Bethel Bible Church

What is an Executive Pastor?

This weekend, we have the great privilege of getting to know Fritz and Sarina Hager. Fritz will be here at Bethel this weekend (April 17-19) with his family and will be introduced to the congregation as a candidate for the role of Executive Pastor. The following Sunday (April 26) we will call a congregational vote as is required by our church constitution for all pastoral staff hires.

So today I wanted to take a minute and explain what is the role of an Executive Pastor. I have had some great conversations over the past couple of weeks with many here at Bethel and I wanted to share these thoughts in case you had some of the same questions.

What is an Executive Pastor and how is it different from a Senior Pastor?

An Executive Pastor is different from the Senior Pastor in that he gives more immediate oversight to the organization--planning, directing and evaluating the ministries of the church. He is the human nerve-center for administration--development, staffing, coordinating, and direction of ministries in the church. He sees that these things get done. He also ensures that communication, unity, effectiveness and faithfulness to the vision is preserved and pursued. Most immediately he relates directly to the staff  and ministry leaders as the central hub that all their spokes fit into. In other words, he is the "single-point of contact." He serves them by seeing that their efforts align with the vision and mission of the church and the other areas of ministry, and that they have the resources they need. 

What are the reasons for hiring an Executive Pastor?

1. The growth and complexity of Bethel’s ministry: Over the past 18 months, Bethel has experienced a tremendous growth. If you have been here, you have felt the both the excitement of that growth and the pains.  Communication, space, parking, budgeting, planning, development of ministry and facilities are all matters of stewardship. My driving desire is that we as a church are excellent stewards of the resources, people and opportunities that God is entrusting us with. One of the reasons for hiring an Executive Pastor is stewardship.                                                                                      
2. To allow the Senior Pastor to focus on his calling:  Another reason for hiring and Executive Pastor is to free the Senior Pastor (me) to focus on study, teaching, preaching, leadership and vision. God has entrusted me with both a gift and a calling to study, preach, teach and lead. My driving passion and calling is to teach God's Word with clarity and conviction in a way that orients and inspires us as a body to the Glory of God, the exaltation of Christ and the mission of the church in the world. For our church to thrive and be effective in its mission of  "equipping and moving believers into ministry," we need someone equipped and gifted by God to carry out the essential and necessary daily details of administration.
    
3. The gift of administrative leadership is important in the life of any organization, including the church: With any ministry comes the great and glorious role of administration, details and execution. In fact, the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, lists administration among the "varieties of gifts [given by] the same Spirit..." (v.4). It is a vital part of the "manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (v.7); that which God has "appointed in the church..." (v.28). This is a vital and distinct role of leadership given by the Spirit for the building up the church and is vital to the life and health of the body at Bethel. This is the great need the role of Executive Pastor fulfills. Why does that matter to you? If it isn't done, you feel the effects in myriad ways. If it's done well, you never notice. 

Why am I excited about Fritz Hager for the role of Executive Pastor?

I can't tell you all of why I'm excited about Fritz without sharing his story, and I don't want to steal his thunder from this upcoming weekend. Suffice it to say, the work the Lord has done in his and Sarina's hearts and lives is inspiring, encouraging and abundant evidence that God has been working behind the scenes for months to orchestrate this "marriage." Over the past several months, as the elders and staff have talked and met extensively with Fritz and his family, it became clear that the Lord has brought to us a man whose heart has been captured by God for this specific ministry and that he will bring a unique pastoral perspective to the staff and the church. Fritz brings experience from the business world that not only qualifies him above and beyond for this role, but gives him common ground with many in our body. Fritz also brings a shepherd's heart and desire to know and follow God in every area of his life. I feel confident his story will resonate with you and leave you excited about what God is doing in and through Bethel with this next staff hire.

I look forward to this weekend with the Hager family and the Bethel family. I hope to see you Saturday afternoon from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the youth room. 

Seeking your prayer and support,

Pastor Ross

East Texas Food Bank Volunteer Opportunity

This Saturday brings a great opportunity.  The people of Bethel are invited to come and make a difference in our community.  We will be volunteering at the East Texas Food Bank.  During our time we will be helping them sort food, prepare boxes, etc.  Here are the details for this Saturday.

WHO: This is for all youth, adults, and families.
WHEN: Saturday, April 18th
TIME: We will meet at Bethel at 8:15am (or you can meet us there)
SERVING: We will serve from 9am - noon.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Mark Kuykendall - Youth Pastor, Bethel Bible Church
markdkuykendall@gmail.com

Monday WorshipWord!

If you're house is like mine, there are quite a few candy wrappers laying around after this weekend.

My family spend Friday and Saturday back home celebrating Easter with both sides of our family. It was a great time...laughter, food, relaxation, and of course...more food.

My kids got tons of candy. Jellybean eggs, chocolate bunnies, purple packages of M&Ms, and my personal favorite, the Reese's Peanut Butter Egg. YES!

As we've led up to Easter, Kristen and I have tried to talk a lot about what we're celebrating and why we even have Easter. It's no surprise that our culture tends to focus on the more random, non-eternal "stuff" much more than the true purpose of Easter that I want my family to care about.

Our kids have done a great job - I think they "get it" and I think they're doing pretty well for the respective ages.

But as I woke up this morning and saw all those packages and wrappers and eggs (and quite a few crumbs at the table,) I realized something.

THIS IS A FIGHT.

No, I'm not against chocolate eggs. I'm not against my kids getting all jazzed about an Easter Egg Hunt. Gosh, I even like the Easter Bunny! But as I looked all this residual stuff from Easter weekend, I saw them as reminders. As we dole out these treats to the kids, my son and daughter are probably going to remember something about it.

"This is the candy grandma gave me."

"Remember when we found that big purple egg, Daddy?"

"There was a five dollar bill in my Easter basket!"

The leftovers from Easter will remind them of stuff. But will I?

You see, I'm too often quick to forget Easter - to move on, to forget to remind my kids about Easter. I don't make a priority of reinforcing the power of Christ's resurrection. And I should.

Maybe you've got wrappers in your house. Maybe you don't.

But I'd encourage you to think about reinforcement this week. Let's keep talking about the cross and the empty grave. Let's talk about new life. Let's center on Jesus!

Good Friday...

"Death In His Grave" from Bethel Bible Church on Vimeo.

Jamaica 2 – June 28 through July 3

The World on Wednesday by Jim Smithies, Bethel's Pastor of WORLDReach

It was just about a month ago that twelve of us from Bethel set off for our first of two trips to New Generation Camp in Jamaica. It was a superb and stretching week. The "debriefing" with each person who went has been universally positive while being very honest about the demands of the trip. It was an excellent experience for us, and God allowed us to accomplish a great deal of important work for Nel Blanken, the Director of New Generation Camp.

Here is a prayer that one of the ladies wrote after the 7-day adventure:

Father, I thank You so much for allowing me this experience and for overcoming all of the obstacles that could've prevented my participation in this amazing trip. Thank you for the relationships that were made and deepened throughout this journey. Thank you for the safe-keeping of us all in what turned out to be a more physically-demanding week than any of us expected. Father, please bless Nel, Judith, Mario, Ms. Barbara, Lemon, and all the others who have sacrificed so much so that the Jamaican people may have the opportunity to come to know You through the experience of Christian camping in an environment that shouts out your glory through every inch of its surroundings. Please continue to care for these precious people as well as for the loving staff, faculty, and students at Chester Primary School. I pray that doors of opportunity for ministry will continue to be opened so that these two God-loving facilities may continue to faithfully serve You and bring glory to Your name. Thank you for allowing me the privilege to be a small part of the works You are accomplishing here and I ask, that if it be Your will, that I will be able to return one day.

We are going again from June 28 through July 3 (or 4^th). We have space for 12 people. The cost this past trip was $850 plus incidentals…and the cost of the airfare dictates what the actual cost will be.

Last time our ages ranged from late teens to mid-50's – and all did great. Nel has some skilled and non-skilled work she needs done. I am praying for a few folks who are comfortable with carpentry and masonry – how cool would that be if we could finish her Gazebo?!

Contact me if you have questions of any kind: jim@bethelbible.com. More info is coming. I would love you to join me for Jamaica 2!

COSTOMERS...part 2

I began to share last week about how this misspelled sign began to make me think. In this process I came across and article that really caused me to stop and ponder the phrase "I AM DOING THIS TO SERVE GOD." We have probably all said this and I believe we say and motivate ourselves with this phrase. David Mathis, executive pastoral assistant to Bethlehem Baptist Church, brings up some interesting thoughts. Here is a summary.

"Sacrificial service in the church doesn't start with serving. It starts with being served by God. Then as we are satisfied in Him and who He's revealed Himself to be in His crucified Son, we gladly overflow in service of others. The Bible actually warns us against serving God. There is a clear sense in which we must not serve Him. Paul says that God is not "served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives all mankind life and breath and everything"(Acts 17:25). We humans can't give God anything that He hasn't already given to us. The sense that we serve in in that we serve others. And we do so "by the strength that God supplies" (1 Peter 4:11) God is the giver. Dutiful sacrifice doesn't honor GOd as much as it honors our stone-like will. And thus it undercuts the very source of strength that enables us to serve others."

What I see David Mathis doing is really putting scripture behind the thought that we are to serve as overflow of being totally satisfied in God.

So I am once again a "COSTOMER." My ability to serve others "COST" God, and it took the ultimate sacrifice for me to be able to serve others. But I am not the one that paid the price, God did.

Mark Kuykendall - Youth Pastor, Bethel Bible Church

Guys Paintball Adventure

Monday WorshipWord! SURPRISE...

My daughter, Finley, LOVES Mickey Mouse.

In fact, her favorite TV show has to be the recent revamp of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Gone are the pre-teen singer/dancers bouncing around a stage.

No, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is now a fully animated show designed for pre-schoolers including the whole gang: Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy Duck, Pluto, Goofy and a host of other characters. And Finley loves it!

Here's the interesting thing: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on every morning. Every morning.

At 7:00am.

Finley is able to see this show almost every morning, but the thing is that she doesn't remember it. I'll hear her from the living room, yelling as loud as she can, running down the hall to find me as she grins from ear to ear.

"DADDY DADDY DADDY! MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE ON! MICKEY!"

I understand her surprise. She's three, so she probably doesn't have a firm grasp of TV scheduling, is already busy enough trying to remember all her letters or on a desperate search for her favorite snack, peanut butter.

I understand it...and I envy it.

Congregational worship is kinda' like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. (insert your own joke here.)

It's something that happens consistently, it something that I enjoy and it has a whole cast of cartoonish characters. (ZING!)

But I often don't have the attitude that Finley has. I don't have that sense of surprise. That sense of wonder that this amazing thing has come back into my life once again!

I'm praying that God will build in me an excitement, a surprise, a child-like passion for the times when His people gather together.

I pray the same for you - let's approach our times together with a collective joy and surprise that we get to be a part of this amazing thing one more time!

Have a great week,

Todd.