Archive for the ‘Church Stuff...’ Category
Thoughts on Family Focused Faith, Part 2
July 9th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, Church Stuff...
This is the second in a series of posts on family focused faith, where I’m taking quotes from Voddie Baucham Jr.’s book and sharing some thoughts and questions to foster needed discussion on the topic. In the process, I hope to further refine my own thoughts as I work toward developing a discipleship program centered around family.
We continue to lay groundwork today, drawing more from the first chapter of Voddie’s book, considering the idea that we live in an “anti-child culture”:
Several months ago I was teaching this [that finding the place of ministry God has crafted us for should be the passionate pursuit of our lives] at a retreat for a church tucked away securely in the Bible Belt. During the retreat I suggested that for some of those college students the application of this biblical principle might mean earning a linguistics degree and translating the Bible into the languages of unreached people groups. As I looked across the room at the approving wide eyes and nodding heads, I added, “Others of you, however, may be called to have large families and train five or six kids in righteousness so that they will in turn impact the world for Christ.” You could have cut the tension with a proverbial knife. This room of approving, eager young men and women turned into a convention of Martians hearing English spoken for the first time. The looked at me as if to say, “That was a good one. When are you going to say, ‘Just kidding’?”
I took that opportunity to make an important observation. I pointed out the obvious discomfort in the room and asked, “When did we begin to hate children?” Suddenly the attitude in the room changed. These young people were being forced to examine a cultural assumption that has been allowed to trump biblical truth for far too long in our culture.
I would imagine this quote from Voddie’s book will arouse some strong thoughts and opinions, but throughout the first chapter, he presents some difficult questions and evidences that lend support to the idea that we live in an anti-child culture… and that such culture has even began to permeate the church. Examples… how often have you heard the joke made to the prospective parent of a third or fourth child, “you have learned what causes that, haven’t you?” How often do you see children characterized as inconveniences that get in the way of life? How many of us choose the size of our families based on income or convenience?
So what do you think? Do we live in an anti-child culture? Is such a culture also prevalent in the church? What does this mean for the church? How do we begin to encourage families to reflect God’s design rather than cultural norms?
I know these are difficult questions, but I think they important ones that we need to consider.
Your thoughts?
New Church Website…
June 12th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff...
It’s been a while in the making, and ultimately out of necessity as much as a desire to revamp it, but my church, Missouri Valley Baptist, has a new website.
For those of you who are interested in details (some of you may be considering your own church site), we’ve used Wordpress for a content management system. We’ve switched webhosts as well, as the old one had recently made some changes in “upgrading” our package that rendered our website completely inoperable. We’re now with Bluehost, and couldn’t be happier! Much faster… more reliable… and unlimited space!
Some of the cooler features? First of all, we’ve integrated Google Calendar to make it easier to keep an updated listing of upcoming events online. We’ve also used Google Maps to create an interactive way for people to get directions to our church. For statistics, we’re using both Google Analytics and Statcounter. RSS content is all running through Feedburner.
Anyway, check it out when you get a chance, and let us know what you think.
My Musical Debut…
June 11th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Church Stuff..., My Life, Upcoming Events
This Sunday, I’ll be playing guitar publicly for the first time, helping to lead worship with my friend Paul Damery at our church (Missouri Valley Baptist). We haven’t decided whether I’ll be playing electric or acoustic yet… I suppose that just depends on what sounds better. Whatever the case… I expect that it will be both fun and terrifying, somehow all rolled into one. We’ll see which emotion I’m left with when all is said and done… 
I would ask one thing of those of you who’ll be in attendance… don’t get your hopes up too high for me, and be gentle when I inevitably mess up. Remember, I’m an amateur at this… I’ve only been playing for a year and a half now.
For those of you who have done this before… any advice?
Update on Pesina Family…
April 17th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff..., God at Work, In the News...
Quick update… we held our first informational meeting tonight in regard to our vision of helping the Pesina family. Details can be found here.
HelpThePesinas.com
April 12th, 2008 | 2 Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff..., God at Work, In the News..., My Life, Prayer Requests
After quite a bit of thought and prayer (and a lot of encouragement from Jodi Brager’s contagious enthusiasm!), we’re launching an effort to help the Pesina family. Please check it out at HelpThePesinas.com.
We’ve heard a lot of encouraging things today, as Jodi has made a LOT of phone calls. We’ve heard that the landlord of the home the Pesinas lived in likes the family so much that they’re considering selling the lot to the Pesina family at a very reasonable price (if not flat-out donating it) to help the family get into a home of their own. We’ve heard that local media is willing to help promote our efforts to get them into a new home. We’ve heard from pastors in the area who are willing to share this need with their congregations and help out where possible. We’ve even had people come up out of the blue to give money to help!
It’s just amazing to watch God work.
We wait with anticipation to see what He’ll do each moment. Tomorrow will be an exciting day, as this need will be presented in churches across our area. To be honest, I’m not sure how we’ll handle it if we’re overwhelmed at the outpouring of support… but that’s the kind of problem we’d LOVE to have.
Anyway, news about the effort will shift to the new site from here forward.
Fellow bloggers? I hate to beg for help, but please promote this effort on your site if you’d be so kind!
Help for the Pesinas…
April 11th, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Church Stuff..., God at Work, In the News..., Prayer Requests
As I mentioned yesterday, a tornado touched down in St. Joseph last night, destroying the home of a family whose children have been attending our church. Today, my friend Jodi Brager and a number of others (including my wife Nancy) have been rallying to help them out.
It’s time to dream big, Christians. Be in prayer about this, but here’s something Jodi and I talked about tonight…
Ever seen Extreme Home Makeover? Or the work Habitat for Humanity does?
Why can’t we do this as the church? We have a need… a home for the Pesina family… we have a large number of people wanting to help… why can’t we rally to meet this family’s need and provide not just a place to live, but a home of their own? If ever there were a family in need, this is it… a husband, wife, and nine beautiful children.
Pray about it with me, Jodi, and others here in St. Joseph, and let’s see where God leads. Check back here or at Jodi’s blog for more as plans develop.
For now, here’s a few things of interest:
Donations are currently being taken to support the family. Southside Youth Outreach is coordinating this:
Southside Youth Outreach
P.O. Box 4382
St. Joseph, MO 64504
(816) 383-4315
News coverage:
- KQ2: “Family Escapes Toppled House”
- KQ2: “A Family Recovers Whatever’s Possible”
- St. Joe News Press: Strong Storms Pummel St. Joseph’s South Side
- St. Joe News Press: “Picking up the Pieces”
- (more to come later… KQ2 did a story on their 10:00 news that is not yet available online)
Gone Fishin’…
April 4th, 2008 | No Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff..., My Life
In just a couple hours, I’ll be headed south to Lake Taneycomo in search of these…
From what I’ve heard, the fishing is phenomenal right now!
Of course, the fishing is just one part of my church’s men’s retreat… we’ll be doing a bit of Bible study too, and will have a great time of worship Sunday morning by the lake. Should be a ton of fun!
Anyway, what this means for all of you that follow Toward the Goal is that you won’t be hearing from me for a few days. I trust that those of you participating with Bible in a Year will stick with it while I’m away, and that the rest of you… well… you know I’ll be back.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Reason to Rejoice
January 27th, 2008 | 4 Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff..., My Life, Prayer Requests
I don’t know about you, but often times Sunday church services are rather routine. Not so today.
Shane Sanderson (from Southside Youth Outreach) preached a powerful gospel message today at Missouri Valley, and several people came to saving faith in Christ! I was privileged to have the opportunity to lead two boys (Tanner and Tucker) in this decision.
Talk about reason to rejoice!
It was an exciting day at the Valley for sure.
I would like to ask each of you to pray for Tanner and Tucker, specifically that today’s decision will be followed up in the coming weeks and months by growth in their faith, baptism as an outward public symbol of that faith, and a life marked by real commitment to following Jesus.
God-Given Plans and Ideas… for Sale?
January 23rd, 2008 | 7 Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff..., Worth Reading
I don’t know about you, but I’ve purchased and read quite a bit of Christian literature and resources over the years… Bible studies, devotionals, books designed to encourage and challenge me in my faith, church growth literature, small group literature… pretty much the whole gamut of stuff that’s available.
I’ve often wondered, if God is granting these authors all of these wonderful thoughts to share with the world, why in the world are they selling them for profit? Shouldn’t they be made freely available so that all can benefit from the wisdom, knowledge, or direction God is providing?
I’ve wrestled with that question many times, wondering what I would do should God lead me to write some sort of book, study guide, or devotional. Would I make it freely available online, or would I publish it for purchase (if I knew how to go about doing so)?
If you’ve ever pondered that question, I’d encourage you to check out Les Puryear’s post over at sbc IMPACT!. He raises that question and others, and I would anticipate there being some excellent dialogue on the matter.
Why I’m Done with Outpost…
August 19th, 2007 | 6 Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues, Church Stuff..., My Life, Prayer Requests
Many of you have been anxiously awaiting this post, wondering why I decided to leave SBC Outpost. Given the controversy centered around the site in the past few weeks, that’s understandable. I’ll tell you now, though… if you’re looking for continued controversy here, you’ll probably find yourself disappointed by what I’ve got to say. It’s not in my nature.
In other words, this won’t be an expose on Outpost’s inner workings, the contributors, SBC politics, or the like. I simply want to state a couple things for the record about my motivation for hanging up my Outpost badge in order to prevent rampant speculation.
I must admit that at the time of my departure, I was disappointed and disheartened by SBC Outpost. I felt, in large part, that the site had missed the mark to which we stated we would aspire… “to provide interactive, substantive, and reflective dialogue for Southern Baptist churchmen and women to participate in shaping the future of the Southern Baptist Convention.” While there had been some tremendous dialogue on the site over the course of its existence, it appeared to me that for the most part, Outpost had become far less a tool for dialogue to build bridges of understanding, but moreso a wedge, widening the divide between Baptists. Heated passions, while good, appeared to result more often in cutting words than in iron sharpening iron.
All of this frustrated me immensely… division and discord are not something with which I deal well. It’s more my nature to try to bring peace in such situations, and I was simply discovering that I had neither time, energy, nor influence to do so… resulting in more frustration. Simply put, the site had been taking its toll.
The final straw, though, had nothing to do with the above. It’s the “teaser” I mentioned Friday afternoon here… Micah Fries, my pastor and close personal friend, is being lead by God to serve at another local church, Frederick Boulevard Baptist.
Don’t get me wrong… I’m happy for Micah. God has spoken clearly and directly about this to him, to the search committee at Frederick Boulevard, and yes, even to me. I’m completely at peace about the situation, even though it is a bit awkward, and though it presents a uncertain future for Missouri Valley Baptist.
I really don’t get it, because it’s really not my normal response to such situations. I’m one that likes to be able to take action… who needs to see the big picture so I can do my part. In this, though, all I can do is trust God and follow Him in whatever He asks me to do… and He’s given me peace about it. I’m quite excited, actually… we’ll be forced to walk by faith even moreso than normal, and I know from past experience that God shows up most powerfully in such times. Of course things will be difficult, but God is faithful and will see us through.
The reason this affects my participation at Outpost should be clear to you… I need to be free to focus on whatever it is that God wants me to do at my church.
It’s a blessing in many ways. With Outpost frustrating me, God made my response clear… to focus my energies elsewhere. God wants me to step away for a while, regain my strength, and see what’s He’s got for me next.
I don’t know for certain what this means about my future blogging endeavors. Toward the Goal will remain, of course, but other activities? I don’t know. I still believe firmly in the originally stated mission of Outpost. With talk going around about some sort of new collaborative blogging effort intended to fulfill that mission, I can potentially see God leading me to help in the effort in some manner. But I also know that God will have much for me to do at Missouri Valley in the coming weeks, regardless of the outcome of Micah’s call to Frederick Boulevard.
Time will simply have to tell, as God reveals His plans.
I will simply close with a request… pray, and pray hard. First on my mind is Micah (and his family). He’s like a brother to me, and he needs all of our prayers this week as he prepares to go to Frederick Boulevard in view of God’s calling… this has been anything but easy for him! Secondly, Missouri Valley. Micah announced the call this morning, and there are many in our church who are still processing this… some no doubt hurting. Lastly… Outpost. There is tremendous potential for God to use the site for good in our convention. Pray that God will work through it as He sees fit.
Thanks, and God bless!
(I said I’d close, but in re-reading this, I noticed that I left out one thing… please don’t get from this that I’m upset with anyone in particular in the SBC blog world, either at Outpost or elsewhere. I consider each of the contributors at Outpost a friend, and appreciate all of them, even if I don’t always agree with them completely. The same can be said of those who write in opposition to some of the postings at Outpost. Though I don’t know many of you quite as well, I know you are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I appreciate what each of you are doing out of your love for our Savior. One day, we’ll all be gathered around God’s throne, and I would hope that we’ll all have a good laugh looking back on our silly disagreements here!)
