Northside Baptist Church is launching a new website, and one of the features is this new blog--Brandishings--by me, the pastor, Chad Brand. (Pretty clever, huh?) As you may know if you are looking at this blog in the first place, in addition to being the pastor of Northside, I also am Professor of Theology at Southern Baptist Seminary. I am hoping that this blog will feature opportunities for us to think about the church in culture, and what that means in every respect. I am proud of my denomination for recently launching Great Commission Resurgence. I am hopeful that we as Southern Baptists, as evangelicals, can work together to see a new resurgence of evangelistic efforts. My community (Hardin County), like all of yours, needs the Lord. I am proud to be able to work alongside people like Eddie Turner, John "Tree" Akers, both of whom are pastors at Northside, and many others in our church to win E-Town to the Lord. (And, of course, we will be doing it alongside the other evangelical, Bible-believing churches in our county.) That is our calling--to glorify God with our lives, and one of the things that brings Him greatest glory is when people are saved.

I hope you will check in here from time to time, see what is going on with us, and feel free to add your own comments. I thank God every day for the abundant blessings He has heaped on me, with church, the seminary, and above everything, a great family to be part of. I hope the Lord blesses you and yours in abundance.

Chad