Tuesday, February 28, 2017

What Disasters Teach Us


Matthew 10:29-31 - Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Vermont typically is not in danger from hurricanes. But in 2012 the land locked state was hit hard by the after effects of Hurricane Irene. Southern Vermont was devastated and many towns there were forever altered. Northfield and Waterbury, both in Central Vermont, were also badly hit. At the time, I was the Director of the Green Mountain Baptist Association. In that role I was involved in a whirlwind of activity helping coordinate relief efforts.

One evening as I drove through a small village looking at all the ruined possessions laying in people's front yards, it made me appreciate what God had given me. Clothes, furniture, kitchen appliances, books and all manner of personal possessions were in pile after pile. People had no idea a few days ago that so many of their personal possessions would lie in ruins on their front lawns. The flood waters had ruined these items. Though they had once held great value to the owners, now they were simply waiting to be loaded into a dumpster and thrown away. At first glance, it would seem that people's whole lives were in their front yards.

But our lives are not just the accumulation of possessions. As bad as the floods were across our state, only a handful of people lost their lives. The vast majority of people only lost their belongings. While I do not mean to make light of the loss of one's possessions, I would suspect that if we interviewed any of those flood victims, they would all agree that having their family safe was far more important than having those piles of possessions back. As long as we have each other, we will have our most important possessions.

Lord, help us appreciate the people in our lives and not focus so much on our possessions. Amen.

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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

Monday, February 27, 2017

The Value of Contextualization

 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 - To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win those under the law. To those who are without that law, like one without the law—not being without God’s law but within Christ’s law—to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some.

I grew up in a city in the Midwest. As a teenager I moved to a small city in Virginia. After college I lived in a city in South Carolina. Since I had lived in a city most of my life, it was quite a culture shock when I moved to rural Vermont in 1993. It was a small village with less than 1,000 residents. We moved there to serve as missionaries with the North American Mission Board. We served a rural church with less than 20 members, which was struggling for survival.

It has been my custom for years to walk in the mornings and pray about what God is doing in my life. That first week of living in a rural area I struck out walking down the main street, which was also the only paved street in town. I did not get very far before I encountered a cow that had escaped from the pasture and was standing in the middle of the road. Having grown up in the city, I did not know quite what to do, so I froze in my tracks. My life flashed before my eyes. My heart raced with fear. Would this cow charge me? Would it trample me? Would it eat me? Surely this vicious creature was a killer cow!

I do not know how long I stood in the middle of the road looking at that cow, but someone drove by in their pickup truck and asked what I was doing. I replied that a killer cow had gotten loose and I did not know what to do. They looked at me, looked at the cow and laughed hysterically as they drove away. Eventually I realized that the poor creature was just a harmless old milk cow. I slowly eased past her and went on my way. I knew I was not in the city anymore!

To live successfully in a rural area, I had to adjust to the presence of cows in the middle of the road. I also had to adjust how I did ministry so that it fit my context. I learned to show up at the post office each morning at 9:30 AM when everyone came to get their mail. I could visit half the town in an hour. I learned that I was the pastor for the whole community, not just my 20 church members. As the community pastor I provided weddings, funerals, counseling and hospital visits for the entire community, even though many of them had little or no affiliation with our church. I learned how important it was to make a contribution to the annual 8th grade fundraiser. I learned not to wear a tie, as it made people think I was either a Mormon or a bill collector, neither of which were very welcome in that small rural village.

During the eight years I served that church, I learned a great many things about how to minister in a rural village. However, I never had to change the Gospel itself. The Gospel is always relevant to all cultures in all time periods and to all people groups. There is no other Gospel but the one found in the New Testament that begins with the sinfulness of mankind and ends with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But methods and programs used to communicate the Gospel are constantly changing. One generation might use flannelgraph and chalkboards, another generation might use video projectors and smart boards, but the message of the Gospel remains the same.

Since my fateful encounter with that killer cow so many years ago, I have learned to communicate the Gospel in a variety of ways as I have started churches and led evangelistic activities across New England. Each town is a little different, but in each one God has called a group of people to Himself. My ministry is to join God in His work and communicate His Gospel in a way that the called can hear and respond. When that happens, the Gospel goes forth and God is glorified, and His people rejoice, even if it looks differently than what we are used to.

Lord, help us learn to share the Gospel in ways those around us can understand. Amen.


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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:



Saturday, February 25, 2017

Enjoy the Frustrations of Living

Psalm 30:1-5 - I will exalt You, Lord, because You have lifted me up and have not allowed my enemies to triumph over me. Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me. Lord, You brought me up from Sheol; You spared me from among those going down to the Pit. Sing to Yahweh, you His faithful ones, and praise His holy name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor, a lifetime. Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.



I like things all planned out. But sometimes, no matter how much we plan, things happen that are beyond our control. I recall once planning a special service to license a pastor to the ministry. We had invited a number of special guests to be part of the service. Everyone was excited about the special service. The church we were meeting in did to have their own building, they rented space on a college campus. When we arrived to set up things for the service, the building manager informed us that there had been a last minute change in plans. They needed the large room we normally use to accommodate someone in the administration. They had reassigned us to a much room across the sprawling campus complex. With only minutes until the service began, we had to move all our stuff to a different building and quickly set it up. There was little time to inform members of the congregation where we relocated to. The alternative meeting location was on the third floor of a building and down several maze-like hallways. It was hard to find and even harder to explain to our special guests who had not been on campus before. It seemed like the service was going to be a disaster. Our leadership team started calling and texting members of the congregation and special guests to tell them how to find the new location. It was a very stressful situation and our plans for a special service felt like they were rapidly evaporating.

Eventually, we got everything set up and began the service only ten minutes behind schedule. People kept trickling in as they discovered where we were. To our surprise, we ended up having a record attendance that morning! The service itself went great. As we prayed over the pastor to license him, all the frustration seemed to melt away and a sense of real joy filled the room. In the end, God got the glory, and His Word was proclaimed during the service.

Life is like that. Unexpected things happen that raise stress levels. God works through them and blesses the situation anyway. Then another challenge happens, and God works through that too. It happens again and again, but each time God works through the situation and brings glory to His name. The frustrations of life are many, but so are the joys when we keep our focus on Him. The joy of knowing and serving Christ make the frustrations of life worth it. If we just keep exalting the Lord, even in the midst of chaos and sadness, joy eventually comes.

Lord, give us joy in the midst of the struggles of life. Amen.

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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:


Friday, February 24, 2017

The Bible: Life's Instruction Book


Psalm 111:10 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever.

Once I helped a friend assemble a movie display at a theatre. This was not a simple display where he and I could just open the box and put the display on the wall. It was a complicated display that was nearly as tall as I am and twice as long. It had very complicated instructions.

We spent three hours inserting tab A into slot B while attaching strap C to holder D. It was obvious that whoever designed the display was a brilliant engineer with a flair for thinking of ways to make cardboard look like a whole city block. But they clearly did not know how to write instructions in plain English that non-engineers could understand. It took quite a while to figure out the difference between tab A and tab J and holder D and holder Z. But piece by piece we assembled the display. Following the directions exactly, one step at a time, we finally got the project done. It looked amazing when it was finished.

Life is a lot like building a complicated display. We do not just take life out of box and instantly have good marriages, healthy families, meaningful careers or vibrant spirituality. In order to make life work, there are a lot of things that have to be done in the correct order and at the right time. We need a set of directions for how to get through life. If we skip a step in those instructions, or try to take a short cut, life ends up lopsided.

Fortunately, there is a set of instructions for life. It is called the Bible. Many people think the Bible is out of date and no longer relevant to our post-modern culture. They clearly have not read the Bible carefully. The stories in the Bible reveal people dealing with many of the very same problems that we hear about in our modern era. In the Bible we can find stories of people facing financial issues, family problems, war, crime, and corrupt governments. We can find stories of believers making right choices, as well as believers making terrible choices. The Bible is full of stories about how people dealt with real life issues. It also contains a lot of helpful advice about how we can deal with our own issues in life. Though life is complicated, if we follow the instructions God gave us, like the movie display my friend and I assembled, life can end up looking pretty good when we get to the end.

Lord, help us to study the Bible more and follow Your directions life. Amen.

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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Right Information Leads to Right Choices

Psalm 33:11 - The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.

I was on the way to visit a friend at his home. He was interested in being involved in our ministry so I was eager to meet with him. I had never been to his home before but he gave me the address and I used by GPS to navigate my way there. However, when I arrived, I could not find the house. There were houses with numbers higher and lower than the address he had given me, but that house number was missing. After driving up and down the road a couple of times, I called him on his cell. We realized I had gone to Stevens Street, when I was actually looking for Stephens Street. The streets are pronounced the same way, but have a slightly different spelling. They are on opposite sides of town. I would have never found the address on the first street, because that address does not exist. We had a good laugh about it when I finally got to the right place. What a difference those letters made!

That experience made me think about how important it is to make sure we get our facts right before striking off on some task, journey or line of thought. If we have a faulty premise, it will lead us the wrong direction and we may never find what we are looking for. Even if the mistake is subtle or if it sounds right but is not, if our faulty premise takes us in a wrong direction, we will be frustrated and never may find what we are looking for.

For example, if we are considering marriage, if we start out thinking that if it does not work out, we can just get a divorce, that will impact how we handle conflict in our relationship. Such thinking leads us to a much different conclusion than we would come to if we went into it thinking we were going to stick with out no matter what and trust God to make the relationship what it should be.

If we are thinking about what college to go to, if we start out thinking which school has the best recreational activities, we will end up in a much different place than if we ask ourselves which school will best help us gain the training we need to achieve our career goals.

Examples are numerous, but the point is clear. We need to start off with right information and correct reasoning so we can head the right direction in life. How do we find the right info? Do some research. Discuss the issue with people who have already been there. Ask lots of questions. Most importantly, read the Bible and pray for guidance! The Bible is still relevant for today and God’s advice is always right. As we learn to trust in the Lord’s advice, we will head in the right direction in life.

Lord, help us listen to Your advice and follow Your directions. Amen.

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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Christianity 101

Mark 8:36-37 - For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Shortly after Pope Francis became Pope I heard an interesting comment on the news. The commentator was talking about Pope Francis and his emphasis on compassion for the vulnerable. In the banter back and forth between the various commentators, this fellow said, "It's just Christianity 101. The basis of Christianity is to help the poor." This commentator was not a theologian, nor was he an official spokesperson for Pope Francis, but he expressed a common idea that many people have, which is that the primary purpose of the church is to help the poor and needy.

While helping the poor and vulnerable is a key part of how Christianity demonstrates the love of Christ to others (James 1:27, John 13:35), it is not the basis of Christianity. The basis of Christianity is what Christ has done. Christianity 101 is that people, by nature and by choice, are sinners. Anyone who doubts this need only watch the nightly news to see the depravity of people. But Christianity 101 also says that God loves us and His love is more powerful than man's sinfulness. Christianity 101 teaches us that our messed up condition must somehow be corrected. After all, a loving God would never leave us in our messed up condition. This idea that sin must be atoned for is where our concept of justice comes from. Innately, we know that there is a consequence for bad actions and a price to be paid when a wrong is done. One does not have to be a theologian to understand that. Thousands of years of human history have clearly proven that we are incapable of fixing our messes ourselves, therefore, God sent His Son Jesus to earth to show us a better way to live. Jesus then offered Himself up as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, thereby satisfying the nature of justice, as well as setting an example for daily life. That is Christianity 101.

This does not mean that helping the poor and the needy is unimportant. Clearly Jesus expects us to do that, but helping the poor and needed is Christianity 201, not 101. People must first address their own sinfulness before they can help others in ways that make a long term difference. People must first find the love of God in their own life before they can adequately give that love to someone else through compassion that really helps, instead of a patronizing attitude that actually hurts.

Perhaps the problem with much of what the church is doing is that we have attempted to help the poor and needy without first finding the help that God gives in our own lives. We must first enroll in Christianity 101, and then progress to Christianity 201. When the church gets the order right, it will become what it was meant to be, a place for both spiritual peace and compassionate charity. Either one without the other is an incomplete picture of what the church is supposed to be.

Lord, help us know You personally in a real and vibrant way and then enable us to assist the poor with both their physical and spiritual needs. Amen.

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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Do We Believe in Ministry More Than Video Games?

Matthew 6:33 - But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
 
My primary ministry is to coordinate the work of my denomination in the region where I live. In that role I get to spend time with many fine young couples who have a passion for changing their corner of the world. They are often serving in challenging settings, whether off the beaten path rural communities or inner city urban areas. Many of them are serving small churches with limited budgets. Many of them are starting new churches in places underserved by existing congregations. One of the things I help them do is connect with partners who will stand with them in prayer, giving and volunteering until their ministry is strong enough to stand on its own. Those partners come from other area churches as well as from churches outside our area. It is a lot of work to find partners willing to sacrifice their time, their treasure and their talents to help a church they are not even part of. But the Lord touches hearts and partners join the cause.

One week a pastor sent a Facebook message to me. He had been working the social media angle pretty hard trying to find partners. Though some people had responded, many had not. In a pointed moment of realization it occurred to him that many of the people he was contacting about partnering with him were ignoring his messages about partnering but sending him countless messages inviting him to play games on Facebook. He found it ironic that they would talk to him a lot about video games but not about sharing Jesus with others. His message pondered what it would be like if he could get people as excited about partnering with him in ministry as they were about playing games on Facebook. I wonder the same thing.


People who tell me they do not have time to volunteer seem to have the time to play on both softball and basketball leagues. People who tell me they do not have money to donate somehow have the money to drive the latest model car with all the upgrades. Pastors who tell me their church is too stretched to help plant another church find money for another round of renovations in a sanctuary that already looks pristine. Church youth groups and senior adult groups go amazing sight-seeing trips on fully equipped buses, but seem unable to take those same people on a mission trip. Once I got a letter from a mega-church asking me for money. They wanted to build a $120,000 playground for the children in their already well-funded private school. I sent them a letter back suggesting they tithe off their playground fund to a church plant in New England. I never got a response.

The point I am trying to make is that we have somehow gotten our priorities all messed up. Now Christians play games and have fun instead of being about the business of winning others to Jesus. I am not suggesting that we should never have fun or play games, but somewhere along the line we must stop playing games with our faith and start doing whatever it takes to win our nation to Jesus.

Lord, help us be serious about the business of sharing Christ with those around us. Amen.

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This devotional is from the book “Heavenly Mundane” by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. Dr. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at: