2010 Beast Feast

April 27th the BCM @ UTHSC held its first ever Beast Feast. We hope to make this an annual event. This event was completely organized by the student leadership team, AKA- The Beast Feast Crew. Their hard work made this event a tremendous success. The appetizers included bacon wrapped meatballs, cream cheese and jalapeno stuffed deer wrapped in bacon, turkey barbecue and deer sausage with cheese. The main course was Ms. Maggie's world famous Memphis BBQ pork shoulder, BBQ baked beans, scalloped potatoes, and rolls.

Dozens of Memphis businesses and restaurants donated door prizes and we gave them away throughout the night. Speaker, Jimmy Sites from Spiritual Outdoor Adventures, delivered the message to the 90+ in attendance. It was a great night that raised over $1,600.00 for UTHSC BCM ministry. To top it all off, two people accepted Christ at the event and several more requested prayer. God is doing big things at the UTHSC BCM.

The trophies on the wall were donated by our students.

There were 85 chairs filled and 5-7 people standing throughout the night.

Upon entering, guests registered their names for the grand prize drawing provided by our Speaker's sponsors.

Speaker, Jimmy Sites recruited 3rd year Dental student, Jacob to help him with an illustration. (Jacob was playing the "Spawn of Satan" role)

The Beast Feast Crew (L to R): Zach, Nathan, Jacob, Jimmy, Matt, Hunter, and Bryan.

(Not pictured are Caleb, John, Vance, and Walt)

Are River Rocks Valuable?

¹ When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ² "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, ³ and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, ⁵ and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' ⁷ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

⁸ So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. ⁹ Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are there to this day."

--Joshua 4:1-9

These 12 stones were chosen and taken from a place where God taught the Israelites something. A place where God did an amazing miracle to deliver them. The stones themselves were not magical. They were not golden stones or even valuable ones. They were just river rocks. But they were assigned a value because of what they represented. Much like diamonds. Diamonds are just rocks. However, they are valuable because of the value we place on them and what they represent. Diamonds often represent love and commitment associated with marriage or engagement. They are also synonymous with wealth. Regardless of how much diamonds cost, they are still rocks that are valuable because of what they represent. For the Israelites, these river rocks represented something greater than the rocks themselves. They served as a reminder or a signpost if you will that pointed beyond themselves to the God who delivered them. They served as a reminder not only to their generation but also to their children’s generation.

As I look back on my life at the times where God did something amazing, my memories serve as my river rocks. My signposts. There was the time when I accepted Christ as my savior at 4 years old. Then there was the time as a 7^th grader when God challenged me to step up my walk with him. I’ll never forget that night before I started 9^th grade when I felt God calling me into ministry. Graduation day of High School was another time where God directed my path from Samford University to Auburn University only to bring me back to Samford 4 years later for grad school. There were dark times where God delivered me as well. For instance, my junior year of college when my fiancé and I broke up, then I lost my job as a youth minister, at the same time my truck was broken into, I changed my major in college and also my Seminary destination. Throughout all those changes in my life, God was working to get me where he wanted me. Then, the day I married my wife was another day where God did something amazing. The day when I graduated Beeson Divinity School. My mission trip to Brazil. My first book published. And more recently, accepting my first job; which ironically was 23 years exactly to the day from when I accepted Christ—the first signpost along my journey.

If you were to look at your life and were asked to pick up a “stone” from each place where God did something amazing, what would that look like? Can you come up with a list? What will you tell your children were the times when God was most real to you? Have you had your first signpost where you accepted Jesus as your savior? Perhaps that day is yet to come. Perhaps it is today.

Pray: Pray that God will reveal to you the times when he did something amazing in your life.

Do: Write down those times that God reveals to you and keep a running list so that one day you’ll look back and see the hand of God working in your life.

Bible Study Christmas Party

The BCM has two Bible studies, one Monday at the Baptist Student Center and the other on Thursday nights at my wife's and my apartment. This past Thursday night the two groups joined together for a pot-luck Christmas party. Of course everyone else was invited but the Bible study groups brought the food. Most everyone from the Bible studies were there but some couldn't make it. The menu included...are you ready for this?... sausage balls, little smokies, meatballs, cheese straws, brownie bites, portabella mushrooms, scallops on garlic bread, white chocolate covered ritz crackers and peanut butter, bean bundles, cinnamon pecans, fruit and fruit dip, chocolate covered graham crackers, punch, spiced cider, coffee and hot chocolate. WOW! It was fantastic. You never know what you'll get with a pot-luck party.

Bonfire @ The Grove

  Faith Baptist Church in Bartlett, TN recently bought what was once known as Mid-South Baptist Association's Camp Cordova. Now it is called The Grove at Red Oak Lake. Recently our group at the UT Health Science Center BCM took a break from studying for exams to enjoy a night of relaxing by a bonfire roasting hotdogs and smores. We had a fantastic time and are extremely grateful to the folks at The Grove for their facilities. 

1 John 1:3 Love them into Fellowship

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."  

NIV—1 John 1:3 

Have you ever wanted to be a part of an exclusive group? I’m not talking about an exclusive group that you can pay a certain amount of money to join like a country club. I’m referring to a group of like-minded individuals who choose not to let other people in—regardless of if they have the same views or not. Have you ever been there? Think about if for a second.

John wrote this letter near the middle to end of the first century to a group of people who were being led astray by “new age” thinkers. People called the Gnostics. These people were starting to drift away from the Jesus’ teachings only to follow after the pursuit of knowledge.

I hope you can see John’s heart in this passage. John did not condemn them about their foolishness or mistakes with a “holier than thou” attitude. He wanted to bring them into fellowship with other believers through love. Why? Because he’d seen this love and experienced it through following Jesus. He wanted other people to join him in this fellowship with God, the Father and Son, Jesus even if they’d made bad decisions.

Now, think about the church or ministry to which you belong. Is the mindset of your church or ministry to include people in your fellowship or is it to exclude people from your group? Ouch. Maybe we don’t think about that enough outside the realms of evangelism. Maybe we need to realize that there are people in our world that want to be included in what you and I have.

Why do you think people come to church? Is it the riveting communicator behind the pulpit? Is it the high level of entertainment found on a drop-down projector screen in front of the baptismal? Is it the food? (okay, maybe it is the food.) Is it the cutting edge music topping the Billboard 100? Of course not. People come to church to find something different—something the world cannot offer them. They come hoping to find unconditional love and acceptance. There are only a small percentage of people in this world who think they’ve done nothing wrong. Most people know the mistakes in his or her own life—we are all just looking for someone to look past those mistakes and love us anyway.

If your church’s mission is to do anything other than love God by loving people, make a change. I’m not saying to change churches—that goes on WAY too much. If I can put a Christian spin on Ghandi's quote, I’m talking about being the change you want to see in your church. If you start loving people and including them into your fellowship, you will see people come by the droves just to be loved by a church that will love like Jesus loved.

Two Qs and a Go:

1. Would you say your church or ministry does more to entertain people? Or to love people?

2. How do YOU love the people who walk through your church doors?

Go: If you are not a part of a church body I’d encourage you to not find a church that would best serve you but to find one that you can best serve. 

BCM Women and Wives at Seize the Clay

Welcome

Thank you for visiting the UTHSC BCM blog. Here you will find a weekly devotional from 1 John, the current book we are working through in our Bible study. You will also find photos from mission trips and other events by the Baptist Collegiate Ministry. Enjoy!