So, what's next?

I guess you could truly say this is a rambling post ...

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and wondering what the future might hold for me and my family. Many know that I retired from the Air Force and while I know that it was God's timing, and it was an act of obedience to follow Him in this, I now find myself wondering what the future holds for our family. I do have another job and I am grateful that I have it (to be honest it is quite challenging and keeps me hopping), but I am wondering if this is the path I should continue on for the next 20 years?

My desire (note that I said "my") is that one day I could be involved in full time ministry and perhaps consult now and then on IT issues, but for now this is the path that we must follow. Sadly though, I am finding it increasingly difficult to spend time doing the hobbies that I once enjoyed (web designing, programming, etc.), but I guess that in this season of transition some of those things might have to go as well. I've heard it said before that "this too shall pass", yet I am certain that whatever the outcome is that the Lord will continue to show us how we must go. But, even with this reassurance it sure doesn't make things any easier ... does it? I guess what I'm saying is that I don't know what is next -- do you?

Thanks for reading.

2010 Indy 500 Ministry Preparations

This evening, I find myself eagerly waiting for another chance to go and spread the Gospel and to serve the Lord with gladness WAY out of my comfort zone. Tomorrow morning at about 4:30 am I will depart from my home and drive to Indianapolis, IN for evangelistic work with No Greater Love Ministries (http://www.nogreaterlove.org) at the Indy 500. This year I’ve been afforded the privilege to preach to our assembly of men on Sunday morning, and to me there is nothing greater than to be with this group and have my own life refined, sharpened, and strengthened so that I can return a better husband, father, and pastor. I will be posting pictures to my Twitter account (located at http://twitter.com/revconwell) throughout the weekend. If I could though, please allow me to give a small preview of the trip so that you can pray as the Lord leads.

On Friday night we have some fellowship time, then an opportunity to go out into the streets and minister around the track. Saturday has a great parade in Indianapolis and we get to work the crowd with simple clown skits, one on one witnessing, and passing tracts. Truly, the time spent at this parade has been my personal favorite for years because of the incredible family environment we get to experience as well as the inhabitance of the Holy Spirit in the ministry work.

Saturday night we see a totally different crowd out on Georgetown Road, which is located directed outside of the race track. This crowd is meaner, tougher to talk too, and is really only there to party all night and wait for the race the following day. I’ve always described this to be a totally different crowd than we see at Mardi Gras for one primary reason: in New Orleans there are literally hundreds of distractions to go along with our preaching the Word; but at the Indy 500 there is the party crowd and their alcohol … and us. However, this gives us an incredible opportunity to be bold in the Lord and to deliver unashamedly to all that will hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul writes in Romans 10:14, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” This one verse always makes me ponder the question, “If we won’t go and proclaim the Gospel, then who will?”

I ask very humbly for your prayers this weekend for traveling mercy for all men that are going and of course that the Holy Spirit would be working in and amongst the crowd to provide fertile ground for the Word to land on. Let us be ministers of the Gospel, let us be representatives of Jesus Christ, and always remember that it is NEVER about us … but ALWAYS about Him!!

God bless you always,
Bro TJ

God's Timing is Perfect!

Note: Most folks have seen this news on either Twitter or Facebook, but I thought I would make it official and post it here on the blog.

This past Sunday, May 2nd, County Line Baptist Church in Deatsville, AL, voted to call me as their new Pastor. To say that Lisa and I were in shock is an understatement; but more correctly stated would be to say that we were in awe of how awesome our God is!! When the Lord sent me there several months ago to fill the pulpit, the prayer of my heart that morning was that God would make it completely clear if my family was to serve at this church, and in His perfect timing we feel that He has done that very thing.

I can say, though, that this is a bitter sweet piece of news for us. You see, we absolutely love the church that we are serving in now (New Vision Baptist Church), and more importantly we adore the folks that we serve alongside.

Yet, when I was called into the pastorate almost 10 years ago I told God that I would go anywhere He sends me, and so that covenant I made with Him as well and standing on Philippians 1:6 as my life's verse ... we have always had peace in our hearts that the Lord would one day see fit to use me again in the pulpit, and allow me the privilege of serving Him in the capacity as Pastor of a congregation. And so, this coming Sunday (Mother’s Day) we begin a new journey anxiously looking forward to seeing how God will reveal Himself in this new endeavor; and we await with joy in our hearts at the opportunity to watch Him grow our church and our community. God is so good my friends … and we are rejoicing today!!

May God bless you and keep you always …

In His service,
Bro TJ

Update - April 20, 2010

Just a short update since I really have not said much recently.

Today I hit double digits on the road to retirement. Yup, I now have 98 days left in the military ... and those are calendar days, folks. So, if you factor in weekends, trips away for work, plus a few days of leave in there for some ministry stuff ... I'm looking at about 58 days left in the office. Not bad, not bad at all. For those that have asked I have been offered a fantastic job for after my military career, but at this time (sadly) I am just not at liberty to divulge any other information on it. However, that should change in the coming weeks so stay tuned for more info.

To update all on the ministry issue, I had another meeting last week with the pastor search committee and well, God is definitely at work. While I am never one to put the cart before the horse, I honestly believe that God is working things out, that He has cleared the fog from our eyes because we are focused totally on Him, and that this church is where we should be. The committee told me that they are planning on presenting to the church during the first week of May their choices for pastor, and so I can only say that if this is God's desire for us to be there then it will be. Lisa and I are being faithful and obedient, and standing in amazement at God's perfect timing and peace that He has delivered. I thank you for your prayers friends, they are more than coveted and appreciated.

Lastly, I've managed to lose just over 28 pounds in the past 2 months and since I've really taken to running almost everyday I have been enjoying it immensely. I have a good friend at work who helps motivate me, and I am most thankful for his constant encouragement. (Thanks, Zak.)

Well, that is about it from here. Like I said it was a quick update to keep you up-to-date cause I have not said much here lately. I'm praying that all is well in your world, and that your eyes are fixed on the Author and Finisher of our faith -- for without Jesus in our sights we have no hope of tomorrow!! God bless you.

Update on Ministry Prayer

I want to take the time to thank you all for praying and remembering our family as we consider this ministry decision ahead of us (please see the previous blog entry if you need background info). I had a great meeting with our Pastor on Sunday evening and want to pass on something he reminded me of: (let me prep it by saying sometimes you just cannot see the trees because of the forest) ............ he said that God is not the author of confusion. If we are tossing about so much on this and not sure of what we should do, can we really plunge in and say that God is leading us in this direction?

(pregnant pause is inserted here)

Yeah .... that's what I said as well.

So, while I have not come to an official decision and made any phone calls, I think it is pretty safe to say what direction we are leaning on this. We are still praying of course and wanting to be sure, but I think the decision has already been made for us. I feel if the Lord wanted us to be there it would be clear and without doubt, I just want to be sure that my own emotions are not blocking things so I'm going to take the rest of this week to pray and then decide.

Speaking of this week, I'm getting ready to head to Colorado Springs this afternoon for work. I am really hoping to have a decent travel day and definitely have dinner with an old friend in the ministry this week. I found out yesterday that the hotel I'm staying at is directly across the street from "Focus on the Family", so maybe I will have a chance to go visit and look around a little bit. Well, that's the latest from here. Praying your day goes well today and that you take the opportunity to tell someone that Jesus loves them, because the whole world needs to hear! God bless you.

Ministry prayers are needed

Well, I promised several folks I would give an update as to what is going on with me, and this seems to be the easiest way to update everyone at once. I'm sorry it has taken so long to write this, I have actually been working on it for a week now to find the right words.

During the last two weeks of February, I was invited to preach at County Line Baptist Church (which is about 3 miles from our house) and to be honest it was really good to preach God's word again. I confess to you that I went there solely to preach the Word and fellowship with other believers, but after the message last Sunday night the pulpit search committee asked me if they could meet with me and I agreed.

The meeting simply began with one of the deacons saying to me, "If our church was to call you as pastor would you be interested in serving?" Well, I was floored, honored, and suddenly very terrified about being a pastor again ... but I'll come back to that later.

We talked for a while about the church's vision and about what they feel God has called them to do, and then of the ladies on the committee said to me, "Our church has a desire to grow, to reach people for Jesus Christ, and we are willing to do whatever it takes and go any distance to reach people .......... we'll knock on doors, we'll send letters, we'll visit .......... we see God using this building as an outpost to reaching the committee and our city." I also discovered the church is debt free, has 3 deacons, and a core group of about 20 folks who are sold out to reaching the lost, and have a desire to ONLY see Christ lifted up. Wow. I was floored for the second time in one meeting. So, you are probably asking what's wrong with this church and why is TJ having problems with it? (Well, if you're not asking this I am ... hence the purpose of this entry.)

You see, we went through some struggles in the previous pastorate, and I guess we are terrified of entering these types of situations again. Now, I understand and have been around enough churches to realize that not every congregation is perfect and there are always challenges, especially in the area of getting folks out of the pew, but to think that this church wants to reach out is really an eye opening experience. I said to the committee that I believe the SOLE purpose of a church is "to connect people with Jesus Christ" and they emphatically agreed.

Additionally, the church is without youth and for that matter many young people in attendance, but the infrastructure to do so is in place. What I'm saying is they already have Sunday School teachers for each age group, and even dedicated nursery and youth workers, but without the people in attendance those gifts are not being used. This of course, is a major downfall for us since we have a 15 yr old daughter who desperately needs to be in a youth group with her peers, even though I'm sure she would love to continue going to the youth group she is in now; which if she did sadly would split up our family on Wednesdays and quite possibly most Sunday nights.

So now that I've said all of this and you've been patient enough to read it ... I like to ask for your prayers for any word that you receive from God on this. I'm scheduled to preach there again on Easter Sunday (Apr 4), and right now we are praying that the Lord would give us His peace and allow us to answer the church's call (either yes or no) before then and that we would only be in God's will. Would you join us in that prayer? Would you join us in praying that only God's Will would be done in this? Would you also pray specifically for County Line Baptist Church that the right man, God's man, would be called to lead them? I don't know if I am that man, but I know I can go to the One who has the answers and He promises to bring peace (reference Philippians 4:6-9). So, would you please join me?

Our family is praying and talking constantly, and we only want to be in the Lord's will. Thank you in advance and may God bless you.

The Challenge of Obedience

It is Saturday night, and I'm trying to get my mind around this discipleship lesson for tomorrow; as well as thinking about the trip this coming Friday with No Greater Love Ministries. As I have been mentioning for weeks (read:years), this trip to New Orleans to minister during Mardi Gras always challenges me in different ways personally, professionally, and of course in my ministry. It is an eye opening event each year and each year the Lord speaks to me in different ways. For example, the first year I went I surrendered to a call to the ministry, and the year before last He spoke to my heart and gave me complete peace about resigning as a Pastor and being more concerned about following Him -- vice following people's opinions and thoughts. It is, in my view, an honor to see God work in my life and be able to look back and see His fingerprints on the lives of those around me.

Friends, I wish there was a way to clearly express what this 5 day ministry trip does to me, and how God uses it to strengthen my for the coming year of ministry work. While I am not sure of what God has for the future (and this has been a challenge for me lately), I received some good advice tonight from a godly friend that I wanted to share. She said, "Be obedient in what He asked of you to this point. Leave the next question for Him to answer as you remain obedient in what He has asked of you so far. Trust that the answer to the next question will be the exact answer that will bring you along the path He desires for you when He is ready to answer it. Do not wait to be obedient to the small part He has asked of you, or be concerned or worried about the next part while you do it." That's good advice in my view, and I think something that we can all gain strength from. God is calling us to simply obey and follow ... nothing more.

So I think I will get back to my lesson now and continue researching how God would speak to our Men's Discipleship Class tomorrow. God bless you and good night.

Are you GOING?

This week, I have been thinking a lot about No Greater Love's (NGL) upcoming ministry trip to New Orleans to witness on the streets during Mardi Gras and I have to admit I am getting very excited. This will be my 10th year on the streets with them and each trip (either to Mardi Gras or the Indy 500) with NGL I am challenged more than the year before, and it moves me farther out in my comfort zone - expanding my tent stakes and allowing me to gain more understanding on what God would have His people do to impact His world.

Each year I have gone I've been afforded the opportunity to learn, to witness, and to come back home and practice what I've been taught; and each year the Lord has grown me and stretched me farther than I ever thought I could in the ministry. Truly, this ministry has grown me beyond my wildest dreams in serving the Lord and I want to take the time to challenge any man reading this to GO with me. If you want to see your life changed, if you want to be a better husband, father, and man of God that the Lord has called you to be (see Ephesians 5:25-33) then you need to contact me about going. For several years now I have watched my own son, Chris, grow in his walk with the Lord and to a dad, there is no greater joy than seeing your own son take a stand for Jesus Christ and purpose himself to be a witness in this world.

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago that I would be the Assistant Street Minister/Camp Director in Mobile and to be honest, I am more nervous than I've ever been. Being able to serve in this capacity and learn from what I feel is probably one of the best teams of leaders assembled is extremely humbling and at the same time nerve racking as well. As a matter of fact, it has taken me almost 3 weeks to attempt to digest it and get my mind around it. In this, I ask that you would join me in prayer as I prepare to serve this camp and that I would remain focused on the main goal: which is to put the Gospel in the hands of faithful men (2 Tim 2:2); because it is about Jesus, and nothing more.

No Greater Love has changed my views on service to the Lord in more ways than I can ever imagine; and I am a staunch believer in the fact that if you can witness on the streets in New Orleans, you can come home and impact your church and community in a mighty way for the Lord. Guys, I challenge you to come with me and get a vision of how God views this world through His infinite love, and I promise you that you will never look at the Gospel the same way again. Won't you be obedient enough to follow The Great Commission and GO? I pray that you would, and I promise that if you go you will NEVER be the same man again.

Gentlemen ... If you are interested in going, please contact me through the links above. I promise you that your life will be impacted in ways that will truly rock your world.

October 2, 2009 - REVELATION!

Wow, what an exhausting and yet refreshing week this has been. I totally missed my normal Sunday post this past week, but hopefully this will make up for it. Many have asked what happened at the retreat (most especially with this status that was posted last weekend: "In Illinois at the Men's Retreat & I'm really seeing some things become clearer regarding the ministry -- but, honesty ain't always pretty.") -- and so, here is the answer.

This past weekend I had the blessing of attending a Men's Retreat in Illinois with No Greater Love Ministries (http://www.nogreaterlove.org) and let me tell you I was challenged by what I heard, opened to hearing God speaking to me, and totally plugged in to the power of the Holy Spirit! In a lot of different ways I have been struggling in my ministry to understand where it is that God is calling me, and how He wants me to be used - and I now have direction, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Just about three weeks ago I had an honest and open meeting with a Pastor friend of mine who after a two hour discussion told me that I could get involved in anything I wanted to at the church, and use the talents God gave me for Kingdom outreach. Wow, I cannot remember the last time I had a blank check handed to me, and I simply felt God's urging telling me to "dive in" and attack this opportunity. And so, after the retreat and of course after making sure that it was God I was hearing from, this past Sunday our family re-joined New Vision Baptist Church (http://www.newvisionbaptist.org) which was the first church we were members of when we came to Alabama, prior to being called to pastor at Bethlehem.

When we came up front to ask to be "plugged in", the welcome we received by the congregation was amazing, and we were simply blessed to be "welcomed home", which was said over and over to us.

In the meeting with our Pastor (Rev J.B. Burt) he pretty much told me that he is needing help in Men's Ministries but did not want me to even think about holding breakfasts or setting up grass cutting events or anything that typically comes with this (GET AWAY from the typical Baptist men's stuff was the immediate instruction here).

What he was asking for help in was to first pray, and then come back to discuss how I could be used; and the answer I received from the Lord (during the pre-mentioned retreat) was in discipleship, accountability, and plain out "stop pretending to be a Christian and live it" Men's Ministries; which we also agreed could roll over to Discipleship Training for the entire church. This is one area that as a Pastor, I have seen is so needed in our churches today, and made me really stop and consider how best to challenge others and myself.

So, it sounds like a huge challenge, right?

How can I possibly do this you might ask?

Well, go forward a few days to this past Wednesday night (2 nights ago) where we sat in the evening service and got thrashed by the Holy Spirit to consider the concept of putting on the full armor of God, and quit pretending to be a follower of Christ. The central mission of the message was to GRAB ONTO the "Faith" (mentioned in Galatians 5:22) and actually live it! I tell you what, I sat there practically balling and realized that what I had been missing was ....... ACTUALLY BEING FED so that I COULD work in the ministry!!

I realized that I was starving spiritually and desperately needed to be poured into, not just emptied over and over for others with nothing coming back in return. Oh, how I longed for this and NOW I had discovered through God's revelation and IMMACULATE and PERFECT timing what I was missing and how I could gain strength to do His work!! HALLELUJAH!! For a year now since I left the pulpit I have not been fed, and it is really that simple and I will not mince words on this. Whether through my own fault or there being nothing of substance to feed on (which sadly was often the case), I was in a spiritual wasteland and starving for nourishment! This was the reason for the confusion, and why I was struggling so much; even as a "Reverend" I needed to be FED!!

So, here I sit in my office having had about an hour of quiet worship before God, I am humbled and amazed at how He works. My heart is rejoicing at this moment considering all that He is in my life, and how perfect He is in His timing, and that He is really all I will ever need. We have joined a church that is not only feeding our souls but is preparing, encouraging, and discipling us to work in a way that I never thought was possible. Truly, this verse comes to mind tonight and brings it all into perspective:

Psalm 91:2, "I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Thank you Lord, for you are my refuge and all that I will ever need. I trust that YOU, God, know the next step, and I look forward to watching YOU move!! I love you Lord, more than even the air in my lungs.