I have several favorite shepherds — David Crosby, Mike Miller, Tony Merida, Jay Wolfe, for starters — but Don Davidson of Alexandria, Virginia’s First Baptist Church leads the pack for my money. Don writes a journal once a week or so for their website. I always drop by and read several at one time and without fail find myself thinking, “I wish I were a member of his church!”
His journal for April 21 was so fun and thought-provoking, I thought you’d get a kick out of it. (Remember now, most of what I do here is directed toward pastors and church leaders. So, for the pastors among our readers, let this be your invitation to get to know Don Davidson through his church’s website. You might also imitate a lot of what he does in his journal.)
He wrote:
“Confession is good for the soul, they say, but bad for the reputation. Here are some things you may have already suspected. Don’t hold me to any of this. In fact, delete after reading, please….
–Theologically, I am neither Calvinist nor charismatic, fundamentalist, moderate or liberal. Just a Baptist Christian with a little mix of all the above.
–Pastoring churches is the only job I have ever had (except for appliance salesman at Montgomery Ward my senior year of high school).
–I love Tyler Perry movies that feature Madea!
–No, I don’t actually read all of the books that I mention in my sermons. Who has the time? But I do read book reviews in magazines and online.
–I never learned to type in high school. This explains why my e-mail replies (if you get one at all) are so short and to the point.
–Yes, I do occasionally repeat sermons. Some of these are from Danville days (Don used to pastor Mount Hermon Bap Ch in Danville, VA) but updated and freshened. Almost all my messages now are new ones, written specifically for FBC Alexandria.
–I am the least mechanically-minded person you know. (They don’t know me! — Joe)
–My recurring nightmare: it’s the end of the school semester and I realize that I haven’t been attending class for weeks and have no idea what the final exam is asking. I had the dream again last night. (Don, my friend, you reveal an anxiety complex caused by fear of being unprepared for all those sermons you have to preach. Or maybe not. Who knows?)
–My biggest addiction: Hubbs Peanuts.
–I have a real phobia about snakes.
–I admire and respect each of my predecessors at FBC-Alexandria. I envy Vernon Davis his intellect and long tenure, Jay Wolf his incredible people skills, Gary Hollingsworth his easy relaxed personality and John Compton his administration ability. Every pastor has his own unique gifts, though, and I can only be who I am (I Cor. 3:4-7).
–I still fear that old high school or college girlfriends will one day re-surface with caches of my poetry and embarrass me clear out of town.
–My favorite musical play is
Dr. Joe, you make us THINK and that is getting to be more rare each day, it seems. Your blog is facinating and always points us to The WORD!
Thanks,
Bob
I love your blog every weeek and get so much from it. As a third year preacher your columns make me think about things I wouldn’t necessarily think of on my own. Thank you for that and so much more.
Blessings to you and yours.
PS
I love the picture of Jesus
During my interviews with various churches in the South back in the early part of the century, I was accused of being too liberal in Jacksonville, Florida and too conservative in Bowling Green, Kentucky. All in the period of 10 days! Joe, help me, what am I? 🙂
Dr. McKeever,
My wife and I are from Birmingham. I too worked for a cast iron pipe company there, Clow Corporation in Tarrant. I also had to carry the bill of lading to the railyard on that side of town. Never sold shoes or shirts although I did work at Sears for awhile.
Enjoy the writings.
Joe:
I certainly will look up Pastor Don Davidson’s website. He sounds like some one from whom I could learn a great deal. You said something that struck a cord. You were a secretary to the production manager in a plant. I knew there was something other than your Christianity that I really like. You are a trail blazer. I was the first male secretary at Ball State Teacher’s College in 1961. Now the big question, “I took shorthand, did you?”
I had the pleasure of being a member of Don Davidson’s church in Danville, Virginia for over 16 years. What a man of God! I encourage everyone to read his website. I always looked forward to receiving our church newletter on Wednesdays and reading his website. Now I am a faithful reader of his website at his new church. Through Don’s recommendation in an earlier posting, I am also a faithful reader of this website. God always places on your hearts to write something that I need to hear.