Higher Math

Let's do the math. 1+1=2. Except in relationships. How many people does it take to befriend a church person? If you walk into the room knowing the drill of church but new to our shop, probably 8 unique contacts from people. If you're a complete stranger and have never been to church before, we need a different formula entirely.

In the old days (did I just call myself old), we had all kinds of gimmicky lines, "Each one, reach one," "Bring a friend Sunday," presuming of course that one person knew everything to say about life, faith, and yes, the ultimate example of your walk with Christ, church attendance.

But what if we had a higher form of math? What if it wasn't an equation? What if we could mix the skills, personalities, and even opinions of people to introduce them to the whole life of Christ? Since no one person has a corner on the market of answers, or the life of Jesus, we need more people talking and engaging one person, rather than one person focusing on a stranger.

Consider the math of our mentoring program called Circles of Concern. This is part of the Knox County 10-year plan to end Homelessness. Here 5 First Baptist folks share life with one person. No one hands out money. They help navigate the waters of utilities, housing, jobs, healthcare. You name it. These friends support. They provide relationships, prayer, and most of all wisdom. No individual can help someone into sustainable living. Five people with a passion can use their networks to invite others into the cause. Instead of 1:1, 1 person helping someone in need, 5 or more help 1 person. It's a 5:1 ratio.

Could you do the math in other areas? Sunday School classes doing life with 1 new member in the church. Parents adopting college students to show them the ropes along the way. Lives touching lives, not 1:1, but as many as needed to spread the load tap the best gifts and skills that people need. That's an equation worth celebrating.

Enlarging the Circle

What do these folks have in common?

Sydnor Money
Mary Helms
Aldena Phillips
Ruthie Johnson
Jeff and Julie Sharp
Pat and Mike Harper
Benna Hudson
Jeannie Maples
Joel Maples

They share a passion to end homelessness. They desire to make a difference. All of them are doing something about it. And they're not the only ones. They were, however, trained to be a part of First Baptist's Circles of Support mentoring groups. Two teams of five each are mentoring a man and a woman who are no longer homeless. They are, however, ready for the full abundant life of following Jesus. They need more than a good word; they need good news.

Circles of Support is part of the 10-year plan to end homelessness for Knox County. We are the first Baptist church to participate, but we're not the first church to do Circles of Support. We join with the larger ecumenical faith family to help with all the things that you find in life when you're falling through the cracks. Job placement, medical support, transportation, utility installation. You name it; we help with it. Put all that together with people living out their faith, and you have a power prayer team that answers most of their prayer by doing some great work. Pray for this team as they enlarge FBC's circle of love.

Confirming, Affirming, Ordaining

On Sunday night, we ordained one of First Baptist's own to ministry. Ordination is to Baptists what Graduation is to College. You've got the degree, but the ceremony says what has happened already. We go through this rite of passage because of what is whispered in the ear and shared to the heart. As Bill Leonard challenged us, the early Baptists knew best. The gathering of the believers conveyed and confirmed the presence of the spirit. We touched base with Thomas and others who trusted the words of 1st century women about as much as society does today. In this case, however, we blessed a woman's work in whom we can trust.

Emily is a third generation minister. If ministry can be a family business, the Hull's would be in a skyscraper. But it's not, and it can't be. This is as individual, personal, and private as the salvation moment itself. In fact, family connections probably fight against ministry more than we realize. The preacher's kid resists a call more than the average person to make sure that it's not just what "Momma wants," or what is most familiar to the person.

As the line snaked around the historic sanctuary, I enjoyed several warm moments. On the platform, I sat next to Bill Leonard who willingly put up with my pontifications as a know-it-all undergrad. He pushed me to meet Glenn Hinson. My senior thesis was supposed to be the beginning of a good treatment of his work. Hopefully someone else has written it by now.

I watched the line filled with senior adults, single adults, and seminary adults. These cohorts and clusters called to mind the goodness of a church, the blessing of a community, and the trust and faith that God is still whispering in the night to women and men. And sometimes we get to bless those who got up, moved past their Eli, and said yes to the open door.

I saw another line form in my head. The group of men that snaked around First Baptist, Pensacola, FL, to breathe on me some words I've long forgotten but from which I still draw in the recesses of the soul. It was much different then, but that was still good and meaningful and necessary. Graduations are nice, but ordinations are grace. God's grace to us.

Relocation and Repentance

Realtors cause problems, and we like it that way. It's been awhile since I've moved, and I don't plan to move for a long time. But I've been reflecting on relocation since so many of our college students are moving over the next few days. The U-Hauls are rolling. It's just preparation for the time when one day, they want to experience the "American dream," take out a sub-prime mortgage, and relocate.

After a year of trying to sell "by owner," you finally make a decision. Call a person who will make a lot of money off you. Your realtor. But you call her because she will tell you something no one else can. The truth. After the tour and inspection, a good realtor has the courage to tell you what must be fixed, repaired, and replaced. That 1970's countertop- gone. The landscaping you've put off-- plant shrubs. The brass kickplate on the door-- polish it. You invite the realtor to help you make changes. By the time that you have invested $20,000, you say, "Why didn't I do this a long time ago so someone else could enjoy it?! This is a great house."

The Christian equivalent to relocation is repentance. Not the decision to move (much easier). Not the regret over waiting to relocate. It's the process of going from one place to another. The fixing, replacing, boxing, repairing, changing that requires a life time consult from the city of Zion. Believers understand that they have been given to the world in order to relocate home again as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. They are on the long slow process of change, divesting oneself of the trappings of society. And moving toward a new city. They move toward a place that feels like home. And they experience the joy of repentance.

We bless school supplies for needy families in South Knox & commission educators and over 30 mentors of at-risk kids today @fbcknox.

Against and With the Wind

I love running on the beach during vacation. The shoreline stretches for miles, and I enjoy the packed hardened sands of Hilton Head beaches. The waves offer a sound and sights display unlike any other. The problem, of course, is the wind.

This year, when I ran along the shore, the wind seemed to blow with gale force against my face. Running on vacation requires some degree of motivation anyway, and this year was no exception. This was not how I wanted to be greeted by the sea. "No problem," I thought, "when I turn aroud things will be fine. The winds in my face will send me back to my point of origin."

When I reversed course, however, the laws of physics took over. Or maybe they were Murphy's laws of running. The wind at your face feels much stronger than the wind at your back. When I started back, all I felt was the faint breeze blowing. With a sweaty shirt, and an even hotter head, I struggled back wishing I had brought a bottle of water for my thirst.

In life, we know what it's like to feel the wind in our faces. We don't have to be reminded of the gale forces. Just because we turn around (the New Testament calls this repentance), however, does not mean we are guaranteed an adrenaline rush of spiritual wind. Sometimes we get a sweaty slog of faithfulness. So we are then invited to enjoy the show. God offers us waves of grace and guidance to wash ashore that keep pace with life. And it's ok to slow down too. You're on a vacation that leads back to a vocation.

Some things in life are free. FISH pantry open this morning @ First Baptist. Free bag of groceries per person.

What are the best movies in the last 2 years on the practice (and perils) of church ministry? I'll start-- "Doubt" and "Grand Torino". Your thoughts?

The Lord's Supper is a rite of passage. New believers share their first meal in a faith family. The church demonstrates how God delivers

A Birthday Gift for Baptists

Baptists have not always held a majority in Knoxville. From our beginnings in Amsterdam 400 years ago this year, Baptists formed a minority religious sect. The early colonies offered hope for freedom. Baptists found, however, that they needed more than just freedom of religion. They also needed freedom from other Christians.

As Steven Waldman wrote in his book Founding Faith, the question for the founders was not whether there would be Christians in America. The early settlers questioned each other’s brand of Christianity. People wanted liberation from the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. One thought the other was going to hell, and both of them assumed that we Baptists were living there already. Virginia financed the salaries of their Anglican church priests through taxes and unleashed a wave of arrests on those they deemed to be traitors, Baptist ministers. Massachusetts supported the Congregational Church through tax revenue. Baptists were not alone. Depending on the region, Quakers, Methodists, Unitarians and many others paid dearly for their decisions to practice faith by suffering imprisonment, mockery, and beatings—all from other “Christians.” The first place a Baptist could gather freely was in Rhode Island, but even this state had problems with Catholics.

James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and a coalition of others offered Baptists and our communities a gift. This remains a good birthday present to share today. The 1st amendment and later the 14th amendment guaranteed that federal and state governments could not prohibit or enable worship. The boundaries between the two institutions of church and state were guarded with the walls of establishment and expression. In between, the devout found enough room for radicals like us to thrive, governments to do their work, and for religious people to keep from hurting each other.

Religious liberty has been one of the great gifts of our founders to community. In public school education, for instance, religious liberty creates space for children to interact with people of different belief systems. Liberty allows students to express faith personally, gives faith-filled volunteers a place to serve, but avoids the conditions where the unfaithful are intimidated.

Liberty benefits the church as well. A rigorous, vibrant faith cannot be coerced. It can only be lived and believed as individuals in community with others. By creating a place for all forms of belief to learn from each other, we keep each other accountable to focus on our principles and relationships. Faith thrives when we do not depend on public dollars or coercion.

By sharing the gift of liberty, we avoid the problems so prevalent in European cultures. Until the 1990s in Northern Ireland, families chose public education based on religious preference and thus financed sectarianism. Children, however, who attended these Catholic and Protestant public schools knew very little about each other. Some argue that this was the root cause of violence that lasted into the late 1980s. Even though they have moved past these problems, intramural disputes among Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox still comingle with partisan pressures and public financing throughout the continent. The result? Very few faithful people and churches filled with more tourists than testimonies.

By 1843, two newspaper men from New Hampshire had arrived in Knoxville, borrowed a few members from outlying churches, began dunking in the river, and started my church. Soon these Northern Baptists would be caught up in much more than immersion. But the legacy of religious liberty is a gift worth preserving and sharing for the next generation of Americans.

George Washington’s letter to the Jewish congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, expresses this spirit: “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

This column will be published in the Community Columnists section of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Sunday, July 26.

Join us on Sunday, August 16 as the choirs First Baptist Church of Knoxville and Mt. Zion Baptist perform together in Concert celebrating our common heritage as churches.

@nytimes Brooks-You don't succeed at [high achiever] level without developing a single-minded focus, and struggling against its consequences"

@fbcknox Great day today @ camp. We are finishing supper. Service tonight @ 7 CT. Group leaves for home tomorrow morning @ 8 am

@fbcknox Great day today @ camp. We are finishing supper. Service tonight @ 7 ET. Group leaves for home tomorrow morning @ 8 am

First Baptist was Youth group of the day http://beach.studentlife.com/experience/group-of-the-day.php?cn=09ORBH08&pg=3953

On our way to morning worship and family group Bible studies. These are small group Bible studies for our students led by our sponsors.

First Impressions- A Public Faith

Seven floors above the Gulf of Mexico, a new day begins. The tide rolls in to wash out last night's footprints and prepare the way for new impressions. The early beach walkers, lifeguards, and tourists mingle on the sands. It's still cool enough to run through the sugary sands of Alabama's shore. The sea gulls swarm ready for the morning grab. The porpoises ride the waves effortlessly.

Inside 33 students go through the rituals of youth camp. The rite of passage from late night doritos to early morning grogginess. Long-winded sermons and even longer music designed to meet them in a deeply personal moment that only an adolescent can know and only sponsors open and willing enough to be here can experience. It's another step when faith goes from personal to public.

At church, we do our best to make the jump from a parental faith to a personal faith. It's the challenge of being a baptist today. Parents make rules that are easier followed with the body but not the brain or heart. Camp is desgined to take the personal statement of faith and for one week invite a student to publicize it. This is a place where all your peers believe in you and want the best in you. And they reflect a glimpse of what God is cheering for. Here God calls in the safe confines of the beach, staged, rehearsed, and expected-- to awaken a student to the possibility that the next time God calls, it won't be on such friendly or feel-good terms. We need these weeks because we need Sabbath, and we still can't figure out any better way today to recreate a place where faith, friends, mentors, and Jesus can all mash together.

Jacob found his ladder to heaven in a dream. These students climb 7 flights of steps to live that dream.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

I made it to Orange Beach via Mobile airport. I will be updating live from youth camp for a couple of days.

I am off to youth camp @ Orange Beach, AL. Tough assignment!

First Impressions- Summer Reading in the City

Nehemiah challenges us to take an infrastructure project (a wall) and think how God could use the tangible to renew the intangible- the lives of those in our neighborhood. In our case, we have a new platform that gives us the chance to dive into the lives in our community. But as you jump into the pool of need this summer, grab a book along the way. Several resources have educated me for this series, and I hope you will learn from one of these.

Robert Lupton wrote the little exposition of Nehemiah entitled Renewing the City. The first half is narrative explanation of the book. The second contains theological themes. Scattered throughout are fascinating stories from his work renewing the city of Atlanta and his work with his urban renewal group, FCS Urban Ministries.

Another Robert (can there really be too many Bob's in the world?), this time Robert Linthicum, wrote a book about city renewal called Building a People of Power. You might recognize Lithicum; he was the president of World Vision and has done city transformation in Brazil, Chicago, and other places throughout the world. The book is part Bible study, part training manual, and part sermon. Linthicum moves so fast, you're exhausted just reading it. But it's a good tired.

Thirdly, WMU's publishing imprint "New Hope Publishers" has produced a very nice workbook on renewing a city called City Signals. Our staff read this for staff retreat, and we had some very engaging conversations around the themes. Brad Smith is the author, and if you enjoy doing Bible study in a workbook along with your regular reading plan, this is for you. Great for group study as well, and they offer an optional DVD to go with the book. Brad knows about ministry in a city because he lived in a rough neighborhood in Chicago and practiced ministry in the worst kind of conditions.

Fourth, I will do a bit of shameless self-promotion for my little journal that I assist with through Baylor University: Christian Reflection. A few years ago, we published a volume entitled "Cities and Towns." We focused on the changes in cities, the new people moving in, and the role of churches like ours in the cities across the world. Best of all, if you have an internet connection, you can download the entire volume for free from their website. The real credit goes to Robert Kruschwitz (another Bob), Heidi Hornik, and Norman Wirzba who did the bulk of the work. I am just happy to be associated with the group.

Thanks for your responses and questions along the way over the past few weeks. I'm ready to dive in. How about you?

Students who build outhouses, love gypsies, and share Christ. Hear their report in worship Sunday @ 1st Baptist. Live webstream @ 11

Preaching workshop today @ 3. Book signing @ 9. Hope to see you in Houston @ Brown Convention Center. #cbfassembly

First Impressions-- A Straight Path through the City

Which is more surprising? How wonderfully the new I-40 traffic flow, or how smoothly the transition went?

When I arrived in Knoxville, I thought our state flower was the orange barrel. I-40 was a parking lot from Papermill to Cedar Bluff Road, and rumors were floating around that "they" were going to close the interstate downtown. No sooner had TDOT expanded the interstate from 4 to 8 lanes in West Knoxville than traffic downtown came to a halt. They re-routed all through traffic in a plan called "Smart Fix I-40" to straighten a road through the heart of downtown. We planned and fretted over what impact the closure of downtown would have on traffic Sunday morning and programs Wednesday night for 19 months.

Our worst fears were never realized. In fact, traffic improved during and after construction. So many people detoured around the center city that we downtowners had smooth sailing all the way to 1B. The only time decrease in traffic came from gas prices higher than $3/gallon. There's nothing like paying more for fuel than for milk to make a person flip on the television and catch it live.

What's the lesson?
1.) We could certainly hope for fuel prices to stay under $3 forever (not likely)
2.) We could learn the lesson that most of our fears are never as bad as we imagine. Anticipation of change is much worse than the change.
3.) We should be grateful for people in public service who make our lives easier.

Isaiah prophesied about the road through the wilderness. This Smart-Fix made our paths straight and set our minds at ease.

fbcknox_croatia: If weather holds, we leave at 7:30am to try and build 10 outhouses in 1 day! Pray for a miracle. Seriously

I have been working w/ the phrase "enter into the joy of your master" (Matt 25:21,23) Do you enter the Master's joy? Share your thoughts...

First Impressions- Pee Wee Summer

The final play of Pee-Wee baseball ended on a double play. Parker's Red Team beat the Gold Team 10-9 in the bottom of the 6th. On this hot sticky day on the banks of the river in Sequoia Hills, however, another little boy was playing for the first time without his mother.

This space was supposed to be a season-ending column to thank Vance Link for another year of throwing pitches to 6/7 year old boys. Vance puts together a little two-day triple dip for the 7 year olds who will move up to Little League next year. We play on his field--Link-House field-- where he first played as a Knoxville boy. It would be enough to thank Vance for another great season. But he and his helpers go over the top with All-Star uniforms, public address announcements, and music in between innings. It's a Major-League-Style moment for the Pee-Wees-- and their parents.

Gratitude took a deeper and more sobering turn Saturday morning. Nancy Feist passed away suddenly early Saturday, and 5 children were left on this earth without their mother. I didn't know Nancy, but many of our folks did. She was a devoted Catholic. She and her family were Little League lifers. And one of the members of the gold team was her 4th child, Craig.

Vance Link broke the news to us Saturday morning. We were midway through the 2nd game of Parker's tournament. The first game was the night before. The 2nd and 3rd games were on Saturday. Craig Feist was on the field Friday night. He wasn't on the field at 9:00 a.m. for the sad announcement. Vance led us through the shocking news and coached us through what to do, how to feel, and how to respond as best we could. After a period of prayer and silence, we did the thing we knew to do. We played ball. By 1:00 p.m., for the 3rd and final game, some friends brought Craig so he could join his team for the last game. He batted first and played catcher. Vance introduced each member of each team as if they were future Hall-of-Famers moving up to the big leagues. For Craig Feist, the only thing a heavy-hearted crowd could do was cheer, and pray, and hope.

God's gift of living one day at a time is also a risk of tragic endings and great beginnings. We don't know when they are coming from either direction. But there was something about a beautiful spot and a great sport that made this the best place to be in such heartache. And we were all taught Saturday how to face grief with class and tears by one man who's been throwing and catching balls for 38 years. Thanks, Coach.

From the team-Croatia welcomed them with 55 degree weather and rain. Quite the shock! See them on Skype tomorrow @ 8:42

The team is safely in Zagreb. Pray for a key meeting today with gypsy leaders

17 students taking justice to Romani people in Croatia. What can 5 outhouses do for the gospel in a community? Follow @ fbcknox.org

At the airport to see the team off. Please pray for safe travels and that all our supplies arrive with them.

Live from Croatia Sunday @ 8:42. See a report from Michael McEntyre on Skype during worship @ First Baptist

Nehemiah’s Spiritual Formation of People

Spiritual Formation in Nehemiah

1.) Confess sin.
2.) Organize relationships where God has placed you around serving those in authority over you.
3.) Scout the project and reflect.
4.) Rebuild infrastructure first, study later. Get people moving in a project so that they can see the work, have success, and learn where their strengths and weaknesses are.
5.) Confront the powers. Use the project to expose the powers, and name the issues. There is as much danger in doing good as doing nothing.
6.) Bring justice by taking care of little old ladies and orphans. Follow the iron rule: "Never do for others what they can do for themselves."
7.) Let the Bible read you. Commit with new vows of time (Sabbath), generosity (money), and relationships (marriage). Scripture comes after the hands get dirty. Use the lessons learned from the project to guide thinking as you listen to scripture.
8.) Neighbor the city. Use principles you've practiced before to neighbor (as a verb) the city. The Golden Rule with the Iron Rule. Ministry centers on the assets of the community, not the perceived needs.

Keep up with the First Baptist Knox youth while they are in Croatia on Twitter @fbcknox_croatia more info at http://www.fbcknox.org

Tonight @ 6- Salvation in the Shack: Relationships need more than people. They need institutions and belief.

Why would 17 high schoolers from Knoxville build outhouses in Croatia? Find out here: http://fbcknox.org/missions/youth-croatia

First Impressions

Can you imagine a world where 99% of the people are unemployed in any
official work; 50% of people work in some kind of black market
occupation, 90% of families have an alcoholic living at home, 75% of
wives are physically abused, 80% of children start school, less than
1% graduate from high school, less that 20% finish elementary school.

This is the world of the Roma people. We call them "gypsies" for short
because their tribe has lived a nomadic lifestyle from India to
Western Europe. They stretch across the globe and repesent one of the
many unreached people groups in the world. They are maligned,
mistreated, and exactly the kind of people that Mary sang about in the
Gospel of Luke. She imagined a world that one day people like gypsies
would be on top, and that could only happen when the kingdom of God
breaks in.

That kingdom is colliding in northern Croatia. This is certainly not
the only place gypsy ministry is bearing fruit, but this is the place
where First Baptist has been a small part of God's work there. When we
began our ministry in Cakovec over 7 years ago, we helped Croatians
sustain and build a center to reach Croatians. That vision has grown
to help the Croatians deal with their version of poverty, race, and
justice issues. Through our work with other Croatian nationals who
serve as missionaries, Elaine Childs has developed a relationship with
more Roma people.

Our team of 27 students and adults will be working in two separate
villages next week. In both they will present the gospel with Bible
pictures and stories that cross cultures and worlds. In one village,
they will share the gospel through manual labor. They will build
out-houses for a village of 10 families.

All of this is possible through your gifts, support, through the cars
that park during ball games, and this year, a unique partnership with
the East Tennessee Foundation. Michael received a grant from a
generous family who supports local youth group projects through the
churches in East Tennessee. The foundation made it possible for these
outhouses to be built, and I am especially grateful for the
connection.

Follow and track their progress on our website, and join me in prayer
as we minister to people whom we believe one day will be so much more
than a statistic.

More info about the Team
First Baptist's Ongoing Partnership
Elaine Childs' Work in Croatia

New photos on Flickr : 2009 FBC VBS (77) http://bit.ly/QbI65

There is a difference between choosing to serve & being a servant. Servants surrender control & seek the best interests of those in charge

First Impressions- Diving In

I attended my first swim meet last Monday ever. I missed out on the joy of this kind of controlled chaos as a child. Now we have an ocean full of meets and mania lined up for the summer for our 8-year-old fish named Parker. For many of these second graders, Monday was obviously their first attempt at diving into a pool from a platform. They stood above the troubled waters at their post and chose whether (or not) to take te leap like the rest of their peers. The platform gave them a place from which to jump. But the swimmer had to take the leap.

Like the summer swimmer taking his first leap from the safety of a poolside platform, we are building a platform this summer to prepare ourselves for the next leap. Our platform and complementary media equipment, organ, and expanded choir loft positions us with all the evidence we need to back up the next test of faith. The question asked of our project is, "What kind of leap will we take as a church family?"

In our Reaching Beyond moment, we are expanding our capacity and vision to minister in the center city. We'll always be located downtown; the question for us now is how involved will we be in the assets of our center city community.

Throughout our region we can find all kinds of spiritual pain. Most people (over 30%) who have no faith involvement or significantly decreased their faith involvement in the last year live within a 1 mile radius of our church. Knoxville rates 15% higher than the national average for households touched by divorce or death of a spouse. Most children in our community live in either single-parent households or live in multiple homes. The Knox County school system has 350 homeless children registered for school each day.

Is this the kind of pain we are positioned to respond to? God doesn't ask us to fix every problem or even to address every problem. But could this moment give us the chance to minister to people who are going through these kinds of transitions? The waters indeed are stirring.

Prayer first- then Travel

When Hanani reports to Nehemiah about ancient Jerusalem, Nehemiah does not pray for a wall. He confesses his and his family's sins to God.

How does confession position you to discern your call and responsibility?
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Shack Discussion- Audio Feed

Listen to the Audio feed.

The Shack-- The Place of Violence and Healing?

William Paul Young's The Shack is a provocative novel about the one man's recovery from the pain and tragedy of the worst kind-- abuse and murder of a daughter. The location of the Shack forms not only the center piece of violence but also is the headquarters of healing. He not only recounts the pain encountered by his daughter in the Shack, but the speaker/author goes to the place of pain to begin and continue the healing process.

Going to your place of pain is not for everyone. In fact, only people healthy enough should really go to that place if they are able...and only until they are able.

This Wednesday night, I'll be discussing this topic and raising these questions. I welcome your feedback now....

When is it right to go to that place? How does this work for you in the book? How does the location affect the outcome? Does it?

Platform Construction- Week 1 Report

This is from Russ Linger...

Today wraps up week 1 on the platform construction project. Much
progress has been made, and today two tasks will be performed. First,
the initial sub-flooring structural members have been installed where
the old organ console stood. This will allow flooring to be installed
in the choir loft and for the choir chairs to be re-located in
preparation for Sunday's service. Second, a major cleanup will take
place and black draping installed over the rear choir loft walls where
the monitor cabinets will eventually be installed. It will be obvious to
all on Sunday that something major is going on at the church!

The new organ console is being hooked-up as I write this. A team from
Colby will continue working over the weekend, but the organ will be
ready to perform on Sunday from it's temporary location on the main
floor level, to the left side of the stage, as the congregation faces
it. This will allow everyone a close-up view of the new console Sunday.
For anyone interested, sample of the new choir loft flooring will be in
the choir suite this weekend.

Week 2 activities include continued work on platform structure,
installation of monitor cabinets, and continued work on organ and pipes.

It's been a good week....everyone is on schedule, and no major
show-stoppers at this point.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular

Renewing a City with Nehemiah

The book of Nehemiah is a memoir of a construction effort on the walls
of Jerusalem. The story opens with a clever refugee trapped in ancient
Susa who leverages his influence to be appointed as a governor in
his family's homeland. Nehemiah supervises a process that leads to
spiritual renewal in the land. Because the people were reformed, they
read the law (not the other way around.) He was about doing justice
for people who were being mistreated by opponents of change in the
city. He was about setting appropriate boundaries for people. Nehemiah
was about reestablishing identity for a community ruled by outsiders.

This sermon series will guide our thinking as we watch the
reconstruction of our platform. As we replace the platform, we will
get organized with Nehemiah to reorder our lives. We will see our city
as the place that God wants us to do justice. We will look to reform
our lives so we can listen again to God's law. We will establish and
shape our identity rooted in the tradition of ancient Israel.

Because after all, it was never about building a wall. It was about
building a community of people.

Sanctuary Platform Renovations

The Spiritual Life

We are living with the successful achievement of two modern myths here at the bottom of the great recession. These are the questions that people are trying to answer today. 1.) How can I make my life better for me, myself, my family, and my country so this doesn't happen again? 2.) How can I do that in such a way as not to offend you?

We know that’s preposterous. Humans are not islands so the world can’t be all about me or my people.

Humans cannot live a discernment-free life. We are told that we are either rich and poor, black, latino, and white, democrats/republicans, north/south, red/blue state. But in reality, based on the people that I know across the country, we don't fit in nice little boxes on a census form. We are a thousand different iterations of a thousand different views.

Playing the non-offensive game leads to greater judgmentalism. The only thing that people who are trying not to offend each other do is dogmatically agree on how offensive everyone else is. These are the questions that got us into this problem, and we certainly can't use them to get us out of our society's issues.

Some Christians have been pleased to accommodate these myths over the last 20 years. By retreating to the safe confines of Bible studies, bestselling self-help book clubs, and seminars, we have unwittingly withdrawn from the culture hoping for a better world to come. On the other hand, some choose to just take all their energy taught from faith, form a nice community non-profit keeping their churchianity to a safe hour on Sunday morning. Both of these forms of Christianity are important but cannot be ends in and of themselves.

Pentecost changes all that. The spirit of God is already at work in the world through one visible sign-- the believers in community together. Wherever two or three of you are gathered, you are showing the world a new way. By demonstrating what Jesus preached, and how churches like those described in 1 John lived, we are showing the world a better way.

We join in the victory over the myth of pride with self-sacrifice, generosity, and mentoring people in the love of Christ. We participate in the conquest by giving witness to what God is doing. We report like a herald on the field of battle showing and telling to each other that God continues to overturn society's values with a new all-conquering love through Christ's people. While society competes over the best condo at the top of the tower of Babel, we gently rescue children, orphans, and widows announcing the world, "the kingdom of God is here."

Stop-Doing List to End Chronic Homelessness

The next steps we can take to help our community achieve the goals of the Knox County 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness require no money, resources, or time, and less effort than ever before. These steps do not require a “to-do” list.
We need a Jim-Collins-style “Stop doing list.” As caring citizens, we need to match our good intentions with good outcomes. We need to evaluate whether our good deeds enable a problem to continue or lead to a reduction in homelessness.

Most people see needs and want to do something to fix them. We have learned, however, that this “needs-based” approach does not always fix the problem of homelessness. Just because a person is hungry does not mean he needs cash. Even if a person is thirsty does not always mean the answer is a free meal.

Social workers, faith-based groups, congregations, and agencies are collaborating now in an “asset-based” approach. This approach states that every homeless person has something she can offer, even if all she has is time. Everyone knows the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The asset-based approach takes the golden rule to the level of an iron rule: “Don’t do anything for others that they can do for themselves.”

The asset-based approach requires the helpers to change as much as the clients. Compassionate hearts must be joined with tough love and sustainable practices. To do so, we need a stop doing list: areas where your help is no longer needed.

1.) Giving cash with no strings attached. You know the drill. The pitiful-looking person gives you the sidewalk speech: “My baby is in the car (conveniently around the corner), and I need money for baby formula. Do you have a few dollars you could spare?” Most people have two reactions: pity and fear simultaneously. We pity the individual and are afraid of what would happen if we say no. Statistics tell us, however, that homeless people usually do not attack others. There are resources in the community for people to have food for babies. Formula, however, happens to be a commodity re-sold at higher prices to pay for addictions. A few dollars can go a long way to purchasing the street value of a rock of cocaine that ranges from $10-25. The best answer to the request is to offer to accompany the person to the nearest social service agency, but no means give money.

2.) Giving away food with no strings attached. We don’t need any more free food programs in Knoxville. Just in case you are considering one, agencies and churches offer 3 free square meals every day in our great community. On Sunday, some estimate there are 8 free meals. More free food enables dependence and drains the resources and energy from volunteers that could be trained to coach, mentor, and walk beside people. Local food programs should be evaluated. Are they helping us reduce the number of people in the food lines? Are these programs following Health Department regulations designed to protect everyone in the community?

3.) Sharing dingy clothes and furniture. As Ron Hall suggested at last week’s “Carry the Torch,” banquet, if you wouldn’t wear it, why would a homeless person? Let’s treat these people with the respect and dignity that they deserve. Clothes closets need good clothes, business suits, and professional outfits to give clients healthy self-respect.

By stopping practices that enable poverty, we give each other time, energy, and resources to focus on what works: relationships with people, mentors who walk beside those in crisis, neighbors who treat others with respect, and housing to stabilize the indigent. Let’s match our good intentions and generous hearts with great outcomes. Our homeless friends deserve nothing less.

Created for Each Other

We were made for each other. This place we called First Baptist is the
fulfillment locally of the dream announced in Genesis 1, a community
living out God's creative work together. Our church completes the
mission announced to the Israelites: to be a light for the nations. The
folks at 1B demonstrate through our lives what Jesus commissioned: "Go
ye therefore and disciple." According to 1 John, by the way we conduct
ourselves with each other, we show what Christ's sacrifice looks like.

As Stanley Hauerwas suggests, the most important thing the world needs
from us right now politically, socially, spiritually, economically,
and relationally is to be this kind of church. In modern terms, that
means more than becoming a member of a church. Culturally, the word
"member" sounds more like a fraternity rush or a civic obligation
renewable because the group provides a service to us or is a good
cause to join. The Christian notion of membership, however, suggests a
lifestyle change. I am using this term as Wendell Berry does when
referring to the Port William community's membership. We are the kind
of people who "member (as a verb) one another, that when we're
together or apart, we take a piece of each other with us. The
difference is not between who is a member who and who isn't but who
knows it and who doesn't."

This month, through the lens of 1 John, I'm asking us to renew our
membership vows we made to God and to one another. Community life in
Christ is so different than the paths we were on that we need the
review occasionally. Baptists are good at backsliding into the old
habits of life before joining a community. We fall back into the
patterns of individualism, family life, club membership, self-help
books, friendliness, and random acts of kindness. All of these are
important, but none of them represent the church.

First Baptist Church is a Christ-formed community of shepherds who
move from saved individuals into a community of the forgiven. We take
all of our family ties and learn to grandparent one another in the
faith. We shirk off the self-help advice of bestsellers and engage the
culture with the mind of Christ. We move past friendliness into a
radical hospitality that shapes us as apprentices in love. We allow
the spirit to take our random acts of kindness and form us into a
vibrant community together.

None of this sounds very easy to do, but that's precisely why these
times ask us to thing differently about the commitments we have made
to each other. We were made for such a time as this.

A Culture of Call

Check out the folks who have served as interns at First Baptist. Where are they now? God is using them across the country.

We're looking for more info. If you have served, or know of others, please let us know.

Loving the Church

Christians can't understand the life of Jesus without the church. The church can't understand Jesus without living out the Christ life to and for one another.

As people of First Baptist, Knoxville, I am asking each person to commit to a new kind of membership in the church. You won't find these commitments on the "new member" card when you join. These are the steps members take to and for one another as they grow in their understanding of Christ and their commitments to First Baptist. These commitments are an expression of love that we have for one another as reflected in the book of 1 John. Each step comes with a place where we are now to a place where we are going.

1.) From saved individuals to a community of the forgiven
1 John 1:9-2:2

2.) From multiple generations to grandparents and grandchildren in love.
1 John 2:7-17

3.) From members in a group to owners of a community
1 John 3:16-20

4.) From good advice to engaging the culture
1 John 4:1-6

5.) From friendliness to apprenticeship
1 John 4:7-21

6.) From random acts of kindness to the spirit-formed community
1 John 5:1-12

Croatian Baptist Pastoral Center

I've arrived in Cakovec, Croatia, for the Croatian Baptist Union Annual Convention. Michael McEntyre, Matthew and Zeb Evans are here with me. Matthew and Michael are scouting sites for the youth mission trip in the summer. I will be preaching tonight for the convention meeting and leading workshops tomorrow.

This is my first time here in two years. When I was here in 2007, the adults tiled rooms; the auditorium was still not finished; and the roof needed patching. Since then, thanks to the generosity of First Baptist and others, the roof is finished, the auditorium and foyer have beautiful marble tile. A large Croatian cross hangs on the wall of the auditorium. The room is illuminated by new light fixtures, and the insulation is complete in the auditorium.

This project is a great testimony to the 6-year partnership that FBC has had with the Croatians. We are even sleeping in rooms that our group tiled.

This summer the youth return for their second trip. Michael will be working with new gypsy villages that Elaine Childs has located. More about that trip on another post....

Big Thinking

According to the state constitution, three kinds of people cannot hold an elected office in Tennessee: atheists, duelists, and ministers. Since I fall into one of those three categories, I had a unique perspective last week as I walked the halls of the Tennessee General Assembly. I was there for the first time on a field trip with my Leadership Knoxville class. I learned that we have a hard-working delegation from this region. We should thank anyone who is willing to run for public office in this climate. I also learned the best lobbyists are Brownie Scouts.

The halls were filled with every niche-based cause vying for the attention of public servants. Brownie scouts handed out cookies for better treatment of dogs. Charter school kids called for more funding. EMS workers asked for reimbursement of services. I did not see any atheists or duelists.

We arrived conveniently when the stimulus bill bought the state enough time, bridges, and caulk to delay the pain of rapid reductions in services and salaries for another two years. Every little cause and college in Legislative Plaza breathed a sigh of relief. The rest of us wondered how to prepare for 2011.

When times are good, we fixate on small stuff like football scores, fuel prices, and flipped houses. In exchange we get small-minded behavior like million-dollar buyouts, materialism, and mortgages. Who really pays attention to lifestyle when you can basically get all you want?

In times of pain, we are forced to ask bigger questions of ourselves. We know that we cannot arrest, incarcerate, buy out, conquer, invade, or vote out all of our problems. We are required to think holistically through priorities, challenges, and the cliff that we are about to drive across collectively. These questions transcend partisan, religious, gender, and socio-economic boundaries. Let me propose three examples as a starting point.

How do we produce ethical people for the 21st century? Education cannot be solely about workforce development, graduation rates, and test scores. These are important outcomes but not the only ones. If our only goal is to compete with India for engineers, then we have already lost a much greater battle. Our current political, athletic, and education systems generated this crop of bad decision making from the past 30 years. If we graduate students who do not have the values and character to make fair, equitable, honest, and just decisions, then we do not have an education.

Second, how can we create, strengthen, and rehabilitate families? The culture war has diverted attention from a large beam protruding from the eyes of the married. Most people who say "I do" eventually say "I don't." Most children in Tennessee live in single parent and/or multiple home environments. The current foster care, adoption, and marriage institutions cannot sustain a society for another century with kids flung like Frisbees from one home to another. My institution, the church, has failed miserably and has not modeled sustainable behavior.

Third, how do we serve our neighbors who are less fortunate without enabling a continual cycle of dependence and poverty? When the pain of this recession is over we will have fewer non-profits and greater needs. Loving our neighbors as ourselves requires collaboration with public, private, religious, non-profit, and business sectors. Citizens can no longer say, “That’s not my responsibility”; or “that’s what my church/taxes/United Way is for.” Every person must search deeply and see at the end of life that none of it fits into the pine box at the cemetery. The needs of the world go beyond the needs of those related to me biologically. We must begin to treat our society as we would our grandchildren and understand that our society is held accountable by how we treat the least of these.

These are just a few of the larger questions. I am sure you can think of others. We have the time. I know who can provide the cookies. Now we need the venues and the people to engage in the conversations. With larger thinking, we will see some grand ideas and people emerge from this generation for times like these.

Funeral Etiquette

Respecting grief
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Originally published in the Knoxville News-Sentinel
Funerals bring out the best and worst in people. I have heard some of the strangest things spoken to the grieving. These statements are the most important things not to say at the funeral home.

The bereaved do not want to hear, "He lived long enough. It was time for him to go." "He would not want you to grieve like this." "I'm glad they died when they did. It could have been much worse."

A parent who has lost a child does not need to hear, "Be glad you had him for as long as you did." "Now he's God's little angel." "This must have been God's will." "God took him from us." "You can have another child." "Be glad you have the sibling."

The casket is not the venue to comment, "It must have been his time to go." "He looks so natural." "She doesn't look like herself." "They really did a good job on him."

Children who have lost parents should not be told, "She's not dead. She's just really asleep." "Now you have to be the man of the house."

When people try to have something to say, often their remarks about timing, theology, appearances and reality are better left unspoken. The grieving will tell you that the time of death is never good. No one dies at the right time or lives long enough.

"God" statements do not help either. They should be reserved for counselors and experts. The receiving line is not the time to become a theologian. Parents who have lost children or suffered a miscarriage do not need platitudes.

Even though another sibling might still be around, their presence does not replace a life lost. Children facing the reality of death are not comforted by denial of its existence. Their pain is only made worse by telling a child a dead person is sleeping or presuming that a child can mature rapidly.

A friend, however, can offer comfort during the process of grief when a comforter anticipates the needs of the individual. Every death is unique, and each experience of grief is like a snowflake.

Place yourself in the shoes of the grieving. Give them permission to say anything she wants to say. Hurting family members, like customers, are right every time. They might even say the things listed above as they work through their own questions. The best response from a friend is to speak with your ears, eyes, hands and heart. Listen.

Validate what the loved one has done for the dying person. Affirm how they cared, worked and persevered. Those standing in the receiving line usually experience a rush of adrenaline that bottles public displays of grief. Do not evaluate or assume someone is in denial if their public grief seems different than yours.

Ask open-ended questions that demonstrate the voice of experience without saying, "I know how you feel." Friends can meet common practical needs in the process of grief. Eating, resting, storytelling, praying and remembering work together. Ask, "When can I bring you a meal?" "How can I pray for you?" "How are your children handling this?" "How are you doing today?"

The funeral home is the place to pay attention and plan the process of comfort. The real journey through grief begins following the cemetery. Make note of anniversaries, birthdays and significant moments. A card, a phone call and a pre-planned lunch go a long way down the road. Through these actions, you are saying the words a grieving person needs the most: "I am here for you." At the funeral, you can offer the best gift you have - your presence.

Dr. William D. Shiell is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Knoxville and author of two books. His e-mail address is shiell@fbcknox.org.

First Baptist Church - Knoxville: Home

Download my new Advent Devotional Guide here....

First Baptist Church - Knoxville: Home

Sacrificial Gratitude

This week, we gather around tables and televisions to remember the things, people and country for which we are thankful. Thursday, however, could be more than a sentimental journey through the Norman Rockwell moments of life. This day we should be grateful for gratitude.

Robert Emmons has studied gratefulness in his book "Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier." He explains scientifically that the right kind of gratitude is actually good for your health. Gratitude can sustain us through the struggles of life and improve our well-being.

Our cultural concept of thanksgiving, however, is usually limited to a form of reactionary self-gratification. We wait for good things to come, and we appreciate what has happened to us. We list the standard faith, family, friends and freedom elements, "count our many blessings" and enjoy the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" style moment. We are the recipients of the gifts; and in reality, we are thankful because someone has been looking out for me.

This attitude of gratitude wears off as soon as the Macy's Parade is over. The sentimental journey of personal blessings does not match up with reality. Life is a complex series of simultaneously exhilarating, exhausting and excruciating events. When you get the promotion at work, you arrive home to find your kids are out to get you. The moment that your son passes the test, the volunteer in the community foundation pulls his funding for a project. Success and sadness go together. If we wait to count our blessings just once each year, we will continue the vicious cycle of struggle, stress and selfishness.

Another form of thanksgiving can actually transform life. Instead of a sentimental version of gratitude, we need sacrificial behavior. We set aside what has happened to us and look to others. We seek ways to express gratitude to people for the things they have done for someone else. We are not being thankful for what we have received; we are grateful to have the chance to thank someone else for who they are.

Consider how this might work in a marriage. Psychologist John Gottman suggests that successful marriages are marked by a 5:1 ratio of positive-versus-negative communication. For every one negative thing spoken or done, a marriage needs five good things to offset the negative. Married couples can strengthen their relationship by finding ways to say thanks before the other person does something for which she is thankful. Instead of waiting to respond to a meal that is served or a car that is washed, successful spouses thank each for being who they are or appreciating something the other person has done for someone else.

Imagine how sacrificial gratitude could affect the office, school, university, athletic field and government. Instead of sending a thank-you note for a present, we offer unconditional gratitude to another person before a gift is given.

Last summer, my church collected backpacks for underprivileged kids unable to afford school supplies. I received a note from a woman who contributed to the project because she was grateful for the chance to give. She wrote, "One year my family picked 100 gallons of blackberries which we sold for 10 cents per gallon to pay for our school books. I was one of a family of ten children, living in a rural (poverty) area. A hint at how long back that has been: I just celebrated my 82nd birthday. Enclosed is a check in honor of my five sisters and four brothers."

True gratitude can give someone more than just a warm, fuzzy feeling. This kind of gratitude can change your life.

Sabbath from Turbulent Times

Right now, we are waking up each day to discover what is new about this kind of normal. Until we find the bottom or at least some sort of calm in the storm, we can control the one thing that comes as a gift from God: our time.

People typically respond to a crisis in material things as consumers. They gather more, and in so doing, their consumption consumes them. It’s the age-old problem of greed. The Israelites gathered too much manna just in case they ran out. People think they need more fuel when gas is scarce, and they cap off a ¾ full tank. Investors and lenders want more money, and they risk what they do not have.

In scripture, the gift of Sabbath broke the pattern of greed and returned the people of God to basic trust through anxious times. A little time each day and one day each week separated the people from the very thing, job, or activity that produced stress in their lives. In most cases, they took a break from the material source of provisions so that they could focus on the Source of those material things.

Jesus knew, however, it would not be enough to simply retreat from work. The day itself would turn into an excuse for self-righteousness. He used the day to advance the kingdom of heaven. He replaced the time spent clamoring for more and used the time as a day to spread the good news and fill the earth and life with good things.

Sabbath can be yours today by
….throwing a rock in a stream
….visiting a nursing home
…...holding the hand of a child
…..worshipping the living God
…..singing the song of salvation
…..extending God’s mission in the world

Sabbath practices are so counter-intuitive to the normal lives we lead. But if we’re going to break the cycle, it will take a new kind of normal living.

Diary of a Response to Gustav

Three years ago, the victims of Hurricane Katrina washed ashore to the mountains of East Tennessee. This past week, the Gulf of Mexico has displaced more victims. We have hosted evacuees from New Orleans, LA and Hattiesburg, MS who came as a result of Hurricane Gustav. They flew into McGhee-Tyson airport and arrived during the Boomsday festivities aboard three KAT buses with one bag or two to fit their most valuable possessions. With the exception of two babies and their mothers, most of our guests are men. Most have been able to care for themselves and enjoyed the hospitality. A few were taken to local hospitals for special needs related to drugs, disabilities, and specialized care. All have appreciated your Good Samaritan approach to the facilities.

The Disaster Response Team has met needs internally and externally. Chaired by Andy and Wanda Edmondson, this group executed their plan to perfection. Carol McEntyre, our Buckner Community Minister, has led our staff efforts. Sandy Wisener has handled the Red Cross shelter. Ethel Powell has coordinated the relief supplies drop site on Hill Street. We truly could not do this without each one of these leaders and their capable team members. In addition to the Red Cross, well over 100 First Baptist people have been in the building to help in whatever way possible. They have worked around the clock since Thursday morning to make preparations and provide a safe, comfortable refuge and a way for people to share with those in need. Many of these volunteers were already committed to working at the BCM this week in a mission project to renovate our local campus ministry. They have rearranged plans and found an extra boost of energy to be able to do both.

What’s next? We will be sending a truckload of supplies collected here and at Cedar Springs Presbyterian to the University Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, LA.
They will distribute to those recovering from the storm. The cash donations will also help us assist the victims here and along the Gulf Coast. We will continue to monitor needs in the Southeast and direct our supplies and efforts to the places where we can be assured that supplies will be used directly for the victims of storms. We know that many other churches in our area will be deploying recovery teams to the affected areas. We will be praying for them as they go and the victims to whom they minister. We will continue to host evacuees as long as we are needed. Continue to check the website for updates from the Red Cross.

Like the Innkeeper whom the Good Samaritan charged with taking care of his victim in the road, you too have taken care of those entrusted to you. Through your prayers, support, flexibility, and time, you have answered the prayers of the broken hearted. You have bandaged the wounded and cared for the traumatized in their time of need.

Innkeepers for Gustav

When Jesus described love of neighbor like a Good Samaritan taking care of a victim, he also mentioned an innkeeper who received the victim while the Samaritan went away. FBC Trentham Hall has been temporary quarters for over 93 victims of Hurrcane Gustav. Three years ago, the victims of Katrina washed ashore to the mountains of East Tennessee. This past week, we've seen the new faces of disaster victims. Each has a unique story. All have been brought together not because of neighborhood or ethnicity but because they share in a common disaster.

David is a Katrina survivor. He lives near Tulane University. Grace is from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Her face tells the story of many disasters. She celebrates her 60th birthday on September 17. Don moved from Dallas to New Orleans following Katrina to work in the construction industry. He and a roommate live near the Superdome in a four-plex, a two story duplex. Three Guatemalan men are part of the group. They live in New Orleans supporting families back home in Central America. While here, they have contacted relatives to let them know they are safe.

Thanks to our Disaster Response Team, the generosity and hospitality of volunteers, Carol McEntyre's work as Community Minister, and the willingness of First Baptist, we have been able to serve as the Innkeeper this week for these and many others. Other volunteers from First Baptist and Cedar Springs have been collecting supplies for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and other victims of the hurricane.

We are not the only ones responding. Already teams from other churches are en route to the affected areas. Their role of clean out and clean up will be just as significant. This need is not the only one FBC is addressing. Many of the same volunteers who have worked throughout the weekend will redirect energies a few blocks away to the Baptist Campus Ministry at UT. There they will find some adrenalin and help in the ongoing renovation efforts.

For this week, however, Gustav has brought together people whose paths will likely never cross again. Candidly, life would never bring this collection together for reasons that are painfully obvious. Each one, however, has been part of a living parable. This is what neighbors do to demonstrate love and to illustrate what Jesus had in mind when he said the "Kingdom of God is near."

Gustav Evacuees

We have been notified by the Red Cross that we will receive 50 evacuees at 4 pm and 100 evacuees at 10 pm today. We have also received a request from the pastor at University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge for hurricane supplies, as a result we will begin collection of supplies tomorrow. We will collect Sunday from 12-5 pm, Monday and Tuesday from 8:30-5 pm. The following supplies are needed:

1. diapers and baby wipes and baby food
2. adult disposable undergarments
3. hygiene products (regular size: toothpaste, toothbrushes,
soaps, shower gels)
4. wash clothes and towels
5. adult underwear
6. *secondary need --> household cleaning items
(bleach,cleaners/sanitizers)

If you want to volunteer, we could use people to receive and sort items. We could also use a team leader to coordinate a cleaning team for the Trentham Hall showers and bathrooms.

Light of Hope

Tomorrow came tonight at Second Presbyterian Church. I gathered with at least 1,000 others Knoxvillians at the Candlelight Vigil for the TVUUC. People from across the faith community attended, primarily from the Unitarian and Jewish congregations. But nearly half of the crowd were from congregations beyond these. We've all been touched, and we lit candles of hope.

Throughout the evening, you could hear the cries of children break the silence of the service. Their sobs were soothing reminders that life continues to break into grief. The surprise of tomorrow literally came at the end. The students whose Sunday performance of "Annie" was so tragically interrupted were stationed on the platform during tonight's vigil. On cue, they sang a rousing version of the popular song "Tomorrow" from the musical to close the service. We raised our candles together knowing that tomorrow has already come. Light has dawned. Hope is here because we were together as a community.

Helping Children Cope and Understand

The tragedy at TVUUC involved children, and certainly children will be talking about the issues. A Methodist friend of mine shared these insights with me, and I have adapted them to this situation as we deal with this tragedy.

Needs of Children

Be Accepting
Children need your acceptance of their feelings and behaviors during this time of fear, grief, anxiety, loss, anger, and confusion. Let your children know how you feel and how you cope.

Be a Listener
Be a good listener and non-judgmental in your attitudes toward children's feelings and concerns. Children will have difficulty expressing what is wrong, but you can help them name their feelings and sort out why they feel the way they do.

Be Assuring
Children need assurance of safety and security expressed honestly, realistically, and in terms they can understand. They need reassurance that they are not in danger and are cared for by family members or others who love them. The likelihood of a similar event happening at their church is very small. Avoid being overly protective. Talk with your child about concrete things you can do to help make things better for those persons who were involved. You might be surprised at what your child comes up with.

You can send notes and cards to TVUUC to be sent to children and their families.

Be Comforting
Allow your children to be more “clingy” than usual. They are seeking security in a time of chaos.

Be Encouraging
Children need opportunities for venting their feelings, acting out the experience, and telling their stories. Encourage them in means of self-expression that are non-destructive to themselves or to others.

Be Loving and Caring
Love, love, and more love. Children need to know that you care. That you are available. That your love is deeper and longer than anything they can imagine.

Be Trustworthy
Children need to know they can trust you—your feelings, what you will do, and what they can expect of the future. Trust is always important to a child, but especially so now.

Be Honest
Be honest in answering children's questions. Give simple facts, without too much information, in a loving, caring atmosphere. Children cope best with what they know. Yes, this happened. Yes, it was a bad thing. Yes, it could happen at any church. But the odds are that it won’t. Sometimes all we can say is "I don't know" or "Let's try to find out." Don’t be afraid to use words such as “death,” “dying,” or “evil.” Your children understand these words on their own level.

Be Hopeful
Children need to know that events like this will not happen all the time. If these things do happen, God is still there with them to help them and strengthen them. People all around them are working to keep them safe at their churches, schools, and in their communities.

Be Real
Children may have difficulty distinguishing between fact and fantasy in watching television. Help them know what is real and what is a story. Journalism in today’s world sometimes goes for the worst stories or only covers a part of the story because of a deadline or a short time frame. Remember, ninety percent of what a child learns comes through the eyes. Avoid watching the news accounts of this tragedy over and over and over again on television. After watching the news, talk about what you have seen.

Be Normal
When children's lives have been turned upside down, put some semblance of stability back into their lives. Keep routines such as bedtime, mealtime, church attendance, and activities, as close to normal as possible. This will help children have a sense of being in control.

Remain active in church. The best way to reinforce safety and security is to come and demonstrate safety.

Be Supportive
Children need your support when disturbing videos are shown on television or when other children make disparaging remarks that hurt. Children may want to focus on a positive activity that will make them feel that they are in control. Talk with children about ways to help other children feel included. Support them in this role wherever possible. Whenever a child feels threatened at church, school or in other public areas, take it seriously.

Be Understanding
Children need the calm presence of and contact with family members or adult care givers who understand their feelings and needs. Your role will be to interpret, clarify, and respond to the children's questions. Avoid withholding important information. Children can tell when something is not right.


Ways Children Respond After Violence

Children may respond:
physically
—to the sights of the event as seen through television, newspapers, and magazines
—to the sense of not being “safe” in formerly familiar environments
––to loud noises and unsettling crowds

emotionally
—by becoming hyperactive, overly busy, active, or restless as they try to make sense of the event
—by becoming egocentric, feeling they are the only ones affected and thinking only of self (Will someone shoot me?)
—by being fearful of injury or death to a loved one (such as a sibling who may be in another church)
––by reacting negatively when separated from the family, or by being afraid they will be left alone
—by becoming friendly and glad to be alive
––by becoming very talkative and wanting to share his or her experiences with everyone
—by overly responding to their emotions of anger by hitting, kicking, or throwing objects
––by being upset more easily or showing worry unnecessarily
psychologically
—by needing to tell their own story over and over
—by becoming dependent and fearful
—by feeling guilt and seeking theological explanations (God did not “allow” this to happen.)
—by role reversal or transference. (If a family member were killed, they may try to fill the missing person's role in the family.)
—by having a higher than normal anxiety and stress level
—by being afraid to go to bed at night or to go to sleep for fear of something happening
—by coping through denial that certain feelings are present, or by suppressing that this is actually happening

socially
—by becoming shy and withdrawn from both adults and peers
—by being overly fearful of strangers, especially if they are in uniform
—by clinging to parents for fear that one or both of them will leave (They may refuse to go to school or church, feeling it is unsafe.)
—by becoming upset more easily (shown by crying, fighting, or exhibiting other forms of disruptive behavior)

spiritually
—by asking questions about God. (Why didn’t God stop the shooter? Why didn’t God protect the young men and women on that college campus? If these people were doing nothing wrong, why did God allow this terrible thing to happen?)
—by lacking trust in God (Will God take good care of me? If someone shoots my daddy or mommy, who will care for me?)
—by questioning God's presence with us (If God is here, why do I feel so bad? Why didn't God keep the killings from happening?)


Ways to Help Children Express Their Feelings

Send Cards
Channel their fears into helping them support others who are grieving.

Water Play
Playing in a tub of warm water stimulates inhibited children and soothes explosive children. A warm bath may help relieve stress.

Play dough
Play dough can be worked or reworked to express feelings of anger, frustration, and anxiety.

Painting
Painting can help children express moods of joy, sorrow, fear, or anger. Children paint what they feel or what matters in their lives. Finger painting is a good medium for such expression.

Puzzles
Puzzles can be a way for children to create order out of chaos. Children whose lives have become disoriented, confused, or disrupted will often feel better after putting a puzzle together.

Toys
Toys can help children relive a bad experience or play out their feelings. Often the victim becomes the rescuer, the one in control.

Puppets
The use of puppets enables children to become talkative and to reenact an unhappy experience. Puppets are good listeners.

Books
Children often lack the vocabulary to express their feelings. A book can help define a child's understanding of death, violence, and anxiety.

Cuddly Toys
Sitting quietly with a cuddly toy can soothe an angry or fearful child.

Music
Music allows an emotional release and the free expression of feelings through songs, creative movement, and games.

Play
Active play allows for release of emotional energy in a socially approved way. Quiet games may be comforting to a child who chooses to be alone.

Storytelling
Storytelling, drama, and role plays are ways to help children tell their stories, to act out feelings, and to resolve conflicts.


What Parents Can Do

• Help your children distinguish between the reality of television coverage of the event and the fantasy of movies, especially for young children. These people died. They won’t get up after the cameras stop rolling and walk away.

• Limit the time you permit your children to watch the news. Watch the news with them and encourage them to talk about what you saw. Correct any misunderstandings and answer any questions.

• Keep routines and expectations of behavior as close to normal as possible to give children stability in their daily lives.

• Be honest in answering children's questions. Keep answers simple, without giving more information than the child needs at the time.

• Be honest with your own feelings. Discuss these with your children or help them know that you have some of the same feelings that they have.

• Assure them of your love. Reassure them that you will keep them safe and will be there to care for them.

• Help children realize that they are not responsible for what has happened and could not have prevented it.

• Provide comfort in ways that feel reassuring to you and to your children.

• Watch for signs of maladjustment to the event. Spend extra time putting children to bed. Leave the night light on, if needed. Give opportunity for them to ask questions, express concerns, or share their feelings before going to sleep.

• Listen to what the children say, how they say it, and what they play. Is there evidence of fear, anxiety, or insecurity? Talk about and clarify any feelings shown in the conversation or play.

• Have quiet family times together. Spend time sharing concerns, expressing feelings, feeling God's reassuring presence, and praying to God to express your needs and concerns.

• Assure children that God listens to our prayers and answers them. That God continues to love us. That God is a forgiving God. That God knows our needs. That God cares how they feel, think, or act. That God can take away their fears and anxiety. That God is always with us and will guide us and strengthen us to meet whatever lies ahead.

• Plan for the family to attend church and Sunday school regularly to feel the support and strength of this community of believers.

• If a child's adjustment does not return to normal after a sufficient time, consider talking with someone (minister, school counselor, or professional counselor) who understands children and their needs.

*Reach out to loneley people. Jim Adkisson was a lonely man with no family in town and lived by himself. Look in your neighborhood, school, and church for people who are isolated. Befriend them and let them know you care.

Downtown Community to Gather for Prayer

The downtown community will gather for prayer Tuesday, July 29 in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church. Doors open at 11:30. Prayer service at 12:00 noon led by ministers from downtown congregations. All are welcome to come, participate, and gather to pray for the congregation of Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, victims, their families, and all who are affected by this tragedy in our community.

A candlelight vigil will be held tonight at 2nd Presbyterian Church at 7:30 p.m.

Knoxville Tragedy at Tennessee Unitarian Universalist Church

The last place anyone expected a lone gunman to destroy the lives of innocent people was Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Rev. Chris Buice has been a voice of peace, unity, and harmony throughout his ministry in East Tennessee. He has led reconciliation movements, and First Baptst has followed his lead through the End Violence initiatives in Knox County.

The forces of evil are random enough to pick the good people and congregations who care about peace to try to silence the voices of people like Chris Buice and the good people of TVUUC. But today is not a day to be quiet. Instead, it’s a day to be reminded that the forces of evil do not determine our perspective on the present. The cross determines our present, and through the power of the cross, we can see that God has already intervened in this tragedy; and the forces of evil lost again.

As Christians we believe that God intervened in the worst of the world’s darkness. Even worse than the actions of Jim Adkisson was the heinous world of the first century when God came through Jesus. In Romans 8:26-29, Paul reminds us that God began a long process of stopping evil in its tracks through his suffering on the cross. God entered a world through Jesus’ death to engage in a love that conquers all forces of darkness. Through the cross, Jesus suffered with the pain of this world that continues to this day.

This is not a love limited to the first century; God’s love suffers with us today. God’s love through the cross shows us that God suffered with the victims of this terrible tragedy. Through the pain on the cross, God demonstrated that he suffered with Greg McKendry and Linda Kraeger when they died.

God not only suffers with the world; but through the cross, God has been working continually to redeem the world. When God could have given up on this world, he sent Jesus to work beside us to have help, hope, and healing in the midst of the darkness. Jesus’ presence was felt today. When evil interrupted a children’s musical, three people jumped on Jim Adkisson and prevented the violence from becoming worse.

Imagine what the world would be like without a place like a church to pray. Imagine a world without a house of prayer for all the nations. Our greatest testimony will be when we return to church on Wednesday night and Sunday morning and unite as a common people of faith to say we have heard the words of Jesus in the midst of the storm: “Peace, be still,” and we will not be afraid.

For God is still working. God does not necessarily just work everything out. But God does work with all things, even the worst things imaginable. The forces of evil cannot stop the voices of Chris Buice and this fine church. Our voices grow even stronger as we engage as salt, light, and peace in a difficult storm. Our voices grow as we offer prayers for the McKendry and Adkisson families. Our unity increases as we pray for children who witnessed this tragedy, as we comfort and pray for hearling for the other victims, as we offer counseling to loved ones, and as we look this church in the eye and say, “We are working with you and God for the good of those who love God to those who are the called according to his purpose.” God’s work is not random. God’s work has a purpose of love that still triumphs over the worst of the forces of evil.

KidsHope USA in Knoxville

The Shaw Family: Survivors

Chris Shaw

Kim Shaw shows the storm shelter to Marion Graybeal

Kim Shaw still finds shards of glass in her carpet from the devastating Williamson County tornado 6 months ago. Long after FEMA, disaster relief teams, and immediate responders have moved onto other needs, the Williamson County long term recovery committee still works. They provide hope to families like the Shaw’s and many others in this forgotten region of rural Tennessee.

In February, this storm ripped a swath of destruction from Jackson to Macon Counties, a stretch of over 200 miles. The path of the storm left homes and property like the Shaw’s unlivable. A few mailboxes away, horse farms remain untouched. Ironically this is one of the wealthiest sections of Tennessee. Some say this is the most lucrative county in the state. But families like the Shaws do not share in that wealth. They are still picking up and finding pieces of their lives scattered down Hwy. 46.

The problem with recovery is that there is no easy path from shelter to survival. As I talked to Kim Shaw Tuesday, it’s much like putting together pieces of a puzzle that are lying around with no picture, however, to guide you as you fit each part together. Jobs, education, teenagers, and nearly 5 acres of land would be the usual responsibilities for a family living in a small modular home in the country. Two kids are out of high school. One has two years left. All members of the family work. Chris is a plumber. Kim is a caretaker for elderly people. Even if they wanted to send kids to college, as Kim says, “We can’t afford that.”

Now add a storm from 6 months ago. They rode out the storm in a 4x8x8 storm shelter just large enough for the five of them. The storm lasted only 10 minutes, but the winds were so fierce that it blew the barn into the side of their house, and boxed them into the storm shelter. They had to beat the door open just to get outside to see the damage.

Some 6 months later the only ones left to help the estimated 10-12 families like the Shaws that are still recovering in Hickman and Williamson Counties are local people and volunteer teams.

The Shaw’s live in their old home that has plywood in holes where windows once stood. They purchased a slightly used modular home with what little money they received from FEMA and income they had when the storm hit. They are putting on the finishing touches with the help of volunteers like ours so they can move in. This is not “making ends meet.” This is tying a knot in the end of the rope and hanging on until help arrives.

Yet they are not without hope. Their spirits are good. Kim says, “If we can just get everything back together,” we can move on with our lives. Still some 6 months later, they wait among the shards of glass to turn a used house into a home.

Mentoring Works

Mentor Gene Hale and his "Little Brother" Tyler.


Every hour in Tennessee, a child is abused or neglected. Every 35 minutes, a child is born into poverty. Tennessee ranks 36th in the nation for children living at or below the poverty level with 45% enrolled in the Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Programs. In Knox County alone, 365 students are homeless, living in shelters, in cars, or on the streets. Among Tennessee fourth graders, 74% read below grade level, and 76% score below grade level in math. Only 60% of high school students in Tennessee graduate.

In one month, the faces behind these statistics will converge in our schools.
Pundits and preachers blame these alarming numbers on everything from poverty and race to families, sin, and God.

Beyond the sound bytes and applause lines, however, one solution changes children’s lives. By offering the gift of time, volunteer mentors make a difference one child at a time. Through mentoring, caring adults establish long-term one-on-one relationships with children who do not have nurturing family support. Mentors cross the barriers of race, economics, and literacy. Through the common kinship of the heart, they provide help when a child or teenager needs love the most. And the results are impressive: Studies indicate that children in a mentoring relationship are 46% less likely to use drugs (minorities 70% less likely), 27% less likely to use alcohol, and 33% less likely to hit someone. School attendance of mentored children increases 50%, resulting in improved grades.

This fall, I am calling on East Tennesseans of faith to mentor at-risk students. Many congregations already serve as volunteer mentors in their neighborhood schools throughout the school year. I am convinced that more East Tennessee churches can mobilize volunteers to mentor in elementary, middle, and high schools. As people of faith, we have been trained in the great commission. Now it’s time to live out the great commandment. By setting aside the desire to proselyte and by respecting the boundaries of church and state, we can meet the needs of deserving children. We can demonstrate love in action.

My church has done just that through KidsHope USA, Buckner International, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Knoxville at First Baptist’s neighborhood school, South Knoxville Elementary. We do not visit campus to sell our brand of faith. Instead, we go with open hearts, listening and providing hope to children. Our philosophy is to follow the school’s rules and to read, tutor, assist, play….to do whatever dedicated educators and social workers ask of us. I am proud to have worked with South Knoxville Elementary’s faculty and administrators. Principal Roy Smith who retired this year acknowledges the difference between the grades of at-risk students who were mentored and those who did not have that privilege.

Imagine the possibilities if every local elementary, middle, and high school principal had mentors available to devote time to children. What could happen if every at-risk child in Knoxville had a friend who cared not just about his grades but about his life? Not only would more children avoid being left behind, but the lives of the mentors would be enhanced. In working with my “little brother” at South Knox, I have received the greatest benefit from the relationship. My life has been enriched because I served a child whose father is in prison and saw this little boy’s face light up each day I met with him.

Perhaps at the end of your life you would like to say, “I made a difference with one person beyond my immediate family.” Three weeks from now, you can begin working toward that goal. On October 7, I’ll be hosting a group at First Baptist downtown to challenge more people of faith to become faithful mentors, and everyone is welcome to come and learn how your congregation can serve. Together we can change statistics into solutions.

For Independence Day

In 1771, "America" was a much different place spiritually. Most of the first colonies subsidized their "chosen" ministers' salaries with tax revenue. Separate Baptists like Isaac Backus in Massachusetts were arrested and John Leland, John Weatherford, and David Barrow were assaulted by mobs and beaten with whips. In Caroline County, Virginia, 6 Baptists were arrested for the "immorality" of adult baptism. At that time, most people thought adult baptism was like a "get out of jail free card" in regards to sin. We were not alone. New York celebrated the anti-Catholic "Pope Day." Only 3 of the thirteen colonies allowed Catholics to vote. Most settlers had come to worship separately from other forms of religions. And Baptists, Catholics, and everything else besides the state's chosen (usually Puritan) religions were that other way. They wanted to worship in the way they chose and to still kick out those who did not.

Obviously, we are a much different place today. What caused such change that brought not only a spiritual change called "relgious liberty" but its political equivalent termed by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury, Virginia, Baptists, "a wall of separation between church and state"? Two things among others made it possible, according to Steve Waldman, author of the new book Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the birth of Religious Freedom in America.

The first was the persecution of Baptists in the state of Virgnia. Baptists did not want the state governments to use tax dollars to pay the salaries of clergy or to force them to baptize their children until they could speak for themselves. Separate Baptists could be exempted from the taxes in Virginia, they had to verify their Baptist heriage, be certified, and prove they still attended church. How times have changed. Roger Williams started the first Baptist church in a free state called Rhode Island, but it took John Leland's problems with the magistrates of Virginia to awaken the concerns of James Madison.

The second was a good old fashioned revival. In 1739, the fiery, cross-eyed preacher George Whitfield spread a message that ignited the flames of spiritual fervor so great in early America that more people started attending church, and more churches were started. There were so many different kinds of beliefs, religious liberty as expressed in the first amendment to the constitution provided freedom to all the new growing movements (like ours) but made sure that churches did not try to meddle in the business of partisanship. Thanks to James Madison, the first amendment became the way to hold the churches accountable to each other. Competition was good for religion. The founders, many of whom were godly people and even "Christians," eventually realized that faith coerced, compelled, or even funded was not true faith. It was neither good for the kingdom of God or for the new nation. When states stopped subsidizing salaries, America became more spiritual and more dedicated to God.

In this part of the world, Baptists enjoy the blessing and responsibility of being a part of a vocal evangelical majority. We should never forget the freedoms forged through conflict, and for which many brave men and women still serve so that others can enjoy this blessing. And we should share this position of favor with the same servant role of Jesus to others in this country who worship differently than we. If memory serves right, many people we call "Christians" imprisoned us for our view of Jesus. And to preserve the goodness of government and the godliness of society, we should take a page from the founders. Keep the church and its agencies free from governmental support, restrict government agencies from blessing one form of faith, and ask God to send a revival. That would be a blessing to all on this day when we as Baptists are so grateful to be independent.