“Merry Christmas to you!”

LaWanda and I are so blessed to be a part of your lives, 

our wonderful family and friends.

This has truly been a year filled with events and activities that have taken us to so many different places to fellowship with God's forever family.

LaWanda has ministered in Spain and Kenya, bringing encouragement and hope from God’s Word to women who are living in harsh situations.  It was a special treat for her to have Brittian go with her to Spain. She and I have spoken in The Philippines to pastors and spouses as well as to our European leaders in Madrid.  We've gotten to share with friends in Louisiana, Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Arizona.  We were privileged to watch several years worth of planning come to a climax as we participated in the Free Methodist General Conference and Women's Ministries International General Sessions in Rochester, New York.

    

It's been the thrill of our lives to continue to help lead the gracious folks at Cornerstone Community Church in St. Petersburg, Florida.  After nine and a half years, they are still the greatest people in all the world and our Cornerstone leadership team is just the best. We are especially thankful for their consistent, faithful prayers. We are blessed indeed!

Leadership Conference, Butuan-Bancasi, the Philippines

But of course, to be parents and grandparents is what we love most.  To watch our kids and their families attain goals and grow is so wonderful.  Jonathan is advancing with his career in Southern California. Sherilyn and Allan have continued to advance and have added new achievements. (A special ‘Congratulations!’ to Allan for achieving Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do!)  Brittian and Kristi found God’s Grace and each other; it's beautiful to see God at work in their lives.  Gordon-almost 10, Canon-8, Ransom-6 ½, Judah-5, and now little Maxine-8 months, totally capture our hearts.  Geri Sue and Aaron, LaWanda’s niece and husband and their four children, Zach-14, Bret-10, Sarah-8 and Rachel-3, also occupy a very special, close place in our family.

Throughout the year we keep the bond strong with visits by air, phone, email, FaceBook, Twitter and now FaceTime which we LOVE! In a few days, we're looking forward to gathering around the Christmas tree and making it "the most wonderful time of the year."  Just to be together is the best gift of all, sharing food, games and sweet fellowship.  LaWanda’s started baking and has made our family’s traditional fabulous fruit cake, with a little help from me J

We would love to spend some time with you and hear what is happening in your life. Thanks for sharing your cards and updates.  Even though we may not get to be with you, we pray that you have warm, meaningful days with those you love.  We're hoping you will take a second look at the manger and God's irrational introduction to all mankind.  His indescribable gift.  His lavish love.  We pray, too, that you will take a second look at each other--witnesses of love personified. Take time to tell others how much you appreciate them and show them how much you care.  Let’s BE the message we need to be and want to be this year!

LaWanda and I pray that the void brought by loss and disappointment, this season, "will only bring a smile", as God's great sovereignty renews our strength and faith.

We pray for you His joy and laughter and a hard drive full of terrific memories!  May 2012 bring you many blessings and much fruit in this life and for eternity!

Jonathan

With our love,

Rex and LaWanda

Jonathan

Sherilyn, Allan, Gordon, Canon

Brittian, Krisit, Ransom, Judah, Maxine

Rex Bullock: Celebrating Christmas Without Going Crazy I just c...

Rex Bullock: Celebrating Christmas Without Going Crazy
I just c...: Celebrating Christmas Without Going Crazy I just came from trying to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Within five minutes I was extreme...

Celebrating Christmas Without Going Crazy

I just came from trying to do a bit of Christmas shopping.  Within five minutes I was extremely tired and ready to leave.  After almost being run over several times and still not finding what I was looking for, I gave up.  What a great commercial I could make for online shopping!  Better yet, why not just figure out something to give which doesn't mean getting in such a hurry, frustrated and depressed.

In all the scriptures surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ, not one of the principle players seemed hurried.  Each one recognized that this was God's celebration.  While ruminating on my failed shopping trip, I have identified some guidelines which might keep us all from going crazy during the holidays.

#1  We must keep a clear perspective on Christmas.

What are we trying to accomplish?  Are we trying to impress people?  Are we trying to keep up with someone else's expectations?  Many people are trying to maintain some traditions that have outlived their usefulness.  

Sometimes in all our busy rush, Christ is totally ignored.

Keep reminding yourself that this is Christ's birthday.  Are you honoring Him?  Does He have the prominent place in our festivities?

#2  We must re-evaluate our priorities.

Is our busyness really necessary?  It is easy to get pressured by the expectations of others.  What would others think about us if we don't do what we have always traditionally done.  We think we must send out Christmas cards.  We must host parties and exchange gifts.  Plus, we must make sure it is politically correct.  What would happen if you cut some of these things out?  Perhaps other people's expectations are not as strong as we think.  Our busyness may be self-imposed.  Maybe we're trying to keep up with our own high standards.

This year, we won't be sending all the Christmas cards we used to send.  LaWanda doesn't bake or cook as much as she did at one time.  We are cutting back.  Things of lesser importance must go.  You should decide what be be eliminated in order to still have a meaningful celebration.

#3  We must be alert to people at Christmas.  Luke's Gospel (Luke 1:78,79) talks about the fact that our Dayspring (Jesus Christ) came to bring light to those who are in darkness.  He had time for people.  At Christmas it is so easy to turn our attention to food, gifts, decorations, cards, travel and many other things.  Why not re-focus on PEOPLE, including those in our own families.  We need to show love, support and encouragement--even if we don't get some other things done which we wanted to do.

To ignore Christmas is not Christ-honoring, but a frantic busyness is no better.  This year, break the mold.  Change the pattern.  Christmas is about LOVE.  Now, you can celebrate it without going crazy.

Rex Bullock: He Just Keeps Rising

Rex Bullock: He Just Keeps Rising: He Just Keeps Rising Advent brings us face to face with the fact that Jesus, our Emmanuel, came to this planet when darkness and ho...

He Just Keeps Rising

He Just Keeps Rising

Advent brings us face to face with the fact that Jesus, our Emmanuel, came to this planet when darkness and hopelessness pervaded everything.  Society was so debauched that "every man did what was right in his own eyes."  Pain, corruption, scandal, deprivation, degradation and godlessness prevailed, but then He came.  His coming changed everything.  His coming changed hearts, lives, societies--He brought hope to a dying world.

Two thousand years later we find ourselves enshrouded in pain, corruption, scandal, deprivation, degradation and godlessness once again.  Western societies in particular seem bent on writing Him out of the script.  Every week there's a new assault on Christ's values and principles.  We seem to be rapidly moving toward a society which sidelines and minimizes all things Christian.  To many, He is simply irrelevant and probably unnecessary.

But there's something irrepressible about our Emmanuel.  The one who came to be with us and to live in us will not be shunted away quite so easily.  About the time we think He can be erased out of our lives, this Emmanuel shows up.  He just keeps rising.  He's there in the most interesting places.  He intersects our lives when we don't even expect it and perhaps don't want it.  There He is, breaking down barriers, showing love and hope, joy and peace.  Most of all He brings forgiveness and new life.  

Tonight my wife, LaWanda and I, were enjoying a PBS special concert from New York City.  One of our favorite singers, Andrea Bocelli, accompanied by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and  Westminster Choir, was thrilling over 50,000 people braving the rain and chill in Central Park.  Millions more around the world were watching as this man with an incredible voice sang opera classics and pop favorites.  Beautiful, almost beyond description.

Suddenly, the conductor's baton dropped and the orchestra began the opening bars of a song known to believers the world over.  It has been sung in the smallest, most primitive churches and in the great cathedrals of the world.  When Andrea Bocelli began to sing "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see," my heart leaped right up in my throat.  I thought, you can't banish our Emmanuel.  He just keeps rising.

As the camera panned the thousands of urban dwellers, many weighed down with the problems of sin and woe, Bocelli sang the second verse, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved, how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed." People all over the huge crowd were singing with him and when the final chorus ended the applause was the most thunderous of the evening.  There He was and John Newton's words were emblazoned on millions of hearts.

What a great time to embrace our Emmanuel and bring Him into the core of our lives.  Don't try to marginalize Him or emasculate His power and glory.  You'll find that He just keeps rising.  

   

Bring It All!

During the Thanksgiving holiday I was looking through an old file of material when I saw this quote by John Newton, the notorious slave trader turned preacher extraordinaire:

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring,

For His grace and power are such

None can ever ask too much.

I have been made aware about how large the needs are at this moment in time.  Having just returned from Europe where I met with church leaders from ten European countries, I listened to the immense challenges they are facing--a secular society which at times seems very anti-Christian, economic collapse in many nations and a lack of Christian workers.  Their backs seem up against the wall.  

But, they aren't the only ones who are staring down impossible situations.  Recently, one of our friends who has managed the office of a major insurance company for 34 years, was told that she was terminated and that she should clean out her desk and be out by the end of the day.  Another family's 15 year old daughter is facing her 6th bout with cancer.  She can't remember when she wasn't facing a fight with some form of cancer.  Their emotions and finances are depleted.  Those stories can be repeated thousands of times all over the world.  Our world is groaning under the weight of mammoth problems.

It's then that we must remember John Newton's words--"Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring..."  One doesn't bring trivial matters to a king.  Few situations are too great for a king's power.  The breadth and depth of his might are immense.  If that is true of an earthly despot, think how mighty our heavenly King is.  Don't worry about your need being too large for Him.  "For His grace and power are such None can ever ask too much.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).  That links marvelously with Ephesians 3: 20-21, which reads: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."

So, you can bring it all in to Him.  He is big enough and powerful enough to handle whatever it is that's overwhelming you.  HE IS THE KING.  You can't ask too much with Him.  Bring it!  Bring it all!  

Go in His Name

I am feeling very expectant at this moment.  Jesus Christ is building His Church and I can hardly wait to see the result.  He is doing a masterful job and it is beautiful.  Oh, I'm not talking about brick and mortar or glass high rise sanctuaries.  It's about PEOPLE.  God is building us.  The Church of the Living God--and you can add whatever title you want to it.  It may be your denomination's name or it might be your local gathering of believers, or it might just be you.  God's Church is US.  

A fresh, loving church.  We are to go in His Name.  As we do, He will begin to stir new confidence in our lives.  He has granted that instrument--His own name--as the signature, the badge of authority, the security, the guarantee of every promise offered us in His Word.  And in that Name, we are to expect results.  In my life, my family.  In our neighborhoods.  In our churches.  In our world.

I am in Madrid, Spain, as I write, in fellowship with scores of church leaders from countries throughout Europe.  I am supposed to be here to speak to them, to offer a word of encouragement.  But as I listen to their stories of what is happening in their lives, I am the one encouraged.  Europe is in a mess.  Every newspaper and newscast around the world has screamed the headlines of financial disaster in Greece, Italy, Spain and other countries.  Financially, this continent is in a tailspin.  

However, as I listen to stories from France, Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and more, I am hearing about what Jesus Christ is doing in the lives of people.  These leaders are realistic about what is happening in their countries.  They know that the stakes are high and that miracles are needed--NOW.  But, they also know that they are going in the Name of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  They are watching miracles happen every day.  They sense the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  They have the authority of the Spirit on their side and they are bombarding Satan's territory.

I hope that your are a part of the First Church of Jesus Christ.  Let me urge you to go in His name and be an instrument of His love and grace.  Just like these European leaders, He wants to use you at any time and anywhere.  Go!  But GO IN HIS NAME!

"Getting Rid of Clunkers"

Do you remember the "Cash for Clunkers" program which was instituted by the federal government?  Maybe you participated in it.  My friend Dr. Darrel Riley shared some interesting thoughts about the CARS (Car Allowance Rebate System).  The program offered customers a $3500 - $4500 discount if they would trade their old, gas guzzling, fume spewing vehicle and purchase a new, environmentally friendly vehicle.  It was supposed to be a win - win:

     *  Consumers got a huge discount on a new car, truck or leased vehicle

     *  The program was supposed to energize the economy, boosting auto sales

     *  Safer, cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicles would now impact our environment

I've been wondering if "clunkers" exist in places other than our garages or driveways.  We have some "clunker programs" in our churches--events that we continue to hang on to, repeating year after year, which have lost their effectiveness.  

Pastor and church leader, here are just a few questions to ask:

     *  Do you have church programs based more on nostalgic memories than on current need?

     *  Have any of your ministries become "fuelish," taking too much money or manpower to maintain?

     *  Do the events you have affect your "environment"--are you impacting your community?

As you start new things, STOP doing those ministry programs which are no longer effective.  Let's appreciate the past but not live there.

Like Paul, keep moving forward: "I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward to Jesus.  I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.  So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us."  Message, Phil 3:12

"If you judge people, 

you have no time to love them."

Here are a couple of early morning thoughts to consider:

     *  "I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money.  No I wouldn't

         touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God."

     *  "I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it 

         comes time for God to judge us, He will NOT ask, 'How many good things have you done

         in your life?'  rather He will ask, 'How much LOVE did you put into what you did?' "

Mother Teresa

God's Prayer Force

Recently, while reading A Little Book About Prayer by Dr. W. E. McCumber, I was jolted by these words: "A church may distinguish itself for a number of good things and yet fail.  It may be a church noted for its music or for its preaching or for its philanthropies or for its friendliness or for its influence over politics and culture.  But if that church is not also and chiefly distinguished for its praying, it is arranging its own funeral."

Dr. McCumber went on to say, "The will of God cannot be known or done by a church that does not pray.  The mission of Christ is unsafe in the hands of a prayerless church.  The devil fears nothing less than he fears a people who play at religion, but do not pray."

We are desperately in need of people who will join God's Prayer Force.  This is a person who has a ministry of prayer for the Lord's work around the world.  He or she prays regularly for family members, but their circle of concern is much larger.

I have known some great prayers in my lifetime.  I well remember a group who made it their specific job to pray until they got definite answers from God.  My own life was changed by their prayers.  They lifted me to the Throne of God in a mighty concert of prayer regarding some very big needs in my life.  I am convinced that God met those needs because of their faithfulness in prayer.

Often these are people who are not seen up front in public.  Many are "behind-the-scenes" people.  Because of age or sickness, they may not be able to attend church services.  It is very likely they will not receive recognition or earthly reward.

But, let me tell you, it is impossible to overstate the importance of prayer ministry.

     *  Prayer puts a wall of protection around those for whom we intercede.  Prayer supplies

         strength for those who labor for God.

     *  Prayer pushes back the forces of darkness and opens the door for the entrance of the gospel

         light.

     *  Prayer invites the operations of God's Spirit upon situations of need and calls down divine

         power upon the preaching of the gospel.

Pray!  For Christ's sake, for the world's sake and for your own sake, PRAY!

So, Are You Missional or Miserable?

As we near the holiday season when we think about Jesus coming as a baby in a manger, one of the words which comes to mind is "mission."  His mission was to bring hope and salvation to a very sick world.  Today, we are using a buzzword called "missional."  I love the word because I love the world.  It simply means that we are striving to do the mission.  Do you think you are missional?  Is your church missional?

Church is not an indoor activity.  Church should be done outdoors--outside the weekly indoor gatherings. Outside the church doors is where the world is and, consequently, where we as the church must be.  Oh, it's great to come inside for cookies and milk or even a hearty meal, but we should head right back outside  to experience life.  When I was a kid my mother would send us right back outside to play after we had eaten.  On rainy days we played inside because we needed a safe place to stay dry.  On sick days we played quietly inside because we needed a place to get well, but life happened outdoors where we liked to play Robin Hood or Lone Ranger or Superman.

The world is not waiting inside the church.  The world is waiting outside our doors.  We gather in order to be filled up and then be poured out.  We gather to dream and imagine, so we can leave re-energized to do God's mission.  We were created for mission...it beats in our hearts and resounds in our imaginations.

My most miserable days were when I had to stay indoors.  I wanted to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and all of nature.  If I had to stay inside, I was seldom happy.  I longed to be outdoors.  I was so much more fulfilled outside.  I remember having an insecure babysitter who wouldn't let us outdoors because she was afraid we might get hurt.

That's like many pastors I know.  They are insecure about letting the church outdoors to set the captives free.  I can almost hear them say, "What if they end up getting involved with worldly people?  They won't be available to do church stuff."  With the church indoors, pastors must become entertainers instead of equippers.

My mother was an equipper.  She would put my boots and coat on me.  She would help me get into my uniform so I could go play sheriff or cowboys and Indians.  I couldn't wait to get outside so that I could live out my identity, my destiny, my dreams and my mission.

The church is kind of miserable because it is not very missional.  As for me?  "Open the door, let me out!  I am miserable unless I am missional!"  So, how about you?