I will be out this next week speaking at a youth camp in Wisconsin. Please be pray that God will use me in a big way not to bring attention to me but to the one who changes lives, Jesus. Also pray for the students that will be attending the camp. I believe if we do not want to become a post Christian nation we must experience an awakening in our youth. Thanks in advance for your prayers.
First, I want everyone to know that this is not a “gay bashing.” I really want to know what you think. In today’s society lines are becoming more blurry on what is right and what is wrong. I will tell you what I believe and would love to her your opinions.
Here is what I believe. I believe homosexuality is wrong according to the Word of God. With that said…I don’t fell that homosexuality is any different that adultery. That is right the Pastor who cheated on his wife with his secretary is just as much as a sinner as a homosexual. Basically I believe that homosexuality is a sin but no different from any other sin that we commit. It only takes one sin to separate one eternally from God.
So whether your sin is homosexuality, adultery or lying it doesn’t matter to God. They all deserve separation from God. No matter where you find yourself the important thing is that you have a relationship with God and you commit yourself to ending your lifestyle of Sin. To find out more about a relationship with Jesus and how to stop the lifestyle of sin click here.
Tell me what you think…is being gay wrong?
Proverbs say, “as water reflects a man’s face so does a man’s heart reflect the man.” So my question is who is your heart reflecting? Is it Jesus? I heard a coworker say today that Christians are the leading cause for Atheism. It really doesn’t matter if she is right or wrong. What matters is if our hearts are reflecting Jesus. Right?
I broke my first toilet seat a few weeks ago and man was it a trip. I was speaking at a youth camp in a remote part of Missouri and one night before I was going to speak I was going to take care of business in the bathroom. I was using the bathroom and reading my Bible when all of a sudden I felt the toilet seat shift. I really didn’t know what happened until I stood up and saw the toilet seat in two pieces. It was truely a unquie experience and yes I did use it as an illustration that night. I was reminded of Matthew 7:24-27 where Jesus told the story of the man who built his house on the rocks vs. the sand. When the rain and floods came the man who build on the rock was secure and the other man who built on the sand was not sable and the house was destroyed. Simply put, is your life built on rock or sand. When the storms of life comes with your house crumble with the waves or will it stand strong and withhold the winds? If you would like to know how to have a solid foundation in your life read this.
I love God sized goals! There is no way the the ARC (Assocation of Related Churches) will complete their hefty goal unless God is the central focus of what they are doing. I believe that God is very much a huge part of what they are doing to plant 2000 churches by 2020. Do you have God sized goals? If you don’t you really should. Lets take this example of ARC and apply it to our lives. To read more about ARC you can visit their site here.
If you are interested in planting a church ARC would be a good organization to research to see if they would be a good fit for your ministry. Also check out 21 questions you should ask yourself before you plant CLICK HERE.
Can you believe this sign? I want to hear peoples thoughts on this sign. This reminded me of an article that I wrote on my blog previously click. Some of me thinks that this is a joke and that a church would never post this in their parking lot. But the other side of people and my experience with churches tells me that this is probably not a joke, its real! What do you think people do when they see this sign?
Why is there a common misconception that you have to clean up your life before you can go to church? Most likely because the church has lost the essential essence of what it means to be the church. Read what Jesus said when the Pharisees tested Jesus on God’s commandments:
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ‘This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
The commands are simple, “Love God and Love People.” This means love people where they are at no matter what the condition of the person’s life. I recently had time to work with hoseashouse.com who ministers to women who have been abused mentally, physically and emotionally. Hosea’s House does most of their ministry in the west end of Louisville. This area is a very diverse area and the only discriminator is the economy. This area is not a common area for churches to go because of the common violence and the bad reputation the area has, which is too bad because I found tons of people who welcomed the token white guy with open arms. The main reason I was in West Louisville was to take picture for hoseashouse.com and here is what I found:
Remember that there are no perfect people allowed in the church. LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE!!
I just recently attended Innovate Church conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church and it was incredible. If you are a church planter, pastor, youth pastor or leader you need to go next year. But don’t worry you can watch all the main sessions on the Innovate website. During one of the breakout sessions about church planting Brian Bloye, lead pastor, West Ridge Church along with Matt Fry, lead pastor, C3 spoke about their experience with church planting and multi-site churches. Both men contribute some great advice and encouragement but one thing that stuck out to me was Brian Bloye’s spiritual checklist. Brian used this list in the context of what church planters need to inspect everyday but this list should be examined by anyone who follows Christ. The following is Brian Bloye’s list with my comments on each area:
That last statistic that game from the Barna Group told us that on average 3500-4500 churches are closing their doors each year. We are on the forefront of becoming a post Christian country and I fear that our churches are oblivious to our own death. Although there are many signs of a dying church I have come up with three that I want to discuss.
1. Saving the Saved (No Conversions)-this sounds very simple but it is crucial to church growth. If your church is not adding lives to the Kingdom of God and teaching them to drill down deep in their spiritual life then we are failing God. Sometimes we settle for complacency when we need to be striving for excellence. For example, some churches are just fine with the people who show up on a regular basis and they do not want to reach out to new people when clearly Jesus gave us the commandment to go into all the world.
2. Little excitement for outreach or mission to reach the unreached-it is so easy to be inwardly focused when it is clear in scripture that our focus should be on those who are need and those who need everlasting life only found on the Cross of Jesus and yet we find churches who have no zeal for the hurting, impoverished or people who just need hope in Christ.
3. Lack of fully devoted disciples of Christ (not the denomination)-the whole point of the church is to train up disciples for Christ and yet we fail to produce thriving warrior for the cause of the Gospel. When we fail as a church to move people through the process of growing as a disciple then we are dying or are already dead.
These are just a few signs that a church is either at a plateau or declining, like the Laodicean church in the Book of Revelation. To them, Jesus said:
“I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot — far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. (Revelation 3:15-17 MSG)
The solution to such problems? Jesus replies:
“Be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.” (Revelation 3:19-20 NLT)
I did not write this post just to be negative, I did however write this to be a warning to those who are in church leadership. Do not become comfortable in your position. Seek to evangelize. Create a passion for missions. Disciple your people.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Here are the details of my life. I am married to the most wonderful woman in the whole world (I know everyone says this but my wife really is the best!). We have one daughter, Addison (2) a huge dog Turbo (35 in dogie years) and we call New Albany, IN our... Read more
