I am in awe as I look back and ponder how God has been shaping us as a congregation for the last three years while we waited on a pastor.  God has blessed us with a number of baptisms and added to our church folk who desire to serve the kingdom in anyway possible.  We have many shortcomings, but we are thriving for a fellowship with Christ as our Head and seeking to proclaim the gospel to all (some as far as China).  We certainly have our problems and we need a man who will watch over the whole church caring for our particular needs. On behalf of the elders I apologize that we have failed many of you, nay all of you, at some point over the years.  I assume Kurt will fail you too (I am the elder of encouragement in case you could not guess it).  By God’s grace we will be gracious to one another and grow together by the power of the Spirit that indwells us.  We need to show Kurt a considerable amount of grace as he will be settling into a new role, city, and church.  While we are looking forward to being led by him for all the reasons AMEN laid out below in such a beautifully neurotic and organized way, we will need to care for him and his family.  Be patient with all your elders and be praying for us as we adjust and begin thinking through various issues we have been putting off until God blessed us with a pastor (missions, Wed night, worship music, sports, athletes, etc.)

Kurt, blessings to you and your family.  Thank you for committing your life and time to our church.

(I am hoping that with Kurt here we will not be having an elders meeting on the night of the BCS championship game.)

It is going to be quite some time before we notice the impact of last night’s decision to call Kurt Heath as our preaching/senior pastor.  It is going to take time for the church to get to know him, for him to get to know us, etc.  Nonetheless, I think that we can already praise God for a few things:

1) Kurt’s love for God’s Word.  We are a church committed to being formed and constantly reformed by the Word of God.  Kurt is committed to preaching the Word of God, to delivering Scripture clearly, directly, plainly, and powerfully.  That is the only way true, spiritual growth will come to this body and it is the only good foundation for the numerical growth we can expect in the months and years to come.

2) Kurt’s love for the lost.  One of the things I’m thankful for most about Third Avenue is the way I’m regularly challenged to share the Gospel and, thinking of a message recently by a dear brother, not just to share the Gospel, but see the lost know God’s Word.  There is in Kurt a desire to speak to non-Christians in a matter-of-fact way about the Gospel.  I see that and appreciate that in his preaching, and I think that throughout the course of a lifetime of preaching, we can trust that Third Avenue will be a place where non-Christians can be thoughtfully and lovingling provoked to take the claims of Christ seriously.

3) Kurt’s sense of urgency.  Granted, I’m thinking most about the comments from his sermon yesterday, when he reminded us that Christ’s return is imminent, and he asked us how Christ would find us, what Christ would find us doing, how the Savior would find us waiting?  This, of course, is not finally Kurt’s sense of urgency, it is a sense of urgency given by the Spirit to Peter.  Still, it is a sense of urgency that led Kurt to leave a life on Capitol Hill, a more comfortable life in politics for the less distinguished pastorate.  For many, this is an obvious choice, but for others, it epitomizes foolishness.  But, when Christ comes back, it appears Kurt wants to be found shepherding.  He senses the urgent need of the church for men devoted to that task.  We, at Third, can be thankful for that.

What a gift to the church pastors are, and what a gift Kurt is.  Not because he is more valuable than the other elders at Third Avenue, but because he, by God’s grace, has sensed the call to plant himself here, to preach here, and pour himself out behind that body and this congregation in a unique way.  In just a few weeks, he will begin his duties full time and Satan will undoubtedly redouble his attack, anxious to see the leaders of God’s people fall.  Remember to pray for your pastors, and Kurt especially, that their love for God’s Word, love for the lost, and sense of urgency would not diminish; that their holiness would grow, and that the Lord would use them to build up the church.

Last night, Third Avenue Baptist Church called a Senior Pastor. And what a long time coming it has been! The Lord has blessed this congregation in countless ways over the last few years–sometimes even through difficulty. But this has to be one of the greatest blessings He has given us yet.

I called Kurt last night to tell him the good news. His wife Jayna had just picked him up from the airport. He was really excited, and we let him know how much we had been praying and hoping for this time.

Finding and calling a man to be 3ABC’s Senior Pastor has been one of the highest priorities of the Elders since the beginning. You know, it’s amazing how much God has blessed this church with a church-wide love and unity. As I’ve said many times to many different people, it feels like we as a church are all facing in the same direction, and what we need is for a man to come, stand in front of us, pull the sword, and say “March!” Now, thank God, we have one.

I’m excited to see what God will do with this congregation over the next few years. So congratulations to 3ABC. And especially to Kurt. We look forward to having you step into our pulpit for the first time . . . as our senior shepherd.

Oh . . . and maybe he can break the elders’ logjam on this whole “Golf v. Sports” question, too.

Whatever you think about football players, I think this is safe to say:  Golfers couldn’t.

Bruce, this should be your own personal blog.  Your brilliant!  And no one else is home.  (word on the street is others have found a different blogosphere)
Noting our distinctive of having TWO Sunday services: a freshman at U of L visited us last night, not because he heard of our great reputation, but because we were the only Baptist church in town he could find that offered an evening service.  Bless this young man for his efforts to attend church throughout college, and to be faithful even to an old fashioned Sunday evening service.  Good thing we are not progressive, eh.

It was impressive to me last night after the service that the majority of folk there did not leave until after 8:30 (service was over by 7).  I would say this is something quite unique about us–we actually like, and even love one another.  The family atmosphere God has blessed us with is unlike anything I have ever experienced.  It is one of the benefits of being smaller.  Why is it bigger is always thought to be better.  I am afraid of too much growth because this dynamic would only be more difficult.

BAT’s right, of course.  Penal substitution has been under attack from certain quarters for quite a while now, and the discomfort with it has only intensified over the last few years.  Why is that?  On that question, let me just defer to one of the most eminent New Testament scholars in the world today, D.A. Carson:  “Why Is the Doctrine of Penal Substitution Again Coming Under Attack?”

As for your other questions, the first one is difficult.  What is the simple gospel?  I think the way you and I talked about it was “justification by faith alone through Christ alone.”  But of course you could and should then unpack the meaning of every word in that phrase.  Here’s how I put it in a forum conducted by 9Marks:

There is only one God, who created the world and everything in it. Though God intended humans to rule the world under him, each of us has sinned against him, the penalty for which is death and hell. But because he loves us, God sent his Son Jesus to live a perfect life and die on a cross as a substitute for his people. On the third day, he rose bodily from the grave and now reigns in heaven, offering forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life to all those who repent of their sin and trust solely in him for salvation.

Honestly, I think there’s a danger in pushing too hard to simplify the Gospel and “boil it down.”  To be sure, the Gospel is simple, but it’s possible to boil it for so long that you end up with not much more than “Jesus loves you. Do you want to say a prayer with me?”

More later….