Not anti-Cincy

I'm enjoying this video from 3 Doors Down. It's not that I think it is a great song (for a great song check out the Blackstone Cherry video). The reason I like it is it was made in Cincy. So I enjoy trying to recognize areas.

Living in N.KY it is amazing how people have a negative attitude towards Cincy. I love the way that we are within 30 mins of a quality museum, major sports teams, etc.

Maybe it stems from living half my life being so far back in the hills it took an hour just to get to a K-Mart. But I love being near the city.

Sunday Mind Dump 8/31/08

*I am taking off 2 weeks of teaching SS. Paul did a great job covering for me. Participating and not leading the class is different. I really like the way people are thinking through the issues.

*AM Church -Church Dinner-12:45pm 'evening 'church. The way God meant it to be!

*Danny did a great job speaking on how the Gospel had tangibly changed his life.

*Gearing up for the big Fall Push. We haven't done something like this in a while. It's one of those things where we can do our part but if God doesn't show up it's a flop.

*We had someone chunk down $1,000 to use for our Fall Push. Amazing!!

*In the words of the old preachers, I felt that God assisted me in the preaching.

*Under the 'things I wished I could change' category: The lay out of the auditorium. It is like preaching down a hallway. I feel so disconnected from the people when I speak.

*Attendance reflected it was a 3 day weekend. Of course I have never been a fan of the preacher induced guilt of not going to see family when you can because attendance may drop. In today's society you have to see distant family whenever the opportunity arises.

*Right now the Holy Spirit seems to have the church in 'the groove'. We just need to see Him bring people to faith.

It ate my lunch

Since I turned 40 @ the end of May I decided I would start running. First, it was for the fitness. I had become extremely sedentary. Then I set a goal of running the Flying Pig Half Marathon in May 09. The amazing thing that has come out of the last few months of pounding the pavement isn't fitness or goal setting but how much I enjoy running. Even stranger, is the harder the run the more I enjoy it (after it is done). For instance the run I did this last week, a simple 4.7 miler that has a 1 mile vertical climb, ATE MY LUNCH! The first time I tried it I literally got sick and had to walk. The next time I was able to make it all the way with my lunch in tact.

It is funny how our natural default is ease, nevertheless there is nothing more satisfying than an all out challenge.

A lesson from the land of Democrats

In the honor of forthright honesty: I neither watched nor listened to the DNC speeches. What I have heard was from listening to NPR.

The strain of questioning on the Diane Rhem Show revolved around, "Does Hillary really support Obama?" You have to admit it would be hard to be a full throated supporter of someone who just trounced your decades old dream. Nevertheless, she seems to be willing to support him in the cause of supporting the DNC platform and ideals.

The lesson:

In the life of the church we cannot always support Bro______ or Sister________. But, like Hillary with her beloved Democrats, we Christians can in the name of unity and for the love of the church that Jesus purchased with His blood, minimize conflicts. We do this by keeping our eye on the greater prize. That prize is being a faithful servant who loves the church and serves Jesus through the church.

If Hillary refused to support Obama that would probably be a large enough fracture to doom the Democrats hope of regaining the White House. If Christians in the local church refuse to support one another, that will be a large enough fracture to doom the hope of our influencing our communities for Christ.

A Bible lesson from Hillary, who would have thought?

Church Planting - redeemer.com

Church Planting - redeemer.com

For anyone fascinated by church planting as I am, click on the link from Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian.

Chuck Norris is the man

A few C.N. facts...

1. If Chuck has $5 and you have $5 Chuck has more money than you.

2.Chuck has counted to infinity...twice.

3.The last digits of pi is chuck norris.

4.If you can see Chuck he can see you. If you can't see Chuck you may only be seconds away from death.

5.Chuck Norris likes to knit sweaters in his spare time. By 'knit' he means kick. By 'sweaters' he means babies.

Too good

These are a bunch or rednecks from Louisville KY. They can get after it.

The lead singer reminds me of Meat Loaf.

Partying like it was 1989

This weekend was a Youth Group reunion for we who were part of the Landmark Baptist Youth circa late 80s.

As you can imagine there were some shiny heads, paunchy bellies and generous amounts of gray represented among those of us formerly known as 'youth'.

Gone are the rockin' mullets, the fly parachute pants and bangs that stood up so high FAA required beacons mounted atop them so planes would not accidentally fly into their path.

What was the takeaway for me on the other side of the Reunion? While running the risk of sounding politcally incorrect, what people were as a youth seemed to be what they are now as they enter the land of the middle-aged. The wild ones generally looked like they lived the wild life. The spiritual ones appear to have stayed in church and now are raising their children in the
'discipline and nurture of the Lord.'

Without doubt there is the exception on both sides of that equation. But it encourages me that raising my children to value the Scriptures and the God of the Bible appears to pay life long dividends. Also, as more than one of the 'wild ones' testified, after a long hard journey God also welcomes the prodigal to return.

Long live spandex and mesh tank tops!!

10 Year Anniversary as Pastor

Tomorrow (August 3rd) I'll celebrate 10 years as pastor at Alexandria's First Baptist Church.

Reflections on a decade...

1. Fun. We have had times to where church was fun. We need to re-capture that.

2. God is faithful. I feel like many times he has held the sun still for us so that we can fight our
way through the adversity.

3. Stress has revealed my own sin, which leads to the opportunity for sanctification.

4. It seems odd that anyone age from teens down only remember me as their pastor (if they have been raised in this church).

5. The great challenge is to keep the energy and optimism level high enough to keep pushing.

6. I love what I do and I love AFBC.

7. It really is amazing at the amount of things God has enabled AFBC to do and accomplish.