In her new book, “Love Your Life,” Victoria Osteen tells the following story. When she and her husband, Joel, were courting, he came over to her house for dinner. She knew he was the son of a prominent Houston pastor and she, a nice Christian girl, was hoping they could talk about Scripture while she prepared the meal. “Joel began flipping through the pages, but before long, he put the Bible down,” she wrote. Victoria was disappointed and complained, “I thought you’d be a spiritual giant.”

“Joel said nothing and just grinned at me as we carried on with the evening.”

Victoria defines her Christian belief this way. Religion “is about appreciating what God’s given us. He’s given us this …

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During the summer’s ChurchWorks series, Dan mentioned the process we have for recognizing, developing, and appointing gifted leaders within the church. If this has you thinking thoughts like “Is God moving me toward a shepherding role within the church?” or “How would I know if I have the skill and desire to be a pastor?” or “How can I personally develop as a shepherd and pastor to those God has put in my path?” then I commend an excellent resource to you titled They Smell Like Sheep: Spiritual Leadership for the 21st Century by Lynn Anderson.

Ken gave me this book when I

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What is an elder?  What is the difference between an elder, a pastor, and a bishop?  Why do we need them?  How is the leadership structured at Grace Fellowship?  Today we discuss these topics as we prepare to ordain two new elders.

 

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In case you aren’t convinced by the Biblical evidence for the need for a plurality of elders within a local body, take a look at this story of how a pastor sold an 89 year old church building without the congregation’s knowledge.

MANTECA, Calif. — A former pastor who was arrested after selling his church without telling the congregation will not be sentenced until next month, court officials said.

Randall Radic was the pastor of First Congregational Church in Ripon before his arrest in 2005. He sold the 89-year-old church, the town’s oldest, for $525,000 to a couple who planned to convert it into offices.

Radic pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft by embezzlement last year, sparing him a

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As we embark upon our 18-week study of the Divided Kingdom, I am reminded of God’s hand in history. Why else does the Bible contain so much historical data if it weren’t for us to recognize that all history is “His”- story.

This is a little easier to comprehend when it comes to the histories of Israel and Judah and how they unfold to present the all-important consummation with the advent of Christ. Where it gets a bit more difficult is when we consider that, as recipients of God’s covenant promises, we are every bit as much a part of the unfolding of redemptive history as were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Jehu, Josiah, and Jezebel.

That’s right. All of the events of my …

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Along the lines of Dan’s message Sunday, I’m dismayed by the number of parents in our culture who tell their children to do something (or not to do something) and then make no effort to ensure that they are obeyed. This failure to discipline (by demanding obedience and respect) is an act of “hatred” toward the child (see Prov. 13:24 “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”)

We do our children an incredible disservice when we allow them to rebel against authority. As a teacher in a Middle School, I have seen (thankfully very few) examples of this type of anti-authoritarian attitude.

My mother and my grandfather instilled in me a …

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All this talk about changing the rules of soccer (Kevin Hosner!!!) to make it more appealing to football fans in the USA has me thinking that football rules should be changed instead to bring in an entire world of new fans. Here are some suggestions:

Football rules changes to make it more marketable to European fans:

1. Leave the injured player on the field while the game continues

2. Make the receivers wait until AFTER the ball is thrown before they can cross the line of scrimmage

3. If any defender commits a personal foul inside his own 15 yard line, the offense gets to line up and run a play against ONE player–ALL BY HIMSELF!

4. If any player intentionally touches the FOOTball with …

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At the recommendation of my friend, Rob and at the prodding of Dan, I am re-emerging onto the blogscape with thoughts on the recent hubub over “Facing the Giants” receiving a PG rating from MPAA.

If you’ve not heard about it, you can read of it here:

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RELIGION-FAITH-06-07-06

There was also an opinion piece in the Saturday AJC on this issue. Here’s the skinny. A pair of pastors in Albany, GA made a movie about a burned-out football coach who finds God and sees his team’s season turn around. It’s overtly Christian and contains some “alleged” evangelism. The MPAA determined that it was too “heavy handed” in the proselytizing department for a “G” rating so they bumped it up to “PG”.

This caused a …

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I am copying a short article written by a friend of mine regarding the so-called “Gospel of Judas”.
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As every savvy marketer knows, sensationalism sells books and attracts a television audience. The National Geographic Channel can therefore expect a host of viewers for its special program “The Gospel of Judas” set to show tonight (Sunday, April 9, 2006). “One of the most significant biblical finds of the last century,” hypes the producer’s website, “– a lost gospel that could challenge what is believed about the story of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus.” The TV special follows the translated publication three days earlier of the so-called Gospel of Judas, a codex (bound like a book rather than rolled like a scroll)

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In light of our discussion of the Colossian “heresy” combined with some of our recent discussions on this blog, I want to consider the presence of the ongoing supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

In the first two chapters of Colossians, Paul makes it clear that rule-keeping without correct theology is powerless to bring about the type of godliness which should characterize the Christian life. Our “hope of glory” is not in keeping rules (no matter how beneficial they are–note that Paul maintains a generality with his description, “do not taste, do not touch, do not handle”. This generality can apply to any system of ethics). My “hope of glory” is Christ in me.

My contention …

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