Arizona Update 1

Hey everybody. It's Wednesday morning in Arizona.

Flights were good on Monday although we did have a cancelled flight. But we made it on the next plane. When we got here Monday afternoon we drove down to Cuauthemoc, Mexico to see the church we would be working on and where we would do Bible School. Tuesday morning our big van had some major problems which were finally fixed after 5 trips to the parts store, so we spent the morning doing some work here at the church in Naco, AZ where we are staying. In the afternoon we went to Cuauthemoc and did our first day of Bible School. We had about 50 kids show up. I'll try for some pictures in the next day or so.

Well Said...

Everybody...

You need to watch this video. This is Ed Stetzer at the SBC annual convention yesterday. Stetzer is the president of LifeWay research, the research division of the SBC.

June Blog Break

I'll be taking a blog break for the month of June. It's going to be a crazy busy month. We've got VBS at church starting next week and I'm leading my first ever mission trip that leaves on June 25th. I've been on a lot of mission trips, but I've never led one. It's a lot of work to get it together. We're going to Naco, Arizona and Cuauthemoc, Mexico. We're partnering with Tim and Jennifer Scarbrough through Living Water Ministries.

I might have an occasional post, but for the most part I'll be back in July.

Things Kids Say

Luke is really starting to talk and be able to understand what we are saying...to a degree. Today was our long trip back from Orlando. (good vacation)

Emily asked Luke while we were riding, "Are you awake?"

Luke's answer, "No."

I asked Luke, "Do you know what 'awake' means?"

Luke's answer, "No."

Lost Season Conclusion

Well...I would give the 2 hour conclusion of Lost an overall positive rating.

Negative

1. too many commercials...during the second half of the first hour the commercials were coming about every 4-5 minutes...i know, i know, that's what DVR's are for
2. they killed Charlie...boo...he didn't have to lock himself in the flooding room when he could have walked out the door and closed it behind him
3. how many lives does that crazy one-eyed guy have? they've killed him twice in the past few weeks and he keeps coming back...give me a break
   

Positive

1. the flashback with bearded Jack totally had me going...it was actually a flash forward...very nice
2. they are really developing John Locke to be Jack's nemesis...he's practically a superhero the way his body heals itself
3. the overall storyline of the show is developing nicely
4. the ending with future Jack and Kate was great, but you know that they're not actually going to get rescued from the phone call to that boat off the island anytime soon b/c there's 3 seasons left, so...can they change their future???
   
5. Emily wanted me to note that she disliked the ending b/c she wanted Jack and Kate to get together
6. It was cool to see Ben get beat up and to see the girl embrace her real mom

Guesses

1. John and Ben will return to the others and John will become the leader of the others
2. it will become Jack vs. John
3. Desmund will be the real hero of the story...he's just too cool
4. Ben was actually right about the boat...something bad will come from it

What do you think???

Luke, Balls, and Water

Luke has always had a love for balls and water. Well he really went crazy yesterday. We played mini golf. The lady at the desk told us to take some extra balls with us. I guess she had seen her share of parents have to come back for extra balls after their kid chunked it in the water. Well...she was more than right. Em and I made 3 or 4 saves and Luke actually got 2 tossed in the water.

Yesterday afternoon when we were at the pool Luke decided to take up his hobby again. There is a small lake right next to the pool we were swimming at. Luke decided he needed to toss a ball in that lake also...only we didn't take a ball to the pool. So Luke grabbed another kid's ball, ran to the rail, and chunked it over. Nice touch.

Live from Orlando...

We're hanging out in Orlando this week. We've had some fun times already. I thought I'd post a few pics from the first two days.


The two most beautiful people I know...













Swimming time...













Watch out for the dragon...













If you've never been to Downtown Disney...it's pretty neat. The dragon in the picture behind me and Luke is made out of Legos. It's impressive.

It's All about You...

Emily and I had a great Monday and Tuesday at the TBC new pastor orientation conference. The conference was at the Linden Valley conference center. Nice place owned by the TBC.

On to the point of this post...

One of the devotionals that I heard there hit on a theme that is so dominant in American Evangelicalism that we don't even know it exists. It is the very air we breathe. No one thinks about breathing. It's just a part of life. So what is it I'm talking about???

Individualism.

The devotion was from Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

If you notice I highlighted the words "for you." The speaker at the devotional time really keyed in on these words. He talked about the importance of those two words in the verse. He talked about how God has all of these specific, individualized plans for each one of us.

I hate listening to this type of stuff. God does not have a billion personalized wills for each and every Christian out there. God's will is not all about you. God has one will and each one of us is to find our complete fulfillment by aligning ourselves with God's will.

Folks, be careful about ripping verses out of context. Jeremiah 29:11 read in context would never produce an individualistic interpretation. If you read Jeremiah chapter 29 you would find that verse 11 is part of a letter written to the whole Jewish community in the Babylonian exile. So in verse 11 the words "for you" are referring to the entire community that is in exile.

Bringing that up to today would mean that God knows the plans he has for us as the community of God. It's all about God, his will, and we are fulfilled when we find ourselves in his will.

Dollywood

Okay, I can't handle the pink any longer, so this is my new look.

We're going to Dollywood tomorrow. I'm pumped. I think I was in high school the last time I went. That's been 11 years.

Why the PINK?!?!?!

We found out today that we're having a GIRL!!!!!

To celebrate I'm temporarily changing my blog to a lovely pink color.

Congrats to Anthony and Jackie

This morning, FBC Smithville voted overwhelmingly to bring Anthony Rosolowski onto the pastoral staff as the pastor of music and worship. I'm really excited to have Anthony coming (he won't start till end of June). He's going to bring a great dynamic to the church.

As a congratulatory blog present to Anthony and Jackie I'm adding a sidebar link to their blog.

We have a really young church staff (which I think is good). I'm the old man around the place at 29 years. Brett and Anthony are both young kids at only 27 years.

Please pray for FBC Smithville that our church staff will gel, and that we can proclaim the greatness of God's name in our city and county and wherever else God leads us. I'm excited for the future to see how God works.

A Day in the House

I went to the legislative session of the Tennessee House yesterday. I was the chaplain of the day...a nice honor, but completely ceremonial. Anywho...I enjoyed the day. It was my first time to ever go to a Senate or House session. It was complete chaos on the floor. It took me forever to figure out what was going on.

I'm sure I'll be hearing from President Bush any day now so that I can be on his spiritual advisory board :)

Don't Waste Your Life

There's a fantastic little book called Don't Waste Your Life written by John Piper that I would like to recommend to everybody. In the end you don't want your life to be wasted. This book does a good job helping you see the right perspective on living this life so that you don't waste it.

Here's the website by the same name. On the website you can order a paper copy of the book or you can download a .pdf of the book for free, and they've got some great little video podcasts that come out about once per week.

Happy reading. If you've already read this book, what do you think???

Dove Awards

Chris Tomlin won 6 Dove Awards this week. Here's a quote (from Baptist Press) by Tomlin about all his awards.

"I am overwhelmed by the whole thing," said Tomlin, who deflected the praise. "I am grateful for the honors, but at the end of the day that's not what impresses God.... He must increase and I must decrease. I know this is nothing that I do; I just know that the presence and favor of God is with me."

Let me stir the pot a little bit.

I'm really glad for Tomlin's remarks, but still, I've never really been a fan of the Dove Awards b/c there's nothing like a bunch of Christians getting together on national TV and awarding and honoring themselves.

Let's just try one passage on for size, Luke 17:7-10 (ESV)...

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Any thoughts??? Don't be too hard on me.

Praying for the Rosolowski's

FBC Smithville has been looking for a music and worship pastor. We've found a fantastic couple...Anthony and Jackie Rosolowski. Could I ask you all to be praying for them as they begin to make their way in our direction? They live in Raleigh, NC right now as Anthony is finishing up at Southeastern Baptist Seminary.

They'll be spending the weekend of May 4th-6th with us, and our church will vote to call them here on Sunday, May 6. I remember how nervous I was during the time Emily and I were doing the same thing last summer to come here and pastor.

So, pray that God will work all things out smoothly for them and that this will be a fantastic time of joy and peace for FBC Smithville.

Between Two Worlds (ch. 2)

Chapter 2 – Contemporary Objections to Preaching

Stott lists the 3 primary objections to preaching in today’s world…the anti-authority mood, TV, and a contemporary atmosphere of doubt

• The Anti-Authority Mood

• Thesis of this point is that we live in a time with an unprecedented level of questioning the authorities that be. I agree with this. Stott offers a Christian response to the anti authority mood. Here are a few…

• We need to remember the nature of humanity. We have always been in rebellion. That does not mean preaching is useless.

• We need to remember the doctrine of revelation. He writes quoting another author, “A sermon by its very nature is a revelation, not an exhortation.” I could not disagree more. I think the Scriptures are the complete revelation of God, and our sermons are based on the revelation of God but are not themselves revelation. The purpose of a sermon is life change, exhortation.

• We need to remember the locus of authority. Preachers themselves are not the authority…the Word of God is.

• We need to remember the dialogical character of preaching. Preaching should be a silent dialogue between the preacher and congregation. As the sermon raises questions in the mind of the congregation the preacher should know his audience well enough to be aware of those questions ahead of time and attempt to answer them.

• TV’s ill affects on listening to sermons. Two of his main points about TV and its affect on preaching…

• TV tends to make people intellectually uncritical. This is the critical point…the inability to engage by thinking. I think this is so true. TV is too easy to consume. You only need the intelligence of a lump of mashed potatoes. On the other hand, it takes hard work to dive into the Scriptures. Speaking about the preacher’s need to reckon with their audience, Stott writes, “We can no longer assume that people either want to listen to sermons, or are indeed able to listen.” Wow.

• TV tends to make people morally disordered. Stott writes, “…our understanding of what is ‘normal’ begins to be modified. Under the impression that ‘everybody does it’, and that nobody nowadays believes much in God or in absolutes of truth and goodness, our defenses are lowered and our values imperceptibly altered.”

• Contemporary atmosphere of doubt
  

• Stott writes, “The contemporary loss of confidence in the gospel is the most basic of all hindrances to preaching.”

• He compares the current situation to the apostle Paul’s statement about the gospel in Romans 1:14-16 (under obligation, eager, not ashamed) by writing, “At present the church’s attitude to evangelism might be summarized in exactly contrary terms: ‘no enthusiasm, little sense of obligation, and considerable embarrassment.’”

• Stott offers a handful of solutions. His first is that we need to distinguish between the terms assurance, conviction, presumption and bigotry. I think this is critical b/c it is a good and right thing to speak up when you have done your research and are indeed speaking the truth (assurance and conviction). That being opposed to presumption (speaking w/o truly researching or knowing) and bigotry (blind and obstinate opinions).

This is Hilarious...

I said in the previous post that Emily had been sick for a while...that included a lot of throwing up. During the daytime when I was at work Luke would follow Emily into the bathroom and watch her throw up. So the other day Luke and I were in the bathroom and he walks over to the toilet, bends over, makes a big throw up sound, and then looks up at me and laughs.

We can now ask Luke, "What does mommy do when she gets sick?" and in response Luke will look at you and make the throw up sound. Yes...our son now walks around the house making a pukeing noise.

Don't ever believe that your kids aren't learning as they watch you.

I'm Back for One Post

I haven't posted for a while b/c there has been a ton of sickness in our family lately. Luke is actually doing better. You can pray for Emily. She's doing better but she's lost 12 pounds in the past week from her sickness.

I'll be out for about another week b/c Emily is going to a pastor's wives conference in Dallas, and I'll have Luke for 5 days by myself.

Quick NCAA Question

When the NCAA tournament started a couple of weeks ago I had 63 of my favorite teams in the tournament. When the Final Four started on Saturday, I had 3 favorite teams remaining. Now, 62 of my favorite teams have lost and only one remains. So here's my question...

Will somebody please beat Florida???????

I will be pulling hard for OSU (even though they beat Tennessee).

What Cars Have You Driven???

What are all the cars you have driven in your life, what color were they, and which has been your favorite?

I got my driver's liscense in 1994. Here's the list of cars I've had since then...

1989 Mazda 626 - maroon
1994 Nissan Stanza - gray
1997 Saturn sl2 - forrest green
1999 Ford Ranger - deep red
1995 Volvo 850 - green

My wife and I now have...

1999 Ford Ranger (same car as above, we traded the Volvo back and forth with my parents)
2006 Honda Odyssey - gold

Along the way, since we've been married Emily also has driven...

1996 Honda Accord - silver
1998 Toyota Avalon - white

That's 8 different cars in 13 years of driving. That's a lot of stinking cars. My favorite has been my truck, the Ranger.