Ridgell's Originals

 So we are doing a capital campaign at Hillcrest in Abilene where I am on staff.  Raising money to do some critical maintenance and remodel to our building.  One of the issues is that our baptistry is in bad shape.  Doesn't hold water long, hard to keep heated, and has the potential to collapse at any time. Especially since we have started having 4 or 5 people in with the one being baptized.  Family and/or friends.  

So it will be redone.  

Like most churches of Christ of a certain age, the baptistry has always been front and center behind the pulpit.  Well, except at Hillcrest we don't have a pulpit.  And our baptistry is high so if you are short, most of the people can't really see what is happening in a baptism unless they watch the video screens.  And we have nice baptistry doors that are shut most of the time so unless you know what is there, it is just decoration.  Visitors certainly don't know what is behind the pretty sliding doors.

But recently, many churches have started putting their baptistry in the foyer, or on the floor right by the pulpit.  I really like it up front by the pulpit but we are not doing an auditorium remodel so that is not going to happen.  I think we are going to actually put ours in the lobby.  

But all of this started me thinking.  Where should you put the baptistry?  So here are a few thoughts.

Optics matter.  I get the baptism at the front and center.  It reminds our members (who know what is behind the doors) of the importance of being born again. It doesn't really say anything to visitors.  But it does in the lobby.  Everyone will see the baptistry.  Some visitors may even want to know what it is and why it is right out in the open.  Of course, the greatest optic is to witness people giving their life to Jesus.  No matter where the water is located.

People.  I like baptisms where the family is there.  We have close friends and family in the baptistry surrounding the person being baptized.  We crowd the stairs leading down into the bpatistry.  But you can't get many in there.  So how great will it be that we can get several around them in the water, and lots more right up close to surround the new brother or sister.  Put up a camera and the whole assembly can see it.  But those closest to the new Christian will have been right there with them.

And of course, the where to put the baptistry really isn't that big of a deal.  We do baptize lots of people in front of our whole church.  And we baptize lots outside of the assembly.  We will always find water.  A pool.  A hot tub.  A stock tank.  A cattle trough.  We will find water.

But the real point is what is happening.  Born again.  Saved.  Giving lives to Jesus.  That is what matters.  

That's the whole point.  Not the where. 

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments

 The Texas Rangers won the World Series and I started thinking about what I learned from them about church growth.

Recognize and address the problems.  The Rangers had to survive an owner crisis, change General Managers, and change managers a couple of times before they won.  This is not a call to change all your church leadership and fire the preacher.  But sometimes a church may need to reaffirm leadership, or even to have an elder selection process.  Maybe it is time to move on from your current preacher. 

The goal was always to win the championship, not just be competitive.  Churches need to be all in on the mission.  Reach lost people.  Not just try and keep our own.  Or keep the doors open.  Or get the people leaving other churches.  Real growth is the mission.  Saving the lost. 

They got bad before they got good.  If a church wants to go all in on reaching the people God brings you, it will be uncomfortable for some.  You may even lose members that are used to being catered to.  That may be needed.  

The Rangers looked for winners.  Leaders.  Players who got it.  Churches need to have those people to.  Ask God to bring them.  Or to raise them up.

Then they played one game at a time.  Just trust the process.  For Christians, plant seed and water it.  God will give the increase.  Trust His process. 

Sure am glad the Rangers won the World Series.  Been a fan a long time.

Even happier when churches really grow the Kingdom.  That is the biggest win of all.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments

 I don't think thanksgiving should be restricted to one day a year.  But it is nice to intentionally think about what I have to be thankful for.  

Here are a few of my "thanks".  Maybe they will help you remember some of yours.

It all starts with God and Jesus.  So thankful God loves me.  Jesus died for me.  I am going to live forever because I believe in Jesus and was crucified with him in baptism a long time ago.  Thankful Jesus forgives me for the times I didn't have have my spiritual act together.  

Thankful for family.  I often tell Marsha thanks for being my wife.  Don't deserve her.  But she has been a blessing for 50 years and counting.  And not just to me, but to our whole family.  Thankful my Mom is still celebrating with us.  Thankful for her.  My kids are a blessing.  All four of them.  And the grands bless me every day.  It is hard not to be overwhelmed just thinking about all of them as I write this.

My friends.  We really do have friends who are not just like family.  They are family.  Some I have known all my life.  Some we have known all our married life.  And we have people we do life with that bless us in so many ways.

Thankful for my ministry.  Still one of the featured speakers for Herald of Truth, talking about Jesus.  And thankful for Hillcrest.  I am part of an incredible staff.  Love the elders.  They let me talk about Jesus in whatever way God and the Holy Spirit lead me.  I am thankful I am still able to do Kingdom work, and thankful Hillcrest supports me in that. 

Thankful for Ridgell Ranch, our Barndo home, and all the animals both wild and domestic.  Every day I am amazed at how good God has been.  So I am thankful.

So be thankful for your spiritual blessings.  For your family, friends, and community of faith.  And for the physical blessings you have.  

God is good.  Even I had more blessings, He could not be better.  Even if I had fewer  blessings, He would still be the best.

Thank you God because every good thing I have is because of you.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments

 My Mom, Juanita Ridgell, is about to turn 93 in about a week.  There are lots of reasons I love her and am proud of her, but here are just a few.

She doesn't know she is old.  I don't mean that she is not aware, but that she just doesn't act, think, or seem old.  She still is amazingly mobile.  I mean, she won the Senior Olympics at her Retirement Living Center.  She keeps up with current events.  

She is still engaged with life.  Has a circle of friends (most of whom are, of course, younger).  Intensely interested in her great-grands future plans.  Keeps up with the grands careers.  Comes out to check on the progress of the Barndo. 

Active at church.  We bring a lot of visitors and she scoots over and invites them to sit right in the middle of our family.  Treats them like family.  Never misses Bible class or worship.  Involved in Bible studies where she lives.  Keeps up a prayer list.  Especially for non-believers we are working with.

People do a lot for her.  Because she is sweet, nice, never entitled or takes help for granted.  Always appreciative.

She takes life as it comes.  She really does "roll with the flow".  She has seen enough life and has enough faith to know that everything will be OK in the end.

And that is what I am most thankful for... her legacy of faith.  She loves God and Jesus.  Not just reads her Bible, but believes it.  Her life, her worship, her attitude all come from a deep well of faith.

So thank you God for Mam.  You really have done, and are doing, a great thing in her life.  

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 1 comments

 My grandson, Andrew Ridgell, turns 16 this Sunday and, as is my custom, here are just a few of the reasons I love him and am really proud of him.

He loves his family.  He and his Dad are really close, but he loves his Mom, his brother and sister, his grands, cousins, aunts, uncles.  Well, you get the picture.  He really enjoys being with family and he helps his family.  He has done a lot of work at the ranch and I appreciate him.  

He loves his friends.  Good friends are rare and I am amazed how many of Andrew's peers tell me what a special friend he is.  He is someone they ask for advice and someone they depend on to be there for them.

He loves the outdoors.  Really enjoys hunting (got a nice 8 point opening day) and loves fishing (enough to be on his high school fishing team).  Enjoys working outdoors.  Camping.  Hiking.  

Loves sports.  This World Series run for the Texas Rangers was fun to share with him.  He is a good athlete.  Basketball and baseball.  He is old enough now where it is really fun to watch.  He is a really good ballplayer but the best part of watching him is how much he enjoys playing.  

But here is the biggest reason I am proud of Andrew.  He loves Jesus.  He has been a Jesus follower a long time and not just because that is a family heritage.  He chose to follow Jesus.  He helps others on their spiritual journey and he shares his faith.

So Andrew, you have brought a lot of joy to your Pops.  I look forward to what God is going to do with you and thru you.  You are a Kingdom warrior.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments

 I love the story of the good Samaritan.  Who doesn't?  Helping people.  Religious people not doing what they should.  

I hear lots of churches and Christians saying they want to help the needy, the disenfranchised, and those on the fringes.  And there are lots of people to help.  Those in emotional distress, addictions, poverty, ex-offenders, broken relationships.  Everybody wants to be the Christian like that.  The church like that.

Until you realize these three lessons from the Good Samaritan.

Helping people takes time.  The Samaritan had to stop, help the guy, find him a place to stay.  You don't help people in fifteen minutes before or after church.  It takes hours.  

It takes money.  Bills to pay.  Groceries.  Our world abuses the poor.  They need help.  Remember the Samaritan paid for the lodging and care of the injured man.

It takes energy.  It can be exhausting.  The care given.  The trip to the Inn.  The arrangements.  The Samaritan had to be tired.  Helping people is exhausting.

Time.  Energy.  Money.  

But Jesus told us to do it.  It is how we love people.  It is a reflection of our love for God.  

Listen.  Buy groceries.  Be there in the addiction fight.  Give rides.  Help.  Pray.  Speak truth.

Talk about Jesus.

And watch those you help grow in faith, overcome addictions, be baptized, start helping others.

Know you matter.  Make a difference.  Change lives.

Be Jesus.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments

 In the churches I grew up in, we often held what were called gospel meetings.  These were preaching events over several nights designed to reach people with the good news.  In other groups, they often held revivals.  One name that was not understood by non-believers and one name that implied it was for believers to be revived.

I still think there is power in these types of events.  I still do several of these a year.  But here are a few suggestions for changing the way we have always done them.

Decide who you want to reach in your event.  Reaching non-believers is way different than inspiring and teaching believers.

Make them less "churchy".  Church is the people anyway, not a building.  Have the event off-site.  It may be easier to get people to come hear about Jesus outside of our church buildings.  Especially if it is their first time to come to a Jesus event. Maybe not sing.  Or sing only songs anyone knows:  Jesus Loves Me.  Amazing Grace.  Cut the announcements.  All of these things may be good and appropriate in corporate worship, but I am thinking about events really geared to non-believers.

Dress casual.

Have friendly greeters.  Have easily identifiable people ready to answer questions.

Stop the hard invitation and give soft invites.  Come to the front invitation songs are awkward and confusing unless you are the church culture.  But inviting them to talk more with the people that brought them or the people wearing yellow t-shirts is non-threatening.

Combine with other churches to do the event.  This is really easy if you are off-site.  I have done these kinds of events where multiple churches of Christ hosted and I have done these where almost every church in town worked together.

Make the event Jesus centric.  There may be a time to have an event that inspires Christians to live more Jesus focused lives.  Or a time to talk about worship.  But I am talking about actual gospel sharing.  Good news lessons.  Death, burial, resurrection talk.  

That is what non-believers need to hear.  Jesus.

And... it helps us too.

You may not like or agree with any of this.  That's OK.  If you are doing something, and it is working, keep it up. 

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 2 comments

My friend Anthony was just born again, baptized a few days ago.  His Mom was baptized a couple of months ago and it was his Mom and Yoseph that the church threw a wedding for recently.  

Anthony has been coming to church for about three months with his family. Loves the singing.  Listens to the preaching.  He never misses our Journey class on Wednesday nights.  He sets up for class, meets and greets everyone, and is happy and eager to learn.

Because all this Jesus stuff is new to Anthony.  He was raised by his Mom on the streets.  His Mom was battling her own demons and Anthony had his struggles and addictions.  

We have been talking about Jesus and seeing people respond.  Anthony was right in the middle of all of it.  Showed up for every baptism.  Happy about all of them.  Helped people at church by delivering furniture.  Went with me to pick up people for church.  Even helped us move some furniture to our new barndo.  

Anthony often talked about wanting to be baptized but just never would make the commitment.  Loved studying the Bible and hearing Jesus stories.  But he always talked about needing to know more.  

He finally came to realize two things.  One is that all he really needed to know was that God loved him enough to send Jesus to die for Anthony's sins.  And then raised him from the dead.  The second thing was that you don't have to know everything to live for Jesus.  In fact, living for Jesus is a whole lot easier when you have the Holy Spirit.  When you are bought in enough to die to yourself to be alive in Jesus.

So he did.

We also often pray for people to get jobs and Anthony was one of those.  God answered that prayer and Anthony got a job at a local restaurant.  The General Manager is a man named Vince.  I got to baptize Vince about 15 years ago and Vince is going to help Anthony live as a believer.  

Only God.  

It is always humbling and amazing to watch God work.  And so great to be a part of what God is doing in our world.   

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments

 So deer season in Texas opens this weekend and I will be hunting.  As will almost all the guys in our family.  Wouldn't care if the girls did, but they are not interested.  And we will kill deer this weekend.  Or this season.  I really do not hear many negative comments about hunting in this area.  I mean, it is West Texas.  And all my neighbors around our ranch hunt.  But I know some people wonder how we can kill such beautiful animals.  And they think it is cruel.  So I guess they think we should only eat meat made in the grocery store.  Or they don't realize that there is beauty in every animal that actually does provide the meat you eat.  

But it is too easy to generalize about what is wrong with the anti-hunting position.

I would rather give you the three positive reasons why we hunt, kill, and eat deer.

Food.  The deer on our ranch feed our family.  All three families.  Not the only meat we eat, but deer steaks, deer chili, deer sausage, and ground meat.  We eat what we kill.  And venison is healthy.

Deer population control.  I cannot imagine the deer population if hunters stopped killing deer.  We would be overrun.  Hard winters would starve out many of them.  Hard way to die.  Uncontrolled deer populations would soon result in deer in our city backyards and parks.

Answered prayer.  We pray for our deer (and our cattle) to feed us.  We thank God when He provides deer and we are thankful when we kill one.  We offer thanks when we eat them.  We ask and God provides.

Health, conservation, and God.  Those are pretty good reasons to hunt.

And we will.

# posted by Steve @ 5:00 AM 0 comments