This week I've really been wrestling with the text of John 1:19-34 or maybe I should say its wrestling with me. I'm blown away by John the Baptist in a way that is really bringing conviction to my heart.

John's basic life goal was to point people to Jesus Christ. He was totally committed to fulfilling his mission. And there was no sidetracking him. When the crowds gathered and John started to get really famous, he completely deferred to His Messiah. The religious folks began asking him, "Are you Elijah?" "Are you Messiah?" "Are you a Prophet?" Ummm, who are you?

John just said, "I'm just a voice." I'm not the answer. I'm not some great spiritual giant. I'm not who you should be looking at. I'm a simple voice, not worthy enough to be a slave (only a slave could untie someone's shoe--not even a disciple could.)

This made me think this week. What are my motives? To be famous? To be a world-reknown preacher and speaker? To have people pat me on the back? Ahh, we all want and crave the limelight. We all want to be famous. And among spiritual leaders its particularly infectious. And its also sickening and terrible when we become ego-centric. When we begin to think we've arrived.

Fri night I was at Quentin Road, my old stomping grounds, for a Greater Vision concert. Their new tenor sang a song that said, "Little is much, when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or gain." Ouch. That hit me. Labor not for wealth or gain.

John the Baptist. I'm just a voice. Paul. Not I But Christ.

I wanted to let you know about some exciting things happening at Gages Lake. Here are a few things we've got planned for the fall.

• Special Speaker Series
  • In September, The Dayspring Bible College Singers, Sounds of Grace, will be performing at our church during the Sunday School hour and during the morning worship service. Pastor Jim Scudder, Jr will also be preaching that day.
  • In October, Rev Robert Vanden Bosch will help us think thru critical issues in the upcoming election. He will be presenting a Springfield Update in our Sunday School and then will be sharing a special message, "How a Christian Should Vote" during our morning service. Rev Vanden Bosch is a longtime friend of mine and a mentor to me. I'm honored to have him speak.
  • In November, Mike Campo, who is involved in the Christian Jewish Foundation, will share from his ministry and outreach to Jewish people.
• Corn Roast - In September, we'll enjoy our annual corn roast. This is a lot of fun and fellowship.
• New Sunday School Series:
  • Starting Point Classes - I will be starting a brand-new series of classes for those who are new to the faith. We'll have several different sessions. The first will be something like "Faith 101". Hopefully we can answer questions you may have about basic bedrock truths of the Bible. Such as "Why do we baptize?" "Where did we get the Bible and how do we know its true?" "What is the Holy Spirit?" After Faith 101, we'll do a series on the End Times, a series on The Role of the Church, a series on Connecting--Your Walk With Christ, a series on evangelism.
  • Mature Believers - This will continue our series thru deeper subjects that we have been doing already in Sunday School. I know many of you really enjoy this.
  • Teen Explosion - Sunday - This will be a Sunday School specifically designed for teens as they endeavor to grow in their faith and live it out in the real world.