Spending time with God

As I reflect on the sermon from yesterday I am praying that everyone who heard it will follow up and participate in spending time with God in silence with His Word.

Can you imagine what would happen in our church if everyone found their place in serving and allowed God to work in them in serving others? I love to see lives transformed by moving from the self centered place we all know to a place of being God centered and others centered.

It really is all about our hearts! Where is your heart at today? Spend some time with God every day this week and allow Him to have more and more of your heart. Give him those things you are holding near and dear, like your dreams, your desires, your insecurities, your pride. Let Him have your desire for comfort, for success, for pleasure, and have faith that He has something much better in store for you.

Blessings,
Steve

Leadership

As we go through our leadership series of sermons and come up on the leadership summit that will be at FBC on August 14-15, I wonder what is going through peoples minds as they hear messages of how we are all leaders in some sense. I read a definition of leadership that I really liked that says 'anyone who influences others is a leader'. We all have areas of influence in our lives. We can be a positive influence or a negative influence on others. What kind of influence are you for other people? What gets in the way of being a positive influence on others? Is there certain people or certain situations that are difficult for you? What can you do to change that? Have you asked God for help in that area? Have you slowed down to listen to what He is telling you? Spend some time today with some of these questions and let me know what God is telling you!
Blessings,
Steve

Edds Field

I am getting ready to write an article in THE MAINSPRING about Jessie Edds. Yesterday when folks were playing softball on the Edds field I had an emotional moment as I thought of Mrs. Edds who devoted much of her life to children and youth. How many of you out there remember her? She was a delightful lady and had the gift of giving. May her tribe increase! I only hope more people could have known her. If you have any memories about Jessie, please post them to this blog.

Pastor Cox

Loss of a Former Family Member

Just received word that Bill Chadwick, my sister Betty's first husband, died unexpectantly. He was mid-seventies and still worked every day as a chiropractor. Although he and Betty have been divorced for many years they still lived in the same town (Clanton, ALA). Betty is a retired nurse. They have two children: Leah and Rachel. Leah and her husband, Glen, and their two children also live in Clanton. Rachel lives close by. In recent years, Bill and Betty and the girls have had great family times together. (We have always said that Bill and Betty got along better without being married!) Bill was kind of radical-- about everthing. In religion, a died in the wool Calvinist-- double-edged tape. In the sixties, he was a member of the John Birch Society which saw a Communist behind every tree. In his practice, he thought chiropractors could cure about everything. But he was unique. And he was a great practioner-- an old style chiropractor who spent a lot of time with each patient-- (not like others who pop or crack and they are done in 3-5 minutes). But mostly I will miss him because he was in several chapters of our family history. We visited Betty and family year before last and I got to re-c0nnect with him. Glad for that time.

Pastor Cox

Where's Your Place?

This will be my last blog for a few weeks as I get ready to head to my first week of camp on Sunday. I will be taking anywhere from 4-10 (our numbers keep growing!) students to Bennett Spring Christian Church Camp, the little church camp I have attended since I was little. While many people dislike the idea of bugs, late nights, skits, no air-conditioning, and a week with middle school and high school students, it is truly something I look forward to all year. I am a camp girl! Camp for me is a place to refocus and reconnect. It is my place where I feel most connected because of the guidance I have received, the truths I have learned, and the relationships I have fostered there over the years. It is a sacred place for me. What about you? Do you have these sacred places that help you to get back to what matters? Do you find strength and peace on a fishing boat somewhere? Over a glass of iced tea on your Grandma's back porch? Where is your place?

Summertime and the livin' is easy!

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." -2 Corinthians 4:16

While many of us spend the summertime at work, it is often a time where our pace slows just a little, we spend a few more hours at the ballpark, we're a little later getting to bed, we spend a little more time on the back deck just soaking in the summer evenings. The pace is quick, yes, but summer is often filled with things we only get an opportunity to do once a year. Families often take vacations and we all take (or at least do our best to take) some time to relax and renew. How in the pace of the world today do we do this? What ways in our church are families or individuals taking time to renew? What benefits of this time do you see for yourself and your family? Share with us your stories of finding time to renew relationships, families, and yourself this summer!

-Erin