Nancy Pelosi exhibted poor leadership, in my opinion, when approaching such a critical and historic vote, she decided to take the opportunity to air her personal opinions and send verbal rockets hurtling toward the present administration and its party. Totally leaving the script she accomplished that which was extremely difficult…alienating potential votes to help assure defeat.

Without doubt there is much blame to go around. Deregulation. Greed. People not minding the store. Government oversight responsibilities that were ignored. Both parties not stepping up to the plate at least two years ago when leaders such as McCain sounded a warning alarm. But pointing fingers will not get us out of this mess and onto the road of correction.

A close Washingto insider friend was talking with me yesterday and when I asked him if the vote surprised him he quickly responded NO. When I asked why I was grieved with his answer. “Bob, all politics are local. Many representatives are approaching re-election. This vote was about politics. Many Representatives will now be able to say they bravely stood against the rush of the bill, the over-reaction, the unpopularity of the ‘Bailout’ and thus proved their leadership.” He then went on to add, “Most likely a bill will come close behind that is not substantially different but will still allow them to say the voted AGAINST the first one. I think the next one will pass.”

So this is where we are, is it? Playing the politics of perception in order to assure the security of a position! How broken hearted our Founding Fathers would have been.

Later this week the Vice Presidential debate comes up between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. I can’t wait to watch it. Not for Biden as I know I’ll just hear more of the Washington insider line…but for Palin. What a fresh perspective and authentic personality. While she may not be an insider of the Beltway…she has shown her ability to chart the way, even when it is not popular. The Politics of Perception does not seem to be what drives her. And it is clear to all with an open mind that when comparing executive decision making responsibility she leaves both Biden and Obama a long way behind. I along with Mark DeMoss and other recently had the privilege of sharing with the Atlanta Journal Constitution what we were seeing and hearing within our travel and communications regarding this lady (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/news/stories/2008/09/05/georgia_evangelicals_palin.html. The event should be a show no one wants to miss.

I’ll see you there. It will be good to hear reality for a change!

We have seen 80 men boldly ask Christ into their lives…standing up in front of their peers, and most often with tears streaming down their cheeks, unashamedly acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Lord. There is NOTHING more exciting than that. And to hear the hundreds of other men present break into spontaneous applause and cheers makes goose bumps crawl up and down my skin even as I type this. What a joy.

But equally exciting is to see men whose marriages are in trouble, or not as strong as they could be, go home and make things right and step into the lead…however nervously…as spiritual head. This last weekend I was speaking on Saturday morning when a man burst out of the worship center and toward the door to leave. My wife Cheryl was in the foyer and asked if everything was ok. “No it’s not, ” he replied, “God has gotten the message to me loud and clear, and I’m headed home to make things right!” Now that’s a GREAT reason to leave a conference early!!

A well known community leader told me Sunday morning, “Afte 42 years of marriage I realized I had never prayed with my wife one time. I remedied that last night. For the first time ever we prayed together and I thanked God for her in my life. And it’s because of this conference.” Numerous other men would tell me similar reports. I was amazed to listen. It is AWESOME what God can do when we just stick with what He says in the Owner’s Manual (the scripture) and do it!

I’m off to do another one this coming weekend. This time in west Tennessee…and I can’t wait!

I was recently asked to write an article on the issue for www.sermoncentral.com, which has a huge viewing audience. It is titled REVERSING THE MARRIAGE IMPLOSION. I am so thankful for the opportunity and am already getting e-mails and comments on the article,. Go to their site and go to the newsletter where the articles are. I woud be honored to have to read it and give your thoughts.

And, by the way, GUARD YOUR HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE (Prov. 4:23), because we’re all only one step from stupid at any given moment!

A because we care about marriage, that’s another reason we have called our ministry TOTAL LIFE IMPACT!

BTW, here’s the text of the article…

Reversing the Marriage Implosion
By Bob Reccord

People spend a lot of time and money preparing for the wedding, but not much preparing for the marriage.

The typical wedding ceremony is crammed with symbols of God’s plan for a covenant marriage …

Great marriages, or even solid marriages, don’t just happen. They are intentional.

My 24-year old daughter recently participated in a wedding that many merely dream about: the Ritz-Carlton, beautifully manicured acreage, surrounding waterscapes, celebrative music filling the air with anticipation, enough food and drinks to feed a veritable army and, of course, a fashionably elegant wedding party dressed to the nines. Add in a healthy dose of fabulous weather, and you have a magic moment. But external trappings do not always great marriages make!

On the way home my daughter, caught in a reflective fog, enumerated friends whose marriages were already destabilized. “It seems to me that a lot of people spend a lot of time and money preparing for the wedding, but not much preparing for the marriage,” she mused. Stop the world! There’s a piece of earth-shattering perspective. Why wasn’t I thinking of insightful things like that at 24? I wondered.

Bob Reccord’s article on Preaching for Impact
Bob’s Sermon: God Never Guides Where He Doesn’t Also Provide
Bob’s Sermon: Making the World’s Best or Worst Decisions- The Choice is Yours
More SermonCentral Marriage ResourcesToday, statistics scream to us of the implosion of marriage. In this disposable society, marriage partners become throw-away items if they don’t fit into the other’s “wants, needs and goals.”

I purposely used the word implosion and not explosion. Webster’s defines it as “to collapse inward as if from external pressure.” Our landscape of marriage looks like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, or a once-stately high-rise brought to a pile of rubble by demolition experts. So what key pressures and charges are toppling today’s marriages?

It’s a Covenant, not a Contract!
On any given weekend, and even in the church, exhilarated brides and nervous grooms say their “I do’s” without understanding God’s deepest intent for the relationship into which they enter. They ritually run through the elements of a ceremony without understanding the Rock from which it was hewn!

Having had the joy of speaking in marriage conferences, I often start with the differences between a “contract” and a covenant. Tying it back into the covenant dealings of God with His people, I remind them that the Hebrew word so often used for covenant is “beriyth” meaning “a solemn agreement cut between parties with binding force.” I unpack the elements of God’s covenants with His leaders and people, followed by a look at the first-century Jewish wedding (which was seen as a covenant relation). Then I show the elements of covenant still present in the modern-day wedding ceremony. Afterwards, I often have scores of people say, “I’ve never heard that before! Why don’t we hear that in weddings today?” What an attention-grabbing question, indeed! Why don’t they?

The typical wedding ceremony is crammed with symbols of God’s plan for a covenant marriage:

The groom enters first because he is the initiator of the covenant.
The white runner depicts holy ground.
The father walks his daughter down the aisle because he is coming to the end of his spiritual leadership and prepares to surrender that role to the man in whose hands he will place her.
She walks down an aisle (and they will exit by it) representing the “walk of death”, when those entering Biblical covenants walked between the halves of a slain animal, as if to say, “may what happened to this animal happen to me if I break this covenant.”
The groom says his vows first because at that moment, he becomes the spiritual head.

And we all could stand being reminded that:

A contract is based on distrust;
A covenant is based on trust.

A contract is based on limited liability;
A covenant is based on unlimited responsibility.

A contract can be voided by a court or mutual consent;
A covenant is not to be voided.

A contract says, “What’s mine is mine”;
A covenant says. “What’s mine is yours.”

In the past fifteen years, I can’t remember doing a ceremony without focusing on these important elements and what they mean to those taking their “vows”.

What an amazing time of discipling for all involved, and we could be missing it! There are some wonderful resources out there to help any minister capture perhaps one of the most powerful equipping experiences in life. They can move couples from focusing on simply the “wedding,” to concentrating on the covenantal relationship and the strength it brings to the experience.

Enter With Your Eyes Open!
As marriages hurtle into the future before them, we must remind every couple to keep their eyes open for the needs and fears of the other. A wise, seasoned counselor told me years ago that the greatest need of women is security, and her greatest fear is insecurity. Conversely, the greatest need of a man is adequacy, and his greatest fear, inadequacy. If only my wife and I had been told this before we got married, not years later!

Within every wife, there is a little girl craving to hear that she is pretty, valued, treasured and loved. She can handle multiple moves, shaky finances, job difficulties and worse as long as she is relationally secure with her man. Every husband longs to hear, “I’m proud of you because…” He yearns to know he is adequate in his leadership. In conference after conference, women sit stunned when my wife asks men to lower their head and raise their hand on what they would prefer to hear from their wife: “I love you,” or “I’m proud of you.” “I’m proud of you” wins hands down (or up in this case). Even the makers of Viagra and Calais understand a man’s passionate desire to be adequate!

So, what implosions might be avoided if every couple walking toward the altar were clearly guided on the foundational need/fear of their potential mate? It would so clearly show how our IEDs (improvised explosive devices) of words and actions within marriage can rupture the infrastructure of our relationships and bring our homes crashing in around us.

Why Wait ‘til All Else Fails?
I remember well the older gentleman, looking deep into my eyes—with a glint in his—as he said, “When all else fails, son, pray with your wife.” After some 35 years of marriage, I would scream, “DON’T WAIT UNTIL ALL ELSE FAILS!”

I am shaken by how many men across the nation who characterize themselves as “Christian” husbands miss a key ingredient of quake-proof marriages: praying with their spouse. Notice I didn’t say “praying for their spouse.” Sure, that’s important; but something profoundly powerful happens when a husband leads his wife in a time of shared prayer. And ask any wife if she would prefer her husband not lead their prayer, and she’ll likely take your head off! Every woman deeply needs her husband to take the spiritual lead in their home, and this means more than just taking the family to church. It’s an investment of himself in hands-on application.

But why don’t more men do it? Multiple reasons: lack of a good model, a feeling of inadequacy, a fear of failure, not knowing how to begin, lack of equipping…and on and on it goes.

So, to reverse the implosion, could churches spend focused time on equipping men to pray with their wives? Start simply: suggest getting a notebook/journal and writing down prayer needs and requests with their date and the answers as they come. (It blows a woman’s mind when she sees her husband writing down what she says!) And encourage them to begin where they are right now, and repeat that it’s not too late!

At a recent men’s conference, I spoke on this subject and challenged the men to start right where they were, right NOW. The next morning, a 73-year old man sought me out, and with tears streaming down his cheeks he declared, “I did something for the first time last night, something I should have done years ago. I prayed with my wife.” He choked as he recounted the amazing experience and regretted what he had missed for years. Then I asked, “What did your wife do?” With faltering voice, he whispered, “She said she had been waiting all of our married life for this day.” Enough said! And here is the amazing part: his “adequacy-rating” skyrockets, and she feels increasingly secure.

It Doesn’t Just Happen
As I step back and reflect on what I have observed in these last years of societal-wide marriage implosion, above all one missing ingredient comes to mind: intentionality. I have never seen any man say, “I think I’ll marry someone who won’t love me in ten years,” or a woman who proclaimed, “All I want is a breadwinner.” No, every couple marches into marriage looking for the best of times and not giving a second-thought to the possibility of the worst of times. With a beautiful wedding, a breathtaking honeymoon, and a bright new future, what more is there? Not much, is the answer, without intentionality.

Great marriages, or even solid marriages, don’t just happen. They are intentional. Partners must take practical steps to ensure the marriage that starts well can end well. People don’t just “slide” into marriages that last.

Maybe one of the most overlooked resources of our churches are mentoring couples who can be encouragers to younger or newly married couples. In our world of hectic schedules, unending expectations, “performance” mentalities and non-stop pressure, a spiritually mature couple to come alongside a newer one could be a life-saving resource and a pressure-release all at the same time. Their practical wisdom from an intentional, biblically-centered journey could be just what the doctor ordered.

So, could it be that my 24-year old daughter was right? Maybe we are tempted to spend a lot more effort on preparing for the wedding that we do preparing for the marriage. So, the ball’s in our court; may be become leaders, churches and people who act to reverse the implosion, triggering an explosion of stable homes.

The process starts in Orlando in year one when the students gather in Orlando to learn the base of leadership in off-the-chart creative means such as experiencing behind the scenes of Universal, and staying over night in the shark tunnel of . There they learn how to deal with the sharks (difficult and attacking people of life). In addition they learn how they are wired tempermentally and what that means as they deal with people wired the same way as they are, as well as those who don’t.

In the second year they go to Washington DC where I have the privilege of challenging these amazing young leaders in “Leading From the Inside Out” and–something I really love–speaking on the Christian heritage of our nation. And what an honor to do that in our nation’s capital. What a back drop for showing these great young leaders the rich foundation from which they have come! And during the week in Washington these young leaders meet Congressional leaders, national Christian leaders, and thought leaders of America. Amazingly they see the amazing sights of Washington DC, and its amazing monuments from a totally new perspective. The hand print of God on this nation’s foundation begins to take shape in their heart and soul. The prices our forefathers paid becomes appreciated in a fresh and deep ways, like never before.

And as I watch these oung men and women, dressed as if they were going to a major job interview, I see the hope of tomorrow. They are deep thinkers, wanting to understand the principles that make for both an effective and powerful life and a free and powerful country. Their questions deal with the core moral issues of our world. Easy answers are not what they desir…but substance and truth.

It is an honor to be associated with them, and to have the privilege of encouraging them in their journey to be everuthing God wants them to be. I feel confident they will make their total life one of impact. And that is one of the reasons Cheryl and I named our ministry Total Life Impact.

That has now happened. Last fall I was invited by a new church in Ft. Lauderdale to join my great friend Jay Strack and tag-team as teaching pastors to get a church up an running on its own feet. Last summer is the first time I visited it while it met in an abused women’s shelter. That Suday I counted 47 people. I returned and started working with the church and Jay in September and they were hitting about 65 or so. Since then we have seen the attendence surge to approximately 270, see over 80 kids attend VBS and watch 45 adult workers come out of the woodwork to be a part of touching lives. And, are you ready for this, 12 of the kids made a commitmen to accept Christ into their life!

But maybe the most amazing thing has been to watch the waters of baptism move again. North Star merged last fall with a church that was just about to fold. Their facilities in Wilton Manor were offered to North Star as a part of the merge and the members would become one church. The transition was smooth, the attitudes great, and people started being saved. In fact, we’re baptizing regularly…the first time the baptism waters have stirred in the former Wilton Manors facilities in about 35-40 years from what I am told from some long time members! The people are celebrating weekly about what God has done and is doing, and the atmosphere can only be described as celebrative. The music weekly regularly has people on their feet and they break out in applause as people are baptised. Throughout the Spring we have seen baptisms, and a couple of weeks ago we had 5 more baptizted and about 15 more are presently waiting. Giving is strong. Expectations are high. And thanksgiving is continuous. Especially since the baptism were repaired for the first time in decades and the baptismal waters are being stirred regularly.

Bob Reeder and an engaged group of lay leaders receive much of the accolades for the tenacity of paying the price to keep things moving forward. Regardless of the circumstances and challenges they have continued to move forward. And now this church is forging ahead in an area of Fort Lauderdale that is not growing…and not even normally acknowledged as one conducive to church life. But at North Star, the baptismal is repaired for the first time in years…the facilities are repaired…and we’re seeing the possibility of running out of room. All of this in a time when my denominations baptisms are in free fall. Which says A DENOMINATION CAN’T WIN PEOPLE TO CHRIST NOR INCREASE BAPTISMS–ONLY THE LOCAL CHURCH CAN DO THAT

Thank you Lord to be a part of a group of people who are broken, from radically diverse backgrounds, perseverant, committed, beleiving God can do anything, and will to pay the price to experience the JOY of being a church on the move. And thanks to all those who have afforded me a wonderful opportunity to work with friends and trusting Christ-followers to play a small part in what God is up to. What a ride!

Today, I am reflective of many years of my journey in ministry. During most of those years, I found myself during this season headed to the Southern Baptist Convention. Historically, most of those years there were no more than a couple of men running for President with only one having the support of the major leaders. Today, there are six men running for the role. And frankly, I believe that to be very healthy.

I am sure all six men are wonderful men. I have known Avery Willis, for over twenty-five years, and he babysat for my oldest daughter one night. Now, that requires a special guy. And I have loved and respected him ever since! No one knows international missions better than he does! Frank Cox has built a strong church in Atlanta and I have had the privilege of preaching there. I have been with Wiley Drake on numerous occasions and he has never lacked for passion and energy to be involved and contribute to Baptists and beyond. In addition, there are two men with whom I am not personally acquainted.

However, one man I know extremely well…Johnny Hunt. He is my pastor, a great friend and supporter, and a leader of leaders. I want to mention just a few of the many, many strengths I see in this man…

• Last year FBC Woodstock gave $3.8 million to total mission causes with $3.3 of it going to Southern Baptist causes exclusively. Frankly, for me, the percentage is not the issue. The impact and Kingdom advance is.
• From first hand knowledge, I have watched FBC Woodstock plant 78 churches over the last 15 years. Johnny supported early on the vision of Strategic Focus Cities which I implemented at the North American Mission Board, which resulted in Woodstock planting 4 healthy, large and growing churches in Las Vegas as well as works in New York and, soon, San Diego.
• FBC Woodstock has raised up 130 missionary families
• Right at 800 FBCW members were doing mission projects in 38 countries this last alone.
• Woodstock’s ministry to pastors-ministers and their wives called Timothy/Barnabas has seen 12,000 attend over the last 16 years and in now in 18 countries. In those countries where mostly men attend, and they have seen approximately 5000 in attendance. I supported and participated in Timothy/Barnabas while I was at NAMB because I saw first hand its impact in ministry marriages, impact, and convention participation…and I would do it again.
And in a day when we see ministry families coming apart at the seams, Johnny and Woodstock established The City of Refuge for hurting families going through trauma in ministry. Their goal has been restoration—first to Christ, then to family, and finally to meaningful contribution in whatever God directed their steps toward. The “what” has never been Johnny’s call (only Christ’s), but the “how” has been love, grace, accountability and restoration. And approximately 130 families have been on the receiving end of such grace.

While I am surely not a prophet, nor the son of one…and while I am not qualified to know all of the issues, I would say these are awfully strong qualifications for leadership that demonstrates a passionate evangelistic and missions heart to lead the SBC denomination through strategic change at this very critical time. So, as we stand on the verge of Southern Baptists gathering in Indianapolis, I invite you to join me in prayer that God will direct the steps of those making important decisions…after all, the future course depends on it. And may God bless each man running and their ministry.

Today, I would commend every man that threw his hat in the ring, feeling a leadership to offer his service in leadership of Southern Baptists. To Johnny Hunt I would say CONGRATULATIONS. Southern Baptists need your strength and passion for change in this critical time.

But I don’t think the real dedication occured this weekend. Rather, it was launched through both triumph and tragedy…in combination. On April 20, due to the extremely gracious invitiation of Dr. Forrest Pollock, I had the privilege of preaching the last messages in the former worship center built in the early 1980s. Seven days later Forrest led them triumphantly into their beautiful new house of worship. On that day it was truly “dedicated” as he preached on how anyone could know for certain they are in relationship with Jesu Christ and why being a part of a church was important. And as a result well over 100 people responded to the invitation time that Sunday. That was the Triumph.

God blessed his days of new journey into the long awaited celebration of new opportunities. Things could not have brighter until the day of May 12, when Forrest and his outstanding 13 year old son, Preston, were lost in a tragic plane crash in North Carolina. They would find them May 13. The church would gather to pray on Wednesday night the 14 when over 3200 from the church and community gathered in sorrow and people and the memorial service would be May 17. Between the prayer gathering, the Memorial service on Saturday and services on Sunday the 18th well over another 100 people made decisions for Christ. And so, through the terrible tragedy many lives were radically transformed.

So, as I was honored to attend the “official” dedication…the dedication of transformed lives was what truly committed the facility to God’s glory. And out of tragedy…and triumph …a legacy lives on.

I know Forrest would be thankful for how God is being glorified…even through his and Preston’s tragic death. How fitting that the building program emphasis was focused on giving God the greater glory. And in the midst of such a devastating loss I salute Forrest’s incredible wife Dawn, and his remianing 5 children as they move forward with life amidst the loss of an incredile husband and father! And may Bell Shoals Baptist move forward to such heights as it has never known.

We have been doing the MADE TO COUNT JOURNEY based on a book the I had the joy of writing with my great friend, Randy Singer. It calls every Christ follower to step up to the plate and answer the call of God to impact their world—right where they are—starting now! The response has been wonderful. The crowds have grown weekly with great people wanting to better understand how to be On Mission right where God has planted them.

It really is amazing to see that Paul refers to himself as CALLED of God to be an apostle when he writes to the church of Rome. And who would argue with that? No question…that was a man, called of God. But just a few verses later Paul uses the same word to refer to all Christ followers in Rome, sprinkled in and embedded throughout the culture of Rome at every level–CALLED. They too, were CALLED to a realtionship with Christ, and a mission alongside Christ…to impact their world.

As my friend Henry Blackaby says, it is not that some are called and some are not…ALL are called. The thing that varies is the nature of the assignment. While the Reformation put the Scripture in the hands of the everyday, common person…it fell short. Now we need to get the mission and ministry of the church there. Not just that which happens inside the walls, but expecially that which happens outside of them, Monday through Saturday. That’s the work of the church…and that’s where calling is ultimately fleshed out.

And the hunger for such a move has been evident for the lst 3 weeks running. And I’m having a blast hearing the stories of the people who are putting the principles into practice.

I had just had the joy of being with Forrest and the church for a men’s conference and Sunday services a couple of weeks before the tragedy. It was an amazing weekend…just one week before they would move into a beautiful new worship center that would seat approximately 3400. Forrest was so excited…so supportive of the conference…so encouraging to me and Cheryl…and so in love with life!

My world shook on its axis when I got the word that he was missing. Prayers went up from so many corners of the nation that Forrest and Preston would be found safe, even if injured…but it was not to be. Our hearts fell through the floor when on that fateful Tuesday we got word they had found the plane and the bodies.

I have been in regular contact with many folks since then…and have heard many glowing tributes regarding my dear friend. But interestingly, very few of them focused on the size of the new worship center, or the growth of the church, the size of the staff, or the numbers of the budget/attendence/baptisms during his 6 years of leadership.

Instead they focused on his touch with people First, how it was always so obvious how much he loved Dawn and his kids. In fact, in his last sermon on Mother’s Day, he focused in on the impact of his mother, the incredible job Dawn did as a mother and wife, and the joy of his kids! What a great focus for a sermon he had no idea would be his last. But family was a BIG DEAL to Forrest…not just in talk, but in action and priority.

Others talk about the bright light of encouragement he was continually. To know Forrest was to know a “smile personified.” He entered the room smile first…and then sought for a way to be an encouragement to whomever he was talking with. I know, because I was on the receiving end of that effort often. During one of my toughest times in my journey he flew to Atlanta just to be and encouragement to me and to say, “I’m with you…whatever you need!”

Still others, mentioned the continual stream of notes he sent to people telling them he was praying for them, what he appreciated and valued about them, and what he wanted to encourage them in. Several have mentioned having one or more they have kept. I am among that group, as the last note I got from Forrest lays on my study desk. Now I hope more of us who are left, take up that mantle to encourage and build up other.

As I reflect on the leadership of Forrest Pollock I am reminded why John D. Rockefeller Sr. once said, “I will pay more for a leader with the ability with people than for any other skill.” I for one, want to become increasingly effective Afat positively impacting people. How about
you? After all, that’s the really important focus on true leadership.

Serving two terms as the New York Attorney General earned him the title of “the Sheriff of Wall Street.” He had cleaned up brokerage houses and insurance industry abuses and taken on the $187.5 million dollar compensation package of former NYSE chairman Richard Grasso, calling it excessive and out of line, and had won. Ironically, he had even overseen the busting of a prostitution ring in 2004 that brought 18 people down on prostitution and related charges.

Now, he has fallen himself. Revealed as “Client 9″ in investigative reports, Spitzer had met with a high-priced call girl from the Emperors Club VIP at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC the night before Valentine’s Day. And, investigations would show this was not the first time.

How sad it was to watch his shattered wife standing next to him, in humiliation, as he told the citizens of New York, “I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.” That will be a long, hard road.

But leaders litter the landscape with broken laws, broken marriages, broken lives and broken organizations….Tyco, Worldcom, and Enron just to name a few. And it has happened, and continues to happen, in every arena of life. Why?

Well, I am not the psychological expert who could best address the underlying struggles. However, I do believe that it has a lot to do with a statement I made in a book I wrote several years ago titled BENEATH THE SURFACE. That was that we are all ONE STEP FROM STUPID at any given moment!

Given that reality, it becomes even more important that we put into practice Proverbs 4:23 where we are counseled to ABOVE ALL, GUARD OUR HEARTS. And guards don’t just “happen” to be in place. They have to be posted. So, how are you doing in posting guards at your heart? After all, everything else will come out of that!