Church Life
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The Future of the Church
You guessed it! I have just spent this last weekend with about 10,000 other people at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville for the Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes Convention. And what a busy (and crowded) weekend it was! There were all kinds of schedules to remember, preparations to be made, outfits to be selected, practices for events, and the list goes on and on. It was a little chaotic and tiring, but at the same time it was just wonderful! Gathering with so many other Christians for the purpose of spiritual growth and encouraging that growth can only be described as wonderful. Since our congregation actually does the year-round program, so many…
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A Spiritual Lesson from a Dying Phone Battery
For some time now, I’ve been dealing with a phone on its last legs. (Update: after brainstorming this article, I was able to get a new phone. Whew.) If you’ve ever had to deal with that, you know that it can be frustrating. The phone would seem to be fine. The battery clipping along near 100%…until it wasn’t. In rapid succession, I’d get a notification that it was at something like 14%, then (one second later) 7%, then…dead. The other issue was that, if it got to zero, it took hours to charge back up. Once it was, I had to keep it basically plugged in non-stop so the battery…
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Growing Pains
Baxter is big now. I knew it would happen, but I don’t think I realized how quickly he would transform from the 8-pound puppy I brought home to the almost-40-pound dog that he is now. (Don’t worry, he still has growing to do – another 20 pounds’ worth at least, if his parents are any indication.) As expected, his new size has come with new challenges, not the least of which is attempting to keep the truly insane amount of hair he sheds off of the furniture. It is much harder to keep up with him running, much more of a challenge to keep him from reaching things on shelves…
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A Tradition Unlike Any Other
I have a lot of friends who enjoy the game of golf. I am happy for them, but I am not a big fan. I discovered a long time ago that I could get frustrated without spending time and money trying to do something that could not even remotely be described as playing golf. I do know enough about the sport, though, to recognize that there is a tournament that takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia each spring during the first full week of April. The Masters Tournament has a long history and is considered to be one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world.…
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Milk or Meat
In a recent Bible class we were discussing gospel preaching and how it helps the local congregation grow in maturity. We first looked at Hebrews 5:12-14, where the author is chastising Christians for their lack of progress toward maturity. He writes, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food…” (verse 12). It is important to back up and realize that their lack of growth is, at least in part, because they had become “dull of hearing.” A quick look at Vine’s Expository Dictionary reveals that the word…
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Thank You Lads to Leaders
Other than when Covid canceled the Lads to Leaders convention in 2020, I have attended every convention since 2001. The one that will occur this weekend, though, will be different in a way. It’s my last time to attend as a parent. Now, I went before we had kids. Leah and I helped the group from 9th Avenue before Mary Carol was even born. But since the kids were old enough to do anything, they’ve been there (Mary Carol even got one award before she could read!). We’ve watched our kids grow and mature. We’ve dealt with losing a tooth just minutes before speech time. We’ve had the kid getting…
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The Power of Prayer
Recently, I was visiting one of our older members at West Side in the hospital as he was about to go in for surgery. While I was there, an RN came in to run through medications with him and his family and make sure everything was as it should be before his operation. When she found out that I was a minister, she revealed that she herself was married to a pastor (she never mentioned a denomination) and that they had been missionaries both within the United States and abroad in the past. She got even more excited when she learned that we were about to pray together and referenced…
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And the Bible Says
A few weeks ago, something happened where I worship that I will remember for as long as I have a memory. A man taught an adult Bible class on a Wednesday evening. Before you think that I’ve lost what little mind I have, let me explain. It is true that it is not unusual to have Wednesday evening Bible classes. It is not unusual for a man to teach a class like that. In fact, a lot of things were not unusual about that particular class that evening. What was unusual, though, and what made this particular class memorable was the teacher. It was one of the first times he…
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Storms of Life
In light of all of the storms we’ve had lately, I’ve gone back into my memory bank and recalled my childhood and what would happen then when storms were approaching. We lived next door to my paternal grandparents who had a basement which opened up to the outdoors. My grandma’s kitchen was in that basement and I spent many hours there with her. As most children did in that time, I spent a lot of time playing outside. No one worried about me or the kids in the neighborhood with whom I played. That is, until a summer thunderstorm would blow up. As the clouds gathered and darkened and the…
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True Church Growth Means You’ve Got to…
Today’s post is one that is 100% for me. It’s something I know to be true, but constantly have to work on. Still, as I have talked to people over the years about this subject, I know it’s not just me. So, maybe, it will be helpful to you, too. When a congregation grows, it is a wonderful blessing. It is what God intends and what His heart desires. Each soul that is saved is now part of the family, and each one brings something unique to the makeup of a church family. What a joy it is to see that tapestry come together. However, when a congregation grows, it…
