RELIGION: I obey, therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted, therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God, to delight and resemble him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or myself, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized, I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a “good person.” Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized, I can take it. I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a “good person.” My identity is not built on my record or my performance, but on God’s love for me in Christ.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of my environment.

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with God.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles: If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure, inadequate, and not confident. I feel like a failure.

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of myself as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time, neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to “the other.”

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for his enemies and who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace, so I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. It is only by grace that I am what I am. I have no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, regardless of what I say I believe about God.

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life: family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things is an ultimate end for me. None of them is something I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency such things can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

We had been discussing how to broaden the outreach of our church’s ministry. The idea of a radio program had never entered my mind.

I replied, “Why not? I’ll look into it and bring back the details.”

I contacted the local country and western AM station in town. I figured if we were going to reach the unchurched, we should pick a music format other than Christian music. Country music seemed the logical choice for our community.

The radio manager told me I could have a weekly 30 minute time slot for $25.00 a program. That seemed reasonable to me.

I took the idea back to the church. We agreed that we would put the idea before the church folks and let God impress upon people to support the radio ministry, or not.

Each Sunday morning a container was placed on a stand at the entrance of the church, next to where I stood shaking hands. The container was labeled “radio ministry.” The idea was if we raised $25.00 we would have enough for a program. If we did not, then we would take it as God’s leading to discontinue the radio program.

There was never a Sunday for years to come that we did not get at least $25.00 for the radio program.

Right away I signed up for a time slot. Since the radio station read the local obituaries each day at 12:00 noon, I chose the 11:30 am to 12:00 noon time slot. I reasoned that I might catch those in the community who tuned in to hear the obituaries, and present them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Each program began with a welcome and the program title, which we called “Memorial Moments.” I would give a quick run down of what was going on at the church and invite the folks to worship on Sunday morning. Then I gave the service times and the directions to the church. After that I gave a brief 15 minute teaching message. Then I closed the service with another brief invitation to come and worship with us, and told the listeners that we would be back on next week at the same time.

Before long our church started to get visitors attending our worship services who had heard about us on the radio. Not only that, but I started to get recognized in the community by the sound of my voice. Strangers would come up to me in public and say, “I listen to you on the radio. I know you by voice.”

My favorite memory was one day I turned on the radio to the station and they were playing the most popular country song in the country, Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart.” As soon as it was over, the next words over the air were mine saying, “Welcome to Memorial Moments!” I remember thinking, “Billy Ray Cyrus and then me. I have hit the big time at last!”

The years I broadcast the radio ministry of “Memorial Moments” were some of the most exciting and most interesting times of my life.

I learned two important lessons from that experience:

One: How vital it is to be flexible and ready to step out in faith when an opportunity comes along. I do not think I would have ever thought of starting a radio program had the board member not brought it up out of the blue. But once it was on the table, in spite of the many excuses we could have come up with to not do it (not the least of which was the fact we did not have money in the budget to pay for it), we took a step of faith and said, “Why not? Let’s give it a try.”

Two: I learned first hand that where God guides, God provides. I never had to worry about where the money for the program was going to come from. Each week the money came in. Someone put it this way, “If it is God’s will, then it is God’s bill.”

As I look back now, $25.00 a week seems like a small amount, but at the time it was huge. It was totally a venture of faith. We put a container out each week and trusted that God would lead people to contribute to it, and they did. I never had to make an announcement that we needed money for the radio program, nor did I have to make appeals on the radio for people to contribute to keep “Memorial Moments” on the air.

The two great benefits of the program that I witnessed were:

First, my faith grew by long strides as I believed God to provide for the program.

Second, I was given the awesome joy to teach God’s Word across the larger area of our community than just the folks in our congregation.

Even now, years later, “Memorial Moments” is still one of the most important ministry opportunities God has brought to me. I am so glad that we responded in faith when God came calling.

–Tami

“Say What” was not an easy book for me to read, yet it captivated me and was difficult to put down until I got all the way through it. I think this is a book for everyday instruction. It deals with the practical affairs of our daily lives as we jostle each other on the highways of life. This book may be somewhat like the game of checkers in that even though a child can play the game, no one can master it, and even though I understood what this book was about in my first reading, I also think it will be a lifetime challenge to try to fully understand all the meanings and master all the applications of things in this book. I think…that it has tremendous potential for good to those who devote themselves to adhering to it.

–Charlie

The Bible has much to teach about what we say and the impact our words have on our lives, our relationship with God, and our relationships with others.

You can find out more about “Say What?”—Understanding The Power Of The Words We Speak at plowpointpress.com.

Here are some previews of the book (special thanks to those who previewed the book and wrote the following):

“It was when God spoke that all things were created.  So we should have known how important words are–including ours.  For good or for evil, they create things too. Say What? will help you grasp that as never before.  Read it an be challenged, inspired, and transformed.”

–Stephen Seamands, Professor of Christian Doctrine, Asbury Theological Seminary.

According to the English Language Monitor there are over a million words in the English language. With all those choices before us, women manage to speak about 7000 words a day while men barely eek out 2000. But whether you’re a man with many words or a woman of few, John Franklin Howard’s new book reminds us that every single one that leaves our lips has more power than we probably imagine. Through his years as a parish pastor, Howard has gathered the key biblical passages on the power of the word and both wisely and wryly reminds us through story and reflection that what we say matters … and that our words have eternal consequences. Use Say What? as a devotional to launch your mornings mindfully, or study it together with your church leadership. But whatever you do, if you’re going to open your mouth and speak today, pick up a copy of Say What? and take the words to heart. The recipients of your word choices will thank you.

–Dr. Bill Tenny-Brittian, 21st Century Strategies and Managing Editor Net Results magazine

“When I first met John Franklin Howard 20 years ago, I was impressed with the power of his words – as pastor, preacher, father, husband, and friend, he demonstrated repeatedly that the Word of God dwelt in Him richly.  That Word, spoken through John Franklin, has cast vision, restored hope, and challenged sinners.  This book is an obvious extension of his very effective pastoral ministry.  I believe many churches and individuals will find new strength and victory in the Lord as they apply the truths presented herein.”

–Lee Ann Williamson

Executive Director, Christian World Missions

www.ChristianWorldMissions.org

For that reason, getting the right leaders on board is a must. The right leadership begins with the worship leader and the music team. In the contemporary service that I inherited one year later, I discovered a gifted worship leader and music team director in charge. He had a great heart and was skilled at the keyboard. There was only one flaw; he did not really know contemporary worship music. His strong suit was classical church music. It was hard for him to take the initiative to introduce the music team to contemporary songs for worship because it was just not his area of knowledge or interest. If songs were picked out for him, he could easily sight read them, but it was a style of music that did not come naturally to him. He was not the right leader for the service.

It is hard for a traditional choir director or musician to serve as the music leader of a new contemporary worship experience. Often they are not trained in this style of music and may not prefer it at all. You could end up having someone leading worship who does not like the very music he or she is playing and leading. This will have disastrous consequences for the new service.

Another place to beware is the worship leader, or musician who wants to be the “star performer” in the “show.” Worship is about bringing honor and glory to God, not to the members of the worship team. If you have a singer who consistently has to sing louder than everyone else, or musicians who play their instruments in a way to draw attention to themselves, you have a problem.

I call this the “spotlight principle.” In worship look to see where the music team focuses the “spotlight.” It is on themselves as “performers” or it is on God, who alone deserves honor and glory? I keep in mind during worship the words of Isaiah 42:8:

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another…”

Worship leaders are not performers, they are servants whose job it is to bring people into the presence of God, and to bring praise, honor, and glory to the King of all creation.

Another thing I learned about leadership is to develop as many worship leaders as possible. Preparing and leading worship every week can become physically and spiritually draining for the worship leaders and the music team. In the service that I helped create we attempted to get around this challenge by having the worship team prepare a deep repertoire before the services began. The truth was, we started before we had enough songs prepared for worship. As a result, it took only a few months and we had a weary praise band on our hands. For a time I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep them all together. So in a desperate move, we divided the praise team up into two praise bands. Then, each team would rehearse weekly, but they would only have to lead worship every other week. The benefits were twofold. Not only did we have less responsibility on the shoulders of each worship team member, but in a few months we had the luxury of having two strong worship teams, and spaces for more people to use their musical gifts than before.

The one mistake that I made in this process was not instilling in the praise team the importance of developing their spiritual lives as well as their musical talents. If I were starting over I would encourage each member of the worship team to have a daily quiet time of Bible study, reflection, prayer, and personal worship. Then I would make sure that each worship team rehearsal begins with a time of devotion (Scripture, study, sharing, and prayer). I would encourage the worship team to become a small group for discipleship, as well as worship leading ministry team. I have developed a principle over the years that “poor praying leads to poor playing.” I am certain from my own pastoral leadership that “you can’t lead someone to a place that you haven’t been yourself.”

Leading a new worship experience is a fulfilling endeavor, but it takes gifted leadership, who have a heart for worship, a passion for leading worship, and a commitment to faithfuless. Getting the right people on the team is essential to have a healthy worship service that will make it over the long haul.

What does the Bible teach about the way Christians are to behave toward one another?

Below is a list of the passages in the Bible that detail for us how we are to treat “one another.” It is a list of the verses in the Bible that reference the phrases “one another” and “each other.”

Would you take just a moment to read over these Bible passages and complete the activity that follows?

The “One-Another’s” and “Each-Other’s” of the Bible

As you look over these Bible passages, ask yourself, “How do these statements describe the way Christians should behave toward one another?”

Take a moment and write out the top 10 verses that caught your attention in this form:

1) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

2) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

3) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

4) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

5) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

6) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

7) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

8) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

9) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

10) According to the teaching of the Bible the way Christians are to treat one another is by ___________________________________________________________________.

We would like to compile these responses together with the other leaders, officers, and members of our church. Would you please turn them in to Dr. John Franklin Howard at the church office by the end of the month.

We will update you on our findings as soon as we have received and compiled all the results.

Our Sunday morning schedule prior to the adding of the third service was:

8:30 am to 9:30 am         Service #1

9:45 am to 10:45 am         Sunday School/Bible Study

11:00 am to 12:00 pm         Service #2

Since the target audience for the new third service was unchurched young adults, we set as our new service starting time 9:45 am to 10:45 am. Our logic was that our target audience was not attending church, let alone Sunday School, so having the new service run concurrently with the Sunday School hour was not a conflict in scheduling.

We emphasized to the current worshiping and Sunday School attending population, “We are not interested in taking you away from a class or a worship service that you enjoy. We are trying to reach people who are not involved in church at all.”

In addition, we decided to offer a second Sunday School/Bible study hour. Once the first Sunday School/Bible study hour was finished, we had the entire education wing vacant. We had access to every classroom for a second session of Sunday School. At the outset, we planned a limited schedule for the second Sunday School/Bible study hour. We would offer a nursery, a class for children, a class for teenagers, and an adult small group Bible study. Then as our attendance grew at the contemporary service, we would start additional classes and small groups.

So our proposed schedule looked like this:

8:30 am to 9:30 am         Existing Service #1

9:45 am to 10:45 am         Sunday School/Bible Study Session #1

9:45 am to 10:45 am         New Contemporary Service #3

11:00 am to 12:00 pm         Existing Service #2

11:00 am to 12:00 pm         Sunday School/Bible Study Session #2

The benefits of this schedule were that we had good traffic flow into the sanctuary and parking lot. We also had the use of the education wing two times on Sunday mornings. We were able to keep disruption of the existing services and Sunday School classes to a minimum. One of the key lessons that I learned is that the least amount of boat rocking on the existing schedule, the easier it is to get people’s support.

When we started the new service in the fall of 2005 we averaged 77 in attendance. Five years later it was the largest of the church’s three worship services averaging approximately 185 per week.

I later inherited a new service start-up less than a year after its origin. When I first arrived at this pastorate, the new service was meeting at 10:30 am, the same time as an existing traditional service. Having the two services going on concurrently led to an atmosphere of competition and division among a number of people in the church.

The associate pastor of the church was the founder of the contemporary service. She was the primary preacher at the contemporary service. The senior pastor did not have responsibilities in the alternative service. This contributed to the sense of division in the church.

Only about two dozen people attended the contemporary service at the time I arrived, one year into the new service start.

The service had already had other start times, including 8:30 am Sunday and a Wednesday evening time slot after the church fellowship dinner. None of these times had worked successfully.

I attempted to diffuse the sense of division and competitiveness by moving the contemporary service to 9:30 am (coinciding with the Sunday School hour). The attendance increased slightly. However a few months later complaints began to surface from those involved in the contemporary service. They did not like the idea that they could not attend the service and their Sunday School class if the service started at the 9:30 am hour.

It was then that I realized the contemporary service was not designed to reach the unchurched (who aren’t attending Sunday School to begin with) but rather to appease church members who did not care for traditional worship. They were clear that their Sunday School class took priority over their worship experience and that we had to move the start time of the contemporary service. Now to try to appease the fury of the offended, we moved the start time of the contemporary service to 11:00 am. I would finish preaching at the 10:30 am service and then go out the back door and down into the chapel, hopefully in time for the message at the contemporary service. It only took a couple of Sunday’s of me leaving the 10:30 am service for the outcry to begin. So I compromised: I finished the 10:30 am service, stood at the back door to shake as many hands as possible, and then ran down the steps and in to the front door of the chapel (usually late for the start of the contemporary service). This was a truly stressful schedule but I kept it up for several months. Eventually the 11:00 am time frame did not suit the people attending the contemporary service. Now they had a lag time between Sunday School and the start of the service. People who attended Sunday School did not want to wait around so they were going home and skipping the service. This time it was proposed that the contemporary service begin at 10:20 am with the main traditional service begin at 10:30 am.

I would start off in the 10:20 am service and then leave after preaching to go into the 10:30 am service about halfway through. The 10:20 am service began with a couple of songs from the praise band. Then I would be introduced to come up and bring the message. After I finished I asked the folks to stand and greet one another. When they did I headed up the aisle, out the door, and up the front steps into the sanctuary (hopefully arriving before the message time began there).

Back in the contemporary service, the praise band and lay worship leaders led music, the prayer time, received the offering, and closed the service.

Five years later the attendance had climbed in the contemporary service from the original 12 that I inherited to an average of 70 each Sunday.

Church consultant Bill Easum claims that the best time to start a new worship service is between 9:00 am and 10:00 am. Based on my experience, I think he is right. The contemporary service that I started at 9:45 am continues to grow to this day. The service I inherited which had times of 8:30 am, 10:30 am, 10:20 am, and 11:00 am still struggles and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Easum also maintains that starting a new service at the same time as Sunday School will not decrease Sunday School attendance, but add to it.

Once again a new service comes down to a simple issue: who is it for…existing church members, or the unchurched who are not part of a Sunday School class to begin with? As Easum might say, “Is it a service for them, or for us?”

It is hard enough to reach unchurched people in our world today, but if the existing church members are working against the start of a new service, the task is much more difficult.

In order to get the new service I helped envision and create off to a good start, I spent a good deal of time meeting with individuals who were questioning the need for a new service. I found the folks all seemed to have similar questions: “Why do we need a new service?” “Why is it going to be held in the fellowship hall?” “Will the new service present a watered down gospel?” “What is wrong with the worship services that we offer?” “Why wouldn’t anyone enjoy the worship service that I enjoy?”

During the run up to the new service start date, one of the long range planning committee members came up with a great idea: A congregational survey. The idea was that we would poll the congregation on a Sunday morning with a yes or no answer to one question: If we could reach people who would not otherwise come to our church by offering a new, contemporary worship service, and if it would not negatively affect the worship service you presently attend in any way, would you not work against the church as it goes forward to start this service?

When we ran the survey I thought that if we could get 70% support for the new church start we would be in great shape. Politicians who get 52% of the vote often claim they have a “mandate” to implement their campaign promises. I felt that 70% of the people would surely say they would allow us to start this new service without working against it we would have a good change for success.

When the survey was completed I was surprised to see that 94% of the people responded in support of the new service and just 6% responded against it. With this result I knew we were ready to go forward.

The final step we took to build unity and support was borne out of necessity. We needed a few weeks to iron out the wrinkles in our new service, so for the four Sunday’s prior to the new service launch we “test drove” the service during the Sunday School hour. We invited the Sunday School participants to come and be our “congregation” for at least one Sunday in the month. This would give us live people to lead in worship, and it would give everyone currently attending the church a chance to see the service for themselves. No longer would anyone have to rely on rumor and gossip. They could see with their own eyes what we were proposing.

The end result of these efforts was that when we launched the new service four weeks later, all the negativity and resistance disappeared. Those who were interested in the new service came to help out. Those who were not interested in it went back to their preferred worship experience and their Sunday School class.

The contemporary service that I would later inherit began by making nearly every mistake imaginable. From the outset nearly every constituency in the church was offended in some form or another. Those who were pleased with existing traditional worship services were told their services were dying and that only a new contemporary service would be able to keep the church alive. The pastor, music director, and adult choir were offended because the new service was made to look like it was due to people who did not like their ministry in the church. It was perceived that the group behind the new service was trying to start a church within a church. It quickly became an “us against them” spirit in the church. The existing members who liked traditional worship got their feelings hurt and became defensive. They struck back. They wrote letters of protest to the District Superintendent and the Bishop, calling the proposed new service an “abomination.” They worked to undermine the service after it began, in hopes it would fail. For months after I arrived as the pastor (nearly a year after the new service launch) people came to my office to tell me that they “prayed daily that the new service would die.” Instead of supporting the new service, the opponents looked for every reason to criticize the service.

I would often wonder during those months if the offense caused at the outset of the new service launch and the inner turmoil it caused would eventually drain the life out of the service.

At this writing, the service is just over 5 years old. It has survived the rocky start, but at a price. Five years into the new service, the attendance has plateaued at approximately 70 people each Sunday. It has become a comfortable expanded small group for the remaining families who pushed for a contemporary service. So much of their time and energy was spent in the early years defending their service and working for its survival, that little time and energy was spent in reaching out to the unchurched community at large. This is the main casualty I see when there is insufficient buy-in. Ultimately it will affect the evangelism and outreach of the new service because of the consuming energy needed to withstand the resistance and opposition from within.

Before starting a new service in an existing church, get as many people on board as possible. The souls of the unchurched are at stake!

The first key lesson I learned in starting a new worship service is to clearly define the reason why to start the service in the first place. Why would a church consider beginning an additional worship service? I think there are two good reasons and one bad reason.

The first good reason to start a new worship service is because your current worship service attendance is already at 50%-80% capacity of your sanctuary. I pastored a church that had 2 identical worship experiences. One started at 8:30 am and the second started at 11:00 am. The second service had been started when the attendance at the 11:00 am service became too crowded.

The second good reason to begin a new worship service is because the church wants to reach people that are currently not being reached by it’s current worship experience. A church may discover a demographic in its area that is not being reached. The church may feel a responsibility under the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) to try to reach out to those people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. In order to do so they may attempt to create a worship experience that will be attractive, inviting, and relevant to that population.

The first additional worship service I helped to begin had this goal as its motivation. While our two existing worship services were informal, casual, and somewhat blended; I believed there was a population of unchurched people in our community that would be interested in a worship experience that was more upbeat, visual, and offered music led by a praise band with guitars, drums, and vocalists, instead of organ and choir.

It was to this group of people that we planned our new service.

Finally, there is one very bad reason I discovered for starting a new worship service: rebellion. I inherited an additional service that had been begun because a group of church members were dissatisfied with the current preacher’s sermons, the traditional liturgy of the church services, and the music offered by the choir and the organist. They threatened that they would leave the church altogether if a worship service was not started that would suit their preferences. Reluctantly, and with resistance, the church made plans to start an additional worship service. As the service came into existence in the months ahead, it never seemed to pick up steam. One year later the service had less than two dozen regular attenders. Years later, as I reflected on the great struggles that service had, I came to believe that a new service borne out of rebellion will never fully have the blessing of God upon it. When I left that church the worship attendance on my final Sunday in the additional service was 70. They had come a long way from the two dozen people I had inherited. Yet I still felt that the early days of rebellion had injected a level of poison into the spirit of the service that had never really been removed.

DUKE’S RAMBLINGS

“Notes from Cabinet”

September 13, 2010

Dear Workers in the Vineyard,

John Franklin Howard hit the mother-load. I went to worship at Mount Pleasant UMC yesterday. They have had their troubles lately so I didn’t know what to expect. When I arrived, there was no parking. I had to squeeze in next to the cemetery. When I got inside the sanctuary, there were no seats. They had seats out in the aisle. Ushers were going up and down the aisle finding places where others could squeeze in. They took in 10 new members. Was Jesus getting ready to come or what? This is the kind of trouble I want churches to have.

Of course I discovered that it was homecoming and they had combined there two services into one. Still, I don’t think that would have put seats in the aisles. Someone or some folks had done a good job in getting the word out to come to Homecoming and people definitely turned out. It was impressive. Like I said, John Franklin Howard hit the mother-load because this was definitely the day you want the DS to visit and leave thinking that the attendance every Sunday is like this.

John Franklin and the worship staff did a good job. Somehow I have never seen John Franklin as being funny. But the man was funny and his people responded to his humor. It was just a good day when everything seemed to align correctly.

Oh, don’t we all long for those kinds of days. I needed a day like this one after cabinet last week. I think we all left with cabinet overload. You can get that even with good stuff and we did hear some good things.

I left on Friday feeling overwhelmed, tired, and wondering how in the world will be able to do all that is being set out. I wasn’t alone in that feeling. But I also know that the times are calling for us to adapt and reconfigure how we always done things. If we don’t then the times will overwhelm us.  Of course that is not a new feeling. You find this throughout the Biblical record. I always love the story of the children of Israel backed up to the Red Sea (Reed Sea to scholars) with Pharaoh’s chariots and nothing but water before them. Moses asks God to make a way. God says I have but first you have got to get wet. Then and only then was the sea parted.

How is God calling you and me and our churches to get wet? Today, I experienced one of those perfect type days at Mount Pleasant, the kind we all long for. But some folks had to get wet to get to this day. Like I said, John Franklin hit the mother-load today. May we all hit it.

Peace,

Duke