they pray for their families,
all their family members by name.
By that I mean they just kind of call their names
in passing,
and they've got some missionary things,
and they pray about those things,
and they just run through this laundry list
as quickly as they can.
I'm not talking about that.
If you're going to pray for them that way,
pray for them just one day a week.
But when you pray for them,
really pray for it.
And by that I mean this.
Put yourself in Daniel's shoes
and think about what is it like
to be the new pastor
at Pickens First Baptist Church.
He's leaving Houston, Mississippi.
He's wanting to come here,
but I'm telling you something.
He's sad over leaving those people
in Houston, Mississippi.
And you want him to be sad,
because he loved those folks,
and he wants to say goodbye to those folks,
and he's going to have heartache,
and his children are,
and his wife is.
And they're coming here,
and they're looking for a new house.
How many of you tomorrow,
somebody comes to you and says,
you've got 30 days to get out of your house.
You've got to sell it.
You've got to go find one another time.
You've never been to Harley.
Have you looked for a house lately?
Man, there has a cat.
It's going to take a miracle for him
to come in here and find something in short order
and buy that house and move into it.
So pray.
That's some of the stuff he's going through.
He's going to take a daughter out of high school
and put her in a high school here in Pickens,
and she knows some of the kids here.
She was here 15 years ago,
so she knows everybody she knew when she was two.
What could be the adjustment in that, right?
So pray for them,
and he's going to come in,
and he's going to want to preach the best messages.
Man, I've done dropped some money on the floor.
I don't ever leave money on the floor, Brian.
Cheers.
Yeah, I believe that.
I believe that.
Good luck getting that out of my pocket.
I'm just telling you,
they need your prayers.
They're thinking about a lot of stuff.
He's thinking about messages he wants to preach
because he wants to come and make a good first impression,
and he's trying to decide what do I need to preach,
and you pray for him.
Pray God will wake him up in the night
the way he did me last night
and just say,
Daniel, here's what you need to preach,
that he'll have a burning passion to preach God's word,
that he'll do his very best in these early days
as your pastor here.
So pray for him.
Thirdly,
when you hear an idea you don't like,
and I really love this point,
when you hear an idea you don't like,
remind yourself of two truths.
How many of you ever hear an idea you don't like?
A lot of you have lived your life that way, right?
You ain't never liked nothing.
I mean, a lot of people,
it don't matter what the idea is,
I just know right off the bat,
I'm not going to like it, right?
Now, a lot of us are different.
We like certain things,
and then other things we don't like necessarily.
Have you ever done this?
No, I just don't like that music.
I wish they'd do this.
I like it when they do this,
but I don't like it when they do that.
I like it when he preaches this kind of message,
but man, I don't like it
when he preaches that kind of message.
Or I can understand our church doing that,
that's a good thing,
but eh, I don't like it when we do that.
Two things you need to remind yourself of.
You ready for this?
And this is good not just in church,
this is good everywhere.
First of all, tell yourself this,
it's not all about me.
Okay?
When he comes out and he gives you ideas,
here's what I think we ought to be doing as a church,
here's some things we ought to start doing,
some things we ought to stop doing.
When you hear that idea,
even if something in you says,
yeah, that ain't gonna do nothing for me,
I don't really like that,
I don't think that's the direction we ought to go,
remind yourself it's not all about you.
You know what he's thinking about?
He's thinking about the hundreds of folk
who come to First Baptist Church of Pickens
and how to help you to grow spiritually
and sometimes you need things you don't necessarily want.
But he's also thinking about people
who've never darkened the door
of First Baptist Church of Pickens.
He's thinking about people who have moved here
from other places and they don't have any friends.
He's thinking about young people at time
who are turned off to what they've seen in the church
and he's trying to find a way to reach them
with the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
He's thinking at times about senior adults
who've grown up angry with the church
and they're really angry now at the church
and how he can reach them for Christ.
So right now I want you to do a little exercise.
We're gonna do two of these things.
I want you to say out loud,
it's not all about me.
Go ahead and say it right now.
It's just not all about me.
Because I want to tell you something,
in the church we have this habit of thinking,
it's about me and my friends and people who are like me.
And everything that's done ought to be for me.
I ought to like everything.
And if it ain't gonna do me or my family any good,
it's just not any good.
That's just crazy.
Here's the second thing you need to tell yourself.
You need to tell yourself,
not only it's not all about you,
and this is really gonna be hard for some of you.
You ready?
I really love this one.
I could be wrong.
Now some of you have never said that in your life.
Some of you have never even imagined that.
But step out on a limb with me this morning
and turn to your wife or your husband
and say, you know,
I could be wrong.
Really, do it right now.
I'm just trying to look at you guys and my wife,
somebody you know.
Jimmy's about to have a heart attack.
I mean, you never heard that
before coming out of your spouse's mouth.
I could be wrong,
but I want to tell you something.
You could be.
You really could be.
So when you hear that idea,
rather than just run up to him and say,
I just don't like that,
just go home and ponder for a little bit.
Well, you know, maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe the reason I'm like this is because
I think it's all about me
or maybe it's because I'm wrong.
I'm wrong.
Here's the fourth thing.
Cut him some slack.
From the very beginning
and all through his ministry,
cut him some slack.
Show him some grace.
How many of you need some grace?
That's what we preach week after week
after week after week.
We need grace.
Well, then live that way.
Demonstrate grace to somebody else
because I'm going to tell you something.
I don't know Daniel real, real well.
I've known him for a number of years,
but I don't know him real, real well,
but I know this.
He's going to mess up.
He's going to make some errors.
He's going to sometimes err in his judgment.
He's going to say things from the pulpit sometimes
that may just not make any sense in the moment.
You know what I said last week in the announcements?
My wife came down
and she was about to laugh herself silly
after I made those announcements
and she said,
Billy Graham's dead.
And I said, I know that.
She said,
well, you said he was preaching at noon today
in the announcements.
Picky, picky, picky.
Franklin was preaching last Sunday.
I don't know if you got to hear him or not,
but not Billy.
So you're going to mess up
when you stand here and you talk enough
and that's what preachers do.
You're going to say some things
you didn't intend to say.
You're going to say some things
the way you didn't intend to say them.
And sometimes your thinking's just going to be
messed up in the moment.
And he ever suffered from anything like that?
Well, cut him some slack.
When I was a kid,
you know my favorite ball player was
a guy named Brooks Robinson,
number five,
Baltimore Orioles, third baseman.
Some of the sports writers in his day
nicknamed him Mr. Hoover
because he was a vacuum cleaner.
He won golden glove after golden glove
after golden glove.
I mean,
he's considered the greatest third baseman
of all time.
But I want to tell you something
about Brooks Robinson.
He made in his career
a staggering 263 errors.
That's a lot of errors.
But he played 23 years.
9,000 within 100 opportunities,
9,000 times the ball was hit to him.
And 236 of those times,
he either made a throw in error
or a field in error,
but somehow he erred.
I don't know,
but I would guess
if Mr. Robinson was here this morning,
we could ask him.
And we said,
Brooks,
tell me something.
Did it ever cost the Orioles a game,
one of those errors you made?
And I'd be almost certain
he would say,
yeah.
Yeah,
there's a time or two
that I blew the game.
I allowed the winning run in
because I bought something at third.
But I want to tell you something
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt.
There were many times
he made plays
that saved games
and put W's in the win column.
Cut him some slack.
He's going to make some errors.
Cut him some slack.
Fifth thing is this.
Be low maintenance.
Boy, that's a big one.
He ought to send me $50 today
for saying that.
Be low maintenance.
You know what a low maintenance
member looks like?
He's somebody who's here
every time the doors are open,
who just volunteers to do things.
They walk across the parking lot.
They see paper.
They pick it up.
They hear they're
needing folk in the nursery.
Nobody has to beg.
They go and they volunteer.
They're faithful.
But they're also low maintenance.
They don't expect a lot.
They come because
they want to be a part
of something big
and they're not thinking
about what they get in return.
They're thinking constantly
about how they give
to the kingdom of God.
I'm not talking about monetary.
I mean they're giving of themselves.
They want to make a difference.
When they have needs,
you know what they do?
They call the pastor.
And they say,
Pastor, here's what's happening
in our family.
Here's what's happened to me.
I've been to the doctor.
I've got this news.
Pretty upset over it.
Could you come pray with me?
Or could you pray with me
where you are?
Or can I make an appointment
to see you?
I've got this problem in my life.
They don't expect him
to have a crystal ball
where he looks out there
and says, hmm,
so and so's sick today.
If they're sick
and they need him,
they call him.
But I'll tell you something.
Every time they get a splinter
taken out of their hand,
they don't need him.
They have learned spiritually
how to put on
their big boy pants
and go live life.
This last week,
and don't send me
a get well card,
I had an endoscopy
and a colonoscopy
and the three days
of prep for that
where you hang out
around the bathroom a lot.
And it's miserable.
But I didn't call my pastor.
I just hung out
in the bathroom.
You hear what I'm saying?
There's sometimes
I need to call him.
When I need him,
I need him.
And if I know I need him,
I'm going to call him.
And if he can't come,
he'll send somebody.
And that's great
because they can pray
just the same as he can.
But there are other times
I don't need him.
And when I don't need him,
I'm not going to involve him
because I know this.
He's got hundreds
of other folk out there
he's trying to be
a shepherd to.
And I overburden his life
when I ask him
to do things
that if I just put on
my big boy pants,
I could do it myself.
You understand that?
Everybody,
that's yes and no.
You got that?
When I was passionate
at Brushy Creek,
I can say this now
because they're not here.
Almost everybody,
they lived that way.
They were low maintenance.
But there was this one
young couple
and I'd been there
just a short time
and they called
and they said,
we'd like to come see you
for marital counseling
and they came
and I tried to help them.
Met with them
four or five times
and we worked through
a real crisis.
It was a real problem
and they needed my help
and I was glad to help them.
And then about a year
or two later,
they called back
and they said,
we got another problem
and they came
and I helped them
through that
and that was only
a couple weeks
that we spent together
and I helped them.
And then another year
or so passed
and I began to notice
that they'd call me
about little things
that to me
weren't really
of great significance.
But I'd try to help them
and so one Wednesday
they'd call
and I had a Bible study
that met at six o'clock
on Wednesday morning
so I'd go to the church
and be there early at six
and it was one of those days
where everything
was just cram packed
and so I didn't get
to go home for supper
and I knew I had
prayer meeting that night
and then afterwards
I was going to go home.
So it was about
a 14 hour day,
long story short.
And they called
about two o'clock
and they said,
could we see you tonight?
I said,
well, everything's taken
and I don't have
any appointments left.
They said,
well, could we see you tonight
after prayer meeting?
I said,
well, is it really,
really important
because I've been here
about 14?
Yeah, this is important.
We need to see you.
Okay.
So I met them in my office
after prayer meeting
and got there
about eight o'clock.
They come walking in.
They got Slurpees
in their hands,
you know.
They've been out to supper
and they've gotten
them something to drink
and I hadn't eaten
nothing all day
and they sit down
in the chair
and I'm kind of just,
you know,
hoping this is really serious,
you know,
could take me out like this
and so I said,
well, tell me the problem
and she jumps in.
She says,
I'll just tell you,
it's a real problem for us.
We're really just
fighting back and forth
over this
and can't come up
with a solution.
What's the problem?
She said,
we need your help.
Do you think we need
a pontoon
or do you think
a ski boat
would be better?
Now, I'm not kidding you.
I can't tell you
what I thought.
I want to say,
get out of my office.
I don't care
if you get a john boat
or a ski boat
or a pontoon boat.
I don't care.
It doesn't matter.
Do you understand
what I'm saying in that?
Now, I'm saying it
in a funny way,
trying to be funny about it,
but I want to tell you something.
Man, we need to hear that.
He can't settle
every little thing
that comes along
in your life.
Be low maintenance.
Go to him
when you need him
and go to him
without hesitation
because he'll want you
to do that.
That's what I wanted to do,
but make sure
it's a bona fide need.
Lastly,
let him lead.
You've called him here
to be your pastor
and your shepherd
and that means
he's going to be a servant
and if he's a good pastor,
he's going to have
a servant's heart
and you don't need
to tell him he's a servant.
He'll know that.
You don't need to treat him
like he's your slaver,
your servant.
He's not your gopher.
He's your spiritual leader.
He's your shepherd.
Let him be that.
Let him lead.
Sam Couch is sitting back here.
Oh, there he is.
I spotted him earlier.
He and I have gotten
to be buddies
since I've been here.
He's a mechanic.
He works on big time equipment,
tractors,
all that kind of stuff.
Been doing it all his life.
I haven't been to his shop,
but I'm certain
he's got huge,
massive socket sets
and wrenches
and every tool
imaginable known to man.
Robbie can tell you
because he's pretty mechanical,
but I'm not.
Okay?
But I do have
a socket set.
One of those
$20 Kmart jobs.
You know?
My biggest socket
is probably about an inch.
And I tell you something,
I had a lawnmower.
I don't have one anymore,
but I had a lawnmower.
And I have changed
the oil in that lawnmower.
I have.
I've changed
the spark plugs.
I've taken the wheels off.
Can you imagine me
going to Sam tomorrow
and he's got a big
Kubota tractor out there
and says,
Sam,
I want to tell you something.
You know,
I've taken a lawnmower
part before.
Let me tell you
what I think you need
to do that tractor
right there.
Now,
Sam's a nice fellow.
He'd be polite
and say,
okay,
Pastor,
good.
But he'd be thinking,
you out your mind.
And rightfully so.
Now,
I want to tell you
something that may
bust your bubble,
but here's the truth.
Calls you
attend Sunday school
and calls you
own a couple Bibles
don't mean you're
going to know
more about church
than Daniel Herring
is going to know.
Do you understand that?
You say,
but I've been there
a long time.
Yeah,
you may have been,
but I want to tell you
something.
If he didn't know
something you don't know,
you wouldn't have
called him as your pastor.
You didn't need him
if you can do
everything
that he can do
and you know
as much as he knows
what you're going
to waste your money
calling him for.
So let him lead.
Do you understand?
When he comes here,
love him
and pray for him
and get to know him
and let him get to know you
and let him minister to you.
But man,
don't put a noose
around his neck
and say,
you conform to our image
of what it is
to be a pastor.
You lead us
and we will follow.
Now,
I want to close
by sharing
something personal with you.
I want to challenge you
as I close.
And I want to do so
because when I retired
a few years ago,
I began to take stock
of my life
because the bulk
of my life
I know has come
and gone.
It has passed.
And I began
to evaluate
the 50 years
I've been preaching.
And you might
be thinking
I arrived
at one conclusion
when in reality
I arrived at another.
From the world's perspective,
the world would say
I've been fairly successful
because I pastored
two churches
and they did pretty well
and they grew
and we relocated.
There's a list
of buildings
I could point to
and say we built
that and that and that.
But I want to tell you
something,
when I looked over
the balance of my life,
I wondered this.
Did I ever make
much difference?
Did I do much
that really counted?
And I like to say
I think I did
but in reality
I don't really feel
that way.
A whole lot of times
I think about
boy if I had
really
just swung
for the fence.
If I really
just
had the faith
I needed.
If I really
just listened
enough to God
what might
have God
done with me.
I want to tell you
about the two people
and I'm not going
to come back
six weeks
and say here's
two more people.
I thought about it
a lot
and I've said this
to my wife
and to some others.
I don't know
any two people
who have done
more with their lives
than the two people
I want to tell you
about in the few
minutes I still
have left.
Rusty and Betty
Joe McClellan
would you put
their picture
on the board?
That was made
last week.
You won't believe
it looking at them.
They're 60 years old.
They're models
of fitness.
That guy
is just
as fit
as any human
on the planet.
They came
to my church
at Western Avenue
when they were
in their 20s.
They'd both
gotten out of college.
She graduated
University of Chapel Hill
North Carolina.
He finished
at Davidson.
He was a football
player.
They came
to Western Avenue.
She began
to teach
a singles class.
They started
dating.
A few years
later they got
married.
I did the ceremony.
We became
fast friends.
She became
our singles
minister
not a paid
position.
She just did
it out of the
goodness of her
heart.
By the time
I left there
hated to leave
them, loved them
to death, knew
they were going
to do something
great with their
life.
She began
to attend
seminary some
doing it
long distance.
Finally
years later
she gets
her seminary
degree.
They feel
the call
to missions.
They apply
to the
IMB.
They send
them as
journeymen
to Uganda.
He owns
a little shoe
store in
Statesville.
It was then
Long's family
shoe store.
His name
is McClellan.
It's now
McClellan's
shoe store.
He managed
that store.
Little
local mom
and pop
shoe store.
Nothing
big.
They go
to Uganda.
They served
two years
in Uganda.
They come
home.
But their
heart is still
in Uganda.
Now a lot
of folks I
know, in fact
a lot of folks
would say if
you went
there, took
two years
out of your
life, you
go to the
mission field
in Africa,
two years,
I mean, boy,
they are
heroes.
But they
thought God
was leading
them to do
something bigger.
And they
began to
think and
pray and
began to
think because
of their
mission
experience,
how should
we be
doing
missions?
And they
wrote a
comprehensive
plan for how
missions really
ought to be
done.
And I'm
going to tell
you, all
the time as
Southern Baptists,
we don't do
it the way we
should do it,
just to be
honest with
you.
But they
mapped out a
comprehensive way
how real
missions ought
to look.
It ought to
be a holistic
approach that
you ought to
go and you
ought to
evangelize people
but you
ought to
also disciple
people.
And then you
ought to teach
them how to
live their
lives and you
ought to help
them to plant
crops.
You shouldn't
just give to
them but you
ought to help
them earn a
living and you
ought to help
them learn how
to live a
right life morally
and spiritually
and to be good
citizens and
earn a living for
your family and
how to get along,
how to have
water and
hygiene and all
those things.
And they
just incorporated
into a big
program and
here from the
states they
began a
ministry in
Uganda.
They found
some folks
they had led
to Christ and
they began to
disciple those
people and
began to hire a
few of them with
some bucks they
could get here and
there and they
began to lead
Bible studies and
they had jail
ministries and
over a period of
just a few years
they started two
schools in two
different villages
that are just
supreme educational
places.
and then they
had a jail
ministry and
they opened a
children's home
and they had
12 kids come
to that children
home and they
took 12 orphans
off the street
and they raised
them until they
get college age
and then they
send them off to
college and they
teach people how
to plant crops
and they drill
wells.
It's amazing.
They started that
in 2008 and they
still do it out of
their home in
Statesville.
They go there
about three months
a year.
They'll take about
three trips there
and they stay about
a month at a time
and they oversee
that whole thing
from the state
side and it has
grown to where
they now raise
about five to
six hundred thousand
dollars a year
and sink it in
that ministry and
last year I'm on
their board of
directors.
I just went back
on and this last
year the report
was, you ready for
this?
You know how many
people they disciple
in a year now?
They disciple
five thousand people.
Every year they
come from the
Catholic Church,
they come from the
Lutheran Church,
they come from the
Anglican Church,
they come from the
Church of God,
the Pentecostal
Holiness, the
Methodists.
If they'll show up
they'll disciple
them and I'm not
talking about,
okay there were
five thousand
different people
who came two
times.
I'm talking about
five thousand
people who came
for a whole year
and they discipled
these people.
And so I was with
them a couple of
years ago and I
told them what I
told you.
I said, you
know, I've read a
lot of books about
great missionaries
but I've never
known anyone who's
done as much with
their life who said,
you know what, I'm
going to pull out all
the stops, however
God will use me, I
want to be used.
I said, I've never
seen God use anyone
the way he's used
you.
And my wife and I
began to pray about
it and the Lord put
it on our heart.
God, we've done so
little.
I said, I called her
one morning, I said,
what would it cost to
build a children's home
in Uganda?
She says, man, it's so
much cheaper here than
over there.
I said, it's going to be
about thirty-five
thousand is all it is.
And what would it cost
to operate it?
About fifteen thousand.
I said, really?
She said, yeah.
I called her back in
about an hour and said,
me and Regina have been
praying.
God's put it on my
heart, don't know exactly
how it's going to
happen, but I want to
build that children's
home and I want to
staff it for a year.
And I make that
commitment to you.
That was in June of
2020.
COVID had hit.
I wasn't preaching
anywhere, but I thought
something will open up.
And I made a commitment
whatever I earn, I'll just
give back to that
ministry.
And so I did a funeral
here or there.
And I'd give that
money to that and then
we would just take out of
our savings in retirement.
We were given to it.
And then back in July of
this last year, you asked
me to come be your
interim pastor.
And the Lord opened the
door for me to do that.
And I asked the
leadership here, Brother
Mendel, instead of giving
the money to me, could
y'all just send it straight
to EWT?
And I'm telling you
this for a reason.
I have to pray for myself
but I want to tell you
something.
Here's what you've built.
It's completed now and
they're in the process of
painting it.
Isn't that great?
Twelve kids are going to
be in there.
And you had a major hand.
You paid for about half of
that house and the need to
take care of that.
And so here's my challenge
to you.
Oh, and I want to show you
the picture of the kids
that's going to live in it.
I did cute little kids.
That's just a few of them.
But your kids just like those
kids right there.
Those live in another house
they got right now.
But I'm telling you
something.
For years and years and
years and years to come
if Jesus tarries,
there are going to be kids
who don't have a mama
and a daddy who are going
to go out home and they're
going to get discipled and
there are going to be people
who love them and they're
going to go off to
university and they're
going to make something
out of their life and it
will make a difference in
eternity for them.
And here's why I'm telling
you that you're making a
difference in these
people's lives.
Continue to do that as a
church.
And I'm not talking about
this ministry.
You may choose sometime to
give this ministry or not.
But do this.
Do things as a church that
matter.
Stop just stacking chairs on
the deck of the Titanic.
Do things that matter.
Ask yourself, what can
Pickens First Baptist
Church do that will make a
lasting difference for the
kingdom of God and do it?
And then finally this, you do
that.
You could be a Rusty or Betty
Jo McClellan.
They put their pants on just
like everybody else in this
room.
And you could do that.
Right now God has given some
of you a vision and a dream for
what you could do here in
Pickens or somewhere else.
Don't abandon that dream
because it looks too big or
too hard.
Or how would I ever do that?
You pursue that.
You've got one life to spend.
Don't waste it.
Thank you for letting us come
and serve.
Let's pray together.
Father, thank you for this
opportunity you've given me.
Thank you Lord for how this
church has wonderfully supplied
the needs of these children
there in Africa.
I pray God that as Betty Jo
begins to staff that and as
they find all the children
who are going to inhabit this
new home, that you'd use it
for your kingdom's honor and
glory.
Bless Daniel Herring as he comes
here Father.
I thank you for him.
I think they've got a great
match.
And I pray Father that you just
use them in a mighty way to
preach the word here week in and
week out at Pickens.
For we ask it in your name for
your sake.
Amen.
Thank you for listening.
Amen.