On Sunday (June 4), I will be leaving to help as a counselor at Maywood Christian Camp. This is always an uplifting week and one that always seems to help our young people grow closer to God and to each other. I have been honored by being asked to help out in several ways at Maywood. I am the sports director, a class teacher and one of the evening speakers. Due to these responsibilities, I am not going to post anything on this blog for a couple of weeks. The earliest anything else will appear on here will be Saturday, June 10. I wanted to let you know so you…

I finished reading a lectureship book from the 2003 Cold Harbor Road lectures. The theme of the lectures and the title of the book was, “Equipping God’s People to Deal with Adversity.” If you have not preached or taught on such things as losing a loved one, dealing with being single, or “the Elijah complex” (my personal favorite chapter–because my brother-in-law, Jason Moon, wrote it), you need to get this book and read it. There are just 22 chapters and 283 reading pages in it, and it is an easy read. You may order the book for just $7 by clicking here. Also, you may want to take the time…

Many of you who read this blog regularly are either members of the 9th Avenue family or you live somewhat close to Haleyville, Alabama. That being the case, I wanted to remind you of some of the things we have scheduled for the summer. And, by the way, if you don’t live that closely, you are still more than welcome to come to any or all of these events (we have an extra bedroom!). First, from June 4-9, many of our young people will be going to Maywood Christian Camp in Hamilton, Alabama for the week. We always enjoy the week there. If you are thinking of going to a…

[NOTE: For those of you unfamiliar with our congregation’s bulletin “The Family Newsletter,” we produce it on Wednesday and it is mailed on Thursday. However, the date is actually the following Sunday. So, when this article speaks of “next Sunday,” it is talking about June 4, not May 28.] Next Sunday, many of our young people will be going to Maywood Christian Camp. Several of our adults are also going as counselors, and we appreciate their willingness to help in this way. But, why? Why all the “hype” over just a few days out in the woods? Why should our young people, if at all possible, decide to attend a…

The Kansas City Royals are bad. In fact, they are terrible. After another loss last night, they find themselves with a record of 10-32. They have already had an 11-game losing streak this year, and their loss last night made their current streak reach 9 games. They are, in fact, on pace to lose the most games in the history of Major League Baseball. On Sunday, one of their pitchers, Scott Elarton, had had enough. After a blowout loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, he lashed out during some post game interviews. He talked about how terrible the team was. He mentioned how that, when one part of the game…

SHE READS! SHE SITS UP! SHE SUCKS HER THUMB! And…if you ask us, she gets cuter every day!

Isn’t it great to believe the Bible? What a marvelous Book God has given us. It is open, honest, fair and, above all, correct. And it is correct from the very first verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). One of the best things about that is one does not continually have to change his view of the verse. It still says the same time (“in the beginning”) and the same way (“God created”). It’s just that awe-inspiring, but it is also just that simple. On the other hand, there is the theory of evolution. If it weren’t so serious, it would be comical…

Do you know what it’s like to be a heterosexual? How about a homosexual? Wouldn’t this be a better world if we would just talk about such issues? That was the premise behind a questionnaire given to students at Port Washington High School in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. Two teachers decided it would be a good idea to ask students to write out responses to questions about their sexuality and then discuss the given answers. They felt as though homosexual students had to answer questions every day, so why not all students? Here is the questionnaire: In case you had trouble reading it, here are the ten questions:…

On Tuesdays at noon, brother Andy Kizer is leading several members of the 9th Avenue congregation in a study of Islam. We are looking at the history of that religion as well as many tenants and facts about it. One thing we are trying our best to do throughout the study is to be fair. We are looking at the text of the Koran, not the acts of some militant hotheads. After all, we would want others to look at Christianity in the same way. The Mormon religion should be looked at just as fairly. Over the past few days, the FBI has been looking for Warren Jeffs, who has…

Over the past few weeks, you have read many articles about the upcoming release of The Da Vinci Code. Many religious leaders have stated that no one should see it. Others have said it is a good idea to see it so one will know what he/she is arguing against. A Lincoln, Nebraska, newspaper took an unofficial survey of local religious leaders, asking them if they wanted members to see the movie. The results are quite interesting, and they also show the two opposing sides quite well. To read the article, please click here. I found this especially interesting, since it came from a conservative state.