Archive for the ‘Church Stuff…’ Category
Come and See…
February 1st, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in » Church Stuff..., Devotions / Bible Studies
Today is the first day of the 90 Day New Testament Challenge for the men’s ministry at my church, Missouri Valley Baptist. We start our reading of the entire New Testament together with John 1 and John 2. As we’re reading Scripture together, my prayer is simply this:
Lord, show us something we’ve never seen in your word today.
For me, it’s summed up by three words, “come and see”.
We see the phrase twice in the first chapter of John. In the first instance, John and two of his disciples see Jesus passing by. John points out to them that it’s Jesus, the Lamb of God… the Christ, our Savior. Immediately the disciples jump up and start following Him… literally. Jesus stops, turns around to them, and asks, “What do you want?” Their response was anything but profound… “Where are you staying?” Jesus’s reply? “Come and see.”
With Philip and Nathanael we see a similar exchange. Philip has just come to Nathanael, and told him that they’ve found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael replies, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Philip’s reply? “Come and see.”
Come and see.
Simple, isn’t it? Come and see who this Jesus really is. Come and see just what it is that He teaches. Come and see the amazing things He can do. Come and see the difference He can make in a life. Come and see. Just come and see.
So what do you think? Are you ready to come and see this guy named Jesus? Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve looked at Him, checked Him out, thought about who He is. Maybe you’ve never given Him a thought. Whatever the case, won’t you come and see?
I am. Won’t you join me?
Church Signs… Ugh.
July 25th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Posted in » Christian Living, Church Stuff...
I can’t handle it anymore. Bad church signs, that is.
I see them everywhere… witty little sayings we Christians will get and might possibly even get a little laugh about. Yet things that surely do anything but help to draw someone searching for God on church property, let alone into the building.
You’ve seen them:
“Don’t worry… Moses was a basket case too.”
“Seven days without prayer makes one weak.”
“This church is prayer conditioned.”
“Hell has no thermostat.”
Sure… intended to make a point, maybe even be humorous… but put yourself in the same soles of someone searching for God, someone who doesn’t have any of the common Biblical knowledge background that most Christians share.
Not so helpful, huh?
Well… saw yet another one tonight, maybe one of the worst ever:
“If you’re still alive, God isn’t through with you yet.”
Imagine being someone who has lived a rough live… someone who has rarely had something go their way… someone who has experienced nothing but suffering and hurt their entire life. Now imagine you’re finally starting to search for God, and show up at this church. You read the sign.
Wow. Yep, I’m still alive. And God isn’t through with me yet. All this nonsense I’ve dealt with… maybe God allowed it. And he’s not through with me? All he’s done is allow hurt and pain… forget him. No way.
Yeah. That’s one way someone could read it.
Now of course I know what this church is trying to say… God doesn’t give up on any of us. He’s loved us since the beginning of time, before our very existence, and continues to love us forever. His saving grace is available to all, no matter how big the sin, and it’s never too late to turn our lives over to Him.
But that’s not how someone COULD read this.
Churches? Enough is enough. Think about what you’re going to put on your sign. Think about it might be received by those you’re supposed to exist for… people outside a relationship with Christ. Now think about whether what you want to put on your sign helps you reach those folks.
If it doesn’t? DON’T PUT THE MESSAGE UP!
(End of rant. Sorry, had to let it out!)
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 / Family, 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 / Family, 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 / Family
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 / Family, 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.