Vince Blubaugh

We are saying our final farewells to Vince, Kandy, Sam, and Caleb Blubaugh. They have blessed us. We are sad, yet excited about their future.

Vince is heading toward one of the most prestigious and influential church planting assignments in our convention. He will oversee church planters in Washington DC and Northern Virginia.

As Vince leaves us, I want to make one more attempt at expressing my appreciation for him. Since coming to Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri, as our Missions Pastor, Vince has extended our church planting efforts northward to Minneapolis, eastward to New York City, westward to Hawaii, and southward to the Virgin Islands (the southernmost church plant affiliated with NAMB). It is 5000 miles from NYC to Hawaii, and 2500 miles from Minneapolis to the Virgin Islands.

Could this list maybe make Vince the "farthest USA-reaching" church-planting staff member of any local church in the SBC? I raise the question to see if anyone else out there could possibly surpass this extensive reach.

Vince Blubaugh has done a great job. Church planting in Springfield, in Missouri, in the USA, and in the world has been immeasurably blessed by him. He was found faithful here. We believe the future is bright for him, Kandy, Sam, and Caleb.

Dr. John 3:16 Marshall, Pastor

Second Baptist Church

Springfield MO 65804

Twitter and FB john316marshall

Quotes by Me

This morning my Ruthie started a conversation on Facebook about comments I am noted for. As the day has progressed, I have been deeply touched by people's remarks. Here are some of the quotes people associate with me.

Holiness matters most. Every head bowed, every eye closed. What do you do when you see a therefore? We tea drinkers get no respect. Would you like to go to McDonalds for coffee? What Ruthie wants is what we're going to do. All votes are counted, but only one vote counts (Ruth's).

Now, Ruth, don't worry; we'll just think like you and there it'll be (lost items, this always works). No one laughs at my jokes. Read the whole Bible every year. Look at me in my good eye. You're not listening fast enough. Which tie should I wear? I will put your name in my prayer folder. Everyone, put your name in your Bible.

We're better together. The red block. That's a game changer. I don't have anything smart to say about that. My sweet babe, the Babe Ruth. Everybody every line every week. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Good grief. Good night nurse. God is good all the time. Sometimes you have to roll your own.

The blessing is always in the obedience. Proceed on your knees. Few sights are more beautiful than a believer leading a life submitted to God. Open your Bibles to. . .Matthew. A text out of context is a pretext. Have I told you today that I love you? Mercy sakes.

Twitter & FB john316marshall

Christ for Everyone Everywhere

By definition, the Gospel is cross-cultural. Jesus died for all, thus salvation is for all. Our seed sowing must be indiscriminate: racially unbiased, ethnically impartial, and color blind. The conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch (AC 8) is a classic proof of this.

To Israelites, castrated men were forbidden to attend public worship, and Ethiopia was for all intents and purposes the farthest away dregs of the earth, the southernmost edge of civilization. If salvation could be made available for an Ethiopian Eunuch, it was for all.

Fortunately, Philip felt an urgency to go on a short-term mission trip, and ended up sending the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. This was not always the case in early days of Christianity. We were hindered at first by an obsession with Jerusalem. Maybe believers thought God would bring the world to them. For some reason they stayed put until persecution drove them out (AC 8:1).

The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD made even more necessary the need to go. Our faith has ever since never had a sacred building, a sacred city, or a favored ethnic center. Everything changed. Christianity became a nonlocal, non-tribal, non-ethnic religion meant for every person everywhere.

World Missions Conference 2014

It's that time of year at Second. Missions will be the theme of the week here. We will be constantly reminding people missions success depends on lay involvement. There aren't enough preachers and missionaries to make a dent in this world.

Outreach success hinges on everyone being involved. It's time for all hands on deck. Prayerfully ponder this question. Do you think you, as a layperson, are as obligated to tell the Gospel as I, a Pastor, am? Your answer makes all the difference in the world. We need to return to obeying Bible requirements regarding the mission obligations of laypeople.

The early success of Christian missions was due not only to the Twelve or to Paul and Barnabas or to other leaders. It spread because it flew on networks established by lay people, who considered themselves as much on mission as ministers were.

Professor Kenneth Latourette's history of the Christian faith is one of history's greatest works. Of its seven volumes, three are dedicated to the 19th century (1792 to 1918 to be precise), the mission century, what he called "the Great Century".

The mission success of the 1800s was made possible by voluntary involvement of lay people in active missions and in their wholehearted support of mission efforts. People in the pews considered themselves on mission: no debates, no discussions. Everyone was in. At Second we have a 95-year-old stained glass window from this era that honors the Women's Mission Circle.

Twitter and FB john316marshall

Sovereignty and Free Will

I do not actively participate in the current Calvin/Arminius debate. When I was young, I studied at length the merits and demerits of free will, foreordination, election, predestination, etc. After exhausting myself, I gave up, feeling I knew little more than when I started.

From that intense study, two things stuck with me. One, I saw that groups of believers that go too far toward predestination finally fade out of existence. My Great Great Grandfather was baptized as a hardshell Baptist. Few of this ilk remain. Hyper-Calvinism carries in itself its own seeds of destruction.

Two, for my sanity, I have tried to balance the two. In conversations about life before salvation, emphasize free will. Push for everyone to come. Whosoever will may come. The banquet in the parable of the wedding banquet (MT 22) was filled only with people the servants went to find (v. 9) indiscriminately and found (v. 10).

After salvation, as we look back on our conversion, the emphasis should become sovereignty. God sought me. God chose me. God secures me. Holding these two doctrines in tandem, I have inner peace about them.

Twitter & FB john316marshall

Easter at Drury

This year we will celebrate Easter with two services in the O'Reilly Center at Drury University. For this Easter effort to please God, we must begin with much prayer. We need to pray first for ourselves, that we will be filled with the Spirit. Before 3000 were saved at Pentecost, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Before we begin seeking after others, let's seek after God. After we pray for us, let's begin to pray earnestly by name for individuals we hope will come.

After praying for them, invite them to come. This is what the slaves in parable of the banquet were commanded to do. Let folks know we want them to come.

If they come, sit with them. The ones you invite are your special responsibility for that day. After the service, eat with them. Take them out for a meal, or better yet, have them in your home. If these options interrupt an Easter family tradition, please try to move your tradition to Palm Sunday.

Ruth and I will lead the way. We are praying for our small group, several of whom do not attend church. We are going to invite them to attend the later service and sit together. Then Ruth and I will take them to lunch.