THE STORM

The other day here on the lake we had a storm blow in. Since we in northeast Oklahoma have been so dry we asked God to send rain by the bucket full.(be careful what you pray for.) The sky went dark and I mean night time dark it rained so hard it looked like a sheet of milk being poured out wind was blowing and hale was falling I watched from the window of my office and went outside to see if any tornados were about(that’s what we do here In Oklahoma)there was none but as I looked at the blackened sky I thought is this what it looked like when Jesus was on the cross? It makes you wonder when you see things like that as there are many storms both in our physical and spiritual life's. sometimes the storms do a lot of damage much like the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma or Katrina last year. There are other times that as bad as it might seem and as black as the sky gets the damage is minimal. limbs are downed leafs are stuck to your windows but there no bad damage only things to clean up. That was this last storm. I said all of that to ask what kind of storm will be in Greensboro in June? Will there be a bunch of "angry young men"( sorry Dorcas& Kiki and other ladies) at the convention? I sure hope not we already seem to have enough angry men there now. I read today in Wade's blog that there is a rumor that he will be censured, now I don’t know how true that is it but wouldn't surprise me. You may ask why? When your self righteousness is revealed you ether shrink or attack and some at the IMB have made the choice to attack. The main issue for me is that we all work together. Many of you have stated that you are Calvinist or Charismatic or Armenian. I am kind of a mix breed which probably makes me more disliked than most because I don't fully agree with anyone. I believe that you are saved by grace through faith that shows the works of Holy God in your life. Is this irresistible I don't know for sure I only know that God demonstrated his love for me that will I was yet a sinner Jesus Christ died for me! When I understood that there is a price for my sin and that is eternal death and that the only way I can escape is that my sin dept had to be paid by one who knew no sin. I believe that God is the same today yesterday and forever and that scripture is my guide since the gifts are there I believe that God gives them to those whom He sees fit to. I will say this If God gives me the gift of healing I will not have a healing service at my church but I will go to the place were those who are sick are. (the hospital) I believe Holy God wants use to be excited about what He has done and what He is doing we should sing and dance and raise holy hands to the King Of Kings. Is that being Charismatic? I don't know? I believe that He who saved you can keep you. Eternal live begins when you accept the gift not at death. I believe that if you are His you will have the fruit of the spirit in you life. Does this mean you will never sin? NO! it means we have a advocate who stands before Holy God making intersession for me. The Holy Spirit that lives in you will let you know when you fall and will chastise you until you get Right before God. I believe that being His is about having a relationship with a loving and Holy God that is His desirer that we would know Him more. In Christ alone I place my trust He is my source and my Hope and strength. Do not let the storms hid that. In Him Kevin Lancaster

LEARNING NEW THINGS!

This last weekend was a learning experience for me. I went to a conference at FBC Sapulpa (my old home church) and spent the day with some very good disciple makers learning that pastors are not the best disciplers but ordinary men and woman that love God and want to invest there life’s into a new believer. I am not giving pastors a pass on discipleship I am just stating a fact. I also learned that I have a good friend on the SBC committee on committees I actually spent the night at his house Friday we talked about all that was going on not only with the IMB but also with the NAMB. He let me know that if you are going to speak to a issue know more than just one side, for all the young preachers who are going to Greensboro to be counted make sure you have planted yourself in a place you want to stand in other words do your home work. I am grateful to Art Rogers and Marty Duren who are educating many of us on not just the issues but on how things work. I also found that another friend is a trustee on the NAMB board so I talked to him about what happened there. I also heard how there is a push by some to name a new President on NAMB will I was there he received about 6 calls seeking his support on what they wanted to do he mentioned a pastor Joe and I laughed as I told him about the blog lands pastor Joe I described all I know about him and he said it could be the same guy so Pastor Joe if that is you let me know. It is good to hear from these guys to listen to their take on what is going on and how this coming convention is so very important. There is one thing I would like to address is the nominating of Wade for Pres. Mind you this is my opinion I do not think it is a good idea to put Wade in this difficult situation it is not fair to him or his family and I believe he should devote himself to the issues in the IMB I fell God put him there for a purpose and it is not yet complete if we look hard and long there are other good candidates to put our support behind I just fell that it would be a bad decision to place Wade in this election. Let him spend some time as a trustee. We should be making sure that he has all of his rights returned to him so he is able to do what he was put there to do. I also think we should be asking a lot of Questions of the old guard as to why they do what they do. I think it is a good thing and I truly believe that they will answer if we are serious about making the SBC better. I know there will be those who fell they don't have to answer to a bunch of "young punks" (my word not theirs) but if all we do is rage against the machine we will not get much done. So consider this before you place all your support behind any person. Soon there will be things we can read and make decision on and we can talk both on the blog world and between each other whether by e-mail or buy other means we can make good informed decisions which is what we all want their will be those who show that all they want is power and their desires will be out in the open for all to see. We must be above that kind of power grabbing and if we are in the minority then we must re-examine what to do next. In Him Kevin Lancaster

BACK TO WORK!

It has been kind of crazy around here. So much to do so little of me to do it. I guess I have a touch of the spring fever. Went fishing and tore it up. I got the sunburn to prove it. Thanks Bro Bill for taking me. I have been keeping up with the latest in blog land and have made a few comments. I was really sad to see Dr. Reccord resign though it was needed it is still very sad. I have been getting my proper proto call into order by Art on his site check it out if you need to know how the SBC does it's convention. Go by the SBC outpost to see what ideas are out their for a potential NAMB candidates there are some really good ideas one I liked came from Alan Cross, he would like to see our local DOM getting deeper into the NAMB mission field. You are probably wondering why I like that idea? Well I want young preachers to get involved in the SBC and one good way is to get involved with your local association. It is much easier to be a leader on that level and you can learn and grow in missions and in working with your peers. I also believe it gives young guys confidence to tackle tuff issues with out allowing it to become personal. You usually know the guys in your association and can seek out the older and more experienced men to help guide you along the way I am finding that many older pastors don’t want the jobs but are more than willing to help a young pastor with the job if he asks. So go for it. My dad who is a pastor in my association said he is going to nominate me for President next year so if he does and I am elected I will do my very best to serve it will be a privilege. If you think that serving at you local association is beneath you I would say don't try to serve at the state or national level you will get chewed up and spit out. I hope we all are involved at the local level at my association we have a pastors meeting on Monday at 10:30 in the morning at first it was a brag session but it has become more now because the men involved spoke up and made a directional change, we now speak on things that we deal with in our respective churches. We need to remember the greatest impact we can have as pastors is at the local level. So talk to your DOM and see how you can get involved seek out the pastors of the larger churches and seek advice build your resources and learn how to deal with others in a form much like our state and national conventions. If you are an associate pastor you may ask you Sr. Pastor if it would be ok if you got involved in the local association I think most would help you to learn more. Learning to do local mission work is vital to reaching our world! Lets all do our part! In Him Kevin Lancaster

This is my Middle daughter. she is a Princesses  

I know it's not yet Photo Phiday but I will be in Branson @SDC so here is my oldest Daughter  

A NEW WAY!

I have been reading a lot online lately and not just here in the world of the blog. I read were the NAMB and Dr. Reccord are having some troubling issues as well as The IMB fiasco we have all been keeping up with. I was thinking (I know that is very dangerous) what if we try to find a way were the young preachers and the leadership of all the churches could have a voice in the greater SBC. I mentioned it on Art's site as well as Marty's site. Here it is. Why can't we make a motion to change the process of electing our trustees to all of the boards? My idea is to take 2 people per a convention (In Oklahoma we have the BGCO) per a board that would make 100 trustees on each board (I know that sounds like a lot but it could work) and make regions like a south central region would be OKLAHOMA, TEXAS, KANSAS, MISSOURI, LOUISIANA, COLORADO, NEW MEXICO, and NEBRASKA. This is just a possibility but if we could get this in a motion and have good discussion in my mind it would be the best way for more churches to be involved. I know more than 2/3 of the churches in my local association will not be involved in any way in the SBC convention and almost all are involved in the state convention. We could then vote for men and women we know or can check out with out having to call out of state and it would put a face with a name and we would have a spokesperson that could report to each state on what is going on in our boards. If we had a question that person could either answer it our know who to call to get the answer and the missionaries could contact that trustee from their home state and request info or give info on what is needed on the field eliminating a bunch of middle men which could save money. We could also use technology to bring the regions together by using the tools so many businesses are using to cut down on travel and the abuse that some times goes on. It just a start to the many things that could be done differently to stop the power hungry or at lest make it harder to be in total control. Some have said this would never be done that those who have power will not let it go. Then they have made themselves gods over the one God and should be removed. I also know this to some would be drastic but it just makes a lot of sense to me. Let me know if you have a better idea I am just looking at ways to involve more churches and their pastors. In Him Kevin

Me and my nephew Taz (Taylor Zane) 

Disenfranchised Young Preacher?

I have been reading a lot not only here in the blog world but also in many other areas. Thanks to all who put these "press releases" out for us to read and decide for ourselves. Lately even though I very much enjoy reading and commenting on site I have not done so. (Commenting that is) The reason is many if not all have affected me in some negative way. Its difficult to keep your eyes on Jesus when all around you there is great storms. (I kind off know what Peter must have felt.) The last 3 or 4 post by Wade and Marty have been real eye openers. Art Rogers has also had some very interesting post as well. Some of the comments have been just as powerful as the post. I would like to address a few if I may to Dorcas even though there are men out there who would love to squelch your voice and ministry remember that you answer to the king and him alone and when you serve him with humility and love you can't go wrong also if any comments I made about J.D. were unkind it was not my intention and only wanted to point to the fact that we (and I mean almost every person I have ever met) make our decisions about people on what we see on the outside wither it be a degree or the size of church they serve.(see 1st Samuel 16:6&7) if it were not for strong godly woman I would never be serving God in the capacities that I am now serving.(my grandmother who has been gone over 20 years was defiantly a land marker) Many of the post have been powerful and if completely true very scary. On Marty Duren post he speaks of M's being terminated for working with other Non-SB believers and if that is true and there seems to be evidence towards that then we are in deeper pooh than I thought. (Can I write pooh here)? Wade Burleson post Zeroing In (Trustee Jerry Corbaley's Response To Missionary Ron West) I read it many times I still am not sure what Jerry is trying to say it seems in my oppion that he is telling us to hear what I am saying not what I am doing which if he were running for a political office I could see were he was going I may not understand his point but at least it would make some since. Some things that are encouraging me are comments by "ol timers" like Villa Rica and Pastor Joe (I wish Pastor Joe could blog I would love to hear his insite as well as Villa's) Many of you know I am a 3rd generation gospel preacher I talked to my dad J.D. Lancaster Pastor of FBC Spavina about all of this and he laughed and said are you sure this is happening I told him it's all right here and he just shook his head and asked how it got this bad. I didn't have a answer and as many of the young preachers that comment in their blogs and on the many others out there are talking more about leaving the SBC but I am like Bro. Villa if it's just me and him we will stay. Praying always In Him Kevin Lancaster