3288 Children Were Murdered Today And We Did Nothing

I am going to break one of my hard and fast rules in this post. I have made a commitment that I would never post on my blog in a reactionary fashion based on emotion. My rule of thumb is that venting for the world to see is not what is best for me.

 

Today I am going to break my rule.

 

Today I read an article that detailed the murders of infants. I read how a man, Kermit Gosnel, systematically killed the most unprotected group in our society, infants, babies, children who could not protect themselves.

 

If the atrocities of this man were done to anyone else our nation would be outraged. We would be demanding that action be taken to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. Instead the practice of Gosnel is an assumed cultural norm.

 

When 2 men placed bombs in Boston our nation cringed. We stood together "Boston Strong" claiming that this act of terrorism would not define us as a nation. We demanded that justice be served and sat on the edges of our seats as the terrorists were arrested. We would not let this senseless act of violence stand.

 

When a young man slaughtered innocent kindergarteners we were shaken. We demanded that action be taken not only to bring justice to this terrorist, but to also prevent anything like this atrocity from ever happening again.

 

Today 3288 children, infants , innocent victims were murdered. Our response: we go to bed unshaken, unaffected and complacent.

 

Shame on me for not crying for those who were never given the chance to cry. Shame on me for not doing anything to protect these helpless victims of an American genocide.

 

What's our excuse, that our murder would free a segment of our population to go to work. We have murdered children to make an extra buck, to get an extra promotion and to have "rights" to our bodies.

 

Shame on us.

 

We have bowed down to worship our own success willingly trampling on, vacuuming out, and murdering people created in the very image of God.

 

Shame on us.

My Mother's Day Card To Jennifer

Oh the things I could tell you about my wife. I could tell you about the fact that in the past year she has authored a book, no wait two books, but I won't. I could tell you how our church just keeps me around for my wife, but I won't. If I could only brag on my wife for one thing it would be that she is an incredible mother.
I gladly celebrate God who has both given the calling of motherhood and raised up moms who embrace that calling. Here is what I am thankful for.

10. I am thankful that my wife serves our family not out of compulsion, but instead out of the graceful lifestyle that Christ lived.
9. I am thankful that Jennifer uses her masters degree to its fullest to educate our beautiful daughters.
8. I am thankful that my wife has the opportunity to help encourage other moms through her blog.
7. I am thankful for every hour Jennifer serves with our children allowing me the freedom to serve faithfully as pastor.
6. I am thankful that my girls have an example to look up to in what a mom should be.
5. I am thankful that my wife is a daily evangelist and discipler to our children.
4. I am thankful for the cooking, cleaning, taxiing, home working, school volunteering and booboo kissing that my wife gives. No one can even begin to know the hours and stress of a mother.
3. I am thankful that my wife has chosen to stay at home for our kids. Jennifer you have not settled to be at home, but instead have embraced a high calling.
2. I am thankful that God has given me a better half who does not seek her own glory, but embraces her calling as a missionary to our children.
1. I am thankful that I see the hand of God constantly molding my wife to be the mom He created her to be.

I love you Jennifer, thanks for accepting the call of service and a heart of humility. Praise The Lord for the gift he gave me in you.

My Week To Recharge

Before I stepped into ministry I would have never dreamed how challenging ministry is. What makes it challenging I guess depends on the season. For me there have been seasons where waking up and going back to a church in conflict has been the struggle. I have had seasons where dealing with difficult relationships were the challenge. There have been seasons where exhaustion just beat me down.

I am discovering a new challenge these days. At MBC my challenge isn't that things are falling apart, but instead the opposite. MBC is headed in the right direction in unity. It is awesome. What's the challenge then, Wes? The challenge is that in good time most people, including me, become complacent and self dependent.

In difficult times I depend on God for everything. In easy times I depend on my self.

I have noticed in myself recently a bit of self reliance. From day one at our church we have talked about the centrality of Jesus and little else. From day one my heart was set on leading those who know Jesus and those who don't to focus and live in Jesus alone. In recent days I have seen that my zeal for this has faltered and that I have settled for just growing the church.

Conferences are always a welcome necessity in my life. They are opportunities to get out of the day to day grind and get an opportunity to refocus. The Catalyst conference accomplished this very purpose for me.

Here is where I grew.

• I saw the need remember what my "job" at church is all about. I am called to lead our church to bring people who don't know Jesus to know Him.
• I saw how quickly the days are passing with my girls and how desperately I need to not just live in the same house with my family but instead LIVE with my family.
• I was able to dream about the future of MBC.
• I was able to worship and seek God without micromanaging the service (this was an unexpected treat)
• I was able to get to know Jason our new Student Pastor.

I am so grateful for a church who gave me the freedom to go recharge and remember. Thanks for giving me this gift.

A Good Pastor Must Be A Great Leader

Leadership is not easy. Leadership requires that you take bold steps towards things that matter. These steps are not always easy, but they are certainly necessary.

In my morning time studying God's Word, I am reading through the books of Kings. Kings is a simple collection of history written to show the triumphs and failures of the kings of Israel. Throughout the book a common theme emerges. King after king after king disobeys God and either allows sin and idolatry to remain or worse they fully embrace it and make their own.

In the books of Kings bad kings are the norm, but then out of the blue a good king arises and leads the people to reject idolatry and embrace God. With a history like Israel had, one might ask why didn't more kings embrace God? The answer is simply that rejecting the idolatry from the midst of the nation took a leader and most of Israel's kings were followers.

Most of the kings of Israel followed their people. Most of the kings of Israel led in such a way never to ruffle feathers. Most of the kings of Israel chose to be pleasers of men rather than pleasers of God.

The good kings were different. They were willing to step away from what was accepted and embrace what was right. The good kings were willing make hard decisions and do hard things, like destroy the idols of the people, because they knew God's call mattered. The good kings were willing to sacrifice themselves because they wanted to please God and not men.

I am no king, but I often stand in the same place as they did. God has placed a call on my life to lead others to Him. I am tempted to please men and not God. I am tempted to ignore the failings of my church so that I don't ruffle it's feathers. God has called me to lead.

A great pastor has to be a great leader. In this he must be willing to move his flock away from complacency and sin and towards God. He must be willing to take a stand for God's truth even when everyone around him may disagree. He must be willing to make hard decisions that won't always be popular. I know that I need to be willing to sacrifice myself and do hard things because the call of God matters for the people of His church. As a pastor/leader, I know ultimately my call is to please God and not people.

Today I would love for you to pray for this pastor. I don't want to be a man who settles for pleasing people. I want to be a leader who pleases God. Will you pray that God would give me the boldness to be a good pastor who is willing to sacrifice himself for Kingdom of God?

Boston

 

Boston. For the runner this word alone stirs up any number of emotions. It is the pinnacle race in our world. It is the race that all other races are run for. We run fast in marathons so that we could possibly run Boston.

Boston. Today this very word turns my stomach. I have watched as image after image crossed the screen. I really don't know where to begin in responding to this. I will try in two ways. I am a runner, and I am a believer.

I signed up for a half marathon today. I will run it. I will not cower nor will I look over my shoulder when I run. Why? If I cancel my marathon schedule the bad guys win. I will run races where I know I do not have police lining the road for my protection. This year I will run for Boston, not to make it but to show that bad guys can't make me hide in my house. I will run big races. The day I hide is the day they win. I know the glorious feeling of crossing the finish line. I know that the next time I cross a finish line I will think of the events that happened today.

What happened today was evil. I know that many have asked the question of how such evil can happen. Sadly we do live in a world where evil and death are normal. The simple cause of it is sin. Sin is far more rampant than we realize. Scripture says it this way -- that the world is groaning from the pain that sin has brought. Today as we looked at televisions and connected with our fellow human beings in Boston, we groaned as we caught a glimpse of how terrible that death is.

Death will not win. We see and know the reckless actions of death in this world. God does not want death to win. It will not win. He sent Jesus to conquer death. Jesus felt the same pain as every victim of terrorism. He felt the pain of vicious men as they tortured and killed him. Jesus died so that death will not win. Jesus is not dead, though.  He rose again. He rose so that death would not reign. We all will face the sting of the vicious foe of death, but Jesus has given life to any man who looks to Him. This world and this life is not all there is. For those who trust in Jesus there is life everlasting.

Tomorrow I am going to go run. I will run and pray for the people of Boston. As an American I will not let cowardly actions make me hide. As a runner I will not let cowardly men keep me from racing. As a believer in Jesus I will run with the hope that that the sting of death will not win.

Leadership Lessons

Recently I have been thinking about my style as a leader. I’ve been a bit introspective as I have been wondering how God might use me to equip His church to do his will.

Here are a few things that I have learned about myself.

1. There are certain aspects of the function of church organizations and the presentation of Sunday morning worship that I am obsessive over.

2. There are other aspects of the church that I am not obsessive over, but are important to the viability of our church.

3. I am wired to please people.

 One of my greatest fears in church is that I would become the bottleneck that would prevent our church from following God and growing as men and women trust Jesus through our ministry. I can see that each of these offer both a temptation to bottleneck and a opportunity to grow through.

Here are areas that I hope I can use what I’ve learned to grow with.

1. I need to equip people more talented than I am and trust them to accomplish even the things that I am obsessive over.

Let me give you an example: The totality of my ministry has been in single staff churches. Upon moving to MBC I got the luxury of selecting my first staff member. I led our church to select a qualified youth minister. With my single staffed churches, I was both pastor and youth minister. I directed, volunteered and oversaw the minute details of the youth ministry. When Jason, our outstanding Student minister, came to MBC I had to make a decision to allow his vision to direct the program. Because of this decision, Jason has flourished and I have been freed to accomplish other things.

2. I need to free up people who are more passionate and talented than I am about vital ministries in the church to accomplish what makes their hearts beat.

Recently at our church a couple of ladies have approached me about decorating our church. When I say decorating I don’t mean doilies, but instead a larger than life crown of thorns to hang over our stage. They have asked me on multiple occasions for my picture of the sanctuary. My response has been to tell them, “I trust you.” I know it probably seems like I am unopinionated, but the opposite of it is true. I know my opinion when it comes to decorating would be deteriorating to our church. Why would I limit these two women when I could free them to accomplish their passion for this church.

3. I must constantly remember my job and calling.

As a pastor my call is not to please people. It is not to micromanage them either. My call is to equip them and free them to serve His church in His vision in unity.

What God Did On Easter Sunday!

For a pastor there is not a day bigger than Easter Sunday. It is our Superbowl. Months and months of preparation, praying, stressing and work go into one singular day where we get the unprecedented opportunity to preach the gospel to many people who we would not have the opportunity to during the rest of the year.

On Easter Sunday we see husbands, wives, families, kids and grand kids who for some reason or another will visit our church on this one day. Easter 2013 was no exception to the rule. I had prepared for this day by adding 3 rows of seats to the worship center. As I stepped up to the podium, I was glad to see that almost every seat in the worship center was full and that several rows had been added after the start of services.

It was time for my most important sermon of the year. My Easter sermon is always direct, simple and short. On Easter Sunday I have one goal in mind, preach only the gospel. I believe I accomplished this very thing last week. I had prayed that God would bring people to trust him. Our church body had responded by bringing friends and family. My gospel presentation was given, I gave an invitation and...

No one came.

I walked out of the sanctuary with shoulders slumped, slightly depressed. What had all the work been for?

As I was saying goodbye to the final friends in our building that day my oldest daughter came to me and told me she wanted to be "bab-ba-tized". Ana had been asking questions about trusting Jesus for close to six months. Jenn and I have been answering them, but holding Ana back because we wanted to make sure that her decision was authentic.

The last thing I wanted to do was baptize my daughter and give her security when she was not truly saved.

God's Holy Spirit would not let my daughter find any peace till she trusted Him. She was determined. She knew that she was ready. It just took mom and dad a bit to catch up.

God knows what He is doing. Coming into Easter I had encouraged our church to invite their friends and family who did not know Jesus. Jenn and I brought our two. As my daughter heard the words of Ephesians "For by grace you are saved through faith", God spoke to her heart and she trusted.

Easter 2013 will always be a big day for the Faulk family. I may have left the worship center discouraged, but I left our building walking on air.

God is good!