Revitalize Your Church

Many in our churches make the serious blunder of confining their attention to the outer, to the neglect of the inner life. They work at the streams, and fail to give their first and chief attention to their great necessity -- purity at the fountain. They struggle in a life-long effort to raise the streams higher than the fountain or to purify the fountain by working at the streams. Their only success in this effort is to get the outward and apparent of their life out of all proportion or harmony with their inner and true character. Who can bring a clean thing ouf of an unclean? Not one! -- J. A. Wood Purity and Maturity

The foot of faith fell on the seeming void, And found the rock beneath. -- John Greenleaf Whittier

Izaak Walton, the patron saint of fishing, wrote a beautiful biography of his friend, George Herbert , who served a minister in a small village (Bemerton, England), until his life was cut short. Herbert's life was a candle, buring bright for Christ. As a young man, he desired a place in the courts of the King - -and was on the fast track towards such a royal position during the reign of King James. God had other plans for George, however -- and selected him to serve in HIS court -- The Court of THE King of kings. George served a small parish, St. Andrew's Church at Bemerton with gladness and wholehearted enthusiasm, demonstrating the love of Christ in all his doings. He considered his small town ministry the most important mission on earth. He wrote a wonderful book on pastoral work called The Country Parson which is packed with excellent advice for ministers who serve in small places (or large places for that matter.) I few quotes from Herbert: "In God and His service ...

Look for it then every day, every hour, every moment! Why not this hour? This moment? Certainly, you may look for it now, if you believe it is by faith. And by this token, you may surely know whether you seek it by faith or by works. If by works, you want something to be done first, before you are sanctified. You think I must first be or do thus or thus. Then you are seeking it by works unto this day. If you seek it by faith, you may expect it as you are; and if as you are, then expect it now! It is importance to observe that there is an inseperable connection between these three points: 1) Expect it by faith 2) Expect it as you are 3) Expect it now To deny one of them is to deny them all. -- John Wesley, Sermon Forty Three, "The Scripture Way of Salvation"

This will be announced next Sunday -- and will also be included in our bulletin during the flu season. (Special thanks to Pastor Tim Young who put this good common sense advice together.) 1. If you don’t feel well -- stay at home! If you have symptoms of a cough, fever, or sore throat, it might be best to stay home, rather than risk infecting someone else. 2. Use good cough and sneeze etiquette! Make sure that your cough and sneeze are covered, to prevent from spreading the germs. 3. Wash your hands often! You can’t wash your hands enough, this will reduce the possibility of spreading germs. We will have hand sanitizers around the church, if you can’t wash your hands, this is the next best thing, until you can. 4. You don’t have to shake someone’s hand or hug them if you don’t want to . Don’t take it personally, if someone doesn’t want to shake your hand, or wants to be hugged by you. Find another method of greeting, that doesn’t require touch. 5. Let’s keep trusting in the Lord, an...

Randy Alcorn has done it again! First he tackled the touchy subject of money ( The Treasure Principle ), then he addressed the mysterious subject of the afterlife ( Heaven.) Now, he's taking on the problem of evil and suffering ( If God is Good.) With his clear and simple style, Alcorn takes the reader through the baffling maze of why bad things happen to us. He addresses such issues as sin, natural disasters, God's sovereignty, free will, the nature of evil, and how to handle the "why" question. Usually, when people wade into these waters, their answers are less than satisfacory. Alcorn fares better than most in this regard. Even when he's attempting to explain the unexplainable, he makes good sense for the most part. He includes an insightful case study of Bart Erhman, the "Christian" who lost his faith, and lived to tell the whole world about it. I especially appreciated how he addressed the false "quick fix" solutions to the problem of...

This morning, I was honored to be the guest on the Techology Show, a weekly podcast featuring technology, theology and everything in between. Hosted by my delightful South Carolina pastor friends, Tony Casey, Steve Stanley and Matthew Tietje, the weekly show is a great source of inspiration and food for thought. Today's episode here