A day in the life of...Mark Williams

Monday again...in March

Man.....it's already March.  It's already March 7th. 

Mardi Gras Break:  It's always nice for the kids to get out for a few days.  One of the benefits of living in S. Mississippi. 

M4 Camps Update:  We are super excited about this coming summer!!  We are still taking applications for M4 Camp staff.  We will be finalizing our staff toward the end of March.  It's gonna be an awesome summer!!

Geocaching Update:  We've slowed down a little.  We did find one last night with the family.  Always fun times!!

Agricola Baptist update:  My position at the church continues to be a blessing.  I've been teaching a study over the past 5 weeks for a S.S. class.  It's been great.  I love teaching the Word.  I'm in my element when I do that. 

Soccer:  We have had so many rainouts and cancellations it's not even funny. We have won both of our games up to this point. 

Video:  I've been doing a few video projects with church.  One was for our family experience on what people were afraid of.  The other was a baptism testimony video.  Both seemed to be very effective. 

Reading:  I finished two books this past weekend.  One was Poke The Box by Seth Godin.  It was on initiative.  The other book I finished was Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick.   It was a good read too.  I've got a few books right now on my iPad that I really need to finish before purchasing any more. 

Family:  Not really an update.  Just recognizing that I'm extremely blessed with an amazing wife and two wonderful children.  God continues to show His love for me through them. 

Monday Morning update

Great weekend!!

Friday:  Melanie and I had a great night out at Osman's in Mobile.  Wonderful meal.  Wonderful atmosphere.  I even had flowers waiting on her at our table when we arrived.  It was a nice evening. 

Saturday:  Our soccer season started back.  I'm coaching Micah's team....probably for the last time.  They had not been doing well in practice.  However, they showed up on Saturday, winning 5-0.  I'm not sure that the other team even took a shot on the goal.  I was so proud of them.  Also, I saw them showing leadership on the field.  It was great. 

Sunday:  Sunday morning was great.  I have been teaching a S.S. class for a few weeks.  It's a great study by Erwin McManus called Stand Against The Wind.  I'm enjoying the teaching and interaction. 

Sunday Evening:  We had our first annual Missions Banquet.  We raised over $4100 for missions.  It was AWESOME to hear the stories about people's journeys on mission.  Story after story of obedience to the call God has given EVERY ONE of us.  Obedience.  Sacrifice.  Life-change.  We are a part of the story of God....and that is the greatest story. 

Today:  Valentine's Day.  We celebrate Valentine's Day.  But I also recognize the love my wife and I have for each other every day.  One day a year isn't enough.  We have to celebrate the love Christ has given us every day as well.  Out of that love, we love others.  Melanie is a wonderful wife and an amazing person.  Glad we are able to do life together. 

Prioritizing

Last night at church, I led a study on Proper priorities in the new year.  One thing thing that stuck out to me was the thought on the way we prioritize our lives. 

This is usually how we would "like" for it to look:

1.  God/Jesus
2.  Family
3.  Career/Job or Friends or fill in the blank

I went on to say that I think we are looking at our prioritizing in the wrong way, possibly. 

Instead of putting Jesus first, allow him to be pre-eminent in our lives.  To be above all.

Instead of Jesus, then our family.  How about Jesus IN our family?

Instead of Jesus, then our job.  How about Jesus IN our job?

 

You get the point.   When we segregate our lives, we can segregate Jesus into a certain area, and "box" him in.  He needs to penetrate every area of our lives.   

Disciple

What does that mean?
--Well, dictionary.com says that a disciple is one who adheres to the doctrines of another.  Fair enough. 

Check this out in John 13:34-35: ³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Ok....He gives his disciples a command and says that THIS is how you will know if you are a disciple of his or not.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER.  Dang-it.....that's pretty vague Jesus.  Couldn't you have given us something a little more specific.  Now we have to break down what "LOVE" means.  And whether what I am actually doing in this life is considered love.  Oh yeah....we also have to define "ONE ANOTHER".  Come on....surely "one another" doesn't mean everyone. 

Well....I think Jesus knew exactly what he was saying.  because he even explained it a little bit.  LOVE....as I have loved you.  Jesus "loved" everyone.  He gave/gives hope to the hopeless.  He loved sinners when no one else would.  He gave 2nd chances when people wanted justice instead. 

I just think that we've over-complicated the disciple thing.  Jesus calls us to love one another as He loves us.  Our tendency is to make it all complicated and figure out who we actually have to love in order to be one of His disciples. 

I'm reminded of a verse that speaks of this love to those we don't know:  Check this out in Matthew 25:

³¹"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 ³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 ³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 ⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

 ⁴¹"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

 ⁴⁴"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

 ⁴⁵"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

 ⁴⁶"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

We can't just ignore the world around us that is hurting and helpless and expect to enter the kingdom of Heaven.  It just doesn't work that way.  We must truly "LOVE ONE ANOTHER". 

Equipping

My role at Agricola Baptist is "Equipping Pastor".  We've talked about changing the title of my role on and off.  My position does lend itself to being one of constant transition.  That's mainly based on the needs of our church.  I've enjoyed my role as Equipping Pastor for the past few years.  It continues to be refreshing and challenging.  When I think about the role of Equipping Pastor, this verse comes to my mind.

Ephesians 4:11-13 says, "¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

To Equip means to "prepare for to furnish or provide with whatever is needed for use or for any undertaking; fit out, as a ship or army". 

In my role,that WHAT is:  I am called to prepare God's people for works of service." 
We all have a role in the kingdom of God.  Whether that's teaching a S.S. class, serving in a community ministry, working in prison ministry, being a nurse, greeting on Sunday mornings, changing diapers in the nursery, telling kids about God, leading couples who are struggling to reconciliation, comforting the hurting, loving the unlovable, etc.  You get the point. 

WHY:  "so that the body of Christ may be built up."  Anything that we do isn't for our own glory.  It's for the glory of God.  Pride, to me, can be the root of many sins.  It is the one sin that can easily entangle you in a web of sin.  Our motivation in serving should be to build up Jesus.  Bottom line. 

HOW LONG:  "until we all reach unity in the faith and in knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Well....that pretty much means that the work will never be finished...until Jesus comes back!!  "Until we all reach unity in the faith?!!!"  Really?!  Yep...that's what it said.  My first thought is....that'll never happen.  But it says it right there in God's Word. 

So....that is the call.  To prepare others for service to build up Jesus until we reach a unity in the faith we have in Christ.  I think I've got some work to do. 

VBS 2010

VBS is back in action at Agricola Baptist.  Today, we had over 300 total, with just over 200 children participating.  What a great way to start off our VBS for 2010!!  

I am helping out in worship rally again this year.  I usually help lead out in this with Melanie.  Melanie does a great job leading the worship and the storytelling segment, which is also a new feature.  We usually reserve telling the bible story for the Bible study breakout.

This year, we combined recreation with a MAD SCIENCE LAB.  Today, we used the Mentos/Diet Coke experiment at our lab.  The kids LOVED it!!  Especially when we did it a second time and added extra Mentos to the equation. 

In the morning worship rally, I absolutely LOVE the songs!!  Rise and Sing.  Superheroes.  My Rock.  Know You Better.  Great stuff!!

Our story today was Elijah against the 450 prophets of Baal.  We did it Johnny Cash style and it was a great way to communicate being CONFIDENT in God.  Some people dread it....but I LOVE VBS week!!  What a great opportunity to be with kids and talk about God!!

A rural day for me...

Today was a very rural day for me.  I did some "firsts".

BUYING MY FIRST HALF-COW

About a month or two ago, a friend of ours in the church asked if we wanted to "half" a cow with them.  With my love for all things meat, I said yes (even without asking Melanie first.  I did ask later.)  Well...today was "D-day" on taking Sir Loin to the slaughterhouse.  Our cow was a year old.  It was 3/4 Angus and 1/4 Brangus.  I speak in the past tense b/c she has now been slaughtered.  Alan, my friend, picked me up about 6:45 this morning and we went to the farm and loaded her up.  This consisted of a little maneuvering on our part, as well as the cows.  We got her into the shute and she hopped right into the trailer. 

We then traveled over to Pearl River County to the slaughterhouse.  This was interesting too.  I walked out to the back of the slaughterhouse and two guys were salting cow-hides.  After we unloaded Sir Loin, we went inside and chose the cuts of meat that we wanted, and how we wanted it packaged. 

We were back on the road, and back in Agricola by 10:30 this morning.  I did get the honor of washing out the trailer when we got back. 

MY FIRST TIME TILLING/CULTIVATING A GARDEN WITH A TRACTOR

We (Nick...the music minister, Tommy....the pastor, and myself...the Equipping Pastor) have started a garden.  We decided that we would plant a few things and get the kids to help.  It would be a good experience for them to "work" the garden, watch it grow, and reap the benefits of it.  Anyway, Nick had done some work on the garden the other day, plotting it out and doing some preliminary work on it.  Today, we tilled it up really nice.  I did the first run-through with Danny's tractor.  Nick came behind and did some more.....and then we rowed it up.  We have 13 rows about 120 ft long.  Yes....it's a lot.  But we'll do about half in corn.  Anyway, it was fun driving the tractor and getting the ground ready to grow some good vegetables. 

It reminded me of some of the parables that Jesus told.  The one about the "good soil", the thorny ground, and the rocky soil.  It was a nice reminder, as I rode the tractor, that He is cultivating his children every day.  Some of us are not as far along as others.  We all need to be cultivated.  We all need some "tending" to.  We all need someone to mold us into who we really are intended to be.  I am thankful that my Creator is interested in doing that to me. 

So....it has been a RURAL day for me.  Looking forward to tomorrow, and what God has in store.  Maybe he'll give me the opportunity to help cultivate someone by sharing the Gospel with them. 

The Missional Church

Check out this quick video on the missional church. 

DNOW weekend, old friends, and worship

We had a great D-Now weekend at ABC.  The MSU praise band, Drawn Together, led in worship.  This group of students did an outstanding job.   And....they are bulldogs!!  Phillip Wood, student pastor at Temple Baptist in Hattiesburg, spoke in the two large-group sessions.  Phillip and I have been friends for a long time.  We spent lots of time together during our time at seminary.  It was nice to host him and his wife, and two children.  We had the opportunity to catch up with what's been going on. 

Tired

What I thought was going to be a non-eventful day, turned out to be much busier than expected.  It has been good though.  Made an unexpected trip to Mobile, which included an unexpected lunch with friends. 
Then, we found out about one of our students being in the hospital.  I got set up for visitation tonight, as well as a few other office duties.  Melanie hasn't felt well today....so I picked up Micah from school.  I helped him with the homework.  After that, I got Malaree from Mom's Day Out.  She got to celebrate her birthday there with cupcakes Melanie sent with her.  Melanie is a WONDERFUL MAMA!!  Now....I'm home and tired.  Ready to be home after visitation tonight.