Psalm 67 - All Peoples Praise - a Case for Missions

Some translations use "nations" some say "peoples." I think peoples is better because there are many people groups that aren't necessarily individual nations.

This psalm beautifully calls for all peoples to praise the Lord because of His saving power and because He rules with justice.

Reading this psalm reminds me of a book I read a few years ago. (And if I can remember the name of it I'll let you know.) The idea behind the book was that we should be involved in missions because God deserves and desires worshippers. As we share salvation through Jesus Christ we give people a reason to praise and worship God. Sharing the Gospel with all peoples leads to John's vision in Revelation.

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

We should be involved in going on mission as we have opportunity, but a cool thing that is happening now is that the nations are coming to us. Nashville and Clarksville have people from many different nations that are now a part of our communities. As God's people, we need to find ways to reach out around the world and in our own backyards.

And we should be praising God through everything we do.

Photographers Invited to Go On Mission

This post was about a meeting on August 2. It has been updated to tell you about a meeting on October 4 at 3:00 in the choir room at the main campus of Hilldale Baptist Church.

You can get to the meeting by going through the ugly metal doors on the East side of the building.

This invitation was sent out today to everyone we could think of at Hilldale that does amateur or professional photography. But, of course, we didn't think of everyone. 

Do you have friends at church that are good photographers? 

Will you tell them about the meeting on October 4 at 3:00 in the choir room

 or send them here to this blog post?

Thanks!

By the way..... all of the pictures here were taken by those of us who went to Portugal this year. 

YOU can take cool pictures next year if you go with us!

Page 1 of the invitation

Page 2

Page 3

Pages 4 and 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Preparing to Go on Mission

Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was. Looking at His answer is a good way to prepare yourself to go on mission.

You probably are familiar with what He said.

Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Here's how you can use these verses as a guide to prepare yourself for missions.

Preparing to go on mission 

 Love the Lord your God with all your heart.   

This is the best motivation for going on mission. Where are your passions? Before you go, examine your heart. Have you taken back parts of your heart?

 Spend time in the Word every day so your heart is in tune with His heart. 

 Love the Lord your God with all your soul

 If you’ll think of your soul as your spirit then you’ll find many verses that tell how to live out your life. Practice – work at – living a life led by the Spirit as you prepare to go in the Spirit on mission. 

 Let God’s Holy Spirit bear fruit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,self-control. 

Love the Lord your God with all your mind. 

 Know how to share your faith – the basic Gospel message. 

Know why you are there. Are you doing a sports camp? A backyard Bible club? Prayer walking? Different mission projects require you to know different things. Are you ready? 

Learn some basic phrases in the heart language of the people you will be working with. Eu estudo Português! 

Love the Lord your God with all your strength

Get in shape physically. Many mission areas require a lot of walking. Will you be able to keep up? Begin adding more walking time to your days a few months before you go. 

How is your overall health? Do you have medications that you need to refill so you don’t run out while away from home? Some mission opportunities will require vaccinations. Ask your doctor if there are things you need to do before you go. Now that we’re on the subject, you probably need to be eating better all of the time. J

Love your neighbor as yourself

How can you love anyone more than by introducing them to Jesus?

Here's the surprise ending!

Being on mission isn't a place where you go. It is a lifestyle. Your mission field is anywhere you are! You don't have to wait until your church's next trip to _________. You are on mission today! 

I'm a Rich Man

I’m a rich man.

I’m rich because I know how to invest.

You not as young folks will remember Richie Rich

I’m an investor, an optimist, a dreamer… I have hope for the future. I plan for the future. I work for the future.

In the Fall I plant bulbs knowing in the Spring I’ll have daffodils and tulips for everyone driving by to enjoy.

Daffodil

 

Instead of spending $50 for a dozen red roses from the florist I buy bare-root rose bushes and plant them in February knowing I’ll have vases full of roses from May until November.

 

 

I teach violin lessons to develop current church musicians and with the dream of future players for the Nashville symphony.

The biggest investment I am making right now is between today and March. I’m taking young men on mission to Portugal. I’m taking football players and coaches my football team to work alongside of our IMB partners to reach out to Portuguese men who play American football in a country-wide community league.  As we go on mission there are immediate short-term results that have long-term benefits.

1.      The Kingdom will be advanced in Portugal.

2.      Our IMB personnel will be encouraged in their work.

3.      Local churches in Portugal will be inspired and encouraged as they try to reach their communities for Christ.

4.      As we prepare for and then go on mission my “football team” – players and coaches –will spend time praying, planning and working together and will get first-hand experience in sharing their faith.

 

Our mission trip to Portugal, however, is much more than just a one week trip. Not only are there some immediate benefits, but there are some important long-term benefits from a mission trip like this. I am (we are) investing in the lives of men: Men who will become deacons and pastors and LIFE Groups leaders and better fathers and faithful church members who tithe and give and serve and witness.

What? You get all of that from going on a mission trip?

Yes.

How?

Because men need other men to care about them and model for them and teach them to be godly men of faith and action. As we plan and pray together, as we prepare to go on mission and then as we work side by side, share our faith together, pray together and all of the other things that happen while on mission, God uses these experiences to shape and build men into faithful followers of Christ. We become invested in each other’s lives. We are iron sharpening iron.

You can be rich too!!

 

You may not be able to go with us on this mission trip but you can invest in it. You can pray for us – not only that we prepare well, but that we become the men we need to be to be effective witnesses. You can invest financially. Some of the guys going are young men with young families working in their first jobs or even looking for their first job after graduating from college. Some have young families and students loans. They are willing to pay their own way, but your investment will ease their minds as they learn to trust God for provision. (and for that matter, God may have YOU in mind as part of that provision)

When the children of Israel went into battle some of the men had to stay behind to protect and care for the women and children. Even though they couldn’t go into battle, they shared equally in the spoils.  You can "share" in the "spoils" of our mission trip as you invest in these men.

My prayer is that you will choose to invest in Kingdom work and in the lives of young men. Contact me or call the church office and talk to Donna if you want to invest financially. At the next Man Church I’ll have the names of men going with me so you can join together in praying for us.

 

Invest! Become rich in God's work!

Bro. Lyndel's Football Team

I am writing some devotions for football players. Some of you who have known me for many years probably just fell over laughing. But I really am. I had several ideas for football player devotions last night and will be writing them over the next few days or weeks.

 How does a totally non-sports person write devotions for football players? And why write them anyway. It seems that someone who knows about sports and about football players and the things that they do to get themselves ready to play or how they exercise or something should be the person that would write such things.

 Hmmm. Well, perhaps I should begin with the story of how I ended up with my own football team.

 Last summer (2013) I took a group of High School handbell players to Porto, Portugal. While there, my friend, Andy, told me about how they are coaching football as a means of developing relationships with Portuguese men and how many of them are responding to the Gospel and coming to Bible studies and many are now followers of Jesus.

 Awesome!

 My dad was a big football fan. Back in the old days of the 70s families only had one TV. I know that sounds rather remarkable today, but that’s just how it was. Monday night football was a big deal in most homes, I suppose, and it was in our house as well. My dad and my brother would watch every game. It wasn’t a time that you talked about school or church or how the roses were growing in the backyard. It was just football. I usually spent Monday evenings upstairs in my room. I just didn’t care who was playing or who won or if their running back did a fancy whatever and got the ball down to a certain place and then someone kicked the thing and it got them points because the other guys wouldn’t let them run the ball all the way into the end zone……

I did watch some football in my H.S. days. I played the baritone horn in the marching band. Violins didn’t really fit with the whole marching thing. Perhaps the bows are too scary for the woodwinds – thinking you will poke their eyes out as you march by sawing away with your bow. There were actually two football games each week – one just before the band show and one just after the band show. Ha!

This would have been awesome!

I remember the name Bart Star, but I usually wonder if he is Ringo's brother. Oh, and I remember Joe Namath wearing pantyhose but I don't know why he did and I don't know who he played football for.

Please tell me those aren't Joe's legs!

Fast forward to 2013. My interest in football is about the same as it has always been. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I just don’t care…. I do watch a tiny bit of the Broncos because my son, Andrew, LOVES the Broncos. We lived in Denver during some important formative years apparently. So I like to know a little about the Broncos because they are important to my son. But to be honest with you, I don’t even know who their quarterback is. I know John Elway still has something to do with them as an owner or something. When I lived in Denver I had lunch with someone that played for the Broncos. I don’t remember his name. Seems like he was a defensive something-or-the-other. Andrew probably still remembers who it was.

If I haven’t lost you with this little trip through my football background, here’s how I ended up with my own football team. (I thought you needed the background to see how this is a God thing.)

Our church has a men’s supper/worship time/Bible study one Tuesday night a month. We call it “Man Church.” We kill our own food, sit around a campfire cooking our wild boar with our shirts off and beat on drums. Hahaha. OK. We have burgers and sit around tables at our Family Life Center (gym). At our August “Man Church” I noticed two twenty-something guys sitting by themselves at a table so I invited myself to sit with them. OK. You’ve read my football bio. Don’t really have one. And about the first thing I heard coming out of my mouth was “Do you guys play football? Or did you?” Seriously?! I’m going to start a football conversation with two people I don’t even know! What if they started talking about last night’s game? (Oh, I guess there might not have been one in August.) But if they had, what would I say? “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bring up football since I’m a football idiot. You two just talk about the game and I’ll just nod my head.”

They said they did (or had played in HS or college) and I just kept going “Really? What position did you play?” and they said something about hiking and running and tackling… Then, without hardly skipping a beat I heard myself say, “Well, you know, while we were in Portugal we heard how football players from the States had gone there to do football things and share the Gospel and I’m thinking of taking some football players over there next year. Would you be interested in going?” Seriously?! I just said that?

I know God was at work that night because I had NOT thought of that before then. I would NOT plan a mission opportunity that included football. I have used vocal and instrumental music, art, ESL, Bible clubs and more, but football. HAhahaha!

The eyes of those two guys lit up. “You mean we could play football and tell people about Jesus? We could do that!” Then God grabbed my heart. I could just hear Him say, "Look at football missions through the eyes of these two." And long story short – they are the first two guys on my football team!

A few weeks later after our 9:45 service I walked over to the guy that sits right there on the second row every week and I heard myself say, “Can I ask you something? Did you football?” Boom! My third player.

I’m now up to 5 players – possibly 6 – and I haven’t even advertised for mission team members yet. If you’re at Hilldale this Sunday you’ll see this in the bulletin “Join Bro. Lyndel’s Football Team.” My dad would NEVER have believed this. I'm not sure either of my brothers will believe it either. They are both big football fans.

God is up to something with this. I can hardly wait to see what all will happen in the lives of these young men and in Portugal. He will have to do it because I keep slipping and saying “football rehearsals” and things like that.

Here's the end of the story for now.

I don’t really care much about football, but I care VERY much about missions and about investing in the lives of young men. If you care about missions and want to invest in the lives of some young men then God may lead you to help send them. Twenty-somethings don’t have money to send themselves on mission: they are at the beginning of their careers, they have young families, they have student loans... Call me and see how you can help.

Instruments on Mission - Getting a Second Life

Remember that clarinet that your daughter just had to have so she could play in the band and then decided one week into it that she really wanted to play the guitar instead?

Or maybe your child loved playing in band so much that the $200 trumpet wasn't good enough. No... you had to buy a $1200 trumpet. Now the $200 one is just sitting in your closet wishing someone would oil up the valves and make it useful again.

Whatever the story of the instrument in your closet that hasn't seen the light of day for years, we have an offer of a second chance - a second life - for that old flute. Some people turn old instruments into lamps and such.

Here's an option for an unused flute that will further the Kingdom.

Bro. Paul has a pastor friend in Venezuela that is reaching out to children in his community through music. He is teaching children to play the trumpet or clarinet or flute or other band instruments.

You can bring your instruments to church with you Sunday or if you don't attend Hilldale, you can mail them to me at 2001 Madison St., Clarksville, TN 37043

OK. Now you know how. Give your instruments a second chance at life, bring joy to a child's heart and give a pastor an opportunity to share the Gospel. It's a win-win-win proposition.

Missionaries

Some people are missionaries as a vocation. Southern Baptist have the greatest missions organizations in the world. Check out the International Mission Board
Our missionaries don't have to spend time going back to the States asking for money. Our Cooperative Program  dollars given by our SBC churches pay their salaries, buy supplies, build churches, etc.

The Milams - Andy, Michelle, Micah and Ethan

The Milams' blog

This is our team taking a picture of the Milams.

Some are missions volunteers/partners on a short term project.

Group shot just before 6:00 on the morning we left for Porto.

Some are mission interns for a semester.

Hannah and Jennifer are here for the semester to work along side of the Milams.

All of us should be missionaries wherever we are: at work, at home, at school...

Put your picture here.

A heART for Missions

Join us for a fun afternoon of painting and create a beautiful picture for your home while supporting missions.

We'll all paint the picture in the ad - Hydrangeas in an Orange Vase. However, if you would rather have pink hydrangeas and a red vase, you can do that. Whatever color scheme would work in your home you can use with this painting.

It's easier than you think. I will be leading the class and promise we'll have lots of fun. Our mission team going to Portugal will have some cookies or something for us to snack on.

Space is limited, so be one of the first ones to sign up. Call the church office and talk to Donna today!

On Mission Conference - Sunday's Music

Our On Mission Conference begins tonight (Friday, April 30) and concludes Sunday morning. We will sing some great songs that emphasize two things.
1. Salvation through Jesus Christ
2. Us sharing that Good News to the world

We'll begin with Jesus Saves and Hear Our Praises
The chorus of Hear Our Praises has the phrase "from the heavens to the nations hear our praises rise to You." That's the whole point of missions - to bring more worshippers to Jesus Christ.

The choir will then sing a song called "Here Am I, Send Me." I hope this song will give voice to your desire - or that it will inspire in you the desire to say, "Here am I, Lord, send me. Send me to praise Your name. To all the world proclaim. With all of my heart and soul, Lord, I'll give all I have to make You known. Here am I, Lord, send me."

Then we'll sing just a verse of "Tell Me the Story," a verse of ,... um... I can't remember.. and end up with a song that may be new to some of you, "Song for the Nations." Play it a time or two here so you can practice for Sunday morning. It's easy.




Oh, and by the way. I've totally lost my voice. I can only wisper. This had NEVER happened to me in the 34 years I've been leading worship. I'm praying I can sing Sunday, but YOU all may have to sing out more to help me out.


See you Sunday.

On Mission Conference

Here are a few pics from tonight's first annual "On Mission Conference." The evening was a wonderful success. Thanks to Bro. Paul and all the people who helped him.








The Fairchilds were there. (I didn't think until later that I should have taken pictures of all of the missionaries.) They are the missionaries we will be working with when we go to Rio in August. We have some wonderful music planned for Sunday morning for the conclusion of our On Mission Conference. I hope you are planning on being with us in worship.

If you are in choir, don't forget that we have changed the order of worship just a little. If you are a youth type person, we need you and a friend to carry a flag in Sunday morning. Come to the Sanctuary at 8:45 for instructions.

Wind and Fire is playing too. Come early to go through the music with the band.

On Mission Celebration

Next weekend is our On Mission Celebration.

It will be a great weekend as our church gets to know some of our SBC missionaries and gets to hear first hand how God is at work around the world.
Our church's giving through the Cooperative Program helps fund mission work all around the world - over 5,000 missionaires with the IMB (see my links) and over 5,000 with NAMB.
If the Cooperative Program is something new to you, you really need to click here to find out more information. http://www.cpmissions.net/2003/default.asp

I love it that our church is so involved in missions. I'm looking forward to going to Rio de Janiero in August. Eu estudo o português cada dia para meu desengate a Rio em agosto. The missionaries we are woprking with in Rio will be here for our On Mission Conference along with a Brazilian soccer team. futeball!

The weekend begins with a whole hog BBQ! Yummmmm! It's free, but you have to have a ticket. If you didn't pick one up then you need to call the church office first thing Monday and tell them you are coming. Hope to see you there.