Liz and I returned from Jacksonville on Thursday evening after I spoke at Joanna Knepper’s funeral. Many of you have asked how the day went. The Knepper family has responded by faith. The service was an honor to Jesus. I sensed HE was glorified. Thank you for your prayers. 

We are now headed into the weekend. I have sermon preparation to get finished and other things to do as I catch up.   

May 6 is Homecoming at Olive. The church turns 113 years old next month. Olive began when 12 people constituted a Baptist church out in the country from Pensacola. They had moved here from Canoe, Alabama. These pioneers laid the foundation for what we have today. We stand on the shoulders of some great people. In years to come others will stand on what we leave behind. This reminds me of what President Harry Truman said about the White House. He said the dirt one President brings in always stays behind for others to deal with. That seems to be true of the church as well. Let’s keep a clean house.   

This weekend I am preaching on the church at Ephesus. I call it a church of faith and fire. Join me as we worship. Come believing God this Sunday for a great day.   

 Pastor Ted Traylor     

In the past few days funerals have been held for some of those killed at Virginia Tech University. Baptist Press carried stories on a few that had ties to Baptist churches. Their faith was highlighted in the services. Those are tough days for families, friends and pastors. I have one of those kinds of funerals coming Thursday afternoon in Jacksonville. Joanna Knepper was killed early Sunday morning when her car was struck from behind by a fast moving SUV. She was the daughter of Randy and Penny Knepper and sister of Nate. Before recently moving to Jacksonville Randy was an active deacon at Olive and served as our chairman on two occasions. Penny worked on our staff in the media library. The Kneppers were choice servants of the Lord and Olive Baptist Church.   

Several people have told me they will be praying for me as I do the funeral on Thursday. They normally add, “I know that will be a tough one.” One never walks into a situation like this and finds it easy. Yet we know God is alive and rules. We cast all of our care on Him. He cares for us. Joanna was a sweet follower of Jesus. I remember days she came to our house to play with Rachel and attend birthday parties. Now she lives in the presence of Jesus.   This week in our city we have been reminded that death can come at any time. We knew that all along. But when 32 people are slain on a college campus we are awakened to the fact in a new freshness. Then a Blue Angel crashes in South Carolina and one of our fine young ladies is killed in an auto tragedy.

All of that reminds us life is fragile. Death can come at any moment. I encourage you to be prepared. Then live like today might be your last on earth. 

Pastor Ted Traylor     

Liz and I returned Wednesday from a couple of days of retreat in Texas with a few other pastors and their wives. It is always a joy to be with these colleagues. And it is a double pleasure when we go to Texas. As they say, “Texas is an attitude.”
 
When we speak of “having an attitude” it is normally with a negative connotation. Yet the Bible tells us to have the attitude of Jesus. That is the attitude and action of a servant. While in the Houston airport, I picked up a copy of INC. magazine. In it, I found an interesting article on managing. The title was “In Praise of Selflessness: Why the Best Leaders Are Servants.” They admitted this concept was not new but came from the authors of the New Testament. The author went on to say great leaders are foot-washers!
 
The writer spoke of three paradoxes for leaders. 1. The higher you rise, the harder you must work for others. 2. Although you hold formal authority over employees, you must treat them like customers and when reasonable do their bidding. 3. When your desires and the needs of your organization conflict, your desires draw the low card. He went on to say when a leader begins to ask how he can help those who work for him amazing things start to happen.
 
While we were in Texas for the retreat Pastor Michael Lewis was our host. He and his wife, Liliana, were wonderful foot-washers. They planned and took care of our needs. I returned to Olive revived and committed to be a better servant leader. I challenge you to do the same.
 

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant [foot-washer] and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, NAS)
Pastor Ted Traylor

…please check back on Friday for my next update. Hope you are having a great day in the Lord.

Pastor Ted Traylor

During April of 1964 some good people in Pisgah, Alabama, were enlisting church members to work for two weeks in Vacation Bible School. Yes, you read correctly. It was Monday through Friday with a weekend break and five more days the next week. In those ten days kids received thirty hours of encounter at the VBS. And it made a difference in me. You see, on the Thursday of the second week of VBS, I was confronted with the Gospel. It was there I meet Jesus as my Savior. 

So here we are over forty years later and workers are being enlisted again. Kids will come to Olive June 4-8, from 9:00 am-noon. This will give us fifteen hours of encounter with the children. And just like me some of them will come to be saved during the week. Dennis Dean and I need help. We need workers to step up and be ready to help. Now is the time to make preparation.    

Last week during one of Olive’s Easter services a young child came down the aisle and I greeted the family. I asked, “Why have you come?” The answer was to ask Jesus into her heart. Heaven rejoiced. I rejoiced. Parents rejoiced. One day the last of the redeemed will trust Jesus and the end will come. It could be during VBS in 2007. Join the team. Let’s impact boys and girls with the Gospel. It all begins in about six weeks.

Pastor Ted Traylor