Update
Jun 30, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Refreshed
//NOISE: Boys
Hey, all.
Sorry for the blogging silence over the last few days. Grace and I, along with Steve and Evy, Paul and Ann, and Dan and Suzanne were at a pastor’s conference in the Ozarks. We were at a place called Tan-Tar-A. It was an incredibly refreshing time. Here are some random thoughts from the time.
Random Thought One: One of the cool things is we went through the book of Titus at the conference, and I am teaching on Titus this fall. I have already done a ton of reading and praying through Titus, and this was the first time I have ever heard it taught through. I got a few good notes I will add (steal).
Random Thought Two: Here is a verse Herschel Martindale shared on one of the tangents he went on:
Hebrews 12:14-15 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
He made a connect in this passage that when a “poisonous root of bitterness” grows inside us, we fail to receive the grace of God. That was an interesting point to chew on, since I have a tendency to allow bitterness toward certain people to grow in me. Have to chew on that one some more.
Random Thought Three: I was reading through 2 Corinthians on my own and a verse really struck me.
2 Corinthians 1:24 But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm.
This is so different from any other translation of this verse I have ever read, so it caught me off guard. It made me think about how on debatable issues, I should teach with strong conviction, but not legalism. The minute I force my conviction (the “how” of putting faith into practice) on someone and make it a requirement of their walk with the Lord, I have crossed the line.
Random Thought Four: The best part of our trip was hanging out with our team. I am so excited to be teamed up with these guys and we had tons of time together. At night, we would sit around Grace’s and my room and drink beer and girly drinks. We would talk about the Word, about Riverview, about national things, about what God is teaching us. It was awesome.
One afternoon, we rented a skiboat and hit the lake. It was amazing. Here are some pictures we took out there, as well as a video of my wife flying off her inner-tube. Enjoy.
Welcome to the Gun Show:
My Favorite Picture:
Suzanne Biting It:
Grace Not Biting It (Yet):
Welcome to the Gun Show 2:
No Idea How To Caption This One:
Evy In The Air:
Ann’s High Speed Tubing:
And now, the moment you have all been waiting for: Video of Grace Biting It:
Mile High Club
Jun 26, 2006 Uncategorized
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Dan and Suzanne are VERY happy to be sitting in the back row of the plane.
Mans
Jun 25, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Great
//NOISE: Kids Watching VeggieTales
It was an interesting weekend around Riverview. As you may know, we are going through topics that the people in our church want us to teach on. It has been a cool exercise.
Well, this weekend Mark taught on Biblical Masculinity. This was a topic that came up a bunch in the requests for teachings.
After the service on Saturday, he wanted to talk about the message.
Basically, he was nervous about how the message was received, because the topic of male and female roles in the family and church is not a popular one these days. Especially when he referenced the Danver’s Statement, which is this:
Based on our understanding of Biblical teachings, we affirm the following:
1. Both Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, equal before God as persons and distinct in their manhood and womanhood (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18).
2. Distinctions in masculine and feminine roles are ordained by God as part of the created order, and should find an echo in every human heart (Gen 2:18, 21-24; 1 Cor 11:7-9; 1 Tim 2:12-14).
3. Adam’s headship in marriage was established by God before the Fall, and was not a result of sin (Gen 2:16-18, 21-24, 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:7-9).
4. The Fall introduced distortions into the relationships between men and women (Gen 3:1-7, 12, 16).
* In the home, the husband’s loving, humble headship tends to be replaced by domination or passivity; the wife’s intelligent, willing submission tends to be replaced by usurpation or servility.
* In the church, sin inclines men toward a worldly love of power or an abdication of spiritual responsibility, and inclines women to resist limitations on their roles or to neglect the use of their gifts in appropriate ministries.5. The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, manifests the equally high value and dignity which God attached to the roles of both men and women (Gen 1:26-27, 2:18; Gal 3:28). Both Old and New Testaments also affirm the principle of male headship in the family and in the covenant community (Gen 2:18; Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; 1 Tim 2:11-15).
6. Redemption in Christ aims at removing the distortions introduced by the curse.
* In the family, husbands should forsake harsh or selfish leadership and grow in love and care for their wives; wives should forsake resistance to their husbands’ authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands’ leadership (Eph 5:21-33; Col 3:18-19; Tit 2:3-5; 1 Pet 3:1-7).
* In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 11:2-16; 1 Tim 2:11-15).7. In all of life Christ is the supreme authority and guide for men and women, so that no earthly submission-domestic, religious, or civil-ever implies a mandate to follow a human authority into sin (Dan 3:10-18; Acts 4:19-20, 5:27-29; 1 Pet 3:1-2).
8. In both men and women a heartfelt sense of call to ministry should never be used to set aside Biblical criteria for particular ministries (1 Tim 2:11-15, 3:1-13; Tit 1:5-9). Rather, Biblical teaching should remain the authority for testing our subjective discernment of God’s will.
9. With half the world’s population outside the reach of indigenous evangelism; with countless other lost people in those societies that have heard the gospel; with the stresses and miseries of sickness, malnutrition, homelessness, illiteracy, ignorance, aging, addiction, crime, incarceration, neuroses, and loneliness, no man or woman who feels a passion from God to make His grace known in word and deed need ever live without a fulfilling ministry for the glory of Christ and the good of this fallen world (1 Cor 12:7-21).
10. We are convinced that a denial or neglect of these principles will lead to increasingly destructive consequences in our families, our churches, and the culture at large.
But while we were talking, several women came up and thanked him for the message. While he was hanging at my house this afternoon, he told me that continued the whole weekend. Married woman told him that they are so glad their husbands heard his message. Single women talked about needing that kind of man in a future spouse. That struck me big time. While the complementarian view of male and female roles may not be popular in our culture at large, it really resonates with how God has created us. One of the biggest testimonies to that fact were all these women who were excited about the message.
I’m really proud of Mark for fighting for an unpopular doctrinal position.
Technorati Tags: cbmw, complimentarian, danversstatment, manhood, womanhood
Flickr Test
Jun 24, 2006 Uncategorized
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Painted Cole
Jun 23, 2006 Uncategorized
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Insanity
Jun 23, 2006 Uncategorized
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Its hard to tell in this shot, but this is the over two hundred kids that did vacation bible school this week. Insane.
Short Night
Jun 23, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Good
//NOISE: Coffee Brewing
Help pimp the Short Night Jeremy is hosting with this video. Click here to get the code to put it on your site.
Jesse Swinging Away
Jun 22, 2006 Uncategorized
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The Street in Front of My House
Jun 22, 2006 Uncategorized
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Morning and Evening Email
Jun 21, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Exhausted
//NOISE: thshshshshsh
Here’s some great advice I need to head from PastorHacks.Net:
Avoid checking “work” email first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
1st thing in the morning is bad enough (something about priorities and hearing from God before I hear from a lot of other sources, you know? At least for me…)
But particularly bad is the last-minute-just-before-you-go-to-bed email check. Why?
There’s nothing you can do with the information you will receive but stew on it, so you might as well wait. If it’s good news, great… it will be wonderful to read it when you start your work the next day. If it’s bad news? Hello sleeplessness. Getting your mind working just before you attempt to go to sleep is, let’s just say, counterproductive.
Particularly dangerous is the Saturday evening email check.
Don’t do it!
I’m almost guaranteed to get a heart breaking or infuriating or puzzling email on Saturday evening. Yup- pretty much every week. And my head needs to be somewhere else Saturday night and Sunday morning.
