CaseyJones1979

I first want to apologize for not blogging more often. It has been too long since I last blogged. I have been getting used to transitioning back into Alabama (God's Country). Yesterday I began preaching at Northside Baptist Church in Talladega, AL. I began with a series called Mission Impossible 3. The series is called M.I. 3 for this reason. There is one mission. The mission is that God is worthy of all worship. It is the mission of the church to have in the core of its D.N.A. a hearty robust passion for this. It is impossible because the church cannot do it alone, but only with God's help. It is called M.I.3 because it will last about 3 weeks. Then I will preach a Father's day sermon and then preach through a book of the Bible. Maybe something like Philippians.

Here recently I have been reading Mark Driscoll's book Confessions of a Reformission Rev. Hard lessons from an emerging missional church. Whether you like Driscoll and the Acts 29 Network or not is irrelevant. But what I have been challenged by the most by Driscoll's is his committment to the mission of the Church. I am floored by the challenges he went through and the many times different people came into his church and tried to keep him from being focused on the mission. Just before I left Corsicana I was visiting for lunch with one of the pastor's of a church in town. The one thing I got from our lunch was an undying committment to the mission of the church.

In my short time as a pastor of a small church with primarily older people and then as an interim pastor, I realized both of these churches had people where everybody had their own agenda. I am not being critical of the church itself, but primarily of the leaders who previously preceded me. As a pastor the danger is I can let things get me distracted from the mission. The mission is that God's name would be proclaimed in Talladega County and then in all the world. The mission is that men and women would be trained in the faith. The mission is that there would be disiciples made and churches planted. But the only way this will happen, is that I must have a clear direction of what the vision is. Lord willingly the Father will give me a plan (i.e. he already has in the BIBLE!) that I will follow unashamedly. If somebody gets mad because I want to be obedient to the plan I cannot be afraid and back down, but I must be willing to stand up and say with authority as the pastor of the church that the mission of the church is the most important and we must go to great costs at seeing it accomplished.