Where are the men?

1 09 2010

The middle school in the town that our church is in recently started a Christian club called “Impact”.  The club meets every Tuesday during the 2nd half of lunch.  I am excited about this idea and glad to see some Jr. High kids taking the initiative on beginning this club!

After going to the meeting however, I am somewhat concerned…

There were 27 students at the meeting! I personally felt that was a great number. The problem? 20 of those students were girls and only 7 were boys.  That’s roughly a 3:1 ratio.  I know that it was only one meeting and that to cite those numbers as statistical fact would be unwise, but still it got me thinking… Why such a low number of boys?

I believe it’s because we are losing our MEN in the church! The same day I went to “Impact” I also went to another “meeting”.  This meeting was for the DeWitt Touchdown Club and it was held at the High School practice field.  There were about 20 or so men from our community that showed up to encourage the Jr. and Sr. high football teams.

I personally do like football and am a member of the touchdown club.  I think athletics can teach young men a lot.  HOWEVER, why is it so easy to get men to encourage boys to play a game, but not encourage them to serve the living God?  It’s because slowly, but surely we’ve allowed distored teachings of biblical manhood to enter our churches.

 Where are the men who God has called to love their wives and disciple their children?

It is hard for some of us in ministry to teach biblical manhood because we’ve never been taught it ourselves! Are you practicing and teaching biblical manhood? Search the Scriptures! They are not silent!

I conclude with another link from the Connecting Church and Home conference (8/20-8/21/2010)… This is general session 2, Dr. Randy Stinson speaking about Biblical Manhood (definitely worth your time!): CLICK HERE


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No time to disciple our kids?

26 08 2010

I’ve been reading a lot about family-equipping ministry lately and I would like to quote a paragraph written by David Prince in a book coming out soon entitled: Trained in the Fear of God edited by Randy Stinson and Timothy Paul Jones.

In this chapter Prince says this about families that don’t have time for “family worship and daily conversations about God”…

“What if you think you are too busy for such things? Then perhaps you should ask yourself: do you eat? do you provide meals for your family? If so, you have just admitted that physical food is more important to you than spiritual food.  Do you watch television? If so, then you have declared entertainment a higher priority than worship.  Do you partake in extracurricular activities? If so, you are saying that recreation is more important than your  children’s spiritual well-being.  Do you sleep? If so, you are telling your children that comfort has a higher priority than godliness.  These are dangerous messages to communicate to children.”

I really don’t have anything worthy to add to that.  Wow.  May we as parents reexamine our priorities and really think about the message we are sending our kids by what we say and do…


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5 iPhone Apps (FREE!)

25 08 2010

I’ve seen several blogs lately about different apps people are using for their iPhone.  I thought I’d weigh in on the topic and list 5 apps that I use on a regular basis.

The best thing about the apps below is that they are all free! These are in no particular order…

1. Ligonier Ministries App: I love this app! I was thinking today about how much I’ve learned just by listening to some of the solid teaching offered through this app.  Click the link above to read more and to get the app.

2. Acts 29 App:  This app is similar to the Ligonier app and is another great resource for listening to sermons and reading blogs about the Acts 29 church planting network. Click the link above to read more and to get the app.

3. ESV Bible: I actually don’t use this one all the time since I usually am around a hard copy of the Scripture, BUT this app comes in real handy when you are out without your Bible. Click the link above to read more and to get the app.

4. SBTS App: This is the app of my current school, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  With this app you can watch chapel services, get announcements, and read the blogs of some of the professors at the Seminary. Click the link above to read more and to get the app.

5. Mars Hill (Mark Driscoll) App:  Another great app for listening to sermons.  This app, like the Ligonier and SBTS app, stays very current with its messages. Click the link above to read more and to get the app.

BONUS APP! iReformed: I had to add this app as a bonus because it costs $0.99.  This app gives you access to the shorter and longer Westminster catechisms and the Heidelberg catechism.  It also gives you access to the Apostles’ Creed, the Westminster confession, as well as other creeds and confessions. Click the link above to read more and to get the app.

Hope one of those will come in handy and help grow you in Christ as they have helped me! God bless…


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Student Ministry Handbook

24 08 2010

Here’s something I’ve been working on this summer for our Student Ministry here at FBC.  It’s basically just a few pages of the “nuts and bolts” of our student ministry.  It is a resource for parents and volunteers to help them better know what we stand for and why, and how we do ministry.

Feel free to check it out by clicking the link below.  If you have any comments or suggestions let me know, and if you want to adapt it for your ministry, feel free to do so! God bless!

FBC Student Ministry Handbook


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Connecting Church and Home

23 08 2010

I plan on writing a more descriptive summary within the next week or so, but for now I just wanted to jot a few thoughts I had about the Connecting Church and Home conference held at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on August, 20-21 2010.

“There’s something of a tragedy in having to have a conference about connecting church and home…”  – Al Mohler

To me, this quote really helped to sum up the conference.  American evangelicalism has lost something in its current paradigms of youth and children’s ministry.  In the process of trying to gain more kids for the cause of Christ we have actually out thought ourselves!  We are in a desperate situation as it seems we are losing younger generations.

As a side note, I want to say, that even if we weren’t losing younger generations, we still must evaluate our current ministry models to make sure that they align with Scripture.

To have a conference about the need for connecting church and home is telling about where we are as churches.  We’ve spent so much time in children’s and youth ministries focusing on “what can attract students” that we have forgotten about “what can build lasting faith.”  And I know there are some solid children and youth ministers out there that are thinking “wait, I am trying to build lasting faith” or “I am discipling my students” etc.  Sorry, that just doesn’t cut it. 1 hr, 2 hrs, 8 hrs, a week is not enough for any youth pastor to make a difference in enough students’ lives to really make a difference!

Where are we missing it? HOME!  God’s design for discipleship of children (and teens) begins in the home.  (cf. Deut. 6, Eph. 6).  We’ve worked ourselves to death trying to come up with new methods and models for doing things when it’s already outlined in God’s Word!

I will write more about this later, but until that time, here are a couple of links that you can go to read notes from the Connecting Church and Home conference or watch video of the plenary sessions…

Video of the 4 Sessions
(the quote from above is in Dr. Mohler’s session at about 40 seconds)

Notes from the Conference


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No Objectivity in Public Education

18 08 2010

Many 2010-2011 school years have already began across the country, while many more will begin within the coming week…

Parents need to know that students attending public school are put in a system that is opposed to the Christian worldview.  Now, that seems like a harsh statement, and the truth is that there are pockets of conservative public education across the country, but the facts remain the same: Our ultimate standard of Truth is found in God and His Word, Public Education “prohibits” Christ from being taught, … you draw the conclusion.

In other words, can we really separate Math, History, English, etc. from the Creator of these things?

In a recent blog post Albert Mohler writes “All teaching involves ideology and intellectual commitments. There is no position of authentic objectivity.” 

There are good Christian teachers out there – and yes some of their worldview will come over in their teaching.  However, their hands are tied when it comes to presenting Truth in the classroom! And, furthermore, textbooks seem to be pushing more and more towards “State-ism” (the teaching that the government is our ultimate reality, see more on the definition HERE).

A solid Christian teacher in this situation is the best case scenario.  Worse case? The non-Christian teacher that has ulterior motives in teaching and actually desires to lead students away from the Truth.  Most teachers fall somewhere in between, but they will all bring something into their teaching.  I mean, think about the statement that “teaching should be objective” or that “students should be presented all views and then allowed to make their own decision”… Those statements are subjective! Why would we as Christians want to present all views when we know that only One view is Truth?  Why would we want kids making their own decisions when we know that folly is what is stored up in their hearts (Prov. 22:15)?  The point is, that every person who teaches your child that does not hold to the same standard of Truth that you do, will have influence over your child (sometimes subtle, sometimes profound).

Mohler goes on to say in his blog “For Christian parents and students, this should be a matter of deep concern and active awareness. The secularization of most educational institutions is an accomplished fact.”  Mohler is speaking of Colleges and Universities, but the same can be said of Secondary Education.  Why should you as a parent be concerned? Because every day of the 2010-2011 school year, your student will be spending about 7 hours under teaching that undermines the Truth of Scripture (besides blatant falsehoods like macro-evolution and misrepresentations of our Nation’s founding, think about how school subtly teaches us to “think” apart from God.)  That’s 1260 hours a year (based on 180 school days a year).  Over 13 years (K-12) that’s 16,380 hours!

Again, I know this statement sounds harsh, but we have to understand that there is a battle being waged for our students’ hearts, minds, and souls.  This is a battle some teachers don’t even realize that they are playing a part in! (See Eph. 6:12 )

So what do we do?

If you teach in the Public School system, then you realize that in many areas your hands are tied.  You must seize every opportunity that you have (legally) to present Truth.  Also, be sure and be intentional in seeking out quality text books.  The most popular, and the most “teacher” friendly books, are not always the best teaching material.  Finally, there is the option of teaching in a Christian Private School, not always a possibility but could be where God is calling you.

If you are a parent, then you have to know your options.  Homeschooling is not something that everyone is able to do, but should be something that at least parents pray about while their students are young.  Another viable option is Christian Private School…

I believe that both of these options should be prayed about and sought after if possible because we must understand that as parents we are responsible for what our students are learning.  That being said, I know that the majority of parents out there are in a situation where homeschooling and private schools are not an option. Is all hope lost? No, but we must be intentional about discipling our kids!  This means we discuss the things of God with them in all facets of their life, including school.  As hard as public education may try, schools will never be able to remove God, because there is no area of our life that God is not God!  How are the hours you spend discipling your kids compared with the amount of time they are being “discipled” at school?

I write this today to remind parents and teachers of what’s at stake!  I’m not trying to scare you out of Public Education (although, if God is leading you in that direction…) but I just want to remind you that Christ and the world are opposed…  We should not marvel that the world would try to undermine the Truth.  Keep your head up, be on guard, and run this race well!  Children are a blessing and it is our privilege and responsibility to raise them well…

To read the full article by Albert Mohler mentioned above CLICK HERE


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Changes to Wednesday Nights at FBC

11 08 2010

Here’s a brief rundown of how we are changing up Wednesday nights, including important dates, times, etc…

August 25th- Family Night in the FBC Fellowship Hall for Student Ministry, there are not other activities going on that night.  We will meet at 6pm to eat, have fun, discuss upcoming ministry year, and have a lesson.

9/1/10- Student Ministry will meet like normal 6pm-7:30pm  The rest of the church is invited to “Open House”.  There will be hot dogs, games, and a chance for you to have a “walk thru” of what we will be doing on Wednesday nights including meeting your children’s teachers, seeing classrooms, etc.

9/8/10- NEW Fall Program kicks off! The whole church will meet at 5:50pm to eat a meal together! Twice a month the meal will be provided by the church for donations only. The other two times will be potluck.  At 6:25pm each night there will be a short devotion and prayer and then everyone will dismiss to their respective classes.  Students 6th-12th will be in the Student ministry as normal, kids 3yrs-5th grade will be in Elements, and Adults will be in adult bible study. Parents are invited to attend services with their children if they desire (Elements or Student ministry).

Children and Youth classes are over at 7:35pm and Adults are out at 7:30pm. This allows a few minutes for parents to get to their children’s classroom to pick them up.

Since Elements is somewhat new I’ll explain how it is going to work:

Each week the kids will be divided up: Preschool, K-2nd, and 3rd-5th

K-2nd and 3rd-5th will rotate every 15-20 minutes. During their rotations they will do worship, bible study, and choir/rec (choir and rec will alternate each week).

Preschool will also do rotations, just on a different time frame.

Why we are making the change:

We wanted something to help reach more families here in our community.  We still encourage and invite children, youth, and adults to come who don’t have family that will come with them, but we are making a point to be intentional about ministering to everyone.  We also want to help “bridge” the generation gap! We hope that the church sitting down and eating a meal together every Wednesday will help to connect different ages with one another.

If you are reading this and are from the community of DeWitt I hope that you will consider joining us for an exciting time of fellowship, ministry, and bible study for all ages!


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The Christian Hope in Suffering

10 08 2010

We’ve recently had some tragic deaths in our community this past week.  In response to those things I wanted to post some notes from my sermon on Sunday.  The text is Romans 8:18-30. Now first of all, I want to say that I understand how richly packed these 13 verses are.  We literally could probably preach 100 sermons from this text alone! The sermon from Sunday was more of a “fly over” of these verses due to time constraints.  Because of the situations in our church this is a passage that the Lord laid on my heart to preach.  However, this is a passage that all Christians need to be reminded of because we all will experience different levels of suffering in this life on almost a regular basis until Jesus returns or we leave this life to meet Him in glory.

I. Understand Sufferings’ Cause (v. 19-23)

Key Word: SIN

When God created this world He created it in a state of no suffering.  Adam and Eve had the perfect set up, a place where they could enjoy life and God without the presence of human Sin.  But the Fall, in which we all had a part with Adam, ended this state of no suffering.  Back to our passage, Paul says that Creation is groaning because of Sin.

We need to understand the full effect of the Fall. In one since I don’t think we will ever really be able to fully understand the depths of our own depravity but passages like this in Romans 8 help remind us that Sin is a big deal. That everything is out of whack because of Adam’s decision (and ours) to disobey God.  This doesn’t always mean that a direct sin causes a direct suffering (although that definitely can be the case).  In other words, it doesn’t mean that because you lied God gives you cancer.  It means that because of this broken world, bad things happen.  Yes, we are all held culpable for Adam’s Sin and we all deserve death, but many passages of Scripture tell us that God, because of His love, grace, and mercy, does not delight in our suffering or even our death (cf. Lam. 3:32-33, Ezekiel 18:32).

II. Feel Sufferings’ Comfort (v.24-27)

Key Word: WEAKNESS

Continuing in our passage, Paul says that not only is creation groaning, but we too are groaning.  He explains that although we are “saved” in the hope of Christ, we have not ultimately met that salvation until we see Him face to face.  Christians still face sufferings.  In fact, sometimes we face more sufferings because we are Christians (persecutions, trials, etc.).  We are still very much dependant creatures even though we are saved.  The truth is that now we are able to acknowledge our dependency and Who we must be dependant upon: Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on to say that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, helps us in our weakness. I believe in context that this is all tied to suffering (see v.18 and 28)! And then Paul says that not only is Creation groaning, and that we are groaning, but that the Holy Spirit of God is groaning in our behalf! This means that when we suffer we have not been left alone.  We must fight the urge to “be strong” and try to get through this on our own.  We must become weak and allow God to work in our hearts.  Sometimes suffering causes so many emotions that we just don’t know what to say and the Bible says that in those times the Holy Spirit will talk for us (cf. 8:26).

In our weakness, the strength of God is shown and He is glorified (cf. 2 Cor. 12:7-10).  Also, Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us that Jesus is able to relate to our trials because He is the God-man.  Remember Jesus’ response when Lazarus died? He wept! Yes, Paul says that he can do all things…But all things through who? Christ!  During times of suffering God must be our strength.  We must not be proud and deny our own human inability.  We must become weak and turn to God as the only source for true healing and comfort.

III. Trust Sufferings’ Conqueror (v. 28-30)

Key Word: GOD

Now, these final 3 verses (8:28-30) could honestly be 90 out of the 100 sermons we mentioned earlier! There is a lot of truth here, but I want to talk about how these 3 verses pertain to our suffering.

First of all, God is not a God of “reaction”.  God is a God of action!  This passage does not mean that “all things” are “good”.  Hurting and suffering are not good things. But guess what? NOTHING can escape the providential sovereignty of God. The good, the bad, the neutral are all used by God to bring about His plan! All things here means this: ALL THINGS, everything, God is in control of, and using, all.

God is not caught off guard by our suffering, rather it is in His plan to bring about our sanctification.  Through suffering He is making us more and more like Jesus.  This is why “all things work together for good” for those who love God. We know that all things work together for our good because we desire to be like Christ and for God to be glorified.

Now, R.C. Sproul comments “God orders His providences so as not to cancel out secondary causes”.  This means that humans are still held responsible for our actions.  The story of Joseph really helps to illustrate this: Gen. 50:20.  Also, so does Christ going to the Cross: Acts 4:26-28.  In other words, God was in complete control of these things that were bad and that were done with the intention of causing suffering.  The whole time one force was pushing towards evil God was the ultimate force in control of those situations pushing them towards good.  The more evil people thought they were doing, the greater good God was completing! God is in control of every particle of dust that you stir up traveling down a dirt road- Not only is He in control of it, but He has ordained the very place that each particle of dust will land!

The anchor for this whole passage of Scripture is Romans 8:29-30. What solid truth! Before the foundations of the world God chose a group of people (refered to as the “elect” in the Bible) who He would save from total depravity and conform them into the image of His Son!  When we think of the splendor of God’s election, then we should be comforted to know that God is so much bigger than our suffering (cf. 8:18).  He will ultimately conquer our suffering and one day we will reside with Him forever in a place where there will be no more suffering!

—

C.H. Spurgeon said this about suffering: “I have learned to kiss the wave that strikes me against the Rock of Ages.”  Simple statement, but hard to apply to our lives in the midst of our trials.  I know that during this time many people are feeling a wide range of emotions.  There are no words that I have that can ease your suffering.  The Bible, however, has those words.  During your time of suffering I pray that God comforts you, and that you will turn to Him as your source of peace and strength.


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Count the Cost

13 07 2010

If you’ve ever been involved in a building project then you know that often times the bid you get for construction turns out to be lower than the actual cost. There’s always something unforeseen that happens that makes things a little more expensive than what you were planning.

Soon I’m preaching on Luke 9:57-62. As I’ve began studying this passage this thought keeps coming to me: “What has following Christ cost me?”. I mean in this passage of Scripture there are three different instances of Jesus explaining what it means to follow Him.

I see implications here of forsaking our comforts, traditions, and relationships all for the sake of Christ. And yet I still wonder, “Has following Jesus cost me any of these things?”

I’m afraid in America and especially in the “Bible belt” that following Christ costs us very little. In fact, I can think of several instances where “following Jesus” is actually more advantageous for one’s social, economic, and even political situations. See, the question is not “what if” Jesus is asking me to give up things to follow Him or even “when” will Jesus call me to give up things… The question is “How has Jesus asked me to give up these things for the sake of the Gospel?”

What areas of your life do you still have that are uncrucified? Yes, obviously comforts, traditions, and relationships are not bad things. But in relation to the Gospel calling them “secondary” is an understatement!

Have you counted the cost of following Jesus? Do you see why it’s impossible for us to do on our own? To follow Christ we must first “repent and believe the Gospel” (cf. Mark 1:15). Once we have done this God begins to change everything about us making us more and more like Jesus through the process if sanctification.

The point is today that some may read this post and feel sad or even angry. But for those who’ve trusted Christ I hope it’s an encouragement knowing that we forsake all for the Glory of Christ! That the battle is already won, the Way has already been made and our call is to FOLLOW!

Are you counting the cost? Can you truly say today to Jesus “I will follow you wherever you go?”, knowing He walks a path that turns the priorities of this world on their head?


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Leaders Who Last

11 05 2010

 

Just finished Leaders Who Last by Dave Kraft, leadership development pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle.

This is a short book definitely worth the time reading for anyone in ministry leadership. (Pastors, Youth pastors, etc.)

What I like most about the book is Kraft’s idea that Christ is our foundation for leadership! Obviously this is a biblical concept but many books either seem to assume this idea or just leave it out altogether.  Early on Kraft stresses the importance of maintaining the Spiritual Disciplines, not as a means of earning Grace, but in response to it.

I don’t want to spoil too much of the book for you, but my personal take away was the evaluations listed after each section.  This is a book that I will put on my shelf in an accessible place so that I can reference it periodically in my own walk.  As a leader I must constantly reevaluate my purpose and vision to make sure that I have not strayed away from the path God has set for me and His people.

Hope you’ll read this book and learn well from it…

Click here to see an interview with Dave Kraft about the book


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