A picture is worth 1,000 words (so they say).

Greetings all,

It’s been far, far too long since my last post here at the WordPress.com site. Life has been very busy over the last few weeks and months, and will be getting busier still in the days, weeks and months to come.

I’d love to post a 1,000 word essay about everything that has been happening and all that is planned to happen in the future… but free time and the uncertainty of plans still underway will not permit me to do that. However, I’m reminded A PICTURE is said to be worth that many words – so, in the hope that placing a simple picture may get people to discussing things, allow me to present a piece of still-in-process artwork that “points” to events to come:

True North Scripture Fellowship

More about the start of True North Scripture Fellowship (as it is currently known) coming to this site over the holiday season. If you can’t wait until then and want to learn more about the ground floor of this new ministerial work, feel free to drop me a line at dnskorupa@comcast.net 

Thanks,

Bro. David Skorupa

Life Change Small Groups restart today: 1 and 2 Thessalonians

Everyone,

Tonight we restart Life Change Small Group studies at White Station Baptist Church at 6:00 p.m.

This semester, I will be teaching through First and Second Thessalonians. These Pauline epistles provide a wealth of information that helps answer the question, “okay, now that I am saved, what am I supposed to be doing between now and when Christ comes again?”

Thessalonians also gives us glimpses into the mind and heart of the Apostle Paul during a very trying time. The Book of Acts tells us that when Paul originally preached in Thessalonica, he was under attack from certain unbelieving Jews who drove him away to the city of Berea. Not content to leave him alone in Berea, these same Jews followed him there and drove him away to Athens. His trip to Athens to spread the Good News was met with mockery, and so Paul moved on to Corinth. It was most likely a weary and tired Paul who finally landed in Corinth. In fact, 1 Corinthians 2:3 tells us Paul arrived in Corinth “in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.”

So it was in such a state of personal despair that Paul finally heard the news that his preaching and discipleship work in Thessalonica had produced a church, and that this church was growing despite troubles, persecutions and theological misunderstandings. Hearing this excellent news, Paul immediately wanted to communicate with the Thessalonian church to encourage them, provide clear teaching and strengthen their faith. Today, we have copies of that communication as the book of First Thessalonians.

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Odds and Ends

1. The personal library continues to grow at an alarming rate.
Through one of my co-workers, I may be obtaining part of the personal study library from a recently-deceased Baptist minister. I expect to see the books either tomorrow or early next week. (Which reminds me, I really need to take some time and clean up the home office so there will be room for more books and papers).

2. A journey is made up of many steps.
One of my friends who resides in California gave me a call yesterday and we spent a good deal of time talking about blogs, the blogosphere, blogging and all things blog-tastic. He helped me solidify some things about the site I already knew to be true, and showed me some extremely cool tools that are available for overhauling the site and making it more of what I know it should be. Fortunately, said tools are relatively “affordable.”

Expect some major changes here over the next few weeks, accordingly (today’s yet-another-format change is a short step closer to the new direction).

Map of Poland

3. What’s in a correctly spelled and spoken name…
I met a Campus Crusade For Christ missionary to Poland last night who is Polish-born, and in a short discussion that followed his hearing my last name, he confirmed the following:
      a. The spelling of my last name was not changed when my ancestors came to America
      b. The pronunciation of my last name was not changed when my ancestors came to America
      c. The small village my great-grandfather came from in Poland may have been on the Poland/Austria border way back in the day, and that area was probably the scene of numerous wars and border disputes during or shortly after my great-grandfather and his brother left for America.

I’m meeting with the missionary later this evening to learn more about his work in Poland to bring the lost to Christ.

July 6, 2008 “American Church” sermon notes

Yesterday I had the honor of delivering the morning message at our home church of White Station Baptist in Memphis, TN.

 

Delivering a July 4th message (even when the Sunday in question falls on July 6^th) can be very challenging. Should the minister avoid mentioning the holiday, should he tailor his message specifically to the occasion of the holiday, or should he attempt to land somewhere in-between?

 

In my comments yesterday, I attempted the last option with some observations about how our “American Church” is often perceived by unbelievers, and how these perceptions can get in the way of people listening to (and responding to) the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

The American Church has problems it must deal with, and here are just a few that I personally encounter regularly when talking with people who do not regularly attend a church:
  - Widespread “prosperity gospel” preaching is a poor substitute for the Good News
  - Nationally and globally broadcast programs of obvious televangelist greed
  - The Church is too preoccupied with American politics and political parties
  - Child abuse cases and personal fidelity failings of ministers creating mistrust

  - American Christians often seem no different that unsaved Americans

 

All too often, we feel content that “as long as our individual church is not going that way, it isn’t a problem.” While that type of thinking has inarguable elements of truth to it, we cannot turn a blind eye and pretend these things do not impact the work of people sharing the Gospel in America today. Fortunately, the power of God is more than enough to accomplish the work of salvation regardless of the problems created by the American Church’s poor public profile.

 

As children of God, we can begin working to improve the profile of the American Church by living our individual lives in accordance with the simple commands of 1 Peter 2:11-12

 

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 

We should always live our lives being most concerned with what the Lord thinks. Yet, the command is clear that we must also be aware that our actions influence what the unsaved people of this world think of us – and by extent, how they view our American Church.

 

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Odds and ends

In this world of putting thoughts down on screen, most “personal” sites like this will engage in the practice of throwing out bits and pieces of ideas that have not become full-fledged posts in their own right. Here, I expect to do that from time to time, and I’ll call such postings ODDS AND ENDS.

1.) In many of my discussions with friends and acquaintences about ministry since my ordination last spring, many of them have suggested or encouraged me to start a completely new ministry or create a new church. That’s a very interesting, demanding, and ultimately totally-reliant-upon-God type of challenge, I have to admit. I’ve given the idea some thought through the years, but have not taken opportunity to soak it in anywhere near the level of dedicated meditation and prayer such an idea requires before coming to any sort of decision. By posting the idea here at the WordPress page, I suppose I am engaging in a type of “trial ballooning” to see what (if any) feedback my few web readers may have about it.

2.) After a bit of a delay brought on by attending the seminars in Bloomington, IL a few weeks ago, I’m finally putting the finishing touches on my latest paper for seminary. The book is Inspired Preaching by Wells and Luter, and I recommend it for anyone interested in the idea that much of the New Testament is essentially sermons put on paper, meant to be read aloud to targeted congregations. Granted, the New Testament is also a lot more than just that, but the book is very inspirational - pardon the intentional choice of word – for anyone preaching the Gospel of Christ to people today.

3.) If this story from sbc.net about a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) presentation in Memphis, TN has anything approaching accuracy about it, and if these comments from John Killinger represent the thoughts of many in that denomination, then the CBF train is coming completely off the theological rails. I hope the opposite is true, and that Killinger is a lone voice representing only his own contrary-to-biblical thoughts.

4.) My thoughts are starting to come together regarding my Sunday, July 6th sermon at White Station Baptist in Memphis, TN for the 10:30 a.m. service. Again, everyone is invited to come, and the message itself will be on a level where it will be very appropriate to bring a guest with limited or no exposure to church.

5.) We’ve had a lot of home improvement projects going on around the house for the last two months, which has really taken a huge bite out of the time I’d like to dedicate to podcasting and other forms of media connected to ministry. We just got a call this morning that the final project – carpeting – will be taken care of next Monday. So, maybe July will be the month I really get things cranking up! I appreciate your patience.

6.) May and June have been very interesting months at my “day job.” The news that I am an ordained minister is very well-known around the office now (thanks grapevine) and I have seen the expected “getting closer” / “becoming distant” reaction from some co-workers. Overall reaction has been very positive and supportive, even from some members of our Board of Directors.

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It’s not about counting; it’s about ministry.

A great article at SBC.net by David Francis examines the age-old question of “just WHEN is it okay to remove a person’s name from the Sunday School roll?” Francis sees the question and its motivations, and reinvents the argument into “when is it okay to say we’re no longer ministering to this person?” Francis calls for churches to consider the idea of changing the various sheets that track attendance from Membership Rolls to Ministry Lists.

News from this year’s Southern Baptist Convention has contained discussions about the frighteningly-inflated membership roles of local SBC churches. Such unreliable numbers make it difficult to truly measure how many people are part of the denomination, and a call for better information goes up every year. If Francis’ idea was applied to church membership rolls as well (understanding that churches should also maintain records to track important distinctions among people receiving ministry such as profession of faith, baptism and formally joining the congregation), it might have long-term evangelistic implications for the local church, and perhaps the entire denomination.

I suppose the argument one might have with this idea is that many of today’s churches seem more and more reluctant to put any form of obligation upon their members; refocusing something as small as a roll sheet puts the pressure of work upon the ministers rather than the members. That may be, but in my 20+ years of teaching the Scriptures I have never had anyone tell me the reason they showed up was because their name was on a membership roll. People choose to attend a class because they are learning something new about God and His Word and growing; because they are connecting with other classmates; because they have a need and/or desire to be spiritually fed; and/or they have their own form of ministry within the class. Those factors far outweigh shooting for a “perfect attendance record” any day of the week.

I hope the idea of “ministry list” catches on across the denomination. It’s a small wording change, but carries the potential for a big thinking change for many ministers, teachers and lay leaders.

Rev. Frank Page’s final sermon as SBC President

Rev. Frank Page’s final sermon in his term of President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is well worth reading not only for members of the SBC, but for every Christian who looks at the current state of the American Church and finds discouragement.

An excerpt from the Southern Baptist Convention’s report on Page’s sermon, as found here at sbc.net:

The world wants Christians to keep things shallow and refuse any kind of deeper examination or calling from Christ. This, Page said, is the “call of cultural Christianity.”

“Do not deal with reality. Do not deal with what is really going on in your family, in your church, in your life. Keep it on the surface. Keep things shallow. That is cultural Christianity at its best and its worst. It is strangling the lifeblood out of our churches and our families.”

Cultural Christianity, Page said, is a “grave into which we have all fallen,” warning that the churches of the convention might easily do the same because too many people avoid truth, evade reality and blame others for what is wrong. But Page said troubling signs in the SBC and its churches are not the fault of political positioning by different groups or because of the failure of the Conservative Resurgence to increase the baptismal rate.

Instead, he said churches and individual believers need to take the same approach as the Samaritan woman in her encounter with Jesus. The woman couldn’t blame others for her condition, and in the same manner, “God is calling us to see that the problem lies with me,” Page said.

“We’ve been ignoring God’s call for repentance,” Page said. “We have been failing to be relevant to a culture that sees us as representatives of death and not as representatives of life. When the quickening power of the Holy Spirit comes on us, we do what we’ve always done; we avoid and we evade.”

I encourage you to click on the provided link above and check out the article in its entirety. Page’s remarks are challenging, insightful, and issues a call for renewed focus on evangelism and authenticity.

Page’s successor as SBC president is Rev. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, GA.

Preaching July 6, back from Bloomington, IL

Potential pulpit fireworks as I preach on July 4th weekend
Kidding a bit with that headline… but then again ( ! )  I will be delivering the morning message at White Station Baptist Church in Memphis, TN on Sunday, July 6^th. Services begin at 10:30 a.m., and of course everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. 

I’ve taught many times around the 4^th of course, but I’ve never delivered a full sermon so close to the Independence Day weekend. I am sure the holiday will in some way influence my preaching, but I’m not one to use the pulpit for partisan political purposes. Have no fear, my focus will be on the truth of the Scriptures and will possibly contain some observations related to the state of the nation, but I will not be talking about this year’s election (so please leave your yard signs on your front lawns).

 

Two Seminars in Bloomington, IL last week
I drove roughly seven hours each way and attended two seminars in Bloomington, IL last week. The first seminar was on the religion of Islam, which taught me much more about that system of belief than I had previously known. You might be wondering why a Christian minister would want to attend a seminar on Islam, and the answer is very simple: just as the apostle Paul conducted a bit of field research to understand something of what the Athenians believed before his address at Mars Hill in Acts 17:19-34, a minister should have some understanding of different ideas and beliefs to better communicate with people about the Gospel.

The seminar was extremely eye-opening; I can honestly say I didn’t know as much as I thought about the origins of Islam, and what little I did know was very incomplete. I feel much better equipped to have intelligent discussions with Muslims about what they believe and why they believe it than I ever did before.

The second seminar was on Homiletics, which pairs up quite nicely with my latest paper on preaching and the above-mentioned news about delivering the sermon at White Station Baptist next month.

Both classes were led by Dr. Richard Riley, a very engaging and informed teacher who had the class hanging on every word. Dr. Riley also joined the class for lunch at a nearby Schlotzky’s restaurant where we had some follow-up on the material and had a good natured beat down on the prevalence of properity gospel preaching on the airwaves. Obligatory side note, yes I did try the Reuben Sandwich of course and found it decent enough. If you have an opportunity to hear Dr. Riley speak in the future I highly recommend it – he takes the time to answer questions and clarify statements along the way without the normal chasing-of-rabbits one usually experiences in seminars.

I was able to spend the weekend with one of the best guys on the planet, my great friend John Vance who lives in Bloomington with his lovely wife and exceptional children. The Vance’s wonderful hospitality made the week seem less like a seminar trip and more like a mini-vacation! The Vance’s live near a small pond, and on Thursday we enjoyed a relaxing evening of fishing. That was the first time in years I was able to work with a rod and reel, and it was good to see I still had the ability to cast without looking like a total goof.

Gas prices in Illinois are even more ridiculous than in Memphis… I stopped at a gas station mid-way between Bloomington and the Missouri border that sold regular unleaded at $4.36 per gallon on my way back home. By the end of the summer, I am sure that will seem like a very low price the way things are going lately. When the topic of gas prices comes up, I can’t help but think of working low-income families who struggle during even the best of times, now forced to make hard decisions about the weekly budget in light of ever-increasing fuel prices just to travel back and forth to work. It’s a very real situation for some, and one that deserves our compassion rather than our scorn over whether or not people are trying to make it a political issue.

Post-Arkansas trip update

The Sunday morning and evening messages I delivered at a Baptist church in neighboring Arkansas were very well-received. That congregation has a tremendously talented music ministry for its size, and the worshipful, praising attitude of its members was particularly admirable. I suspect with the right leadership and focused concentration on the Lord’s Word, that church will continue to positively impact lives for many years to come.

 

The morning message I presented was an examination and exposition of the parable of the vineyard workers from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 20. Early out of the gate, I make it a point to share that I have an issue with what we normally call this parable. As my sermon notes observed,

 

Many of you have Bibles with notes that indicate that this is the “parable of the workers in the vineyard.” I would take up an argument with that description – to me, this should be called the “parable of the vineyard owner seeking workers.”

 

After all, in verse 1 we see the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early in the morning, NOT the men he wanted to hire to work in his vineyard. But since there are already multiple millions of printed Bibles across the world with the notes describing the section as the “parable of the vineyard workers,” I’ve already lost that battle before I started it, so let’s move forward.

 

(That remark – which is delivered early in the sermon – never fails to let me know who is and who is not listening, by the way.)

 

The evening sermon was another examination and exposition of a parable about the kingdom of heaven, this time focused on the parable of the minas from the Gospel of Luke 19:11-28. This was the same parable I referenced during my sermon at my ordination earlier this year in Memphis, but I’ve reworked and revised it to remove the references to starting out in ministry.

 

I’m hoping to receive audio and video copies of the Sunday sermons before the end of the month. I plan to make them available via podcast shortly thereafter, and I’ll update this site with information once they’re up and running.

 

After the Sunday evening service, there was a potluck dinner. True to the words of the church’s music minister, the congregation is indeed skilled at cooking! It reminds me of a warning I was given by a minister friend: “When you’re a full-time minister in a Baptist church, expect to gain ten pounds your first year from all the potlucks and fellowship dinners.”

 

 

I hope to have another update before the end of the week. As always, Nicole and I appreciate all the support and prayers we have received since undertaking the work of looking for a church where we can be of full-time service to the Lord’s Kingdom. The search itself has been educational and humbling, and we are both learning things about ourselves that are making us better-equipped for the future.

Update: Preaching in Arkansas, May 18

I received a call shortly after 8:00 p.m. last night from a Baptist church in neighboring Arkansas, just outside the city of Jonesboro. After a very friendly and enjoyable conversation with the leader of their Pastor Search Team, I will be visiting them to deliver the morning and evening messages on Sunday, May 18th.

If you live near Jonesboro and wish to learn more, let me know via the “comments” feature and I will send you the details.