Be sure to be used

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. I've been noticing a trend that seems to be happening more and more in today's churches. It's something I've been observing for many years and only have talked to a few people about. Today's churches are really hurting from what I'd like to call spiritual driftwood syndrome. Let me take some time to explain.

When it comes to many things in life that we as Americans take part in, we tend to over do it. When we sit down to a meal, do we eat until we're full? No way! We eat until we think we're going to puke, then we unbutton our pants in order to fit those last few remaining bits into our ever expanding stomachs. It's the same when it comes to satisfying our need for the newest and best gadgets. It's nothing to walk into someones house and find a huge TV mounted on their wall and in some cases it's more than one. We tend to participate in life a grand scale.

Even when it comes to driving, going 70 MPH is not enough. We always push it to the limit trying to go as fast as we can without getting caught. I've got to admit I'm guilty of the same thing. On a side note I once heard a cop use the phrase "9 you're fine, 10 you're mine" in regards to how fast someone is going over the speed limit before he'll stop them. Since I heard that I figure those are words to live by. OK, I'll get back to my point.

Unfortunately Many Christians don't have this same desire to participate in the function of their church as they do in seemingly every other aspect of their life. These are the people that I like to call spiritual driftwood.

You know them, you see them week in and week out coming into the doors of the church walking to the same seat every week, listening to the sermon then they get up and head right to their car, leaving and never contributing a thing. Much like how driftwood starts out a Christian seems to get tossed in the the river of church soaking all they can as they float in a and out with the tide of the church. Never do they find what their God given intended purpose was. Finally after a while they are almost all but forgotten about. They sink to the bottom and never contribute or are used to their fullest like so many before.

If you're suffering form this syndrome or know somebody that is, it's time to pull yourself to the surface and star to dry yourself out. Wood always burns better when it's dry. It's time to get back to being on fire for the things of God.

Automakers and Youth Ministry

All the distress nowadays over the American big three auto makers, has really been a problem a very long time in the making. I could go into the politics of it all and how the UAW and the Federal government really hold much of the blame for the crisis that the automakers find themselves in, but I won't. Instead I'd like to focus a little on the automakers themselves and a lot of the problem as really boiled down to creativity.

Being in the Tool & Die industry, injection molding to be more specific, I've seen a lot of different car components from their concept and to be honest they are rather dull. It seems like each new part is just a poor knock-off of the previous years model. You can ask just about anyone in the automotive manufacturing industry and most will tell you that it has been a long time since any of the big three automakers have come out with anything really exciting. Sure the cars of today still do their job, they get you from point "A" to point "B", but that's about it. Think about it, when was the last time that the big three put out that "must have" car or truck.
All this has caused the consumers to look elsewhere for that sweet ride. They want a car that functions just like they always have, but they want them to have a fresh new look.
To get right down to it, the American automakers need to retool! If they don't they will just continue to loose more and more market share and eventually have to close up shop. So what does this have to do with youth ministry?

Well, teens today are a lot like today's automobile consumers, especially when it comes to the youth ministry that they are a part of. They want to have a youth ministry that provides the same things it always has. They want to know it's a place that they can go to learn more about Christ, a place where they can be served and learn to serve others. They want to know that it's a place where they know they can go and feel like they belong and are accepted. They want all of this but they want it in a new refreshing way. The type of youth ministry that their parents had, while effective, will not work for today's youth, it just won't! While the message of the Gospel will always be timeless, the way in which it is presented must be timely!

In the times we live in, trends come and go at lightning quick speeds. The attention of today's youth is being pulled in several different directions and I'm afraid that to many churches have not retooled their youth ministries. They're just doing the same old thing year in and year out, because it's always "worked". While the old methods may still get you from point "A to point"B" so to speak, it doesn't make it exciting or very personal for the teen. It makes it more of a necessary evil. Just like I know I need a car, many teens that truly love Jesus know they need to be a part of a ministry. I don't like my car, it's old but it still runs and is paid for. However I know that there is something better out there. The world has a lot to offer teens today and if we as youth leaders don't retool our ministries, we might have to close up shop because all of our "customers" have gone elsewhere.

Take some time to laugh!

We as followers of Jesus need to and should be able to laugh out loud. Forget about all the pressures that fill our lives knowing that God is in control and is with us no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. If we can't do something as simple as that, what message does that send to unbelievers? What does that tell them about or faith or the power that God has? So take 5 minutes and watch this clip from one of my favorite comedians, Jim Gaffigan, and laugh a little.

Female Rockers

Over the the last ten years or so the "Christian Music" industry has changed a lot, and it can't be more true when it comes to that of hard rock. It used to be that only the "best" bands were a bunch of "church acceptable" looking guys that just happened to play music. That's not the case any more. Today the look and sound of most bands has changed, and I must say it's for the better.

The music today is a lot edgier, harder and in your face. The cool thing is, it's more blatant about spreading the the truth of the gospel as well as the person and message of Jesus. It seems like in the past that bands would try and hide their message in order to get that bigger contract or to get the cross-over radio play. I don't think people had much respect for that. People want to know what a band is all about, what ever it may be.

Not only has the music and the message gotten better, but the face of a lot of bands has changed. Once dominated by men, women have taken over as the lead vocals of many new metal bands. I have to say, I was once skeptical of having a woman being the lead of a hard rack band. Not because I didn't think a woman could do it, it's just that up until recently there were very few and the ones that were around weren't any good. That is not the case any more!

If you like hard rock, check out some of the bands I've listed below ( in no particular order). They all have a great sound and a greater message. Let me know in the comments section of any other new bands out there, I'm always looking for new music.

Flyleaf, Breaking The Silence, Ilia, Fireflight,

Jesus Rules!

Man, I can't say it enough, Jesus is awesome! The last few months have been really hard for my family and for most families living here in Michigan. But you know, the Lord never fails. This post is sort of an extension of the last one, but I have to give praise and credit to the one who sustains.
The Lord has blessed even more than I can imagine. We sort of get in this rut thinking that blessings come in the form of money and while that is true, it's not the only form of blessing.
Blessings can come in the form of money, time, health, family, struggle, peace, hurt and the list could go on.
Yes even things that might seem hard to go through can indeed be a blessing, although we may not see it as such until after we have gone through it.
I'm reminded of the song "Count your blessings" it says "name them one by one, count your many blessing, see what God has done!" Go ahead take time to think about all the blessings that God has given you, and not just the monetary ones. Maybe even write them down. I bet you'll be surprised at the length of the list.

Gods Advice Through These Hard Times

"All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know...." you probably recognize those lyrics from the song "More Than Enough" written by Chris Tomlin. They are great lyrics and in these tough economic times, those lyrics really make me think. Is God my supply and is He truly more than enough for me? I'd like to challenge you to think about and question where does your faith rest? I know these are just lyrics to a song and are not divinely inspired, but I have a verse, three in fact.

Matthew 6:25-27 25 says this: "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?(ESV)
Lets take a minute and pick these verses apart.
First in verse 25 and 26, we are not to be anxious or worried about our lives. Our lives are compared to the lives of birds. Birds don't sow reap, save or store for the future and yet he takes perfect care of them. Then in verse 26 it asks the question "Are you not of more value then they?" Let me answer that for you, YES!!! I really like what it goes on to say in verse 27, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" There is no point in worrying, it's not going to add anything to your life. In fact in will only rob you of life. So then what are we as followers of Christ supposed to do, walk around with our heads in the clouds and wait for God to drop a big sack of money on our heads?
No way! We need to have a good testimony by working hard, being faithful with what God has given us and keep on working to further the kingdom of Christ like we were called to do.
We need to stay faithful to God, He will always be faithful to his children!

Check out this sermon by Mark Driscoll on putting preachers (preaching) in their place. It's a great message on the importance of preaching the Bible in todays churches. Pass it along to any preacher or senior church leader you know. Good stuff!

Happy Birthday PAC Man

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Proverbs 23:24(ESV)
Wow, that verse weighs very if your a dad! We as fathers are to be raising righteous and wise sons (children), but what does that mean? Well, there's no way that we can raise righteous and wise children if we first are not righteous and wise.
Romans 1:16-18 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."(ESV)
For us as fathers to be righteous and wise I think we first need to examine our relationship with Jesus. Do you have a relationship with him? If not, check this out. If so, is it a relationship that is healthy and growing?
The most important tool that we as Christians have in becoming righteous and wise is the Bible. We, like the Apostle Paul, should never be ashamed of Gods word, and these verses give us two reasons why not to be. First is in verse 16. "For it is the power of God for salvation" and in verse 17, "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed".
I think verse 17 really sums it up. The righteousness of God is revealed in the Bible. What better example of living a Godly life than God himself. We need to really know God and the best way we can do that is to be consistently in the Scriptures meditating on them and then living them out daily. Application of the Scriptures is key. You can know all you want to know about God and it will never matter if your not acting on it.
Allow me challenge those of you reading this, maybe by accident, to be in Gods word every day, grow in your relationship with Christ and apply the scriptures to your life. Then, by Gods grace, you'll find yourself growing in righteousness and wisdom.

One year ago Today Peyton Anderson Charles was born into this world. Happy birthday PAC man, daddy loves you!!!!

I love my wife!

Proverbs 12:4 says "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband..."(ESV) Crown does not even describe how awesome my wife is! God has honored me greatly by giving me the best wife and mother to my kids I could ask for. Today is Harmony's 30th birthday, we got married when she was 20, and I love her even more today. I didn't think that was possible but it's true! Happy birthday babe, I love you so much!

With Pain Comes Growth

James chapter 1 verses 2&3 talks about trials, patients, and being made perfect and complete, what an awesome evolution of the human condition.
About 4 times a week I choose to go down into my dungeon (home gym) and put my body through various trials. I've been working out for the last twelve years and I'm still not sure why. I guess there could be a few reasons for it. One, I'm a glutton for punishment. Two, genetics suck! Or three, I know that in the long run it is the best thing for my health and even though there is some pain that goes along with it, I'll be stronger and better off for putting myself through it. It really hurts the most when I'm lifting for those big gains, but I know that with pain comes growth.
Often times we find ourselves going through one trial or another and we're not really sure why. For some it may be because of some bad choices that have been made and now the consequences have come calling. Or it may be that God has allowed something to take place and some hardships ensue.
With either of these two scenarios there is no doubt some level of pain or discomfort to take place. The pain can take place in many different forms. It could be in the form of something physical, like cancer. It could be in the form of finances, such as a loss of a job. Regardless the reason or the form of the pain there is always something that can be learned from it.
Whenever we make a dumb choice and suffer the consequences for it, the lesson learned is obvious, don't make that or similar choices again. We can always learn from our mistakes. But what about those times when pain or hardship comes and we're not sure how we got there or why it's taking place?
I like to consider these times the time to make those big gains spiritually. God allows things to happen in our lives for a few reasons. One, to grow us or stretch us in our faith and dependence on him. Two, God wants to teach us something so that we might know him more. Or three, God wants to do something through us so that in the end he will be glorified and be made much of.
What ever the reason for the hard times or pain, we can be sure that it is for our good and for Gods glory. Just like with our physical bodies, we can't grow without some level of pain, spiritual growth may also come with a level of pain as well. We should embrace those hard time, know that God is in control, learn what God has for us, and draw closer to him.
I had mentioned earlier the this the verses in James 1 verses 2&3 was an evolution of the human condition. We are evolving, going through hard times, growing in our faith and hopefully becoming more Christ like. This process will continue until the the end when Christ will make us as he is. Until then, trust in God, grow in your faith and know that he is foe=rever in control.

Head Control

Last week I was in a ministry meeting at church. It was one of those meetings that lasts all day and until it's over you don't really know how it's going to turn out. For this post the content of this meeting is not important, but a phrase that was mentioned has had me thinking all week. The guy who was heading up our meeting had mentioned that he had been wrestling with some things that had to to with the ministry and that's what got me thinking.
All through middle and high school, from November to March, I wrestled. OK, here is where you can make fun of the uniforms but if you do I guess you were just not man enough to wear them.
There are many fundamentals when it comes to wrestling but there was one that was taught and then always pounded into our heads, sometimes literally. It was that whenever you were on your feet you always wanted to gain control of your opponents head. You did this by "locking up" and grabbing the back of your opponents head. From this position you had a few options open to you. You can either snap their head down to the mat, slap the back of their head with the palm of your hand, or grab at the base of their head and pull them where you wanted them to go. The first two options are mostly for intimidation and to throw them off their game. The third option is used to set yourself up for another move so that you can take them down.If you control your opponents head, then you control their direction.
A good leader will always have control over his ministry. He'll have a vision of where he wants to take it and a plan to take him and his team to the place where God wants them to end up.
Are you wrestling with something or someone in ministry? Have you allowed it or them to take control? If so, stop it! As the leader you need to lead, that's why God put you in the position your in. On the other hand, maybe your wrestling with God.
When wrestling with God everything changes. We need to allow him to have control so that he can lead where he wants us to go. We can't control God but we can control how much we allow God to have control of over our life. When you give God the control you'll find out he has some pretty sweet moves!

Hanging with Jesus in the Dungeon

Matthew chapter 6 contains some of the most well known words of Jesus. Well known to both Christians and non Christians alike. This prayer is widely known as the Lords prayer, but better described as the disciples prayer. It is through this pray where Jesus teaches his disciple how and where to pray. He warns them that they should not be like the hypocrites who pray in places where they are sure to be seen and wowed at for their high level of "spirituality". Noting that, because of the praise they receive from men, they have already received their reward.
Instead Jesus tells his disciples that when they pray they should "go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret"
I think the point that Jesus is making is that when you pray get away from all distractions. Make your alone time with God a time of quality not quantity. While God does want to spend a lot of time with you he would rather have an intimate conversation with you, receiving your praise and knowing whats on your heart than just getting a quick "hey God, how are ya? This is what I need, gimme gimme gimme."
So what does this room where you talk to God look like? For me it's two places. The first is my lawn. I love working out in the lawn, planting flowers and playing in the dirt. For living in a neighborhood my lawn is huge. It takes me a minimum of two hours to mow it (I need a bigger mower). It is in these two hours of no distractions where I can talk to God and share with him whats on my heart and praise him for all he has done for me and my family.
The second place where I get alone with God is my dungeon. Tucked away in the dark corner of my basement is where I have my gym set up. My kids are to little to use it, and my wife does not like to push metal around. So it's just me, a lot of cold steel and God. Just like when I'm in the lawn my head gets clear of distractions and I'm able to talk to God and allow him to also speak to me.Sure sometimes I'm asking God why he has given me a passion for physical exercise, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.
So how about it what does your alone "room" with God look like? Click the comment button below and let me know. Maybe we can pass some ideas around.

Be aware of the what in the road!?

If your saying, "Is that an elephant lying dead in the road" then you you be correct. I found this story on the Fox News web site, and thought it was just amazing. You can read the whole story here. Then it got me thinking, this elephant in the road is sometimes like how we find the sin in our lives. We're going along in life, things seems to be going just fine, then WHAM! We run head on into a sin that we know shouldn't be there, and actually we wouldn't even expect it to be there but it's there and it has to be dealt with! I'll be honest, I've had this problem and for me it was pride. I never really thought of myself as being prideful, but then WHAM! It hit like a ton of bricks, and I didn't realize I was dealing with this sin until it showed up rather unexpectedly.
As a youth leader at my church, and this would apply to any leader, pride is something that has to always be kept in check. We can never have an attitude that we have arrived or know it all because of the size church we lead, number of people we've lead to Christ, conferences we're asked to speak at etc.
What we should have and need is confidence. In the book of Acts when the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit they began preaching and teaching the gospel with boldness. Of course this is the same Holy Spirit we're filled with today when we give our life to Christ, or Christ saves us (if your a Calvinist). Either way where filled with the Holy Spirit and given the boldness to preach the gospel.
The only leader that's ever come along and can think he has arrived is Jesus. Yet pride nor any other sin never entered his life. He preached and taught with boldness and confidence but it was always wrapped with with humility.
What about you, is there a sin in your life that you need to take care of? It's good examine yourself from time to time.If we are at least aware of the fact we have certain sin problem, we can take the necessary steps to avoid hitting it. A sin problem can quickly turn into a huge sin problem, then WHAM! On a positive note however, with Jesus' help all sin can eventually become roadkill.

Scripture, keepin it real!

The last six weeks have been great for me as far as my Bible study is concerned. As you may or may not know from a previous post, I use the Inductive Bible Study Method when studying scripture. Over the last six weeks I've been studying through the book of Galatians, and if your familiar with Galatians you'll know that there is six chapters in it. Every week I started a new chapter and spent the whole week studying that chapter, man it was awesome.
What was also very interesting as well as humbling, was how much my own life as well as many other Christians lives resembled the churches of Galatia. We have heard the gospel, yet we allow stupid things to creep in and after a while we see these stupid things as part of the gospel. This was the case with the churches of Galatia. Paul took these churches to task for this and he also spends much of the book reminding them of what Christ has done for them and how that only through faith in Jesus can our sin and our lives be justified before God.
Like the church it's not until someone lovingly corrects us that we repent of our sin and begin seeing the gospel for what it really is and for what it really says.
What about you? Have you ever ever found yourselves adding something to the gospel that was never there? I know I have, although stupid, I'll give you an example. I thought for a long time that because the Bible calls our bodies the temple of God in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 , I figured that smoking was a huge sin. While smoking is stupid, unattractive and very unhealthy, it's not a sin. It wasn't until I actually read it in context and saw it for what it was truly saying that I realize my error. Those verses in 1 Corinthians in context are talking about sexual immorality.
Many of the reasons, as was mine, that people have a wrong perspective of the Bible is because they were incorrectly taught what the Bible says and were never taught how to correctly study the Bible for themselves. I'm sure my parents were well intentioned in telling me that smoking was a sin, but they should have just said it was stupid and left it at that.
Let me encourage you to take time and study the Bible, don't rush through it but absorb all that it has to say in it's right context.

Go Figure!

I don't care what Forrest Gump says, life is not like a box of chocolates, it more like a Rubik's Cube! With a box of chocolates you at least know your going to get something good regardless what you pick! However when it comes to a Rubik's cube it takes many twists and turns to get it figured out, then when you think you see how it's going to work out, you find you were way off. Such is life!
In my last post I told how I was just super busy with work and I was, until this week. I went from working fifty or better hours to this week where I barley have worked twenty! That is sort of the way it has gone at my shop for the last six years I've worked there. It used to totally freak me out and fill me with worry every time I would get way down in hours and have no work on the horizon.Over the last six years though, God really has taught me to rely on him and to not put so much weight in my paychecks. 2 Timothy 1:7 says that God has not given us a spirit of fear. While I'm a little scared of the unknown, I'm totally at peace knowing that God is in control and that He will work everything out for my good and His glory.
So how about you, do you often find yourself worrying about things? Things that you have no control over anyways? I challenge you to give it over to God let him work it out. I can tell you from experience, it works out better that way!

Slow down or get out paced

Man, it's been way to long sine I've posted. Life just gets so busy at times, it really sucks when you don't have time to do the things you really want to do. All summer long I've been working 55-65 hours a week, working out 3-4 times a week, running 4 times a week to stay in shape for the three 5k races I ran. Not to mention my involvement in church being a father and husband and all the everyday stuff that requires my attention. Thankfully work has slowed down some, but it has been replaced with school work. Yep as if my my life was not busy enough, two yeas ago I decided to go back to school to get a degree in tooling and manufacturing technologies. Seven years ago I received my journeyman's card in injection molding, but in the manufacturing world these days, that's not enough.
So all that to say, in all of my busyness I unfortunately have dropped the ball in other areas of life. While I still pray daily and read the my Bible, the quality of that time has gone south. So I challenge you and myself to not let the things that matter in life to take a back seat to all the busyness that we involve ourselves in. This would include our service in church as well. To many of us serve in our churches so much that we tend to neglect time with our families or our own personal time with Jesus.
If all this sounds like you, slow down reconnect with Jesus, and family. I know I need too.

Whatever it Takes!

Hard to believe but it's been 30 years since Lego Man showed up on the scene. For 30 years kids have been playing with Lego's and building castles for Lego Man to protect and spaceships for him to ride in. A lot of creativity and imagination went into building those things and today we as Christians should be using way more creativity than that when it comes to getting people into the church and ministering to them. Yep, we should be using every idea and creative way we can think of to draw people into church so that we may be able to introduce them to Jesus.
I know what many may think, "All the church needs to do is preach Jesus and people will come, we don't need to have flashy lights, loud music, and and lots of technology to get people into church, just Jesus! We don't need to offer anything but Jesus!" To that I say "Are you nuts!!" John 15:18 says "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." Non-Christians don't want Jesus, that's why they are non-Christians. They have to be told of and see their need for Jesus and know that he is their only hope. It's our job to share the gospel with those around us and use any appropriate method to draw them into church so they can hear the gospel and be ministered to. Even Jesus used different methods to draw a crowd.
Really, Jesus too compelled people to come listen to the gospel. Of course his methods were a bit different. They were timely for the culture he was in. Think about it, there were crowds that followed Jesus, multitudes the Bible tells us, and you can't tell me that everyone that followed Christ was an actual follower of Christ. No way, many followed because they knew he could meet a need of theirs. For some it might have been the need a healing touch, a meal, or a need to reconnect with a loved one that passed away. Whatever it was Jesus was there to meet the needs of people, but why he was meeting their needs, he also taught them about sin, repentance, and their need for a savior.
The mission and the message has not changed, but the means have. For some just preaching Jesus is all it will take, for others it might take years of ministering and showing them the love of Christ before they see their need for him and for others it might just take sweet technology, flashy lights and loud music. Point is, we need to use whatever appropriate means to get the Gospel out to people.

Lesson from the potty seat

Well, it seems like it has taken forever but I think that the time has come to finally say she's got it! My wife and I have been working on potty training with our daughter who turned three a few weeks ago. I thought she would have gotten it months ago, she is a really smart kid, so you can imagine our frustration. Many months ago she did almost have it, but the her brother came along and she decided she was not ready to not be the baby anymore. It took many months of discipline, correcting, and teaching, but in the end she had to decide that she no longer wanted to be the baby and that it was something that she really wanted to do.
Just simply being a dad has helped me to learn a lot more about our heavenly father. For a long time He will continue to correct, teach and discipline his children, really wanting us to learn the lesson he is teaching. Like my daughter, we need to determine the we no longer want to be the baby christian we once were, grow up, and learn the lesson God has for us.
What is it that God is trying to teach you? Are you listening or responding to his teaching or maybe his correction? God's proud of his children when we learn and grow, for many of us, it's time to give in and make our heavenly father proud.

Live it out!

Well, it's been a week since my last post, and man, has it been a busy week! Work has been crazy all summer, between 55 and 60 hours a week all summer long, and this past weekend we had our annual youth retreat. We did call it "Wilderness Weekend" but over the years it has been becoming much less of a wilderness experience and more of a general "church camp" type event. So this year we finally changed the name to "Re:Fuel".....I like it!
We named it Re:Fuel because that is what we're attempting to do do our students before the new school year begins. Just like last year it took place at Son-Life camp down in Wayland,MI. It's a small camp, but serves our purposes very well. Not to mention it's not to far out of town.
Anyways, the weekend was filled with a ton of fun as well as some awesome challenges from Gods word.
Our theme for the weekend was "Inside Out" and we challenged our students to live out their faith for all to see.We had four different speakers over the weekend, and God spoke through each one of them. First up was one of our youth leaders, Matt Lane. Matt spoke out of Psalms 19 and really challenged the students to really meditate on the scriptures and that our heart saturates our soul with what we are meditating on. It was an awesome talk.
Second was another of our youth staff, Scott Charles. Oh wait, hey that's me. I spoke out of James 1. I challenged the students to look into Gods mirror, the scriptures, and see if they are reflecting Jesus. To allow the scriptures to show them what they look like and to show them what they need to become. The scriptures as well as our faith will call us to action, either to change something about ourselves, or to serves others.
Our third speaker for the weekend was our churches new singles pastor, Jared Moore. Jared spoke out of Mathew 15. He challenged the students to not practice religion like the scribes and pharisees of Jesus day, but to have a deep well rooted relationship with Christ.
Last to speak was Jimmy Mahaney, our churches youth pastor. Jimmy also spoke out of Mathew 15 and challenged the students to take responsibility for their own hearts and to guard their hearts against sin.
God really moved in the hearts of our students this past weekend and in this youth leaders heart as well. I think a lot of times when we as leaders teach, God lays it on our hearts because it's a message he wants to get into our hearts as well. I know that was the case for me. To those of you reading this that are leaders, be very open to what Gods wants to say through you. He maybe just wanting to say it too you.
Obviously I could go on more about the talks this past weekend as well as all the fun we had, but there is a three year old standing next to me wanting to play the Memory Game......gotta go!

It's no easy task!

Ephesians 6:4 (ESV)
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)
Train up a child in the way he should go;even when he is old he will not depart from it.

These are just a couple of instructions that the scriptures give to fathers and parents in regards to raising children. As I read just these two examples I think about the magnitude of them. Think of the impact on the life of a child if you even get just these two verses wrong! My prayer for all parents is that we would constantly lean on God for wisdom and strength, and never take for granted the little life that God has entrusted to us. Thank you God for the awesome example you have given us! My I continually grow in your grace so that each day I can be the father you want me to be!

August 11 2005 @ 4:45 p.m. Chloe Joy Charles was born into this world! It's hard to believe that it's been three years! Happy Birthday Chloe, daddy loves you!

It's really about self control!

This past Sunday Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church preached a sermon titled "Is it OK for a Christian to drink alcohol?" It was a great talk about the use of alcohol as a Christian. You can listen to it here. I'll go ahead and spoil it for you a bit, NO it's not wrong for a Christian or anybody else for that matter, to drink alcohol.
Perry talks about it a bit in the sermon, but I need to echo it because it's something that I have felt strongly about for years. What he mentions is the fact that so many preachers hammer on alcohol as if it were a sin, when they themselves are so out of shape, they are out of breath just from walking up to the pulpit!
While drinking alcohol and eating are not sins, getting drunk and being a glutton is sin. This really is a heart problem. One of the fruits of the spirit is self control but when someone allows alcohol or food to take control of there lives they have given up that self control and have given in to sin.
As Christians our bodies are temples of God, we need to keep them in the best shape as we can. Perry also had a few health related blogs last week too, check them out here. We can't make a lasting impact for Christ if we are dead from alcohol poisoning or clogged veins. By the way the bodybuilder pictured above is Lee Priest, one of the best in the world.

What are you into?

I ask the question "What are you into?" for my first post because it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. For most, if not all, my Christian life I've been into a lot of different things. From bodybuilding to music, to making out with my girlfriend (now my wife), to keeping up on all the latest styles and trends. My point is is that most of my interests were purely things that would benefit me physically.
However, over the last two years my interests have changed from being self centered and self serving, to being Christ centered and Christ and people serving and there is one key factor that I can put my finger on to account for this change. I fell in love with the Bible!
Sure, I was raised in a Christian home, my dad has been a deacon for as long as I can remember, and the Bible was always present in my life. But in the last two years my faith has really become my own. It wasn't until I was introduced to the Inductive Bible Study Method, that I started to really read the Bible for what it actually says and not just taking someones word for it as to what it says and what it means. It wasn't the method, but seeing the scriptures in a different way than I ever had before that caused me to fall in love with the Bible.
The more I studied the scriptures the more I noticed my interests, thought life, and relationships started changing. The scriptures were changing me simply by reading it and allowing it to speak to me.
I still enjoy doing the things I was once interested in, especially making out with my girlfriend(still my wife), but they are in the priority they should be. I challenge you to daily read the scriptures, let them speak to you, and then act on what it calls you to do as a follower of Jesus.
For more information on the inductive Bible study method go to Thirsty Tree