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Memories & Possibilities
December 31, 2006
Reflecting on 2006
As members of the ever-increasing Southern Baptist homeschooling community, our family has witnessed both exciting developments and disappointing setbacks in 2006. After packing away our favorite Bing Crosby/Andrew Sisters/Ella Fitzgerald/Nat King Cole Christmas CD's, taking down the Christmas tree and mulching the herb bed with the branches, and eating the last bowls of turkey soup, we are spending the day on the last newsletter of the year.
For me, personally, the ministry highlight of the year was having Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary-The College at Southwestern, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-Boyce College, and Union University join our list of sponsors for the 2006 Kingdom Education Summit, held in Greensboro, NC in June. We are praying for
more of our Southern Baptist seminaries, universities and colleges to
join us in support of our homeschooled students wishing to further
their Kingdom Education. As Christian homeschooling parents, are we
planting the seeds of Kingdom Service in the hearts of our children?
Before leaving North Carolina after the SBC Annual Meeting, our family visited the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where we enjoyed lunch with Mrs. Elizabeth Graham, Dr. Peter Schemm, a homeschooling father and Dean of the Southeastern College at Wake Forest, and Mr. Nathan Knight, Director of Student Development. After a tour of the beautiful Southeastern campus, in which Carl fell completely in love, we ended the day with coffee at the Manor House with Dr. and Mrs. Chip McDaniel, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew. Thank you so much to Dr. Akin and Nathan Finn for arranging our very first seminary visit. If your student is a junior or senior in high school, please consider including a trip to our seminaries in your vacation plans. We left Southeastern with a new appreciation of the Cooperative Program and excited by the seminary support for home education.
A huge disappointment for our ministry family was the news that LifeWay has dissolved their Homeschool Division. Christine Field is still moderating the discussion board, but Zan Tyler, former LifeWay Homeschool Editor is gone. SBCHEA Pastor's Council member Dr. Derick Dickens expressed the confusion of us all in LifeWay and Homeschooling. SBCHEA hopes that we can still be of service to Dr. Thom Rainer, the new president of LifeWay, but admit to being baffled by this decision.
Not discouraged for long, the Southern Baptists of Texas state convention has given us reason to end the year in celebration. In the December 18th edition of their Texan newsletter, Stacie Wacaster recaps the exciting events held for homeschooled students and families during the November annual meeting. Texas Governor Rick Perry, Dr. Richard Land, President of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Dr. Jerry Johnson, President of Criswell College, and Dr. Malcom Yarnell, Assistant Dean of Theological Studies at Southwestern Seminary spent time encouraging the families. We are very appreciative of them all, and the SBTC staff, Dr. Jim Richards, Gary and Tammi Reed Ledbetter, Craig Beall, and our Texas SBCHEA Coordinator Karla Sessions. Similar activities are being planned for their 2007 SBTC Empower Evangelism Conference, February 5-7th in Euless, Texas. This event is free and open to the public. Tammi will have more details in early January. Wow! Could this be a hint of exciting things to come for the 2007 SBC Annual Meeting in San Antonio??
Excitement is Building for 2007
There seems to be a new relationship between Teen Pact and Boyce College. Tim Echols will be joining Dr. Russell Moore and Dr. Jimmy Scroggins for the 2007 Give Me An Answer High School Conference, on the campus of SBTS. What does this have to do with homeschoolers? Well, the overwhelming majority of students involved with Teen Pact are homeschooled, so this is a clear indication of where Boyce intends to recruit.
From Tim:
"If you can get to Louisville, Kentucky, please
join me January 19 and 20 for a conference on a
Biblical worldview of sex and culture. This
event held at Boyce College is designed to help
you think through some serious things going on
in our culture right now. The cost is only $40.
Go to http://www.givemeananswer.net
/2007HS.php
for more information. Please let me know if you
plan to attend. There will be a van driving up
from GA."
To return the favor, Dr. Jimmy Scroggins will be one of the featured speakers of the Teen Pact National Convention, May 30-June 4th in North Georgia. There may be a possibility of Elise and Emily attending this conference, as we just became involved with Teen Pact of Louisiana. Our future governor, Bobby Jindal, will also be there.
On February 15-17, Union University in Jackson, TN will host the 2007 Baptist Identity Conference: Convention, Cooperation, and Controversy. Just looking at the list of speakers, this will be another must attend: Paige Patterson, Frank Page, Timothy George, Thom Rainer and David Dockery. Our dear SBCHEA friend, Nathan Finn, believes Union is the appropriate place for this theological discussion.
"I love David Dockery. I love the manner in which he addresses issues of importance to the SBC. I love the attitude he displays
in his interactions with others. I love the fact that in the numerous
lectures/addresses/sermons I have listened to, he has shown the ability
to be critical of problems in the SBC while at the same time making his
conservative credentials clear by not seeking any sort of return to the
pre-1980 SBC. In short, I love his balance. (more)
So, even though Emily is starting dual enrollment college classes in two weeks, she just happens to be on Mardi Gras break that week, so we will be attending, while everyone else here is: "lesse le bon temps rouler".
Mark Your Calendars
Please take a moment to record all of these events available in Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee on your calendars. We do have an exciting year ahead! Also, if you have not made your hotel reservations for San Antonio, do it today. You will not want to miss this 2007 SBC Annual Meeting, June 12-13th, and our 3rd Annual Kingdom Education Summit on June 13th. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Voddie Baucham.
Gifts for the New Year
Renew your commitment to spend time in God's Word. You can find plenty of study partners in our Deliberately Christian online community. Schedule a quiet time in your homeschool day, and listen to the Bible read aloud:
http://www.audio-bible.com/bible/colossians_1.html
I just recently subscribed to D.A. Carson's daily emailed devotional Bible readings:
For The Love Of God - Volumes One and Two - A Devotional Bible Study by Dr. Donald Carson
"Now more than ever, the need to read the Bible, to understand
the big picture of its storyline, and to grasp the relevance this has
for your life is critical. Join with us as we follow Donald Carson's
Bible-reading plan one day at a time right here online. Through this
plan we will see the riches and unity of the Scriptures revealed as we
make our way through God's Word together. The insights here will help
you view the Bible for all that it is --as both the complete and
inspired history of redemption, as well as the revelation of God and
His character. And this book's through the Bible in a year reading plan
will renew your urgency not only to delve deeply into God's Word, but
to study it daily so that your mind will be shaped and informed by what
God Himself says and sees. Visit our web pages at" http://www.christwaymedia.com
Here are a few more treasures:
In honor of Dr. Baucham, I present you with his thoughts to ponder during the New Year.
One other gift we would like to give you, as we say goodbye to 2006. Our beloved Ladonna Bealls, the moderator of our Deliberately Christian online e-group, sent this from Vision Forum:
And a contribution from SBCHEA's Vivian Maddox:
"Thy Word Is Very Pure; Therefore Thy Servant Loveth It."
MY DEAR FLOCK,
The approach of another year stirs up within me new desires for your salvation, and for the growth of those of you who are saved. "God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." What the coming year is to bring forth, who can tell? There is plainly a weight lying on
the spirits of all good men, and a looking for some strange work of judgment coming upon this land. There is need now to ask that solemn question� "If in the land of peace wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do
in the swelling of Jordan?"
Those believers will stand firmest who have no dependence upon self or upon creatures, but upon Jehovah our Righteousness. We must be driven more to our Bibles, and to the mercy-seat, if we are to stand in the evil day. Then we shall be able to say like David�, "The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law." "Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy Word."
It has long been in my mind to prepare a scheme of Scripture reading, in which as many as were made willing by God might agree, so that the whole Bible might be read once by you in the year, and all might be feeding in the same portion of the green pasture at the same time.
I am quite aware that such a plan is accompanied with many
DANGERS.
1. Formality. We are such weak creatures that any regularly returning duty is apt to degenerate into a lifeless form. The tendency of reading the Word by a fixed rule may, in some minds, be to create this skeleton religion. This is to be the peculiar sin of the last days� "Having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." Guard against this. Let the calendar perish rather than this rust eat up your souls.
2. Self-righteousness. Some, when they have devoted their set time to reading the Word, and accomplished their prescribed portion, may be tempted to look at
themselves with self-complacency. Many, I am persuaded, are living without any Divine work on their soul, unpardoned, and unsanctified, and ready to perish, who spend their appointed times in secret and family devotion. This is going to hell with a lie in the right hand.
3. Careless reading. Few tremble at the Word of God. Few, in reading it, hear the voice of Jehovah, which is full of majesty. Some, by having so large a portion, may be tempted to weary of it, as Israel did of the daily manna,
saying�, "Our soul loatheth this light bread;" and to read it in a slight and careless manner. This would be fearfully provoking to God. Take heed lest that word be true of you� "Ye said, also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have
snuffed at it, saith the Lord of Hosts."
4. A yoke too heavy to bear. Some may engage in reading with alacrity for a time, and afterwards feel it a burden grievous to be borne. They may find conscience dragging them through the appointed task without any relish of the
heavenly food. If this be the case with any, throw aside the fetter and feed at liberty in the sweet garden of God. My desire is not to cast a snare upon you, but to be a helper of your joy.
If there be so many dangers, why propose such a scheme at all? To this I answer, that the best things are accompanied with danger, as the fairest flowers are often gathered in the clefts of some dangerous precipice. Let us weigh
THE ADVANTAGES.
1. The whole Bible will be read through in an orderly manner in the course of a year. The Old Testament once, the New Testament and Psalms twice. I fear many of you never read the whole Bible; and yet it is all equally divine. "All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect." If we pass over some parts of Scripture, we shall be incomplete
Christians.
2. Time will not be wasted in choosing what portions to read. Often believers are at a loss to determine towards which part of the mountains of spices they should bend their steps. Here the question will be solved at once in a very simple manner.
3. Parents will have a regular subject upon which to examine their children and servants. It is much to be desired that family worship were made more instructive than it generally is. The mere reading of the chapter is often too like water split on the ground. Let it be read by every member of the family beforehand, and then the meaning and application drawn out by simple question and answer. The calendar will be helpful in this. Friends, also, when they meet, will have a subject for profitable conversation in the portions read that day. The meaning of difficult passages may be inquired from the more judicious and ripe Christians, and the fragrance of simpler Scriptures spread abroad.
4. The pastor will know in what part of the pasture the flock are feeding. He will thus be enabled to speak more suitably to them on the Sabbath; and both pastor and elders will be able to drop a word of light and comfort in visiting from house to house, which will be more readily responded to.
5. The sweet bond of Christian love and unity will be strengthened. We shall be often led to think of those dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, here and elsewhere, who agree to join with us in reading these portions. We shall oftener be led to agree on earth, touching something we shall ask of God. We shall pray over the same promises, mourn over the same confessions, praise God in the same songs, and be nourished by the same words of eternal life.
- Robert Murray McCheyne
From Our Home to Yours, a Very Blessed New Year.
The Watkins Family
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