Vision Refresh 2025

Last time we talked about the fact that buildings can play a significant role in our efforts to advance God’s kingdom. Not every church has a facility from which to launch their kingdom-advancing efforts, and God doesn’t need buildings to do that, but the ones that do and use them well have a powerful ministry tool at their disposal. It is a good thing that we are preparing to build a building at my church. But in the grand scheme of things, buildings don’t advance God’s kingdom. The church does. Let’s talk about it.

Buildings Don’t Matter

I am not a church planter. Unless God does something dramatic—which I am not anticipating in the least—that’s not going to change. I’m pretty comfortable in the knowledge that He has called me to pastor churches that already exist—like this one…where I plan to be for a very long time. Now, I support church planters. I think they do good and important work. But If I’m being totally honest, I struggle some with the knowledge of just how many churches are out there that already exist and which need good pastors to lead them back to health and relevancy in their communities.

Read the rest…

A year ago, we started out on a journey to expand and renovate our facilities here at First Baptist Oakboro. Over this week and next, we are checking back in on where we are, what God is doing, and why the work we are pursuing is still worth the effort. We’ll start today with the prophet Haggai and his call for the people of Israel to rebuild the temple. When we put God’s things first, He blesses the effort. Let’s dive in.

Buildings Matter

Have you ever hit one of those seasons when everything just feels like a rat race? You wake up, get dressed, go to work, come home, go to bed, and start it all over the next day. It feels like nothing ever really changes. You aren’t really going anywhere. You’re just doing the things that need to be done because they need to be done. You never feel like you get to the things you do just because you want to do them. No sooner do you get to what seems like it will be the end of one season than you find yourself back at the start having to run the whole thing over. It can all start to feel pointless. It can be depressing. How do we find purpose again when we get stuck like this? The answer is found in putting first things first.

Read the rest…