Life on the OBX

Carter playing first base in Tee Ball

Josh is thinking of everything else he could be doing...

Josh batting, his first season

Carter batting, with one homerun this season!

We found the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island

The Ellison Family

The boys cleaning "soft crabs" a local delicacy

Still cleaning

The boys clean some "soft crabs" a local delicacy

IX Marks Weekender

This past weekend I spent four days on Capitol Hill with CHBC and IX Marks Ministries. If you are aspiring to the ministry or are currently serving in the ministry, I would highly recommend this conference. The personal mentoring over these few days is untouched by any other conference I have attended. I thank God for my time among such wonderful folks. Thanks CHBC! May God richly bless you in the years ahead.

For more info on IX Marks go here.

For more info on CHBC go here.

Together for the Gospel 08

Are any of you going?

What is that smell?

The Bible is very clear that our lives have an aroma. What you smell like to God and to others brings clarity to the condition of your heart. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 reads:

But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

There is so much here that it would take me several posts to unpack it, and even then I would not communicate the full weight of this text. Let me begin by saying the idea of “aroma or fragrance” is reminiscent of the Old Testament offerings that were pleasing aroma’s to God. (Leviticus 1.17) As these sacrifices were burned on the altar the fragrance rose to the heavens and was received by God. I do not think these aroma’s are pleasing in the sense that we all love the smell of some meat on the grill, but more so, the aroma is a physical picture of what is happening spiritually. As atonement is made on the altar a heavenly transaction is taking place, God is forgiving sins. Paul is giving us a physical example of what is going on in that spiritual transaction by describing it in terms of “aroma or frangrance.” Christ was sacrificed on the cross for you and for me. His offering lifts to the heavenlies (just as aromas rise) and pleases God once and for all (Hebrews 10) on your behalf! When we are born again by a heavenly transaction our lives began to smell like the sacrifice of Christ. I pray that when God smells your life it putts off sweet aromas of Christ and not smelly works of the flesh. Let’s remember the only aroma God can accept is the aroma of Christ. Therefore, I exhort you to fall upon Christ, that he may cover you in his aroma, that you may be received by God.

P.S. Dougald, give us more on the OT sacrifices as they relate to aroma…

Good Soldier…

I spent the last two days at the Convergt Conference hosted by SEBTS and it was far more than I expected. I am planning to write a series of posts on the conference and I am looking forward to your interaction. In the mean time, watch this video by Mark Driscoll who was one of the key note speakers at the conference. He challenged me in such a way that I had to repent of my sectarianism and self-righteousness. I deeply appreciate Driscoll’s life, doctrine, and ministry. I believe he is a prophetic voice of our day and it would do all Southern Baptist well to learn from him.

You can listen to the entire conference free of charge here.

Conference Anyone?

Today, I will be attending the Convergent Conference at SEBTS…If any of you are attending please let me know so we can hang out together. Hope to see you there.

Our gift from the Creator has arrived…

Praise God for his good gifts! Caroline Coley Ellison was born September 6, 2007 at 9:57pm. She weighed 9.6, was 22 inches long, and already walks. The walking part was a joke, but she was a huge baby. Tami faced many complications in birth which were frightening in the moment but God was not absent in our suffering and he showed himself strong. Mommy and baby are doing very well resting today. Thank you for praying for us and please continue to pray that mommy and baby recover quickly.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139.13-14

Good news for Frederick Blvd Baptist Church…

My good friend Micah Fries has accepted the position of Senior Pastor at Frederick Blvd Baptist Church in St. Joseph, MO. You can read about this transition here. I have already shared with you in a previous post that 3ABC in Louisville, KY just voted in Kurt Heath as Pastor of Preaching. I believe with all of my heart that God is positioning men all over the world to carry out faithful ministries to the next generation and these two are part of what God is doing. Pray for these men and the churches they serve.

Good News for Third Avenue Baptist Church

Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, KY is voting on a new pastor after two years of searching. Praise God for his providential care over this church. I am grateful for the faithful ministry of this local body and especially her elders. May God bless you folks with unity as you move forward in calling your new pastor. Our prayers are with you.

Read about this transition and hear a message by Kurt Heath: here

Passing on a great link…

Check out this interview on mentoring which discusses the relationship between Josh Harris and CJ Mahaney: here