North Shore Baptist Church/Chicago Sabbatical Visit Photos

I've posted to Flickr photos and videos of my sabbatical visit to North Shore Baptist Church and Chicago. They are unedited --- all 428 images --- the good, the bad, and the unfocused. They can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcaruana/sets/72157637174801024/

The Future is as Bright as the Promises of God

For the last several days, I've been working on some tasks in preparation for my time in Thailand and Burma. Today I completed an outline of a lecture I have been asked to prepare on "The Significance of the Judsons from an American Perspective." The story of the beginnings of the American Baptist mission in Burma is quite inspiring. For congregations like Tabernacle, this story has particular relevance. In the providence of God, seeds planted two centuries ago in the soil of Burma are today bearing abundant fruit in communities across the United States. It is also humbling to compare the way in which those first witnesses to Christ in Burma suffered for Gospel while I am so quick to complain at minor inconveniences.

If you do not know the story of Judsons (Adoniram Judson, Ann, Sarah, and Emily), a wonderful introduction is Rosalie Hall Hunt's book, "Bless God and Take Courage: The Judson History and Legacy" (Judson Press, 2005). I've also re-read the story of the first missionaries from Tabernacle Baptist Church: Cephas and Stella Bennett. The Bennetts set sail for Burma in 1829 (when Tabernacle was a ten year old congregation). A copy of an older biography of the Bennetts (which can be downloaded as a .pdf file) is available online at: https://archive.org/stream/MN41608ucmf_4#page/n0/mode/2up