Witness (May 2026)

            On May 4, 2026, our associate minister, Kim Koonts, and I attended an informal gathering of leaders and pastors from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. Our sole purpose was to discuss how Cooperative Baptists practice evangelism. We want to make the practice of sharing our faith a bigger emphasis in the CBF. At Hillside church, we want evangelistic efforts to define us as a people.

After the resurrection, Jesus met with his disciples. He told them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). What did they witness? They stood with Jesus after that had seen him die with their own eyes. They were witnesses of the resurrection.

            What have we witnessed? Having received forgiveness and having been filled with the Holy Spirit, we have seen that the testimony handed down to us by those original disciples is true. Jesus is the Savior. He indeed did die for our sins. He was raised from the dead. All who turn to him in faith, confess their sins, receive forgiveness, and entrust their lives to him will be saved. That’s our testimony. Like the original followers of Jesus, we are disciples and we are witnesses God has sent to testify.

            What’s the point of bearing witness? After being raised from the dead, the resurrected Jesus met with his disciples and told them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We tell our faith stories as a step in our work of sharing Christ with the world. We want to help go from being lost, cut off from God in sin, to being saved. We want to help our neighbors the people we meet become disciples of Jesus.

            How do you and I, the people of the Hillside Church congregation, answer this call from our Lord? How do we practice evangelism and disciple-making in a way that’s faithful to the words of Jesus and true to our church’s culture and personality? We’re going to spend much of the rest of 2026, attending to these questions.

            We’ve already become members of the National Association of Evangelicals. I encourage you to read up on their organization (https://www.nae.org/). This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with sharing Jesus with the world. I also ask that you pray. Ask God to help the Hillside elders lead our church to be more energetic in our efforts to share Jesus with lost, unchurched people. Ask God to show how to best take up this work. Ask God to help you personally grow in your own walk with Christ.

            Ultimately, I believe that the closer we get to God in our relationship with God in Christ, the more natural it will be to tell others about him. I have no trouble talking to people about my wife or my kids. They’re always on my mind. It can be this way with Jesus. We grow closer and closer to him, and he becomes the center of our thought. Our identity in him is such that our lives wouldn’t make sense apart from who we are in Christ.

            How do we impart this understanding to the people of Hillside? How do we guide the people of Hillside to live lives centered on Jesus? Working to know Christ and share Christ is what Hillside will strive to do as a church. I encourage you to seek to understand your role in this.

           

Ephesians: A Call to Discipleship

 

            “We are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (2:10). This is one of my favorite verses from one of my favorite Biblical books, Ephesians. It is classified as an epistle or letter, but really, it’s more of a theological treatise. This work from Paul shows us who God is and who we are, when we define ourselves in terms of our relationship with Jesus. We are created in Christ.

            This is what I encourage you to do. Read through Ephesians. You could read through the entire book every day for a week. It’s only 6 chapters, but those short chapters are packed with spiritual insight. After you’ve read through the letter a few times, answer the following questions. What verse or passage speaks deeply to you? This would be what motivates or inspires you. What section do you find confusing? This would be what you have trouble understanding. What teaching in this epistle do you find to be most challenging? This would be what you understand perfectly well but are hesitant to apply to your own life.

            When you’ve thought about these three questions, share with me your answers to each. For several Sundays after Easter, the sermons will be based on Ephesians. You’ll get the most out of Sunday mornings if you come to worship with thoughts of your own. Read Ephesians as the word of God for you. Read it and then live out the message.

A Wartime Prayer (3/3/2026)

 

 

When Jesus walked the earth (approximately 6BC – 30AD), God in human flesh, one empire was more powerful than the rest and imposed its will on other nations, disregarding their sovereignty. That was Rome. The country that does that today, the 21^st century equivalent of the Roman Empire, is the United States of America. The U.S.A forced a regime change in Venezuela in January of this year, now in March, the U.S.A is in the process of doing it again, this time in Iran. The United States can do this because it is bigger and stronger than other nations.

In the first century, Jesus was of the people dominated by the imperial power. The contemporary of example if Israel’s powerlessness in the face of Roman might would be Venezuela or Iran or any other nation we choose to crush. This is not a value statement or a moral statement. It’s an observation.

The spiritual assertion, backed by passages like Luke 1:52, is that God favors the victim and the vanquished when the powerful exert their power. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. Also, consider Jesus’ own words. The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me … to bring good news to the poor (Luke 4:18). This is not to say God is thoroughly against America and for Iran and Venezuela. That would be an absurd statement. God is for people, and especially for poor people.

There are many poor people in Iran and Venezuela, and maybe someday, they will be helped by a regime change, but that rarely comes about from a foreign invasion. Ask the people of Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam of America’s invasion of their nations brought uplift and prosperity. It did not. When we pray in wartime, if we are disciples of Jesus, are prayers are to be motivated by what motivated him during his earthly ministry.

So …

A Wartime Prayer

Lord of the Universe, bring the war to an end … before it begins.

Protect the peasants who live near the facilities targeted for bombing.

Reach into the psyche of the fighter jet pilots; forgive them for taking lives, convict their hearts of their part in the violence, and then heal their souls whenever the remorse comes.

Effect a course correction in the minds of leaders whose decisions bring about death and destruction.

Prepare the world for the ripple effects: rising fuel costs; travel bans; unstable markets; distrust between nations.

Put in the hearts of the people of your church a longing for your kingdom; may that longing overpower illusions of lost greatness.

 Take from us our misguided nationalism and toxic patriotism and replace these with true faith, hope, and love.

Yours, AND ONLY YOURS, is the kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever.

Forgive us Lord.

AMEN

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.