We take a look at our church's role in Christian education. It is an area that often has more questions than answers, so rather than looking at the macro, I will leave that to the "experts" while I try to share a non-experts thoughts on an important matter. ...
As we get closer each day to our new church plant, we want to use every means possible to help people be as informed and as prayerful as possible as we embark on this new mission. For many, the idea of planting churches is a new concept. Others have perhaps heard about it but never participated and have questions. Others may question the model, things like: "what do you mean by campus?". or "why plant so close to the existing church", or "why not focus our efforts on growing the church that we already have rather than reproducing so quickly?". This series of blogs, video blogs, teachings from the pulpit and prayer meetings will be aimed at creating a dialog and helping us to embark on this journey as a called, prayerful, prepared and informed people. If all of your questions are not answered in each post, that is kind of by design. Each entry is aimed at taking a look at one discussion point and fleshing it out enough to help answer questions and promote future dialog. ...
Recently on a NPR special, they were taking calls concerning the realization that the “American Dream” isn’t as readily available for my generation (those born in the 1980s to now) as in past generations. It’s too expensive, good paying jobs are harder to come by, and college is becoming essentially unaffordable for the average American. The question posed was this: “How can we fix this, or can we fix it? - Call us with your answers and ideas.”...
This is a time of year where we celebrate new life. Trees are growing new leaves, flowers are in bloom, people are emerging after a long winter. This is also a time where we celebrate the greatest of all New Life, our new life in Christ. ...
I have done my best to take a look at the issue of "chronic pain" through first and third person lenses. I am my no means an expert on the topic. Nor do I claim to always be victorious in the struggle. These thoughts are my own. That being said, I believe they are in line with what I read in God's Inspired and Holy Word. ...
Paul and the Apostles understood this commission of Christ as a call to plant churches. He would travel to major urban cities with regional influences, plant a church, and then move on to the next city. People traveling to and fro from these cities would carry the Christian message to the outer limits and small towns outside the city, and thus more churches were planted. In this way, the Gospel traveled from "Jerusalem, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8)....
We take a look at our church's role in Christian education. It is an area that often has more questions than answers, so rather than looking at the macro, I will leave that to the "experts" while I try to share a non-experts thoughts on an important matter. ...
Keep ReadingTRANSCRIPT BELOW: I was born and raised in Georgia, in the deep south. One of the unique things about the state of Georgia is it's number of counties - 154 counties in all. This number is second only to the number of counties in Texas, a state more than double its size. New Jersey also has something unique about it - we have 565 municipalities. ...
Keep Reading As we get closer each day to our new church plant, we want to use every means possible to help people be as informed and as prayerful as possible as we embark on this new mission. For many, the idea of planting churches is a new concept. Others have perhaps heard about it but never participated and have questions. Others may question the model, things like: "what do you...
Keep ReadingIn the famous words of Dave Letterman, “96% of all statistics are made up on the spot.” Yes, it is true that according to whomever does the research, it is difficult to have no bias whatsoever in the work. And it’s also true that you can often hear two statistics concerning the same topic that completely and utterly contradict one another. In prefacing w...
Keep Reading(To begin, I am aware of the fact that this blog is being posted on Facebook - so there is a bit of a contradiction here. I'm also aware that Facebook can be used for much, much good. But bare with me…) Neil Postman, a philosopher and social critic who wrote primarily in the 1980’s and 1990’s had this to say about technology: &ldq...
Keep Reading Recently on a NPR special, they were taking calls concerning the realization that the “American Dream” isn’t as readily available for my generation (those born in the 1980s to now) as in past generations. It’s too expensive, good paying jobs are harder to come by, and college is becoming essentially unaffordable for the average American. The question posed was this...
Keep Reading This is a time of year where we celebrate new life. Trees are growing new leaves, flowers are in bloom, people are emerging after a long winter. This is also a time where we celebrate the greatest of all New Life, our new life in Christ. ...
Keep Reading
I love reading about a church's history, especially if that church has been in existence for a century or more. Those black and white photographs of an old plain church building surrounded by people who ministered to their communities so long ago - what a great spiritual heritage to have! What a gift and a tresure to continue the work of so many saints who have...
Keep ReadingI have done my best to take a look at the issue of "chronic pain" through first and third person lenses. I am my no means an expert on the topic. Nor do I claim to always be victorious in the struggle. These thoughts are my own. That being said, I believe they are in line with what I read in God's Inspired and Holy Word. ...
Keep ReadingPaul and the Apostles understood this commission of Christ as a call to plant churches. He would travel to major urban cities with regional influences, plant a church, and then move on to the next city. People traveling to and fro from these cities would carry the Christian message to the outer limits and small towns outside the city, and thus more churches were planted. I...
Keep Reading