TSO . . .

Ok, I know that I said that I was going to take a break, but I can’t resist. I took my wife to The Trans Siberian Orchestra concert at the Bi-Lo Center last night for her birthday. All that I can say is - WOW!!! That may very well have been the best concert that I have ever been to anywhere. I knew that the music would be over the top because I listen to their stuff at Christmas, but the concert as a whole was beyond description and well worth the money. The staging and the light show/pyrotechnics were way over the top. Maybe the best of all is that they made it snow in the Bi-Lo Center – way cool!!! TSO played for a solid 2 ½ hours almost non-stop. Their mix of classical music and electric instruments is perfection. These guys and girls may well be some of the best musicians around. If you have a chance to see them, go! This is definitely a show that should not be missed. I know one thing – my wife and I will definitely be back new year if they come to Greenville (she’s already asked for tickets for her birthday again next year.)
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember the reason for the season.

A break from blogging . . .

If you have been wondering where I have been and why I have not been posting like I have in the past - well it is Christmas and work at the office is crazy. My work schedule is wide open right now and when I get home I am brain dead. I have also been in my shop almost every spare minute for the last few weeks working on Christmas presents. With all that said - I am going to officially take a break from blogging until after Christmas. Irene may post if God gives her something but I am going to rest from this for a little while.
There is a series that I am going to be working on during this time off that I will start with when I get back that has something to do with the new working coming to Greenville after the first of the year. I am getting really excited about that.
Until after Christmas - keep your eyes on Jesus and quit shaking the packages under the tree, some of those are breakables.

Where in the world have I been . . .

Sorry that I have not posted lately. Between work at the office, working on Christmas presents that I am making and trying to keep up with everything else, time has been very limited. I have also been chewing on a few things here lately. I promise that I will post on every one of them in the future.
Pray for Irene. She has a horrible bad cold and has lost her voice. Going into the Christmas season this is probably the worst time to get a cold. We have a Christmas parade to walk in this Saturday in Travelers Rest. Also Irene’s birthday is next week and the gathering in Travelers Rest that we do in clown is coming up next week. Pray that God heals her quickly and that she does not give it to anyone else.
I was humble to my bones this week when I read this blog. I was humble because I’m not so sure that I would have been open to following God’s leadership so quickly. Now my prayer is that I would be. Occasionally God reminds me that I am still under construction.
I listened to Perry’s sermon this morning from yesterday at Newspring. All I can say is WOW. I do love the way this guy brings God’s word to life. If you have not heard this sermon yet you can go hear and listen.
Well, I have to get back to work. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember that you only have 21 shopping day left.

Tradition vs. God’s Word

Allen has been slack this week so I thought I’d post. For those of you who know me, know that I do not beat around the bush. Allen likes to tease me by calling me an Old Testament girl and having no mercy. Which in some cases it’s true. I am one of those “if it’s in the Bible, yep, we need to do it!” I guess it falls under the gifts of faith and discernment.

This “what if” was given to me, if one Sunday morning a person comes forward to let the pastor know that he has accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord and the pastor presents him to the church for a time of celebration. Then the pastor goes on to announce that in the evening worship service that same Sunday, they were going to observe the Lord’s Supper and the next Sunday morning, they would have baptism for the person who just got saved. Here’s the question, could this new believer participate in the observance of the Lord’s Supper? I said yes, he could participate. The person asking me this question told me that I was incorrect. They went to check their notes and asked me to look up Acts 2:41-42 . So I read it, now what? If we look at it in context of the day that it was written, Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost. There were thousands and thousands of people gathered around to hear. Most likely they were outside and were near a river, maybe the Jordan River? Yes I believe that baptism should follow accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord. If you stop and think about it, we’re baptized twice. First with the Holy Spirit and then with water (a complete dunking, not sprinkle). Neither dunking nor sprinkle will get you into heaven. Jesus set the example for us to follow. That example is an outward sign of the old self dying, being buried and being raised new in the likeness of Christ. Where in God’s word does it say that we have to be baptized first before we can participate in the Lord’s Supper? Yes in Acts 2:41-42 it says that the gospel was presented then there was a baptism service and then there was a meal. Unlike today’s time, we have to arrange for a baptism service; back then, they didn’t!

O.K. some of you are asking why are we splitin’ hairs over this subject? Well………… here’s where tradition kicks in. It’s called church constitution and by-laws. This is the church’s handbook on how to run the church. Now wait, don’t get me wrong, we do need guidelines but they should be according to God’s word, not according to the people who write the constitution and by-laws. Don’t forget, we are humans and we make mistakes too. There are churches out there that uphold their constitution and by-laws higher than God’s holy, perfect, inherent, life giving, life changing word and to those who do, may God have mercy on you.

I was born and raised as a traditional southern Baptist but as I have matured in my walk with God, He has shown to me that we can get so wrapped up in traditions that we forget about Him. God is not traditional, that’s for sure. He’s not predictable, He’s not boring, He’s not plain. He is wonderful, He is a loving and just God. Need I say more? So, what are you, traditionalist or a believer of God’s Holy Word?

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

To all that spend time reading my blog, thank you. To those that may stumble upon this blog, hang around and lets converse. You may be the friend that I have not met yet. To those that don't read this blog, well, why not?
To everyone every where - Happy Thanksgiving. Don't eat to much on Thanksgiving Day and if you do - take a nap. Shopping is exercise - you will burn it off on Friday.
Until next Monday - when I'll pick back up again with personal responsibility - keep your eyes on Jesus and be thankful - and pass the dressing and gravy.

Personal Responsibility – Part 1 – personal discipleship . . .

We need to come to the understanding that discipleship is not a program at church; it is a personal walk with our Lord and Savior – Jesus. In Luke 9:23 the statement that Jesus makes is to individuals and it is personal. If you accepted Christ, as your, Lord and Savior and are not striving to follow Him in a personal relationship daily; it is not the church’s fault or the fault of a program, it is your fault. We need to take personal responsibility for our own relationship with Christ. We need daily to be spending time in prayer. Conversation with the Lord was meant to be two way, not a shopping or wish list given in a few moments, say good bye and run. We need to daily be in God’s word. When God gave us His word, it was given for us to spend time in, learning and understanding how we are to live. We need to be saying no to our wants and saying yes to God’s. Discipleship is a personal thing.
Tomorrow we will move onto Part 2 but for now – keep your eyes on Jesus and extra Turkey with gravy for me please.

Personal responsibility . . .

Have we as Christian’s lost our understanding of what personal responsibility means? There are a lot of people in the world in which we live that do not understand or want to take personal responsibility for anything. There are those that believe the government should supply them a place to live, food to eat, money for retirement, insurance – and the list goes on and on and on. Maybe that is why we are not reaching out to the world around us the way the Bible commands us to. We don’t think that it is our responsibility to do that. Somehow we have had someone sell us a bill of goods that says that the church is what (notice I did not say who) should reach out to the world. It is easy to give money and have someone else get in the trenches and do the dirty work. You may wonder why I said what and not who. If I had said who – then it is personal and we are responsible – if I say what it is and object – non-personal. I really believe that it is a matter of perspective; even it is a bad perspective.
If you are wondering where this is coming from – well, it comes from a discussion that I had with a friend of mine that is a minister in Charleston. I told Irene coming back from Charleston – if I miss anything from when I was at North Greenville it is having people that I sat around with and talked through the problems involved in ministry. I had the opportunity to do that this weekend with two of my closest friends and I had a blast. Passion comes from those kinds of discussions. A passion for: serving God, touching the world around us, leaving a mark and making a difference.
This week I am going to try to convey what God has taught me and is teaching me about personal responsibility over the past year.

Road tripping . . .

This weekend Irene and I are road tripping to Eutawville, SC. If you don’t know where that is don’t feel bad, there are quite a few people that don’t know where Eutawville is. Just for the record, it is in the lower part of our state – northwest of Charleston. We are going down to spend sometime with our friends Mike and Karen Thompson. Mike and I are going to sit around and talk church plants Saturday. We hope to eat some bar-b-que while we are down there. Then Sunday after church we are heading to Charleston for the afternoon to meet some other friends, possibly for supper.
There is something about getting out of town for a few days that is just relaxing, and Irene and I are both looking forward to this weekend. Good friends, good fellowship and good food make for a great weekend.
Until we return – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – you never put a screen door on a submarine.

Where are you seeking praise . . .

I have finished reading through the books of Acts and have moved on to the book of Galatians. As I was reading the first couple of chapters this morning I ran across a foot note that took me to Romans 2:29. I read the New Living Translation during my quiet time right now and when I got to the end of this verse, I came upon this statement - “And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” When I read this my mind stopped and began to chew on this part of the verse. Here a few thoughts that I have had as the day has gone on and I have had time to chew on this:
At times I can be considered the chief among sinners in context with this verse. When I have preached in the past I would always ask Irene how I did. I would ask others did it make sense or was I off the mark. Now at times I wanted to know this information so that I could improve at what I was doing and at times, I must admit, I wanted the people around me to give me a little praise. Where I should have been seeking this information and this praise is from God Himself. You know, as I sit here and type this – this is a hard pill to swallow, but I have always tried to be transparent in my walk with the Lord.
I have watched adults and students stand and lead in worship and I could tell you which ones were there for the praise of the people that they were leading and which ones were there for God and Him alone. There are certain students that stand out in my mind that as I sat there and watched them lead in worship I felt as if you were almost interrupting something that was designed to be shown to God and no one else. Their praise will come one day from God Himself.
Early in my time clowning I was sitting around talking with a close friend about the praise in laughter and applause that we get during a service. I made a statement that I believe can be applied to all aspects of life – if we are only doing what we are doing for the laughter and applause, then at the end of a program we are paid in full. If we are doing what we do for the glory of God – then our praise is waiting for us in heaven. Just speaking for myself – I’ll wait to collect my praise.
One last thing – the heart of a person is revealed by the praise that they seek. If one is seeking the praise of man – has their heart really been changed?
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and your treasures in heaven.

Don’t settle for less . . .

John F. Kennedy once stated – “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.” I have a new little gadget on my desktop that pops up a new quote everyday. When this popped up it started a whole thought process. Let me expound for a few minutes.
I have the privilege of being friends with Bo and Brynda Brown – some of you know them as PeeWee and Bumper the clowns. They were given the “Citizens of the Year” award for Travelers Rest (the community they live in) last night and Irene and I had the privilege of being at the dinner. They were given this award because they offer their best to the community that they live in. I have often stated that Bo Brown was a better man than I am, because no matter how tired he is or what he has been through that day, when he clowns – God always gets his very best, nothing second rate. I have known Bo for about 6 years now and there has never been a time that I can remember that he would settle for second best. To my friend Bo, I salute you as one who always gives his best, you inspire me to offer my best.
There have been times in my life that I have not always offered my best and have settled for second. That is a dangerous road to walk down. Settling for second is easy – striving to be the best or offer your best is often hard, time consuming, inconvenient. As of this day, settling for second in my life is not acceptable. God has given me His very best – salvation through His son, the blessings of wonderful families on mine and Irene’s side, the best wife in the world, and the best friends a man could want. I should never offer Him second best.
In the future I’m going to follow this post up from the perspective of the church, but until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and never settle for second.

Reflection from a great weekend . . .

This was my first weekend that I did not have to have a sermon or a Sunday school lesson or both ready in almost four months. It was nice to kick my mind into neutral for a little while.
I spent a lot of time in my shop this weekend. About half of my Christmas projects are done. I should be able to finish up these projects over Thanksgiving weekend. Then I can see about doing projects just for the joy of it.
If you know someone that wants something that I make for Christmas, please get your orders in now. Overnight orders sometime take longer than over night.
I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year. We are not involved in any kind of Christmas production at a church anywhere. We are going old school this Christmas. Irene and I are going back to family and friends and not so much running in forty different directions. At least that is the plan, right now.
We tried to visit a church this weekend. We got there at 10:45 am so that we could be a few minutes early so that we could get a seat. Before anyone asks, we had called to get the service time. When we walked into the entry area, it was obvious to us that the worship service had already started. We looked around and found a newsletter that had the worship times printed in it. This church’s worship started at 10:00 am. We were a little confused about how far into the worship service they were so, we just left. It would have been wonderful if there was someone in the entry area that would have welcomed us, told us to what point the worship service had progressed and invited us to stay. It was a missed opportunity for the church and for us.
Irene and I spent part of the afternoon watching the NASCAR race. Generally this brings on something we call NASCAR naps. Jimmy Johnson won again. That is four straight. Is there no one out there that can outrun this guy?
I am really fighting the urge to start to listen to Christmas music. If I start too soon, it gets old before Christmas get here.
Speaking of Christmas, Irene has already started her special cleaning that leads up to putting up the Christmas tree. That means multiple trips to the attic stairs and the living room.
I hope it snows for Christmas. That would make my wife very happy.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and Christmas cakes and cookies are da’ bomb.

Oh me, what am I going to do?

As I sit here and read blogs from several different folks, the main underlying voice is worry. Yes, I’m just as guilty as everyone else in this world when it comes to worrying over things that I have no control over.

Two of the bloggers hit the nail on the head. One said, “It’s not about us, it’s all about God.” In fact, that’s the first line out of the book titled "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and a very similar comment is made in the book called "Experiencing God" by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude King. (Which if you have not read these two books, GET THEM AND MEMORIZE THEM!!! If you have read them, read them again!) The other blogger used a portion of my life verse, Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” The Message. (I really like this version!)

It is easier said than done. It’s easy for us to worry than not to worry. Satan knows that it’s a sin for us to worry and that’s why he keeps taunting us about things. Things that we have no control over. He knows that he can push that button on me and when I realize that I have given in, I stop and ask God to forgive me and give me peace over the situation and for Him to take it back to deal with it. “Satan, in the name of Jesus, talk to the hand!”

Oh by the way, worry will cause health problems. So, in order to keep your peace and to maintain control over your health, give it to God. He knows the outcome of the situation anyway!

What I have been reading lately . . .

I love to read when I have time. I enjoy reading fiction, non-fiction; books that will help me improve what I do. In all honesty, if the book is written well, I’ll probably enjoy reading it. The problem is that I don’t always have time. I have begun to try and change that. A friend gave me this book and asked me to read it. My friend and I will in the future be acting as a team. In my work at DeVita & Associates, Inc. I hold the position as a team lead. So, when given a book on working as a team, I was interested. The following are a few random thoughts from my reading this book:
It is an easy read. It is written more as a fictional story than a text book. All of the parts are there and explained very well in terms that anyone could understand.
As I read this book, I reflected on places that I had worked in the past, where I am working today and on the future. It has me thinking in a different way about team work.
One thing we need to understand – if you have more than one person working for a common goal – you have a team.
Trust in a team is foundational. Without trust, the team falls apart.

If you are part of a team there is going to be conflict. That is not a bad thing. Resolving the conflict and moving forward on the same page, as a team, is a good thing.

Commitment is a must. All must be commited or none will be commited. There will always be an internal struggle without commitment. Count the cost, commit and stick it out to the end.

You must have accountability. Without accountability, there will be caos. Holding someone accountable so that the team can reach its common goal is a good thing.
Clear goals need to be set so that there is no question about what the team needs to be doing.
I must go back to this book being an easy read.

I recomment this book to everyone that works as part of a team.

Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and are you a cause of dysfunction on your team?

Follow-up to Complicated or Simple . . .

In the post about Complicated or Simple, I started talking about the scripture that states “love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” This follow-up will be long and short together, As far as loving your neighbor as yourself; I am going to refer you to a few recent posts like this one, and this one and this one.
Tomorrow I will post about a book that I have been reading and one that I will be starting soon. Have you clicked in on the survey? If not I would appreciate it. I am curious about the outcome.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and dream of a white Christmas.

Change . . .

I have been thinking about shaking things up lately with the way my blog looks. Let me know what you think. I'd bet ( if I was a betting man) that my wife will like this layout.
Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and hot chocolate is good on cold mornings.

Complicated or simple . . .

Recently I ask a group of students if the gospel was complicated and their response was – “it sometimes can be,” I followed the first question with this – “was it meant to be” to which they answered “no.” So exactly how did we take something that is supposed to be simple and complicate it? We bind it up in our preconceived notions and agendas to the point of complicating the simple.
Over the next couple of days I want to examine this concept. Today we will start with a question (a trap that was set) that was asked of Jesus.
Jesus was once asked what was the greatest of all the commandments and He answered “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” There is nothing complicated about what or how He answered that question. God is to be most important in our lives. We should love Him with all that makes us who we are. To give Him any other place in our lives is to break this commandment. It is fascinating that we would say that we love God that way and yet we barely spend anytime with Him. We allow everything else in our lives to take up time and we give the One who should be most important our leftovers. If I loved my wife the way I often love my God I would not be married very long. You may say that you go to church three times a week – that would be about 2% of the total time in a week. Loving God is more than just going to church, reading a verse out of a devotional, and praying before meals – it is a lifestyle. It is how we should be approaching everything in our lives. People that we come in contact with should be able to tell that we are in love with God. That doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble and fall. A lot of what people will observe will be how we pick ourselves up, ask for forgiveness and go on loving God.
Next time I will deal with the second part of Jesus’ answer. Until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and try the Hershey’s kisses with hot cocoa crème filling.

Random thoughts from the weekend . . .

This past weekend was a great weekend for a lot of reasons, it was also sad for some reasons also. Here are a few thoughts from the weekend:
Friday after noon was fun. After doing a little running around, I got in my shop and finally finished a project that I had been working on this summer. During the weekend I also got a list of Christmas projects together. My time in my shop is fixing to go up. :)
Friday evening Irene and I had supper with Sam and Cookie Chapman. These are two close friends that we don’t get to see often enough. They had a hand in pulling off the first Judgment House at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church along with a lot of other people. We talked about the lives that were changed through that event and caught up on each others lives. It was a fun evening.
Saturday was good in some ways and bad in others. The morning started out with breakfast and then Irene and I were off to one of my favorite places – the Woodcraft Store. We bought some things to do Christmas projects with. I am really looking forward to hand making some Christmas gifts this year for some of our friends. While we were at the Woodcraft store, Irene found a toll demonstration and a power tool that she liked and said that it would make a good birthday or Christmas present in the future. God really did me the best when He gave me a wife that appreciates good power tools. Then it was home for yard work. Cutting limbs, and grass, getting up leaves, finding a water leak under the house. I am too old to crawl around under my house, but I got it done and at no cost for a repairman.
Sunday was both good and sad. Worship and Sunday school were both good. Last night was my last night as Youth Pastor at New Hope. After youth worship we went out to the new McDonalds in Simpsonville. The students and leaders gave Irene and me a card with Gift cards to Ruby Tuesday’s in it. If I never work with another group of students, I have worked with the best. I will miss seeing them every week, but I will always love them. I’ll see them at Meltdown in January if not before. They all have my phone number and know that they can call me any time about any thing.
This morning, with sore muscles, I am back to work – seeking to follow Christ and His leadership. Our next steps are going to be great and I can hardly wait. So, until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and the hot cocoa Hershey’s kisses are over the top.

Who’s your neighbor – Part 3 . . .

Ok, yesterday we talked about our neighbors in light of; if they had value and seeing that value in light of how God sees that person. Today we will move forward with the next step. Now we are going to look at our neighbors through the light of scripture. God says that we are to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” I know that when I placed value on the relationship that Irene and I had, when we were dating, our relationship changed. When I realized that I loved Irene, our time together was necessary to me. Understanding that, and understanding that God places value on our neighbors, we need to understand that a relationship, with that neighbor, is longed for by God. When we begin to look at our neighbors as having worth and understanding that we are to love them as we love ourselves we should want to introduce them to the most important person in our lives – Jesus, so that they to can have a relationship with Him and His Father. So how do we bridge the gap with our neighbors so that they will be receptive to being introduced to Christ? We need to build relationships. There is generally is nothing complicated in building relationships. Generally it just takes time and effort on our part. Maybe, start with an invitation to a cookout in your backyard or dessert and coffee, maybe a churn of ice cream. There is any number of ways that can lead to building relationships. Hopefully these relationships will lead to a time that we will be able to introduce our neighbors to a way that they can have a relationship with Christ.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and ice cream is good for me.
P.S. Check out the poll on knowing your neighbors and cast your vote.

Who’s your neighbor – Part 2 . . .

Yesterday we started this discussion about who our neighbors are. Today we will go a little farther. I guess my question would be; why at one time in our society did we know who our neighbors were and today we may or may not know who they are? I think the answer to that question would be – value. Do we place a value on knowing who our neighbors are? Is there value in that person or persons that live next door or down the street from you? In God’s eyes there is. There was value enough in our neighbor that God sent His son Jesus to die on a cross, so that our neighbor could have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. What we need to be able to do is see our neighbor as God sees them – as a person of value. We need to come to the understanding that God has placed a great value on each and every person in this world. Understanding that, we would never want something that we value to be ignored, forgotten, or discarded as something without worth. When we place a value in the people that live around us, then we will do what is needed to get to know our neighbors and possibly help in bringing about a change in their lives.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and go next door and introduce yourself.

Who’s your neighbor . . .

I can remember a time when we knew all of our neighbors. A time when we went to the neighborhood store or gas station – which at the time had a working garage - and people would stand around and talk. Talk was often about work, family, church, community – in short it was about life. Today I’m not sure that we know our neighbors. Life is at a dead run. We seem to only be at home to sleep and then it is off to work, school, ball games, church, and the thousand other things that we feel are important to life as we know it. We have phones, computers, PDA’s and several other ways to keep connected. Although it seems strange that I barely even know what my neighbor’s names are, much less if they have a relationship with Jesus. It seems that if the schools that our students go to everyday are their greatest mission field, then our greatest mission field is our own neighborhood and most often right next door. I’ll develop this thought more in the days to come. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and go find out who you live next door to.

What’s next . . .

To all that were at New Hope this past Sunday night and to those that were not – I have resigned my position at New Hope as Youth Pastor. Let me get a few things straight up front – I love the people at New Hope, especially the students. This ministry has seen greater growth for the kingdom than any ministry that I have ever had the privilege to lead – 10 students gave their life to Christ in the last year. Yet God has changed the direction that I am to follow and in all honesty I am really excited and more than a little apprehensive. I wonder if this is how Abraham felt when God told him to move but did not give him a destination.
The direction that God has set for me is to help start a new work here in the upstate. I have prayed over this and believe that this is what God wants me to do. This direction change will take me way outside my comfort zone into an area that I have never traveled, but have often wondered about. I have taught and preached to the students and occasionally the adults that we should be living and witnessing in the world in which we live everyday. I believe that our greatest mission field is in our own backyard. This new work will focus on that very area of my life.
I told the students Sunday night that I would be the greatest among hypocrites if I had walked away form this opportunity after asking them to be witnesses on their school campuses for the last year. I believe that the best is still in the future for New Hope, as well as Irene and I. I ask that you pray for us in our new ministry together. I will continue to blog on this site until our website is up. In the days and weeks to come I will be posting about what God is teaching me about this new adventure as well as sharing the vision of what we will be doing is the new work.
I thank New Hope for the opportunity to be the Student Pastor of a great group of young people. Irene and I are not moving and we will always be as close as a phone call away.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and follow His lead.

Who do you smell like . . .

We are definitely a sensory society. Everything we engage in seems to explode in our senses. I know that I can be walking through a crowd during the summer and smell sun tan oil on someone and suddenly I am 18 years old again and hanging out at the pool (at least in my mind anyway.) If you are wondering where this post is going – I ran across a scripture - 2 Corinthians 2:15 – that says we smell. To be exact – it says that we are the aroma (fragrance, smell, etc.) of Christ to God among those that are being saved. I wonder – do I smell like Christ or do I smell like Allen. I think the Allen would leave a stench in the nose of God, but to smell like His son would bring joy to the Father in heaven.
In a world where a lot of the commercials on television have something to do with either deodorant, body spray, or some perfume – I would rather smell like Christ among those being saved. So, until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and lets make the world smell better.

Follow-up to - Things that I learned on vacation - Part 1 . . .

First impressions are important. You will never get a second chance to make a first impression. The way that I learned this on vacation was dealing with hotels. What I noticed at one hotel that we dealt with on vacation – and had a bad experience with was the following:
No one smiled – they did not act as if they were happy to be where they were. If they are not happy where they are, what are the chances that I will be happy where they are?
No one smiled – they did not act excited that we had chosen their hotel from all of the other choices that were available.
They acted inconvenienced - they acted put out that they had to pay us attention, to register us, to give us keys to our rooms.
They acted inconvenienced – they had to deal with us and others who were not happy with what we had received for our money.
In our churches today, we can not afford to make bad first impressions. A bad first impression on our part may mean someone walks away without hearing the gospel because they have already formed an opinion before the message comes. When people arrive at our churches – we should be smiling when we greet them to show that we are excited about where we are and that they have chosen our group to join for part of the day. We need to go out of our way to make visitors feel that we are happy to be of service to them and their family.
First impressions are important to the person that you are meeting and to the kingdom that we are supposed to be growing.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and greet people the same way that you would greet an angel. Who knows – maybe they are.

Things that I learned on vacation . . .

Well, here we are at the end of the week and I have to come home tomorrow to the real world. Actually, at this point, I am looking forward to coming home. I can only stand to have my mind in neutral so long. So the following is what God has taught me on vacation this year:

Customer service is ultimately important. Some of you may have read about our problems in the early part of our vacation. The hotel that we left last weekend was a huge lesson in customer service – very bad customer service. The people who worked for the hotel never – smiled, acted like they were happy that we had come to their hotel, or appreciated our business. They did act inconvenienced, inconsiderate, and basically put out to have to help us. My prayer is that our churches never act like this. Any time we have people come to our church, everything we do should be to make them feel that we are happy that they have come to visit us. I’ll Blog again about this in the future.

This evening Irene and I went to see the new show at the Black Bear Jamboree. The meal and show were both good. What I saw was a group of people who had prepared at length to give their very best to the people who had come to their show. In the past we have gone to the Fiddler’s Feast Dinner Show. The difference that you will experience between the Fiddler’s Feast and Black Bear is this – those who perform at the Fiddler’s Feast also serve the tables. If their service is off when they are serving your meal, your opinion of the show will be settled before the show starts. How many people have already formed that kind of opinion of our churches before they ever get to a worship service? Are we meeting people with a smile? Are we working hard to make sure that they are taken care of or are we to busy doing church to make them feel comfortable?

The biggest lesson that I learned was a shock. It took me almost a full week to calm my mind down and calm my life down. I have been way to busy doing stuff and that is not healthy – physically or spiritually. In order for God to make changes in my life, I have to be still enough to understand Him when He speaks. I am also less effective for God doing a lot of stuff than when I am doing only one or two things that God wants me to be doing.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and slow down and watch the parade or you will miss the bands.

Hello from the land of vacations . . .

Well, Irene and I are back in the room on Monday afternoon doing what all people with good sense do on vacation – taking a nap – at least Irene is. Just thought that I would do a short post and let everyone know how things are going.
We had to change hotels on Sunday. The long and short of it – no one should use The Grand Hotel in Pigeon Forge. The situation was bad and is not finished yet – we still don’t have our money back yet. The James Manor is incredible. The rooms are great and the people are wonderful to work with. It is easy to get in and out of also.
We had a great time the first two evenings with our friends from here in Tennessee. It is always fun to catch up with friends. They introduced us to a great resturante at the Tanger Outlet Mall called the Chop House. The food was over the top.
Yes- we have eaten at the Apple Barn every morning so far.
Today, we went to the craft show in Gatlinburg. This is always fun and filled with great ideas. For those that don’t know – my wife is not the only crafty person in our family.
As for my study time – I have started over in the book of Acts. As I read in this book in God’s word – I also brought along one of my books by Warren Wiersbe. I was reading last night a stumbled upon something that Wiersbe said that started me thinking – Christian faith was a day to day reality, not a once a week routine. Christ and His resurrection power was a reality to the early believer. I wonder – with each of us – is faith a day to day reality or a once a week routine? May God make it a day to day reality for each of us.
Well, I’m going to stop now and see if Irene wants to go get something to eat. Maybe the Old Mill tonight – one of my favorite spots here.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and don’t sit down in a bucket of paint.

Adventures in the book of Acts . . .

To those of you that read my post daily – I am sorry that I have not posted this week. Things here at work are crazy, trying to wrap up this project before I leave on vacation this Friday so that I can start a new project when I return. So just a few things that God and I are dealing with right now . . .

I have been reading in the book of Acts in my time with God. The following are a few things that jump out at me:

• Church was done much simpler in the beginning. The focus of the church was on the teachings of the apostles, worship, fellowship and prayer.
• A lot of what was happening - happened in the homes.
• People were sharing the gospel with everyone they came in contact with.
• When the Holy Spirit was involved, big things happened.
• I would really like to be there when 3000 are added after one sermon.

There are also questions that I have rattling in my head after reading these scripture:

• Have we overly complicated the church?
• Should we be doing more in our homes and less at the church?
• Do we share the gospel as freely as those people in Acts?
• Why don’t we depend on the Holy Spirit more and expect more?
• What would a church do today if there were 3000 added to their number after one sermon?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – its hard to roller skate up hill.

The end of a great week . . .

WOW! Has anyone else ever had week that seemed long and short at the same time. This has been one of those crazy weeks – but it has been great. I thought that I would share just a few high lights from this week . . .

At my job that pays all the bills – we are finally getting to the end of the project that I started back in March. I was also introduced to our next project. I say this – between now and the end of the year, I will not be bored.

I had the honor of having a friend of mine from college and the ministry at my house Tuesday evening. It was great to catch up on what God has been doing in both of our lives. It is amazing what God is doing and what God is going to do in the future.

I had the privilege of hearing one of my favorite preachers this week – Dr. Johnny Hunt. Listening to this man of God speak on missions was amazing. Thanks to Eric Spann for taking care of the teenagers so that I could take advantage of this opportunity.

I’ve been able to get into my shop two nights this week and this afternoon and tomorrow some. I’m beginning to make some headway into my back log of projects that I need to get done for Christmas presents to be ready.

As I sit here, I am one week to the day from leaving on vacation. I can hardly wait. We’ll make the home made ice cream tomorrow. Pull down the luggage and begin packing. My goal is to be able to get off next Friday at lunch time, go home, pack the car and be on the road by 1:30 pm. We want to be in Pigeon Forge by supper time.

I am looking forward to speaking Sunday evening to the youth. God has shown me a great message from the Old Testament. If you want to study ahead – look at Jonathan, Saul’s son.

I’ve finished the book of Romans and am now starting through the book of Acts. I am really looking forward to reading about the early church.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and peanut butter and jelly is always great with vegetable soup.

A time to get aggressive . . .

According to Matthew 16:16-18 the gates of hell can not stand, prevail, or over power the church, and since the word of God is true and perfect - I have a question – why is it that the church has a tendency to be passive about reaching the lost and be aggressive about things that really make no difference.
In my life time I have seen the church take a stand against Disney, video poker, and several other causes. Yet for the most part we sit in our pews, thinking that people who do not have a relationship with Jesus will just walk through the doors of our church, sit down, listen to a sermon and have a life changing experience. Now before I get a hail storm of e-mails – I realize that some people have had a life changing experience just that way. But my opinion is that sitting around waiting for someone to join our church is a poor way of reaching a lost and dieing world. If we believe the Bible, then we should believe that the gates of hell itself can not stop the church from pushing forward. God has given His church a mission – to carry the Gospel to the world around us – and we should be about that mission aggressively.
Instead of sitting around waiting for someone to walk into our church, why aren’t we aggressively seeking new and exciting ways to reach the lost where they are – in the market place of life. Instead of standing in protest against Disney – why not show Disney what the Lord of life was willing to sacrifice for each and every one of its employees. Instead of trying to pass laws to have prayer re-instated back into schools – why not aggressively seek to take our campuses back one changed life at a time. If we pour enough Jesus into the school system – there will be prayer in our schools again. All of the drug, alcohol, promiscuity problems will disappear when our students stand up for what they believe, live as a child of God, and they aggressively force those problems off their campuses.
The most aggressive way that we can influence this lost and dieing world around us is to live our faith out loud and seek the lost where they are – we need to take the church to the people. This aggressiveness will cost us money, time, effort, comfort and even cause us to do things in a different way than we have ever done them before. But that is ok. We would never be a fan of a passive ball team. If the football team that you pull for walked onto the field and every time the opposing team ran the ball your team just got out of their way, we would have a major problem with our team’s concept of the game. God did not call us to sit in our churches and be spectators two or three time a week. God put us on mission to meet people where they are.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and get in the game.

Milk vs. Meat

Have you ever noticed that since you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, that you have a desire to learn more about Him? If you do not have that desire something is wrong. In the New Living Translations, 1 Peter 2:2 says this, “You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk,” Peter is telling us that we should grow. In order to grow, we must start with the basic nourishments and as we grow, we leave the milk and eat soft foods then to solid foods. Same goes for our spiritual growth. There are times that I can look at someone or listen to someone who says that they are a Christian and tell if they are still being spoon fed God’s word or they have been studying it on their own. You may ask how I know this, well in Hebrews 5:12-14, NLT tells me this “You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food.” I was spoon fed for many years but since I have grown, I have a strong desire to know my Lord Jesus more and more. A person who is living on milk isn't very far along in the Christian life and doesn't know much about doing what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who have trained themselves to recognize the difference between right and wrong and then do what is right.”

For some time now, Mr. Allen has been challenging the youth group at New Hope to be witnesses, to tell their friends about God. Now, my challenge to you is to examine your walk with God, are you being spoon fed or are you eating the real meat of God’s word? If you are being spoon fed, then you will struggle to share the gospel much like a baby struggles to share his or her needs with their parents, but if you are to the meat stage, then you have a responsibility to share.

Are you satisfied?

I’m sitting here working away and listening to a sermon by a pastor in the upstate and a question hits me – have I become satisfied? Has the church become satisfied? Does everything that our lives revolve around – revolve around satisfaction? I am going to deal with each of these questions in reverse order.
As far as our lives go – a great deal of our lives do revolve around being satisfied. We are satisfied after a good meal. We are satisfied after a nap. We can be satisfied with our jobs, the home we live in, the hobbies that we have, the life that we live. With satisfaction there is no struggle, no discomfort, no inconvenience, just an easy life without struggles – just comfort and often laziness. Yet, I’m sure that is not what God would have us be. God sent His Son to enable us to have life in abundance – not a life of satisfaction. We, as Disciples of Christ, are children of a King and yet, we live as if we would be satisfied to be the child of a ditch digger.
Now on to our churches. I don’t think that there is any doubt that there are a lot of churches out there that are full of satisfied people. They come to church once, twice, maybe even three times a week. They sit in their pews, sing their songs, listen to a sermon and leave very satisfied. As we look around us at a lost a dying world – how can the church be satisfied? What we have lost is the knowledge and emotion of how much God loved us and how much we should love Him. We no longer grasp the concept - that God has sent the church on a mission – and mission work is far from comfortable. If we are doing the work that God has called us to do we will be – stretched, uncomfortable, inconvenienced, pushed to do things that we would normally not do.
Now to the last question – have I become satisfied? I can honestly answer a resounding NO! I have become more and more dissatisfied over the last year than any time in my life. God has place anxiousness in me that has never been there before to see God work in miraculous ways and see people come to a saving knowledge of Him. I have a need to see people walk closer to God in their daily relationship. This all comes from not being satisfied with my relationship with Christ. I want to grow to know Him and love Him more each and everyday. That can only be done through my relationship growing. Through me being stretched, pushed outside my comfort zone, by me being inconvenienced.
My prayer for all that read this post is that God would stir a holy dissatisfaction within them about their personal walk with Him.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s get to work.

Morning overload . . .

Just a few things from this past weekend and the week to come:

I had the privilege of going to Rocky Creek Baptist Church last night to see Spencer Ledford ordained into the ministry. The greatest compliment that I can pay my friend is this – Spencer is a for real man of God. I am proud to call him friend and even prouder of the memories of working along side him and his family as we served God together.

Spencer’s night was a special service of ordination. The creative ministry team blessed those in attendance and blessed God in their special form of leading worship. The creative ministry team was awesome.

The sermon’s that were brought from God’s word for the ordination were brought from 22nd chapter of Genesis and the 1st chapter of the gospel of John. Two great words to challenge and encourage.

Union has no idea that Janet is on the way; but they will. Satan, pack your bags, your days are definitely numbered now.

Yesterday was a good day. Shoot this past weekend was a good weekend.

Irene made a chocolate- chocolate chip cake yesterday. WOW!!

Two weeks til vacation. If I had the money and time off – we would start today.

I turned four pens and a bird house in my shop this past week. I am so happy to be back a work in my shop again.

The music at Rocky Creek was over the top last night.

Worship at Rocky Creek was like going home. It was nice to relax and just be fed.

I ate a Taco Salad at Fuddruckers last night. Awesome salad. Careful of the jalapeños – they are righteous.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – you can’t go fishing in a baseball pool.

What are you looking at?

It’s Friday and it's date morning at Perkins with Allen. When I told Allen what I was going to name this devotion this title, he kinda gave the “what are you talking about” look.

Let’s look at Acts 1:1-11. The disciples are on Mt. Olivet, Jesus has given them one last and VERY important command, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Then in verses 10 & 11 really is the driving force behind the title of this devotion. There were two men who were standing among the disciples (I believe to be Moses and Elijah) asked them what are you looking at? Jesus “has left the building” and the way that you saw Him leave will be the way He returns. In others words, He’s given you one last command-go and be witnesses!! We are not to be pew warmers, trouble makers, gossips or people who are afraid to get out of our comfort zone. We are called to participate in what God has given us to do, not just be cheerleaders. BE A WITNESS TO WHAT I HAVE DONE IN YOUR LIFE! I’m sure many of you can share what Jesus has done in your life. Sure it’s easy to share it in church or among Christian friends, but is it easy to share with a stranger? ABSOULETLY not. That’s why God sent the Holy Spirit to speak to us and through us. God speaks through the Holy Spirit to tell us what to say to someone, when to speak to that person and the appropriate place to speak to that person. You ask how I can hear the Holy Spirit. There is a still small voice inside of you that, for the most part, whispers to your heart. My question to you is what kinda of junk do you have in your life that would muffle the talk of the Holy Spirit? Gotta get rid of the junk before you can hear.

With all the things that are going on in my life right now, it’s been very hard to hear the Holy Spirit. As each day passes by, I am learning more and more how to rely on my Heavenly Father to show me the way. It’s just a couple of weeks until Allen and I leave on vacation, we leave family, friends, work and church in Greenville. I’m sure that I will take a nice long nap while Allen drives up the mountains but it’s during that time I will be able to refocus myself and be able to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice. It will be refreshing to clearly hear His voice.

So one last time, what are you looking at? Go and be a witness for Jesus.

Friday’s fall-out . . .

I am so glad that it is Friday. That means that I am one more week closer to vacation. WOW – two weeks from today we leave for TN and vacation. Anyway, on to today’s post. This afternoon I will be in my shop working on Christmas gifts. I need to finish up one ornament that I have been working on and begin to drill wood for some specialty pens that I have been wanting to turn. Hopefully, these pens will generate some funding for paying off other Christmas gifts. I’ll be back in the shop in the morning and part of tomorrow afternoon. This is a great time of the year for working in my shop since it is not to cold or to hot.
I was talking with Irene this morning at our breakfast date. I’ll post another time about breakfast dates. Anyway, we were talking this morning and she said that she is going to try and type up a devotion that she did for our women’s missions group at church this past Wednesday evening. From what she told me she talked about this should be awesome. My wife can really turn it on for God when the Spirit hits. It will always amaze me that God gave me such a great help mate.
We are off to Union, SC tomorrow afternoon to celebrate our nephew’s first birthday. This should be too much fun. Drake (our nephew) has developed a great personality and he is so much fun to play with and watch. Not to mention that there will be birthday cake.
This week has been premiere week for the fall shows on TV. So far I have been able to watch the first show on Monday evening of “Dancing with the Stars”. Before you give me too much grief, I met Irene while dancing, so there is a warm spot in my heart for dancing. I saw the CSI premiere last night, but tonight I am going to struggle. Stargate Atlantis and Numbers come on at the same time. I am so glad that we bought a DVD recorder. Next Tuesday is the premiere of NCIS. Now you know what I watch on TV, not much.
If this post seems to be all over the place, well it is. I took a break to get some work done and to read a couple of other things - including a post by Ben Arment. He made this statement “It’s not the flock in the pen that concerns me so much as the lost sheep stuck somewhere out there in ravines and thickets. I’m not here to guard the gate. I’m here to do search and rescue.” To this comment I say a resounding – AMEN!! Speaking as a youth pastor – I am not called to be a baby sitter or the primary means of discipleship for students. I am called to carry the gospel to students and to equip students to do the same.
For those of you that may be wondering how my quiet time is going in Romans – this morning I spent time in chapter 9. Paul talks here about Israel’s rejection of Christ. This was done through the people’s reliance on the law. He spoke of their not attaining righteousness because they sought righteousness through the works of the law and not through faith. Paul also shows that in the words of the book of Isaiah a way was made for the gentiles to become children of God. I love the way the Old Testament is revealed in the happenings of the New Testament. I hope I never get tired of studying God’s word.
Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and spend some time in God’s word today.

Good friends and good times . . .

To those of you that visit my blog everyday, I am sorry that I have not posted much this week. I have started three different posts this morning and have deleted each one about three sentences into them. I don’t know if this is a form of writer’s block or what, but getting my thoughts to flow has been awful today. I just thought that I would share a few random thoughts this afternoon.
Irene and I had the pleasure of sitting down at Cracker Barrel last night with Janet and Spencer Ledford. They are both dear friends who are starting new ministries at First Baptist Church in Union, SC – Irene’s home town. It was great to sit and hear how things are developing and how God is working in their situation. Janet is the person who prayed me into Rocky Creek Baptist Church and then into clowning while working with their creative ministry team. We had a great time sharing what God is doing in each of our lives so that we can support each other in prayer.
Before we got the call to meet Janet and Spencer, I had intended to get back in my shop for the second night in a row. I spent last weekend getting everything straightened up so that I could work. It is nice to get back in my shop, since I have not been able to work in it since the beginning of summer. I have started working on Christmas presents. This year I am going to try and make a lot of the presents that we give to our family and friends instead of purchasing them.
I’m looking forward to next week, because I have a friend coming into town who is coming to my house Tuesday evening for supper. We went to North Greenville together and we did a lot together before he was called to a church in the lower part of the state. It will be good to sit down and share with each other and catch up on what the Lord is doing in our lives.
We are now 16 days and counting away from leaving on vacation. Irene has planned to make two churns of homemade ice cream and a chocolate cake to carry with us when we go to TN. We will be meeting some friends in Pigeon Forge the first weekend there and spend a couple of days with them and then go with them to a church that they are helping to start about an hour away on Sunday. I am excited to hear how God is working in their lives. We might even break down and see if their kids can out run my wife in go-carts while we are there.
Before coming home from vacation I know my wife will have the balance of our Christmas bought so that there will not be any Christmas rush again this year in the Davis house. That is something that makes me very happy.
Irene sent me the link to Meltdown 2008 today. To any students that read my blog, you definitely need to check this site out.
Well, for a guy with writer’s block, this has gone way to long, so, until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember God is still working in people’s live and it is an exciting thing to see.

Recognizable after thirty years . . .

I went to my thirty years high school class reunion this past Saturday night. Now granted, I look a great deal different than I did when we were in high school. I’ve grown two to three inches in height and several inches in width since I graduated. I now have a beard and mustache and a quantity of gray hair that I did not have thirty years ago. The other thing that was different was that I showed up at the reunion dressed as a clown (if you want to know why I would do such a thing, read my previous post.) The thing that I found most disturbing; was the classmate that came from the other side of the room from where we entered and knew exactly who I was. To say that it was a little unsettling is an understatement, especially considering that I had not seen this person for at least twenty years.
As I sit a think about that happening (which I have done a lot this weekend) I wonder if anyone else noticed a difference in me. I am now thirty years farther along in my walk with Christ. Did anyone else notice that I was different? Do I reflect the Master that I serve with my life? Was I living my faith out loud? Thinking back to Saturday night, I now wish I had had more time to spend with those that I graduated with so many years ago. It has made me think about how I live my life and about the people that I once surrounded myself with. I have been telling the students that I work with, that this time and place in their lives, they have the greatest opportunity to witness to the people they go to school with.
Maybe the only real reason that God had me go to my thirty year reunion in clown was to make me think about the opportunities that He will give me in the future. Maybe He wants me to think about opportunities to touch the lives of my class mates in a great way someday. I don’t know. What I do know is that in reflection, I hope the people that I come in contact with see a different Allen than they did thirty years ago. I pray that they see more of Jesus than they do Allen.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and who do you reflect to the world around you?

Monday Morning . . .

I am not a big fan of Monday mornings, especially since becoming a student pastor again. What a lot of people don’t understand is how much energy it takes to get through a Sunday. This weekend was especially hectic, so I am extremely tired this morning. Let me just recap the weekend and add in a little commentary along the way.
Saturday was a good day. Irene and I slept in til 8:00 am and then got up and after showers went to breakfast. Then to AC Moores before going back home. Then we got into make-up and went to clown at a festival in Travelers Rest. We arrived at the festival at 2:00 pm and it was hot. That generally causes all kinds of issues with the balloons. We had a great time and left just prior to the fireworks so that we could go to my thirty year high school reunion and yes we went in clown. There were probably some people at the reunion who woke up Sunday morning thinking that they dreamed a clown came to the reunion. News flash – it was not a dream. We got into bed and asleep at about 12:30 am Sunday morning.
Sunday morning came about four and a half hours later when Irene’s alarm went of at 5:15 am. It was up, shower, dress and to breakfast. After breakfast it was on to the early worship service. Rev. Norman Ponder (he’s our interim pastor) brought a great message from the book of John. Then it was on to Sunday School. We are still working through the life of Samson. Then to lunch with my mother, home for a short nap, back to church for youth worship, out to eat and home to fall into bed. Did I tell you that I am not a big fan of Monday’s.
I have to admit that I had a better day yesterday that in the past couple of weeks. I have been struggling lately. But yesterday, I had fun teaching God’s word again. Don’t get me wrong, I always enjoy teach and preaching God’s word, but yesterday was fun again. I’m not sure what the big change was, but it was different. Although I had a desperate problem trying to talk yesterday. I was saying the right things in the wrong order, have trouble pronouncing words, and generally butchering the English language.
So today, I’m tired. There are things that I need to get done and they will get done, they’ll just take a little longer. I’m still bouncing from Jeremiah to Romans, and I’m still not sure why, but it is a fun trip. I know that God is still in control, although I still think it would be great if He used e-mail. But recognizing His voice in all the clutter of my mind is beyond cool.
We were talking with some youth and adults last night that had been to Pigeon Forge over the weekend. Now I am really ready for vacation. They were telling me about eating at the Apple Barn and all the things that they did while they were there. Irene and I are now at two weeks and four days from leaving for vacation and we can hardly wait.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and get out of the boat, the waters fine.

Traditional vs. Radical . . .

I read a lot of Blogs each week. It is fascinating to me to read about churches that are growing, especially those that are growing in different ways from the norm. This week alone I have read about churches with incredible growth over the last year, a church that had a meeting in a bar, churches that are expanding to other campuses to better reach the world around us.
I have also seen the words radical and traditional used in some of the posts that I have read. Traditional is usually used in a negative connotation and radical used in a positive connotation. I have had a friend point out to me, in the past couple of months, that no matter how radical something seems today, if it is done that same way for the next weeks, months or years it becomes traditional.
I am sure that most churches that consider themselves traditional today, at one time seemed radical in some way to either the people that were attending the church or the community around them. We need to remember that want seems radical may be right in line with what the bible says that we are to do to fulfill what God has called us, at this time and place, to accomplish.
The message should never change. The gospel should always be front and center. Yet, we need to realize that we serve, by today’s definition of radical, a radical Savior and Lord. All through the gospels and into the balance of the New Testament, Jesus changed things in new and exciting ways. The tradition of the Pharisees had bound up the people in the practices of the law. Jesus did not change the law, but He sure changed the way it was viewed. His teachings were different. What He said was said with authority. Almost everything that Jesus did, He did different than anyone had done before.
If we are going to label ourselves as traditional, my prayer is that label will mean that the gospel will be at the forefront of everything that we do as followers of Christ. Yet, since we live in a constantly changing world, we will radically do whatever it takes to reach the world around us with the gospel.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – you can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd.

Clowns and Reunions . . .

OK, today’s post is going to be a lot lighter than yesterday’s. Irene and I are going to be clowning and twisting balloons at a festival this Saturday evening at the YMCA in Travelers Rest. We have had the privilege of doing this festival with Bo and Brynda Brown for the last two or three years. It is always an enjoyable evening, but usually results in sore hands the next day because of the amount of balloons that we end up twisting. It’s always a good time because of the kids that we see, the snow cones and hotdogs that we eat and the fellowship that we share. I’m looking forward to it this year because we haven’t clowned together since July and I think we all are going into withdrawals.
This Saturday night is also my 30 year high school reunion. It really doesn’t seem like it was thirty years ago this past June that we graduated from Wade Hampton High School. It doesn’t seem that way until I walk by a mirror or I see somebody that I went to school with and see gray in their hair that I realize that the past thirty years have pasted in a blur. The school that we graduated from doesn’t even exist anymore. There is a brand new Wade Hampton in its place now. My friend that contacted me about the reunion wants Irene and I to stop by the reunion after the festival Saturday. I’m not sure that I have enough guts to show up to my reunion as a clown. But, one thing is for sure – I bet everyone there would remember the clowns coming in if nothing else.
We are now only three and a half weeks away from vacation and I can’t wait. I’m really looking forward to being able to get away and just relax. I look forward to blogging while on vacation because I think when relaxed I’ll be able to think again.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s twist some balloons for Christ.

Longsuffering . . .

You may wonder will I am posting a blog with this title. It just came to me after reading a friend’s blog. She is struggling right now. She has stepped out on faith to do something that God has called her to do and now she has met with criticism. What I have come to understand from my walk with Jesus, is that any time I step out and do what God has called me to do, I have met with some kind of criticism or interference. The strange thing is that sometimes it comes from people that will quote scripture and hold themselves up as an authority. It can hurt and it can tear you down. We need to remember something that a friend of mine keeps reminding me of – we are in a marathon, not a sprint.
The battles are tough, but we need to remember that the war is already won. Days can be long, but our reward is eternity with our King. We will get beat up, but our healing comes from the Great Physician. When we get tired, we can rest in the knowledge that Jesus will carry us when we can’t go on. Most importantly – our reward awaits us in heaven, not in this world.
According to Galatians 5:22 – longsuffering is one of the gifts of the Spirit. It is a gift that will enable us to get through all the struggles and make it to the end. It is the strength to persevere, to finish the race. The Lord is the source of our strength. What we need to do is stay faithful to the task that God has given us. We are to stand our ground. Often time that may mean a fight. What we fight for – the souls of the lost, the strength for the battle, the reinforcement of fellow believers – to glorify our Lord - is worth the fight.
It is far more comfortable to stay on the side lines and never get in the game. We can wear the uniform. We can have a comfortable place on the bench to sit. We will never mess up or fail. The problem lies in the fact that we have been called to get in the game. We are not called to be spectators. We are called to be participators – to live our faith out loud. If we are in the game, we will – get dirty, not be comfortable and sometimes even mess up. But, we have a God that will help us up, clean us up, and even forgive us when that is needed.
To my struggling friend. Stay in the game! Stand your ground! When you need support, ask for it! Know that you are doing what God has called you to do. Most importantly – keep your eyes on Jesus – the world around you can be a distraction.
Just as a final note – if you find a note and open it and it has no name at the bottom, throw it in the trash before you read it. There is no authority in a note that has no ownership. Criticism is only good if it is constructive- not destructive.

Great Blogs I have read lately . . .

I have made the statement that I read a series of blogs everyday. I was thinking earlier in the week when I was reading that maybe some that follow my blog would like to see what I read. So the following titles are links to some of the note worthy blogs that I have read this week:

Give Up to Go Up - 1 of 5 by Craig Groeschel
Give Up To Go Up - 2 of 5 by Craig Groeschel
Give Up To Go Up - 3 of 5 by Craig Groeschel
Give Up To Go Up - 4 of 5 by Craig Groeschel
Give Up To Go Up - 5 of 5 by Craig Groeschel
Are You Willing to Sacrifice by Vince Antonucci
Open Doors and Un-wise Statements by Perry Noble
Eight Things I Think Every Worship Leader Should Know by Perry Noble
Is God Worldly Because of His Creativity by Perry Noble
Lost by Vince Antonucci
Can You Imagine by Vince Antonucci
Where Do You Get Creative Ideas From by Perry Noble
Prove It by Barry Ledford
Mark by Crystal Symsick
Mr. Jones by Vince Antonucci
Five Reasons I Have Hope by Perry Noble
Protocol For Pushback by Steven Furtick

These are just a few of the blogs that I have read this week. Check them out.



Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and share Him with the world.

What is rattling in my head right now . . .

I thought that maybe some of you might be interested in what is rattling around in my head at this point in my life. So just a quick layout of where I am going in my life and in my mind:

I just finished up a couple of weeks in the book of “Mark” and have now moved on to the book of “Romans”. I love this letter of Paul’s to the believers in Rome. My life verse lies in Romans 12:1-2. The road to salvation is threaded all through this book. I haven’t spent a lot of time in this book in a while so I look forward to what God has to teach me as I study through this book once again.

I am reading two books by George Barna right now. One is “Revolution” and the other is “Habits of a Highly Effective Church”. Both are very engaging. “Revolution” is a much easier read. It is definitely hitting close to my heart right now. Both books are dealing with the transformation of the believer and the church today. “Revolution” is a great place to find a basic biblical layout of how the church was to be structured. It is also a place to see what Barna believes to be our next big spiritual revolution.

I was reading on the web this morning and found out that there is in production a 4th Indiana Jones movie due out next year. Harrison Ford is back along with the female character from the first movie. I can’t wait for this movie. The characters are great, Spielberg is the director and Lucas Films is filming it. All the parts are there for a great movie.

I’m really looking forward to this weekend. Irene and I have nothing planned and I can get in my shop and work. I am going to clean it and get it organized again so that I can get back to turning some wood. I am also going to add a couple of work benches for extra work space. The temperatures are supposed to be in the mid 80’s. This should be a great weekend.

Right now we are four weeks and two days away from leaving to go on vacation. Irene and I are getting really jazzed about this vacation. We are going to get to spend some time with our friends Steve and Kim Conley and their great kids – AJ and Molly. The food in Pigeon Forge is always over the top. The end of the week there is a weekend clown conference in Knoxville that we may pop over for. Irene’s mom and dad will be in Pigeon Forge with some friends of theirs that same week. This vacation should be over the top.

I going to take my computer to Best Buy and have them load my copy of Vista. I really like the little extras I see that you can have run on your desk top.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and keep your head in His word.

Do we assume too much . . .

That may seem like a strange question to start with, but hang with me for a few minutes. The full question is – do we assume too much when we assume that everyone knows how we do church? Granted, I grew up in the “Bible Belt” and have been around church for a long time. But everyone living in this area today was not raised in or around church. As our city has grown over the years and even explosively over the last few years, people from all over the country and the world have moved into our area.

Even those of us that were raised in and around church all our lives can be confused by different denominations and beliefs. Let me give you an example: my wife and I went to a wedding this past Saturday at a Baptist church. But, the wedding was conducted in a Lutheran format. If it had not been for the printed order of service, we would have been totally lost. They stood at certain times and sat down at others. There was time’s that the Pastor would speak and the people in attendance would respond. Being raised in a Baptist church all my life, I will admit that I was confused.

Now, let’s think about someone that is invited to attend your church and they have never set foot in a church in their life – church can be a very confusing place. The terms that we use can be confusing. The directions for getting around our church building may seem crystal clear to us and confusing to someone who has never walks our halls before.

Maybe we should take a lesson from “Carrabba’s Italian Grill”. My wife – Irene – and I met some friends there last night for supper. When we arrived, someone met us at the door and welcomed us and asked us how many would be in our party. They walked us to our table – not point and give directions – and seated us with menus. Shortly there was our waitress, along with a waiter in training (mentoring is a great way to learn your job), welcoming us a second time. They made sure that we were comfortable and found out if this was our first time to visit this restaurant. After returning with our drink order, they were able to answer questions that my wife had about terms that were used in the menus that we were given. They checked on us throughout the evening to make sure that we were comfortable and happy. I was impressed that when we wanted to go boxes for our left over food, they took our plates and put it in boxes for us. At the end of the meal they thanked us for coming to the restaurant and for the privilege of serving us.

Maybe visitors would come back more readily to our churches if we took them as seriously as our waiter and waitress did at the restaurant last night. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and spend some time with a visitor. Who knows – maybe Jesus will change their life.

Monday reflections on this past weekend . . .

It never seems like I have enough time to just sit and just think about what happened on the weekend. Sometimes you really just need to stop and reflect on what happen over the last couple of days. Just thinking back – these are a few things that come to mind:

Worship doesn’t happen at church if you have not worshipped all week long in you private time with God. Sunday’s worship is supposed to be an overflow of our lives during the week. The speaker Sunday morning – Rev. Floyd Parker – said that we will live out what we believe. I would go one step further and say that we will worship on Sunday the way we worship during the week.

I am thankful for people that want to see our church grow and have a burden for that. They are an inspiration to me.

A big thank you to Boomer, David and Jane Baldwin for going out to eat and to Heritage Park with the youth last night with Irene and I. Your company and fellowship was appreciated. I love to be around people who enjoy being around teenagers.

A big pat on the back to Lyle Watson for bringing a great message last night to the church. His sermon brought out the wisdom that in order to move forward we must look back to the cross. You did a great job.

I am excited that the man that may become our interim pastor is going to be preaching this coming Sunday. I am anxious to meet him and hear him bring a word from God.

I really thought that it was cool that Newspring Community Church in Anderson baptized over 500 this past Saturday. They are really getting in done in Anderson.

I had the privilege of spending some time with some of my best friends at a wedding Saturday evening. It is always good to spend time with good friends.

When we have business meetings in our churches – why don’t we celebrate the number of people that have been saved in the last month? Isn’t that the business of the church? I understand that we need to take care of the money issues and month to month business – but if the church’s real business goal is to reach the world for Christ – you would think we would celebrate the salvations that have happened in the last month. Maybe we would look forward to the business meetings a little more.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and spend some time worshipping with God on your own this week

What This World Needs – Part 2 . . .

Ok. Here it is finally – the scriptural follow-up to the What This World Needs post. If you missed that post click the title in the sentence just before this one and it will take you to the post. Enough said – let’s jump right in!!

Matthew 7:1-3 - don’t judge because you will be judged in the same way. We don’t need to worry about another person’s problem until we have taken care of our own problems. I personally have enough problems in my own life to deal with that I don’t have time to deal with someone else’s – just being transparent.

John 7:24 - we never need to judge on someone’s appearance. If we are going to judge, we need to judge by the condition of the heart. That means that you have to get to know someone to get to know their heart. Some of the most sold-out Christians I have ever been around were some of the most different looking people that I have ever been around.

Romans 16:17-19 - watch out for people that cause divisions within the body of Christ and upset people’s faith by teachings contrary to the gospel. They are serving their own personal interests and agendas. They deceive innocent people by smooth talk and glowing words. They have no intention to live for the Master.

Philippians 3:18-20 - there are those whose conduct shows that they are really enemies of the cross. They brag about shameful things and they dwell on life here on earth.

Romans 12:9-21 - don’t pretend to love, really love one another. Hate what is wrong and hold tight to what is good. Love one another with genuine affection.

These are a good start. Let me encourage you to look these scriptures up in God’s word and study that scripture for yourselves. There are other scriptures that I have not had a chance to finish studying. I try to post about them later.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and spend time with God in His word.

Breakfast, Good Friends, and a Multi-post day . . .

Ok, I know that I said that I would get the scripture that goes with the song “What This World Needs” by Casting Crowns posted today – and I will. Just not in this post. To be honest I forgot the journal that has my notes on the dining room table at home, so that post comes later today.

I really like breakfast. Not so much that stuff that they call breakfast – donuts, sweet rolls, cereals, etc. – you get the idea. I like real breakfast – eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, biscuits, gravy, grits, potatoes, pancakes, waffles, etc. That is one of the reasons that I look forward to going to Pigeon Forge every year – we will eat at the Apple Barn almost every morning. Their breakfasts are over the top. I like Friday’s breakfast the best because for the last nine years I have had a breakfast date with my wife. Sure there have been a few dates that we missed, but only a very few. This morning I had the opportunity to start breakfast with a good friend – Toby Dix – before Irene came and joined us. Toby and I have been friends for a quite a few years now. I value Toby as a friend for many reasons, but the main reason is that he strives to be a bold man of God. He really wants to be real in all that he does. I know that if I am doing something that is not in line with what God’s word says he will hold me accountable. He and a few other close friends have helped me over the last few weeks get through a hard and confusing time. For that I will be forever thankful.

Sometimes I think we take our friends for granted and that is a bad thing. I figure that if God felt it important enough to talk about in His word we should take it seriously. People that we call friend is talked about in God’s word and God gives us great guide lines for choosing our friends and what makes a good friend. A true friend will even get in your face if that is what it takes to keep you on track. To all those that I call friend – THANK YOU!! I can never say that enough. To my beautiful wife Irene – whose is the best friend I have – I LOVE YOU!!

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and hold your friends close.

Brain in over-load . . .

Am I the only one that feels like their brain is in over-load? I feel like I have contracted some kind of attention disorder. Before anyone gets their nose out of joint, I am not making fun of someone who may have that kind of disorder. It’s just, lately, I can’t slow my mind down. I’m sleeping fine, but if I’m awake, my mind is running 1000 miles and hour. Just a few quick things that maybe, if I can get these out, I can slow things down:

A shout to my friends Spencer and Janet Ledford. God has answered your prayers and given you a church to minister in. Minister in His strength and His direction. The church will give you a pay check but you work for our Father in heaven. Please Him and a true believer will be pleased with what you bring to your church.

To the students at New Hope – study so that you understand what you believe. Remember who you are and whose you are!! If you don’t understand that last statement, then see me or my wife and we’ll explain it to you. One, more thing – how is the book of Mark going?

To my friends that are starting Metamorphosis Community Church – I am praying for you and excited about what God is going to do through you in this church plant. We miss you!! Keep us posted on how things are going.

I can not get enough of God’s word lately. Everything I do triggers something that I want to look up or study about. I wish everyone felt like I do about God’s word.

Students – See You at the Pole is coming up Wednesday the 26th. Are you preparing to be at your school to pray with your friends? We will be going to a rally at Chick-fil-a that night instead of our usual youth bible studies. Make plans to attend prayer time at your schools and let’s celebrate what God does that night at Chick-fil-a.

I am 5 weeks away from our anniversary trip to Pigeon Forge. We are going up on Friday afternoon so that we can spend some time with some friends that live in TN. I can’t wait – good friends, good food (The Apple Barn, The Old Mill, Alabama Grill, The Alamo steak house) and good rest. Maybe a little shopping to be thrown in on top. It can’t get here quick enough.

I’ll post the second part of the “What the world needs . . .” post tomorrow.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and can someone please slow this ride down??

What this world needs . . .

A quick shout to Ms. Mary Roach who prepaid for me and several others to get a copy of Casting Crowns newest CD – “The Altar and The Door”. Ms. Mary you are da’ bomb! This collection of songs is incredible!! If you don’t have this CD yet, run – do not walk – to a store and buy it.

I have realized while typing this that this post will need to be in multiple posts to keep it form being too long. With that being said - on to the post. The title of this post is the first track on the new Casting Crown cd “The Altar and The Door”. This song is beyond great. It hits me in the heart – right where I am living right now. After listening to this track over and over I decided to go to the Casting Crowns website and do a little research to check out the back ground on this song. The following is what I found:

Galatians is the main basis for this song.

False teachers were slipping in and adding to the Gospel. Jesus + being good = the believer’s life. Paul builds in a foundation for the Galatian people that it is by faith in Jesus that we are saved.

Even today, we, the church, are in danger of adding to the Gospel. Jesus plus my denomination. Jesus plus our style of worship. Jesus plus good behavior. We must be careful not to strap ourselves to the Gospel.

The last statement that is made – “we must not strap ourselves to the Gospel” – really took some chewing on for me to understand what is being said. The conclusion that I came to is this – if we strap ourselves to the Gospel we bring ourselves – our preconceived ideas, our agendas, our likes and our dislikes to the Gospel. What we need to understand is that the Gospel stands on it own – without our help. God does not need us for His Gospel to do its work. God allows us to be a part of what He is doing – it is our privilege granted by God. The Holy Spirit makes the changes in people’s lives – He does not need not our rules, demands, or preferences.

One last thing to finish today’s post – the following is from the song – spoken by teenagers, from the sound of their voices:

“People aren’t confused by the gospel they are confused by us
Jesus is the only way to God but we are not the only way to Jesus
This world doesn’t need my tie, my hoodie, my denomination or my translation of the bible,
They just need Jesus
We can be passionate about what we believe but we can’t strap ourselves to the gospel because we are just slowing it down
Jesus is going to save the world but maybe the best thing we can do is just get out of the way.”

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and watch the Gospel change lives.

What does it mean to be a disciple . . .?

Sorry this post was supposed to be posted yesterday, but we were having computer problems - so here is my Sunday post.

This morning was our first Sunday with Pastor Chad and Robbie. The early service went very well. Lyle, Ms. Terry, Mitchell, Crystal and Ashley led us in three worship songs – they did a great job. Rev. Ron Davis the DOM of the Greenville Baptist Association brought a great message to our church – it was on what it means to be a disciple of Christ. It was wonderful to sit and listen to this man of God bring a message that hits so close to where my heart beats. He even referred to our students as missionaries to their campuses. The following are the notes that I took form this morning’s sermon:

- Jesus never called us to go into the world and be good church members – he did call us to go into the world and be disciples.
- John 8:31 – a disciple will hold to the teaching of Jesus. We are not only to believe in the doctrine – the sound teaching from the word of God – but our lives should give forth the actions that comes from that knowledge.
- John 13:34 – a disciple will love others. Jesus says that others will know that we are His followers by our love for one another. We were cautioned that when we quit loving others we begin to judge others.
- John 15:8, 16 – a disciple bears fruit for our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not talking about the fruits of the spirit. A disciple bears fruit by producing other disciples.
Rev. Davis left us with one last challenge – that during this time of interim – without a Pastor to guide us – we should strive to grow.

There was a wealth of wisdom in this sermon – if we will take it to heart. There is a cost in being a disciple. Jesus said that if we are to follow Him, we are to take up our cross daily. That is to say that we are to die to ourselves – our preferences, our desires, our agendas – in order that the most important mission we have as Christians be moved to the front of everything that we do – to carry the gospel to the world.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and lets make disciples.

Who do people see . . .

It always amazes me how good God is. It should not, but it does. I really wanted to talk with a friend of mine in TN last night. I was on the way to the bank to deposit my check and talking with Irene, asking her for a phone number for my friend. We had basically decided that it may be too late to call and a call came in on my other line. When I picked up it was my friend. God knew how much I needed to hear his voice and to be able to talk with him. My friend is in a church plant in TN and he has been on my heart the last couple of days. I also needed his wisdom in things that I am praying about. Through that phone call it got me thinking back to clown camp in July – which was the last time our families had anytime to spend together. What it actually triggered was meditation on the verse that was used as the focus for our week at camp this year – II Corinthians 3:18.

This verse talks about the believer being the reflection of our God. Sometimes I think we do a very bad job of that – at least I know I do. One of the things that I try to teach our students is that people around us should be able to see Jesus through our life by the way we live and conduct ourselves everyday. If we live our faith out loud – that is – we are a reflection of our Savior; that is the greatest witness that we can have. We should always be prepared to share the gospel, but our lives should be the greatest witness we can offer. It is easy to tell people what we believe, but what we live comes from our heart. I challenged our students to pray that God would give them the opportunity to share the gospel with at least one person everyday. That should be in all of our prayers – whether young or not so young. I believe that those opportunities will come when people around us see more of Jesus than they see of ourselves.

My question to those that read my blog is this – when people look at you – who do they see? My prayer for myself and you is this – that people who come in contact with me everyday could see more of Jesus and less of us. God grant that prayer. Help me die to myself so that you can live through me.

A quick shout to the students that read this blog – read and study this scripture – you may hear it again real soon. By the looks of the votes on the poll, I would say that most of you get it.

Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and let us be a reflection for all to see.

What are you willing to do ? ? ?

That was my question to our students this past Sunday evening. The question actually went something like – what are you willing to do to get someone to Christ? This questions stems from the scripture in Mark 2:1-12. If you have been in church for any length of time, this is a familiar story. This is the story of four men who brought a man to Jesus but could not get into the house where He was teaching. These men had brought someone to Jesus so that his legs could be healed because he could not walk. Since they could not get into the house because of such a large crowd, they changed to a more radical plan – they tore the roof off and lowered the man down into the room where Jesus was teaching. They did what ever it took to get this man to Jesus.

My question to our students was, once again, what would they do to get someone to Jesus? Sometimes I think that we will do whatever it takes as long as it fits in our schedule, or it’s not to inconvenient. Yet the example set in the scripture involved hard work. Chances are it did not fit into their schedule, since this meeting happened when people found out that Jesus had returned. It was a spur of the moment, it brought about a change in plans. These men had an urgency about what they were doing, since they actually tore up someone’s house. It does not say in the scripture, but they probably had to repair the house after the man was healed. The point is that they were willing to do whatever it took to get this man to Jesus.

So, once again – what are you willing to do? Are you willing to invite someone week after week until they say yes? Are you willing to get others involved to get that one person to Jesus? Are you willing to pick-up the tab for lunch to get them to church? Are you willing to change your schedule, to be inconvenienced, to work hard, to get someone to Christ? Are we willing as followers of Christ to set aside our personal preferences in order to see people accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. What I truly believe is that when we get to the point of understanding that what we are called to do has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Jesus, we will do whatever it takes to get people to Jesus.

The mission that we have been called to do, is the last words spoken by Jesus to His followers in Matthew 28:19-20. These are the marching orders of the believer. The work is laid out before us. So my question to you is – what are you willing to do?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and do what ever it takes to get them to Jesus.