New Bumper Sticker

Back On The Air

I've relented.

Due to popular demand, (right! Actually they are looking for warm voices) I will be spinning disks and adding "clever" patter to the airwaves around Lake Charles, LA.

KELB is a low power station broadcasting Southern Gospel music as well as other Christian programming at 100.5 on your FM dial. I wrote about it here.

So if you're not doing anything really important and you think about it, tune in Friday, February 27 between the hours of 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm. If you can't get the station on your locally tune in here on the web and click on "Listen Live."

See you there or on the air.

Flat Tuesday

Mardi Gras came and went in southwest Louisiana. I noticed yesterday how the streets seemed to be deserted. School was out. Businesses were closed. I went to the gym yesterday afternoon and had the equipment almost all to myself. Years ago, I understand, our church office even closed.

Where was everyone?

From what my wife told me, they were all over the river in Lake Charles watching the parades and floats. Mardi Gras. It's a big deal here. Krewes have their grand balls, elect royalty and participate in parades. People have beads around their necks and are dressed in purple and green. Various doorways in the hospital and yard decorations also sprout these colors and more.

For many people, Mardi Gras represents the last great chance to indulge before the self denials of the Lenten season. For others, it is simply an excuse to party. The local paper carried stories about crowds of people gathered, enjoying barbecued boudain and other sorts of delicacies. Where do people find time and money to do all this? Down here, Mardi Gras is just a big tailgate party.

For me, it was flat Tuesday. Not much going on. Even the secretaries at our office said it was quiet. Everyone was out celebrating.

Except me. And a few others.

I still struggle to understand what all the celebrations are about. On most holidays, something historical happened. George Washington was born. We honor our veterans, and so on.

But with Mardi Gras, it just feels so different.

Flat Tuesday for me.

Oh, one good part of the season is the King Cake. It is absolutely delightful. I got a good slice of one yesterday, thanks to the fine folks at Vee's Donuts and Bakery. I'd say that is one good thing about Mardi Gras.

And if I don't lay off the King Cake, it will fat Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, etc., for me.

A New Conversation

I have now added a new "Conversations With Dr. Dave" episode. It is an interview I recently did with Sonny Dardar of the Christian singing group, Broken Vessels. Broken Vessels began as a group of young men from southwest Louisiana. Today, they sing and minister across the country.

Recently, they had the unique opportunity to participate in the Caylee Anthony memorial service held at First Baptist Orlando. With the national media attention the Anthony case has gained, I thought it would be interesting to get their perspective on the service. I was also interested in how a Christian band from southwest Louisiana came into the national spotlight.

Our church has hosted this group for youth events and for regular Sunday morning worship services. I"ve been with them at several summer camps at Dry Creek. They have a unique ability to minister to all ages. I highly recommend their ministry. You can find out more about them here or here.

Here's the link for the interview. Or, you can get it from the iTunes music store here.

Fun Today

Most Fridays, I try to take the day off. Lately, the has been filled with emergency hospital visits and other concerns. Having a full day off would be a blessing. Even though today I still had several tasks to complete, I was able to get over to the KELB studios in Lake Charles.

The station is operated on a shoestring by Barry McCall. The studio is literally in his backyard. The transmitter is only 250 watts. There are no commercials and no appeals for funds. DJ's and other on-air personalities get no pay. Why would they do this?

The call letters KELB, after the FCC mandated "K" stand for Eternal Life Broadcasting. Barry's station broadcasts out of a studio not much bigger than a closet, run by volunteers and with a signal that can barely reach the boundaries of the city limits. It is all in a effort to broadcast the gospel of eternal life.

I got a chance to do so today.

Bro. Carl, as he likes to call his on-air personality, invited me to appear today to promote some of my upcoming gospel concerts. I have already noted on this blog my love of broadcasting, so it didn't take much convincing.

I arrived at the studio just as singer Gerald Crabb was leaving. He was being interviewed in promotion of his upcoming concert tonight. I'll admit I was surprised to learn that the studio is in a residential neighborhood in a building that looks like a store room.

I entered to meet Carl and another DJ finishing his shift. Remember all of them donate their time.

I had a ball.

After our conversations between songs, Carl let me sit in the "air chair" and broadcast-play DJ- myself. After a glitch with the system, I got the hang of it. I just can't explain the joy of speaking into a microphone, playing music, and attempting to keep it interesting. I was a 10 year old kid again. One Christmas I got an electronics kit that had as one project an AM transmitter. Couple that with a record player, a few records, and plenty of time, I was a real disk jockey. In fact, I loved to turn that phrase "disk jockey" over and over on my tongue. The little kit never broadcast more than a few feet, but I didn't care. I was on the air.

I realized today again how much I enjoyed just being on the air. No emergencies. No problems I have to solve. No one to counsel, bury, or visit. Just a microphone and music. And me. I haven't done live radio since I left East Texas, with the exception of a disastrous attempt at being play by play football announcer. That, I can honestly say, I am not.

It was a great "day off." Well, at least an afternoon.

They asked me to consider coming out and sitting in the chair for a few hours on the air. It didn't matter when, how often, or how regularly. I reminded them that I had a day job. I do. Very much so.

But I sure do like being on the radio.

I'm thinking about it.

Burying A Friend

Today, I buried a friend.

He was much older than me- old enough to be my father. As a matter of fact, he died on his 90th birthday. He entered the world and departed it on the same date. In between is the dash- and oh, what he did with it.

He was among the first I people I met when I came to FBC, Sulphur. He was usually found in the foyer, giving out bulletins and kind words every Sunday. Not long after I came, his wife died. He became sad and lonely. As his health deteriorated, he went to live in a care facility and then a nursing home.

He was a dapper man and a gentleman.

And he could tell stories.

Since I came to Southwest Louisiana from Carthage, TX (Panola County) I was pleased to discover that he, Mr. Bates, had grown up there. He also knew and grew up with legendary country singer Jim Reeves, who died much too soon. He talked about being good friends with Jim Reeves. He and Jim were brothers- blood brothers.

He told me stories of the old time sheriff of Panola County, Corbett Akins. Akins is pictured among Panola County sheriffs on the wall of honor at the jail. He is the one with a brace of pearl handled six guns on his hip. (People seemed so much colorful back then.) Akin stopped moonshiners and even personally pulled up parking meters when he objected to their installation on the city square of Carthage.

He told me of driving an ambulance over the old bridge over Calcasieu Lake in to Lake Charles and having to wait long minutes as traffic backed up. He worked at a chemical plant, sold used cars, and served on our local housing authority board. They even named some apartments after him- "The Bates Manor." I'm glad they weren't motels. Somehow the "Bates Motel" doesn't sit too well.

He once told me of a time when he was in a car wreck and was given up for dead. They covered him up. Someone noticed that blood was still running out from his forehead and figured out he was still alive. He told me he told the doc, "Doc, keep on sewing."

He did a lot of living and loving in 90 years.

I am richer for having known him. So long, Bro. Bates, my friend. From one Panola County boy to another.

Until we meet again at Jesus's feet.

Just To Be Clear

I have read many books on leadership. Most have been helpful. Many have been redundant. Several have been fresh. Of all the leadership books under my belt, I believe Axiom to be one of, if not the best I have ever read. Bar none.

It is full of practical advice gleaned from many years of ministry and leadeship. Bill Hybels could have been a CEO in virtually any corporation in America, but he was called to lead the most challenging of all organizations- the local church. The book is written in brief chapters focusing on a phrase that is easily remembered. I want to share this book with my staff and with any leader. It's just that good. I will read and reread this one.

I have been reading a chapter a day since I got the book from a friend who gave me a gift certificate for Christmas. (Thanks, Kathy!) Today's chapter is entitled "Just To Be Clear." I share a couple of salient points that preachers need to hear:

"One of the most consistent cries I hear from church attendees all over the world is the cry for clarity from their pastors. It's the cry for a certain trumpet sound from their church leaders. It's the cry that says, `Look, there are a dozen things we could be doing on Sunday mornings, but we choose to be part of God's church. We get the kids up. We make the drive. We sit here, all suited up, ready to run this way or that. Tell us to charge, tell us to retreat... just tell us! And please make it clear!'"

"Great leaders know they must be crystal clear with their trumpet sounds."

"At this stage in my life and leadership I now know I have to go back yet again and add the `just to be clear` step."

Get the book and read it. And sound the trumpet clearly.

Just to be clear.

He, Being Dead, Still Speaks

I get a weekly email of illustrations and facts from The Timothy Report. I rarely share things like this, but since (1) It is true; (2) It is timely; and (3) Adrian Rogers said it; it bears repeating:

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

--Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005

Back Taxes And Marijuana

“Make no mistake. Tax cheaters cheat us all, and the [Internal Revenue Service] should enforce our laws to the letter.”- Tom Daschle, former senate majority and minority leader.

Make no mistake. This is the same Tom Daschle who withdrew his nomination as health secretary after revelations of unpaid back taxes to the tune of $140,000.

Make no mistake. Once he learned he was being nominated as secretary of health in the new Obama administration, he promptly paid up his taxes. All is fine now, right? "I got caught, but hey, I paid it back." "Now gimme the nomination."

That is precisely the point being missed. Dacschle pays his taxes after he gets caught. And he hopes he now gets a pass.

Sounds like the recent revelations of Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps, who was outed in a British tabloid newspaper. Phelps was pictured smoking marijuana from a pipe.

But he made it better. He apologized. "It won't happen again," he says. Oh, did I mention that in 2004, he got caught in a drunken driving incident and apologized for that, too?

Here's the lesson: Get caught doing something you shouldn't be doing. Second, apologize and make restitution after being caught. Then everything is all better.

Real repentance doesn't wait until the pictures appear in the newspaper or until some nosy reporter breaks an embarrassing story. And it certainly doesn't expect that once a person apologizes and promises never to do it again that all is well.

Eating the forbidden fruit got Adam and Eve thrown out of the Garden of Eden. Behavior has consequences. Sometimes they are bad ones, regardless of a desire to pretend like nothing ever happened. Sometimes because of my own mistakes, errors, and sins, things changed. Consequences came. No amount of sorry or restitution after the fact erased those consequences.

At least Daschle and Phelps go further than Governor Rod Blagojevich, who after being unanimously impeached by the Illinois Senate, still refused to admit that he did anything wrong.

Other lessons? Pay your taxes, don't smoke marijuana, and don't offer to sell a senate seat.

Then you won't have something to be sorry about.

Feel at the end of your rope?

A story is told of a man who fell off a cliff while being chased by a lion. Fortunately, he was able to grab a rope to keep from plunging to a certain death on the rocks below. Unfortunately, the lion at the top kept him from being able to climb up to safety.

What could the poor man do? He was trapped between a deadly lion at the top and jagged rocks at the bottom. Then the unthinkable happened. A mouse began to chew on the rope. He changed from being helpless to hopeless.

Just then he saw a big, red, delicious‑looking strawberry growing out of the side of the hill. He grabbed the strawberry and ate it. "Thank you, Lord, he said, "for the best strawberry I've ever had in my life."

What do we learn from this story?

Don't focus on past problems and future difficulties. Live in the present. Look for your strawberry and thank God for it.