Patriotic Service

This past Sunday, my church did what I suspect 95% of churches also did that morning- have a patriotic 4th of July type service. We began by standing, and pledging allegiance to the US flag and then the Christian flag, and lastly the Bible. After singing the national anthem, we sang several other patriotic songs like "My Country Tis of Thee," etc.

I am very uncomfortable with this. Historically, God has called His people to reject the ways of the Empire and to take part in His counter-cultural movement. Not necessarily to be anti-empire or anti-American, but definitely to place our allegiance in a movement contrary to their values.

Yet, here we are literally singing praise songs to America in the House of God.

random awesomeness

On the first friday of every month, the downtown stores here in my town stay open later into the evenings and serve refreshments to whoever comes in. "First Fridays" is one of those little things that make living in such a small town bearable. (The upcoming Blueberry Festival is another one).

Last night the wife and I were killing another Friday by walking around and visiting the downtown stores (most of which are antique stores) when I came across what I consider to be a gem. You may have to bear with me, because not everyone seems to be as excited about this as I do.

Lying in the old book stack in one of the stores was a first edition printing of "Wholly Sanctified," by J.O. McClurkan. This book was printed in 1895, and it certainly shows. Due to the aging, the book looks like it was printed on brown paper bags as opposed to white paper.

For those of you that may not be aware, McClurkan was the founder of Trevecca Nazarene University- as well as one of the major players in the Holiness Movement at the turn of the century that led to our denomination. He also served many years as pastor at Nashville First at the beginning of the 20th century. This guy definitely makes the Nazarene Hall of Fame whenever they decide to create such a group- surely there is room in our fancy new headquarters, right?

Are All Welcome?

A 6 ft, 225 pound "child" with autism has made a habit of spitting and urinating during church AND often requires cloth restraints to keep him from hurting others.

As a leader of the church, what is the appropriate response? Asking the parents to step in and then filing a restraining order?

After reading the story, is there something the priest should have done instead? What would your move have been?

My philosophy of ministry

I really think that I only have one responsibility as a youth pastor, and that is to hand out this shirt to every teenager I meet.

http://www.choiceshirts.com/item/A11340B/

Hope I'm Worth It....

Maybe you've heard this story before:

The father's name was John Griffith. He had lost all he had in the stock market crash. He moved to Mississippi where he took a job as bridge operator for a railroad trestle. In 1937 he was involved in a horrible accident. One day his 8 year-old son, Greg, spent the day with his Dad at work. The boy poked around the office and asked dozens of questions - just like little boys do. The bridge was over a river and when-ever a ship came John had to open the bridge to allow the ships to pass. The day the boy was there with his father a ship was coming so John opened up the draw bridge. After a moment or two he realized his son wasn't in the office and as he looked around, to his horror, John saw his son climbing around on the gears of the draw bridge. He hurried outside to rescue his son but just then he heard a fast approaching passenger train, the Memphis Express, filled with 400 people. He yelled to his son, but the noise of the now clearing ship and the oncoming train made it impossible for the boy to hear him. All of a sudden John Griffith realized his horrible dilemma. If he took the time to rescue his son the train would crash killing all aboard, but if he closed the bridge, the boy would be crushed in the gears. John would sacrifice his son. He made the horrible decision, pulled the lever and closed the bridge. It is said, as the train went by John could see the faces of the passengers, some reading, some even waving, all of them oblivious to the sacrifice that had just been made for them

The father had to be absolutely heartbroken about the sacrifice of his son. If I found out that my life had been spared because of this father's sacrifice, I would do everything in my power to make sure that my life was worth it. I would be a great person, try to cure cancer, anything to show the father that he might have made the right decision.


In this Easter season, my mind often goes to the sacrifice that the Father made- watching as His Son was ridiculed, spit on, beaten, and murdered. And more than anything else, this realization makes me want to live my life so that the Father doesn't think he made a mistake by paying such a high price so that I may one day live.

Easter should be a celebration, but I can't help but think that it should also serve to keep us accountable for our actions.

I'm a boring and slightly bottled man

Right now I am reading the autobiography of Eric Clapton. It's not exactly heavy reading, but I do enjoy a good biography from time to time. What strikes me the most about him (and other artists) is the way music became a soothing medication for the sicknesses in his life. When he was brokenhearted by tragedy, he churned out "Tears in Heaven." When he was hopelessly in love with the wife of one of his best friends (George Harrison of the Beatles), he created many tracks, including "Layla."

I want that. Well, not that exactly. I want to have some sort of outlet where I can take what is swimming around on the inside and make it something constructive on the outside. When I get upset, I'm just upset until it passes. I think I need a hobby.

Im outta here

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'll be back in my home state for about a week- so expect to hear from me later!



While I'm out- spend your hours looking at icanhascheezburger.com. If you can't enjoy yourself here, then you're just not alive.

It's On Like Donkey Kong...

I'm not entirely sure that I'm finished with my Christmas lights yet, but here's how it started...

Here is a slanty shot of the front of the house...
Here's a another shot of the front...

And here's a shot of the side of the house where our garage is...

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Here's something almost everyone knows about me. I REALLY get into the Christmas spirit. I love the trees, the lights, the drunken uncles- all of it. Especially the lit up houses though. Nothing jingles my bells like seeing a house covered in tiny lights.

Here's my problem- until this year I have lived in apartments, so I haven't had the chance to decorate anything. This year- we are in a house, and I have been stockpiling Christmas lights for 3 years. By the time I'm done, I expect airplanes to try to land on my roof. It's gonna get crazy.

I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving to put my lights up- but I don't think that's gonna happen. My brother in law is coming to town this weekend and I think he's going to help me rig up everything.

I know what you're thinking- "Hold your horses! It's too early to decorate for Christmas." Well, too bad. I'm going for it. People who hold their horses look like this guy:

Simply put

This is a very good thing.

I have a feeling that this still won't deter this absolutely hateful anti-Christian church from making other people's lives miserable.

Here's my question- How far does free speech go? Is it ok that we punished this group because their speech was full of hate and the most tasteless of timing? Where do we draw the line?

It's Taco Time!

Listen, I know what all of you are dying to know- "Did you go get your free taco at your local participating Taco Bell between 2 and 5 PM today?"

The answer is no. I seriously thought about it, but then I remember just how disgusting Taco Bell really is.

Having said that, I really think that this is one of the most brilliant marketing moves I have ever seen. In case you haven't heard, Taco Bell is giving every American a free taco because someone stole a base in the World Series.

My first reaction was "Wow- that's a LOT of tacos! How can they afford it?!" Well, the tacos were only available on a Tuesday afternoon between 2 and 5 PM. I would say that knocks out at least half of America right there. I'd also assume that at least half of those that don't have jobs that keep them from visiting seedy restaurants in the late afternoon have no clue about this promotion. We're down to 1/4 of the country now. Realistically, I would say that only 1 out of 10 non=working Americans that had heard about the promotion really plan on going. Just like that we are down to 1/40th of the country. I seriously doubt even that many people show up.

They are still spending a lot of money on free tacos, but this is a brilliant move for Taco Bell. No one goes to Taco Bell for just a taco, right? You gotta have a coke or pepsi, or whatever your beverage of choice is. The drinks actually cost more than a regular beef taco does. So, assuming that there is substantially increased traffic in Taco Bell's today- they will easily make more money than they do on any other non-free taco day. Kudos to the great minds south of the border.


The only way Taco Bell would lose money is if everyone took Redsox player Royce Clayton's advice and "go into every Taco Bell in the world and say 'I aint got my taco.'" Enjoy the video goodness

I'm back and well rested!

I am going through the book of Genesis in my own personal study these days....and there are some questions about Creation that I would like to throw out to some of you

Genesis 1 tells us that God created light before he created the sun, moon, and stars. Did He create the potential of light? Was light emanating from God Himself?

Also, if the sun was created later in the week, how were the first 3 days of Creation split into days? Since the Hebrew word for day (yom) can also mean "an age," (think of an old person saying, '...back in my day...') could it be that there were ages of the Creation process and not a calendar week? Do you think this could reconcile scientific dating of the earth (which dates the earth as much older) with the Biblical timeline (which says that the earth is roughly 6000 years old)?

And what about the gap theory? This theory posits that there is a large amount of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.

And lastly, would any of these possibilities affect your faith at all?


I'd love to have a good conversation about this one...

Fun with Alcohol!

Since no one who reads this was at NYC, we are going to skip my thoughts on it and plow right ahead to a new topic- Alcohol!

I subscribe to a youth pastor email list. Basically, youth pastors have email conversations and debates with other youth pastors from around the country. Yesterday, a youth minister mentioned that he drinks a beer from time to time- and was basically condemned to hell for it.

What are your thoughts on the alcohol issue for Christians? Is it a sin to take a sip? To get drunk? OK in moderation?

Before I spill....

Was anyone else at NYC in St. Louis last week?

If so, what were your general thoughts?

Opinion time!

I read a quote today that I thought was interesting, so I thought I'd throw it out there and see what your reactions to it were.



"Christianity was born in the Middle East as a religion, moved to Greece and became a philosophy, journeyed to Rome and became a legal system, spread through Europe as a culture- and when it migrated to America, Christianity became big business."

What have we made of Christianity?

Warning: Opinionated ramblings ahead.

If you were to ask someone outside the church how they recognize someone as a Christian, what do you think they would say? I know, because I recently asked quite a few people (some Christian and some non-Christian) "What is a Christian?"

Lots of Christians may be pleased with the responses I received. Most everyone answered that a Christian was someone who didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't curse, etc. Basically people have begun to identify Christians by what we dont do.

Does that bother anyone else?

Somewhere along the line Christians stopped being identified by what we do do, and started being identified by the things that we abstain from. As usual, I have a theory about this.

The early church wasn't nearly as concerned with personal lifestyle boundaries as they were about going outside the church and winning souls for Christ. And wouldn't you know it, the greatest growth in the history of the Church occurred during a time when most "congregations" didn't even have a building to meet in! The Church was a missional entity, whose sole purpose was to expand the Kingdom. That was the primary goal of the church.

As a Church today, we still think that sounds good and we even claim it as our goal- but how realistic is that claim? It seems to me that as Christians we have become MUCH more concerned with making sure we stay within the boundaries of the Law than we are with going out and making a difference in our communities. What's the purpose?

Great! You don't drink, smoke, or curse... but tell me, what DO you do? Imagine standing before the great throne of judgment, and having God himself tell you to present your case for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. You reply, "Well God, you're going to be very impressed! I didn't work on Sundays. I didn't curse. I didn't drink. I didn't smoke or do drugs. I wasn't mean to people." I imagine that God would respond with the top line of this paragraph: " OK, but what did you actually do for me?"

I believe we have made the mistake of creating our own little Christian subculture. We become a Christian and then eventually move our entire lives into this "bubble" of the Christian subculture. Our friends from church become our closest (and sometimes only) friends that we spend time with. We spend all of our free time at church events with other Christians. We wear Christian t-shirts and listen to Christian music. Our cars are peppered with metallic fish and bumpers with pithy Christian sayings on them. We withdraw ourselves from the culture around us and become enveloped in our Christian subculture.

Is this the example that Jesus gave us? In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, we read that the Pharisees grumbling that "this man receives sinners, and eats with them." Where we seem to be content with sitting in the church waiting for the lost to enter, Christ seemed to be more enamored with becoming a part of the culture and ministering to people where they are. He ate with sinners! He went to feasts and even wedding with (gasp) drinking! But it is in those settings that we read about some of the greatest moments in his ministry. We seem to be too disgusted with the world around us to enter into with anything but disdain. Christ entered into the culture around him with the love of the Father.

In the church, we make huge deals of mission trips. Why is that? Because it's one of the only times of the year that we actually do Christian service outside of the church walls! This is what bothers me.

On Sunday mornings before church, ESPN usually airs "outdoorsy" type shows. I love watching the old men do flyfishing, because they do not fish from the bank, a boat, or a pier. These guys stand out in the middle of the lake and fish with water coming up to their waists. That's the kind of church we should be! We can't keep fishing from the bank! We need to be as Christ and get out in the middle of the lake if we want to do some real fishing.

I've probably written too much to even understand what my original point was, but here is my wish for the Church. That we reorganize ourselves in such a way that when people are asked what a Christian is, they start listing the good that we do in the world instead of listing everything that we don't do. Secondly, let's break out of our Christian subculture every now and then and associate ourselves with those that need Christ the most. Remember the words of Christ from Matthew chapter nine- "It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick..."

Evan Almighty

I wasn't a huge fan of "Bruce Almighty," but I have to tell you- I absolutely loved "Evan Almighty." Great, great movie.

You should run, not walk, to go check it out.

Ah, the life of a pastor...

Is there any better or more romantic way to spend your 2 year wedding anniversary than helping out with VBS all day at the church? Methinks not.

Teen camp and an aching heart.

This past Monday through Friday, my teens and I attended our district's summer teen camp. Overall, we had a fantastic time. If you forget about the food, you would have a hard time finding anything negative about the way camp was run this year.

Attention, youth pastors and camp directors---One of our speakers' name was Scott Regester. This guy was absolutely phenomenal. If you have any need for a speaker, look him up. He lives in Oklahoma, so how hard could it be to find him?

I took a group of 17. On the last night, the speaker asked which teenagers felt that God may be leading them into the ministry some day. 6 of my teens went forward. It is always incredibly moving to see teens in your ministry willing to answer God's call on their lives.

Here's the main event that affected me this year: It seems that every year at camp, there is some sequence of events that absolutely humbles me. This year, it started before we could even load up the vans to leave for camp. I had a girl who was signed up for camp drop out at the last second because she was sick. Her payment was nonrefundable, so I scrambled to find someone to take her place. Eventually, the girlfriend of a guy in my group was able to take the last spot.

I should have known that there was a greater plan than mine, with the way that events unfolded to get this girl to camp. Little did I know how much this girl needed to feel loved.

One night this girl and I were talking, and I asked her what her home life was like. She immediately started crying and told me that the last 12 months have been the worst in her life. What she then told me absolutely broke my heart.

About a year ago, this girl was raped by a complete stranger and got pregnant. The person who did this was never caught. Her pregnancy ultimately ended in a miscarriage. Her mother, who is an alcoholic, hasn't been around for much. Most every day, this girl comes home to an empty house, where she has to also play the role of mom for her 10 year old brother. She cooks all the meals. She helps him with his homework. She puts him to bed. She can't remember the last time she went out with friends, because she always chooses to stay home so her brother doesn't have to be lonely. When her mom is home, she tells her daughter that she's worthless, ugly, fat, and stupid. In my opinion she is none of these things.

Here is a 15 year old girl who has been forced to deal with more tragedy in a year, than I have known my entire life. Not only that, but she is having to force herself to be strong for the sake of her brother.

The theme of our camp was simple- "Used." How are you going to let God use you? The girl made some huge decisions this week, and is convinced that God is going to use her to tough her family. She knows it will not be easy, but she seems to be very determined.

Please join me in prayer for her.

They're doing amazing things with fountain drink technology

Well, if you saw my last post you know that I went on a bit of a road trip last weekend (the swim wasnt that bad). Well, I ran across something on my trip that changed my life in an instant.

My friend and I stop at a random gas station in Tupelo, Mississippi. By all accounts, it appeared to be merely your average, run of the mill gas station. That, my friends, was wrong.

My eyes scanned the gas station as I tried to locate something to drink. I saw a big sign above a brightly lit up fountain machine that simply read "BURST". As I walked over towards the fountain drink machine, I noticed that there seemed to be a ridiculously high number of buttons on this particular machine. As I drew near, I saw that beside each drink choice was three extra buttons. One button was cherry flavoring, one was vanilla, and one was lime.

Turns out you can select up to two flavors to add to your cool beverage free of charge! You want a cherry vanilla coke? No problem! What about a lime vanilla diet sprite? Go to town!

I thought you'd be impressed...