Batman Returns

(Warning: The account you are about to read may contain details unsuitable for some readers and mental images about me that will shock and appal you. Please do not report me to the National Association of Advocates for the Protection of Bats. If you love bats, you do not want to read any further. I am sorry; you just don't. The story you are about to read is true...)

Last night was awful.

It started about 12:30 AM when Laurie detected something rustling about in our bedroom. In my usual fashion, I tried to dismiss the noise as something reasonable--the ceiling fan, one of the kids on the monitors, or aliens landing outside. My own ears seized upon the same noise and the adrenaline began to flow. I knew that something was in the room and that it was going to require me to....get out of bed!

We moved to Woodbury Heights in September 2008. We instantly fell in love with the town, our neighbors, and our quaint, little home. However, we soon learned that we had moved into the one house in our town that has a warp zone-like connection to Disney's Animal Kingdom. I've continually been defeated by the most determined squirrels ever made by God. I regularly have to pick trash up out of the yard. I've tried new trash cans; these varmints just eat right through the lids. I'm also pretty sure that about 200 fluffy bunnies live on our property.

Sometime in that first year I clubbed my first home invader. Laurie called me home from an important meeting screaming that a bat was in the house. I thought she was crazy until the beady-eyed little pest came swooping at me. I did what any normal person would do--I bludgeoned the poor creature with a tennis rack and stomped on it with my shoe, all the while I trash-talked the little sucker in a way that would make today's NBA players blush.

Sometime later, Laurie "claimed" that she saw another bat. This time downstairs when she was putting a load of clothes in the washer. It was a convenient little ploy given that I can count on one hand the number of times that Laurie has done laundry in our marriage. (I love you, babe, but you know it's true.) I never found that bat, even though I went down multiple times a day with two tennis racks and a "Handy Manny" hardhat on...

And, then there was last night. After hearing the noise nearby, I rolled over just in time to see the silhouette of the flying creature zoom past our heads. Reluctantly, but swiftly, I sprang from the bed. I pulled the light string and the deadly dance was on. I grabbed the closest object that--in that split second--my mind identified would give me a fighting chance of successfully terminating the intruder. The object: one of Laurie's bras. The bat circled the room about seven times. Each time I would flail my satin sword in an attempt to simply stun the beast out of the air and onto the ground where the playing field was more even. Finally, on about the eighth pass, I struck the bat and it bounced off the closet door and landed nearby.

I then quickly identified my next weapon. Resourcefulness in crisis has never been a strong suit of mine. I grabbed the box of baby wipes just to my left and lunged at the fallen creature. A relentless series of fresh-scented blows rained upon the helpless bat. Like Mel Gibson in The Patriot, it took me a moment to realize that the fatal blow had been cast.

I would love to be able to tell you that we quickly and confidently drifted off to sleep after I bagged up the bat carcass in a WalMart plastic bag and launched it out the back door. Unfortunately, the truth is that about an hour later we heard another noise in the room. This time it was the familiar sound of some creature pawing from inside the walls. At about 3 AM, we must have drifted off to sleep.

Please Lord, make the scary animals go away!

"Come Into My Heart"

Into my heart, into my heart, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus;
Come in today, come in to stay, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

In Christ's final week on earth, Jesus quoted from Psalm 8:2 just after driving out the money-changers and healing the blind and lame who came out to him. Jesus said, "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise" (Matthew 21:16). What is abundantly clear throughout the Gospel narratives is summed up in the words of James 4:6: God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Jesus came on a rescue mission to save sinners, help the hurting, and bind up the broken hearted. He came to reveal the loving heart of a holy God so that the sin-stained hearts of men might be changed.

This morning, after getting the kiddos out of bed and making their breakfast, Gabbie turned to me and said with a huge grin on her face, "Daddy, I asked Jesus to come and live inside my heart last night. I told Jesus that I love him and that I want to live with him forever!" W...O...W...! Needless to say, my heart melted and tears filled up in my eyes, and I gave Gabbie a big hug and told her how much I loved her and how much God loves her. I went over the basics of the gospel message and sure enough she scored a 100%. Just before I had to leave the house she said to me, "Daddy, Luke and I gave Jesus a hug and a kiss last night." How amazing is that?! Gabbie has displayed an understanding of the gospel for some time now, but today, for the first time, I heard in her a budding desire for God.

Apparently last night, Laurie had the wonderful opportunity to talk extendedly with both Luke and Gabbie about God's holiness, man's need, God's provision, and man's responsibility. Gabbie, even at a tender five years-old, recongized God's infinite worth and her own need to be rescued from the penalty of sin. Gabbie wanted to tell me about her encounter with God herself because "she knew it would make me very happy". What a way to start the day!

God is so good, and He is so faithful. He has blessed us with three incredible children and has placed on us a tremendous responsbility to demonstrate the true, faith-walk of a Christian, to teach them about God from His written Word, and to point them to both the reality of their sinfulness and God's provision for their sin. Laurie and I have carefully and intentionally--albeit not perfectly--sought to display and declare God's love to our children.

I remember back to my childhood and to all the times I emotionally called out to God. It can be hard for a child who is blessed by God to be in a loving, "Christian" environment and knows the right thing(s) to do, to have a proper foundation and understanding of the basis of their salvation. It took me many years to realize that it wasn't a magic prayer that "saved me". It wasn't my involvement at church or even my behavior that identified me as a child of God. It took me a while to realize that "feelings" are a part of faith but not the primary evidence of faith. Salvation is the result of God's amazing love extended in Christ colliding with the Spirit-induced conviction of sin in man, his repentance, and acceptance of Christ's sufficient work on the cross. Theologians and Bible scholars have written libraries on this most incredible subject, and yet even the smallest little child can come to simply understand that their Creator loves them and wants to be loved by them in return.

Will Laurie and I do anything differently now that Gabbie has said "the prayer"? Nope. We will continue to include God in as much of the "daily happenings" as possible. We will continue to pray, read, and worship together. We will continue to talk about our need to show and declare God's love to others. We will continue to talk about our need to participate in God's family, the church. Now, we will probably begin to talk about baptism and it's meaning and signficance for those who belong to Christ by faith and realize the importance of publicly identifying with Him. And, in time, we will encourage Gabbie to follow Christ in believer's baptism. Essentially, we will continue to speak the gospel to each other--day in and day out--for the glory of God and for our growth as a family.

Thank you, God, for working in my family and especially in the life of Gabbie. May her life be filled with the fruit of true faith for your glory.

A "Witness" in Presence

A few months ago we learned that our local fire department was coming up on a major anniversary and had plans to celebrate. We prayed about ways to get involved in order to continue building a strong relationship with our town. One lady from our church really took the ball and attended a planning meeting with members of the fire department. She attended the meeting with this simple message: We at NBBFC care about you and are willing to do whatever you need to help you celebrate this milestone. She said it caught them pretty much by surprise but they were grateful to have any help they could get.

A couple of weeks ago, on Saturday, May 14th, the Woodbury Heights Fire Department held their parade and block party. Approximately 50 fire companies from South Jersey participated in the parade (man, was it loud!). Well over 300 community residents came out to honor the men and women who volunteer to keep our town safe and to help in times of need. We had a great group of about 25 volunteers from New Beginnings who showed up to help provide security, t-shirt sales, wrap and give out nearly 1,000 hotdogs, and much more! I was privileged to be asked to pray at the awards ceremony, and John Maricle, our worship leader, stepped in to sing the National Anthem! He did an amazing job! Though we got a little wet in the process, it was a great day of serving our neighbors in town and having a witness of presence for the Lord.

Service was a huge part of Christ's incarnational ministry. Mark 10:45 states, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." We at NBBFC are learning more and more about this important dimension of our vocation as the church--God's redeemed community on earth. We want people to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We want to see people come into the church and experience the abundant life of following Jesus. However, we also recognize that we are called to "love our neighbors" and to serve them for God's glory. Displaying sacrifice and service is an essential part of our witness as the church. This is why we think it is necessary that we maintain an active ministry of presence at any and all community events. Over the past few years it has been amazing to see how God has opened so many doors for our little church. God is so good!

What event is coming up in your community? Is there some way that you or your church can get involved in order to show others that God's love is worth receiving?

Missing the Point

If you're anything like me then you've already had your fill of all the hype concerning Harold Camping's latest prediction that today--yes, today--at 6 pm the Son of God will return in power to rapture the faithful (but not those of us who worship God in the church) and initiate a terrible period of tribulation. You've also probably read several articles, blog posts (don't you love these know-it-all blogger types, lol), and watched your fill of this craze on the news.

I plan on preaching on this subject tomorrow at our church. But, I felt like I wanted to contribute a little bit to the discussion in this format today. The reason being is because I haven't heard anyone else really focusing on this point...

What IF Jesus does come back today?

Let me be clear: If Jesus comes back today it will not be because Harold Camping predicted it. I don't believe for a second that even the world's best engineer or mathematician--which, by the way, Camping is not--has any greater shot at "cracking the Bible code" than the rest of us. As a matter of fact, I reject any notion that there is a "hidden code" in the Bible that someone might purposefully or accidently crack.

But here's my problem: The same verse that everyone is running to to point out why today is not "the Day", is the very same verse which reminds us that today could very well be "the Day"! Matthew 24:36 says, "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (ESV). A little later in the passage Jesus says, "Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming" (24:42). Here's what I'm struggling with: Isn't Jesus calling his hearers to prepare themselves? Yet, from all that I'm hearing, people are citing this verse (and the many others like it) in order to prove that Camping is wrong. Again, I believe that Camping is dead wrong about this. But, my problem is that this isn't the bigger point!

I agree with those who feel strongly that what Harold Camping is doing is problematic, misguided, and another damaging incident to the "public perception" of those who go by the name "Christian". It is tragic that hundreds of people are buying this guy's false prediction (again) and are selling their possessions and taking other radical steps to prepare for their upward journey. It is equally tragic though that there millions of people in our world who scoff at the idea that Jesus Christ might actually come back as he said he would.

The Bible says that Jesus is coming again and we aren't to worry about knowing when, rather our focus is to be prepared for His return. 2 Corinthians 6:2 states, "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." The Bible tells us that our preparation has less to do with our knowledge about certain events and more to do with our purity, faithfulness, and love for God and others (Titus 2:11-14, 2 Peter 3:11ff).

Here's a crazy perspective on this: Why aren't we as motivated by our belief that Christ could come today (based on Matt. 24:36)? Why are we so comfortable with this "foreign land"? Why are we not out compelling others to receive God's love and salvation through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11ff)?

Let me put it this way, I do plan on preaching tomorrow but I will be infinitely more happy if I find myself face-to-face with my Lord and Savior. Acts 4:12 says, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." That name is not Camping, it is Jesus Christ!

The really important point in all this, at least to me, is that not only is Jesus coming back, but he could be coming back today.

Are you ready? If not, look up Romans 10:9-10 in the New Testament and call on the name of the Lord.

To God Be the Glory

To God be the glory--great things He hath done!
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father thro' Jesus, the Son,
And give Him the glory--great things He hath done!

On Sunday, May 15, 2011, New Beginnings BFC received an official charter as the newest congregation in our denomination. Over 170 people joined together to worship the Lord. We celebrated God's amazing faithfulness through song, testimony, and the Word. BFC Executive Director David Allen presented the charter and fifty-six individuals signed as "chartering members". Four elders and seven deacons were formally installed to continue providing godly leadership, oversight, and care to the congregation. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious meal at Gambi's Catering hall. Here are some snaphots of the day's festivities. To God be ALL the glory!





















We are so grateful for the love and support of everyone who has helped reach this major milestone! Thank you so much. Please continue to pray for us as we move forward in our mission to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ.