by Pastor Rick | Mar 4, 2024 | Click Date to Respond
Good (very early) Morning MABC family,
Big thanks to those who went out in the neighborhood yesterday morning after church to get the invites out for our Easter activities. God certainly gave us a beautiful day to get out and about. I have had some of the “walkers” say they even had opportunity to hold conversations with people out and about. What a good way to make our presence known! There will still be some opportunities in the next couple of weeks to participate in getting the door hangers out in the neighborhood. We hit a big portion of the 500 hangers we have but we still have more. We had a few get taken out to Prairie Homestead as well.
There will be some impact over time from getting the invites but the biggest impact we can make is your “three.” Those are people you already have relationships with, who are known to you in some way. Surveys say that approximately 51% of unchurched people will respond favorably to a personal invite from someone they know when invited to attend church. Please continue to pray for your “three” and everybody else’s “three.” And, would you pray that our door hangers have an impact on the hearts they are supposed to touch?
We have two more weeks in our sermon series Entrusted. Next week we will finish up our models of witnessing. If you haven’t heard a style or approach that fits your personality yet, I hope next week you will. The last message in the series might be the most difficult as we talk about the cost of following Jesus and being his witnesses. Remember, he promised us there would be struggles and that the world would hate us because it hated him. We can see that more and more in our world today.
I am excited as we move towards the highlight of the Christian year…Easter. It will be two weeks of celebrating the gift of Jesus, his death and resurrection. March 24th will be the cantata. You might consider inviting someone who may not want to sit through a sermon but would come for a musical performance. Don’t worry, they will still get to hear the gospel during the cantata and then we will make sure to share the gospel as we close the service. If you need a little more incentive for your “three,” we will forgo Life Studies on Easter Sunday and have breakfast in Fellowship Hall during that hour. I believe we are doing biscuits and gravy with fruit. I will make sure you have more details and we will get them on the web page.
Please remember I am traveling the early part of this week with my father to his brother’s funeral in Delaware. I will be checking emails or feel free to text. In an emergency, don’t hesitate to call.
Have a blessed week!
Pastor Rick
by Pastor Rick | Feb 26, 2024 | Click Date to Respond
Good Monday morning!
Today is supposed to be another good day in terms of weather at least! Yesterday was a great day not only weather wise but in terms of fellowship. An awesome morning of worship followed by a wonderful time of sharing in a meal, conversation and encouragement. Sherry and I thank you for the “welcome lunch” and your time yesterday. We continue to learn more about you and we learned that you all really love desserts!
We have been focusing on witnessing and the sharing of the Gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ. I continue to remind you about praying for your “three.” Why three? Well, any time you see the list of disciples you will notice four are always at the top. They are Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John (Matt 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:13-26 and Acts 1:13). However, when important matters arise, we find that Simon Peter, James and John are the three in Jesus’ inner circle. He had 12 disciples but shared his most intimate moments with the three. Jesus taught the 12 but really poured into the three in his inner circle.
That should be a lesson for each of us and why I ask you to pray about three. We can try and spread ourselves out to reach as many people with the gospel as possible and try to get them to come to Jesus but to effectively fulfill the Great Commission we need to adjust our thinking. The Great Commission is not just going out and making converts. No, Jesus says make disciples. I don’t think we can effectively do that with more than three people at a time. To make disciples is a process that takes time and energy, a great personal investment. This investment is extremely important if we are to listen to Jesus’ command in John 15:16 that we are to “make fruit that lasts.”
Disciple making is the hard part for most of us. We can learn to share the gospel effectively as we overcome our fear and get out of our comfort zone but disciple making requires more of us. Jesus, the master teacher and disciple maker, spent anywhere from 18 months to 3 years with the disciples depending on the timeline of their calling. And, after having spent that much time with Jesus, they still didn’t always get it! He walked miles and miles with them, camped out with them, went through tough family times with them, and went through personal struggles with them. We will have to do the same with those who we engage in the disciple making process with. I currently have three men that I am really doing life (disciple making) with. I am with them at least weekly and for two of them, because of proximity, I will engage them two to three times per week.
Pray for three and make a conscious effort to invite them into a disciple making relationship with you. They could be somebody from your family, a social group, work or a hobby group. Get to know them…really know them…and begin to see lives being changed.
Have a great week!
P.R.
by Pastor Rick | Feb 23, 2024 | Click Date to Respond
Hey MABC family and friends,
This Saturday Sherry and I were out looking at some homes in the southeast Wichita area.
That would put us right in between our daughters plus quick interstate/turnpike access to
Kansas City area for daughter #3. There was to be an open house that we wanted to look at
but when we got there, no one was there. I called the realtor who then gave me the garage
code to get in and look at the house. It was nice but there was one thing that was a deal
breaker for us design wise.
Now, on the porch we found a couple of Amazon packages but there was nobody living in the
house as it was still under construction. We looked at the addresses and found they were for a
neighbor. Sherry offered to take them over to their house and I went to the car. Five minutes
goes by and Sherry comes out to holler at me to come to the house. A single dad was living
there and he was interested in our interest in the house. Sherry answered as always trying to
find a way to include a hint of faith telling him that we were looking for a house in this area,
about our daughters living close by and then she inserts the “go to”: and my husband has
recently started pastoring a church here in Wichita. That little bit opened a conversation to
discussing his faith. He happens to go to Newspring and has served in the children’s ministry
area for the past five years.
Now I say that to give you an idea of how easy it is to weave faith based ideas into your
conversation. Remember our key point from yesterday’s message? Evangelism is not just
anywhere we find it but anywhere we want to find it. In this case it turned out that the resident
was already a believer but we had some good conversation. Sherry opened the door and then I
looked at a discipleship opportunity and asked him if he goes to the men’s lunch at Newspring
every month? He said no so I invited him to his own church (ha ha) and offered to meet him
there. He gave me his number and said sure.
If you are a follower of Jesus, witnessing to others and making disciples is not an option. In
Acts 1 Jesus said “you will be” my witnesses.
Remember that there is no AWANA’s tonight. Sherry and I will be at church this evening for a
while…she has a meeting and I will get some work done in the office. Wednesday I will be in at
the normal time of 2:30 pm. Thursday afternoon I will have a meeting at Lawrence Elementary
and them a visit in the evening.
Have a great week!
P.R.
by Pastor Rick | Feb 12, 2024 | Click Date to Respond
(Warning: this may be a little lengthy…not as long as the Super Bowl so hang in there!)
How many of you made it through all 5 quarters of the Super Bowl? Were you worried you
would run out of wings before the game was over? Sherry and I were extremely blessed in that
regard. Our small group that meets on Sunday evenings is very good when it comes to food!
We have some excellent “smokers” and by that I mean wings, ribs, etc.! We never run out of
goodies. I also appreciate them because it is a diverse group. We have couples with kids in
elementary school, middle school and high school as well as graduate school and kids out in the
work force. We have teachers and paras, maintenance workers, law enforcement,
administrative assistants, a co-op manager and a fundraiser. One mom had a brain aneurysm a
couple of years ago and hasn’t been able to work.
I love the makeup of this small group because it represents what a church should look like.
Every generation is adequately represented. It is often said by this group that this is their
“church.” Whether we study a book of the bible, a video driven discussion or watch The
Chosen, our discussion includes viewpoints from different stages of life, different career paths,
and many different life circumstances such as parenting children and teens. Most of the
couples have been long time followers of Jesus but one couple with a junior in high school and
the college grad student are relatively new to the faith in the last couple of years. They have
had a tough time getting their kids to join them in their faith journey. To help them we often
have “family nights” like the Super Bowl where the whole family comes. We want those who are
new to the faith to see what a community of Christ followers looks like away from Sundays.
Now, can it be a little messy at times? Sure it can but isn’t that what happens in authentic faith
families? Sometimes our mess can be relational and sometimes it can be a “facility mess!”
Sherry and I host and sometimes our house gets a little messy. In events like last night’s Super
bowl gathering, there are food and drink spills, dirty dishes and our littlest ones don’t always
clean up their toys. Does it always happen? No, but when it does, Sherry and I don’t get upset.
Messes, whether food and drink, little ones interrupting conversations or occasionally not getting
all the Legos picked up are a blessing. That means that our people feel comfortable, welcomed
and loved…and they are present!
As your new pastor, this is what Sherry and I desire for Meridian Ave Baptist Church. We want
MABC to be a place where all generations feel comfortable, welcomed and loved. If you are a
member, what can you be doing to help us facilitate this kind of environment? If you looking for
a church home, would you consider visiting us and even join us in our vision?
Pastor Rick
by Pastor Rick | Feb 8, 2024 | Click Date to Respond
Hey all,
I am so excited this morning ! We have focused on revival in my first month with you. I am beginning to pick up on some things that really get me going. Last week on Facebook I saw someone get involved in a conversation with a friend that included an invite to join us in worship on Sunday. And that friend said she would love to! Then, after yesterday’s message, someone in attendance went out to eat and tried something new. They told the waiter they were getting ready to bless their meal and if he had anything he needed prayer for. And he said yes! This couple said it was scary to get out of their comfort zone but it worked!
This coming Sunday we will finish up our series on “Awakening.” Out of the five weeks, this may be the most difficult. The title is “It’s Gonna Cost Ya.” True discipleship comes with a very heavy price. Jesus taught the disciples to pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” and that kind of thinking cost Jesus his life. He told the disciples – and us through the Bible – that if we were going to follow him, we would have to take up our cross. In Roman times, taking up a cross was a one-way trip. A one-way trip that meant dying to self.
Please remember that I will not be in the office this morning. I will be over Tuesday morning instead as we have an Evangelism & Missions team meeting plus the monthly men’s lunch. Also, the Hwangs, ABC missionaries from Japan, will be sharing tonight at AWANAs. If you missed them at Prairie Homestead yesterday you have one more opportunity to hear them. This Wednesday night in our Bible study we will begin to focus on overcoming objections to the Christian way of life. We had some visitors yesterday who said they caught our worship on Facebook and also our study on Wednesday nights.
Be blessed this week. Ask God for opportunities to share your faith. Tony Evans says we should be the kind of Christ followers that when we get up in the morning the Devil says “Oh crap, he’s up!”
Pastor Rick
by Pastor Rick | Jan 31, 2024 | Click Date to Respond
Hey all,
Hope you enjoyed the game yesterday. Just for fun, if you are a KC Chiefs fan, sport your gear on Sunday, Feb. 11!
I was doing some reading this morning and found an interesting post on Church Answers. As you know, there is a rift in the Methodist church over gender identity and homosexuality. It has led to a split in the denomination with a new group forming called the Global Methodists. It is growing quickly not just here in the US but around the world where most conservative Methodists live. The staff at Church Answers offered up the following in prayer for the new group:
- That they look forward and not backwards. While this is a good thing for the new group it is also good for us at MABC as well. You have heard me say it before but let’s not live in the past.
- Pray for a rekindling of evangelistic fires. I will touch on that this coming Sunday. For those of you concerned that I am going to put you all out on the streets to do evangelism, “fear not!” There are many of ways for each of us to do outreach.
- Pray that these new churches will attempt new and great things for His glory. As a church seeking revitalization, this should be our aim as well.
- Pray that they will work in unity. The author says they may not agree on every detail but that they keep the main things the main thing. We heard that this past Sunday!
- Finally, pray that they have courage. When the Israelites were getting ready to take the Promised Land Joshua was told “fear not for I am with you wherever you go.” I pray the same thing for us. Let’s have courage in carrying out the Great Commission because Jesus promised to be with us always.
Have a great week. Begin praying specifically for three people you know that need to have a saving relationship with Jesus. We will tap into that as we get closer to Easter.
Pastor Rick