David Prince, Pastor of Preaching and Vision as AABC, is known for his love for baseball. In a recent article for Baptist Press, he explains how baseball provides the perfect context for fathers to teach their sons the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pitchers and Catchers Report — Will Dads?

Snow recently covered a good portion of the country but I have not felt as warm and vibrant in some time. Pitchers and catchers reported to Major League Baseball Spring Training in mid-February and for some inexplicable reason that does something good for my soul.

Like George Will, “baseball has been the background music of my life” and I have never tired of the tune. A new season of the national pastime is full of hope and glorious possibilities for every club and its fans.

Since 1846, when Alexander Cartwright took the Knickerbockers to play the New York Nine in the first game of organized baseball on the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N.J., the game has possessed an irresistible and rhythmic hold on our nation. Generations of Americans are linked because of what happened on that green field in New Jersey and has been happening on subsequent diamond-stamped green fields ever since. Those fields have not simply preserved an enduring form of recreation but have helped promote vital traits which are fundamental to our health as a people.

“Without fathers, there is no baseball, only football and basketball” (Diana Schaub, “America at Bat,” National Affairs).

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This Sunday evening (February 21st) marks the beginning of a New Sunday Night Sermon Series called Change: Answering the “Yeah, But How?” Questions.

Pastor Jeremy and I will both preach sermons in this practical series designed to help you get from conviction to life transformation. Over the course of 15 years of ministry I have witnessed people who seem to always be striving and never arriving spiritually. Many develop a habit of feeling bad in response to biblical truth but not doing anything about it. We are going to try to equip you to get out of this unspiritual discipline.

“Yeah, but how?” is a question I have heard countless times. The question has come from people of different ages, diverse backgrounds, and I have heard it from a plethora of accents. It seems people from every tribe, tongue and nation grapple with that question when being convinced they have cherished behaviors that need to be change.

The first sermon in this new series with a foundational message for biblical change Are You a Missing Person? A Biblical All Points Bulletin (Romans 7:24 and Selected Scriptures).

Are you completely satisfied with you right now? If not come to this important series as we get down to the nitty-gritty of how Christ-centered, biblical change happens in the life of a Christian.

- Pastor David

Each year at AABC, we have a theme that we hang as a banner over our ministry.  This year our theme is Know Nothing.  Before we attempt to know something, we want to be determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Jesus’ finished work on the cross is the central reality in all the universe.  Therefore, if we are going to make sense out of our lives in the world, we must make the cross central. Our prayer is that by knowing nothing, Christ will be made known in and through AABC like never before!

In this sermon Pastor David Prince unpacks our 2010 know nothing emphasis:

 

 Our New Year's Resolution: We Resolve to KNOW NOTHING in 2010 (Pastor David Prince): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (52)

This Sunday we will take up a special Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in our morning worship service. This money goes directly to IMB missionaries who are serving Southern Baptists around the world by taking the gospel to those who have never heard. Everything we take in beyond our goal of $30,000.00 will go toward our church’s own Ends of the Earth work. Watch this short video reminder from Pastor David Prince and pray about what you will give this Sunday.

On November 8, 2009 churches across America will be called to remember the plight of 145 million children created in the image of God who are suffering without the love of a family.  At AABC, one of the primary ways our commitment to the fatherless is fleshed out is through adoption. Not everyone can or should adopt, but everyone in our congregation is called to be apart of the process by supporting families who are adopting.

On Orphan Sunday we will gather at 6:00 p.m. to hear a practical conversation about adoption between Pastor David and Pastor Jeremy. Topics will include: the adoption process, financial issues, transracial adoption, AABC’s ABBAA Fund, the personal reward and struggle of adopting.

Even if you never plan to adopt, join us to hear how you can personally walk with those who do adopt and how you can invest in the lives of the children who are being rescued by our church family.

If you have specific questions you would like us to answer, please email us or drop them off in crossroads Orphan Sunday Q&A box.