Dell Deaton

Theme by Anders Norén

Category: Walk with Jesus

Canines for Christ Therapy Dog Ministry

It’s official: Today I received confirmation of my affiliation with Canines for Christ.

This follows on the “Pet Therapy Team” certification that I earned on October 9 as a canine handler for “Jasper” through Alliance of Therapy Dogs.

My wife was kind enough to shepherd me along in this process — patient with this, my first time, as she paralleled with Jasper as well for her own x-numbered qualification.

Thus begins the next chapter in our lives, serving our Lord in yet another way. Praise Jesus!

Michigan Baptist State Convention ethnic-linguistic event

Last November, I wrote about constraints that needed to be considered in covering matters of faith mainstream.

The requisite awareness, allocation of resources, and individuals brought to bear in this case, however, I think, demanded that that be put aside. With a specific sense of “The Great Commission” made manifest here in our own neighborhoods, the Michigan Baptist State Convention “North American Mission Board” (“NAMB”) identified the need “to support the language pastors and their churches as they face the challenge of creating churches with one generation that identifies with their origins while the newer generations, who were born and grew up in America, would identify themselves as North Americans.”

In the first of a three-part Saline Journal series titled, “Baptist State Convention of Michigan hosted ethnic-linguistic event to support new church startups,” I focused on the “Call to act.”

Part II then “listened” to personal stories through “Testimonials.”

Part III finished-up by closing the circle through applied “Work Sessions.”

On the surface, this was obviously a decidedly 180-degree turn on gut-ideas of missions work and church-planting. Establishing, sustaining, and growing new, different sorts of congregations right here in the United States does not happen on auto-pilot, nor should it be left to do so.

Serendipitously, however, gatherings such as this provide opportunities to see what goes on from an on-the-ground perspective when congregations give money to, send individuals to serve in, and passionately pray for new mechanisms for spreading the Gospel near and far beyond American borders.

That was the more expansive story that demanded to be told in May of 2022 installments of Saline Journal.

“Who’s Your One?”

Confession: I’m only to the halfway point in my own Who’s Your One? undertaking — started January 25, not always (obviously) exercised one for each consecutive day.

I’m also late to the party. Moreover, I delayed my own start for a number of months after my home church presented it for a second time to our congregation.

And, while I’m at it, far from following recommended guidelines ….

If all of this has effectively torpedoed perfection as prerequisite, then I have hit my mark. Who’s Your One? is a tool and encouragement for Christians as they are, where they are, to help them help those who they’ve identified as personally important, as individuals they’d like to have with them in Heaven.

When I covered this for Saline Journal a few days ago, I opened with an experience I’d had while attending not my own local place of worship, but the regionally familiar mega-church, NorthRidge. Two decades prior, while attending a “Discover the Church” session, Senior Pastor Brad Powell said, in effect, Don’t ask me to get together with your unsaved friend and bring them to Christ.

He likened it to asking him to ask someone to high school prom on your behalf, spend the evening with her there, then ask her — because that’s where you’re interested in taking things, ultimately — to marry you.

It’s that kind of too personal.

A call to the eternal salvation of some that dear to you is surely no less so.

That’s the subtext behind the piece I titled, “Baptist Church has fostered over 50,000 connections to God’s Word through personal prayers for each parishioner’s ‘One.’”

Never one to finish an initial phase before contemplating a next, I put the question to our table during a recent Men’s Breakfast gathering of Brothers from the church I attend. “What if I have another ‘One’ come up? Are there more Scripture sequences I can call up, to keep avoid moving by rote for Round 2, and Round 3, et cetera?”

“That’s not the way it works,” one guy told me. “You don’t get it. You’re just supposed to do it once. Part of the process is to pick one person.”

We’ll see.

“Be The Church”

Earlier this month I covered the Baptist State Convention of Michigan Annual Meeting for Saline Journal.

From the perspective of a locally-based, mainstream-readershipped, online periodical, two constructs obtain. First, regardless of length, variety, or what I know is imperative content, this is of a sort that must be reported upon in a single article, of typical length.

Second, that is best and most respectfully served by hooking as much as possible of it to a single, clear center.

In this case, that was its “Be The Church” initiative.

With that, I titled my feature, “Baptist State Convention of Michigan Annual Meeting redoubled call, path, and investment in thriving Christian church growth.” And here’s how I summarize its arc.

  1. SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19”) “is still with us …;”
  2. “The great news is that none of this has taken God by surprise, and He is still on the thrown of heaven and fully in control;” and,
  3. Too many churches measure their success on congregational size, growing those numbers based on catering to the whims of societal winds.”

“Be The Church,” I wrote, “was developed to help reduce the silos in which too many present day churches operate, to encourage active collaboration.

Structurally, this provides formal, scheduled connections among peer pastoral leaders. It also seeks to optimally leverage lay talents to better advantage in service to church functioning both within the doors and in fulfillment of mission work outside of them.

“Two goals appear to have been given equal priority: Improve on both need for stability and to grow.”

Pastor Radcliff on following Jesus “as a call to action”

This is the second time that Senior Pastor Frank Radcliff of Oakwood Church graciously accepted my invitation to share his thoughts with readers of Saline Journal.

Yesterday he addressed “the essentials of following Jesus Christ, and what ‘Christianity’ means as a call to action.”

More than simply providing an opportunity to extend his voice, I should make it clear that I wholeheartedly agree with what Pastor Frank has written here. Further to that point, I make no claim and have not dilusion of perfection in walking this talk. But that does not keep me, nor should it keep others, from aspiring to do so.

And, yes— I still often miss being in the second or third row of pews right-of-center when he preached.

Pastor Frank Radcliff on costs of me-based morality

One of the added benefits of serving as editor of Saline Journal is the opportunity it gives me to help extend other important voices in this community.

Earlier this week, Senior Pastor Frank Radcliff of Oakwood Church responded to my invitation to contribute an original article to address “the costs of me-based morality, loss of larger meaning in life, and faith.”

On a personal note: My family worshipped at his Baptist church for many years when it contracted for space in the old Liberty High School building — within walking distance of my home. I continue to remain in contact with him, and consider him a dear friend.

And if at this point in life Jesus were to call me home, I can’t think of a more appropriate or valued individual to officiate whatever (hopefully minimal) “departure gathering” that my remaining family members felt necessary.

Another Catholic conference on divorce

For a second year now, I was invited to present before attendees at the North American Conference of Separated and Divorced Catholics on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.

Once again, The Saline Reporter provided a preview. This article ran last month under the headline, “Divorce mediator to appear at conference,” on Page 3-C. Here’s a more extensive pull from that coverage.

Last year, Deaton offered a presentation titled, ‘How Can You Trust After Divorce‘ ….

This year …, Deaton will tackle the other side of the divorce equation: providing closure.

‘One of the first things I try to help folks get their arms around is the concept of ‘timing,’ said Deaton. ‘Sometimes we have trouble ‘letting go’ because we’re trying to let go too early.

‘Outside of that period, however, there are all sorts of natural forces that will come into play, naturally leading you to let go. That’s what I mean when I talk about ‘God and gravity.’ That’s a nice way of saying that we can be our own worst enemies when it comes to not letting go — which translated, can mean “holding on.”

‘With a death grip.

‘We play a role. We have a lot of control. My job is to show you what that is, and how to use it ….’