What's with the Name?

by Bob Sezter, Jr

So what's up with the name, "The First Baptist Church of Christ"? It's a question we get a lot from newbies to our family of faith.

Which is a good thing. Because the question gives us a chance to explain we are not a garden-variety First Baptist Church. This is said not in arrogance or in judgment, but as a simple statement of fact. The truth is, we are more progressive in spirit, liturgical in worship, and welcoming and ecumenical in our reach than most First Baptist Churches in the south (and perhaps beyond the south, but I claim no expertise in Yankee religion!).

READ MORE

"Gotcha!"

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Gotcha is the universal trademark of the trickster or tease. He or she fires off a prank or pun and waits for a reaction from the target. When realization dawns, the one so afflicted (or delighted!) turns to see the jokester watching in amused glee. The polished provocateur points, winks, and says, "Gotcha!"

There are a lot of gotchas in the Gospels.

One of those occurs in the 18th chapter of  Matthew. Jesus is offering some practical tips on managing the inevitable spats that occur within any family, especially the family of the church. And for once, Jesus' teaching sounds imminently doable. Matthew, notepad at the ready, is scribbling furiously. "This is good!" he muses. "I've got to get this in my book!"

READ MORE

11-Minute Warning

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Now here's a scary thought: The typical guest visiting our Sunday morning worship service decides within the first eleven minutes whether he or she is coming back! That is one finding of a recent study about reaching those without a church home.

The so-called "eleven-minute rule" means the person negotiating his or her way to the top of Poplar for the first time is not undecided for long. From the moment he or she lands on our property, the clock is ticking. And at every step along the way, he or she is making judgments, consciously and unconsciously, about whether this place and this people are a good fit.

READ MORE

Jesusland

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Not infrequently, Jesus shows up in some pretty surprising places. According to recent news reports, the face of Jesus has been seen in a pizza sold in Australia, a poppy petal photographed in the high desert of California, and in the swirling images on a tie-dyed T-shirt in Cleveland. (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/popup?id=2729440)

But of all the Jesus sightings reported in the news of late, the one that most piqued my interest occurred in Kinston, North Carolina. There a utility pole draped in kudzu, created a jaw-dropping sensation. The locals say the kudzu, hanging from the pole and electrical wire, looks like Jesus hanging from his cross. And from the AP photo I saw of this signal event (pun intended), they are right!  (http://www.macon.com/2011/06/29/1614332/holy-kudzu-vine-in-nc-town-said.html).

Kent Hardison, a commuter who passes the kudzu draped utility pole each day, considered blasting the offending vine with herbicide. But as Mr. Hardison peered at the vine, he had an epiphany: "It looks like Jesus!" And then the sobering realization hit home: "You can't spray Roundup on Jesus!"

READ MORE

Church after Church

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Recently, Jonathan Alderman and I were talking in the parking lot after Wednesday night church. Most veteran FBCers realize the parking lot, as well as the sanctuary, can be holy ground. Often, in encounters on the asphalt, "church after church" unfolds.

That evening, Jonathan and I were talking about his sister, Amelia Anne, who died much too young in 2009. He recalled Amelia Anne's love of stories. Indeed, those of us who knew and loved Amelia Anne can vouch that "story" was her primary dialect.

"Whenever I needed an answer from Amelia Anne about something," Jonathan said, "I could never get a simple yes or no answer. With her, it was always, ‘Let me tell you a story.' Eventually, she would give me an answer to my question, but only after she told her story. Sometimes, the story was the answer."

READ MORE

Ride On

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
A couple of weeks ago, I went on a long bike ride on one of those 102 degree days. This was not as daunting as it sounds. While biking, one gets a breeze most of the time, especially when whizzing downhill. And in Macon, one's t-shirt is soaking wet within the first ten minutes. A wet, clammy t-shirt plus a steady breeze makes for pretty effective cooling.

That day I had a route mapped out in the countryside beyond Bolingbroke. At first, I was blissfully breezing along, marveling at the beauty of the pastures, horses, and farms that rolled past to my left and right. I took care to stay hydrated, gulping frequently from my water bottle. The ride was a lot of fun, but taking longer than I anticipated. Much longer.

READ MORE

Really Seeing

by Bob Setzer Jr.
When I was about 9 or 10, my mother took me to the eye doctor. He told me to look at a page of different colored circles, each about the size of a bead, and asked what I saw. No problem. I saw the shapes and patterns clearly. Or so I thought. Actually, I saw the "wrong" shapes and patterns, the ones you see if you are color-blind. That's when my mother figured out why I sometimes wore one blue sock and one black one.

Being color "blind" doesn't mean one cannot see colors, except for a rare form of the malady. Rather, most color-blind people (usually boys and men) see colors a little differently. For example, it's hard for me to discern hues of color, say purple as opposed to blue or tan instead of brown. I was an adult before I learned a "green light" was actually green; growing up, I thought the light was white, like the light bulbs in a house; the "green" part I took to be a reference to a bygone age when traffic lights were actually green. (To tell you the truth, I'm still a little suspicious about this one. Grass is green; I can't believe a traffic light is that color.)

READ MORE

Membership

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
What does it mean to be a "member" of the First Baptist Church of Christ?

Is a member someone who was baptized in the 1960s following  Vacation Bible School, but has not been seen or heard from since?

Is a member someone who was once active in our church but moved away years ago and never joined another congregation? And what exactly is a "non-resident" member? How can one be a member of a church without being ever being present to the church?

Is a member someone who drifted out of active participation with a local community of faith, years ago, but still shows up for the Christmas Eve Service?

READ MORE

Safe and Free

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
I hold in my hand a glossy DVD case embossed with a gently waving American flag. The flag frames a photo of a Chinook helicopter hovering in the sky. The title on the case reads, "Memorial Service, 21 February 2007, Fort Campbell, Kentucky . . . Bravo Company, 160th Special Operations, Airborne."

This DVD was given to me by the grandmother of one of the young men remembered in the memorial service. She is a fellow pilgrim in the journey with Jesus at the top of Poplar. I will always remember going to her house upon learning her grandson had been killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. There were no magic, preacherly words to say, to make everything better, just an offering of shared anguish and of tears.

READ MORE

Thinking about Osama

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
I'm about to get myself in real trouble.

Osama bin Laden is the man we all love to hate and Lord knows, he deserves it. The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on our nation unleashed immeasurable suffering and loss for thousands of American families. Further, the political and economic consequences of his diabolical design continue to define our world in costly and terrible ways.

Still, when I see those video clips of that pathetic, graying old man hunched in front of his 14" color TV set with a remote in his hand--as though he still controlled the fate of men and of nations--I find something strange, ugly, and repellent welling up within me: pity. I can't help but feel pity that some mother's son turned into such a spectacle of shame, hatred, impotence, and utter isolation, which to me is a pretty good working definition of "hell."

READ MORE

What Is It About You Preachers?

by Bob Setzer, Jr.

"So what is it about you preachers? Why is preaching so important to you?"

Someone asked me that after hearing how badly I missed being in the pulpit on Easter. Thankfully, I was where I needed to be that Sunday, by Bambi's side in the immediate aftermath of her mother's death. And I knew the First Baptist family could not be in better hands with Edd Rowell as our guest preacher.

Still for me, not preaching on Easter was a significant loss. Any preacher who doesn't long to be in the pulpit on Easter, passionately proclaiming “Christ is risen indeed!”, really needs to look for a new line of work.

"So what is it about you preachers? Why is preaching so important to you?" Hmm. Let me count the ways.

READ MORE

In This World=Trouble

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
In John 16:33, Jesus proclaims, “In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It is a promise we need in the wake of seeing the devastation and ruin wrought by recent killer tornadoes.

I saw some Google satellite pics that reveal before and after shots of the tornado-seared landscape in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. The swath of utter destruction left by that black, billowing cloud packing 200 mph winds is hard to fathom. The loss of life and property is mind-numbing and heartbreaking. According to one report, there are nearly 400 people dead or missing in Tuscaloosa alone.

READ MORE

A Grieving Good Friday

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
On Easter Sunday morning, I worshiped in Greensboro, North Carolina where Bambi's mother, Mrs. Lilly Wilson, passed away the Friday before. Certainly given the circumstances, I was profoundly grateful for the great Good News of Easter that Christ robbed death of its prey. But I sorely missed being with God's people at the top of Poplar, rubbing shoulders with beloved fellow pilgrims, soaking up the beauty of stained-glass light, and thrilling to the music of the best choir this side of heaven.

I was thankful my friend Edd Rowell was available to fill the pulpit with his usual wit, wisdom, and passionate faith. And I was grateful for staff colleagues and others who urged me to stay by Bambi's side in North Carolina rather than rush back to Macon to preach. Still, for any preacher who loves his or her craft, being out of the pulpit on Easter is a trying ordeal.

READ MORE

Holy Week

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
As this column is being written, the church is in the midst of Holy Week. But though the dark shadows of Good Friday yet loom, there is no doubting how the story will end. On Easter Sunday, Jesus will rise with the dawn to vanquish the darkness of sin and death, so on that blessed day we will gather to sing and shout our Alleluias.

The journey of Lent--the forty days preceding Easter--is a time to enter more deeply into Jesus’ suffering and passion.  During Lent, we revisit Jesus’ challenge to Jerusalem--and us--as he unmasks our hypocrisy, pride, and willful blindness. Seeing the escalating tension, we feel the tightness in our stomachs as the story rushes toward it terrible climax. On Palm Sunday, we leave the top of Poplar with heavy hearts. As one child told his mother, tears streaming down his cheeks, “They killed Jesus again!”

READ MORE

Competing Processionals

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
In their short but masterful work, The Last Week, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan imagine two processions entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

The first was a peasant band, cheering wildly, as their champion rode into town for the Passover festival. John’s Gospel tells us the adoring crowds cut down palm fronds to make a carpet for their advancing king (John 12:3) The crowds cried, “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!” (Mark 11:9-10). The object of their affection sat astride his donkey, gaze fixed ahead, stoic and silent. As his admirers would soon learn,  he was indeed a king, but not the king they wanted or expected.

READ MORE

Selling Easter?

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Recently, the news wires hummed with the story of a church in Ohio sponsoring an Easter Sweepstakes. Two lucky winners will walk away with $500 each just for showing up for Easter Sunday worship!

Apparently, such theatrics "work" if the goal is to pack the pews with lottery winner wannabees. Last Easter, the sponsoring church more than doubled its usual attendance.

Today I read about a Georgia pastor who is planning to jump his motorcycle, Evel Knievel-style, over nine buses outside a Baptist church in Florida. This enterprising daredevil for the Kingdom also plans to jump through a wall of fire.

READ MORE

Photo Albums

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
On my study shelves, there are six church directories from Macon’s First Baptist Church. The earliest hails from the mid-80s and features pictures of secretaries with typewriters at their elbows (and not a computer monitor in sight), shots of elegantly dressed ladies stepping out of boat-sized sedans, and photos of ministers sporting bushy mustaches and “preacher hair” even more pronounced than my own!

But aside from the humor in looking back and seeing how times and styles have changed, those church directories are a precious archive of dear saints, many of whom are now gone, who have journeyed with Jesus in the company of God’s people at the top of Poplar. These are the faces, the memories, and the snapshots of grace that tell us something of who we are by telling us something of who we were.

READ MORE

Room for Elephants

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Last Sunday night, we began our Spring Ethics Series, “The Church and Homosexuality.” The Great Room was packed with a polite, attentive audience. Craig McMahon, a member of our church and University Minister at Mercer, led us through an exploration of the seven biblical texts that speak specifically to homosexual practice. Having served as a pastor for 25 years, Craig knows how tense an issue this is for most local churches. He also knows the struggle many families face in embracing their gay sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and other loved ones, while feeling conflicted about the moral and religious implications of that acceptance.

Craig didn’t solve all the issues surrounding our theme for the evening, “The Bible and Homosexuality,” nor was that our goal. But he did treat the biblical text with respect and understanding, probing for the real meaning of what the Bible meant in its original context, the  first critical step in understanding what the Bible means for us today. Essentially, Craig argued that much of what is under consideration when the Bible speaks of homosexuality relates to such deplorable practices as gang rang (Sodom and Gomorrah) or the Greco-Roman practice of turning boys into sex toys (1 Corinthians 6:9), and not what we think of as homosexuality today. In his thoughtful sharing, my friend, Craig, showed me anew how much the Bible has to offer on most any subject, when interpreted aright.

READ MORE

Japan's Catastrophe

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Like most Americans, I am deeply saddened by the horrific destruction unleashed in Japan. Truly, the dimensions of this catastrophe--including the continuing threat of a nuclear meltdown--are apocalyptic in scope. It is heartbreaking to watch the shell-shocked survivors, sifting their way through a wasteland.

We have eight students from Japan in our English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) ministry. They all report their families back home in Japan survived the catastrophe, as does our own Yumiko Jones. In addition, I understand the families of the Japanese nationals working at the local YKK factory are, for the most part, safe as well.

READ MORE

The Real Jesus

by Bob Setzer
As a boy, growing up in the Bible belt, the death of Jesus seemed simple enough: he died for my sins. To me, Jesus' childhood, youth, and adulthood were mostly just warm-up acts for the epic, world-changing moment when he died upon the cross and won the salvation of the world.

It's not that my childhood version of the story was altogether wrong. The New Testament does makes stunning claims about the cosmic meaning of the death of Jesus (Mark 10:45; John 1:29; Romans 5:8; Hebrews 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20 for starters). And I still believe Jesus' death on the cross—answered emphatically by his resurrection—is the "big bang" at the dawn of God's new creation, the crux (from "cross") of everything that ultimately matters.

READ MORE