Titus - a Man who could be Trusted

 

            I began last year with a practice I hope to continue going forward. I selected a Biblical figure to be a role model for me for the year. In 2025, I focused on Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). His spiritual work was literally to wait for God to act. Looking to him as an example, I decided to develop waiting as a spiritual discipline. I had no idea this practice would be so important for me in 2025, but it became clear as my mother, siblings, and I waited at our dad’s deathbed. We prayed and waited for God to call him home, and God did. We grieved but also rejoiced because Dad lived a full, blessed life. Like Simeon, God released dad into everlasting peace.

            Waiting, as a spiritual practice, will continue to be important for me. To this discipline, I add trustworthiness in the New Testament sense of the idea. Many in the Bible exemplify this value. For 2026, Titus will be my example.

            Titus was a trusted co-worker of Paul. He accepted Paul’s authority but also held Paul’s trust. Paul left the church in Crete in Titus’ capable hands (Titus 1:5). Titus was also a key emissary for Paul in Corinth. Paul’s relationship with that congregation was fraught with tension.

            Titus reassured Paul that the Corinthians did indeed love him (2 Corinthians 7:6). He was just as concerned as Paul was about that church. Because so much of the New Testament was written by Paul, we don’t hear testimony from Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, or Titus. Each one was as much a leader in the early church as Paul. Each cared for the churches as Paul did. Paul reports that Titus was filled with joy when he encountered the Corinthians’ repentant attitude (2 Cor. 7:13).

            Paul also craved Titus’ approval. “Just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved true as well” (2 Cor. 7:14). Paul told Titus how great the Corinthian congregation was, despite its struggles. He needed Titus to see this. He needed his friend to confirm his own testimony, and Titus did.

            I want to be like Titus. I want to be trustworthy. I want to be well-grounded in my own thought and vision that other ministry leaders trust me with their ideas and ask what I think. I want to be entrusted with ministry responsibility, as Titus was. He will be my 2026 faith role model.

            I encourage you, in 2026, to select someone from the Bible who models faith in the way you would like to live it. Last year, and again this year, I chose lesser-known characters. If you prefer a more high-profile individual like Hannah or Mary, or Peter or John, that’s fine. I find great joy in meeting God in those quiet, background people.

            How ever you choose to do it, pick a Biblical role model for 2026. Identify characteristics of that person and then try to live out those values in your life. I am not trying to become Titus. I do want to be trusted as Titus was trusted. I want to be a faithful disciple of Jesus as he was.

 

Merry Christmas to the church I Love

 

Merry Christmas, Hillside Church

            You of the crumbled dumpster walls

            Ethiopia Trips, Passport Youth Missions, Fort Caswell Beach

May you continue to pick up the pieces of crumbled lives and make space for broken, crumpled people. They need you and you need them.

Merry Christmas, Hillside

            You of waterlogged office carpets

            Union Chapel, Old Venable Chapel, Carrboro Baptist, HillSong

May people be soaked, drenched with the baptismal waters that fill your pool, waters that mark a person a new creation in Christ.

Merry Christmas, Church on Culbreth Road

            You of burned-out sanctuary lights

Carpenter’s Tools, Tuesday Morning Ladies, Encounter, The Radio Ramblers

Whether it’s by 1’s and 2’s, or by the dozens, or by the hundreds, may those who come through your doors see the light and walk in the light.

Merry Christmas, Family

            You imperfect, beautiful, redeemed, new creation

            Chinese New Year, International Foods fundraiser, Vacation Bible School

May you continue to be that safe place lost people dare to enter. May those who come to you meet Christ and be made new. Made new, may you then be sent into the world to proclaim the gospel.

Merry Christmas, body of Christ,

            You gathering of forgiven sinners, sons and daughters of God.

            Bethlehem Village, Holiday Potluck, Christmas Eve, Silent Night

May you know that you are beloved, God’s precious treasure; and may that knowledge lift your spirit, put life in you, and fill you with joy.

Faithful Waiting

 

 

            I began this year with an invitation to you, my reader. I wrote,

I encourage you, in 2025, to select someone from the Bible who models faith in the way you would like to live it. People will say they want to “grow closer to God in the new year.” That’s too vague. How do you know you’ve accomplished this goal? I propose that you zero in on a specific person from scripture, identify the qualities that individual has that you’d like, and then try to develop those qualities in your life.

            I selected as my Biblical role model, Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). Luke tells us this man was “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”

            Simeon’s spiritual work was to pray, wait, and worship in the temple’s outer courtyard. He did this every day, believing in his heart that one day, the Holy Spirit would show him why this was the path God has set before him. Finally, a young couple came for their baby’s bris and the Holy Spirit nudged the man.

            Simeon came and took baby Jesus from Joseph and Mary. He held the baby in his arms. He blessed him and said, “Master, you have dismissed your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Simeon’s spiritual work was to wait in faith.

            I have tried to live into my role model’s example. I prayerfully waited to see how generous our members would be in reducing our mortgage. Our members were faithful and I felt blessed to see it happen. I prayerfully waited for the Lord to take my father home. His passing was peaceful. I prayerfully waited as I moved through grief. I am still in that process, but there is beauty in it. I prayerfully waited to see how God would make it possible for us to go on church youth trips in July and again in October. On both occasions, God provided what we needed and do so in ways I did not anticipate.

            I have not perfectly followed Simeon’s example. Many times, I gave into anxiety, instead of the spiritual discipline of faithful waiting. My anxiety never once prompted God to act against His schedule, but it did rob me of sleep for almost an entire week. Yet, when I stepped back and lived into the truth that God will act and God will bless, and then I waited, I found that God is true. I am not ready to be “dismissed” as Simeon was. However, I want to live out what he modeled – faithful waiting.

            Who did you choose as your spiritual role model for 2025? How did it go under that role model’s tutelage? Consider taking up this practice again in 2026. I’ll begin the year by sharing, in this column, whom I will try to emulate in 2026. And I will continue to try to practice the spiritual discipline of faithful waiting.

Thanks to my Church Family

 

On September 28, in the Sunday morning worship service, our church was very kind to express appreciation to me. My 19^th anniversary (Sept 17) as senior pastor was acknowledged, encouraging words were shared, and a gift was given. Thank you. Church family, I appreciate you.

            This congregation has been a beautiful environment for my children. They have grown up as Chapel Hill kids, Hillside Church kids. You have loved them as your own. It’s not always easy to be the pastor’s kid, but you’ve cared for them and not imposed undue expectations. This has been a safe, enriching place for them.

            Also, it’s great for Candy and me. Our marriage has strengthened in this place, among you. She has been loved as the pastor’s spouse. You have appreciated her and helped her find her own ministry niche. She has heard God’s call on her life. Some churches are hard on the pastor’s spouse. You have been caring. You have allowed Candy to have space to grow as a disciple. Thank you.

            In addition to loving the people of our church, the reason I continue to thank God for allowing me to serve as pastor here is mission. You hear a call from God to serve this community, and proclaim the Gospel. You’re not just looking inward, doing church in a self-serving way, marking time. You know God has a purpose and Hillside church has a part to play in God’s plan. I could only serve in a place that’s driven to glorify God and help lost people find Jesus. Hillside, you feel that call as strongly as I do. We are aligned in our desire to serve God. So, thank you.

Who knows what will happen in the next month, much less the next year? What we do know is God loves us, Jesus died and rose, and we are called to share this gospel with a lost and hurting world. If God wills it, next year, we will celebrate 20 years together. I think that will happen. I hope it will. But more than that, I pray that we all, you, me, all of us, are in the center of God’s will, answering God’s call, living for God’s purposes. That is where our joy is made complete.

To Live with Purpose

 

            I began serving at Hillside Church’s pastor in September 2006. In a newsletter column that December, I attempted to cast a vision for the next calendar year, 2007. I wrote, “2007 is a year for each of us to arrange our lives so that our deepest passion is to live for Jesus and spread the good news of His Kingdom to people who need to hear it.” I would say the same thing today.

            Of course, over 19 years, my perspective has changed considerably. When I wrote that sentences, I was 36 years old, a father of a 4-year-old, and just adjusting to my new job and new home. Now, I’m a 55-year-old father of a college graduate, and I have two other kids who are in high school and college. I’ve lived here so long, I almost feel a North Carolinian. The world has changed and everything looks different to me now.

            The calling, however is as strong as ever, on me and for us. 2025-2026 is a time for our congregation as a whole and each of us one of us as individuals to arrange our lives so that our deepest passion is to know Jesus and get closer to him. We spread the good news of His Kingdom to people who need him. All people need him.” We have two motivations. (1) Get closer to Jesus. Know the Lord better. (2) Spread the gospel. Church, let’s get to it.

What's with the Soteriology of the President's Spiritual Advisors?

 

    On August 19, 2025, The New York Times reported that President Trump is working to end the war between Russia and Ukraine because he's worried he might not get into Heaven. He told the "Fox and Friends" news program, "I want to try to get to heaven if possible. I am hearing I am not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, that [ending the war] will be one of the reasons."

    Where are his spiritual advisors? Where is Paul White-Cain or Robert Jeffress or Franklin Graham or Greg Laurie? I don't know White-Cain's work at all, but I am familiar with the theological formation of Jeffress, Graham, and Laurie. All three should be well schooled in the basics of evangelical theology. As the president's spiritual advisors, they should have covered all of this long before now.

    First, all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All people. The writer of Romans, Apostle Paul, did not think he himself was above this. He writes of himself, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death" (Romans 7:24)? He would have said his sins bound him for death, the Roman Emperor's sins bound the emperor for death, and President Trump's sins do the same to him. Do any of the president's advisors promote him as being closer to holiness than the Apostle? 

    Most of the president's advisors, including those I've named, are so-called evangelicals. An evangelical distinctive is high regard for the Bible. A clear Biblical teaching is that all human beings are sinners, and the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Here death means being eternally cut off from God. "For those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury" (Romans 2:8). Put aside the absurd notion that an American president could take credit for ending the war between Ukraine and Russia. Even if he could, that good work would not cancel out his sins or anyone's sins. The Bible, which evangelicals commit to obey, rejects the idea that good works earn salvation.

    Soteriology is the branch of theology that deals with salvation. Jeffress, Graham, and Laurie, all know and preach salvation by grace through faith. Along with adherence to the teaching in scripture, salvation by grace through faith is another evangelical distinctive. There are no exceptions to this. Ending a war might be considered a wonderful thing to accomplish, but it doesn't earn one salvation because salvation cannot be earned. This is a core evangelical idea  and all of the president's spiritual advisors would preach this in revivals and Sunday morning worship services.

    Someone under the spiritual guidance of known figures like Jeffress, Graham, Laurie should not wonder about whether they are heaven bound. Their advisors should have told them, "While we were sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). The advisors should have said, "Mr. President, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from death, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). If the president worried about heaven, they would tell him, "You are justified by grace, as a gift, through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith" (Romans 6:24-25). 

    Either the president's advisors didn't give him these soteriological (salvific) basics, or they did, but he didn't listen. I get it. I have had people listen to my preaching for 15 years or more. I preach salvation by grace. And still, those who hear me week after week hold to some version of works righteousness. They think they have to be good enough to get into heaven. They don't understand or cannot accept that no one is good enough. Apparently the president doesn't grasp this either. Maybe he's beginning to.

    At the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa in 2015, then candidate Trump was asked if he ever asked God to forgive him. He responded, "I am not sure I have. I just try to go on and do a better job from there. ... I think if I do something wrong, I just try to make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't" (https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/trump-has-never-sought-forgiveness). Asking forgiveness is not just an evangelical but a Christian distinctive. All Christians confess and ask for forgiveness. At the leadership summit, Mr. Trump did not deny sinning. He simply thought he could work it out with his own efforts. 

    Salvation is extremely humbling because we human beings have to admit we cannot work it out no matter how hard we try or how many wars we end. I can't, the Apostle cannot, and neither can Donald Trump. We are all utterly powerless before our sins. Our only hope is to admit that apart from Jesus, we have no hope. We throw ourselves on his mercy. Everyone in heaven is guilty, but forgiven. 

    President Trump's advisors need to go over salvation by grace through faith with him. They need to help him see that he desperately needs the mercy God gives through Jesus. This is not unique to Donald Trump. We all need forgiveness. We all need what can only be received as a gift; the gift of salvation from sin. If his advisors will tell him this and if he will listen, then he can repent, fall on God's grace, and be saved. He goes around thinking he can get himself into heaven by ending wars. He can't earn it. And he doesn't need to. Jesus already has. 

God is our Refuge ... We will not Fear

On July 7, 2025, hard rains fell and the creeks rose and the streets were flooded. We usually read about events like this. These are things that happen in other places, not here, where we live. This time, though, it was our turn to get hit. 

Water came in the church, flooded people out of their homes, and caused millions of dollars in property damage. For people, like those in our own congregation, who had to be rescued out of their homes, this is traumatic. As a church, we want to support people however we can. We have called. We have prayed. We have provided meals for some. We have come alongside those who need supplies and encouragement.

Considering what happened theologically, I thought of Jonah. "You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all you waves and billows passed over me" (2:3). Floods, seas, raging torrents, unfathomable depths; water humbles humanity like few things can. We need it to live. We cannot survive without it. Yet, we are so small and insignificant, and powerless, before the might of water. 

Yet our God is bigger than the flood. In worship (July 13), we prayed Psalm 46. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ... We will not fear, though the waters roar and foam" (v.1, 3). When our people are going through great trials, this is as important as the material aid we give. We help people who are scared and traumatized remember  they are not alone and God is bigger than the storm and He loves us.

A Corinthians Poem

 

A Corinthians Poem

If Christ is proclaimed

            Raised from the dead

The deaths of those we love

            Will not cause despair

Yes, we certainly grieve

            We call, he’s not there

Absence and emptiness

            Weakness, heavy hearts

What, no resurrection?

            Our hope falls apart

Deny resurrection?

            What faith do you hold?

Open Corinthians

            Read what has been told

Jesus Christ is alive

            Some doubt this and dread

But in fact Christ has been

            Raised from the dead

You, me, and all have life

            Jesus is alive