I have returned to the scene of the crime (Don't ask. I will not explain. But if you get do it... pretty funny, huh?). I am in Omaha to preach for Pastor Reginald Terry at the Antioch Baptist Church. And I am having a blast. I really felt at home preaching to Antioch last night. Reginald Terry is an outstanding preacher and Bible teacher. And it's always good to be in a setting where the preaching of the word of God is the center-piece of the worship service - not an appendix added after a hundred non-essential things take place....

I am in Detroit preaching for Pastor Larry Walker and the Oakland Avenue Baptist Church. This is the third year I have done this meeting, so I think I know what to expect from them and they know what to expect from me. That always makes preaching a little bit easier. Again, for the third year, I am partnered with Dr. William Burwell, who lives and serves in Palm Springs California. Dr. B. is an itinerant preacher and Bible teacher, who travels the country speaking at churches and conferences. So each night Oakland Avenue takes Dr. B.'s best shot, then...

About 1,000 pastors, preachers and Bible teachers had converged on Los Angeles this week for the annual expository preaching conference sponsored by WHW Ministries. This group is led by Dr. R.A. Williams who serves the McCoy Memorial Baptist Church in Los Angeles and Dr. George Waddles who pastors in Chicago (They are the two "W" in the group's name, the "H" is for Pastor Larry Harris who passed away several years ago). The conference focuses, primarily, on word studies, grammar, context, and culture in the study of scripture. There are also other classes on various theological and pastoral subjects. And,...

Today is H.B. Charles III's 8th birthday. Happy birthday, son!!!

We were blessed to have a special day of worship at Mt. Sinai yesterday. First of all, we one first Sundays, we celebrate the Lord's Table together, which is always a special time in the life of our congregation. Likewise, our fall semester of small-groups began on yesterday. But what really made the day so special was the presence of Dr. Ray Pritchard, president of Keep Believing Ministries, who preached in both of our morning services. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dr. Pritchard spent Saturday morning with us, giving practical advice for faithful and effective preaching. But, come...

Dr. Ray Pritchard, president and featured speaker of Keep Believing Ministries, is our guest at Mt. Sinai this weekend. This morning, Dr. Pritchard, led a conference in which he gave us practical tips for regular biblical preaching. There were only a few people present – MSMBC associate pastors and one local pastor. And I was a little disappointed that more brothers didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to meet Dr. Pritchard. But I understand how busy pastors are – especially on Saturdays! And so we had a small, intimate setting in which we were able to learn from Dr. Pritchard...

I am in Cleveland, preaching the citywide revival sponsored by the local Baptist Minister's Conference. Pastor Claudie Williams is the president of this group. Rev. George Parks is the chairman of the revival. And Pastor Charles Matthews is the host, as the The services are being held at - get this - Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. Cool. I don't really know anyone hear. I was invited by Pastor Parks, whom I met while preaching in Northern California. I know Pastor Houston here. And Pastor Veal and I, who I met for the first time this week, have numerous mutual friends....

I spent this past weekend in Chicago with my friend, Romell Williams, who was celebrating his third pastoral anniversary at the Lilydale Progressive M.B.C. I had the privilege of preaching during Romell’s installation celebration. And I have been with him each year during his anniversary celebration, preaching in his two morning services. I met Romell when he was the youth pastor of a large church in suburban Chicago. A mutual friend hooked us up, commending Romell to me as one of the best young preachers in the country. And upon meeting him and hearing him, he backed that up. Romell...

Last night, I continued our study of the book of Ephesians. We are at Ephesians 3:1-13, which is a rather difficult text. My original tension was to divine the text into two parts. There are, indeed, two themes in the text: (1) the ministry of Paul and (2) the mystery of the gospel. But it seems to me that these two themes are interwoven throughout the entire passage. So I was really struggling with how to divide it. I finally decided not to. And my congregation patiently endured my exposition of all thirteen verses. It's a great, difficult, challenging text....

Yesterday, we celebrated 65 years of God's faithfulness in and through the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church. Our guest speaker was Paul Felix, who is a professor at The Master's Seminary and the president of the Los Angeles Bible Training School. Prof. Felix delivered a challenging and powerful message from 1 Thessalonians 4:14-15, calling on us to heed the six exhortations in those two verses, that we might be a "healing community." Stellar preaching! He also led a mass study during our Sunday School hour, calling on us to make a new/deeper commitment to personal Bible Study. I was personally...

This past Tuesday night, I continued our study of Ephesians in our midweek service. I preached the closing paragraph of Ephesians 2, verses 19-22. It is about the nature and the importance of the church. I was most concerned about presenting the text clearly. And I did not spend as much time in application as I would have liked. So I fear the message become somewhat of "data-dump." I trust the Lord will make up for my weaknesses in preaching. The subject of the church burdens me. I love the church. And my love for the church is an expression...

I resumed my study of Joshua yesterday in our morning services. My text was Joshua 4. I did not preach through the entire outline in either service. But I was able to get out the key points I wanted to make. Here is the sermon skeleton. TITLE: “Don’t Forget to Remember” TEXT: Joshua 4THEME: The importance of remembering God POINT: God commands you to remember who he is and what he has done for you. PROBING QUESTION: Why is it important to deliberately and constantly remember who God is and what God has done? PURPOSE: The purpose of this message...