For God Alone

A New Day - March 23, 2020: Trust in God One of the first scripture verses I learned was Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. (ESV) Each Bible my parents and Sunday School teachers gave me contained certain verses in the front of my gift, and Proverbs 3:5-6 was a frequent passage. I suppose they wanted to be certain I placed my trust in God and not in man. Trust in the Lord. Trust not in man. I am still on the journey of learning to place my whole trust in God. Perhaps you are as well. My own journey is filled with times of stepping off that pathway of trust in God, and placing my trust in someone or something else. Of course, that decision has led to disappointments. About thirteen years ago, a colleague stepped into my office to caution me not to place my trust in a man. Unfortunately, I did not heed my colleague’s wise counsel, and, one year...

For God Alone - The Primacy of Worship In September of 2016, Central Baptist Church Bearden (Knoxville, TN), a church I served nearly seven years, launched a discussion regarding their direction and vision. Ultimately, that discussion led to the creation of a Vision Lay Team (VLT). Throughout much of 2017, this congregation-elected team met most Monday evenings for 1.5 - 2 hours praying over and discussing their future. Following much prayer, many discussions and meetings, this team (of which the author was a member ex officio) created four dreams around the general topics of worship, discipleship, community, and evangelism. Rightly so, worship was the first dream among the four. Worship is the church’s first priority. Bruce H. Leafblad is the person I respectfully call my worship mentor. Dr. Leafblad joined the music faculty at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall of 1983, the beginning of the second year into my master of music degree at Southwestern. Le...