In one of his letters, John writes, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  1 John 3:18 ESV  John is emphasizing to us the importance of not just telling people that Jesus loves them, but showing the love of Christ it to them. 

     During this month as we celebrate the holidays, I want us to do one intentional act of love each week that shows the love of Christ to someone who does not know Him.  When you do that loving act, I am asking you to present that person with one of the Love Your Neighborcards we will provide in the sanctuary foyer, the Family Life Center lobby, and in our church office.  These cards are Christmas cards that present our service times and also mention that the particular act of love was done as a gift from a member of Lakeview Baptist Church to show the love of Christ.

     Let me give you a number of ideas regarding how you can use these cards.  If you are going through the drive thru, pay for the person’s meal in the car behind you or contribute to the cost of the meal and leave the card with the cashier.  Pick out a family at a restaurant and discreetly let your waiter/waitress know you are buying their meal anonymously.  Ask the waiter/waitress to leave the card with the person or family.  Cook goodies for your neighbors, co-workers, etc. and leave a card with them.  Rake the leaves of a neighbor and leave a card in their door.  Have fun brainstorming how you can do loving acts for your neighbors and leave these Love Your Neighbor Christmas cards behind. 

     By doing these loving acts, you will be giving Christmas gifts to folks throughout our community that show the love of Christ in a tangible way and show the love that the Lakeview family has for this community.

     I am exicted to hear your stories of how you shared these cards throughout the month.  Stop me and tell me or email me at tim@lakeviewfamily.com.

     Have a great day!

Your Shepherd,

Tim

     Well, it’s good to be home with my new church family at Lakeview.  It has been great to visit with some of you in the start of this week.  I am excited and eager to begin to get to know you and form relationships with you.  I have appreciated all the prayers, notes, calls, and messages that you have sent to show your love for the McKnight family and your excitement at our arrival.  Know that we are also very excited to be here. 

     I am in the process of getting the office settled and establishing a weekly schedule.  We had our first staff meeting this Monday.  I am privileged to work with such a great staff.  They have been so gracious to help me get settled.  They love our church deeply and do a great job in ministry.  Thanks staff!

     Right now the McKnight family’s plan is to live in the mission house until we sell our house and/or find a new house.  I will be driving north to Winston Salem to pick up Angela and the kids and drive them back to Hartsville.

     I am excited about this coming Sunday and the privilege we have of hearing from our Pastor Emeritus Dr. Don Purvis.  I am also excited about this Christmas season.  Tomorrow, I will give you some more information about how we can Love Our Neighbor and Tell Our Story this Christmas.

     By the way, I am shopping for a Harley in hopes Angela will buy it for me for Christmas……Just Joking!  I would not just end up in an arm cast.  Try a full body cast:)

By His Grace,

Tim

     Early this morning, about 12:30AM, I was running from window to window like a little kid watching a pretty heavy snowfall hit Winston Salem.  This morning I woke up to see that the snow had brought a dusting, covering the ground in our front and back yards.  There is just something beautifully peaceful about a snow covered landscape.

     Every time I see it snow, I am reminded of the words of Isaiah who wrote:

Come now, let us reason together says the Lord:  though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.  Isaiah 1:18 ESV

     I am thankful for the forgiveness that I had through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  There is no way that I can make up for or cover my sin.  Jesus, the perfect son of God, offered His body as an atoning sacrifice to cover my sin with his blood.  Because of that sacrifice on the cross, I stand before God pure as the driven snow because of the forgiveness granted by Christ Jesus.  It feels good to be clean.  I thank God that, because of Christ, when God looks at me, He sees Jesus’ righteousness rather than my sin.

     How about you?  Are you carrying sin around in your life that you have never dealt with by bringing it to Jesus?  Are you a Christian who is living under past sins that you have not asked God to forgive?

     No matter where you are in your life.  Christ offers forgiveness if we will turn from sin and follow Him.  Are you a Christ follower?  Have you been forgiven?  If you have, you will never look at snow the same way again.

     Have a great day!

Forgiven,

Tim

     Sorry it has taken this long to write another post.  We’ve been a little busy with winding down here.

     Sunday night our church threw a farewell reception for us.  It was a great time to see folks that we love and gave us an opportunity to say our “see you later” to them.  We have been blessed to have a great staff here and a great group of laypeople with whom we have formed relationships.  We are very thankful to Calvary for the two years we spent here. 

     At the same time, we are very excited about seeing you in a few weeks.  This week we will be winterizing our home here in Winston.  I am on vacation this week, spending time with Angela and the kids.  We go to the zoo on Thursday.  The kids are really looking forward to that.

     On Saturday, we will travel to Disney World to spend a week there with my Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother-In-Law, Niece, Nephew, and thousands of other people.  We look forward to eating supper with Ken and Sonya Huges and family while we are down there.  The kids have already put together a list of rides they want Daddy to ride with them (Angela gets motion sickness:)).

     We should be hearing today about an offer we put in on a house in Hartsville.  We will be doing what was once called “lease to buy” until our house sells here.  Once it sells, we will close on the house in Hartsville.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

     I thank God for blessings us with friendships and look forward to the ones we will form with you as we serve together at Lakeview.

     Have a great week!

Your Shepherd,

Tim

     This week I want to take some time to thank some folks for serving.  As a fellow veteran of Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Enduring Freedom I want to thank those of you who have served and are serving our nation in the armed forces.  I thank all of the family members of service members who sacrifice so that we can live under the blanket of freedom that has been provided in the past and continues to be provided in the present by their loved ones in uniform.  Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13 NASB  Thank you for showing us that love by being willing to lay down your life in the service of our nation.

     Changing gears, I want to thank the staff of Lakeview Baptist Church.  You all have a ministry mindset and go above and beyond what has been asked of you, especially during this interim period.  I appreciate your communication and assistance, as I am three hours away, during this transition.  I am honored to be your pastor and look forward to our ministry together.

     In addtion, numerous folks have been involved in helping move and performing a face lift on our office areas.  I appreciate the two brothers in Christ who drove up to Winston and loaded up my library.  I also appreciate all who helped unload the boxes.  I deeply appreciate your help.  I also am grateful to the folks who helped lay carpet in our office areas and to a special sister in Christ who painted our offices.  Thank you all for  your hard work. 

     Just to give you an update.  Angela and I still have our house on the market.  We have not yet found a house to move into in Hartsville.  We will be living in the mission house until that time comes and are very grateful to have that privilege.  We are both confident that God’s timing is perfect and are very excited about finally coming down to serve alongside you all in ministry.  Next week, I will begin two weeks of vacation here at Calvary.  I will be rested and ready to hit the ground running at Lakeview on December 1st.  I look forward to it.

Until Then,

Tim

     Well, I have been busy packing my office into boxes and am preparing to help Merrill Sprayberry and Leroy Brown load them up and take them to Lakeview.  I appreciate these two men being willing to take the trip up to Winston and help out the new pastor.

     The McKnight family will be traveling to Hartsville this weekend to unload the boxes and to look at more houses.  We are still looking for a buyer for our house, so if you know of anyone moving to Winston, let us know.  We will be staying at the mission house on Friday night. 

     By the way, I am excited about the trip four of our folks took to the Pacific Rim Conference.  We are moving toward a partnership with our IMB missionaries in Indonesia.  I am excited to hear how the trip went and ask you to pray for our missionaries and for future opportunities for mission trips to the Pacific Rim.

     A week from tomorrow will be my first Sunday at Lakeview.  I am counting the days.

Your Shepherd,

Tim

     Well, in a little less than a month, I will be with you at Lakeview.

     Let me tell you about a few things that are already planned for the beginning of December.  The first Sunday in December, our Pastor Emeritus, Dr. Don Purvis will be preaching in our morning and evening services.  I look forward to hearing from Dr. Purvis and to developing a relationship with him and learning from him.  Although I am not preaching on the 7th, I will be leading us in our Lottie Moon Ingathering.  I hope you plan to give to our missionaries during this special time. 

     The second Sunday in December, December 14th, we will be having only one service in the morning at 11AM.  This service will be a special installation service in which Pastor Ken Hughes and Dr. Don Purvis will participate.  By the way, my friend and mentor Dr. Gary Chapman will preach the installation message.  I am honored to have all three of these men participate in that service and look forward to it with great anticipation.  We will be having a soup and sandwich lunch in the Life Center following the service.  FYI, the McKnight’s parents will also be there, so if you want any good stories, look them up. 

     I want to invite you to return the evening of the 14th to worship as our choir leads us in the Christmas musical “Once Upon a Holy Night.”  Bring a friend who needs to hear the story of Christmas and pray that God will move as we hear the gospel preached through song.

     Angela and I are excited about seeing you soon.  Please continue to pray for our house hunting/selling efforts.  So far, we have not sold or bought; however, we know that God’s timing is perfect.

     Know that you are in our thoughts, prayers, and hearts.

Your Shepherd,

Tim

     On October 31, 1517 a monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  In these theses, Luther protested what he called heresies that were being taught by the Catholic Church during that time.  His act on that day began the Protestant Reformation.

     It is important that we know about this era of church history because it brought about a return to biblical doctrines to which we strongly adhere today.  They are:

1.  Sola Scriptura–Scripture alone is our ultimate authority in all matters of faith and life.

2.  Sola Fide–Faith alone is the only means for our justification.  Our works do not save us.

3.  Sola Gratia–Grace alone means that salvation is granted solely on God’s unmerited favor.  We cannot earn it.  We do not deserve it.

4.  Solus Christus–Christ alone is our only means of salvation.  There is no other name under Heaven whereby men can be saved.

5.   Soli Deo Gloria–Glory is to be given to God alone.

     I hope that, on this day, you will focus upon these five doctrines from the Protestant Reformation and thank God for the men who defended them during that time in church history.

Happy Reformation Day,

Tim

     What a great Fall Family Fun Night!

     We had a great turnout and I am excited to see who came to visit us from the community.  We need to now pray for ways to follow up with these families to let them know how much we appreciated them coming and how much we love them.  Lakeview has a tremendous opportunity to make a Kingdom impact in Hartsville, and nights like last night are some of the ways that we will and are doing just that.

     Thank you to all the folks who made last night such a GREAT success through their planning and serving.  Who knows what seeds were sown last night through showing the love of Christ to the families that came.  As we show that love and build relationships with our neighbors, we gain their trust and a hearing to the story of how Christ has changed our lives.  Thank you for helping us love our neighbors through your hard work!  I also want to thank all of you who attended and interacted with our community families. 

     Angela and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with some of you last night.  We wished we could talk to everyone who came and look forward to future opportunities for fellowship with you. 

     We want to give another thank you to our pilot with a servant’s heart who made our visit possible.  Words are insufficient to express how much that meant to us.  By the way, Angela enjoyed the flight back:)

     I thank God for the privilege of being your Lead Pastor and look forward with great anticipation to the things that God will do through the body of Christ at Lakeview Baptist Church.

     I love you with the love of Christ Jesus and hope you have a great week!

Until Then,

Tim

     Thanks to a church member with a servant’s heart, Angela and I will be spending tomorrow in Hartsville.  We will spend the afternoon continuing to look for a house.  After that, we will join families from our community and church in celebrating our Fall Family Fun Night.

     We are so excited about spending some time with you all tomorrow night and look forward to being in Hartsville.  Please stop by and say, “Hi” to us during the Fun Night.  We would love to talk to you.

     See you there!

Until Then,

Tim