missional church award

This past Monday evening at District Conference,  The District Superintendent and our three Assistant District Superintendents awarded the first ever South Carolina District  Missional Chuch Award to myself and the Iva First Wesleyan Church for our work with Samaritan’s Cupboard.  I was both honored and humbled.

When we set out to start Samaritan’s Cupboard we never did so with the motivation of winning an award, but we look at it as God’s way of saying through our district leadership, “Keep it up! This is exactly why I have called you and set you apart, to be Jesus to your community!”

The success of this ministry is the result of three things:

1. Being teachable. Pastors, we must realize that God has placed our leadership over us to be His mouthpiece. If our leaders are truly spirit led, which I believe they are, God will guide them in thier leadership of our District churches. We must never become arrogant and think we have all the answers. On the contrary, we are placed on this earth to learn and to grow.
2. Just simply doing what Jesus told us to do. How many times in scripture does God command us to feed the poor and uphold the cause of the orphan and widow? How many of our churches are really doing this in a tangible way?
3. Empowering your people. Pastor, you are only part of the body, not the whole thing! God has given your people a vision and the gifts that accompany it. It’s a cliche, but God does not call the equipped, He equips the called!” You don’t know everything and you can’t do everything. When you empower your people it brings glory to God and the church finally functions like a healthy body.

I am pumped up about what God will continue to do through our little church. Obedience and love is the path to Kingdom building!

10 Things I’ve Leared About Golf This Summer

1. You always play your best golf when no one is around.
2. You always play your worst golf when you’re with your buddies.
3. I will never walk 18 holes during the South Carolina summer ever again. If I can’t afford a cart, I just won’t play. Period.
4. Tim Jones uses the Bugs Bunny scoring system.
5. There’s no use yelling “fore” when you play with Terrell.
6. Pull carts are a pain in the …
7. There’s no use buying expensive golf balls unless your Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson.
8. #16 at Pine Lake is the longest 178 yards I’ve ever played.
9. $10 to walk 18 holes at Pine Lake is one of the best golf bargains in SC (if it’s Autumn and there’s a cool breeze).
10. Pepsi tastes the best after 18 holes of golf with your friends.

It Has Always Been the Soldier

It is the soldier,

Not the president who gives us democracy.

It is the soldier,

Not the congress who takes care of us

It is the soldier,

Not the reporter who gives us freedom of the press

It is the soldier,

Not the poet who has give us freedom of speech

It is the soldier,

Not the campus organizer who has given the freedom to demonstrate

It is the soldier,

Who salutes the flag,

Who serves beneath the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

That allows the protester to burn the flag.

 

By Father Dennis O’Brien, USMC chaplain

Why The Wesleyan Church is Wrong on Alcohol: Part 2

A while back I wrote an article on why The Wesleyan Church is wrong on alcohol and recently received a couple of new comments. You can read the article and comments here. One of the comments was from Denn Guptill who  recently wrote an article for Wesleyan Life magazine called “Why Jesus Drank and I Don’t” . You can read that here. The other article was from a student at Bethany. I’ve wanted to respond to Denn’s article for some time but have held off until now. I figure his comment on my blog is the “green light” to finally do so. So here it goes…

• In Denn’s comments on my blog he tries to creatively use sarcasm to illustrate that maybe we should also let Wesleyan’s smoke marijuana since the Bible doesn’t address it, and it is no more harmful than overeating (as I argued in my blog on alcohol). Sorry Denn, the difference is that while the Bible does not directly address illegal drugs, it does directly address alcohol and plainly teaches moderation over abstinence, just as you point out in your own article. We can debate marijuana, but the line on alcohol is clearly drawn in scripture.
• In Denn’s article he points out that water in Jesus’ day was used for “bathing and washing clothes”, and “drinking untreated water would have been dangerous…” He then goes on to argue that the wine that Jesus drank “was mixed with water, usually two parts water and one part wine.” First of all, which is it? Was the water dangerous or not?  Remember, Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water (Jn. 4:7) Would He have asked for a drink of water if it were dangerous to drink? History shows that water was very important to the sustaining of life in ancient Palestine, just as it is now, and has been from the beginning of time. Secondly, according to the Old Testament, wine diluted with water  was considered undesirable, a symbol of spiritual adulteration (Isa. 1:22).  When the Bible refers to “mixed wine” it could refer to a number of different mixes.  Ex. wine and myrrh, wine and balsam, wine and oil and garum, and wine mixed with honey and pepper. One shouldn’t assume “mixed wine”  is always referring to water.
• In reference to the other comments, no, Deborah, we should not drink today just because John Wesley did. But neither should we require members to abstain from something their denominational name-bearer did not. (Nor did Jesus for that matter!)
• As for finding another denomination, I believe that the Wesleyan Church is big enough and intellectually honest enough to handle challenging debate. If we have to agree with every single jot and tittle with a denomination before joining, we’ll all be standing on our own islands of self-righteousness.
• Also, as a Wesleyan pastor I take my oath to uphold the membership principles seriously. I have not drank alcohol in 15 years and I will not take those who do so into covenant membership. That is why we have community membership. Although, this is one of the reasons for my argument. Should those who practice the same social customs Jesus did be considered second class citizens in the Wesleyan Church?

While some might be appalled that I would take such a stance on alcohol, I am appalled that for so long we have focused on externals such as alcohol, dancing, and movies as standards for holiness while ignoring such sins as slander, gossip, and racism.  

If we are to reach people for Christ we must be intellectually honest and biblically accurate. Anything less is ammunition for Satan against God’s Church.

samaritan’s cupboard 3/28/09

Let me sum it up:

82 people attended the worship service.

A total of 70 families were served food.

7 stood to recieve Jesus Christ!!!!!!

The energy was off the chain and God showed up in a big way. I can’t wait to see what He’s going to do next month!!

missional fervor

For the first time on a Wednesday night we had a short 30 minute service and then headed out to the fellowship hall to pack grocery bags  for Samaritan’s Cupboard as a church. We usually have about 15 or so out on Wednesday’s, but last night we had 26 in attendance with 20 of those people staying and packing bags!

The energy was absolutely amazing and everyone felt it! We picked up our order yesterday and for $85 we received over 3,000lbs of food! It required two trips and we had to store some of the frozen meat in church members freezers!

God has laid a very challenging message on my heart of repentance and turning away from sin for this Saturday . I sense the freedom from God to lay it on the line and explain that accepting Christ means rejecting sin! Many of our attendees are struggling with drug abuse, crime, and prostitution. I am going to explain to them that it is time to take a stand against Satan and his schemes, and that requires a deliberate turning away from his traps.

I believe God is going to do a mighty work this Saturday night. Pray with me that His Spirit shows up in a powerful way!!

church featured on official wesleyan website

Check out www.wesleyan.org for a featured article on our church. It is entitled Man With Changed Life Now Giving Back.

God is working in Iva!!

God keeps doing it!

For the past eight years I have used Germaine Copeland’s Prayers that avail much to guide my prayer time. They are very scriptural and help to give my prayer time spark and structure. I usually ask the Holy Spirit to pick out the prayer I need for that day, and this morning when I asked He said “Employment”. I said, “God, I already have a job. As a matter of fact, I have three jobs!” He said, “Employment”.  So I said, “okay”, and prayed. (This prayer is actually geared to be prayed for someone else).

Later this afternoon Noralee recieved a call from the U.S. Census Bureau offering her an assistant supervisors job that starts tomorrow! This is good news because my job doesn’t start until the end of the month, and FedEx has been very slim as of late. We were wondering if we were going to have enough money to pay our bills next month. We don’t have to worry anymore!

God is sooooo good! He is Jehovah-Jireh and I stand in awe of Him!

what jesus do you serve?

In His book a Generous Orthodoxy Brian McClaren talks about a picture of Jesus he always saw on the walls of his Sunday School class. You know the one, a very Caucasian looking Jesus is surrounded by children of every race and color. Some on his knee, some leaning, and some at play all around Him.

Brian says, “Looking back, I realize the illustration wasn’t historically accurate. It was influenced more by a popular Sunday school song that I also loved (‘red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world’) than by ancient Middle Eastern realities.” (pg.49)

As Brian points out the picture was more theologically accurate than historically accurate (except for the “white” Jesus part). But it got me thinking, how many of us worship a different Jesus than the one in the Bible?

For instance, how many of us worship…

The “Donald Trump” Jesus?

This is the Jesus that makes all of your financial fantasies a reality. “If you believe it, you will achieve it!” God wants all of us to have a million dollars in the bank, a mansion by the ocean, and a Ferrari in the driveway. The problem with the prosperity Gospel is it leaves the Mother Theresa’s of the world wondering what’s wrong with their faith? These folks forget the warning of 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”.

…”Mr. Rogers” Jesus

This is the Jesus who wears a sweater vest, smiles at everyone, and never makes anyone angry. Everyone loves “Mr. Rogers” Jesus! Unfortunately, Jesus told us that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword! (Matt. 10:34). He called some religious people “a brood of vipers” (Matt. 12:34). A couple of times He even made a whip, overturned tables, and chased people out of the temple under threat of pain! (John 2:15) Jesus infuriated people! So much so they put Him on a cross!

…Dr. Jesus

The Bible does tell us that He is the Lord who heals us (Exodus 15:26)(, but in most of our churches this seems to be the only attribute of His character people seem to focus on. Whenever we have a prayer time everybody wants to pray for Aunt Betsy’s bunion. The Bible does say we should pray for the sick (James 5:14), but nobody ever seems interested in people who are lost, addicted to drugs, going through a divorce, or waging a spiritual battle. Jesus healed many people, but every single one of them is in the grave today! God will resurrect us one day, but the fires of hell are eternal and permanent (Luke 16:25-26)!  Jesus not only heals the physical, more importantly he heals the spiritual!

…GQ Jesus

It’s amazing to me how many church aisles become fashion runways on Sunday morning. Especially on Easter! Look at sister Lola’s hat! Look at deacon Jim’s new tie! Look at little Susie’s cute little flowered dress! Then we go the other way, “How dare he wear jeans to church!” “I can’t believe she doesn’t cover her tattoo!” Our focus is everywhere but on the cross and Jesus! Jesus warned us clearly about this in Luke 20:46, “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. [47] They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”

I could go on and on, but you get the point. This Easter season we need to get back to the basics and discover the real Jesus. This comes by spending time in His Word, meditating and studying, and asking Him to reveal Himself in our lives, and through us to those who are hurting and need Him, the real Him!

What Jesus do you serve?

it’s time for some randomness

Here are my quick hit thoughts…

• Finally found some steady work! Today I was officially hired by the U.S. Census Bureau . I start training on March 27th and will begin an eight week assignment after training. My heart is still with FedEx, and Lord willing I will have a regular route again come July, but I praise God for His provision.
• I love the new U2 CD. It took a few spins to grow on me, but I am really starting to dig it. Not as good as Atomic Bomb or Joshua Tree, but so far I like it a little better All That We Leave Behind. All in all U2 continues to show their amazing creativity and talent. Favorite tracks are “Moment of Surrender” and “Magnificent”.
• We’re getting ready to gear up for the Easter season at Iva First. Spent most of today doing sermon planning (I know, I’m a little behind). I was planning on going in one direction but God’s Spirit tugged me a different way today. We have some amazing opportunities this season to reap an awesome harvest which called for an adjustment. I am really excited about what God is going to do!
• Been fighting some spiritual warfare lately. I really sensed that Satan was harassingme in my sleep last night. My wife so aptly pointed out that Satan doesn’t like what’s going on here. I got news for you Satan, you’re days are numbered, and if you mess with us your gonna get your tail whipped!
• Getting ready to watch American Idol with Noralee. It’s something we really enjoy doing together. I am pulling for church music teacher Danny Gokey. What an amazing voice and a sad but inspiring life story!
• I did a post the other day that I have since pulled. Apparently, some people really took offense. You must realize that most of what I do is TIC, and one lesson I’ve learned in life that has served me well is not to take myself too seriously. Seriously folks! Lighten up!
• Best line on the new U2 CD, ” Playing with the fire until the fire played with me.” (From “Moment of Surrender”)
• I’ve never watched “Lost” or “Heroes”, but I can’t imagine any show touching “24″. Absolutely amazing!
• And finally, let me quote Ricky Bobby quoting the late great Colonel Sanders; “I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.”