Your Deacons: Doug Morris
We hope you enjoy this series of posts featuring men from our deacon body. Let’s praise God for such faithful leaders in our church. Where are you from? Born in Baytown, Texas (July 7th, 1951) in the “Lilly Duke” Hospital in the old part of town, just off Texas Avenue. Where’d you grow up? I grew up in Cove, Texas, a (once) small community just south of I-10, off FM 565. I lived on Maley Road, which was about half way down the scenic “Gou Hole Road.” During the time of my youth, Maley Road was almost entirely populated...
read moreBeing Baptists: Every Member is a Priest
This is the third in a series of posts on our Baptist identity. To read the previous post, click here. Among those doctrines that have always been important to the Baptist people is “the priesthood of all believers.” In a previous post, I mentioned Martin Luther, and one of the things he said was that “a layman with a Bible in his hands is more powerful than a pope without.” He also said, when asked if he would recant his teaching, that his “conscience is captive to the Word of God; here I am stand.” These statements reflect the...
read moreYour Deacons: Don Price
I’ve asked our deacons to answer a series of questions about themselves so that you, our church family, can get to know them better. The Lord has blessed us with some very godly men. This is just the first such interview for our deacons that I’ll be posting here. – Pastor Jake Tell us a little about yourself and your history. I was born in Port Arthur, Texas, at Saint Mary’s Hospital. I lived and was raised in Nederland, Texas until I graduated from high school and went to college. I moved to Mont Belvieu in 1992 to...
read moreBeing Baptist: The Bible Trumps All Else
This is the second in a series of posts on the Baptist identity. You can read the first by clicking here. My favorite part of the story of Martin Luther’s leadership of the Protestant Reformation is when he was standing trial for heresy. The Catholic leaders brought before him copies of the many tracts he had written and published and demanded that he recant his teachings that condemned the Roman church. Luther responded: Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns or teeth. Unless I am...
read moreBeing Baptist
It’s been a few years since I’ve taught on the history and heritage of the Baptist people. I’m considering teaching a class, as I’ve done in the past, but for now intend to do a series of posts on what it means to be a Baptist: who we are, where we come from, what we believe, and what we do. We have much to be grateful for in our spiritual ancestry. When I was in college, though my doctrine never departed from its Baptist core, I didn’t find denominational affiliation to be of much importance. All that mattered to...
read moreHistory and Humility
Is it strange to have a favorite introduction to a book? Well, I do. It’s C.S. Lewis’s introduction to On the Incarnation, by St. Athanasius. Lewis wrote the introduction in 1944, approximately 1,600 years after Athanasius composed the work. A good bit of the introduction is spend on the value of reading old books. Here’s an extended quotation: Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the...
read moreReading the Bible in 2012
Updated: Click here for a copy of the plan I am going to use. Feel free to hold me accountable! Have you read through the Bible before? Research has shown that fewer than 10% of professing Christians have actually read through the whole Bible. We have such a treasure — God’s very word to us! Perfect, inspired, truth without any mixture of error! Can I challenge you to make one of your 2012 goals reading through the entirety of Scripture? Don’t make it a law. Don’t make it a source of guilt. Just make it a discipline. My...
read moreShould the United States have an “anti-blasphemy” law?
I came across an interesting article today, and my response to it may surprise some. The Washington Times article, dated May 24, 2011, is titled “Calvinist held key in blasphemy debate.” Reporter Mike Corder of the AP tells of a political debate that was held earlier this year in the Dutch Parliament about a 1932 law that bans “scorn against any religion.” Anyone convicted as a “scornful blasphemer” could serve up to three months in prison. Not a single case has been prosecuted for breaking the law since...
read moreThe Impulse to be “Against.”
A line I read from an article recently has been rolling around in my head. The author was talking about a controversial issue over which good Christians disagree, and in humility he wrote that “we do not want to be more ‘conservative’ than Scripture…” I think I understand the inclination to which he was referring. It’s very same inclination that was present in the Garden of Eden. When asked if God had really told the man and woman they could not eat of any tree in the garden, the woman responded, “We...
read moreA few back-to-school thoughts
As kids head back to class and life settles into the rhythm of a new school year, I thought I’d share a few ideas about how Christian students and parents can live out our faith in classrooms, hallways, school buses, etc. 1. Be thankful. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Maybe your schedule is not perfect, student. Perhaps the teachers aren’t doing exactly the method of instruction you would prefer, parents. Be thankful. We are incredibly...
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