First Time For Everything

Today, after expenses were covered, we raised over $580.00 for a mission project in the Philippines with a 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament at the Westmoreland Baptist Church gymnasium.

None of us who were involved had ever hosted a 3 on 3 Tourney before - and it probably showed. Even so, it was a blessing to see our first (feeble) efforts come to fruition. Thanks to the cherished sponsors (shown here), and the ten teams participating, and our dedicated volunteers, we will be able to bless Pastor Nico Folio and his little church in Manjuoyd, Negros Oriental with a special, one time gift for their most pressing needs.

This project was a "learn by doing" experience, and we thank everyone involved for their patience and cooperation. It's hard to list all of our volunteers for fear of forgetting someone, but I believe they do need to be mentioned. 

Unfortunately we just discovered that one of our sponsors was accidentally left off the shirt due to the printer's error. Dr. Stephen E. Howerton, General Dentistry is a major sponsor of our Sports Ministry, and is a faithful member of our church. We regret this inadvertent error and extend our apology and thanks to Dr. Howerton.  We will do whatever it takes to make it right.

Darrell Clark served as tournament director - assisting in enlisting sponsors and being a registration contact. Darrell set the tournament brackets and helped referee the games. My son, Benji Adkins (a former middle school and high school basketball coach also served as an official for all but the very first game.  Ryan Smith and Mike Cummings were also helpful as referees.

Youth Pastor, Buck Buchanan, took care of online reservations, picked up 70 shirts from the printer, and helped enlist teams. Buck helped with the clock and scoreboard during much of today's action. His wife, Kellie, and Travis Dunkum  also helped with clock operation and scoreboard. As always, Michael Cline was there to do whatever was needed.

Ralph Scarberry planned our one day concession stand menu, and Misty Anderson, Jamie Smith, Alanna Cline, and Jenny McClave helped keep everyone in snacks and hydration.

Angie Morris assisted with check in of teams, collecting entry fees and making sure every participant received a T- Shirt.  Rusty Dillon had designed our publicity poster, and local morning radio show host Tom Roten, allowed Darrell and I to come on his program publicize the event, and he had sons who played on three of the teams entered.

Vinson Middle School Basketball Coach and former Marshall player, Josh Perkey, brought a team and promised to get heavily involved in assisting us next year.  We also thank Bulldog Graphix for their assistance in what is probably their busiest week of the entire year!  A number of our church folks fielded their own teams and therefore did double duty!

Most of all, I thank the players who took part of their Saturday, and paid participation fees to help us in this mission project. We had teams in three divisions going from Middle Schoolers through adults.  I couldn't be more proud of my church for the support and participation of so many of our members - for the sake of the Gospel and assisting others in a distant land.

So, prayerfully there will be a "Second Annual Hoops for Missions" 3 on 3 tournament next year.  We hope to take what we have learned the hard way, to make it bigger and better in 2019.  We will begin planning much earlier, and try to schedule the tourney on a more optimal date.  So, if the Lord allows, we hope to see many more involved in this worthy project next year.

To our sponsors and volunteers - THANK YOU!  You are a blessing!

Another Bump In The Road

It's the thought in the back of every cancer survivor's mind.

What if it comes back?

None of us who have come through life threatening battles with cancer want to even think about going down that road again, but sometimes it happens.  It appears it has happened to me - again.

As most of my friends know, I was diagnosed in December 2004 with Stage 4, "Incurable but hopefully manageable" Colon Cancer. After having surgery to remove 3 1/2 feet of my intestines, I went on a 6 month course of Chemotherapy to kill the tumors that were throughout my liver. A Radio Frequency Ablation burned out the last three and I had the joy of going into remission.

Five months later a routine followup CT scan revealed the cancer had returned in the liver and it was another 6 months of chemo for me. Since the end of that regimen I have remained in remission for nearly 12 years - having periodic scans along the way to keep an eye out for possible recurrence.

I have enjoyed relative good health until the last 8 months or so, when I experienced a 1-2-3-4 punch beginning just before last Christmas. Acute renal failure landed me in the hospital for treatment of that ailment in late December.  While there, I tested positive for the Flu (even though I had taken my yearly Flu shot).  On the heels of recovery from the Flu, I was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive skin cancer known as Merkle Cell Carcinoma on my forehead.  Surgery at the James Cancer Center at the Ohio State University removed the tumor but tests revealed it had metastasized to one of the lymph nodes in my neck. So - 30 radiation treatments were prescribed, and I finished up on those in July.  In the midst of all of that, I was found to have a partial tear in the retina of my right eye! 

Needless to say, it's been a tough few months.  Nothing terrible, but just bumps in the road that we encounter if we hang around this planet long enough. 

Beginning to bounce back from the complications caused by the radiation treatments, I have been looking forward to ramping up my ministry activities.  Plans were in the works for a short term mission trip back to the Philippines and Linda and I have been looking forward to doing some things on our bucket lists. Then, Tuesday, after some routine tests at the local VA Medical Center showed some possible abnormality in my liver, a new CT scan was ordered.

The results indicated "multiple lesions throughout the liver, with characteristics consistent with metastatic Colon Cancer".

So, to use the technical theological term, "Here we go again!" 

Through the Veterans Choice Program, I am being referred back to the Ashland Bellefonte Cancer Center - the place that brought me through this disease twice before.  I'm sure there will be more tests before any course of treatment will be discussed.  So, we have taken a deep breath, shared the information with my church family, and face the future with total dependence on our Heavenly Father.

I write this today, not seeking attention or to ask for pity. This is one of those things that happens to us in this broken world.  I do ask, however, for your prayers.  I am blessed to have a multitude of Christian friends in the U.S. and Canada, and many more who are spread around the world in Europe, Asia and Africa. These are people who know how to get in touch with God.  We often make intercession for one another, and this is one of those times.

Healing is not what I am seeking, as much as I am asking for the measure of Grace that only God can provide, to get us through these "bumps in the road" of life that we are bound to encounter. I ask you to pray for Linda, also as we walk down this road together again.  Healing is naturally what I desire, but I know that my ultimate healing will take place when I one day enter the presence of the Lord.  I don't know what the immediate future holds for me, but I know the One who holds the future, and I'm sure He is going to use this new adventure for my good and for His Glory.

I'm Out of Blogger Purgatory!

I have been languishing in "Blogger Pergatory for the past 21 months. Today, I got sprung!

Those who know me well know that I am nearly functionally illiterate when it comes to technology and all things cyber.  Something happened in late October 2016 that kept me from signing in to this very blog - the one I had used since 2007.  Being unable to sign in, I tried to change my password. That was my first big mistake. The email address that Blogger had on record had been changed twice, but I had never notified them or changed it on my account.  I didn't know how. So now, with a mish-mush of trying to change passwords, correct email addresses, and verifying cell phone numbers , I somehow created two or three new Google accounts. Things went downhill quickly and I ended up hopelessly  lost.  Eventually, after days of trying to dig myself out - and only getting deeper,  I gave up all hope on trying to get back on this blog site. 

So, I attempted to create a new blogger account - but the various Google accounts I had created, the outdated email addresses, and who knows what else I had done, kept me from starting a new account on this platform.

Failing the ability to get into the familiar blogging vehicle, I thought I would try to start a new blog with another provider. Big mistake, and I will spare you the circus that surrounded those attempts.

Finally, today, in my office, with the tireless effort of my Student Ministry Pastor, Buck Buchanan, I am free!  Buck is a normal whizzbang when it comes to all things involving social media and computers in general.  But this one stretched him to unusual limits of frustration.  It took him a good while to untangle it all today, but untangle it, eventually he did!  I am back on "For What It's Worth" and for that, I am happier than a pig in mud.

Just thinking of all I have missed out on in my little corner of the blogosphere over this nearly two year absence is mind numbing to me!  Two SBC annual meetings, local and national politics, sporting events and related stories, ministry experiences, two Christmas seasons, theological issues, a battle with a rare and aggressive skin cancer and other health issues, and most importantly, all of the bragging opportunities on my five phenomenal grandsons - I have had no outlet!

But I am out of "blogger purgatory" now - and with an oiled up keyboard and an itch to express myself (in more than 140 characters) I'm an excited old Pastor - to say the least.

I'm Baaaacccck and I hope you will follow along.

Just help me pray that I don't accidentally misplace my password, inadvertently create any new Google accounts, or change my email address! 

The Great Omission

I remember hearing a preacher in a church service say, “Aren’t you thankful that we have this sanctuary, that we can come in from the world – gathered together safe and sound,  and able to put the cares of this life outside these walls.”

Sound familiar?

Maybe we’ve even said it ourselves at one time or another.

How wrong we are!

Now don’t get me wrong.  It is great to have a place that we can come, gather together for worship, prayer, teaching, and exhortation. The Bible tells us to do that, and to do it with even more frequency as we see the end times approaching. 

120 of Jesus’ followers had done that at Pentecost when the Holy Sprit fell upon them accompanied by audible and visible signs and the church was born!   When Peter and John were released after being threatened by the Sanhedrin they came to the place where other believers were gathered together – they recounted the persecution and the threats, and the entire group prayed, and when they prayed, the place where they were was shaken.

When Herod had slain James with the sword, he had  Peter arrested and he was scheduled for execution as well.  When God sent an angel to deliver Peter in the most remarkable jailbreak ever, he immediately headed for John Mark’s mother’s home, where he knew the believers were assembled in an attitude of prayer for his safety.

However, we need to awaken to the fact that “the meetin’ house” is not what it is ALL about.  It is not a place for the “holy huddle” to remain.  It is not “the church”, we are!  It is simply a place for preparation for the work that Jesus has given us to do.

Our focus must be outside the walls.

We are located in cities, towns, rural areas, and in countries all around the globe – and that is where Christ has placed us, and that’s exactly where he sends us.

Consider His words in Matthew 9: 35-38  “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Notice Jesus went…  He never traveled more than a few day’s foot journey from where He was born or grew up.  He calls us to go outside the walls of the church. He calls us to go intentionally, but He also calls us to make disciples “as we are going” about our daily lives as well.  He calls us to labor. His plan is for us to “reach, baptize, and teach”.  Jesus saw the crowds like helpless sheep. Harassed by Satan. Beaten down by him and unable to help themselves.  He compassionately told His disciples, and us, that laborers are needed!

Oh! That we would see others the way Jesus sees them!  Oswald Chambers has said: “We talk about the second coming of Christ, but half the world has never heard of His first coming!”  Millions walk in darkness around the world, but also around the corner from us. May God burden our hearts to accomplish His Great Commission.

The Master Plan of Evangelism has two aspects.  There is the geographic plan as shown in Acts 1:8 (starting in our home town first and reaching around the globe).  The other aspect is the mathematical component. 2 Timothy 2:2, making disciples and creating “faithful” individuals who will be able to replicate themselves, and on and on, multiplying the number of believers as we go.

In the coming year we are going to be exploring how we ALL can be more involved in disciple making. Yes, we will encourage and support international missions.  Yes we will financially support North American mission work and church planting activities. We will take part in Disaster Relief, and some will make mission trips in North America and to Asia.  But we will also focus on How we may reverse the “Great Omission” of forgetting the many lost people in our own area.  We’ll explore various methods, using situations every one of us are already prepared for with our own unique gifts and talents.

I’m praying the Lord of the Harvest that He will send laborers.  Right here among us.  The harvest is great. The laborers are few. The time is short. Judgment is final and eternity is forever!

The Great Adkins Clan Thanksgiving Week Anniversary Cruise

In two months I hope to be wearing this T-Shirt (or one like it).

If the good Lord is willing, and all works out as planned, two months from today we should be in the middle of a family adventure that we have never all experienced before.  I'm calling it  "The Great Adkins Clan Thanksgiving Week Anniversary Cruise".

2016 has been a special year in our family for Wedding Anniversaries.

Linda and I observed our 45th Anniversary on June 19th.  Just a month before that, our older son, Jay and his wife, Michelle celebrated their 20th Anniversary on May 18th.  This coming November 16th, younger son, Benji, and his wife, Leigh Anne will also observe their 20th.  It is a milestone year for sure.

Our family, although not as large and scattered as some, rarely all get to be together at the same time. There are only 11 of us in total, but geography, occupational duties, and school activities make it nearly impossible for all of our "planets to align".  In fact, the last time ALL of us were in the same place at the same time, was Thanksgiving of 2011, when Nathan was only 3 months old.  There have been several times that most of us have been together, but in each of those cases one or the other of the spouses, or one of the kids were not present.  That's frustrating for an old guy (and his wife) whose lives have been centered around God (first) and then family.

Jay is Pastor of First Baptist Church of Westwego in suburban New Orleans, and Michelle teaches in Marrero Academy.  Quint and Canon attend Patrick Taylor Academy (a science and technology magnet school), also located in Jefferson Parish. Quint, who is a Junior this year, attends Pat Taylor in the mornings and then drives to the New Orleans Center for Cultural Arts (NOCCA) for afternoon classes in advanced musical studies.  The boys in New Orleans stay busy with their various band and other music activities, as well as being heavily involved in their church youth group.

Nearly a thousand miles away, Benji and Nathan travel to Fallsburg, KY each day where Benji teaches Middle School English in the Lawernce County, Kentucky school system, and Nathan is doing his preschool work.   The two older boys, Will and Asher, attend High School and Middle School in Ashland, KY.  Both of the Kentucky boys also stay very involved in school sports and in activities at their church.  Leigh Anne is a Mary Kay Sales Director.

Of course I serve Westmoreland Baptist Church as Senior Pastor and have some other outside ministry related activities.  Linda just retired this year, so her schedule is a little more pliable, but she does still serve as legal guardian of her 95 year old father who is in a local assisted living community.  Even though he no longer lives in our home, Linda makes regular visits to see him, and is still responsible for all of his affairs.  So it's easy to see that there are often scheduling difficulties for individual family activities, much less getting the whole clan together.

A few months ago a couple of our New Orleans friends, Vinnie and Sue Verdin, made us aware of an excellent deal on aWestern Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Dream, scheduled for the week of Thanksgiving.  Linda and I had been on two cruises in the past, and as I told someone after the first one, "She loved it, and I didn't hate it."  Actually, both of us enjoyed it enough to plan another, longer one, and we always felt like we would enjoy a third cruise, if the opportunity ever arose.

I began thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if the whole family could go along on this cruise?  We could have the joy of having the whole clan together, and celebrate our triple special anniversaries together."  Michelle was the only member of the family, besides Linda and I, who had ever been on a cruise, and she was all for it.  It seemed strange to me that we would possibly be having Thanksgiving Dinner on the high seas and strolling the streets of Cozumel instead of watching football in the family room in our house on 49th Street, but the thought was intriguing.

Well, to make a long story shorter, the planets did align.  By being on the week of Thanksgiving, The boys were out of school, Michelle was out as well, and Benji would only have to use a couple of personal days.  Leigh Anne, Jay and I were able to work our schedules to make it possible, and Linda was chomping at the bit to go!  So, passage was booked, and it was a done deal.

I am truly looking forward to the trip.  Linda and I will probably head down to NOLA a couple of days earlier that Benji and his crew who will join us all there on Saturday, November 19th.  Our ship departs the Port of New Orleans on Sunday afternoon, November 20th and after stops in Cozumel, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, we'll arrive back in the Big Easy a week later, on Sunday, November 27th.

I'm thankful for Sue and Vinnie (who will also be on the ship) for making us aware of the opportunity, and for the Lord allowing us to work out the schedules and the finances to do this thing. So, come November, this old Papaw is looking forward to sailing off with my bride, to all of us being together, celebrating our three Anniversaries, enjoying the tropical climate and beautiful scenery, and observing Thanksgiving aboard a beautiful cruise ship.  As they say down there in New Orleans, "Laissez les bon temps rouler!"

Greater Huntington Baptist Association Welcomes Interim Associational Missionary

The Greater Huntington Baptist Association’s Executive Committee is happy to announce the calling of Rev. Gregory J. Page,  of Huntington as our Interim Associational Missionary.  This is a Bi-vocational position, as Bro. Greg will continue in his vocational position as a Science Teacher at Spring Valley High School.

There has been a void in the leadership of our Association for several years, since the North American Mission Board withdrew it’s funding of local association missionaries in West Virginia.  We were unable to fund our former full time position, and as a temporary fix, we hired a part time secretary and commissioned our association’s Moderator to take on the Associational Missionary duties.  This was only a "partial fix", as the men who have served as Moderator during that time were full time local church pastors, and while able to take care of some of the paperwork and administrative duties, they were unable to get out to visit the various churches of our association, and we have missed that personal touch.

Brother Greg will be assuming the AM duties immediately, although he will be somewhat time constrained until the close of Football season, as he is an assistant coach at SVHS, and is completing his commitment to that program.  From the close of the season, he will be devoting 20 hours per week to this ministry, (and more time during the Summer months, when school is out).

Brother Greg is a 1989 Graduate of Buffalo High School and graduated Marshall University in 1993 with a BA from the College of Education in General Science and earned his Master’s Degree in Health and Physical Education from Marshall in 2005.  Greg’s teaching career has seen him teaching at Rose Hill Christian School (1993-1998); Grace Christian High School (1998-2004); Wayne Middle School (2004-05 school year) and Spring Valley High School 2005 – Present). While at Spring Valley, he has been very actively involved in ministry to those who are involved in the athletic teams, serving as assistant football coach and assistant basketball coach, and serving as the sponsor for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes from 2005 to the present; SVHS Prayer Group (2007 – present); and Timberwolves 4 Christ  (2014-present).

Greg was licensed to preach in 2006 and ordained in 2007 by Locust Grove Baptist Church.  He has served as Associate Pastor of Locust Grove since 2008.  He is the author of “Tale of Two Champions” in 2014 and “The Grand Lesson of King Gregory” (a children’s book) in 2015.

Greg and his wife, Kimberly have four children, ranging in age from Middle School to College.

He can be reached by mail at the GHBA Association Office, 3401 Hughes Street, Huntington, WV 25704, and by pone at 304-417-3483.  Until a new Association  email address can be set up, Greg may temporarily be reached via email at Herdfan34@hotmail.com .

We welcome Greg to this challenging position and look forward to introducing him to the entire Association at the GHBA Annual Meeting at 6:00 PM on Thursday, October 13^th at Calvary Baptist Church in Chapmanville, WV.  Please keep Greg and his family in your prayers as he familiarizes himself with this position, and in his new relationship with our churches and the State Convention.

Thinking Outside the Ministry Box

Like many of our aging churches, Central Baptist Church in Ashland has had a bright and storied past.  Once a vibrant congregation in a working middle class neighborhood, Central Baptist has found itself in a community that has changed drastically.

While not what might be thought of as a typical "inner city" type church in some larger cities, Central is probably the closest thing to one in our neighboring town of Ashland, Kentucky (which is where I have lived for the past 36 years).  For eight years I served as pastor of Ashland Baptist Church, just a few blocks from Central.  I am very familiar with that community.  Over the past 40 years, the area from Greenup Avenue stretching south down 29th Street has changed from the working middle class neighborhood it was, to more of a transient neighborhood.  Houses  that were once neat, tidy, well kept family homes have given way to blighted, poverty ridden, and drug and related crime problem area.

Like many of our urban churches, CBC had to come to grips with the fact that the changing demographics of the community, often aren't recognized until the situation is somewhat critical.  Congregations age.  Attendance wanes.  Volunteer workers grow fewer, and if we are not careful, the once vibrant church becomes irrelevant in the community.  Now, don;t get me wrong.  Central has not become irrelevant.  But it has had to come to grips with the fact that, like Dorothy discovered in OZ,  "We're not in Kansas anymore".  Our own church here is increasingly finding ourselves in a similar set of circumstances.

We can debate and argue about worship styles, programs, dress codes, and benevolent works, but we must not lose sight of the fact that we are called here to "Magnify God, Make Disciples, and Minister to People".  That is our purpose.  We must learn how to do all three in an increasingly post christian culture.  It may involve "thinking outside the ministry box" and finding other ways to impact our communities for Christ.

That is what we want to do here. Perhaps we can gain some insight and pick up an idea or two from our sister church about 9 miles down the road in a neighboring town.

Below is a story about Central Baptist Church and what they are doing to try to impact their community for Christ.  The story first appeared in "The Western Recorder" and was written by Myriah Snyder.  Check it out.

ASHLAND, Ky. (Western Recorder) -- Central Baptist Church's new ministry center, Hope Central, has begun ministering to those in need in its surrounding community in a unique way.

The church looked at the neighborhood and wanted to do something more, something different than they have done in the past. They saw that by-and-large their community had needs, and they wanted to do more than meet "immediate needs," said children's minister and pastor's wife Renee Parsons.

"Everybody is meeting the immediate needs, but they are not really 'long-terming' it. It has created a society of dependency," Parsons commented. "We said, 'Okay, how do we stop doing that and start doing something much more productive?'"

Drawing from the cliché, "Stop giving them fish; start giving them poles," the church stopped giving out money, clothes and, largely, food. Instead, they pointed people to other ministries and resources throughout the area, and they began focusing on a new approach, Hope Central, located in a house next door to the church, Parsons shared.

Two of the main ministries the center will offer will be tutoring and an urban garden.

In cooperation with the public school system in Ashland, Hope Central will use volunteers to offer tutoring services and homework help. Teachers will choose children who need help after the first nine weeks. From 4-5 p.m. four days a week, up to 20 children will meet with tutors in reading and math. From 5-6 p.m., more tutors will be available for homework help.

The urban garden was birthed out of this ministry and is a project for youth at Central. They will apply scriptural truths to gardening, as well as use it for outreach, John Clark, Central's youth pastor, said.

In addition to growing a garden on the church grounds, they are starting a "pallet ministry," Clark said. Each pallet will contain a small garden.

Instead of giving people boxes of food, they will give them a pallet garden. The pallets will open doors for evangelism as volunteers develop relationships with the community.

"We're using our outreach to not just share the Gospel, but also help these people find what they need and get them the assistance they need to help better their lives and show them the love of Christ. It's just a blessing all round," Clark said.

The ministry center will be a hub for many things, including a place for the community to connect with other ministries that they may not have access to, otherwise. Central's VBS ministry will operate out of the center, as well as other services offering job placement or pregnancy crisis help.

The center, which has been in the works for a year and a half, will be fully functioning by October.

"This will be an awesome way to get these people some help, some love, and just give them Jesus," Clark added.

"The kids we are dealing with now are a generation of an already lost generation," he added. "If we don't make some drastic steps to go towards these children and make a difference in their lives, then what are we here for?"

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This article appeared in the Western Recorder (westernrecorder.org), newsjournal of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. Myriah Snyder is a news writer for the Western Recorder.