We had a lot of kids coming to the church at the time and there were plenty of programs and volunteers to oversee. I also was having children of my own during these years, so I wanted to know everything I could about ministering to kids.

One thing I learned: kids are human beings. Duh, right? But I observed that many adults in the church were treating the children as if they were a different species altogether.

When ministering to adults, most of us take the Bible’s teaching on the nature of man into account: We’re all created in God’s image, marred by sin, in need of Jesus, destined for eternity. These theological realities ground our practical decisions about what to teach or preach, how to structure a worship service or community group, and how to implement spiritual formation and discipline in the church family.

But our approach to kids tended to be different. We leaned toward the pragmatic: Whatever the kids will think is fun, let’s do it so they come back! We also tended toward the sentimental: kids are so cute. They need cute Bible stories and cute songs and we need to take a lot of pictures.

When I began to teach kids every week, I learned that these impulses often got in the way of real ministry. Having fun is great! But it’s not the main point, is it? Kids are cute! But they’re also real people with real problems.

Over time, I learned that I needed to speak to the kids about hard things, even topics that others might have felt were a little too intense for them.

Sometimes we forget the kinds of real-life issues kids face. A grandparent dies. Parents divorce. A bully harrasses them and makes them feel worthless. Their “crush” tells them to hit the road. They try hard at school and fail to get the grade. They practice all summer and still get cut from the team.

Not only that, but kids deal with real wickedness: hatred, pride, envy, filthy talk, disobedience to parents.

As adults, we should never minimize the sin or the suffering of children. Nor should we withhold the only hope available to them in the face of these challenges: the gospel message that has the power to reconcile them to a good God.

I’m glad that our church is preparing to make an investment in our kids in partnership with their parents.

This past Sunday, Rick Casey announced that he will be leading the search for a new Director of Children’s Ministry at Indian Creek. This will be a part-time ministry leadership position supporting children from birth to 6^th grade, their families, and the programs designed to serve them. You can read the full position description here.

Rick will be assisted in this search by three others: Chris Parish, Cherith Barham, and Kelly Simonton. If you have questions about the position or would like to recommend someone for the role, I’m sure any of these individuals would be glad to speak to you.

In light of this development, I’d ask you to do a few things: First, please join us in praying for the right person for this role.

Second, please follow this link in order to apply for the role, and share the link with anyone you think may be interested.

Third, please make a personal investment in our children as a volunteer. You’d be surprised how many people it takes to serve the amount of kids who are coming to Indian Creek.

We are especially in need of men to volunteer. The sad truth is that some of the kids we serve do not have even one godly man in their life. Let’s change that. Our kids need to see both men and women serving the Lord. They need to hear teaching from both men and women.

Let’s set this new Director up for success by pitching in to help.

You’d think we would want to stay as far away from their example as we possibly can. And yet there is one thing the wandering Israelites did that we tend to make room for today: grumbling.

The children of Israel were expert grumblers. They grumbled because they were hungry, because they were tired, because they were scared. They grumbled because they didn’t like the food that God provided. They grumbled because one person received more recognition than they did. Grumble, grumble, grumble!

For some, the last thing they ever said was a grumble. And yet what do we do today? If you’re like me, from time to time, you grumble.

Grumbling is like a wet blanket squelching any flame of hope or gratitude. It is infectious, spreading from one person to another faster than any virus. It is universal; kids and grown-ups alike struggle with grumbling. In fact, many old-timers have perfected the art! They’re almost professional grumblers.

The apostle Paul was not a fan of grumbling. He thought it betrayed an unChristlike heart, a heart of unthankfulness and entitlement.

When writing to the Philippians, Paul certainly had some things he may have grumbled about. For one thing, he had been waiting to be released from his chains for years. Every day he spent under house arrest, chained to a member of the Praetorian Guard. For another thing, his own countrymen had gathered in force to ensure that Paul would be severely punished for the crimes he was falsely accused of committing.

And yet he tells them, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing” (Philippians 2:14).

In our Equipping Class, we’ve taken a little time to study the early years of Baptist History. I’ve been struck by just how difficult it was for our Baptist forebears in the 17^th century, along with other dissenting Christians such as the Separatists. Many of them were banished from their homeland. Others were imprisoned in squalid conditions. All of them were slandered and maligned. And yet they frequently rejoiced in the grace of God in spite of their circumstances, remembering that they were redeemed by the blood of Christ.

Well, if Paul can wear heavy chains and await a capital trial without grumbling or disputing, and if conscientious Christians in the 17^th century can deal with heavy persecution without grumbling or disputing, why can’t we?

I confess that this is one of the sins I tend to excuse in my own life. Many a time a fellow Christian has had to listen with quiet awkwardness to my grumblings. Too often I’ve experienced conviction only after saying things I couldn’t take back.

In our context, we value “authenticity.” We abhor a fake or plastic smile, a Polyanna-ish positivity that paints over pain and pretends that life is hunky-dory when it really isn’t. And in this way we excuse our grumblings as just being “transparent” or even “venting.”

Venting feels cathartic. It feels good to call a friend and say, “You would not believe what I am dealing with right now!” But so often it’s not really helpful or necessary. It feels good in the moment but it increases our misery, kills our gratitude, and dulls our faith in the promises of God. It’s just a modern way of saying, “I’d like to grumble for a second.”

If you catch me grumbling I hope you’ll call me out. I don’t want to do what the children of Israel did when wandering the wilderness. I want to be like Caleb or Joshua, a man with an awareness of what God might do if we move forward in faith and obedience.

Grief is good. It’s part of life. When we bring it to God, He provides healing and strengthens our faith. Gratitude is good. It focuses our attention on the blessings that we didn’t deserve and often didn’t even ask for. May each of us replace our grumbling with gratitude!

I used to think that following the crowd was something kids and teenagers felt pressured to do. I now know that this feeling of “everybody’s doing it” doesn’t go away with age, even if the reasons change over time.

When I was going to college, “everybody” was taking out massive student loans. When our kids were entering their teen years, “all” of their friends’ parents were giving their kids unfettered access to social media. And now, “everybody” is using AI programs like ChatGPT or Claude to do their thinking for them.

Several days ago, The Gospel Coalition published a couple of articles explaining that as a rule, they will not publish any content that is produced with the assistance of AI. I’ve always been slow to adapt to new technology, so I was a little surprised that they felt the need to create this policy. I had assumed that serious, published authors would be against the use of AI in writing. But what surprised me even more was that some people (even Christians) criticized their stance.

Apparently, an increasing number of Christians are relying on AI programs to write articles, sermons, and Sunday school lessons in the same way you might use ChatGPT to generate some code or create a slide deck for a presentation at work.

I can’t see how this could be a good thing. For one thing, if a minister is using AI to write content but doesn’t explicitly say that that’s what he’s doing, that’s deceptive. It’s passing off someone else’s work as your own.

For another thing, it sacrifices long term benefit for short term gain. When I was in seminary, I learned that I really hadn’t thought carefully about a topic until I wrote about it. We would listen to lectures and read thousands of pages of dense academic writing on a given topic. I would feel confident in my knowledge. But then I had to write five or six thousand words defending a thesis on that topic. That was a whole different experience! Writing forces us to think.

When preachers use AI (or more pedestrian sermon research tools that have been available for years, or re-preach another man’s sermons), that may seem harmless in the short run. But think about the long-term consequences. A preacher who relies on someone else to do his preparation for him will preach platitudes and cliches. His sermons will fail to apply in real life because they weren’t forged in real life.

For that reason, I’m glad that influential organizations like The Gospel Coalition are drawing a “line in the sand” on this issue. I can tell you that I don’t use AI for sermon study, writing, preparation, or evaluation after the fact. I don’t use it to prepare for Equipping Classes or to write discussion guides and I don’t use it to write newsletter articles (probably obvious given the typos and run-on sentences and such!).

I do rely on AI to help me manage projects (such as planning an event). I probably use it without really meaning to on occasion (Today I used Google to verify some facts for a sermon illustration, and I read the AI-generated summary at the top of the results). If I were more creative and forward-thinking, I’m sure I would find other valuable uses for these incredible tools.

I realize my own practice is a lot stricter than most of my colleagues, and that’s fine. There are plenty of faithful brothers who ask ChatGPT to queue up resources for study, or give them ideas for an illustration, or suggest application questions. I may venture into some of these limited uses eventually.

But we should be cautious, shouldn’t we? And we should remind ourselves that no matter what tools we start to use, we’re still human, and that means we will always have limitations and there will always be a trade-off. I just don’t want to trade away my integrity or pastoral sensitivity in exchange for a little more flash or polish.

Meanwhile, if you’re an AI power user, I’d love to hear how these tools have helped you serve the Lord and love your neighbor. Let me know what you think!

Know how I know? Because James tells us, “We all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man” (James 3:2).

None of us is perfect, right? Yet we are commanded to put off these sins and replace them with wholesome communication. Paul tells the Ephesian church, “Let no corrupting talk proceed out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up” (Ephesians 4:29).

Our “talk” can be “corrupting.” It can tear down, destroy, cause harm. And yet sins of speech so often fly under the radar of our conscience. We justify patterns of speech that fail to represent Christ.

Take the sin of gossip for example. How many churches have been destroyed through gossip? How many families splintered apart? We should never consider gossip to be a more “respectable” sin, less bad than lust or lying. Far from it! Gossip is about as corrosive and ungodly as any other Satanic vice. Paul says that gossip, like other sins, flows out of a debased mind that does not see fit to acknowledge God (Romans 1:28-29).

Are you a gossip? Isn’t it time to kill this sin? If we’re going to get serious about putting off gossip and replacing it with something godly, we need to understand it a little better.

First, understand that gossip is enticing. According to Proverbs 18:8 and 26:2 (yes, this is repeated twice), “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels, they go down into the inner parts of the body.”

Why do we gossip? Because it feels good. We hear a salacious rumor about someone in our church or place of business, and immediately our ears perk up and we lean forward, hungry for more. “She said what?”

It feels good to know something about another person (whether it’s true or not is a different matter entirely). We carry it around like a special snack to pull out of our pocket at just the right time. Finally, we have someone’s attention. We throw out a little teaser: “Well, you know why he didn’t come in to work today, don’t you?” Then we pause, enjoying the delicious feeling that someone is hanging on to our every whispered word.

Isn’t that shameful? We’re enjoying ourselves at someone else’s expense. Instead of loving our neighbor, we’re destroying them without them even knowing.

Another reason we gossip is because we’re angry. We feel wronged and secretly resolve to seek satisfaction for our wrath. Since direct confrontation often leads to discomfort, we resort to gossip, undermining the person we’re mad at without risking any blowback. But the “anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). Our gossip makes things worse.

Second, understand that gossip will destroy relationships. Proverbs 16:28 says “a whisperer separates close friends.” Maybe you know this from experience. For some reason, churches are especially susceptible to the divisions caused by gossip. I think this happens because gossip feels more acceptable than other sins and because Christians are especially vulnerable to one another in the church. When we betray that trust, the harm is incalculable.

I’ve seen this happen, and I’ve heard from so many pastors who watched their own congregation or family get picked apart. They all say the same thing, “It all started with two or three individuals who just woudn’t quit gossiping.” The church can weather a storm, but gossip is like wildfire: it consumes everyone in its path.

Third, understand that gossip must be amputated. It’s like a gangrenous limb. If you don’t cut it off—painful though that might be—before long there will be nothing left.

Proverbs 26:20 – “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”

If you hear members of your family—or members of your church family—gossiping, have the courage to confront them in love. Offer to help them speak to the person they’re angry at instead of indulging their destructive habit. Yes, that may cost you. Your friend may get angry. But you can do it.

Instead of ingesting the corrosive words of a whisperer, let’s build one another up with kindness and patience.

It’s funny: a phone is just an object, a powerful tool. You can use it to check in to a flight, send money to a family member, communicate around the world, or even follow a plan to memorize Scripture.

But not everything we do with our phones is good, is it? In fact, even the innocent or innocuous activities associated with our phones tend—over time—to siphon off our precious moments and rot our brains.

According to Tony Reinke’s fantastic book Twelve Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, the average person checks his phone every 4.3 minutes (Reinke’s book was written several years ago; I’d guess that it’s much worse today than it was back then). I truly believe that we’re going to look back on the early years of smartphone usage the way we look at cigarettes today: “How did we let such a corrosive habit become normal?”

Smart phones really are addictive. They comfort us in times of anxiety, stimulate our senses when we’re bored, capitalize on the ebb and flow of human hormones designed to interact with a much more mundane world than the one we see on that tiny screen.

Think about how your phone is affecting the next generation. They see you scrolling endlessly; they tire of having to repeat their question or story when you remain glued to a screen rather than attentive to them. And when you give them their first phone, it’s like they are sitting ducks. Most people are beginning to realize just how damaging early and frequent exposure to smart phones can be to a developing brain.

But what will we do about it?

I want to challenge you to take a month to “detox” from your phone. Last year, we taught a brief Equipping Class on the impact of phones and social media and I realized that a kind of “fast” from my phone would do me some good.

Following the example of some very disciplined members of our church, I deleted every unnecessary app from my phone (this took a couple passes: I struggled at first to admit that YouTube isn’t exactly an essential app).

Three things surprised me. First, I was surprised to learn just how unnecessary those unnecessary apps were. I had told myself, “I need to keep up with current events.” Nope. Nearly all of these current events we believe we need to know about right away pertain to matters entirely outside our control. Think about it: Do you honestly think it matters whether you find out about the current status of the Strait of Hormuz multiple times a day? What can you actually do about it?

“It helps me know how to pray.”

OK, fine. But for most of us, we have enough to pray about regarding our family, our church, our community. And we can still pray for the world without knowing every detail of what is taking place. Be honest: you just want to know!

When I checked Twitter or other news sites on my laptop a couple times a week, I learned that I really wasn’t missing anything that outweighed the benefits of being free from phone addiction.

Another thing that surprised me was how irritable I felt the first few days of the “detox.” I didn’t think scrolling through social media or YouTube at lunch or in the evening was a big part of my life. But when I took away the option, it was obvious I had become at least a little dependent on the habit.

But there was a third surprise. Since that time, I’ve learned that many of our teenagers—people we proudly assume are “glued to their phones”—are often much more aware of the dangers of social media and smartphone addiction than we older folks.

The young people at Indian Creek are some of the best you’ll find. I’ve been so gratified to learn that many of them have a thoughtful, disciplined approach toward their phones. They want to fulfill their potential, and they realize that phones are in the way.

Well, I challenge you to join them! Take a month; delete all those apps, and do a “digital fast.” You’ll be glad you did.

Back-to-school is also a season of significant transition for many people. For young folks, maybe it’s their first year of high school or college. For your family, maybe it marks the beginning of a new weekly rhythm. Perhaps you decided to start exercising this week or are planning to begin a new diet. It’s just a good time to start something new.

For some of your neighbors, summer was a season of transition into a new home or a new job. And that means it’s a great time to invite them to church. You’d be surprised just how open they are.

I think we underestimate the impact a simple invitation can have. “Do you have a church family? I’d love to have you join us at Indian Creek this Sunday.” How often do you think people receive an invitation like that?

You might have your doubts: “They don’t want to hear from me. I’m not even sure if they like me!” But think about how an invitation might sound to them. They feel gratified because you’ve shown that you care about them. People make an effort to show up when they believe they’re wanted.

It’s amazing to me how often people testify that the reason they first came to our church (or any church) is because of a personal invitation from someone they knew. In fact, according to researcher Thom Rainer, eight out of ten unchurched individuals have said that they would attend church if invited by a friend.

Think about the impact that could have. There are hundreds of Christians in our city who do not have a church family. They need to find a place to grow and serve. Why couldn’t that be with us?

There are thousands of lost folks in our community who are feeling the emptiness of worldly things and the need for healing and forgiveness. A simple invitation could put them in a position to hear—maybe even for the first time—about the hope we have in Christ.

Wouldn’t it be glorious if you invited a friend or coworker to church and they came, got saved and baptized, and started sharing their new faith with others? You can’t reach everybody, but think of what might happen if you invited just one.

Based on personal observation, the most effective “inviters” in our church are our teenagers. I’m so proud of the way these young people have schemed and strategized to bring their friends to church not only on Wednesday evenings but even on Sundays. It’s so encouraging to see!

Let me ask you: When was the last time you invited a friend to Indian Creek? How many weeks has it been? Months? Years?

We’re not talking about preaching a 3-point sermon to your friend. We’re not saying you have to answer every one of his deepest theological questions. We’re not even talking about sharing the gospel with them one-on-one (which would also be a good thing to do!). We’re talking about simply inviting them to church. It’s easy to do!

I want to challenge you to invite someone to Indian Creek this week. Make a commitment: write down the names of three or four people you might be able to invite and then follow through. Go out of your way to mention our church to a cashier or restaurant server. Strike up a conversation with your mechanic or the guy you hired to install gutters. Ask them, “Do you have a church?”

If you’re nervous or you can’t think of anyone specific, bring that up to the Lord in prayer. Say, “God, I’d like to do this, but I’m not sure where to start. Would you help me?” You’ll be surprised at the answer you might receive.

Why shouldn’t our church be filled to the brim with folks who don’t know Christ this week? Why shouldn’t we see the baptistery filled every Sunday so that we can celebrate the public profession of faith of someone you asked to sit with you at church?

Next Sunday, I’d love to meet the friend you’ve invited to join you at church. The sooner you ask, the better!

Sending a group of people to plant a new church is a big commitment. I know you know that. To give a trite illustration, it’s like when you got your first pet as a kid. Your parents had to explain to you that it really isn’t right to make the initial purchase and then change your mind or go half-way. You have to be all in!

In order to see a new church launch, grow, and thrive for years to come, Indian Creek will need to be all in. If you say “yes” to this MOU, you’re saying “yes” to a long-term partnership, and that partnership will involve sacrifice. It’s kind of like what Jesus says in Luke 14:

“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” 

We don’t want to start something we can’t see through to the end. We have to “count the cost,” and I mean that literally.

Let me zoom out a little bit. Last year, you approved a budget for 2026 in the amount of $757,745. This means that we intend to spend this amount of money on missions, ministry, personnel, and basic operations during 2026.

As you know, Indian Creek doesn’t sell products or services. We’re a church, and we cover our expenses through the generous tithes and offerings of our members. If current patterns hold, we’ll receive about $650,000 in undesignated offerings this year.

That means that our annual expenses could outpace our giving by about $100,000.

I shared in our meeting on June 28 that if we move forward with the proposed MOU, the 2027 budget will increase by approximately $50,000 (the 2028 budget will be impacted too). Most likely we’ll have other budget categories that need to be increased as well.

Finally, keep in mind that some of our most committed members will most likely join the core group for the new church plant. I expect (and hope!) that they will begin tithing to the new church rather than to Indian Creek.

If you’re still with me, you can see that there is a gap between patterns of giving, planned expenses, and future commitments related to a new church plant. How will we address this gap?

Should we simply cut expenses? Keep in mind that many of our expenses are fixed (think utilities, insurance, etc.). Cutting back in other areas would mean cutting back on ministry. I believe this would be counterproductive to our mission. I’ve been meeting with ministry leaders since early spring to plan our ministry strategy for 2027 and believe that these plans will help us grow in Christ and reach our city. I can’t wait to share more!

We do have some reserves (about 3-4 months’ worth). There are going to be times—for the sake of the mission—when we as a church spend more on ministry than we receive in tithes and offerings. But this won’t cover the whole thing.

The fact is that if we are going to move forward with this church plant, we’re going to have to depend on the Lord for growth. 

Do we believe that the ministry of Indian Creek changes lives? That we belong to a healthy flock that will bear fruit and grow? As I’ve talked with other pastors who have sent out members of their congregation to plant a new church, I’ve learned that a healthy church is like a healthy plant: When you trim away a branch or two to plant somewhere else, the original plant sprouts three or four in its place.

If you ask me, we’ve seen a lot of evidence of that health and growth over the last couple years: new followers of Jesus, Christians taking steps of faith and obedience, and believers caring for each other in love. 

Obviously, the elders believe that our church is growing and healthy to the point where we can sacrificially invest in a new church plant.

We hope you agree, and we trust that you’re doing your part to support the work of the ministry and invite others to join us as we follow Christ together. Meanwhile, if you have doubts or questions, please take a few minutes to read the MOUand listen to the audio from the recent meeting, and bring those concerns to an elder.

That might have been the end of the story. But twenty years later, the First Baptist Church of Mineral Wells, along with Pastor W. M. Turner, had a vision to “re-plant” this church to meet the growing needs of the community. Pastor Turner began preaching in the Brazos Valley Schoolhouse on Bankhead Highway. Slowly, people began to gather. A core group formed.

Finally, in December 1943, in response to a request sent by Pastor Turner to the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Pastor Leonard Dyer arrived to serve as pastor of Indian Creek Baptist Church.

Pastor Dyer was in the process of finishing his degree. But he had the zeal and wisdom to lead. The church was given a few acres of land along Indian Creek Road, and they banded together to purchase materials from the army base east of town. Pastor Dyer (who must have been multi-talented) drew up plans for a new meeting house and the congregation worked together to get it built.

Think about all the lives that have been impacted in the more than eight decades since. Think about how far we’ve come! God gets the credit. But it wouldn’t have happened if a church family a few miles away hadn’t lent their prayerful energies toward the planting (or in our case, re-planting) of a fledgling congregation.

It's easy to see the heroism of the little congregation and their young pastor meeting here on Indian Creek Road. But put yourself in the shoes of the members at First Baptist Church. Their pastor had invested many hours in a mission several miles away. I imagine that took place at the sacrifice of some of the time he could have spent investing in the growth of First Baptist. They probably sent away some of their best families to strengthen the congregation here at Indian Creek. I’m sure there was a financial sacrifice as well.

I don’t think we’ve had a lot of church planting activity in Mineral Wells in recent decades. But it’s not exactly a new concept. God’s people have been investing in planting or re-seeding local churches for a very long time.

Why? Because this is one of the most effective strategies in existence for fulfilling the Great Commission. You want to make disciples? Plant a church.

Planting churches is a ministry of multiplication rather than addition. Even leaders in the “megachurch” movement recognize this. Many churches that became multi-campus behemoths in the 2000s and 2010s have aggressively shifted to a focus on planting other congregations. In fact, some experts surmise that the future of church in America is not the slick suburban campus with thousands of attendees in a massive arena, but numerous smaller congregations in a movement of multiplication.

Not only is it effective; it’s biblical. Consider the ministry of the Apostle Paul. He didn’t build a massive tabernacle in Antioch so that the masses could hear him preach. Neither did he merely engage in one-on-one evangelism. No, Paul planted churches all around the Roman Empire. Those churches persisted long after he went home to be with the Lord.

This past Sunday, we discussed our own plans to invest in a new church plant in Mineral Wells, led by Jamie Kinman. We talked about why we believe this is the right move for Indian Creek, and why Pastor Jamie has been asked to lead this new church. If you weren’t able to make it, I hope you’ll catch me or one of the elders and allow us to share our heart regarding this important project.

As we’ve prayed and talked and studied and learned from others with more experience than us, it’s become clear that if we are going to move forward with this plan, it will take a high degree of commitment and sacrifice on the part of Indian Creek Baptist Church and the families in our congregation.

What can you do? First, please pray and consider whether the Lord might have you and your family join Jamie as part of the “core group” in the new church.

Second, please take the time to read through this “Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU). We’ll have to take action on this MOU as a church, and we intend to hold a vote during our family meeting on Sunday, August 23. Please read it carefully and let us know what questions or concerns you may have as soon as possible so that we can move forward in unity as a church.

What’s more, every member of our church—with the exception of Pastor Jamie and myself—gives of their time, talent, and treasure freely, without expecting anything in return. We’re the only two full-time staff members! And yet look at all that gets accomplished week in and week out.

When I arrive on Sunday mornings between seven and eight, coffee is already being made, the baptistery has been freshly filled, and the band is getting ready to rehearse. With each passing minute more church members arrive, some preparing to serve the Lord’s Supper, others making copies to be handed out in an Equipping Class, still others stuffing activity packets for the kids to use during worship.

Then the teachers arrive. They’ve spent hours searching the Scripture to prepare a lesson. They carry a special burden, accountable to the Lord for how they handle His word, standing in a place of influence over the spiritual wellbeing of those who will attend their class that day.

Men arrive and pick up a two-way radio, dispersing across the campus to ensure that everyone is safe. Ladies open the nursery. Families greet guests at the doors. The worship service hasn’t even started yet and already dozens have started to make their thankless contribution to the ministry.

The next morning more volunteers arrive to count the offering or reset the New Life Center for the next activity.

Before long it’s Wednesday afternoon. Groceries are brought into the kitchen a little after lunch. The room fills with the sounds and smells of supper being prepared for over a hundred people. Volunteers rush from work, swallow a few bites of food, and then man their stations in Awana or Bible Study or ESL.

On and on it goes. And this is just a typical, run-of-the-mill week with little extra taking place, all fueled by Christ-loving Christians who give up their one short life—hour by hour—to serve the greatest cause ever conceived, the mission of Jesus.

And it’s all voluntary. Our elders lead without pay, our deacons serve without pay; even our part-time staff members go far beyond the duties in their job descriptions to serve our church.

We don’t want to pat ourselves on the back. But by God’s grace and because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, local churches like ours are the beneficiaries of a kind of sacrificial generosity that you can’t find anywhere else. And it’s been that way here on Indian Creek Road for over a hundred years. Some of our current members have been serving the Lord since the middle of the last century!

I just want you to know I appreciate you. You work hard all week in the hot sun, or sprinting from meeting to meeting, or chasing around a handful of kids, then you rush through weekend chores on Saturday, then Sunday comes. It’s a day to rest in Christ—and you do—but you also pour yourself out as a living sacrifice of service to the saints.

I don’t take that for granted. I get a unique vantage point from which to view these great acts of faith and courage. I know it can be tedious and toilsome. I know the constraints of time and budget can feel like a straitjacket. I know that at times the obstacles seem insurmountable and people don’t respond the way you’d like.

But your work is not a waste. We serve a risen Savior who multiplies our efforts and ensures that they reverberate long after we’re gone. Thank you so much for all of the ways you invest in Indian Creek Baptist Church!

I first seriously encountered Ecclesiastes when I was in high school. Candidly, it was a dark time in my life. It was only a few months, but at the time it felt like I would never escape the feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and utter desperation I was feeling (in other words, I was a teenager!).

During that time, my pastor preached a message from Ecclesiastes, skimming the surface of several passages throughout the book. I can’t remember a thing he said, but I remember it being a breakthrough! Ecclesiastes met me in the throes of real life in a fallen world, and made sense of some of the difficulties and frustrations I was facing.

Like nowhere else in Scripture, Ecclesiastes deals with the temporal, fleeting nature of life in a world that still awaits complete redemption: the world you live in! If you’ve ever dealt with boredom, repetition, frustration, unfairness, absurdity, or wasted effort, then Ecclesiastes has something to say to you.

I don’t like to lecture too much when I’m preaching (despite what you may think!) so let me share a handful of random thoughts about Ecclesiastes that will help you understand what we’re studying together before we actually dive in.

First, understand that Ecclesiastes is Hebrew poetry. That doesn’t mean it rhymes (most of the time). But it is different from prose in important ways. For example, poetry is terse; there is a lot of meaning bound up in a small amount of words. You have to slow down and chew on what you’re reading rather than rushing ahead to the end.

That goes against our modern mentality, doesn’t it? Many people don’t want to read at all, and those who do read like to devour as many pages per hour as their eyes can consume.

But you can’t read poetry like that. There are no extraneous words; each one has a wealth of meaning. So you have to slow down and think.

As poetry, Ecclesiastes often uses obscure or arcane language. A good poet has a wealth of vocabulary that goes beyond the average person’s, and a good poet uses his vocabulary in ways that stretch your imagination. It will make you scratch your head, but when you “get it” you’ll be delighted with the wealth of wisdom you encounter.

Second—and speaking of wisdom—it’s important to note that Ecclesiastes is “wisdom literature.” Basically what that means is that the Holy Spirit used a unique method to inspire the biblical writer to compose this particular portion of the Word of God. It’s not direct dictation like you see in Isaiah or Jeremiah. It’s not law handed down from Mount Sinai or testimony recorded by an eyewitness. It’s divinely inspired reflection on the created world.

The sage says “I have seen…” and then reflects on what he sees. All along, the Holy Spirit supervises the process so that every word is in fact the Word of God. Our job, though, is to look not only at the words but also view our world the same way we’re being shown in the pages of the book.

Third, Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon. I am underscoring this because most Bible scholars don’t think this is true. In fact, many interpreters believe that the author (whoever he is) is offering a cynical or even godless take on life, and that godless take is then framed by a later editor who reminds us at the end of the book that we’re supposed to fear the Lord.

But that’s not at all what you’ll find if you read this book carefully and faithfully. It’s obviously written by Solomon (see 1:1, 12) and a perspective of God-fearing faith is represented throughout the book.

Finally, it might help to understand that the key word in the book (hebel, translated “vanity” in most versions) literally means “breath” or “vapor.” To me, “vanity” connotes emptiness or worthlessness, and that’s not what this word is intended to communicate! Solomon is reminding us: “All is breath; fleeting, ephemeral, airy, un-lasting.

That doesn’t mean it’s all bad. It’s just that in this world—under the sun—we’re still groaning, waiting for the redemption of the body and of all creation.