Never Ending Vacation

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24 

My wife and I love being grandparents. Not long ago we took our grandkids on a vacation with us. We had a great time together. On the last day of our trip our granddaughter said, “I want to stay on vacation forever!” I think all of us agreed with her, but reality would not let us stay on vacation forever.

I imagine most people share my granddaughter's sentiment. Vacations are fun. No work. No responsibilities. Someone else cooking the food and cleaning up the room and making the bed. Enjoying a variety of fun activities to endlessly entertain us. That is what vacations are all about. Who would ever want that to end?

But of course, all vacations do come to an end. Eventually we have to go back to work to save up money for our next vacation! At some point we have to demonstrate responsibility for our homes and families. That is what life is all about.

Sadly, some people have not learned this simple truth. They think they can just float through life without accepting responsibility for anything. They might get away with it for a while, but at some point the party comes to an end. It is better to learn how to accept responsibility early in life, find a job that is meaningful, care for one’s family well, set up a realistic financial structure, and find a church to join and become involved in. These are the ingredients of a happy life. While an endless vacation might sound tempting, it is just not how life works. Don’t wait to learn this lesson after everything has crumbled around you. Learn it now and then live the life God wants you to have.

Lord, thank you for the fun times You give us. Help us to also learn the importance of accepting responsibility for living a good and godly life. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He 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:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

Leaving a Gospel Legacy

Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."                   - Matthew 26:13

Saint Matthew shares a story in his Gospel about a woman who anointed Jesus with a pound of expensive perfume. It was valued at nearly a year’s wages. She did this to prepare Jesus for His burial. It was a pivotal moment in the gospel story. Regretfully, not everyone was excited about her sacrifice for Christ. Some murmured against her, calling it a waste of money. But Jesus said that what she did always would be remembered everywhere the gospel was preached. What a legacy she created in a single act of sacrifice for Christ!

This story in scripture has always challenged me. Does it challenge you? I would like to be able to honor Jesus in a way that leaves a legacy for future generations of gospel hearers. Perhaps you share that desire. Though I am unable to physically anoint Jesus with expensive perfume as this lady did, if I prayerfully seek ways to honor Christ on a regular basis, and then at certain pivotal moments in life, I am willing to make significant sacrifices for the Lord, God will be able to use those moments to create a gospel legacy for His glory.

While there are many ways to leave a gospel legacy, one way my wife and I are trying to do this is by contributing each year to the Baptist Foundation of New England. Though our gifts are not large, knowing our gifts are added to the gifts of others and managed in a way that will produce ministry income until Jesus comes again is very meaningful to us. We know it will be a legacy that will help  future generations hear about Jesus.

I would urge you to consider doing something similar so that you too can leave a gospel legacy. If you do not have a favorite charity that does this, I would be happy to tell you more about the ministry of the Foundation, just email me. We can all make a difference if we will let the Spirit work through us in ways that leave a legacy for future generations.

Lord, give us a heart for the next generation and move us to sacrifice for them. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He 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:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

The Difference Between Pastors and Missionaries

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Missions. Just the word alone put images in our minds. For many people it means that someone leaves their home in the United States and goes to live in a grass hut in a Third World undeveloped country and eats monkey brains for breakfast every day. For other people it means a person must learn a foreign language so they can communicate with some exotic people group. 

But when I think about the word “missions,” I think more about the focus of one’s ministry, not the location of that ministry. To me missions means that we are focused on reaching non-believers with the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of where they live, what language they speak, or what they eat for breakfast. We need far more missionaries than we currently have if we are to impact both our local community and the farthest corners of the earth for Christ.

I think being a missionary is different than being a pastor. Pastors primarily serve believers in the local church by equipping them to do ministry effectively. It is important work. We need more healthy effective pastors doing the work that pastors are supposed to do. Good pastors strengthen their local church and then that church is able to send out missionaries. They might send them across the street, to the next town, the next state, or to other countries. 

Missionaries focus on reaching lost people for Christ. That does not mean they do not disciple people or strengthen churches, that is just not their focus. Pastors focus on discipling believers. That does not mean they do not engage in missions, of course they do, that is just not their focus. For example, while a pastor is thinking of how he will lead another small group Bible study, a missionary is thinking about how he will reach another community with the gospel. One is not better than the other, it is just different. And both are needed. 

Sometimes missionaries become pastors. And sometimes pastors become missionaries. But most often, they discover a calling from God and remain in that primary calling for most of their ministry. We need both pastors and missionaries working in partnership to fulfill the Great Commission. We need lay people to support their pastors and to support the missionary programs that their church has set up. Both are needed and both need prayers, volunteers and funding. They should not be in competition, but in partnership together so that they whole world might hear the glorious gospel of Christ.

Lord, raise up pastors and missionaries to help lead the church to be all that You want it to be. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He 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:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

The Call to Ministry

Ezekiel 33:7 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.” (NIV)

I remember when I first began to feel a calling to ministry. I was in the eighth grade and attending a Christian school. In the chapel service they suggested that God would not have us in that school unless He wanted us to be involved in some kind of ministry. They challenged all the young men to be willing to surrender to the ministry if God should call them. I remember thinking that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a pastor. I wasn’t sure that God was calling to ministry. But I didn’t want to be disobedient to God either. Over the next few days I thought about it a lot and one night before I went to bed I prayed about it. I told the Lord that if He ever wanted me to be in ministry I do it. But I was also happy to just be a lay person in the church if that was what God wanted me to do.

Fast forward serval years and I found myself a counselor at a Christian camp. I was 16 years old. One evening in my personal devotions was reading a passage from the book of Ezekiel about becoming a watchman to the house of Israel. As I read that verse I sensed something happen in my spirit. It was as if it God had written that verse specifically to me. Somehow, deep in my inner being and I knew God was telling me that I was to be a watchman warning others to turn from their sin and to the Lord. 

From that point forward I altered all of my plans and goals in life to focus on training for ministry. During the years since, I have served a children’s pastor in a mega-church, a youth pastor in a medium sized church, as the pastor of a small church and as a church planter. I have also invested much of my time in ministry as an administrator in the denomination I am part of. My ministry to an entire geographical region gives me the opportunity to spread the Gospel much farther than I could if I was only serving a single church. Who would have thought that an 8th grader from a small Christian school in the Midwest would be called by God to impact New England, one of the most influential regions of our nation? But when a person is called to a certain ministry, that person cannot imagine doing anything else, and that definitely describes my life.

If you are thinking about ministry, you do not have to figure it all out at once. Like my experience, you may find yourself in a variety of ministry experiences that will work together to prepare you for the special ministry to which God has called you. And once you find it, you will be the most fulfilled you have ever been as you serve as one of God’s watchman turning others to the Lord and away from their sin.

Lord, please call many people into Your service, in a variety of different types of ministry, so that our nation might be turned from their sinful ways and follow You again. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He 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:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY