In this week's Pastor's Paragraphs, I want to give some clarity on the upcoming conversations on worship and governance and help answer questions some of you have been asking me regarding both of these things.

Governance Restructuring Steering Team

The GRST is a committee of ten people that have been tasked with looking at the current governance structure at Benson Baptist and prayerfully craft a recommendation to the church on ways to improve and update our current structure. This Team is NOT discussing the future of worship at Benson Baptist.

You'll remember that their work is part II of the by-law revision plan. The first part was voted on by the church in April 2023 and passed (regarding changes to the affiliations and belief statements of the church. The remaining part of the by-laws to be discussed is the governance section, which this new team will begin working on soon using the example of other similar congregations and the data collected from BBC conversations over the last few years.

There is currently not a timeline for this recommendation to come to the church.

Conversations on Worship

When the group of all current and former active deacons met a few months ago, one of the things that was brought up was the idea of possibly moving back to one (blended-style) worship service. This idea was not original to this group as the Vision Team, among others, had already discussed it in length (the Vision Team's conversations creating the Communion Unity Services that have brought the two services together every other month for the last year).

To give clarity on the conversation to date:

Following the last All-Deacon's meeting, an email went out to our worship leaders from our Deacon Chair inspired by the conversations in that meeting and detailing a plan to launch one service in the weeks to come. I had been in conversation with the Chair prior to that email going out and knew what was planned to be sent. This gave me the opportunity to meet with our ministerial staff for conversation in advance of the plan going out.

Following our staff conversation and the sending of the move-to-one-service-plan, I sent subsequent emails to our worship leadership that sought to come alongside the plan and give the staff-led possibilities we'd crafted for one service should it move forward. They also sought to show that we were all willing to go with the church no matter what was decided–– to continue to plan and facilitate Christ-honoring worship as we were called by you to BBC to do.

Following the announcement of the original plan to move toward one service, it was decided to walk things back a bit and instead direct the conversation to the current Diaconate for next steps.

The Diaconate decided that the next step would be a church-wide conversation on worship to be had by any and all BBCers who would like their voice and ideas to be heard as we continue the conversation surrounding the future of worship. Dr. Andy Wakefield, former BBC interim pastor and current Dean of Campbell Divinity School was selected to facilitate that conversation scheduled for Sunday, April 14, at 6:30 P.M. (following dinner at 6:00 P.M.) in the Fellowship Hall. 

Some of you have asked what this conversation on worship will lead to. The short answer is "I can't yet tell you." Until the conversation on April 14 is had, and the larger church has had a chance to share their vision for the future of worship at Benson Baptist, we cannot know what is ahead of us.

Others of you have asked where our current ministerial staff are on the possibility of one service. I won't speak for the others, but I myself am in the middle–– willing to go whichever way that the church decides, as long as we glorify Jesus in our worship (whatever it may look like!).

So, that is where these two conversations are. I look forward to listening as you all share your thoughts on the future of worship (whether that is change, or things stay as they are), when Dr. Wakefield facilitates that conversation on April 14. I also look forward to the recommendations that will come from our Governance Restructuring Steering Committee.

Until then, I look forward to continuing to worship alongside you as we seek to be the best outpost of the Kingdom of Christ that we can be as we share the gospel with those around us.

The best is yet to be!

I didn’t celebrate Easter until I was just a month shy of my fourteenth birthday.

As many of you know, I didn’t grow up in church–– I started attending in December of 2000 when I was thirteen.

That first year of church was a whirlwind. but none more so than Easter. Of course, I’d grown up hearing about Jesus’ resurrection, but I’d never actually celebrated it in Christian community with other people. The Christians in my family did not celebrate it at all–– opting to not celebrate Christmas and Easter as Christian holidays since there really is no way to fully pinpoint exactly when Jesus was born or died.
 
So, that first Easter season in 2001 was all new to me. I remember being excited to recognize Jesus’ resurrection in such a big way. After all, I was a new Christian and everything about being a disciple of Jesus was exciting. I can’t remember what the preacher said, or the music sang, but I can remember the excitement I felt about celebrating Jesus coming back to life. “He is risen!” we said together. “He is risen, indeed!”

As I moved through Divinity School, we studied the resurrection from all kinds of contextual understandings and theological meanings. With each new learning, Easter became more exciting to me. From a better understanding of the Jewish Passover that was happening during the first Holy Week, to Roman practices that put Pilate in Jerusalem during the trial, to the ways crucifixion and burial worked: all of these things enhanced my understanding of the first Easter in ways that added to its meaning for me.

It was not until I was in Divinity School that I began to understand just how human all of the events of the first Easter were. When I’d first experienced it, I’d pictured Jesus as Clark Kent-turned-Superman, busting out of the tomb like some superhuman alien. I’d ignored the characters of the story in lieu of the deeper theological meanings that were to be remembered behind it.
 
The thing about ignoring the humanity of it all? You lose the full meaning of Easter. If you don’t wrestle with Peter’s guilt, Judas’ betrayal, the women’s fear, Thomas’ doubt, and all the other humanity in the story, you lose a huge part of what the story is about–– and you lose connection of their humanity to yours. This Eastertide, I hope you’ll be reminded of the humanity of Jesus’ resurrection and that it will bring the excitement of Easter back to your life.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

In their book Hard and Holy Work, Mary Alice Birdwhistell and Tyler D. Mayfield note that "the middle is often where things begin to fall apart. The way forward is no longer clear. Trust is broken and relationships become complicated. In other words, the middle is where things get messy. We long for a world of adventurous beginnings and fairy tale endings, but we would rather not go through what happens in the middle in order to get us from point A to point B."

This is the book I've been using on Sunday nights over the last few weeks to direct our continued journey through the Lenten season. As I read these words, they drew my mind to some of the 'messy' middles in which Benson Baptist currently finds ourselves:

• The Middle of Restructure - Our new Governance Restructuring Steering Committee will soon begin meeting to take all of the documents and conversations gathered over the last few years and use them to create a governance proposal from them. The conversations that have led to this Committee have been on-going for a while and we are definitely in the middle of that work,

• The Middle of Worship Possibilities - There have been many questions around the future of worship at BBC and what is needed as we move ahead into the future. One service or two? If two, how many unity services do we need? What about style? The list could go on and on there. There is a meeting schedule for April 14, at 6:30 P.M., to discuss all of these questions and to hear from everyone,

• The Middle of Financial Change - At the end of last year, we voted to outsource our financials. This decision was made with the future in mind, but is far from complete. Every week brings new conversation surrounding it and it continues to be an adjustment,

• The Middle of Growth - We have seen many new faces over the last few years, we've baptized quite a few, and we've dedicated more children in the last four than any other church I know of. Beyond that, our community is also in the midst of a middle as people continue to move toward Benson. This middle is very messy and leaves us wondering what growth looks like for our congregation.

Really, we all could add more to this list of the 'middles' in which BBC find ourselves. As we navigate these things we've seen exactly what Birdwhistell and Mayfield write about: relationships have been strained, concerns have run deep, differences of opinion are loud, and trust has run thin as the middle has converged on us.

Change is never easy, especially from the middle. The Hebrews in the wilderness certainly knew what that was like. After all, they'd journeyed from the security of Egypt, through the miracle of the Red Sea, and then found themselves in the messy middle of wandering. The middle was a fearful place for them. It was a place they didn't even know if they would make it through. Yet, God was faithful to them and provided for their needs as God called them forward–– even though they often wanted to give up.

As BBC moves forward, I hope that we will find ourselves to be a people who listen, who show grace, and who come together across our differences–– in these middles and all others. I know we all would love to know what's coming but the middle does not give that full answer.

As we journey even more intentionally toward where God is calling us, I hope that you'll join me in taking a breath, slowing down, listening, and holding any tension the middle brings, with grace.

The best is yet to be!

March is Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM) month of Advocacy, a month where congregations are invited to take the next step in affirming, valuing, and elevating women in ministry among Baptists.

You might be wondering why this month is needed, or why it matters. After all, at Benson Baptist we have had women deacons since the 1980s, have ordained multiple women to the gospel ministry, and heard many women preach from our pulpit over the years. Why have a month that we focus on this?

For me personally, it's Kennedy. Even churches that welcome and advocate for women in ministry can't stop recognizing it because the reality is, in the Baptist world, there are many churches that would tell my daughter (and any woman) that there are limits to God's call in their lives. Even among previous staff members of our congregation we've had gifted and called women who grew up in churches where they were told that they were wrong about their call to ministry. I heard many say they "didn't know minister was a vocational possibility for them because their church didn't advocate or they never saw a woman in leadership roles in any church."

According the the BWIM State of Women in Baptist Life (2021), 86% of women have experienced obstacles in relation to their gender. 59% of women in ministry say they have been overlooked and silenced in their ministry settings. 63% of women in ministry have said they have had to fight for a place at the leadership table. More statistics in the report include:

These reasons, and so many more, are why Baptist congregations must continue to affirm and advocate for women in ministry. It is why we can't stop hearing from the voices of women in all areas of our leadership–– including the pulpit.

This month, I hope you'll take the opportunity to do more than just sit in a pew and hear the great preachers we'll have share with us for BWIM Month of Advocacy. I hope that you'll find ways to go to the next level by sharing your support for women in ministry and by empowering the girls and women in our congregations that there is no limit to their calling from God.

In Christ,

Death is a part of life.

Remember when we were kids and never thought about death? It was just not a part of our realities of life. Sure, we might have read about death in books, saw it on TV, or even heard about it at church, but it really wasn’t a part of our day-to-day existences.
 
The older we get, the more death becomes a reality for us. Whether it is seeing death on the news, attending the funeral of someone we knew, or facing it ourselves, death is something that we grow more aware of as we age.

In most Christian funerals you will hear a lot about resurrection and life. This makes sense because we are a resurrection people. This is why we often see more people at church on Easter Sunday–– resurrection and life is just too great a message to not rally around it.
But, the reality is that death is a part of faith too.

Scripture does not hold back on this fact as we read about dying to self, mourning the loss of those who were loved, or even facing death ourselves.

While death often marks the end, in faith, it marks a beginning, too. Now, lest you think I’m just leaning into being a resurrection person, I don’t mean when we die. What I mean is that sometimes we have to let things go if we’re going to move forward. Sometimes, how we live, what we believe, and what we hold on to all have to die before we can find the resurrection God is whispering into our lives.
 
The late author Rachel Held Evans said in her book Searching for Sunday that “even here, in the dark, God is busy making all things new.”

Even in the darkness of death, the newness of resurrection is dawning–– if we let it.
This Lent, what do you need to let die that is holding you back from the resurrection Christ is trying to bring into your life? What ‘new thing’ is God busy making in your life?

Why ask this?

Because, death is a part of resurrection, too.

Next month we will reach the fourth anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at Benson Baptist. Back then, many of you may have wondered what would be next for our congregation as we shifted from in-person to online only. We wondered how we would keep journeying as we faced unprecedented times.

While there are many ways that we can see how God has been faithful to us since that time, yesterday's full Sunday was a beautiful look into it all:

• The morning worship services saw over 100 people joining us for worship in-person and online as we sought Christ's voice together,
• The fellowship breakfast saw lots of conversation, laughs, and smiles over doughnuts and fruit,
• Sunday School classes for all ages were full as teacher volunteers shared lessons they'd studied–– one teacher even Zoomed in from Kansas to teach the college class!,
• We expanded our community across the world as we entered into a three-year covenant with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and CBF Field Personnel in Cyprus, Rev. Stella Perrin, 
• The Diaconate announced the new Governance Restructuring Steering Committee that will give YOU a chance to be a part of what's next,
• Our Missions Council met CBF missions staffer, Rev. Ellen Sechrest, for a 'missions assessment' to dream and vision about our current missions partnership and what missions looks like at BBC as we move forward,
• Our kid's ministry jumped around at SkyZone in Raleigh,
• Our Fellowship Hall was full as one of our own celebrated his 90th birthday,
• Our teenagers met for youth group and continued their walk through the Old Testament,
• Our own Bridget Whittington led an art & faith workshop in which we learned about the faith of famous artists and make our own flowers using markers, water, and watercolor paper.

While all of these things are great as stand alone happenings, together they paint a picture of a congregation that is vibrant and growing as we explore where God is calling us next.

In yesterday's sermon, I preached that our God is a God of impossible situations. While much of what is ahead of us might feel impossible, it is not a hopeless journey. Our God calls us to 'hope against hope' as we step forward into the immeasurably more already being seen in our midst.

I hope you'll join me in continuing to pray for our congregation and all that's ahead of us!

The best is yet to be.

It's hard to believe, but 2024 will be our THIRD Spiritual Formation Retreat! We are officially excited to announce that the SFR theme for 2024 is "Foundation" as we gather to explore what we build the foundations of our life and faith on.

As we gather and rest we'll center around Psalm 1:3 which says:

"[Blessed is the one] who is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers."

This year's retreat will feature worship sessions centered on this verse and theme, breakouts on topics to help you discover your foundations and grow closer to Christ, and free time to grow our foundation as a community of faith.

Breakouts will include:

• Exploring Spiritual Disciplines,
• Who Am I? Exploring the Enneagram as a Faith Tool
• Walking the Prayer Labyrinth
• Artful Foundations
• ...and more to be announced soon!

Quick Details for SFR 2024:

• Date: March 1-3, 2024
• Location: Fort Caswell, Oak Island, NC
• Who?: The SFR is open to ALL ages!
• Cost: $125 per person, $250 family cap

As many of you know, over the last few years our congregation has been in 'visioning mode.' It began with our deacons facilitating SWOT analysis conversations with multiple teams of the church and continued with the establishing of a Vision Team. These conversations led to the recent 're-rooming' of classes and ministries in our facilities and the by-law changes that were voted on and passed in April.

As you may remember, the next step in our vision process is in relation to our 'structure.' By this, we mean the overall governance of the congregation currently made up of our Diaconate and over twenty-two committees. While this structure has carried us for much of the last seven decades, the Diaconate –– through the results of the data pulled from the visioning conversations –– has opened discussion around a possible governance restructure that would aid us in moving into the decades ahead. The hope, as we prayerfully seek God's voice in this work, is that we'll come out of these conversations with a more nimble structure that aids us in addressing the current needs of Benson Baptist Church as we seek to build the Kingdom of Christ in the best ways we can.

As we've had these conversations, it has come to our attention that our CBF sister congregation, Mt. Carmel Baptist, Chapel Hill, went through a very similar conversation a decade ago. Much like the BBC of today, they had a lot of committees that were not functioning, found a lot of the ministry work was being done by a small group of people, and realized that their congregation's communal connection was lower than it should be. Mt. Carmel prayerfully revisioned their governance and ten years later says they would not go back. Not only have they developed a more Spirit-led (and efficient) process of governance, they've also seen spiritual and numerical growth that their restructuring prepared them to face.
 
Like BBC, their community was on the cusp of growth and, like BBC, they knew they had to revision their structure. The results of this process for them have allowed Christ to work and move in powerful ways.

On Sunday, August 13, at 4PM, you are invited to join Mt. Carmel's pastor and a lay leader as they share their process, what they've learned, and how we might learn from where Christ has worked in a similar conversation – with a similar congregation – in the past. Light refreshments will be served.

The best is yet to be!

This weekend our two summer interns wrap up their almost ten weeks of service at BBC. We are thankful for their service and can't say enough about just how critical they were to the children, youth, and worship ministries throughout their time on staff.

As they prepare to conclude their service this Sunday, July 30, here are their reflections on how things went:

This summer as the BBC Student.Church CBF intern has been amazing! I have made so many new memories, gained new experiences, and made many new connections with staff, children and youth, and the congregation.

This summer has been full of highlights as I have grown in my walk with God, and as I have come closer to finding my calling. I have loved getting to work closely with the children and youth by being a part of VBS, chaperoning retreats, mission trips, camp, and of course last minute Fiesta trips for dinner. I have also loved getting to teach them in Sunday School throughout the Summer. I have enjoyed getting to know our congregation as a whole, meeting new people as well as making stronger relationships with those I already knew.

Being an intern at Benson Baptist has given me insight to what my calling in life may be. I have loved being here as an intern this summer, I have loved being a part of the staff! I am
excited to resume my journey at BBC as a member of the congregation 
with my family.

Laila Whitman, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Student.Church Intern

I am incredibly grateful for my amazing summer here at Benson Baptist Church! My internship here has been a redemptive experience, after a not-so-great experience interning last summer.

The community at Benson has been so welcoming and uplifting as it allowed me the opportunity to explore a vocational calling to ministry. Vacation Bible School has always been the highlight of my summer since I was in middle school. Stellar did not disappoint, and it was so much fun and definitely my high.

If you couldn’t tell by my facial expressions in-person while watching River, I did not like hearing and seeing myself on the TV. River is such a wonderful unique part of Benson Baptist, but I personally cringe at the thought of watching myself on the screen.

Through it all, I am grateful for this grace-filled space where I was able to better discern my vocation, and the people who surrounded and supported me throughout the journey.

Ainsley Blasius, BBC Children's Ministry Summer Intern

Benson Baptist Church in Benson, NC is searching for a part-time Contemporary Worship Leader to lead our Praise Team in our 9 A.M. Contemporary-style Worship Service.

Click Here for a full job description.
 
This is a paid position with responsibilities for weekly rehearsal and worship service leadership. The salary is $225 per week.

To apply, click here.

(you'll be required to sign-in to a Google account. If you do not have a Google account, email lawrence@bensonbaptist.org and we'll send you the application!).

In our April 2023 church conference Benson Baptist voted to cease ties with the Johnston Baptist Association, Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and Southern Baptist Convention. It was recognized that these entities have moved in a direction that BBC does not support, particularly in relation to women being called to the Gospel ministry.

Since the 1980s, BBC has ordained women to our Diaconate. As of today, BBC has had the honor of ordaining both men and women to the Gospel for decades.

Beyond this, it was felt that the SBC's recent decisions to disaffiliate with congregations over their ordination of women to the Gospel ministry was an infringement on the historic Baptist freedom of autonomy of the local congregation. Unlike sister denominations, Baptist denominations are not a 'hierarchy' and thus exist to partner with and support local congregations, not dictate their polity.

These changes do not change BBC's commitment to partner with congregations and ecclesiastical bodies of all denominations. Differences in theological understandings do not mean that we are unable to work together to serve our neighbors.

Following this vote, BBC remains affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina (CBFNC), and the Benson Area Ministerial Association (BAMA).

At the conference, BBC also updated:

• Our by-laws in relation to masculine language in relation to people (EX:instead of 'he may serve as Deacon Chair,' it now reads 'they may serve.' This change reflects the realities of our current leadership).
• Our membership policy in relation to baptism by immersion. We now accept membership requests where the individual joins on statement of faith and has been baptized as an infant and claims that baptism as their baptism. Immersion is always offered, but not required by BBC for membership in such cases.

It's a fairly common thing at BBC: meeting one another at the Lord's table on the first Sunday of every other month in our worship services. Yesterday was the correct time for our next gathering at the table, but it was also something more.

Annually, on the first Sunday of October, we observe World Communion Sunday at BBC. This special Sunday recognizes more than just BBCers gathering at the table, but that Christians from around the world –– in a variety of denominations–– also gather at that same table. It recognizes the unity we find at the communion table that reminds us that it's Jesus, and not us, who sets up the seating chart at this table.

First observed in 1933, World Communion Sunday sees Christians from all over the world observing communion on the same day. It's like we gather at one big, long, table that stretches across the world. On this day there are no geographical, theological, political, national, or race barriers to the table of Christ. No matter who a person is, or where they are from, they are welcome at this table.

World Communion Sunday reminds us that American Christians serve no higher place at the table than do Chinese Christians. Baptists sit down with Catholics while Methodists pass the bread. The only labels we carry are name-tags, a reminder that it is we who are created in the image of God that is important and that nothing else matters.

May these reminders of a big table carry us from this second Sunday in October to every Sunday that we gather.

Come, children of God – just as you are – to the table of Christ.

I'm asked from time to time "how do you write a sermon every week?" The answer is a bit complicated. No sermon is ever what was originally planned and no route toward planning is direct. That said, I do have a process of preparation which you'll find below!

Note: Additional worship planning is done with the other staff and leadership throughout every week in relation to order of worship, music, etc. This is just about the sermon itself!

Every year, I take a few days away from town to spend time in prayer, retreat, and planning. I take the Lectionary passages for the upcoming year with me and pray the Spirit's direction over my planning as I look at them. In that retreat I spend time in prayerful discernment as I walk a prayer labyrinth, move through outdoor Stations of the Cross, and spend intentional time with each passage. I take an excel sheet with me that lists every Sunday of the year and I fill it in with scripture passages, supplemental readings, possible themes, and even connecting points between passages that could lead to sermon series formation.

Note: Theologian Karl Barth once said "Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible." Sometimes things happen in the world and the Spirit leads me to change what I've planned. Sometimes this is a deviation from the Lectionary, sometimes a sermon change–– even after I've written it! Prayerfully listening to the guidance of the Spirit is important in sermon planning week-to-week!

Whenever you eat something, your body takes intentional time to digest it to ensure that it gets what it needs to keep growing and living. Just like that, I take intentional time to read the passage over and over to let its themes and messages sink in. My practice is to read the full chapter the passage is in (the Bible was not always in chapters and verses) and to read the passages around it. Once I've done that, I print the focal passage for the week from biblegateway.com and take a pen and work my way through it marking characters, themes, verbs, and more.

One of my favorite tools in sermon preparation is the whiteboard in my office. Every week I start by writing the sermon passage reference on the board and then map it out, first adding where my scripture readings have taken me, then adding supplemental thoughts, quotes, musings, etc.

After these other two things, I generally dive into supplemental readings via Bible Commentaries, related books, etc. Commentaries are reference books that break down Bible passages verse by verse and show context, thoughts, reference points, and more. I add some of the thoughts that bubble up to the whiteboard, along with an occasional quote I might utelize for the sermon.

Once my research is done and on the whiteboard, I jot down some points of application that have bubbled up and then I put it down for a day (generally mid-week). On Wednesday afternoons I share the sermon plan and thoughts with our Senior Adult group on our Senior Adult Conference call and get their input, but that's about the extent of sermon planning that day.

Using Rocketbook Beacons attached to my office whiteboard, I am able to scan my notes and print them out on Tabloid-sized paper. This size gives me big margins on either side of my page where I can add additional notes and thoughts as I pray and plan. I take this print-out with me when I do my sermon writing.

On Thursday mornings I leave the office and go to local coffee shops to pull everything together and write the sermon. I start by mapping out an outline of the sermon using my whiteboard printout, other notes, and thoughts.

After crafting the outline, I use the Sermonary app to begin crafting my sermon. I do not preach from a manuscript (every word is written out in advance to be read), so Sermonary allows me to write my sermon in blocks that I then use to keep on track on Sunday mornings when I preach.

For visual people in my congregation I utelize a powerpoint that has images, points, scripture verses, and more related to the sermon. These slides are advanced (by me) as I preach as a way of adding a little more to the sermon delivery on Sundays!

I am under no impression that I am the most gifted preacher or that those listening will follow along with every word or point just because I say it out loud. I craft sermon notes with fill-in-the-blank spots that correlate with my sermon. They are added to the BBC app for those who are technology leaning, but are also printed in the bulletin for those who prefer paper and pen.

I am under no impression that it makes perfect in the case of my sermons, but Thursday afternoons I run through the sermon as I will preach it on Sunday. Using my iPad with Sermonary, I move through the sermon just like I will on Sunday to test the flow and check to make sure that the timing is right.

For those wondering, Sermonary has a countdown clock that stays at the top of my notes in its Podium Mode feature so I know how much time I have left. Additionally, I write the word '(SLIDE)' in big red letters so I know when to advance the slides and I mark anything that is in the sermon notes in blue so that I make sure to say it (the rest of the font is in black).

No pastor can truly sit a sermon aside, but I do my best to leave it on Thursday afternoon when I walk out of the office. My day offs are Friday and Saturday and I like to keep those days as work-free as I can (Friday as a personal day to catch up on things and Saturday is when my family is home and I spent time with them).

If something comes to mind for the sermon, I pull out my phone and go to the Sermonary website to add it (all changes are saved in the drive on all devices), but I do not do much more than that on the weekend.

On Sunday mornings I spend a few minutes in prayer over the sermon, the coming worship services, and read through the sermon one more time to see if there is anything else I'd like to add.

Following this, I preach the sermon twice on Sundays at BBC (we have two services) and then post it in our app and on our website for easy access later.

Then, the process starts all over again for the next Sunday!

Today is the 44th day in the Lenten Season.

If you're like me you might be wondering why we've even embraced this journey of darkness. Sure, Ash Wednesday we get: an annual reminder of our mortality seems appropriate in our often narcissistic and "main-character-energy" filled lives. Why the other days, though? Why the long journey?

Darkness fatigue is a natural feeling during the season of Lent. We'd rather be people who walk in the light than in the dark. The reality is we're often never honest enough with ourselves to admit is that life is never fully lived in the light.

Wars are being fought all over our world. Sickness and disease fill our lives and our communities. Disagreements over so many things tear us apart every day. Mental and physical health affect us like a roller coaster ride as we ride the hills up and down over and over again.

Even the moments of clarity where everything is going well and we can't think of a single dark thing affecting our personal lives, we know that the waves of darkness could be just a corner turn away.

The season of Lent reminds us of this reality. It reminds us that we live in a world that exists between the dark and the light, never fully falling into either. As Jesus trudges through a desert of darkness so, too, do we push through the sands of pain and grief.

The truth is that we can't fully understand the light of Easter if we don't first take the long journey through facing the realities of darkness. Jesus didn't just pop up alive, he had to face deeper darkness than we could ever imagine to get to resurrection day. So, too do we.

As we reflect tonight and tomorrow on Jesus' gasping for his final breath, I hope that we'll be reminded of how important that gasp is. We're told that Jesus is "God with us," and every moment of his life in this mess of a world – of our lives – was lived by our God.

We take the long-way through the darkness each Lent, not just because it reminds us of the darkness in our lives, but also because it reminds us that God has also journeyed in it. We turn our hearts toward the light of Easter, knowing that the darkness is not always quickly traversed. We turn our eyes toward the hope of an empty tomb knowing that sometimes we will get stuck sobbing in the cavernous darkness of the tombs of our own lives.

Resurrection does not always come quickly for us, but it always comes. May we draw hope from this. May we not ignore the darkness in our lives or the lives of those around us. May we never turn from the long-way through difficulty. May we never lose sight of the promise of Easter: that whether journeying in the light or in the dark we follow a God who journeyed this path first.

If you're like me, you've felt like we've lived twenty years in the last two. The realities of COVID, political elections, personal life changes, and more have made it feel more like we're living in the Twilight Zone more than real life.

At Benson Baptist this is also true. When I began my tenure as your pastor on January 1, 2020 –– after a 2.5 year search –– none of us could imagine what would come next. As of today, we're a congregation seeking the voice of Christ after a dark and difficult path.

In the last two and a half years, some of the things we have faced together were:

• Covid guidelines, masks, blue taped pews, and overflow service streams in the Fellowship Hall. Believe it or not, we still had some of those guidelines in place a year ago today!

• Staff changes that have left us spinning. Rev. Raybon is our fourth Minister of Youth and Children in two years. We had to process the tragic loss of a staff member following Rev. Fox's death. We've had to make decisions to transition long-time positions into ones that meet the needs of our congregation and campus. We've seen interns come and go – which is their nature – but can still add to the fatigue we feel.

• Political elections are never easy in any community, but the most recent one was more divisive than we've seen in a long while. BBC is a diverse community when it comes to politics, ideology, and theology and such times can remind us just how diverse we are. 

• We've seen attendees leave our community for a variety of reasons. Every one is a loss and we feel it deeply, even as we move forward.

Yes, the last two years have been difficult. We have been left feeling exhausted and unsure about where we're stepping next.

This Sunday we're focusing on the role of reflection in our faith journeys. The tendency is to push the difficult things from our memory and forget the pain of the past. While this makes us feel good for a season, it is generally a short one. As I said last week, we have to sit in the ashes of what grieves us if we're truly going to find a way forward.

Yet, while we reflect on where we've been in difficulty, I also believe we have to keep our eyes on what Christ is doing in our midst as he is calling us forward:

• Our Diaconate has approved the establishment of a Vision Team for the church whose purpose is to take a deep dive into our mission, facilities, and more to seek Christ's call for BBC moving forward. This team will work with a congregational coach as they work over the next few months. Their work will be presented to the congregation at a future date.

• Our Diaconate has also established Deacon subteams to begin reviewing our by-laws for the first time in 33 years. These teams will be tasked with asking where, and who, we are today as a congregation and updating our by-laws to reflect who we are today. This will include reviewing our governance structure to ask what's working and evaluate what is not. Once this work is completed, it will be released to the congregation for review.

• We will launch a mini-capital campaign on Homecoming Sunday in October to challenge all of us to address facility needs as well as missional needs in our community. The details of this are still being worked on, but more will come soon!

• While having been through the wringer these last two years, we are fully staffed and things are going well within our offices. Our staff is committed to BBC and the path we're on and believes that God is already doing immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine as we move forward. 

We can't ignore where we've been, but we must also keep moving forward in the midst of it. As we pause and reflect, the question always before us is "where is Christ calling us from the ashes of the past?"

This is the question I'm asking as your pastor. I challenge you to join me in asking it and in supporting all that is happening to seek Christ call for us moving ahead.

The best is yet to be!

In lieu of my Pastor's Paragraph's this week, I wanted to share an update out of Ukraine in relation to the Village of Hope Orphanage. Part of our Lenten special offering for Ukraine is slated to go toward the support of that ministry and the people it serves. What has happened to the campus does not change the ministry as in need of our support and our offering will continue to be slated for them.

Some of you will remember that a missions group from Benson Baptist visited Ukraine in 2011 and worked with Village of Hope on their campus outside of Kiev. I am sorry to have to share this news with you all, but am hopeful that the good work you did there continues on in the lives of the children and adults they continue to support and serve.

Thank you for joining us in this special Lenten offering. We raised almost $600 on the first Sunday in Lent. The special offering will continue through Palm Sunday.

Scroll down for a full story on what has happened with Village of Hope in Ukraine from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator, Dr. Paul Baxley. Continue to join with me in prayer for an end to this awful situation.

Today our Cooperative Baptist Fellowship family grieves the news that the property of Village of Hope in Kyiv, Ukraine, was bombed by the Russian military. For nearly 20 years, our Fellowship family has joined with Gennady and Mina Podgaisky and partners in Ukraine to establish and grow this beautiful ministry. We are heartbroken to know of this devastating damage in a senseless act of violence.

We are relieved to know that no one was in the property at the time of the attack and that most of those served by Village of Hope are now out of Kyiv. But we know fleeing home to seek safety is also a devastating consequence of this war. So, we pray for families on the run, and we pray for wisdom for leaders around the world who are seeking ways to bring this war to an end.

I ask all Cooperative Baptists to join me in praying for all who suffer at the hands of Russian aggression. Pray for those who have been served and strengthened in love by Village of Hope. Pray for and with our friends Gennady and Mina. Pray that in these days Baptists in Ukraine can join with other believers in offering a witness to a hope even in the face of violence and death.”

Originally posted on the CBF blog at this link.

join us in supporting Village of Hope and more through our Lenten special offering at bensonbaptist.org/Ukraine.

“The word is near you,
    on your lips and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Romans 10:8-13

December 1, 2000: this is the date that I was guided down the 'Romans Road' (a series of verses from Romans that supposedly lay out salvation) and led to pray the 'sinner's prayer' to become a follower of Jesus.

I remember that night vividly. I was wearing my puffy Dallas Cowboys jacket (no idea why because I've never been a Cowboys fan) as I sat in the circle of Sunday School chairs in a second floor room at Olive Chapel Baptist Church in Apex. The youth pastor, who'd I just met that night, moved through the verses in Romans that make up 'the road' and then had me repeat after him the prayer admitting that I was a sinner and that I believe in Jesus.

One of those verses on the Romans Road comes from the Lectionary Epistle verses in Romans 10 this week. "... if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

In my early days of Christianity I was taught to take this verse literally: in a specific moment, to pray the sinner's prayer of confession and belief. The verse was limited to being a formula for salvation and forgiveness.

As I've grown in my faith and understanding of scripture, I've come to discover that the 'formula' understanding of Romans 10 limits its meaning –– and gives Christians an "out" that Paul never intended.

You see, 'confessing with our lips that Jesus is Lord' is a life-long endeavor, not a one-time thing. To view it as a one-time prayer is to take an out from having to live into its meaning every day. It is not a 'sinner's prayer' moment, but rather a living-life mission. We continually confess Jesus with our lips as we share kindness with others, as we stand up for those who are oppressed, as we pray for those who are sick, as we worship with the fullness of our hearts, and, yes, as we confess the ways that we don't do those things (i.e. sin).

The issue with the 'sinner's prayer mentality' of confession is that it limits our faith proclamation to a singular moment when Jesus calls us to journey and grow every day we are alive.

The same is true for our belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Salvation comes through stepping into every day with the full assurance that that day contains resurrection as much as the day before it –– and as much as the resurrection we believe comes after death.

As we do this, we share the gospel with those around us. We become a people who don't move through life complaining about our difficulties or bemoaning the changes in the world, but rather a people who can see the smallest pinprick of light in every darkness. A light that we latch onto with all of our being so that we can remind the world that there is always resurrection.

As we move through the season of Lent, I encourage you to rethink what it really means to journey as a disciple of Jesus. Is your faith in process, or is it stuck in a singular moment? Are you spending your days focused only on what is difficult, dark, or overbearing, or are you living into the resurrection discovered when we remember Jesus is Lord of it all?

Our God is generous with resurrection, with grace, and with love. If we commit to following God's path we must be too –– every single day of our lives.

Blessings on your Lenten path,

In one of the Lectionary passages assigned to this Sunday, Paul writes to the church at Corinth to encourage them to be a people firmly ground in the hope they have been given. He speaks of the story in another of our Lectionary passages: Exodus 34:29-35, where Moses brings the commandments down the mountain to share with the Hebrews in the desert. Paul references this to relate the 'veil' that the people wore. They were not completely blinded to the living presence of God in the world around them – a veil is not a blackout covering – but they could not see clearly either.

Today, we face a world in turmoil. Like myself, some of you have been watching the news feeds from the nation of Ukraine with rapt attention. At the time I write this, Russian troops are pushing further into the country while its citizens huddle in subway tunnels for fear of airstrikes. Even from so far away, we still can feel fear tighten in our hearts for what this could mean for the world in which we live.

For many in our world, thoughts of "the end" reign in their minds. Anxiety around a possible world war and the upending of the "peace" we all know stands at the forefront of their minds. The darkness of the world feels like a never-ending cloud that suffocates out our optimism and hope for tomorrow.

If he were here today, I think Paul would remind us that this darkness is but another veil over our faces. He would tell us to throw it off and see that Jesus is still in the "making all things new" business. As Paul says to the Corinthians, we have a hope that cannot be stomped out. It is a hope that has stood throughout the centuries: in the face of persecution, at the threat of plague, under the fear of war, and in every threat of oppression. In these dark things, the hope that we carry has not wavered –– not an ounce.

Paul says that this hope gives us the ability to always move forward with "great boldness." The disciples of Jesus are not a people who fall back in fear at every turn, but rather a people who peer into the darkness – no matter how great – and see pinpricks of light that swirl in its midst.

Even in this new situation that grips our hearts with worry, our hope in the promise of a different world should not waver. Christ's goal has been, and will always be, the transformation of our lives and the world in which we live them. To make things "on earth as they are in heaven."

As we recognize Transfiguration Sunday this week in worship, let's hold on to the hope that Christ's gospel gives to us. Let's remind ourselves that Jesus' path is one where we follow the Spirit's guidance, not the fear from the news cycle.

As Paul notes, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Freedom from the old understandings of the world. Freedom from suffocating darkness. Freedom from the veils we wear that keep us from the constant hope we are called to.

Join me in praying for the situation in Ukraine, but also join me in holding on to the hope of transformation that is possible if we both trust Christ, and live out our faith in ways that push for the change he taught us is possible.

Hold on to hope. Don't lose heart.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

"Go down Church Street, it's faster."

This is the wisdom that was shared with me not long after we moved to Benson in 2019. Back then, someone was trying to tell me the quickest way from Interstate 95 to the church campus. Many times since, as I've pulled off of 95 and turned right to head toward town, I've thought of merging right to turn at Burger King and head the "back way" toward Church Street.

While I know it might be quicker, I hardly ever merge right. I instead stay in the left lane so that I can drive through town: past the Singing Grove where I had my first taste of "The Sing" in 2021, past Medlin and Dorman where I bought Kennedy's little red doll wagon, past Jenny's where I've bought more than enough sugar to keep my dentist busy (also on Main Street... thanks, Dr. Barnes!), past Morgan's on Main where two of my office chairs came from, past Edmond's/Libby's where we rented Jack's tuxedo for prom last year (did he return all the cufflinks? Who knows?), past Cornerstone Cafe where I've gotten many an afternoon caffeine fix, past the library where I've paid a few too many fines (the results of a love of books and a busy schedule), past Salvaged Heirlooms where my kids have played too many games of music bingo to count...

As I drive past all of these places, mostly unfamiliar to me just two years ago, I realize that there will not be many times where I'll merge right because, really, I love driving through this town we call home. Sure, Benson is small and no, it's not perfect, but it is still just a Christmas-tree stand short of a Hallmark movie and I love every bit of it.

As we all live and worship in this quaint little space we call home I realize that there is a question before us. It is a question that Jesus heard from the lips of a lawyer in the first century. "Who is my neighbor?"

The answer for that lawyer was hard to face. For us it is a little easier –– though not much. Our neighbors are all around us in this town. They live on both sides of Main Street. They live in big houses, and government-funded apartments. They eat at Chargrill and they stop by Cornerstone. They are young and  they are old.

Our neighbors are all around us and the question that our church has always had before it still remains: how do we love our neighbors well?

As we continue in our 135th year, I believe we have much to celebrate in answer to this question. Throughout our history we have been a congregation that has loved through giving and serving. We have been a presence that has supported and loved through our missions and ministries.

As we move forward, and as our little community gets bigger and bigger, I believe our call from Christ to love our neighbor only grows with it. The gospel of Jesus is a living, breathing, and action-oriented message. It is one that does not change, but remains steady and sure in an ever-changing world.

That said, the world is different than it was. As we seek to love our neighbors moving forward, I wonder what God will call us to do, or change, to be able to share the never-ending gospel of Jesus through our words, worship, and actions.

The path ahead will not be easy, but we are called to change our community –– even as it changes around us. May we rise to the challenge as we love our neighbors deeply –– just like Jesus does.

The Salvation Army's Angel Tree Project for Families works to provide Christmas gifts for children who might not otherwise experience a normal Christmas. Benson Baptist has partnered with Johnston County Department of Social Services to provide Christmas gifts for six children in our community this holiday season.

We have been sent six children's "wishlists." Each list describes the age and clothing/shoe size for that child, as well as some items they would like for Christmas. These items can be collected and wrapped, placed in gift bags, or left unwrapped and brought back to the church by Sunday, December 12th. Each package must be clearly labeled with that child's name so that it finds its way to them.

Upon receiving these gifts, Benson Baptist will work with Johnston County DSS to make sure these six children receive the items on their wishlists.

If you are interested in serving and ministering in this specific way this Christmas, please contact Will at will@bensonbaptist.org. An Angel "Tree" will be placed in the Fellowship Hall Welcome Center with our six different names. You can take a name and write down who you've adopted. Please plan on purchasing all the items found on the list and returning them by the date listed above. Feel free to partner with another church family to accomplish your goal!

Thank you for serving and loving others in our community in this special way this Christmas.

As many of you know, this past weekend our ministerial staff gathered for a 24 hour retreat at Fort Caswell. Some may be wondering what staff do on such a retreat and why the church sent us, and I wanted to give a look into what the weekend held for us!

First, we traveled to Carolina Beach where we visited an escape room –– the Tomb Raider room at iEscape. If you don't know what an escape room is, it's pretty much what it sounds like. You are locked into a room with a group of people (in this case Todd, Will, and Lawrence) and you have an hour to piece together clues and 'escape' the room. As collectively gifted as our staff might be, we ran out of time and didn't escape the 'Mayan Temple' we'd been locked in, though we DID work together to get almost out! This was a great team building exercise, though we discovered that Will and Lawrence are not the best at deciphering hieroglyphics to solve math problems!

Once they'd let us out of the escape room, we journeyed to the North Carolina Baptist Assembly at Fort Caswell where we spent almost six hours, over two sessions planning and dreaming together. We prayed together, planned out a tentative 2022 calendar, addressed next steps on open projects, and sought the Spirit's guidance for where we, and BBC, is headed moving forward.

While Taylor could not join us in person (it was midterm week at Campbell!), she did Zoom in to the sessions (River, who usually talks a lot on Sundays, didn't have too much to say though!).

Our staff is thankful to serve in a church that values its staff enough to give us this intentional time of planning and retreat. We are all thankful to serve with you and can't wait to see where Christ will take us as we move forward.

Keep a lookout for some new things coming soon!

The best is yet to be,

SAVE THE DATE!

BBC Spiritual Formation Retreat 2022
March 11-13, 2022
Fort Caswell (Oak Island, NC)

Open to all of BBC, families and individuals! {Teenagers may attend without a parent present}

What is it? This is a chance for BBC folks of all ages to come together (at the beach!) for a two night get-away and spiritual growth retreat. We'll have chances for you to rest, connect with other BBCers, explore scripture, worship, learn through interactive breakout sessions, and more!

Note: We only have a certain amount of spots available and they are first come, first served. To reserve your spot, a deposit of $50 (per household) is required by January 16.
____________
Cost per person: $100 ($200 family cap)
Cost includes: lodging for two nights, meals, and retreat materials.

Sign-Up: Click Here

Pay at the church office or online at bensonbaptist.org/giving.