Agee Views

The Statesboro Herald article, “Help in Hard Times” said that the Statesboro Food Bank served 21 families Thanksgiving meal supplies on Tuesday.  The food bank normally serves about 15 families daily.

The economic recession has forced many families to lessen their normal grocery funds. The winter holiday traditions revolve around large meals which also create large grocery bills. This forces families to rely more on food banks and especially during the holidays.

Fletcher Memorial Baptist Church provided service and food for the Statesboro Food Bank during the beginning of November. I am glad to see the church donating not only their funds by providing food, but also their time.

As the article states though, the food bank needs to continually receive donations and volunteers throughout the year, especially with the current economic situation. I hope that Fletcher continues to donate their time and resources to the food bank. Creating a ministry devoted to helping the Statesboro Food Bank would be extremely beneficial in keeping Fletcher’s involvement with the food bank year-round.

The now famous Alex and Stephen Kendrick of Albany, GA are at it again. They have decided to share Christ through another blockbuster movie. This time the focus is not on worried football players or heartbroken couples, but on the foundation of the American household; fathers.

According to a November 15 baptist press article, the Kendrick brothers announced Sunday the new movie theme during Sherwood Baptist’s evening  service. They hope the movie will hold fathers accountable of their households and lead like the Old Testament leader, Joshua.

I must admit, when I found out that the brother’s first two movies, Facing the Giants and Fireproof,  made over $43 million, I was a bit worried about the complete purpose of the films; fame and money or genuine discipleship? However, after working with the Kendrick family this summer and hearing many positive stories from family viewers, I believe the Kendrick brothers are in this to genuinely share the love of God.

I am so excited that they chose fatherhood as the focus for their next film. American families seem to have lost focus on what it means to be a family serving the Lord and having a stable leader in the family.

I’m excited to hear more about the film’s filming and script.

The horrible news of shootings and 13 deaths at Fort Hood, Texas struck us all last Thursday. According to the Baptist Press article, “After Shooting, Chaplains at Fort Hood Quickly Mobilize” multiple churches within the Fort Hood area opened their doors Thursday night for services and question and answer times. The North American Mission Board said the incident is another example of the need for Southern Baptist Churches to be  educated in handling military crisis’ like this one. NAMB even offered a link to military discipleship material in the article.

Statesboro does not have a military base located within 15 miles of the city, but there our bases fairly close including Fort Stewart, 64 miles away. If a crisis happened at Fort Stewart I would hope that Statesboro and the Savannah area churches would be prepared to offer counseling and food and shelter for the grieving soldiers.

I love how NAMB linked it’s military resources within the article. Hopefully Statesboro churches will actually use this material to be prepared.

The United States Military protects us everyday. Shouldn’t we be there for them when they need us?

Photo Credit: @SOLDIER_031227-A-8331M-001x by Mateus_ 27: 24&25 at Flickr.com

Pastors of the Ogeechee River Baptist Association attended the 111th annual associational meeting on October 18. According to a Statesboro Herald article, the pastors were challenged in a sermon by the Georgia Baptist Convention President, Bucky Kennedy. Two ideas from Kennedy in the article really struck me as being imperative to all Christians today. 

The first said, ” If we worry about the future when we are doing God’s work, we are displaying our lack of faith.” I think many of us struggle daily with this statement. We worry. We worry about being able to lead a small bible study on Tuesday nights, then co-teach sunday school on Sunday mornings, and then be on the financial planning committee. For me personally I worry about my future career when God has me at Georgia Southern University  presently. I should not worry so much about the future and instead focus on what  God has for me right now: a campus full of lost students, local churches to present new ideas to, a lonely classmate longing to be accepted, and various leadership positions where my voice can be heard.

The second idea was, “They (the attending pastors) must stand up for what they know is right, and never waiver in their commitment to do God’s work.” I have recently struggled with this concept while serving with a church. I had been struggling if God had really wanted me to be serving in a particular way with a local church. I had many signs that kept leaning me towards the “no side” until finally the answer was clear; I needed to step down from that service. I have been publically challenged from that decision, yet I still believe that God wanted me to step down. I have had to truly listen to him and stand firm in what I believe God told me. It seems like what Kennedy was trying to say was that in order to stand up for what is right, we may sometimes have to say “no” and trust that God has a plan.

We can go to whatever church we want in Statesboro, GA. We can worship in any style we want in Statesboro, GA. We can invite people to church  in Statesboro, GA. We can lead a public worship service in Statesboro, GA. We can be a member of a religious campus organization in Statesboro,GA. We can go to a Christmas play promoting Jesus’s birth in Statesboro, GA. I can represent a Christian non-profit organization under a state-funded University in Statesboro, GA.

In an October 9 article posted by Baptist Press, two women are still in Iran’s captivity after refusing to deny Jesus. The Islamic government is especially mad that they refuse to return to Islam.  According to the article the two women are in Evin Prison under poor conditions with little to no medical care. Their families have even offered the deeds to their houses to cover the $400,000 bail.

It’s amazing how we have so much freedom here in the United States and more importantly in the bible belt of the south. We have the freedom to declare our faith and yet so many times we don’t. We don’t take the time to listen and comfort a hurting friend with spiritual truth. We don’t invite the friend who is constantly drunk or head-over-heels in an extramarital affair to church events because, “They just wouldn’t fit in.” What’s the worse thing that can happen if we decide to actually exercise our religious freedom? We definitely would not have to worry about being locked in jail.