Christ

the other day i watched talledegga nights. it seems like the new popular movie to watch. i really did not enjoy the movie. i really love will ferrell but was disappointed this time. anyways during the movie bobby would pray the blessing to little baby Jesus.

this made me ask myself how do i picture my Christ. obviously during christmas we picture him as a baby born in a manger. during easter we picture him beaten bloody and hanging on a cross, whose body was laid in a tomb and three days later resurrected. but there are also other ways we can picture Christ. we can picture him as a 12 year old teaching in the temple. we can also see him as a 30 year old rounding up the disciples.

we can also see him with different emotions. we know Jesus cried when he knew his friend lazarus had died. we know he was upset when people turned his Father's house into a market. we can also read that he felt alone and forsaken when he was dying on the cross.

Christ also showed human characteristics. we know he was hungry when he fasted for 40 days.

we know that before he came to this earth he was with his Father. he was there from the beginning and was involved in creating everything. yet gave that up to come to earth as a baby, obviously humble. as a baby he relied on mary to feed and change him, to keep him clean. he depended on her for life.

after life here on earth he went back up to heaven to be on the right side of his Father.

we can see him as a good teacher, prophet, rabbi, mentor. we can also see him as a revolutionary, challenger, and a leader. he was seen as a healer and a friend. we today can see him as Lord and Savior. we can see him as a God who was and still is love. we can see him as all these things and guaranteed more. at all these times there were people who followed and others who walked away. there were pharisees who confronted and disciples whom accepted. Christ was loved, followed, betrayed, denied and yet still forgave, loved and accepted.

bobby saw him as a baby. he probably only went to church on Christmas. how else do you see Jesus?

how things become distorted

st. nicholas was one who used his inheritance to assist the poor and needy. he was one who looked over the interests of himself and gave what he had to those who need it. today santa claus has come into many homes giving gifts of luxury to the already wealthy families. and by wealthy i mean approximately 95% of homes in the united states. we all own things we do not necessarily need or even want. this past november jenny and i went through and donated a lot of things to care and share; a community wide free thrift store that our church holds every year. and yet we still excess.

this year more then any other i wish i were like the kranks (movie--christmas at the kranks) who swore off christmas. they didnt want anybody to buy them gifts and vice versa. they were just going to skip the day all together. this past weekend i went to our church christmas party. it involved maybe 50 participants of the ever infamous game known as white elephant. what it should be is a time for people to come together and have community; which did happen. however what it ended up being was people swapping $5 useless gifts that will probably end up in care and share next year.

but this is what i have found out christmas has become the swapping of gifts with each other. i have a limit on how much i spend for each person whether they are family, a friend or a coworker. but i find that the person that i give a gift to usually ends up spending appoximately the same amount on me. usually on something i dont need or specifically want. what if we used all the money that we would have spent this christmas to act like saint nicholas and give it to a family that is in need. i know i do not need more crap in my house.

what started with good intentions of brightening up someones day has become a day of selfishness and desire. and if we do not get what we want we just box it up and take it back to the store the next day and exchange it for something else we do like. saint nick would be disapointed in all of us in how something out of generosity and love for the poor become so distorted.

oh and did i mention what i want for christmas. i would like a nintendo wii.

top ten christmas movies

there are a lot of great christmas movies out there. just for my entertainment and yours i put together a list of some of my favorite holiday flicks. in no particular order these are the movies that put me in the christmas spirit

a wonderful life-- always makes me reflect, this is one i watch every few years just because it is so long and somber.

the grinch who stole christmas-- (the cartoon) funny movie that puts you in the christmas spirit

the christmas story-- a leg lamp, a bb gun, and chinese singing deck the halls. this is a must every year

a christmas tale-- the muppets take on the popular ebeneezer scrooge story

home alone-- well it did take place over the christmas season

national lampoons christmas vacation--a movie to show me that my family is not that screwed up

charlie browns christmas- one of the few movies that actually tells the original christmas story

polar express- the best animation possible to show you "just believe"

elf- the combination of belief and will ferrel

and my favorite

rudolph the red nosed reindeer- taken from the popular song with rudolph, hermie, and the island of misfit toys, shows we can all have a purpose.

any body have any to add. or to just express your favorite

call for a season

this is something that i have been wondering about for quite a while. and i hope to get some feedback from you the reader. i am wondering if it is possible if God might call someone to the ministry for a season? i have talked to a few people with mixed views on the idea.

andy stanley wrote in his last book "communicating for a change" that he was not to sure if he was ever called to the ministry. but one day in his youth went to his father charles and asked if someone could just volunteer for a life in the ministry. so from that day forward andy volunteered to the ministry.

i have been in full time pastoral ministry for three years now in the form of a youth pastor. i love my job. i like doing God's work but am not quite positive that i will be a pastor the rest of my life. but if i felt the call back in the summer of 2000 after my freshman year of college, would i be doing a disservice to God and his call. that is why i am wondering if the call is possible for a season in life.

i do know that i will never walk away from church or my relationship with Christ. but if one day i decide not to be a pastor then am i walking away from Christ by leaving the ministry. would love to hear your thoughts.

how much further

many times during my childhood we would go on road trips in either the family station wagon or minivan. we would go drive hours to go see my grandparents, aunts, uncles or just to get away from the routine. when i was young or did not exactly know the route very well i would ask "how much longer." of course the answer from my parents would come with a measure of time (an hour) or length (a mile). that would shut me up until i was impatient again and asked the same question.

so many times now i ask the same question. i wonder how much further i need to go in the journey. only now i am talking about my relationship with Christ. but i am still asking the same impatient question that i did as a child?

i have been a christian for a number of years and grew up in a christian home, so i knew Christ expected me to live out my faith through works. i knew he wanted me to help the homeless and be concerned with his children dying in africa because of aids, starvation and genocide. i have observed many of my friends give of their lives to different ministries all around the world. i guess this is one reason i became a youth pastor, to live out what God was calling me to do.

but i guess i am wondering how much further still can i go? what have i not done that Christ could want from me. maybe it is because i grew up in a holiness denomination (wesleyan) that i feel this way. it is always more focused on what there is left for me to do in my life and affecting the lives around me. i have always tried to live as authentic as possible and at times that shows my failures and how much further i have left to go.

i try not put myself higher then any other christian, because we are all in different places in our journey. i just want to ask will we even know if we do arrive. i guess people in my denomination would call "arriving, " entire sanctification. but it seems like the deeper i go with Christ there is always some more that i need to give, and i just do not know how or when or if i will ever get there.

more then six years ago, the summer after my freshmen year of college i abandoned what i wanted in life (business management degree) to tell God that i was serious about giving to him what he wanted from me. i continue my life as someone trying to live out God's will rather then my own. but i still have not arrived to conclusion of my journey. is there something i am missing. i know i am headed in the right direction but it seems like i keep passing by the same place.

communicating for a change

the new book by andy stanley and lane jones is a must read for any pastor or public speaker. it is brought together by a narrative and then how to put everything that you learned from the story in a simple way. i am one who has a short attention span and almost always found it hard to follow some sermons because of all the points. the purpose of this book is for encouraging pastors to go with one point sermons. they are easier to follow and see the the connecting points of the sermon.

our staff just went through this book together. my senior pastor who has been in the ministry 35 years finds it difficult but really wanted to go with this system of preaching. i am not advocating that this will work for everybody. but his sermons are more focused and we are seeing peoples lives changed because of some of the advice that was taken from this book. so go and check it out.

pastor appreciation (oct 29th)

it started with an extra hour of sleep due to daylight savings, which is a blessing in itself. i really appreciated that extra hour, especially since we had huge wind gust all satuday night that kept waking me up. our 8:15 service was even affected by the wind as it knocked out our power within five minutes of the service starting. it was a great service without power as our worship team went unplugged and our pastor spoke without a mike. it is amazing how we rely on electricity and technology today. however when it comes right down to it the presence of God was there.

but to move along since what i wanted to addres was pastor appreciation. they surprised us with paying for the three staff and spouses to go to the gathering in florida the first week of january. on top of this we were showered with cards, gifts and baked goods. i am really impressed by the churches thoughtfulness. this gift of the gathering was not something they worked into the annual budget but was payed for by a love offering. it is really amazing that the board and the congregation saw this as a need.

just wondering what some of your churches did for pastor appreciation?

if paparazzi just asked

paparazzi have gotten a name for themselves to be as invasive as a colonoscopy. i once watched a show where some paparazzi just asked to photo the celebrities and were alllowed. this way the celebrities could allow what shot was used. it was less intrusive and the celebs had a say in it.

last sunday i was doing some prep work for youth on sunday night as a student from syracuse university came by the church. he told me that his class was doing a photo story on the town of pulaski. this was something the class would do every year. they would pick a different town and this year they had chosen pulaski. daniel (su student) told me that his job was to cover our church. he wanted to take pics on the life of our church.

so the friday he showed up with his two cameras worth approximately $3000 each and he followed me throughout the day taking pics of my day. he was there with me when i met a couple guys for lunch (he did put the camera down long enough for some pizza and wings). he went along with me as i showed him the salmon fish hatchery. i visited one of the teens who was target practicing with a bow (hunting season started the next day). he even came along with me to celebrate canadian thanksgiving. (yest i know i am not canadian, but the other two pastors on staff are). he even stayed around to photo me and some of the teens as we got together to play xbox. it was a pretty long day and both of us were wiped by the end of the day. but like i said he wanted to get the whole weekend, and this was just friday.

saturday was a little more laid back as he came over and met jenny, took some pics of her and i loafing around the house. when jenny left for work he followed me over to get some pics of me in my office. most of the day he was working on his presentation so we did not see a whole lot of each other. on saturday evening. all the towns people had a chance to see the pics as a slide show at the fire hall. there were definately some amazing pics to see. they covered the town of pulaski very well.

i have never really been followed around like that before. it was a little strange but yet fun. i am sure daniel felt a little out of place as well. but through out my somewhat reality tv/ paparazzi experience i am definately glad he asked because how weird would it be to have a guy with a camera following you around for a whole weekend. it does have the potential to be quite stalkerish. but because he asked i did not have to file for a restraining order to keep him away. so i guess this is a story written to and for paparazzi. please just ask.

our perfection is imperfection

one of my friends in college told me of a friend of hers who scored a 1600 on his s.a.t.'s. she told me that he had a free ride to harvard. not too shabby i thought. scoring a perfect score on any test is pretty good but to get through what is roughly a 4 hr test without getting one question wrong is very impressive.

joe mauer of the minnesota twins won the mlb batting title with a .347 average. which is amazing in its own right. the interesting thing about this is the best hitter in baseball only got a hit 35% of the time.

perfection is different from every angle. in academics we see it as being smart, one who can remember a statistic or fact from a time of study to answer a question correctly. what really stands out in this is our perfection is still imperfection. this guy who received a 1600 on his s.a.t.'s still doesnt know everything. he is still limited in his knowledge. as smart as this guy is, he might not have any common sense, he might not know how to give a car an oil change or fix his plumbing when there is a leak. as he is perfect in one area he still might not be able to conquer another.

joe mauer saw success with getting failing 65% of the time. i am personally awed by both of these achievements because both show skill, hard work and a sense of achievement. they have reached the top of what they were achieving for. as good as joe is he still could show improvement because he is not perfect.

wesleyans have in our doctrine what is called holiness or as john wesley called it christian perfection. as much as we discussed it in classes throughout college, it is still something that sits before me as a mystery. how does one attain it. if one does attain it does that mean i will always have it or can i lose it. psalm 119:96 says "to all perfection i see a limit; but your commands are boundless." this verse shows that perfection does have a limit, at least in human terms. it does not mean that if we are holy that we are perfect and we can never sin anymore. it only means human perfection is not necessarily referred to as 100%. it cant because it puts it on our terms, that we do not need Christ to attain perfection. it is saying that our imperfection is only perfected through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. show me a perfect human and i will still show you his flaw. show me an imperfect person and i will show you a perfect God who can use this person.

community has been talked about a lot lately as well. and as much as God will help us with our imperfections i think perfection comes out in community. where one is strong he can help out someone who is weak in that same area. everyone has their own gifts and talents that can be used. each one of us also have our own weaknesses that can be helped with someone elses strength. we will always do better in a pack, herd or group. it helps with protection, encouragement and challenge. when one is sick, someone takes care of him. when one is strong he provides strength and leadership. perfection is still limited, because we are human. however in a group things do get improve chances.

barn bash ( a week after)

barn bash continues to grow in many ways, not just in number but also in quality. we had an amazing time this year and are excited to see all the good things continuing to happen after all is said and done. we had over 1500 hundred peole at the event this year. we pumped up the evangelism side of things and had two known people accept Christ for the first time.

forgive and forget

a few weeks ago at a bible study the leader gave this quote "one's ability to forgive an offense is key to one's ability to forget." i am not sure what i think of this quote. sure i think it is great on the surface. sure we should be able to forgive and i think it is important not to continue hashing out the past by continuing to remind yourself of what this person did to harm you. but i wonder if we can possibly forget?

i think everything in life happens for a reason. our reaction to that circumstance will either build us and make us stronger or hurt us and make us weaker. i have also heard for years not to forget history or we would be doomed to repeat it. now i now this might not be a biblical concept, but why should we continue to allow ourselves be susceptible to making another mistake.

forgiveness of course is a biblical concept. first Christ forgave us and in ephesians 4:32 "forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." and psalm 103:12 "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." and i know this is referring to God forgiving us, and i know it says that he forgets our sins. but how can we as a human forget. is it possible, and if it is possible do i want to forget. shouldnt what we just went through be important enough to remember so it doesnt happen again.

this has been my mind since i have heard this, and at this moment i am not holding onto a grudge, and have forgiven those who have wronged me. at this moment i cant say that i actually remember one either. but i would like to hear from you. what do you think about forgiving and forgetting?

crazy broom lady

i have driven by the same spot atleast 2-4 times a day for the last year. maybe it was that i was in a hurry and did not notice, maybe i was listening to whatever music was playing on my cd player, maybe i am just not as observant as i thought i was.

last month however i noticed her for the first time. her hair was matted and gray. her clothes were dirty and unkempt and she had a broom in her hand. she was sweeping the sidewalk. my first thought, well isnt that nice, someone taking pride in the sidewalks of pulaski. it was a couple days later that i noticed her again. this time she was standing on a bench about 10 feet from where i had seen her the first time. another time i was driving with some teens they referred to her as the crazy broom lady. i asked if she was there often. they laughed and said all the time. they said she has chased many cars off with her broom.

she has been on my heart lately as someone who obviously needs help. i am not sure where she lives but i do know where i can eventually find her. i am not sure if i will ever go up to talk to her, but it sure does show the need that is right here in our own small community.

but it brings me to this. i probably drove by her a multitude of times and never noticed the need. now that i notice the need i am not even sure that i want to do something about it or even if i would now what to do with it anyway. maybe she really is crazy and is off her medicine. but how many times are there needs in front of us everyday, people whom need help, and lives that need transformation. today i read in psalm 119:82 that "my eyes fail looking for your promise; i say when will you comfort me?"

so many people are asking this question, without knowing who they are asking it to. others might know who they are asking but are asking the wrong person. others might be speaking to God. but they feel there is no answer in sight. maybe we are the answer God is trying to give them.

free events

i was very much impressed by the conference this weekend. there was amazing music led by the likes of jason upton and ricardo. there were concerts by truce (hip hop from nyc), what i call a messianic native group ( i really enjoyed this.) it had the tribal feel, with a lot of drums and beats, with guitar. speakers were nicky cruz, harvey carey and reggie dabbs. in which i was impressed by all of them.

i was amazed with the quality. i mentioned earlier that this was a free event that ran primarily on donations. i think i will call later today to see if the finances came in or not. but i am wondering if the wesleyan church could take a chance. if they could see the need to reach the youth of our church in a low cost event or even a free event in which they eat the cost.

the church where i youth pastor has an event like this. i have talked about it before on this blog before. barn bash is an event in which our church for the most part has taken the cost of the event ( roughly $10,000 not including many donations from the congregation.) we do ask for a donation of $5 but do not enforce this. last year we collected $3000, which meant we payed $7000 out of pocket, splitting the bill for the youth and outreach budgets for the year.

personally i think an event like this that the youth pay $3500 on last year was a worthwhile investment. because lives are coming to Christ out of barn bash. this year barn bash will have 7 bands headlined by an up and coming christian band edison glass (they were at most of the christian fests this summer.) and 6 other quality bands. we will have a skate/bmx exhibition team (enemy opposition) which was featured at logos5 in boston. as well as a acoustic stage (headlined by the infamous dave rowe) hayrides, cornmaze, free food (we have a lot of food)

if you are in the syracuse area the weekend of sept 16 i invite you to check it out. reply for more info or go to www.myspace.com/thebarnbash

joshua revolution (a free youth conference)

joshua revolution was started in niagra falls, new york. today i am leaving with some teens to go to a free youth conference called field of miracles in rochester. normally free means sad and pathetic. however, when reggie dabbs is speaking and jason upton is leading worship how bad can it be? not bad for a three day event.

i like it when organizations take chances to throw a free youth event. i remember going to a youth event in december put on by my denomination that was also three days. it cost each individual about $300. maybe the wesleyans can take som notes from joshua revolution which is by the way a much smaller organization.

in a nutshell

Leviticus 11:45 says I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. Holiness is a different mindset, one that makes you set apart from the rest of the crowd. In fact that in the Greek form means set apart. Another verse in 1 Timothy 1:8-9 shares the same sentiment; “so do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life.

Do you notice how it is two separate things? Salvation and a holy life, we have already been rescued from the depths, the action; the sacrifice has already been made. This action has already taken place. This action of course was Christ dying and resurrecting three days later. In a Christians life we have already accepted this, that is how we are called Christians. The belief in these two acts of Christ.

The act of salvation is past, but the idea of living a holy life is present and future. It is our job to learn how to be a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God as it says in Romans 12:1.
This is of course not an easy task. But is definitely not unreachable. It is very possible and definitely a reachable goal. God does not ask of us something we cannot be. We have to be different, set apart from the world in our actions and deeds.

Now this holiness does not mean perfection. And this is where the church has messed up. John Wesley called it Christian perfection. Not meaning that we are perfect and cannot sin within holiness. In a way it means that we are bent away from the sinful nature that we were so proned to. This is how we got termed with the word hypocrites, because we cannot live up to perfection.

this morning

i saw joe lieberman on the news this morning talking about how he lost the primary in conneticut, and calling for unity between the parties. i like this idea.

subtle sins within the church (number one)

It has been a problem within the church since before Christ walked the earth. It strikes and hits us all at times in our walk. We mess up and sin yet never even realizes that it was a sin in the first place. However that does not mean somebody else did not see it. Someone we love or someone we have never even met or someone sitting in the next pew over could have seen the action.
They look at us and say, I cannot believe they call themselves a Christian. I thought their lives were supposed to be different now. Or don’t they attend the Wesleyan church on Rt. 11; I guess they do not teach the bible over there. So what do we do about this thing people call hypocrisy? How do we handle this so we can live the example we need to in front of Christians and non-Christians a like.
When Christ walked the earth the Pharisees were the ones labeled as hypocrites and today we try to live as not to be considered the same. So how can we as a church address and rid ourselves of this stereotype.
Christ confronted the Pharisees many times to help make them understand what He was about and to tried to make their religion go from the head to the heart. What he was trying to say is that you need to be real with your faith and not to live in a way that it is all about sticking to the rules because this is legalism. You should live it out because you believe that this is truth. One of these confrontations is found in Matthew 23. So please turn there in your bibles to follow along.
Jesus in this passage warns the Pharisees of some of the sins that they are committing. This is something that might have blindsided them, because while the Pharisees knew they were not perfect it might have come to a surprise that they were sinning by living this way.
We start in vs 13. It reads “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” This shows that the Pharisees are not where they need to be in their spiritual walk. It says that they will not even enter the kingdom of heaven themselves. So you need to deal with your own heart before you can try and change others. There are many people searching for love and acceptance. They are trying to look for God but how can they find him if we are not willing to show them the way to find Christ.
I recently taught a Life studies class that was titled Sharing Jesus without Fear. The whole premise of the study was to show that we have nothing to fear by sharing Christ. It made sharing Christ come easier in everyday conversation. The first class was titled “The Sin of Silence.” William Faye the author said it like this. If you do not share Christ it is a sin. Plain and simple, cut and dry. He goes on to explain that Christ cave us a command to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” William goes on to say whether or not you are good with words or even know your faith that well, God will bless what you say because it is from the heart. God has and will continue to use everyone that has a heart to share his name. You will never lose by sharing your faith and a person coming to a decision not to follow. How you lose is never sharing at all.
The average person takes about 7 times to be witnessed to make a commitment to Christ. So Christ will use you either way. Whether it is an actual commitment or preparing somebody for his or her hopeful commitment. But it is up to us to show them the light. One of the biggest excuses for sharing Christ with someone is that they do not feel competent in their knowledge. But Christ will use our experiences and what we do know to use it for his glory.

quick update

i am back from my crazy trips here and there. over the the past 6 weeks i have been in cleveland, made two trips to maine (one for my grandfathers funeral and the other for a week of vacation) and then i spent two weeks at camp. it was the best of times and the worst of times. i have felt drained the past few weeks but am very glad i was this crazy for a while. it helped me understand a lot about ministry and what my priorities need to be. maybe i will touch a little on that in future posts. but for now i am glad to be back in pulaski to get things going for moving into the parsonage, planning barn bash, and getting ready for some new things involving commonground in the fall (we are starting an afterschool hangout, and will have two bible studies in two schools this year.)

i will hopefully be able to write more often as i will actually be around a computer for an extended amount of time.

catching you all up on my week

a letter i wrote to the youth sponsors

i am not sure how many of you will actually read this before youth tonight but i did want to send out a little greeting and to tall you what is in store for this evening.
if weather allows tonight will be an outdoor night with a campfire, roast some marshmellows, sing some songs and talk about life. this past week as all of you know has been a crazy one. it started with a visit to st joes and see the baby of shane and maria, 10lbs, all i said was i am sorry for your pain. it was a good visit as i saw where life started. then that evening came a spur of the moment trip to cleveland with bud to be with darcy and the rest of the hiltons. i was in cleveland when i received a call on thursday about my grandfather fading fast. so i hopped back in bud's car and drove home. while i driving back to pulaski i received a call of darcy's death. you never know when death will come. darci all though sick for a while just went to cleveland for a routine checkup. while there they put her under for a procedure and she never woke up from coma.friday i left pulaski for northern maine and arrived at the nursing home about 9:30pm. i couldnt believe that the man lying in the bed was my grandather. he had lost about 50 lbs and was very frail. i stayed the night there and woke up every now and then and could tell he was still breathing. the next morning we had breakfast and could tell that he was fading. his complexion started turning almost green and his breaths getting farther apart. as i held his hand he passed away. this was the first time i had ever been in the same room when someone had died. what now layed infront of me was someone mortal but i knew everything immortal about my grandfather was rejoicing up in heaven.tonight i am going to address all three people read ecclesiastes 3 as well as 1 corinthians 13:5 and tells you to examine yourself to see if your life is where it should be.

ministry in the small town

i am going to try and write this blog in a way that tries not to be judgmental and to say that one church is better then another. i am going to attempt to show that ministry in the small town while not for everyone is fitting for jenny and myself.

as soon as we arrived here 10 months ago i noticed that people knew about our church already. our church is known for a few different areas.
1. tlc-this is the preschool that our church offers. there are about 50 3-4 year olds that run around here being taught by 5 teachers. many of these families do not attend church here but many have enrolled there kids in tlc and have started to attend because of this event.
2. care-n-share-the weekend before thanksgiving we have a free thrift store. almost all that attend this are not from our church.
3. barn bash- music festival that attracted 1500 this past year

these are just three things that we are known for in our community. now in the city, even in a small city like greenville sc there are a multitude of churches (granted it is in the bible belt) so it is harder to distinguish one church from the other. with having churches on every corner it is a little harder to convince someone to come to yours. in pulaski we do not have that problem. with as much outreach as we do. more people come here from word of mouth.

small town ministry in a way is like cheers; everybody knows your name. it is easier to run into someone that you know in a small town.

as for youth ministry, i doubt there there is a teen at pulaski high school that does not know my face and maybe possibly my name. with about 500 students 7-12 grade. it is easier for me to distinguish them as well. in greenville each high school i went into had about 2000 students 9-12. therefore in pulaski it is easier to pick out a face, establish a relationship with this student and see him on a regular basis even though he does not attend church.

small town does not take away the ministry possibilities. there is a community food bank. we as a church have partnered with it rather then having a pantry of our own because people in our area are more apt to go to the food bank anyway. same idea with clothing. we even though not in the inner city still have many people living in poverty right here. the job market here is not the best, and the jobs that are available are minimum wage.

so while one might think that the small town is an exciting place to be in ministry, it suits me perfectly.

country vs city

fields of grass vs localized parks
being able to see the stars vs not being able to see through the fog and lights of the city
back yards vs no yards
lower rent for house vs higher rent for studio apartment
walking on trails vs walking on sidewalk

living in a small town of 5,000 for some feels like the last thing in the world they would want to put up with. but for me i belong in a small town. i flourish in a small town. i have everything i need in a small town groceries, gas, bank, library and the church. not that big cities do not provide everything as well but for me why drive into the city when i have everything i need?

a lot of people talk about simplifying life. i think for me when you take the city schedule of the high paced always needing to be somewhere you are not was the best thing that ever happened. i do not feel as rushed or stressed but yet i still get done the things that need to be finished and more. for me this is what country life is all about. and if i ever do want the city well syracuse is not to far away.

next time: ministry in the small town

rural life

in the past six months a lot of my friends have written blogs on why they like the city. well today i would like to write on why i prefer small town living. it might go back to the fact that i grew up in a small town. however back then i craved to live in the city. i would go to visit boston and would long to live there. i liked the idea of having everything you need right around the corner including fenway park. i liked the sense of having choices. what do you want to eat? what would you like to do this afternoon?

everything in the small town seemed mundane and boring while the city seemed full of adventure and things to explore. when i looked at college i considered boston but settled on midwest college in a town of approximately 30,000. while i was there, it seemed there were many trips to indianapolis because there were things to do. we could watch the pacers, walk down by the canal, and just have fun goofing off.

when i graduated i went to greenville, sc. a city of about 50,000 but with the surrounding communities was more 300,000. i enjoyed the city life and while it wasnt boston, chicago or los angeles had a lot of opportunities. and of course atlanta and charlotte were between 1.5 and 2.5 hrs drive. this allowed us to explore and have adventures that were not capaple as a 16 year old with a license growing up in a small town in northern maine.

i did eventually move away from greenville after living there 2 yrs. we moved to a small town in central new york. it was small but i new syracuse was only a 1/2 hr away. so when i longed for some city i could easily reach it. syracuse is listed at about 150,000, and i knewwould offer some fun.

i have now lived in pulaski for 9 months and the few times i have even driven to the city have been hospital visits or seeing syracuse university sports, and a couple concerts. i can probably count on boths hands the times i have been in the city. i really do not even desire to go in. i have found many adventures here in the rural life. 3 miles from where i sit typing this blog is lake ontario where i have been countless times to read, hike, sit on the beach and revel at the beauty in front of me. only an 1.5 north is thousand islands where there are i guess a thousand islands. i havent counted them but have been on at least two of them.

if i drive northeast i can be in the adirondacks in 1.5 hrs and be in lake placid in 3. just yesterday i had to meet up with some youth pastors and drove by one of the finger lakes.

today was just an explanation of my surroundings. later i will talk about what i enjoy other then sites about small town living and part 3 will address what i like about small town ministry.

serving what

let me suggest an idea in the form of a question. i feel that is what i do best. alot of questions perplex my mind from day to day but one that has really been penetrating there for quite some time has been this. are we serving the church or are we serving Christ by serving in the church?

the first part of the question (serving the church) asks us essentially what our motives are for working in the nursery, being an usher or on the church board. are we there to help build the church up and have a great name in the community because of the different events and programming our church has.

or because of our love and devotion for Christ we want to help in the church because we want to see more people believe and love Him as well.

the first part can be dangerous because we are putting something in front of Christ. it becomes idolistic. but one has to ask themselves this question from time to time for a check of accountability because so many times we get caught up in all the things that are going on around us, we forget about the things that are being orchestrated from above us.

God does want us to serve people, it is seen throughout scripture. but many non-christians are doing so much in the world in the same way as Christians do. if we are not serving Christ and with Christ then i wonder what we will say we can do next without Christ.

stats on new orleans

1,000,000 before katrina 200,000 after 14,000 used to live in the lower 9th ward, now only 6, i talked to two of them 108 square miles of flood damage new orleans did not flood until about 24 hrs later because there was no one to work the pumpstations it was flooded with anywhere from 1-21 feet of water people there consider it a man made disaster not a natural disaster there are officially 1,600 death from the storm and still many missing there were more deaths by suicide after the storm homes that were going for $500,000 can now be bought for $70,000

if you want a job you could easily have one: burger king is offering a $10,000 sign on bonus if you agree to work for a year, plus $10 an hour and benefits. olive garden is paying $14 an hour plus tips. i do not think i saw a business without a help wanted sign. but even if they find all the workers who will be there customers. stores close for the most part by 7 pm.

if the federal government gave every family $200,000 to rebuild it would of cost less then the rebuilding to date and that number is still growing.

family of faith community church lost their pastor who became ds over texas/louisiana 2 month before the hurricane hit. they were still looking for a pastor to replace him when katrina hit. it just restarted in mid february and had 47 people on easter sunday. most of which never attended church before. in the two month pastor dale munsell has led 8 people to Christ and awesome things are happening each day. while we were there brian gave his heart to Christ and has since started taking his grown children to church. God is doing some amazing things down there.

my trip to the warzone

friday--i couldnt sleep tonight. i was anxiously awaiting my alarm clock for 5am so i could get up and meet the team at the church to leave for new orleans. little did i know what i was getting myself into.

saturday--we arrived in new orleans about 4 pm and as we drove to the church the fema trailers stuck out. there were so many of them. they looked bigger on tv and yet it has been 8 months since the storm people were living in them, and will continue for quite some time. today i have hear stories of how it was a man made disaster (as viewed by the residents of new orleans) because the drain pipes were not turned on and working coreectly. i have found myself unusually quiet just taking in the sights and sounds of everything around me.

sunday--we drove around and saw more desolation. neighborhoods destroyed and neighbors have long left this city of 1 million. it now stands at 200,000. this lady showed us the levies and drove us out 7f miles away from new orleans to show us her orange grove and house or what is now and open field with a cement slab where the trailer used to be. she said the trailer was found 4 miles from the site. obviously in no shape to be used ever again.
the superdome is being rebuilt by what seemed like ants. and should be ready for there opening game against the falcons. as we later walked around the french quarter and bourbon street drunk girls kept approaching me yelling "boston" in reference to the red sox hat i was wearing. i wonder if this is real or if the boat underneath the bypass will continue to make it a dream.

tuesday--service is a lifestyle that i am still trying to grasp. even though i have spent today laying sheet rock and mudding i find myself at times missing other types of service . others find sweeping, dishes and anything else that needs to be done, but yet i sit here and journal.
today i met the couple we are helping rebuild. they were so thankful. they waitedout the hurricane in their him and it was more then a day later when the flooding reached their house. the insurance of course did not cover the cost of rebuilding. they were only reimbursed $10,000 which half went to central cooling.

thursday--the reason i came was to serve. little did i know exactly how we would be serving. as the week progressed i found playing ping pong with the pastor as serving to relieve his stress, and his family hasnt yet moved down to the area. another is one of the teens father. he is a great guy with a heart to match yet is still young in his faith. talking with him has been great for him as well as for me. he has had an outlet. the other is the family whose house we are working on. suck a great couple who have a lot of burdens. they want to take us out to the favorite chinese/seafood restaurant. one who is willing to serve must allow themselves to be served.

friday--i have continued to notice the attitude of carlene. she continues through the day and every now and then you hear her mumbling. but she is talking to God the whole time. she is such a servant. and i am seeing that this is what i need to aim for.

overall-- there has been a lot learned about new orleans, myself and the church. but when it comes down to it we just need to serve.

new orleans

i am off for a week to refurbish some home in new orleans for a week. i will see you all then. updates to come
please for the team. there are 17 going in all.

nathan

confronting (the cover up)

with each sin there is an effect. someone or something is affected because of what happened earlier. because of achan his whole family was stoned to death. because of the act that david took with bathsheba, their baby had to die. it is amazing to me to realize how far someone has to take their sin in order to deal with it.

achan buried his silver and the coat. he had to have this stuff, that he disobeyed God, in order that he could bury it underneath the tent. someone would have realized that he had taken it. so because of this he hid his plunder. he obviously knew it was wrong since he buried it. but when it was found his whole family was affected.

david's cover up was pretty harsh as well. he tried bringing uriah home from the war, but he wouldnt sleep with bathsheba. so then david sent him back to the front lines and had him killed. it continued to escalade until the baby that he had with bathsheba died. luckily for david he had a friend named nathan. nathan came to tell him about his sin with a story about a farmer stealing the lone sheep of this poor guy.

wake up calls are awesome and very prompt. i like them better then alarm clocks. every time i go to a hotel i love calling the front desk for a wake up call. nathan was david's wake up call. i always wonder how far david's sin would have gone if it wasnt for nathan. nathan was a true friend to call him on his sin.

today however we do not have many people like this. today if i approached someone about a sin in their life, they would reply "you cant judge me, you dont know the situation." and they are right, i do not. i do not know how many times they were tempted before they fell. or "i am no able to change who i am." and they are right a lot of people have storied past and have grown up in some horrible situations. or "i do not believe in mistake, i only believe in learning from my experiences." now this part i have to differ with them because if we minimize our sins to a learning experience then it is not good enough. granted i think when we do fall we have to learn from them and take with us to make us become who God wants us to be.

but when we minimize the sin to just a learning experience is there a sign of repentance? and as i have learned many times, with out my repentance there can be no forgiveness. and i think without the forgiveness there can be no idea of change and moving on from the situation.

with david and achan, someone approached and confronted them with their sin. i wonder how long they would have held onto their sin if they hadnt been confronted. i think we as Christians need to learn how to confront people with their sin, not as an act of judgment, but as an act to get things right between them and God.

so how do we do this? how do we set this example?

judas: now a book

it is still early into the investigation if you ask me. but all the buzz lately is about the discovery of the book of judas. they say judas was asked by Christ to turn him in. as i watched the news, i sat there as reporters asked questions such as "will this change what they teach in sunday school this week?" i wondered to myself the same thing. would it change? we have grown up thinking of it as a betrayal. then they talked to another "scholar" who said that the word betrayal in greek means to hand over. which i checked. it does.

it all goes back to did Jesus really tell Judas to turn him in. the answer, maybe. Jesus did tell judas that he would be the one to betray him. however Jesus told him this after judas had already went to the chief priests and agreed to turn Christ in for 30 silver coins. this would be comparable to 4 months of work.

the whole controversy with this book is that if Jesus really told judas to betray him then it would not have really been a betrayal in the first place. it would have been judas following orders.

aside from the book of judas, i wonder what he was really like. how deceptive a man was he. we have heard that he kept the money for the disciples and possibly could have stolen from that. but i wonder what was going through his mind when he turned jesus in? did he really do it for the money? was the greed in his life so big that he turned in a friend of three years? did he turn him in so he could see the prophecy fulfilled? did satan really take over his body so the judas that all the other disciples knew was totally different? these are the questions that go on in my head every so often. specifically during this time of year.

i realize this was a bad thing for judas. Jesus said "it would be better for him if he had not been born." but in the long run someone had to do it. someone had to turn the Christ in so he could be arrested and give His life for us on the cross. i am personally very thankful for the man they called a traitor. it had to happen somehow.

working hard to sin

i have grown up hearing the statement that "it is easier to sin then it is to follow God." or something to that extent. i have heard this based on the reason that it is too hard to do right and to follow God. you are never going to please Him anyway, so why even try? it always made sense to me, because while it takes an effort to follow God, you can sit in your lounge chair watching a basketball game and sin. (not that watching a basketball game is, but it could be glutony or sloth, maybe it is your thought life or you had a few to many beers.

but i want to take a look at what sin is. it can be defined as missing the mark. well if you have a target and miss the target you must hit something else other then a target, maybe it is the grass or the tree behind the target. so each time you sin you must affect something or someone else around you. this could be directly or indirectly affecting them in to how they view you.

now when you miss the mark, it can be unintentional, meaning that it was an accident or something that you did not quie realize it was a sin in the first place. this in a way is more acceptable because how can it be your fault when you were ignorant. every now and then someone will slip but it is easier to stand back up when it is unintentional because you are first of all trying to follow God in the beginning. but when you do realize that it was a sin it is still importan to confess this sin.

the send part of sin is where it starts to become hard work. intentional sin is an outright, blatant mentality that you are going to do whatever you want when ever you want to do it. this sin can be hidden or exposed. when you have an exposed sin and you do not care what others think, well that is easy. but trying to keep an intentional sin hidden can prove to be difficult.

most people i think who try to hide their sin know the difference between right and wrong. they are for the majority are the ones who attend church or have at least attended church in the past. these are the people sitting next to you in the pew and singing the same song and listening to the same message. but becuase they are trying to hide this sin from you and everyone else, they look, talk and act like you. trying to cover up something and keeping a lifestyle to match can be hard work, always hiding and pretending that you are someone you arent.

these are the people that are on your worship team having sex with there girlfriend. these are the ones who are gossipping but trying hard to not let everyone find out. this is the guy having an affair with his secretary. or driving dangerously fast on the interstate because you are in a hurry. this is the teenage guy who goes to bed a little later then his parents so he can download some porn from the internet or the recovering alcoholic taking a swig thinking that no one will ever find out. these are the teens at camp that sneak off to study anatomy. these are the ones that know the rules but blatany break them.

unfortunately they are sugar coating everything they are doing because they do not think it will affect anyone outside of them. no one willl ever find out. so what do we do when we are in this situation? or know someone else? what is it that you would do?

women in ministry

check out the stats that the wesleyan church just released on women in ministry.
http://www.wesleyan.org/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=E7B47906A5AD4EC3AE3D3ED6DA544B63&type=gen&mod=Core%20Pages&gid=6AC0E9B553C547D58F66A17866567D65&AudID=299A16BD5B604108B06C70F8A8FDACA5

in this article released it addresses the numbers of women in ministry. the question i have are these statistics good, or at least show progress within the wesleyan church? my first guess is they are not. the other day i received in the mail "the wesleyan church directory" which has addresses for every pastor within the united states. now one can estimate that there are 35 names on each sheet with 125 pages. which we can estimate about 4400 pastors in the u.s.

400 of these are women whether they are ordained, licensed or still studying for the ministry. check out the stats and let me know what you think?

my questions and biblical answers

i grew up with the mentality of "if you have a question you will be able to find the answer in the Bible."
well as i became older it was finally time to look all these answers up in scripture. and for the majority of my questions i did find answers. but there were still other questions that i had that the answers were not scripted out in front of us. or the answers became really vague.

we have the answers of "love the Lord with all your heart and to love your neigbor as yourself." this helps us put things in perspective of who or what is the most important. i also have the answer that "God created the heavens and the earth." but i dont have the answer of exactly how or when that came about. we have the answers of "do not murder," but we do not necessarily have the context of what this means pertaining to capital punishment, suicide, abortion or euthanasia.

we have come to the assumption that if we just follow scripture then we are doing God's will. but how can i follow scripture if there is not necessarily something written on certain idea's? how can i know the best case scenario? in college they told us there are 4 things that we can figure these questions out. the first being scripture. well we know that scripture is and should be the first thing we go to. but after this we can go to what does the tradition of the church say?

the more and more i look at something from the perspective of the body of Christ i see that not all churches agree with all the answers to the questions. (now i want to assure all of you that are reading that what i am discussing right now are the minor's of the church so i do not want to get to bent up on them because they are not essentials for salvation. but rather i am just trying to figure out God's heart on these issues.) or the fact that some churches do not actually have a statment pertaining to some of my questions. so i go on the quest of talking to people asking them what they think is black and white. and then trying to decipher if i am just going to have to live with the idea of there being the chance that there is a lot more gray areas then i desire.

i am one that likes being told how it is and how things should be done. it is a lot easier to figure out an assignment if there are instructions and it is a lot easier to drive the quickest route from point a to point b when you have directions.

unfortuantely life is not all cookie cutters and mapquests. but rather sometimes to get the answer we have to work out the problem on paper. we can try and figure it out but sometimes we have to settle for the unknown.

the bible is still the first place i look for answers and will always be direction i head first but i am realizing more and more the third and fourth places to look for answers are a vital part because we might not be able to find them in scripture or tradition of the church. but rather we must look in reason and experience. experience takes our lives on a journey to show us the answers. reason can take all that we gather over those experiences and shows us how we can learn from them and try to decipher what exactly God's heart is on these issues.

euthanasia and living wills

received some great conversation on capital punishment. now i would like to ask everyones view on euthanasia and living wills. what do you think?

public profession

in the town of pulaski, ny there is a theatre. i have to drive by it everyday as i head to and from work. it is an old duplex that is not used anymore. the sign however is now used for public announcments and advertisments. this morning jenny told me that when she was driving by it last night she saw a "public profession." sure enough when i drove by it this moring it read, "kathy, i am so sorry. please forgive me. john w." i am pretty sure i do not know either of these people and even more positive that i do not know what john did. but this i do know

it is hard to apologize to someone you hurt. hard, but essential. if there is no sorrow and no apology then there can be no forgiveness. with no forgiveness there can be no reconciliation. no to make an apology puplic that takes real guts. and it shows how sorry one can be to go through the length that he did to make it knowledge to everyone in town that he was in the wrong. i am positive somebody in town knows the situation and possibly more people then kathy were hurt during this event.

this might be a cheesy transition but forgiveness is out there for us all. all we need to do is apologize for our wrongs (sin) to the one (Christ) who has the ability to forgive. we are wanting that connection and reconciliation with a savior but without the repentance it is impossible.

every one of us knows when we are doing wrong. we have a thing called a conscience and with this guilt can creep up inside of us. hopefully this guilt turns us repentance rather then running away from what we know is right and can save us. this guilt can turn us into someone who believes that no one would ever save him, because he is so awful. the awesome thing is this guilt can be outweighed by grace. grace is always there for us. we have to reach out and grab it.

toys r us kid

it seems to me lately that i have responsibility. i get up every morning at the sound of an alarm clock, making me realize that i have somewhere i need to be. other wise i wouldn't use an alarm clock. i wake up in order to go to my job, a job that i love, but yet still a responsibility. i go to this job (youth pastor at pulaski wesleyan church) for more than a paycheck. although the paycheck is necessary. i need it to pay the bills. another responsibility. this past december i took 22 teens to boston and i was responsible for there welfare and to bring them back alive. i am married and need to be there to take care or annd respect my wife and love her as Christ loved the church. a responsibility that is hardest for me not because i do not love my wife but because Christ had a perfect love.

im starting to realize i am not a toys r us kid anymore. even though i still like some of the toys. i am realizing my parents are not going to be the ones to purchase the toy for me anymore. i am not sure why i am realizing this now, because for the most part i have been on my own the last 6 1/2 years. what i am realizing though as much as i have grown and changed i am still a kid.

think about it though. i think adults are just kids in a bigger harrier body. we still enjoy games. in fact it seems that i play more games now then i ever did when i was a kid. we still love to be the center of attention. admit it, deep down inside you really want to be noticed and appreciated. we still get jealous and complain about another indivual if they are the ones receiving notice. we still jump to conclusions before we know all the facts. we become emotional when things are not going our way. we are selfish, greedy and prideful. we cannot control our desires even though we know it is possible.

now along with the bad side of a kid there are some good things that i hold onto about being a child. i like being carefree, not always being weighed down by a watch. remember when you were a kid and the day just passed so quickly and before you knew it you were late for dinner. now i am never late for dinner. kids also dont mind asking questions. they dont care if it will sound dumb or that they didnt know the answer. it is just common place for them not to know the answer. they admit when sorry and are very forthcoming about what they think.

all these can be good and bad. but i wonder what actually seperates us from being a child. is it the idea of responsibility or is it more the idea of age. is there any limit to when we have to stop being children. or is it just when you have become old enough that you have a hard time pretending anymore. it was so easy pretending to be in the nba or fighting a war. but things change and the pretending has become more of a reality for us. we realize that we have bills to pay and children to feed (well you have children to feed.)

we talk about having a child like faith and making belief so easy. but now as adults we have gotten into theology and apologetics to prove to us God is in a fact real. faith is not what it used to be, but it hasnt changed, we have. faith has now become more about perserverance rather then hope. sure we still hope but now it is more along the line that we have enough faith at times that we know it will happen and yet at others we hold onto just enough of the basics where we become a child again and just believe

capital punishment

i am sorting out my views on capital punishment. please let me know what your views are?

knowing what we belive:homosexuality

The Wesleyans stance is this on homosexuality.

Human Sexuality. The Wesleyan Church abhors the trend to
ignore God’s laws of chastity and purity, and vigorously opposes public
acceptance of sexual promiscuity and all factors and practices which promote
it. The Wesleyan Church maintains a biblical view of human sexuality which
makes the sexual experience, within the framework of marriage, a gift of God
to be enjoyed as communion of a man and woman, as well as for the purpose
of procreation. Sexual relationships outside of marriage and sexual
relationships between persons of the same sex are immoral and sinful. The
depth of the sinfulness of homosexual practice is recognized, and yet we
believe the grace of God sufficient to overcome both the practice of such
activity and the perversion leading to its practice.

I am sure everyone at least knows one, or is affected by it somehow. We see it on the news almost daily. We discuss it with our friends and we try to “love the sinner.” Somehow “this sin” is ugly and disgusting. Somehow we label this one of the most detestable sins. I wonder with this stigma of homosexuality if we really love the sinner.

If we (Christians) talk about it like this we are probably turning away the individuals who are living this lifestyle. I wonder why we have chosen to chastise the homosexual, and instead of loving the sinner why we just cannot love the individual.

We know scripture. We know that Leviticus 18:22 says it is a detestable sin. But I wonder how many sins are not detestable in God’s eyes. Is there any sin that God says, “that is okay. I do not care if you disobey me and my authority.” In 1 Cor. 6:9-10 it says, “Don't you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers--none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God.” In the same line with homosexuals there are thieves and greedy people, drunkard and abusers; which none of these will share in the Kingdom of God. It is not separated but yet they sit beside each other in the same phrase condemning both. Not one is right; in fact they are all sin and tear us away from a true relationship with our Father.

I am not trying to advocate homosexuality; the word says it is wrong. But the word also says that greed is immoral. Do we point someone out as being greedy and going to hell? Well some of you might, but I do not see it happen near as much as I would hear a homosexual condemned.

So how do we as Christians accept the individual without condoning what they do? How do we not just accept but how do we love the one we know who is in the wrong. Personally I am a sinner. I know I am in the wrong and mess up a lot. I know people have accepted and love me as I have wronged God. Everyone wants grace but not the first to give it.

knowing what we believe: military service

in high school i considered military service for a lot of reasons. i even met with representatives from the army and navy but for some reason i opted not to join the armed forces and went to college instead. at iwu i met many people who served in the national guard. when i graduated i went to what is the "real world" and it seemed the majority of people i came into contact with was or had served in one of the military branches.

while i was in my junior year of college 9/11 happened i felt a longing to serve my country as som many had before. for some reason i didnt. while i saw a few friends go over to iraq and afghanistan, i longed to be apart of something bigger then myself. i wanted to help. but didnt know how i could.

a good friend of mine is now back from iraq after serving a year there as a captain in the army. he was awarded several medals showing his bravery and leadership during the war. i sit and think about the brave men and women over there serving and wonder what if that were me. i couldnt join because i have a condition called scoliosis. i have a crooked back.

i love my country and would join in a minute if i could but i also know on top of my back God had some control in me not going over there. he knew that he needed me here serving as a youth pastor and that was more important (for myself) in being a part of His kingdom serving being in something bigger then myself.

the wesleyan church takes a a stand on peace and military service and i just wanted to bring it to your attention what they do believe.

(2) Peace. The Wesleyan Church, knowing that war results in great
suffering for the bodies, minds and souls of men and women, staggering
economic loss with its legacy of debt for future generations, and the
unleashing of the baser passions of life, urges that persons and nations seek by
every legitimate means to avoid armed conflict among the peoples and nations
of the world. The Wesleyan Church also urges that holy people everywhere
pray earnestly for those in authority, so that peace may prevail (1 Tim. 2:2),
and for the quick return of the Prince of Peace.
(3) Military Service. The Wesleyan Church teaches respect for
properly constituted civil authority and the proper loyalty to one’s country. It
recognizes the responsibility of the individual to answer the call of government
and to enter into military service. However, there are those within the
fellowship of The Wesleyan Church who believe that military service is
contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and that their consciences are
violated by being compelled to take part in such. The Wesleyan Church will
therefore lend moral support to any member who asks and claims exemption
by legal processes from military service as a sincere conscientious objector and
who asks to serve one’s country as a noncombatant.

just to analyze it real quickly twc believes
1. "urges that persons and nations seek byevery legitimate means to avoid armed conflict among the peoples and nations of the world."--peace is obviously the best answer. no one wants to go to war. it should be avoided.
2. "urges that holy people everywherepray earnestly for those in authority, so that peace may prevail" we can never do this too much. we need to pray for everyone involved that peace may prevail.
3. " teaches respect for properly constituted civil authority and the proper loyalty to one’s country." i think this is one of the hardest for us. we have trouble respecting others in the idea that we are always second guessing their authority. so many people are attacking bush as if he is doing a horrible job. but i wonder what would of happened if someone else were president. we would just be complaining about him. one reason this country is not headed in a good direction is because we are not united and until then we will never go forward. and then there are others who have more loyalty to the country then they do Christ. just ask yourself where you might be.
4. "However, there are those within the fellowship of The Wesleyan Church who believe that military service is contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and that their consciences areviolated by being compelled to take part in such. " conscientious objector will always lean toward peace. and personally as much as i want to serve my country i think i would rather do it in a peaceful setting. these guys take a stand in their faith and show what they believe.
i wonder everyday if i had not had scoliosis what my life would have ended up like. but i do know i am where i am supposed to be. today if you got anything from, get this, pray for our leader, pray for our military. they need to know we are supporting them in what they are doing.

knowing what we believe: abortion

a few weeks ago i starting teaching a lifestudies (cool term for sunday school) on current events and what the bible has to say about them. since the whole alito confirmation thing is going on and 75% of the question asked of him by the senate had something to do with abortion and sunday was the 33rd anniversary of roe vs. wade i thought it would be a great time discuss the idea of abortion.

well we all know jeremiah 1:5 "before I you were born i set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world." scripture talks about how God cherishes us in the womb and had a plan for us. so easily we can assume the importance of life and to keep this sacred.

along with scripture i wanted to see what the wesleyan church had to say about abortion. this is a direct quote from the 04' discipline:

The Wesleyan Church— seeks to recognize and preserve the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and, thus, is opposed to the use of induced abortion. However, it recognizes that there may be rare pregnancies where there are grave medical conditions threatening the life of the mother, which could raise a serious question about taking the life of the unborn child. In such a case, a decision should be made only after very prayerful consideration following medical and spiritual counseling. TWC encourages its members to become informed about the abortion issue and to become actively involved locally and nationally in the preparation and passage of appropriate legislation guaranteeing protection of life under law to unborn children.

now to break it down.

1. "seeks to recognize and preserve the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death"--this i believe we can all agree with.

2. "however"--whenever however is added after a statement you know it is going to go in a different direction.

3. "it recognizes that there may be rare pregnancies where there are grave medical conditions threatening the life of the mother, which could raise a serious question about taking the life of the unborn child."--the church taking a stance like this makes believe that they are pro choice. which is kind of interesting because a lot of people in my denomination voted for bush on the sole reason of him being pro life. i wonder how critical the situation with the mother does have to be. many people i have talked to says they know someone who was told by a doctor that it would cause complications and might even hinder the life the of the mother. but these mothers carried the baby full term and there was not one complications. but by the wesleyan standard it would be seen as okay if they had chose to end the life. by trying to appease everybody the wesleyan church has made few happy by this comment.

4. "In such a case, a decision should be made only after very prayerful consideration following medical and spiritual counseling."--at least they do add the idea of prayer and counseling.

5. "TWC encourages its members to become informed about the abortion issue and to become actively involved locally and nationally in the preparation and passage of appropriate legislation guaranteeing protection of life under law to unborn children."--the church then adds this comment to show that they want to protect the life of the human child.

please do not read me wrong i like the wesleyan church and have decided to stay within the denomination to pastor but i am wondering how many wesleyans actually know this is the stand that their church takes on abortion. i wonder if parishioners would be happy about this. i wonder if this should be discussed at the next general conference.

i was wondering how many of you knew what the jewish faith says about abortion. i came across this statement the other day that the "jewish law not only permits abortion but requires it if the mothers life might be in jeopardy." they view the child as a "potential human life until the mojority of the body has emerged from the mother.

what does your denomination say? what is your view?

the goldent globes and my ignorance

the big winner is brokeback mountain. i am not sure how many times i heard this movie announced as a winner for different awards on monday night but it was definately an interesting night in my eyes as a movie pushing the gay agenda won multiple trophies.

now maybe i am ignorant, because i havent watched the movie and i really do not know any homosexuals. maybe it was a beautifully written script and had great acting. i have tried many times mot to write a blog on this movie because i hadnt seen it but after monday i feel that i have to voice my concern. for a very small percentage of the u.s. population to be able to get this much air time in the news is disturbing.

the other big winner of the night was transamerica. a movie about someone going through the sex change process. and i wonder how this is affecting the culture. many times before i have mentioned tolerance has changed who we as christians have been observed. but i wonder where tolerance will take us in the future. for something like this to be accepted is absolutely crazy, not just for the moral implications but because of the physical and emotional health. (yeah i know these same things are issues also in hederosexual relationships as well.) so this article is really not just singling out homosexaulity as wrong but the pushing of
relativism in our society.

who are you to tell me i am wrong? it might be okay for you but for me its not right. who is to say there is only one way to the Father? this is the idea that i get from our society and even friends of mine saying we need to be more tolerant and allowing of people to live their own lives.

i guess it is not for me to push my views on someone else. because most do not want to hear it. or do they really want to hear about the truth? what is absolute in our world. what is right for me as well as you to believe?

who knows? maybe it is just my ignorance?

why

many times i look at things and wonder how they were made and how they work. i wonder how a small microchip can hold so much information. i wonder how an ipod works and how such a small device can hold so many songs.

i also sit back and look at creation and wonder how, how did God create us? did he create the world literally in a week and rest on the seventh day or did he take six different days as periods of time and create us in human terms thousands or even million year apart?i wonder how scientists know the world is millions of years old and can date back a bone that far? i wonder how conservatives can prove that the world is only 6-8000 years old?

i wonder how God thinks of time. we know the bible says a thousand years are like a day and a day like a thousand years. so then i wonder how much asking of how is even relevant?i believe in intelligent design as a fact. for me this is an absolute because the word says "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." for me this is a simple belief. if the word says it then it must be truth.

for me the question the past few days has turned from how to why. for me the how is not important because it does not really matter to me how. sure God could have used science to create but i do not know how exactly he did. i believe that he did create and that is enough for me. the question is now why?

why did God create the heavens and the earth? why was it so important that he created us?

worship?
love?
obedience?
serve?
relationship?

what is it that you believe?

home from vacation

in a trip where we thought jenny was going to be able to visit home on vacation, i think we realized the all to familiar phrase "we cannot go home again," what it actually meant. it is not that you cannot go and visit, but in reality it is not your home anymore. we have settled here in pulaski. with as much fun as we had, i have seen how much our lives have really changed in the 1 1/2 we have been married. things have changed. we have changed. we have grown together in to who we are and where we now call home. indiana is now a place where she grew up, a place where we met in college and the place where we came together as one. but it is no longer our home.we were able to have a great time in indiana and today was my first day back to the church for office hrs in which at least seemed like forever. but really it has been two weeks. after logos, jenny and i made the trek out to indiana to visit friends and family members. it was a fun time as we were able to see titus, steve and michelle mowat's six month old, for the first time. we were able to see all the changes on the iwu campus. (it really seems very big now.) we visited with college friends mike and manda light.we were able to visit with family and really for the first time in 6 months, relaxed, watched a lot of football. but when it came right down to it. i missed being in pulaski. i wanted to be able to go back and share life with the teens. i wanted to be there for youth group. i wanted to watch the patriots game with some one else who cared.i very much enjoyed the vacation. it was much needed time away and time together with family. but what i am trying to say, is that is nice to have a new home. a place to experience life. a great place to be involved in a growing ministry. i love this area despite the 24 inches of snow a day and the distance from our immediate family.God really has brought us to this place, that already holds a special place in our hearts. i am only looking forward to seeing what will happen in the future. but i really am home now from vacation.

logos5:the good and the band

like a lot of youth ministries throughout the wesleyan church. it was time for logos5. it was an amazing time of growth for the group of 22 that went. 2 teens of which that made first time commitments to follow Christ. we bonded more then the previous 5 months that i had been there. i saw people stretching themselves because they knew that is where they needed to go rather than the emotion pushing them to where they were not quite yet ready.

the speakers could not have been better. maybe someone reading this went to grand rapids or orlando and you tend to disagree with me but i feel strongly that they wasnt more appropriate speakers to speak. at least to my group. efrem smith brought the word by talking about the word, hence the idea of logos in the first place. dwayne hotten talked about relativism which every person needs to hear these days. anthony graham brought truth like he always does in a gentle but in your face manner. tim elmore brought images into illustrations of our life.

the concert that was put on at logos was another story. the opening band was the worst band that i have ever heard in my life. out of the six songs they did 3 of them were covers. (the blur song "woohoo" and does anyone remember "shout, let it all out" and of course they also covered a song by the band they were opening for, pillar. this from a band who is not yet signed. when grand rapids gets three quality bands.

during some free time we hopped on the t to check out cambridge, harvard square and of all places a thrift store. (the teens found it on line and unanimously voted to go there, so we did.) we also took in a tour of the fenway park. i say the because it is unique. there is nothing quite like it. the smallest and oldest park in the major leagues. i remember growing up and going there every summer. this time however it looked even smaller then it had each previous time i was there.

it really was a good time. overall it took about $5700 plus food to go. it sounds like a lot of money which was one of the things that worried me about taking this trip in the first place. but after all is said and done sometimes it takes sacrifice to see change within the lives of the teens that you spend your life pouring into. pray with me as these teens take these commitments into the new year.