Pastor's Blog: August 11, 2010
Today I received in the mail my copy of SBC Life. The front page was a full scale 'wrap' of the recent Southern Baptist Convention meeting recently held in Orlando, FL. It is a well written anaylsis of the convention and of the Great Commision Task Force Report. I remember attending the Convention with every intention of voting for the Task Force report, however due to a conflict in my schedule I was unable to attend the Tuesday session of the SBC meeting.
While attending the Monday sessions of the Pastor's Conference, I began to sense in my heart a dissatisfaction; not with the report, but with the way it was handled during the Pastor's Conference. The Pastor's Conference has always been an inspirational time for me to be revived in my spirit for the task God had called me to be - A Pastor. My heart was thrilled with the messages and the emphasis on 'adoption'. Yet, the politics, the hype and the joint prayer time presented by the GCTF speakers at the Pastor's Conference quenched in my heart the joys and blessings of the Pastor's Conference. I came away greatly dissapointed by the political direction that the Conference took and felt that we had missed the opportunity to truly encourage Pastors and churches in a way that would bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
Don't Quit!
Pastor's Blog: August 3, 2010
After much prayer and discussion with other Pastors I have decided to enter into the world of blogging. From time to time I will be sharing with you, the reader what is happening in my life, the life of our church and in other areas of the world as well. The older I get, the more I realize how much times have changed. However the biblical message has never changed and it is my prayer and desire that we communicate that message in a package that people can relate to, hear and respond. We want to be "Anchored to the Rock...but geared to the Times!"
I am excited about the opportunities before us, so each time you read this, pray for us.
Pastor's Message: May, 2010
We would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to our Personnel Committee for their faithfulness to the assignments given them by our church. When I arrived on the field in December of 2008 they were in the process of searching for a Minister of Music and then in August of 2009, Bro. Shaun Sheffield tendered his resignation as our Minister of Youth.
The Personnel Committee members (Buster Johnson, Gwen Coons and Kathy Czarnecki) were then given the assignment to find not only a Minister of Music, but a Minister of Youth as well. Their search took many forms; pt youth minister, pt music minister or a combination of the two. This has NOT been an easy assignment and they have met together on a regular basis
receiving and evaluating resumes from KY, IN, LA, AL, MS, PA, GA, IL,TX and even Florida. The committee has experienced many ups and downs throughout the process, but God is faithful and the church recently extended a call to Bro. Sean Foret as Worship Leader/Youth Minister. He is married to Tracy and they have two sons, Cody and Joshua. He has accepted our call and they will begin their ministry with us on Sunday, May 2nd. We will have a formal welcome and reception for them on
Sunday evening, May 30th. Let’s give the “Four Foret Family” a royal welcome they will never forget!!!
Don’t forget to be present on May 9th as we celebrate Mother’s Day. It will be a special day to recognize and honor our Mom’s here at Parker Road Baptist. Just recently I had the privilege of having my Mom here at Parker Road Baptist Church. She lives in Louisville, KY and is a very active ‘young’ lady of 90. God bless you Mom and thanks for all you did and are still doing for me today.
I am currently preaching a series on ‘why churches are in decline or as in some cases dying’. We are hearing some disturbing statistics revealing the sad condition of churches all across our Convention. This series is designed to help us know some of the reasons for this decline and challenge us to do more than ever before in reaching people for Christ. I am so thankful that the Parker Road family is ready and excited about growing and going for Jesus!
Dear Reader: If you have never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. Call us at Parker Road if we can be of any assistance in your spiritual walk with Christ.
Because of Calvary,
Bro. Hale, Ps. 16:11