October SR available on-line

The October 2010 Sabbath Recorder shares a Conference delegate's report to her local church, an update on post-forest fire Camp Paul Hummel (that you regular blog readers already know about), and praying for a heart for missions reopens some old spiritual wounds. It's on-line here.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month

There was a little note in the September Sabbath Recorder, at the bottom of the Pastor Profile page, that reminded us about October being Pastor Appreciation Month. This is not required but is a nice thing to do.

It is easy to forget to say "thank you" and "you are appreciated." The designation of October for this is only one of the reminders we have. Anniversaries of your Pastor's service to the congregation, ordination, accreditation, marriage or other significant event give an excuse to say "we appreciate you."

Ideas can be found on line by searching "pastor appreciation ideas" or other similar searches.

As you consider how to show your appreciation you may want to know how long your pastor has served as a pastor, your pastor's ordination date or year of accreditation. Contact the Center on Ministry (com@sdbministry.org) for these dates and other ideas about showing your appreciation for your pastor.

Of Ice Cream and Hospitality

David Wilkerson, Executive Director of the Associated Baptist Press, offers this nostalgic and practical look at his homemade ice cream.


At our house, hospitality is dished out by the spoonful.

Homemade ice cream has been a staple in the ministry of hospitality my wife, Melanie, has practiced since we were married nearly 33 years ago. An ice-cream freezer was one of our first purchases as newlyweds. We’re now on our third freezer, having replaced the electric motor once or twice as well.

Although summer officially ends in September, our aging freezer doesn’t know the difference. For us, the offseason for homemade ice cream runs from about Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day -- with room for exceptions. We’ve been known to serve homemade ice cream with a fire burning in the fireplace.


UPDATE: The ABP website has been hacked and malware warnings are in place. I'll keep this post up for now, and try to provide you with the correct link once their site is free of problems. Our (and their) apologies!
DON'T Click here for the rest of the story.

Prayers or Pancakes? IHOP sues IHOP

As heard on NPR yesterday:

In a lawsuit of biblical proportions, it's "Praise the Lord" versus "pass the pancakes."

IHOP, the International House of Pancakes, is suing IHOP, the International House of Prayer, for using its signature acronym, which confuses the public. Not only that, some church IHOPs serve food, and the church plans a $150 million headquarters in Grand View, Missouri, right across the road from an IHOP of the pancake persuasion.

Update from our Boulder Camp

This special and personal update on Camp Paul Hummel, outside of Boulder, Colo., came last week from Ana Petersen. Her father is the camp's caretaker. We rejoice in the great news!

Dad and I made it up to Camp today. As you enter the camp and drive to the lodge, there is no evidence that a fire was even near the area. However, if you walk straight up from the upper cabin toward the towers, the fire came to within about 100 feet of the building.

The firefighters fought an incredible battle and won, which included orange slurry sprayed from above, large trees cut down in strategic spots, and a long and winding fire line that they dug by hand. The fire raged through a large part of the property through the undergrowth, leaving the tops of the tree untouched. The firefighters followed many of our trails and roads which created breaks for them to enhance.

We did a little hiking around the property, and saw the burn areas are very sporadic. Starting from the South Meadow to the road near the towers is scorched with many burned trees. However to the east and north all the way to the building area there are no burned trees. From the towers south and west–all the way to the archery range–is extensively burned. The practice range and picnic tables did not burn. The firemen said there were a few of the large animal targets left, but not very many unfortunately.


There are still spot fires smoldering all over the burn area. A crew of about a dozen firefighters from Poudre Canyon is still roaming the property putting those spots out. We heard that there is still a great danger from some of those fires that follow the root system of a tree and come out somewhere else where the wind whips it up and starts to burn again. Although the fire raged all around and right up to the tower building, we couldn't see any burn evidence on the buildings or the towers. The cables in the air burned, but not all the way through. All the power and telephone poles to the lodge are still up.

We still have an amazing piece of property with most of our trees still vibrantly growing. Thank you all for being prayer warriors this week! It is truly a miracle that stopped it from coming any closer, or from a different direction.

Keep up the prayers until all the little spots are out and all the emergency responders are called home. All across Sunshine Valley up towards Gold Hill, there were spots flaring up from the wind as we watched. The crews started fighting them almost immediately because they are all over the place, but we should not forget that the little battles continue.

Church blesses gadgets

From the Winnipeg (Canada) Free Press

Blessed are the BlackBerrys.

The glow of gizmos cut through the darkness of a modest Halifax-area church Sunday as parishioners raised their cellphones, laptops and GPS units toward the heavens for a special prayer.

"Lord God, we thank you for the many gifts and tools you give us, all those electronic gadgets that make our lives easier in so many ways," Rev. Lisa Vaughn said before a small crowd at St. Timothy's Anglican Church in Hatchet Lake on the eve of Labour Day.

Vaughn said the idea to hold a blessing of electronics came after hearing about an old English tradition called Plough Monday in which farmers would drag their tools to the church's door to receive a blessing for a good harvest.

"Most of our people are commuters to the city and work in offices and labs and hospitals and that kind of thing," Vaughn, a former journalist with short, blond spiky hair, said in an interview.

"I thought, 'Wow, wouldn't it be nice for us to connect with modern-day tools; things that people use so often (that) we often take for granted?"

Parishioner Dawn Purcell said she sifts through 100 emails a day on her "crackberry" in her job as a manager at a health centre.

Purcell, 51, got her trusty device blessed twice Sunday — once in the morning and again during the nighttime service.

"I use it a lot and it needs to be blessed," she said. "I think it's a great idea."

Click here for more.

SDB Camp in Boulder spared

I called Pastor Steve Osborn this morning (Wednesday) and he is praising the Lord.

A massive wildfire outside of Boulder, Colo., has consumed thousands of acres and scores of buildings, but most of the flames have apparently gone around the Boulder Heights area, home of Camp Paul Hummel.

Charring of trees occurred on the west side of the property where the archery range is. One of the radio towers (a source of income for the camp) was destroyed, but according to a local firefighter whose home is near the camp it looks like all of the camp structures were spared.

Pastor Steve noted that in recent years a fire prevention expert has helped to clear the property of hazardous brush. In addition “God’s mercy sure didn’t hurt” the current situation.

Please keep that area in your prayers. Many have lost their homes or cabins, and harmful smoke and ash is blanketing the city.

Pastors Conference Dates Changed

Dates for the 2011 Pastors Conference were announced at Conference in July for May 2011. Scheduling for our guest speaker was a good reason to change the dates which are now April 26-30.

Dr. Howard Bixby (click on the name and scroll down for a short bio) will be our guest speaker and presenter on Wed and Thurs the 27th and 28th of April. Except for meals and a devotional time in the morning he will have both days to teach and lead us . The theme is Leading Through Outreach Change. We will still be hosted by the Milton SDB Church and have use of the Camp Wakonda facilities. If the prospect of being in a dorm will keep you and your spouse away, other arrangements will be made.

Reserve the dates. More info to follow.

Darkness post-Katrina

Five years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Lacy Thompson, former associate editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message, shares an opinion.

Darkness. Of all the Hurricane Katrina memories and images, the one that endures in me is darkness.

For weeks after the storm, I had to travel through New Orleans’ devastated Lower 9th Ward. Each night, as I crossed the Industrial Canal, I entered into a world that defined “surreal.”

There were no streetlights, traffic signals, porch lights or neon advertising signs, and rarely another vehicle on the road. To call it a darkness as deep as the soul is barely a clever turn of phrase. It was the type of darkness you feel when returning to a blackened house after a loved one’s funeral, knowing no matter how many lights you turn on, something and someone will be missing.

It was easy to feel isolated, forgotten, lost. Something was missing -- and maybe Someone as well.

“Do not hide your face from me,” the Psalmist cries to God. Entering the Lower 9th Ward each night it was easy to think God not only had hidden his face, but turned away completely.

Click here for the rest of the story.