Softball

On Friday, August 28th the Warren's Grove Softball Team won our local tournament. Now they are on the way to Cary, NC for the World Softball Tournament. Keep cheering on the team!!! They start on Saturday, August 29th at 9am.

Ephesians 6.10-20

This coming Sunday I will be preaching on Ephesians 6.10-20. In the last couple of years it seems like I quote this passage to myself more than just about any other passage. The reason for that is based on the complexities of working in a church ministry setting. It feels like there are times in the life of the church where there are difficulties with relationships and I have learned that: "Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." [Ephesians 6.12] When I remind myself of this verse it causes me to spend more time on my knees and less time worrying and fretting. What do you all think? Do you think the real battle has to do more with cosmic powers than it does with flesh and blood? Do you think that relationships are a terrific place for darkness to creep in and cause each of us to fight against each other?

I am really glad

I am really glad to hear back from many of you concerning the passage (Ephesians 5.21-33) coming up this Sunday. It seems like it has struck a chord with many of you. Thank you for your insightful comments. Many of you have said that this passage is not very controversial ----- and I want to remind you of the controversy. This passage is controversial because some husbands will memorize this passage before any others in all of scripture. They will take the text and ramrod it down their wives throat and use it as a way to oppress. Stamping this verse: "Wives submit yourselves to your husbands," on their wives foreheads and then forgetting the whole time that it continues by saying: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Think of the women that are out there that have to live under the oppressive "headship" of a husband that manipulates and takes advantage of scripture. What could that do to their love of God? What could that do to their view of the church? What could that do to their view of the Bible?

Ephesians 5.21-33

This Sunday I will be preaching from a very controversial passage, that being Ephesians 5.21-33. This is the famous passage that has in it: "Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord." The reason I am doing this is because I have been preaching a sermon series on the letter to the Ephesian Church. The lectionary just skipped over this passage, and I didn't think it would be right to just skip over it. I think this is something that has caused a lot of hurt in the church (similar to the picture that you can see above). When this passage is in certain people's hands I think they can use this as a weapon to inflict harm. But, on the other hand, scripture teaches us that all scripture is inspired by God. In light of those two things I am looking forward to seeing what God will share with us this coming Sunday. But, I would love to hear from you all. You can share what you think about verse 22 that I quoted earlier ----- or maybe verse 33: "Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband." Let me know what you all think.

Getting back into the swing of things

I am starting to get geared up for going back to school. I just got done spending $300 on text books. But that is not as bad as the guy that was in front of me ----- he had a bill for $460. That is a boat load of money to spend on text books. The classes that I am taking this fall are:
A class on Lesslie Newbigin - taught by Dr. Geoffrey Wainwright.
Exegesis of Romans - taught by Dr. Richard Hayes.
The Significance of Catechumenate for Making Disciples - taught be Dr. Fredrick Edie.
This is an exciting semester. I am taking classes with two professors that I have been wanting to take a class with ------ those being Wainwright and Hayes. I only have two more semesters to go.

Cleaning my office

Hello blogger world. I thought I would share with you all that I am cleaning my office. It is a laborious task for me and "sometimes" I get a little behind in doing it. But there is something that makes me strive for a clean office ----- and that is a particular pie that DeAnne has promised to fix me if I get done. This pie is called an "Angel Pie." My Grandmother used to fix it for me and my Mother. Now DeAnne "bribes" me into cleaning with the pie. I am not very good at sharing it ---- so she usually makes two. I am almost done!!!

Ephesians 5.3-20

This Sunday I will be preaching from Ephesians 5.3-20. The verse that really sticks out to me is verse 15 that says: "Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil." This verse sticks out to me because it seems to be the verse that all of the other verses hinges on. It is almost as if you can read all the other verses through this one. Like verse 6 ----- you can now say to be careful not to let someone deceive you. Or verse 7 ------ be careful not to associate with deceivers. Have you all found that you have to be careful in certain situations? Have you had to take great caution when you find yourself in certain situations?

Ryan Quanstrom

Hello everyone. I wanted to let you know that this Sunday Ryan Quanstrom will be preaching. Ryan has been our Student Associate Minister during the last 10 weeks. It has been a joy having Ryan on staff and I know many of you have been blessed by having Ryan this summer. Thank you again Ryan for all that you do ------ and I am hoping we can have him come back during the school year.

Revival

I wanted to share with you all that the Warren's Grove Praise band and myself have been given the opportunity to lead a revival in Hillsborough, NC. The Pastor there is Rev. Scott Finnicum and he heard about the sermon series I did on the Three Simple Rules and asked if we would do it at his church as well. I wanted to tell all of you about this, so that if you would like to come down you can plan accordingly. They are going to be serving food each night at 6pm and then the revival starts at 7pm. Here are the dates: Sunday, August 9th at 7pm; Monday, August 10th at 7pm; and Tuesday, August 11th at 7pm. If you need directions just go to their website and click on directions on the left hand side. http://palmersgroveumc.org/ If you have any questions you can email me or call me.

Outdoor Mission Camp

Hello everyone. I thought I would put some pictures up for you all to enjoy. You all did a great job.

We are back

We are back from the Outdoor Mission Camp. I will try to post pictures as soon as I can. Thanks for all the prayers and the interest in the trip. Also, thank you to all of you that came on the trip.