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The Body of Christ

I Corinthians 12:12 states: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] Christ."

I am meeting with some people in the church who have initiated contact with me separately from each other about their own passion for evangelism. I have been preparing a resource for this meeting, part of which is this diagram of the Body of Christ. I don't know whether it would be valuable to you in your ministry and understanding of things, but I thought it would help us tonight.

Tuesday, Aug 31

This morning, I had prayer with Mr. Charlie Satterfield, who I'm told is our oldest male church member. He fell over the weekend and broke his hip, and is being moved today down toward the coast closer to his daughter. Charlie is well known for his sense of humor, and even today, a care specialist said, "Behave, Mr. Satterfield." He pointed to me and said, "I have to - my preacher's standing right there." We all had a good, hearty laugh.

In my devotions this morning, I studied Romans 1:2. As Dr. Stephen Olford said, "Before you can master the Word, the Word has to master you." I am going to be taking our church family through Romans on Sunday night's beginning this week. It is important to me to study the word devotionally to apply it to my own life first.

In reading this truth-filled verse, several things are amazing to me. God promised this salvation that we who have trusted Christ enjoy long in advance; and He delivered on that promise. The prophets He used to speak this message were His prophets. That possession is significant. This advance promise is recorded for us in the Scriptures, or writings. They are not just writings, but holy writings - the Holy Scriptures. There is nothing holy about erroneous writings; therefore, to the chagrin of our CBF folks, the Bible actually does claim inerrancy for itself (let alone the divine origin of this revelation).

It is humbling to look in the mirror and realize that God has called you and me to be ambassadors for Christ with the message of reconciliation, pleading with the lost around us to "Be reconciled to God." I can hardly wait for tonight when I will sit down with some of our people who have approached me about what we can do for outreach in our great church.

The greatest days of FBC Stanley are ahead as we maintain a proper focus on the fact that He has separated us unto the Gospel - no other task, no other initiative, no other program. Not a focus on ourselves, but on those outside the fold.

With love,

Pastor Billy

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

All week I have been meditating on possible connections between our theme of "The Holiness of God" and the observance of Memorial Day. The whole idea to do a slideshow grew out of my own arrangement of the hymn, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" for brass choir that was recorded a few years ago. As it turns out, we have too many slides for that length of piece. So I rummaged through my patriotic CD library last night, and found a perfect rendition of the Battle Hymn. I got chills and goose bumps when the line came up that said, "As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free." There is the connection! We will have a powerful service Sunday. God didn't want the video backed by my arrangement, but by this powerful hymn that ties the entire service together. He works in mysterious ways. As a treat to those following this blog, here is the slideshow in its current manifestation. I love each of you in the Lord! ~ Pastor Billy

For the story behind this inspiring hymn, visit: LINK

Tuesday's Two Cents - Joy in Serving

Where does your joy in serving the Lord come from - men or God?

If your joy in serving the Lord comes from men, or is tied to men to any degree, it will be vulnerable to waning, and perhaps even disappearing altogether. This leads to hurt, discouragement, and even burnout. If your joy in serving the Lord comes from God, then that joy will be as eternal as God is, as consistent as God is, and as fulfilling as He is.

Consider Martha. She lost her joy in serving (Luke 10), because her focus was on Mary's apparent non-service. Consider Elijah. He asked God to take him home even after one of the strongest victories any man of God has ever witnessed, because the wicked queen Jezebel had threatened his life. Since her crosshairs were on his scalp, his joy in serving the Lord was zapped.

Now consider Jesus, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. His joy in serving was not in being appreciated, not in our obedience or believing in Him. His joy in serving the Father was entirely rooted in the Father's attributes and "the joy that was set before Him."

What an example for us. Let us ask God to help us maintain a healthy focus on Him, directing our service toward His glory and His notice - the audience of One.

Saturday Saturation (Ideas for Our Church)

When someone once asked me what I wanted to do in my ministry, I began describing my burden to see churches planted. I was calling myself a church planter, but that missionary corrected me. The technical term for what I feel called to be is a church plant facilitator. Part of my vision for our church is to plant another church every 5-7 years. We can train the staff in our church for those five years, raise funds for five years, and then send them out. Here is a site that nails down exactly how this is done: http://www.churchplantingvillage.net/

A preacher doused in gasoline shares Christ rather than renouncing him. This is the single most profound video I have watched in years:

LINK to Video

As we become a Great Commission church, there are scores of ideas and opportunities that we can tap into. Consider the idea from the IMB about adopting a people group! I think our church should definitely do this: Link to IMB Website

I grew up in a church where the youth group went out of the country at least once/year. That is my goal for our church as well. I am actively working with Trey Summerlin to develop some International and affordable mission trip options for our youth (middle school & high school). Here is a site with a TON of information for parents regarding logistics that allow you to search for opportunities around the globe. This is what God has called each of us to do. http://www.thetask.org/youth/YOM/yom.htm

Another decent site for this is: http://www.world-changers.net/

And how bout something like this video to encourage folks to become more involved in Sunday School small groups?

Link to Video

Finally, Give me your thoughts on this church's site:
http://cffamily.org/home

Adios,
Pastor Billy

P. S. Some time when I have more time I'll learn how to embed this vids into the blog :(!

Happy May Day! (Sunday's in May)

Since it's the first day of May, let me give you guys a run-down of what you can expect to see this month at church!

May 3 - We will be having a baptism for one of our boys who has made a profession of faith; he will be baptized by his grandfather! We will be observing the Lord's Supper, and in light of Christ's sacrifice for us, we will consider whether or not we are offering Him something that costs us nothing. As part of our worship service, there will be a mini-drama titled "Checkbook Mysteries" that will crack us up, while driving home an important truth.

May 10 - Mother's Day! We will honor all mothers present, with special gifts for the oldest mother, newest mother, and three others randomly selected.

May 17 - 2nd Annual Day of Prayer - This day will be a turning point for our church. God has brought us through an exciting year together, and we have seen Him do some amazing things - all as a result of prayer. We will have a special time of prayer that morning at 8. There will not be a breakfast, as I inadvertently left in the calendar section of the newsletter from last year. In the worship service, we will be introducing some blended worship that will help us worship the Lord in a broader way in the coming months. People can get excited about worshiping Christ! Stay tuned to your newsletter and the church website about some exciting outdoor events for that night in place of our evening service.

May 24 - On this Memorial Day Sunday, we will be honoring our troops. We are asking our people who have served or who have family that has served in the military to help us out with pictures for a special slideshow this day.

May 31 - Can you believe it? We get an extra Sunday this month! Plans are coming together for a wonderful day of worship in God's house!

In a season where it is easy to stay over on vacation and miss a worship service and to drop off in regularity of church attendance, let me encourage each of you to be faithful to the house of God throughout this exciting month!

Pastor Billy

Engaged to Jesus - Thursday's Theological Thought

It is staggering to think of how such a slight difference in thinking can make the difference between heaven and hell for a person. The simple flip of faith's switch, in which a spiritual lightbulb comes on in a person's soul, may seem so small on one level - but the difference it makes is everything.

For many Sunday worshipers, the difference between heaven and hell comes down to the difference between "I will" and "I do." This difference is so perfectly illustrated in our marital customs in America. In our culture, an engagement is far less permanent than the Biblical betrothal. Irreconcilable differences and even death can end an engagement before those individuals enter into a marriage covenant together.

So many within the walls of churches say they love Jesus (and they may be somewhat sincere). They sing the hymns with gusto; serve on committees; smile; go through the motions; and may even hold high offices in a church. They know the drill, the lingo, and after all this time, they might even have convinced themselves that they are on their way to Heaven. They date Jesus, but never walk the aisle with Him. When presented with an opportunity to respond to the Gospel, they say, "I will." But you aren't married until "I will" becomes "I do." "Someday, I'll accept Christ as my Savior," is not enough of a confession of faith for someone to enter into a covenant relationship with Christ. Only when you recognize that when Jesus carried your cross to "The Place of the Skull" and died in your place, He was demonstrating His love toward you and saying, "Will you marry me - enter into a permanent covenant relationship with me for all eternity?" Father God says, "Do you, Jesus, take this sinner to be your bride?" Amazingly, Jesus has said, "I do." The difference between heaven and hell is the difference between your saying "I do," and "I will" - between marriage, and mere engagement.

Great Commission Resurgence

The Great Commission Resurgence

Dr. Johnny Hunt (SBC President) and other Convention leaders (Drs. Akin & Reid - Southeastern Seminary) are spearheading a Convention-wide return to the most basic reality of the Christian faith: the Great Commission. When Christ left this earth, He gave us one thing to do - Make disciples from all the nations. Our Convention leadership recognizes that in reclaiming our zeal for God's Word, somehow our zeal for souls became chilled. I believe that this Resurgence will be even bigger than the previous one; this is the biggest revolution in our lifetime - without a doubt.

As I shared with Doc Reid via Facebook - it begins on the church level, as each church commits to becoming a Great Commission church. And even there, it begins on the heart level, as each believer commits to becoming a Great Commission Christian. With the implementation of the Great Commission Focus in our newsletter each week, and the goals of going out of the country each year at least twice with our churchwide mission trips, we are making bold steps at Stanley's FBC to becoming a Great Commission church. May God help us as we continue to move toward His goals for us.

Introduction

Hello, everybody! My name is Billy Shaw, and I have the privilege of pastoring the First Baptist Church of Stanley, NC. I have decided to blog devotionals, theological tidbits, cultural commentary, humor, and church news through this site, so that our people, prospects, and community can see what's going on at Stanley's FBC, and come check us out. I've got some things planned to upload here already, and am looking forward to this becoming a sounding board for ideas for our church. At FBC Stanley, we love everybody, and want to become the community church. That's why the blog will be called "The Stanley Stylus." I hope you enjoy!

Billy Shaw, Pastor
First Baptist Church, Stanley, NC