People Sharing Jesus

In my message on Sunday I mentioned T. H. Huxley.  Huxley’s nickname was “Darwin’s bulldog”.  Huxley loved to debate bible believing Christians.  He was quite successful at making them look foolish.  In those days in the late 1800’s, apologetics was not well developed.  Challenges to the faith were not usually met in a thoughtful way and archaeology had not yet provided so much historical support to the reliability of Scripture.  Christians had occasionally made arguments that were really not true to the overall integrity of the Scripture.  Today Huxley would not stand up well to the Christian apologists.  Men like Ravi Zacharias or Philip Johnson would have fared very well against his arguments.  I pointed out that he was the first man to use the term “agnostic” to define his position as it pertains to God or Jesus Christ. 

The term “agnostic” means “not to know”.  It really is not a very flattering term.  To casually call oneself an agnostic with reference to a very technical subject with which you have had little or no exposure is one thing.  To use the term with reference to the most discussed and debated subject in the history of words is like boasting that you are a dunce.  In fact the word “ignoramus” is the Latin equivalent of “agnostic”.    When was the last time you heard someone throw out their chest and declare themselves an ignoramus.  Let me say to all of you agnostics out there who might be reading this.  The evidence is in.  There is no substantial intellectual problem with the existence of God.  In fact the evidence is rapidly tilting toward belief.  I am personally aware of a number of scientists who have moved from athiesm to faith in recent years on the basis of the astounding discoveries of science.  Please stop boasting about what you don’t know.  It makes you look foolish.

Dan Wooldridge

1 Corinthians 9:19 - 22

Read this passage and imagine what this philosophy looks like in a modern setting.  In my own view people are becoming more and more diverse in America.  We have hundreds of people groups represented in the state of Texas.  Over one hundred languages are spoken in the State of Texas.  When you expand the vision to the whole of the United States the realities become mind boggling.   To do God’s work by only one pattern or style is a prescription for certain failure.  What we desperately need is a “save some” mentality in our churches.  We need to examine the demographic realities of our communities and develop strategies for touching them with the gospel.  We need to get over our fears regarding styles of worship and focus instead upon content of communication.  The most important factor is not which instruments may be used or whether or not we have choirs.  The most important factor is to be certain that our message is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Biblically sound words clearly stated in sermon and song can be effective.  The character of singer and proclaimer is equally essential.  When the question is asked, “Should we have music programs with great choirs or praise bands?”  The correct answer is “yes.”   We need a “save some” mentality so that all kinds of people can be reached.  Cowboy churches, biker churches, traditional churches, modified traditional churches, contemporary churches, language churches, and under some circumstances ethnic churches are all part of a “save some” mentality. 

A cynic shouted, “Preacher, you can’t save ‘em all!”  To which I answered, “No, but God can use us to save some.”

Dan Wooldridge

God thrust me into the ministry.  I was studying accounting and intending on a career in business or banking and finance when God engineered a set of circumstances that totally changed my plans.  He also changed my personality while He was at it.  Before I knew it, I was still nineteen years old and already filling pulpits around the Brownwood area where I grew up.  At 20 churches were beginning to consider me as a candidate for pastor.  The Immanuel Baptist Church in Talpa, Texas invited my wife and me to come and serve them in 1972.  We had only been married for a few months and were suddenly thrust into a world of responsibility.  That was just three months short of 37 years ago. 

About two years later, I met a pastor from Pasadena, Texas named Darrell Robinson who gave me a vision of what kind of pastor God was calling me to be.  Darrell modeled the heart of a joyful evangelist before me at a pastor’s retreat.  Though I have only spent time with him on a few occasions, he has been a major contributor to my discipleship.  I read his books and I sought to follow his example.  It was from Darrell that I borrowed the statement “People Sharing Jesus”.  He has written books and resources under this title.  I got his permission before using the slogan for our church website.  He also suggested the mission statement that we use here at Crestview.  It is the same statement that we used at my last pastorate.  We worked some key concepts that Darrell used into a statement that we put on our screen at Crestview every week. 

                     We are people sharing Jesus

                             through

                     Exalting the Lord,

                     Equipping the Laity,

                            and

                     Evangelizing the Lost

                            because

                     People need the Lord.

There are numerous other components to the shaping of my life, but this is a very important part of how God has worked with me.

Dan Wooldridge

The church has been going through a difficult chapter in her history in America.  Much of the difficulty has revolved around styles of worship.  Transitions in form and music have been occuring throughout the history of the church.  Believe it or not, some Baptist pastors in early America strongly resisted missions and mission offerings.  Some other pastors strongly resisted Sunday School programs.  Musical styles have gone through transitions also.  Many of our more popular hymns were built out of melodies that were familiar tunes from folk songs and other types of popular music.  Some are based on classical music.  The Gaithers, Andre Crouch, Jack Hayford, and countless others have contributed to songs that are so well known that they have been adopted into hymnals.  Each of these transitions have met some resistance.  There is one factor that is quite different.  It has become entirely too easy to force personal preferences on others.  The skill of loving persuasion has been replaced with authoritarian decisions or simple majority votes.  Unity is not valued in environments such as these.  Other realities that exist are niche churches who really don’t want anyone except those who will accept a certain form or style of worship.  I want to share a couple of important core convictions of my own in regards to this.

1. The attitude of “my way or the highway” is not a Christian attitude.  Authoritarian decisions push people away from God and away from one another.  Simple majorities may work in a democracy, but unity should be the goal of a church.

2. Every church needs to be a meeting ground for all kinds of people.  If we cannot share life in the church, how can we share it in the neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.  All generations need to value and encourage other generations.  Intergenerational families who live in one town or county have become very rare.  Culturally we are suffering from the fractured family and the highly mobile society in which we now live.  In such a climate, an intergenerational church allows families to experience a more thorough sense of community that strengthens and encourages them for daily life.  Whatever we do to reach people, we must not do at the expense of alienating an entire generation be they young, old, or in between.  It is hard work, but it is good for us.

Dan Wooldridge