During this time of year, millions of people travel to various destinations to celebrate the holidays. We gather together for functions, parties, and dinners but do we spend time helping those who are less fortunate. The greatest blessing is being able to be a blessing to someone in need. As I travel this holiday season, I'm looking for opportunities to perform random acts of kindness. The enjoyment of seeing joy on someone's face as you give from your heart is priceless. This season while in Atlanta, I will be looking for people in need to gain the greatest joy which is being a blessing to others. Enjoy the season of giving.

The National Baptist Convention USA Congress of Christian Education is approaching in two weeks. Dallas, TX. here we come and the real question is "WHY IS  NO ONE EXCITED?" Now i will admit that part of my post is from thoughts from Pastor E. Houston from Kentucky (THE WIRE) but we are thinking on the same lines.

The issue is why is no one excited?We are about to experience the changing of the guard in all four major conventions within a short period of time.

This year, there are contested elections in the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. and the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. International. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. will be electing a new chieftain, apparently without any opposition. And the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America will soon begin their process of elections within the next few months.

I should be giddy; I should be interested and involved; I should be watching with great interest.

SO, WHY IS NO ONE EXCITED

The reality of today is that the paradigm of our National Conventions are in great need of prayerful examination. Little has changed since the historic NBC/NBCA split of 1915. Basically the same structures are in place: There are women missionary unions (which are dying all over the country in favor of “women ministries” or localized names for ministries for the women); Most churches have some type of men’s work, but on a national level, it’s dying. Oddly, the largest auxiliaries in most of our churches, music ministry, are largely ignored in most of the conventions.

In most of the conventions, the Presidency is held by, what I believe, are godly men who love the Lord. However, they are shepherding conventions that are not stuck because of the infusion of new leadership, they are stuck because the constituency is just not there.

Let’s look at it. In order to be a participating member, the average convention will ask for at least $1,000 of annual representation. However, to get to the convention, with airfare ridiculously high and hotels that are making major profits for a room that, if you go to the convention to be active as a delegate you won’t spend more than 8 hours in the room. If the room is $200 per night, that means you are paying $25 per hour to stay in that said room (8 hours) – or consider it like this – you are paying the hotelier $8.50 per hour NOT to stay in your room.

Airfares are ridiculously high. All of the national conventions are losing members in the Western United States because of the $500-$800 round trip airfare to fly from Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Orange County, etc. to go to the Midwest and Southern United States where most of our national meetings are held.

Many pastors struggle with asking a congregation to send them to the convention under these uncertain financial times.  In this age of technology, is there really a need for a “Board Meeting?”  In these times, is it really necessary to conduct business like we’re stuck in 1915. Why do we need a board of over 50 people to decide the work of a convention? Why is it that when you come to a convention you’ll hear either preachers who are not affiliated with your convention (which means there is a loss of support) or it’s the same one or two preachers who preach every year?

The reality of the thought process to developing the program is a person asks, “XYZ, do you want to preach?” the minister responded: “Yes sir, brother president.” “ABC, do you want to preach?” the minister responded: “Yes sir, brother president.” “DEF, do you want to preach?” the minister responded: “Yes sir, brother president.” “All right, we have made out our program, the Lord is pleased.”

Here is the reality of  what has happened to our conventions? I think we need to look at a few things:

• Conferences are killing the conventions. Whether it’s a preaching conference or a family conference (i.e., MegaFest) – they are now being populated by the same folk that used to go to National Baptist Conventions. At the Pastors’ Conference sponsored by Bishop T.D. Jakes, and You would have ran into so many PNBC, NMBCA, NBCA, and NBCUSA pastors, who are there because the receive vital and useful information, which can be used in their local congregations. The same is to be said of the preaching conferences that EQUIP pastors to do their most vital task – preach the word.
  

• Conventions are no longer THE PLACE to hear great, challenging preaching. Before the advent of YouTube, you HAD TO go to the Conventions to hear the best in black preaching. Very few ministers were on or could afford national TV exposure in that day – so if you wanted to hear Caeser A.W. Clark, E.K. Bailey, E. Edward Jones, Stephen Thurston, Melvin Wade, P.S. Wilkerson, John H. Jackson, Gardner Taylor, and others – you had to go to the Conventions. But now, I can hear Freddie Haynes in the privacy of my church office. I can hear Paul Sylvester Morton while I’m flying on an airplane. I can hear Charles Booth via CD or DVD. Our greatest preachers are not being heard when you come to the Convention. Why is that???
  

• Conventions are burning out those who support it. So many unproductive conference and the people are wary and to be truthfully honest the hardest workers aren’t coming back.  My thought is "If you go, then you should grow from what you encountered but that is not the cased for our four major conventions.
  

• This is going to be painful – but we don’t need all of these Conventions and Congresses. We really don’t. We have, as of this writing, four major Black African-American Baptist Conventions, not counting those who are in Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, the Global United Fellowship, Free Will Baptists, etc. We are stretched way too thin. By the time you have a District Association and Congress/Institute, a State Convention and Congress/Institute, a Regional Convention and Congress/Institute, a National Convention and Congress/Institute – you have financially tapped out your resources by giving to EIGHT DIFFERENT GROUPS. Most churches are cutting back or eliminating their participation not because they don’t recognize the historical significance of the convention, but literally the toll financially is too high.
  

• The Presidential elections are depressing instead of exciting. Before a president can really invoke change it's election time all over again. There is no true sense of stability. However, there is, in my opinion, a spirit of rebellion that has permeated our elections. If Candidate A wins, Candidate B and all of his people stop supporting. It’s like winning a boxing match, but you lose some of your teeth and your eye. You can still function, but not look like you could have won a victory. The personal attacks on leaders is so out of bounds. Run for the office, not trying to kill the person in office with slander and innuendo. This era of suggestion, innuendo . . . The Tea Party could be given a run for it’s money by how we conduct elections. Someone once said it takes about $100,000.00 to run for President of a convention. I don’t mind an election, as long as we remember that we’re brothers and sisters from the same cloth.
  

So what can be done to engender enthusiasm of those young people like me? I’m not sure. But in economic times like these, some consolidation should be on the table. 

• The world will not end if a Board Meeting were cancelled. 
• The world would not end if two conventions could reunite (think of the economic and political power of a unified convention). 
• The world will not end if we pooled our resources for a named objective (i.e., Resurrection of Bishop College). 
• The world will not end if we elected Vice Presidents or Presidents under 60 years old or General Secretaries in their 30s and 40s. 
• The world will not end if we took advantage of the rapidly changing technologies and instead of going to the convention, let the convention come to you.
• The world will not end if all of the conventions gave directly to Lott Carey and let that group manage our monies for missions. 
• The world will not end if a Board of Directors were only 7 people strong instead of 100 people weak. 
• The world will not end if the Pastor’s Conference went from preaching at me to teaching me techniques of how to preach when I get home. 
• The world not end if we stop the parade of vendors who tell trinkets and bring in vendors who sell resources.
• The world will not end if the Conventions went regional and held group meetings every 2 or 4 years nationally. 
• The world will not end if the Convention elected a Chief Operating Officer or some one well versed in Administration to run the conventions between meetings. 
• The world will not end if a Convention made a bold move and held its annual session or board meeting on a cruise ship .
•  The world would not end if it was completely electronic and we dispensed with the lanyards in favor of wrist bands. 
• The world will not end if the President doesn’t speak every year. 
• The world will not end if the Convention reached out to the West Coast and the Northeast Coast, instead of ignoring them. 
• The world will not end if the Convention hired several psychologists and counselors and created a “safe space” for pastors and/or their wives to go for some type of private counseling.

Oh well, I could must be dreaming to think these conventions are really ready to move forward . . .

Because you Asked

My best friend recently told me of an experience in which he entered a local appliance store in search of a TV. He had been to several places with no results and just on a thought, he entered into a national brand store. As he entered the area where the TV’s are stored, he noticed that several TVs were listed as open box specials. He had a set budget and is a very discipline shopper. He asked the right questions of the sales associate and was preparing to leave after unsuccessfully finding the right deal. As he was preparing to leave, the associate pointed at an area which had a lone TV which met his needs. She explained that when a TV is no longer being manufactured or discontinued, there is an additional discount added. My friend asked can you check the price? She returned with a set price but it was outside of his budget. My friend asked “since it is the last one, can I get the extra discount? As he spoke, in his spirit he remembered the bible verse which says that you have not because you ask not. The associate returned with a smile agreeing on the negotiated price.

Principle Moment: What is it that you desire but do not have because you ask not?

There are blessings that we can receive but don’t because we ask not.

Because you Asked… God is waiting to restore upon you the many blessings He has stored for you in heaven.

Because you Asked… God will open doors for you which no man can shut

Because you Asked… God can heal your sick body



Because you Asked… God can restore those things taken from you unauthorized

Because you Asked… God will move people, situations, conditions, and circumstances out of your way

Because you Asked… God can and God will.

No gimmicks, no name it and claim it… If you align in His Will, then you will ask for that which aligns in God’s will for your life and it shall be given unto you. Get in His Will and receive His reward.

WORRY
Today we focus on the temptation we all face, to worry rather than to trust God. If you say that you always trust and never worry, then I worry about you. Elizabeth Cheney wrote a cute little poem about worry. 

It goes, Said the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the robin, “Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father, such as cares for you and me.”

We do act like that sometimes, don’t we? It’s as if God didn't exist or hadn't made so many precious promises to us in His Word. Now, according to the dictionary, worry means “To feel uneasy or concerned about something; to be troubled.” The word “worry” in Greek means “that which divides, distracts the mind or draws a troubled person’s mind in different directions.” Worry pulls us apart and unnecessarily so.

Now look, most people experience short-lived periods of worry in their lives without incident. In fact, a moderate amount of worry can even have positive benefit if it prompts people to take precautions. For example, if you buy life insurance because you worry about your family should something happen to you. Your worry causes you to do a positive thing. Or when you fasten your seat belt because you fear you will die in an accident. Your worry could save your life. But mostly worry eats away at your mind and ruins your life.
Just look at people’s faces. They are constricted, a little frown creases across their forehead, their faces are taut, intense. They are worried about, well just about everything. Will there be enough money to pay their bills? Are their jobs secure? Is their spouse running around on them? How will their kids turn out? They have a doctor’s visit on Thursday. What will that bring? There are about as many worries as there are things to worry about.

What the Bible Says About Worry
The Bible clearly teaches that Christians are not to worry. Listen to what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Now, don’t miss this. There are two imperative verbs in this verse. “Do not be anxious” is a command, not a request. It’s an imperative. “Let your requests be made known” is also an imperative.

So this passage presents both the negative and positive. The negative command is “Don’t be anxious” and the positive command is “Take your concerns to God in prayer.” Sounds too simple, I know, but it’s God’s truth. Don’t worry, pray. And yet we often do everything but pray, don’t we?

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to the words of Jesus Himself. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:25-34.)
Well, now that we have the Bible’s perspective on why worry is harmful and not helpful, let’s think about some practical reasons why you should not worry. There are seven of them. Jot them down and review them later in your mind.

1. When you worry, you accomplish nothing at all. Worry is of no value whatsoever.
Let me ask you, how much time do you have to waste each day? Probably not much. So if you spend your day worrying about things, you waste your day. Worrying about deadlines. Worrying about rising gas prices. Worrying about paying bills. These are all common things that we all seem to worry about and yet while we worry about them, we are wasting our time. Worry never solved any problem—not one.

Now, just think about the weeks, months or years the average person worries in a lifetime and how much of their lives they have wasted. Had they only taken their problems to God in prayer, they could have left their problems with Him to take care of and done something more profitable with their time. Remember Jesus’ question: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” We might add to that, “Which of you by being anxious can add any degree of quality to your life?” The answer is none of us gain anything by worrying. But there’s more.

2. Not only will worrying not help you at all, worrying is actually harmful to you.
We all know that worrying is not good for your mind or your body. That’s not new medical news. But did you know that it’s old biblical news? Proverbs 12:25, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

3. Worry is often about things in the past that we have no way to deal with.
This is a classic case of the past dominating the present and our worrying about things that are too late to change. I like what George Bernard Shaw said about this. “People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.”

4. Worry is often about things that will never actually happen.
Strange isn’t it, but a high percentage of the things we worry about never happen. We worry that they might happen. That’s why Jesus says that today’s troubles are enough; don’t worry about potential troubles that might or might not come tomorrow. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about this in a little verse that goes, “Some of your hurts you have cured, And the sharpest you still have survived, But what torments of grief you endured, From the evil which never arrived.” Worrying about things that likely will never happen is not only foolish, it is painful. Thomas Jefferson said, “How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened.” So look at worry as an investment in pain, not an investment in problem solving. Do not be afraid of tomorrow; God is already there.


5. Worry is the antithesis of faith. If trusting God is His desire for us, worrying is clearly showing little respect for God.
We often think that worry is about us. If we worry, it’s nobody’s business but ours. But that’s not true. Since God has provided a way out of worry, by taking our burdens to Him in prayer, our worry is really a reflection of what we believe about God. When you replace worry with prayer, the result is trust in God. It’s all about God and what you believe about Him. Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Note the three things Paul tells us to replace worry with: prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. And notice the result that Paul promises: “the peace of God will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

• Isn't God’s peace better than worrying uselessly?
  
• Isn't faith better than worry? 
  
• Isn't prayer better than worry?
  

 So why do we worry? Is it because as innate sinners we have a propensity to sin? Here’s what Paul says to us: “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

6. Worry opens the door for Christians to fall into deeper sin.
Think of the story of Moses and the grumbling Israelite  It’s found in Exodus 32. Moses had been at the top of Mount Sinai talking with God. While there, the people worried whether or not he would ever return so they took action—the wrong action—but their chosen action. They begged Aaron to build them an idol of a golden calf. And then they began dancing and soon an ogre ensued. The Hebrew verbs clearly have sexual overtones. And what brought them to this place? Worry. The Israelite followed the pattern of worry: worry leads to sin and the rest of the story, as they say, is history. That’s why 1 Peter 5:7 counsels us, “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 

Don’t let these five things slip by you too quickly. Think about them. They are all bionically based, most of them on the words of Christ. Someone has said that “Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.” That’s why Jesus said, “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). But even then we don’t have to live with worry. We can turn it over to God and exercise faith in Him to take care of what worries us. Corrie Ten Boom wrote, “Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.” If you are struggling with the issue of worry today, I would never make light of that. But I also know that the remedy for worry is trust, and the means of expressing trust in God is prayer. Pray is the key. It’s a worry killer.

7. Worry has a way of consuming us.
Some people worry so much that it overwhelms them, it destroys their life. They can’t think about anything else. They can’t do anything else. Worry becomes a lifestyle. And this wouldn’t be so bad if there were not a remedy to worry, but there is. The prayer of faith is the antidote to worry, and the only way we will stop worry from taking over our lives is to hand over to God in prayer what worries us and then just to knock it off. Stop worrying. Start living a life of demonstrated faith. Don’t just tell God you trust Him, trust Him. A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.

Worry is a very common temptation, maybe one that gets you. As we have seen today, the answer for worry is prayer. When we trust God enough to take what worries to Him in prayer and then leave it with Him and not take it back, that’s when we beat worry. Are you ready for some victory over worry? Get into God’s Word every day. Read all the promises He has made to you about how to conquer your worries. And then get to know God more comfortable through praying to Him, just telling Him what’s on you mind.

Here’s a promise to take with you today. Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” Isn't that a great promise?

A BAKER’S DOZEN OF VERSES ABOUT WORRY

• Matthew 6:25-27 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
  
• Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
  
• Luke 12:25 “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”
• John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
  
• 2 Thessalonians 3:16 “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
  
• Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
  
• Proverbs 12:25 “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”
  
• Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
  
• 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
  
• Isaiah 43:1-3 “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
  
• Psalm 56:3 “‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.’”
  
• Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
• Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”