Mayberry Anyone???

At the writing of this post, I find myself in the middle of nowhere, which roughly translates into a place called Seward, Nebraska, which has an odd, cow-like smell in the air that gives a lot of credence to its name. We are at what I assume has to be the only hotel around, the local Seward Super 8, and let me tell you, should this hotel burn down, yours truly is gonna be mighty cold tonight, because there's absolutely no place else to go! (There's a Wal-Mart off in the distance, but I've heard of people who've gotten kicked out for trying to temporarily live there, so that won't be attempted should anything go wrong). The town claims to have a population of six thousand, but I'm having trouble finding the other 5, 880...(maybe they've gone off to get an early start for the Fourth of July Parade, which apparently is a pretty big deal in this town, judging by the local signs).

The only (and I do mean ONLY) reason we are here is for a speech and debate tournament this weekend at Concordia University, which is supposed to be a few miles up the road. Judging from the looks of things, that may be misleading information. There is absolutely nothing around here except cornfields and country roads. There's a restaurant in the vicinity called Vallentino's which claims to serve Italian food, but out here in the Midwest, and especially here in the Midwest, I'm not taking any chances! I'm sort of afraid to wander too far off for fear of getting lost...there's a very good chance you may never be heard from again (I'm not entirely joking).

Well, I guess I'd better sign off for now...Once again I have procrastinated as far as memorizing my speeches (a habit that has oddly gotten stronger as the years go by), and I must now attempt to get them ready for the tournament. I don't know what it is...I always do better when I don't have the speech memorized until the final round...oh well, no sense tempting fate!

By the way, I would just like to go on the record by saying that I love global warming right now...it is absolutely freezing out here!!!

Barry E. Fields

All Things New is the preaching and teaching ministry of Barry E. Fields, pastor of Hawesville Baptist Church, a regional congregation on the Ohio River with two campuses in Kentucky (Hawesville) & Indiana (Crossroads Tell City) and membership in five counties.

Originally from Bowling Green, he grew up at Glendale Baptist Church under the ministry of Pastor Richard Oldham, competed for Western Kentucky University's nationally recognized speech and debate team before receiving a B.A. in History in 2007, completed an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville in 2010, a Th.M. in 2012, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Homiletics and Church History at Southern, serving as Garrett Fellow to Dr. Hershael York from July 2012-December 2014. He has also taught theology and church history as an adjunct instructor for Campbellsville University. Before coming to his present ministry, he was pastor of Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Buffalo, Kentucky, for almost 5 years.

Active in denominational life, Barry currently serves on the Southern Baptist Convention's Young Leaders Advisory Council, a small group of pastors and ministry leaders seeking to engage the next generation in cooperative missions and ministry; recently completed a term on the SBC's Committee on Committees; currently represents the Blackford Breckinridge Baptist Association on the Kentucky Baptist Convention's Executive Mission Board; and has served on the KBC's Committee on Nominations, as well as several associational roles.

In his free time, he enjoys reading history and politics, listening to WKYU's Barren River Breakdown (Bluegrass and folk music) along with a variety of podcasts, as well as watching historical and political documentaries and the Andy Griffith show. Barry has a desire to help people fulfill the Great Commission through the Great Commandments: by showing the love of Christ, we can better share the love of Christ, and make disciples of all nations. And just so you know, he bleeds BLUE (UK Basketball)!