I was reading a great Christian blog today and this add was tagged at the end of it. Really?
This is the different category of Christian dating services. Really?
This is a picture of a young lady that’s going to partner with you and encourage you to grow into Christ-likeness. Really?
I mean really?!
To all of my friends and family back in Texas: We’re here! We’ve been here since this weekend. It’s been incredible. It’s been cold (though not for the locals). And we’re swamped trying to unpacked and ready for this next step in the journey.
To all of my friends and church family here in Wichita: We’re here! Thank you so much for your generosity and love. I can’t begin to tell you how much your love and support mean to us. My family feels your support and I cannot wait to serve you and pastor you.
Hopefully, we’ll be unpacked enough soon to be able to have you over…wherever you come from.
This is just another in countless articles that discuss a youth pastor or a children’s minister or a volunteer crossing the line.
This is the world in which we live. We must do our diligence to protect the flock (especially the children) that God has entrusted to our care.
“We had some filters in place. But apparently we didn’t have strong enough filters in place.” -Pastor Thomas R. Hamilton of Stony Point Baptist Church
Learn from this so you have to deal the fallout of the same failure. Read the full story here.
PERFORM A BACKGROUND CHECK ON EVERY VOLUNTEER THAT SERVES WITH MINORS.
We moved to Austin on a Friday night. It was raining in Corpus Christi, so loading it took significantly longer than we expected, the battery on my wife’s minivan ran out, and rather than leaving around lunch, I eventually pulled out around 7pm.
On the road to Austin (Krista and the kids stayed an extra day at her parents), I got the U-haul stuck at a gas station where I struggled to get out with my Jeep on the tow-dolly. And, when your vehiclular baby is on the dolly (and oversized tires keep it from being properly secured), you drive the recommended speed posted on the vehicle – 55 mph.
I finally pulled into our new apartment community around midnight, where my baby brother waited in his car in southwest Austin. Brian Durr (whom I had never met, but had spoken to on the phone and via twitter) met us with the keys to my new apartment, and my brother and I spent the entire early hours of the morning unloading the U-haul. We finished right around 7AM.
We slept on the floor in the closets (because there were no windows in the closets) until I received a phone call telling me that we were blocking the drive w/ our oversized trailer, so we awoke at about 10:30AM to return the U-haul.
Krista and the kids met us at the apartment when we got back, and we had just enough time to unpack enough to go to church the next morning and send Micah to school for his first day.
Our first few days in Austin were chaotic and full. Looking back it only makes sense that our last few have been as well. Still, looking back at those first days only reminds me of the dizzying fullness we’ve experienced here.
It’s been a blast.
My first sermon as Lead Pastor of Crossroads Friends Church is on The Authority of Scripture. Needless to say I was anxious to read the newest Barna research on how the generations use and view God’s Word differently.
There’s a lot of good stuff, but one of the things that stood out most to me was :
Young adults are significantly less likely than older adults to strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. Just 30% of Mosaics (18-25) and 39% of Busters (26-44) firmly embraced this view, compared with 46% of Boomers (45-63) and 58% of Elders (64+).
One of the major concerns regarding our view of God’s Word has to do with authority. A believer cannot rightly approach the Bible and believe that the final authority rests anywhere else BUT THE BIBLE! All too often we place ourselves as judge of Scripture and we determine whether or not to obey and walk in light of what it teaches.
The proper understanding is (as Paul wrote to Timothy) to understand that all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
Perhaps one of the most concerning things about my conversation with the Mormon missionaries was that so much of what they said sounded right, but wasn’t right. They used a lot of the same words as my Bible, but if you don’t know what to look for (and you don’t have a firm grasp on your theology), it would be easy to be led astray.
Sadly, this easily explains the vast numbers of misled and misguided Christians leaving the Church and joining the Latter Day Saints.
And this stirs a number of emotions for me, but mostly:
We must teach God’s Word well. The cost of our failure is too high.
I’m sure these guys weren’t expecting my knowledge not only of my faith, but of theirs as well. Now, I admit that I’ve never read The Book of Mormon (though I do admit to throwing them away when I stay in a hotel). But my knowledge of it stems from multiple sources including Dare2Share Ministries and The Great American Bathroom Book.
I asked multiple questions, because as a pastor I know that I will constantly be answering the “what’s the difference?” question and I was seeking for more information. But the more questions I answered, and the more blatant contradictions with the Old and New Testament I offered, I was asked if I’ve ever read my Bible or how it came to be?!
My first reaction was to regret that I vowed to never punch a Mormon (Relax. It’s a joke…mostly).
My second was to just be completely turned off to anything he was saying. I actually told him to shut up so I could hear the little one who was actually being polite and respectful.
Anyway, this led me (upon reflection and reconsideration of my vow) to wonder:
The Mormon Missionaries and I share more than language and culture. They at least agree that the Bible is God’s Word (albeit, in their opinion incomplete). However, they refused to discuss what Paul wrote to Timothy with me, or how Peter considered Paul’s writings to be Scripture already in 2 Peter. They only wanted to argue their points based on verses in the book that we did not hold in common.
Which leads me to wonder:
What do you think?
Last month I was parked in a neighborhood in my vehicle working. Two Mormon missionaries approached my vehicle and wanted to have a conversation. Of course, we all know the direction this discussion headed and the frustrations that ensued on both accounts. But there were a few observations made in that conversation that I want to unpack this week.
But today, I’d like for my fellow Christians (and no, I do not consider Mormons to be Christians) to consider something:
What would the world look like if we (and our children in turn) took our faith as seriously as they?
My good friend Brad Martin posted this video on his blog and I thought it does a great job of promoting the multi-site church model while also raising some interesting questions. Mainly, “Is the multi-site church model closer to the New Testament church than the typical church model?”
I don’t know if we can answer this question easily, and I certainly can’t answer it without damaging relationships with people on both sides of the question, but, like the video says:
Multi-site is the new normal.
Multi-Site – Being One Church in Multiple Locations from Zondervan on Vimeo.
What do you think?
How does this affect church planting?
