What Kind of Men are We Raising?

This morning, while I was getting ready, I was listening to the popular sports talk radio program "Mike and Mike in the Morning" as is my custom.  This morning the conversation came up about the amount of time their assistants spent playing video games every week.  This particular man, who is grown, married, and has a full-time job, played an average of 20 hours of video games every week.  Later in the show people were emailing justifying this amount of time or more being spent by grown men every week playing video games.  As I was listening to this, I began to think about if this is the kind of men we are raising in the church.  As I look around, I sadly have to conclude for the most part it is.  Maybe it's not video games  (though often it is), but it seems we have created a culture of boys who never grow up and truly become men.  Do not misunderstand me, I am not speaking against playing video games or having fun, but I am speaking against a culture in the church that grows men who sit around and play war/fantasy video games for hours on end, and never step up to the plate to join in on the battle for the gospel and for their families.  We seem to have created an atmosphere of adolescence and complacency in men, to the point that they never put on their big boy pants and become the men that God is calling them to become.

As I reflected upon this, the challenge became two-fold for me.  First, am I striving to become  a man who is truly a man, sold out for the gospel and is strong in leading my family, or am I still a boy caught up in video games and model cars.  Am I leaving behind the childish things and striving for maturity, or am I staying back in a state of immaturity where it is nice and comfortable.  Secondly, what kind of men ma I building up in ministry?  Are we as a church creating an atmosphere that allows men to sit by idly on the sidelines playing games, or are we creating an atmosphere that demands men step up to the plate and be leaders.

Men, which describes you?  Are you truly stepping up to the plate and seeking to become a true man of the gospel?  Fathers, are you raising up men, or boys who sit by and watch others take charge while they simply play games?  If, in the mission of God we are truly going to have an impact , it is imperative that we be men, and raise a generation of men.  So put down your Xbox controller and step up to the plate.

Men, Step Up

Men, what legacy are we leaving?

A Story of Salvation from NY: Austin Wilkins

Wednesday, June 17, 2010, our youth group set off to go door to door inviting people to a local block party. In doing this, we had doors shut in our faces, and people yelling at us for no apparent reason. Despite all of this, God gave us the strength we needed to continue on and invite people to the block party. What all of us prayed to accomplish that day was to share the gospel with those who had never heard. Most of the people we talked to made it sound quite obvious that they did not know the gospel, nor did they wish to. In saying that, there was one man who we found that did not act at all like those we had meet that day.

Born and raised in Staten Island, NY, Dan did not know who Jesus was. When Laura, a member of the mission team from Virginia, and I approached him with our Block Party invitations, he seemed really exited but regretful to tell us that he could not make it. He said he was going to be in a missions bike ride on Saturday. Of course, this led us to ask him if he went to Church and if he knew who Jesus was. What followed after that question was completely surprising to me. Dan said that he was Catholic and for sometime attended church regularly, but had absolutly not clue who Jesus was, so we asked if we could share with him. Dan then did something that we had not seen all day, he actually sat down and ask us to please tell him. The tone of his voice and the look on his face made us realize that we had found someone who really wanted to hear of Gods wonderful gift.

We then sat there and told him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I will tell  you this with total confidence, when he prayed to God, accepting Christ into his heart, we knew that he was truly sincere. The sound in his voice, the look on his face, and that he almost seemed to act as if a 100 lb. weight was taken off his back. He then thanked Laura, Tim, Andrea, and my self for doing what we had been doing that day (Tim and Andrea were also in our group and joined in the conversation about 10 minutes in). For a good 30 more minutes we stayed there and continued to answer any questions he had.

Some things that you might want to know about Dan is that he is a former alcoholic, who is going to AA. We told him that he should not blame God that he was an alcoholic but that he should use what he has gone through to help others get away from alcohol. God has a plan for this man, and all of us could tell it. I just want to thank everyone at OCBC and at Salem Church for putting this together. What is being done up here is truly a great thing.

~Austin

A Students View on the NY Mission Trip: DeAnna McEntire and Emily Pate

Every day is an opportunity for ministry, but not many of us always take that opportunity. Today, we had the chance and took the opportunity to share. We divided into groups of four that were mixed with the other church groups. Our goal was to go door to door throughout Staten Island and invite people to Salem Church's block party. Not only this, but we also hoped to take the opportunity to share the gospel of Christ.

We had a surprising mix of results. Our experience involved many mean dogs, many slammed doors, and many unfriendly people, and also a few that were receptive. By lunchtime we were already somewhat discouraged, but we remembered the words of John Welborn the night before, when he spoke of how God made the footsteps of three lepers sound like an army in 2 Kings 7. In the same way, the flyers we passed out to a few unreceptive people in New York City could bring people to Christ.

God always works in mighty ways, even when it is unexpected. One person in our group, Austin Wilkins, had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ. He shared the story of the conversion with all the youth and it was very encouraging. Austin will write more about this tomorrow.  After a tiring day of dealing with people who brush us off, it was great to know that someone came to Christ. This is the entire reason we came here to New York, even if it was just one person.

Emily and DeAnna

NY Trip: Day 2

Today was a tiring day. We spent the day painting the apartment of a local family, or should I say family. There were to families sharing a 3 room apartment, with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a small kitchen. Each family had a bedroom to essentially serve as their house. there were three beds in one room and a crib and two beds in the other. It was a humbling experience as we often complain about not having the newest, nicest things, while these families were essentially living in an 8x10 room. Because of the language barrier we were unable to strongly communicate with them residents, though we were able to tell the story of Jesus as best we could to the little girl that lived in the house who spoke English very well. Overall, the youth put forth a great days work and we are excited about tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be going throughout the community, mainly knocking door to door, inviting people to the block party on Saturday and hopefully having the opportunity to share the gospel of Christ Jesus with them. I trust in the Sovereignty of God and know that there will be some among those with which we will talk that He is calling to Himself and that we will be able to share the gospel with some and see some come to salvation. Please be in prayer for us, that we will have boldness and will clearly communicate the gospel and God will save some. Tomorrow will be a report from one of the students on what has taken so place over the week so far.

NY Trip: Day 1

Today was a day of travel. We arrived to the hotel around 4:45pm and headed out the church around 5:30. The trip overall went alot smoother and seemed alot shorter than I had imagined it would. I have to say the most surprising part of the day was the food they had for us tonight. The food is being cooked by an actual chef that works in the city. I am used to pizza or other food that is thrown together, but not tonight. We had roast beef with a mushroom sauce, peas, and garlic mashed potatoes.

After dinner we got together for a time of worship. Pastor Eddie did a great job of laying out again why we are here, pointing us back to the power of the gospel and how proclaiming it to the people here is the purpose in us coming. I covet your prayers for us while we are here. Tomorrow we will be painting a house in the community and the rest of the week we will be out in the community engaging the people of the area. Pray that God move in a mighty way among the people we encounter.

What is the World Coming To?

This past Sunday, May 30, there was a shooting at the local Target that shook this community.  A man walked into the store and shot an employee of the store and then turned the gun on himself.  This is something that people in this community knew happened in the world, but was something we never thought would happen in our town.  Since this time I have heard many people discussing the tragic events that took place, and normally the conversation turns to a statement like "What is this world coming to?" or "Nowhere is safe anymore."  While there is no denying that evil is everywhere and that crime  around us is a reality, I think that the meaning of these questions and statements go deeper than they may appear on the surface.  Often the tone of these statements and the conversation that surrounds them implies that the communicator has the understanding that if people would just act like they did in the "good old days" then everything would be right in the world.  After thinking about this the past few days the question has come to me, what should the church's answer be to the growing reality of depravity around us?

The Wrong Answer

First I want to expose the answer that is normally given for the erroneous statement that it is.  If one looks at the strategies, programs and sermons that are often given in church, one could easily be led to believe that the answer to the problems in the world is simply good morality.  From the mindset that if people would simply clean up their act and live like they were supposed to, to how to live a better life sermons that pervade today's pulpits, it seems that churches are convinced that a change in morality will cure the problems that face the world today.  Proclaiming morality will at best mask the symptoms, but it will never cure the disease.  Solving the problems of evil in the world today by teaching morality is like trying to cure emphysema with a cough drop.  When looking at the issues in the world around her, the church cannot believe that lie that people just simply need better morality.

The Cure:

So what is the answer?  The church cannot ignore the issues in the world around her, nor can she successfully seclude herself from the world and remain oblivious to the needs that exist.  However, if the church is going to be effective in addressing the affects of the disease of sin that is so prevalent around her, she must administer the right cure.  So what is this cure?  Quite simply, it is the message of the gospel.  It is proclaiming Christ and Him crucified in every message and to every person.  It is realizing that the problem is not bad morality, but sin that has separated us from the Creator God and led us into death. The world is not going to change by changing itself, rather true change will only come through an encounter with the Living God through the cross of Christ Jesus.  This is what we must proclaim as a church, this must be our remedy, for it is the only remedy with any affect.

We must rexamine the way we look at the world.  As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:16 we must no longer see people "according to the flesh" but view them as people made Imago Dei who are seperated from a Holy God and in need of a Savior, not a behavior change.  Proclaim Christ and the new life that is in Him, not good behavior.

Measuring the Growth

Currently I am doing some training with 5 of the students at Olive Chapel who are going on a mission trip to NY this summer to reach people with the gospel of Christ Jesus.  Part of this training is for them to write out their testimony.  In preparing for this I was reading Dr. Alvin Reid's new book "Evangelism Handbook."  In this was a section on a spiritual autobiography, or basically a more detailed version of your testimony to be able to tell people in a more personal setting.  In reading about this the reality hit me, how often do we as believers go months, or years, and never sit back and see the growth that we have experienced in God.  For some it's because growth is not there, but for others I fear it is because we are too complacent in our lives and are more concerned with other things than how much we have grown in Christ.  When I think about this I imagine a little kid backing up to the door post so that his mom or dad can mark his height on the wall.  When they mark it he stands back and observes how much taller he is than the last time they measured him.  In the excitement that he is feeling over his growth, he tells everyone he has seen how much taller he is.  Why do we as believers not mark our growth like this.  So often it seems we view our walk and growth with God as over when we walk down the isle and pray a prayer with the pastor.  It is dangerous for us to not take time to evaluate and mark how God is growing us.  As I look back on how God has grown me in my faith, just in the past year, it encourages me and reminds me of His faithfulness in my life.  I encourage you to mark your growth.  Keep a journal and document what God is teaching you, and periodically look back and see how God is moving in you.  And don't keep what God is doing in your life to yourself.  He is not just growing you for you, but for the church and for His glory.  Proclaim what God is doing, to the glory of His name and for the building up of the church.

A Review of Nexus

This past weekend I took the students to The Summit Church to take part in their NEXUS weekend.  As usual, the weekend was awesome.  The students were challenged to live out their faith and to proclaim it.  The students were lead in worship through preaching by Clayton King, J.D. Greear, and Jason Gaston and were led in worship in song by Carl Cartee It was refreshing to be a part of a student ministry event that was based around the Word of God rather than emotionalism.  The weekend was summed up by the sermon that Jason Gaston gave on Saturday afternoon.  He spoke out of Isaiah 6 and confronted the students with the beauty of the gospel and the dangers of religion.  One of the statements he made that really stood out to me was that the "gospel saves you and sends you."  This was really challenging to me and hopefully to everyone there.  So often I fear that we get so caught up in our comfortable lives chasing the America dream, that we lose sight of the fact that God saved us for more than this.  He saved us for His glory and to join in on His mission to make his name great among the nations.  I pray that the students who were there, and in fact some of the leaders, would follow this calling from God and allow the gospel to send them.

Student pastors, if you are looking for a Spring event on which to take your students, Nexus in that event.  Thanks Jason and The Summit Church for ministering to the students in this area with such an awesome, God glorifying weekend.

Are you a good one or a bad one?

The other day I was having a conversation with a family friend from out of town and we were discussing a church that her son was attneding but had recently moved from.  In the conversation I made a comment about some theological issues I had with some of the beliefs in that church and she responded "Well I don't worry about that theological stuff."  What?  How is that possible?  After having this coversation a saying that I have heard multiple times in the classroom at SEBTS kept running through my mind; "We are all theologians, the question is whether we are a good one or a bad one."

So often I fear this is the mindset of most people sitting in the pews on Sunday morning.  They know absolutely nothing about God, and seem to have no desire to.  They think it is the job of the pastor to know all that stuff, all they have to do is show up.  So often we claim to love God, claim to have faith in Him, yet we walk around completely ignorant as to who He really is.  So often we are more content to keep this made up image of God in our minds than to apply the effort to study and to learn who He really is. 

What if we as Christians took the reality seriously that we are all theologians and sought to be good ones.  Will we put forth the discipline and time it takes to honestly seek the Lord for who He is?  We are all theologians, my question to you is, what kind are you?

Images from Haiti

Here is a video shot from Mars Hill Church from a trip made to Haiti just days after the earthquake.  Continue to pray for these people and give what you can.  There is a mighty work to be done there in helping these people to recover and to take the gospel message of Christ to them.  Pray earnestly for them and for what your role in helping them might be.

Overwhelmed by the Numbers

This morning I was praying through some of the people groups on the calendar at Joshua Project Calendar and began looking deeper into the statistics of some of the Unreached People Groups (UPG).  One of the groups I prayed for was the Megh, Hindu of India.  As I was reading through some information on them one stood out to me in particular.  This particular group in India alone adds up to some 2.76 million people.  As I looked further, less than 2% of these peoples follow Christ.  That means at most, there are roughly 52,000 Christ followers there, which still leaves over 2.7 million people in one people group who are blinded by false religion.  This stirs something inside of me as I hope it does you, to think that in one people group alone there are this many people who don't know Christ.  And this is not the only group that has these types of figures.  This really brings to light what Jesus spokes when he said the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.  In what way can I, can you, join in on the mission of God to make His name great among the nations.  Will you commit to pray for these unreached people groups daily?  Will you pray and honestly consider whether God is calling you?  So often it is easy to tell ourselves that most of the world is Christian when we just sit in our comfortable, American, Christian bubble.  But when we open our eyes to the World around us, we realized the urgent need to take Christ to the nations.  Pray for these peoples.  Go to these peoples.

Back to the Blog

The other day I was encouraged to start back blogging, so I decided I would again.  The reason I stopped is I found myself only blogging when something annoyed me or when I was pointing out something wrong in something someone said or did, so in an attempt not to be that guy I withheld from blogging.  But now I have decided to try it again and do it more regularly and base it more around seeking to edify those who read not simply point out wrongs of others.  Hope you enjoy.

Upcoming Student Activities

Here is we have coming up for the students at Olive Chapel. If you have any questions contact me. Students/Parents, please note the deadlines and sign up by them.

Nexus Project

We will be attending a D-Now type weekend with the Summit Church in Durham March 5-6. The cost of the trip is $25. We will be staying Friday night together at a church members home. If you are interested in hosting a group please let me know. Sign up by January 31. You may invite friends to this event. For more info visit Nexus Project RDU

Summer Camp

We will be visiting summer camp this year at Crossroads Worldwide held at Gardner Webb University. Dates for camp are July 12-16 and the cost is $150/person. You may invite friends to this event. Please sign up by January 31 as we have to get registered quickly.

High School Summer Mission Trip

We will be taking a trip to New York City for a street evangelism mission trip with the High Schoolers from June 15-20. I just recieved an email changing the trip to these dates so please not the change. In order to attended this event you will have to attend the training sessions we will be having prior to be able to go. Due to what the trip is going to be, this trip is limited to members of the youth group. Unlike camp and Nexus this is not an outreach event, but it is an event for our core group. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Valentines Banquet

The annual valentines banquet will be on Saturday, February 13 and will be a dinner theater. The youth will be performing a play inbetween the courses of the meal as entertainment for the senior adults. Please plan on being at this event and at youth on Wednesday nights as we will be preparing for the play.