Having just finished A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity by Spencer Burke, I had one thought: “The book was appropriately titled.” The book did not resonate with me theologically at all. If you hold to a traditional view of the Christian faith (I do), then you will probably find this book to be appropriately titled as well. I found the book to be much longer than necessary. Read the first 50 pages and the last chapter and you’ve got the gist of the book. Not much else to say, except that this book wasn’t for me and I definitely would not … Read More
Varying Your Approach
One of the things that I think is important is to vary your preaching throughout the year. I like to mix topical/ textual teaching and expositional teaching into the life of our church. Last year, I taught Daniel, Numbers, and Colossians. But I also taught a series on the church, marriage, and stewardship. There are some subjects that are best tackled with a topical/ textual approach. But I believe it’s important to teach books of the Bible to not only ground believers in the faith, but also to give people a love for the Scriptures. As I looked at 2007, … Read More
Money Sunday
We continued our marriage series “Illusions” as we dealt with one of the big 3 issues couples get divorced over: money. Many churches do a decent job talking about tithing (insert joke here) , but very few ever help people with what God has to say about the other 90%. This, to me is a tragedy. So I shared a very autobiographical message and talked about how as a college student, I got myself into major debt. Then through some study of the Scriptures and some very helpful Christian books I was able to gain some wisdom and develop a … Read More
Attention: Portable Church Pastors
The National New Church Conference is fast approaching. If you’re interested: I’ll be leading a pre-conference workshop on portable churches. Let’s be honest: when you’re portable, you’re starting at a disadvantage in many respects. So learn as much as you can to make the best impression on guests and the best ministry to those who call your church home. I’m going to be talking about several key issues in the life of a portable church: – The challenges of staffing a portable church (we’ll be spending a lot of time here, because it’s not the same as staffing a non-portable … Read More
An Amazing Night!
Last night we had our Servants’ Appreciation Dinner and we had a ton of our faithful servants come out to an evening where we as a staff could serve them. I look forward to this night all years long. I had the opportunity to share some things that are on the horizon for us, and to remind each of us of how important each of us is in the body of Christ. It’s an incredible thing as a Pastor to be able to stand up and see the faces of many who came to know Jesus at CF and to … Read More
Smile…
I saw the greatest sight of my life 2 days ago. I saw my daughter smile when she saw me and her mommy. Then she smiled again and again. I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s amazing! Here’s a picture of her smiling in her crib…
Condition Critical
Despite my reference to the second Quiet Riot album, it seems to me that those with the “Gift of criticism” have come out in full force lately. I’m hearing about critical people all over the place, towards other Pastors, friends, and yours truly. While I wish I could say that I’m an expert in dealing with criticism, I’m not. I do, however, feel there is a Biblical “filter” to what criticism you allow in and what doesn’t get listened to: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the … Read More
“No Joke” Sunday…
Sunday was a blast…once it was over. It was one of those ‘hard teachings’ Sundays. This week in “Illusions”, our marriage series, I talked about sex, adultery, and pornography (I figured if I’m going to drop 1 bomb, why not drop 3?). I was amazed to hear that the CD’s were flying off the shelves. I figured the only people who would want the CD were those who hasn’t heard it and didn’t know any better. But people responded to the message. It goes to show that people don’t want a watered down message. They just want a message they … Read More
Book Review: Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches
I just finished reading Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches. The book was very well done. It gave 5 areas of theology where 1 of the 5 contributors would take the lead. Then the other 4 writers were able to respond to the chapter. It was very well done. Honestly, I think this books was really needed. Robert Webber does a great job at the end in exhorting the emerging church of the challenges they face. He also challenged evangelicals to really listen to what these young leaders are saying, because many of them are saying the same thing … Read More
How We Do Staff Meetings
After posting about our all-staff meeting, I got a couple of emails about how we do staff meetings at CF, so I thought I’d let you all know if you’re interested. So here’s a basic order: Open in prayer Devotional Review Sunday (We ask 4 questions: What went right? What went wrong? What was missing? What was confusing?) We answer each question and a name gets assigned to each wrong, missing or confusing issue to be taken care of that week. This is also where we tell stories about the great things that God did over the last week. Review … Read More
