What’s an anniversary, anyway??

4 Jun

June 4.  A day that will live in infamy … heh heh heh.  It was fifteen years ago TODAY that my career at Ebenezer Baptist Church began.  I walked into that church office for the first time as a full-time staff minister.

It had been a long road.  In 1991, I surrendered to ministry and walked away from a promising career in IT.  (Funny how God’s sense of humor has kept me in it, huh??)  I returned to college and to seminary and it had been almost FOUR YEARS since I’d had a full-time job.  In seminary, I worked three part-time jobs as well as taking a full class load every term.  It’s not that I’d been a slacker, just finishing the goal God put before me.

The road at Ebenezer has been a tough one.  I started as the Minister of Youth and Recreation.  Many know what happened after that … The pastor that called me here left us in 1999.  I was asked to be the interim pastor.  18 months later, Ebenezer asked me to be the full-time pastor.  (Many of my colleagues in youth ministry accused me of LEAVING the ministry when I did that!  And that is a joke!!!)

It’s funny … 15 years seems like a wisp of time.  Krissy went from 4k to being a sophomore at Clemson.  Drew went from being a MONTH old to now a sophomore at West Florence.  Many changes have happened in my family, in my church family, in our community, and in our world.  And we plug along, striving towards the goal God has given us!

Hitting the wall

3 Jun

Drew and I have hit the wall.  He has gone to work with me every morning at 8am, repaired several computers, chased wiring problems, and helped me debug stuff.  We’ve configured some of the replacement equipment, labeled most of the lines coming into the main switch (something that needed to be done YEARS AGO) and we both are dead dawg tired.

In the mean time, I tried to write and do a funeral and am still working on my sermon.  (I’ve usually finished it by Wednesday afternoon … I am NO WHERE NEAR FINISHED)

And we have both hit the wall.  Stressed out and kind of sick of it.  We need a break!!  And the thought that my main vacation for the summer was last week just drags me DEEPER INTO THE FUNK.

I think we will hitchhike to Hawaii.  I’ve got some buddies from school over there who “need to see me!”  LOOKOUT, BRYSON AND GREG!

Wow … this is crazy …

2 Jun

So much has happened since Monday evening.  In a nutshell, we got everything back up on a small scale yesterday.  Drew has learned to change network cards and configure VoiP phones.  That was helpful today!!  At one point yesterday, Drew was changing cards, Robbie was chasing a higher-order network issue, Dean was strategizing on how we handle the insurance stuff, and I was dealing with an EBC family death.

In other words, thanks to these guys, I am able to do MY JOB!!!  The real one!

Today we received a shipment of hardware, and by the time Drew and I left for lunch every phone on campus was working and every PC.  I am trying to study this afternoon but got a call about one PC having a problem.  But, all in all, things are stabilizing.

Now if I can just get through a funeral tomorrow, a wedding this weekend, and get my sermon STARTED, I will be in good shape!!

What does CATASTROPHIC mean today??

1 Jun

It didn’t seem like that bad of a storm … A lot of rain, but not that much pop.  Heh … heh … heh …

It all started with a phone call from our alarm company to Bill around 6:15pm.  There was an alarm going off and someone needed to meet the police.  He rode up to the church and found all of the a/c power on campus kind of at half-voltage.  NOT GOOD FOR DELICATE ELECTRONICS.

Bill surveyed the campus and found one of the three phases of electricity BLOWN OFF OF THE POWER POLE where it comes in to the church.  BLOWN OFF THE POLE.  Everything was operating on partial voltage.  Did I mention that is NOT GOOD for electronics?

Drew, Diana and I rode to the church and found Robbie and Bill running about unplugging everything they could.  And there was a definite smell of burned plastic in my office.  Funny thing about my office:  For YEARS it has been the nerve center of our campus computer network.  Not typical for a church pastor, but there is a story behind it.  This Sunday will be my 15th anniversary at Ebenezer.  For 10 of those years, I’ve been in that office.  When I got to EBC, we were on a co-ax ethernet wiring backbone.  I slowly moved us, starting with myself, into the 20th Century (yeah 20TH) with Cat-5 lines.  Over time, it ALL ended up in my office.

The Progress Energy linesman got there with bad news … In his opinion, this was a DIRECT HIT.  From my days in IT, an old addage rings true again:  NOTHING CAN STOP A DIRECT HIT OF LIGHTNING.  We are somewhat on the end of a line.  THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING FOR EBENEZER.

Robbie called me after 9 and said he couldn’t get the switches back up in my office.  Sometimes I’ve had to do strange things to get them back up, so Drew and I rode back up there.  Dean came and met us and Bill stayed with us until we made him go home around 11.  And we did have to MAKE him go home.

EVERYTHING …. was down.  EVERYTHING.  Phone system.  Network.  DSL and main switches were a TOTAL LOSS.  My desktop computer:  TOTAL LOSS.  We had to start at the beginning and work our way out.

We worked.  And worked.  And worked.  And had some failures.  And had some successes.  And at the end of our technologic pajama party, we now have a PILE of fried equipment in my office and a LONG LIST for our insurance agent.  And I am sitting here on three hours sleep.

What does CATASTROPHIC mean today??  THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN IT DAMAGE ALONE!  We don’t even know what other elements of our physical plant might or might not be damaged.  As an IT guy in a previous life, I have helped build this network, WIRE BY WIRE and DEVICE BY DEVICE.  I am thankful and blessed to have Dean and Robbie in this fight with me, now for quite a while.  But I have probably had my hands on EVERY DEVICE on that network.  (It really has been therapy for me, UNTIL NOW).  My nice little network IS NO MORE.

But before we left, we are operational.  Weekday is able and ready for the day.  The church office is ready and able.  I hope our insurance agent eats his Wheaties today!!!

Where has David been??

29 May

Ok, I am ready to fess up. One or two of you have noticed that I have barely posted a Twitter update this week, and this is my FIRST blog entry of the week. As my week draws to a close, I guess I can now admit that I am on vacation!!

The first couple of days of this week were no vacation, even though I am not in Florence. Situations kept popping up that kept me on my cell phone for HOURS. I can’t wait to see my bill!! However, I’ve now been in the sand and sun enough to sport a sunburn. On my walk a couple of days ago I ran into some friends from Greenville that I probably haven’t seen in 19 years. Yes, this has been another interesting week.

I will confess I’ve checked my email frequently this week. Sometimes I wonder if I should completely turn my cell off for the week and just check email. That might be a plan for next time!!

A Significant Day

24 May

Yesterday was a significant day at Ebenezer.  And a marathon day.  In our 11am worship, we recognized 11 high school graduates in our annual baccalaureate service.  Every year this one gets a little more sweet for me!!  I remember these kids when they were in KINDERGARTEN!!!  I also preached from my iPad for the FIRST TIME!  It was nice to NOT have to mess with papers on the pulpit (but it would also be nice if I memorized!)

At 4pm, we convened an ordination council for the purpose of ordaining Buddy Rainwater to the ministry.  Buddy starts June 1st as the first full-time chaplain to the Florence County Sheriff’s Office, as well as to the county jail at Effingham.  It was good to have Daniel Inabinet, W.L. Collins, and Bill Curtis joining us in the examination.

One of those funny things about a Southern Baptist ordination, we ordain as a local church, but it is frowned-upon to do it without other pastors from other churches assisting.  That is actually a good move of polity within the association and convention, to hold churches accountable.  Regardless, it was good to have those guys in there!

At 6pm, we proceeded with the ordination service.  Lots of family and friends were there to participate.  Buddy shared a powerful testimony at both the council and in the service … Knowing him for 15 years, it is easy to see how God has been preparing him for this moment!

So, it was a significant day at Ebenezer!!  Hope your day of worship was just as good!!

Weekend at Mom and Dad’s

23 May

Yes, we made a quick trip to Easley this weekend.  Part of the rollercoaster I am currently on.  Diana and Krissy had a baby shower to attend, so Drew and I hung out at the house all day.

We did a few things for Mom and Dad, but probably worked more on his mousetrap car for science than anything.  He really is doing all the work, all I am doing is providing the CASH for materials and modifications.  It will be interesting to see if his idea will work!

Things started out on a rough note for Dad on Friday night.  I think he just got too tired and was having a hard time helping us get him to the bed.  One of the things I’ve noticed is he resists a little when he is tired.  On Saturday he had a pretty good day.  We even helped him walk in the afternoon.

Overall, he is making physical progress.  There is no doubt about that.  The neurological progress is coming slower, and that makes it much more difficult for Mom.  Mom has to count on him to give her some help to do everything they need to do.  I am just praying for a little more neuro progress … that sure would help out a lot!

The First

21 May

Yesterday I attended the funeral of my uncle Roger.  It wasn’t quite 8 weeks ago when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Everyone I’ve known with that type of cancer has gone quickly.  And my aunt and cousins tell me there was a blessing in all of this, because he was starting to experience great pain.

How often have I told folks at Ebenezer that we preach our own funerals by how we live??  The ministers in his church did a great job yesterday, but six months from now no one will remember what they said … What we will remember is how Roger lived!

My favorite memories of Roger are caught up in holidays, mostly Christmas.  Since his sons, Tony and Allen, are the closest male cousins I have to my age, I always hoped EVERY CHRISTMAS they would be home.  I probably drove my mom nuts for a few years, asking her EVERY CHRISTMAS “are the Radcliffe’s coming home?”  It always made Christmas more fun for me when they did!

Roger was a lot of fun.  Always had a good attitude and an optimistic outlook.  Like his pastor said yesterday, he was probably one of the first techno-geeks in Horry County (via the USAF).  He continued to love computers and worked with them, both for fun and vocation, for the rest of his life.

And now Roger is the first … The first of his generation, in my mom’s family, to die.  Mom has four sisters and one brother, and Roger has the unfortunate distinction of being the first we’ve buried.  Although we won’t live forever, there is always that little part of us that hopes … that cannot imagine being without our family.

I am thankful for the way he served his nation, the way he served his family, and the way he served his Lord.  And kind of sad that he was the first.

On the rollercoaster again

20 May

Yes, I can hear the clicking of the chain, pulling the rollercoaster car up another hill.   And, if you’ve read me before,  I HATE ROLLERCOASTERS.  But I have moved into a few days where I will meet myself coming and going at least a couple of times.

Went to the funeral home last night.  It was good to see my aunt and my cousins doing well.  Uncle Roger was in a great deal of pain for the last couple of weeks, so there was an element of blessing in his death.   Of course, that doesn’t make things much easier, but it helps a little.  Of course I will return today for the funeral.  It will be two trips within 24 hours …

I also need to make a quick trip up to Greenville to check on Dad.  Then a full day on Sunday with Baccalaureate and an ordination council / service on Sunday afternoon / evening.

WHEW!!  The next few days will be hectic!!  But there are some good things in there, so I am thankful.

A Personal Prayer

19 May

For the good of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and ANY CHURCH of a reader of this blog, I pray that each of us will seek God’s will for us WITHIN HIS CHURCH and SERVE THERE.  For too many years, churches find warm bodies and plug them into vacant spaces on their service rosters.  AND IT NEVER WORKS.

I am a firm believer in finding the RIGHT PERSON for the RIGHT JOB.  Partly because I know it is biblical, as Paul often wrote about the Body of Christ being made up of different people with different gifts, and those gifts work in concert to COMPLETE the local church.  ALSO, I believe this because I have seen the results of plugging the WRONG people into important roles in the church.  I’ve seen the dysfunction on committees and ministry teams when those who really don’t know what they are doing are plugged in to vital places.  I’ve seen how the church suffers when that happens.

And it all boils down to trying to cram a square peg into a round hole.  It NEVER WORKS.  Ebenezer is now in the season of finding the right people for the right roles within our Ministry Selection Team and our Nominating Team, which fill roles for ministry teams and teaching positions within the church.  I pray these teams will make the right choices, not because of agendas or not out of laziness, but that they will make truly God-led decisions about places of service.

I pray for this because I know what an awesome difference there is between doing it God’s way and doing it our way.

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