Holding to Truth

Myths Worth Mentioning - Part 2

2012-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

In the last blog I highlighted the following post from http://www.gty.org/blog/B101022 . I sincerely hope it causes us to think through some of the prevailing myths that are thrown at us by a world that has no concern nor concept regarding biblical parenting. Here is the second part of Myth Busting:

Myth # 6: “My wife should take responsibility for training our children since I work.”

Husbands, don’t turn God’s calling for your wife (Titus 2:4-5, to love you and your children, and keep the home) into a fatal parenting myth. God’s instruction to your wife doesn’t excuse you from parental responsibility. Scripture presents parenting as a joint-effort, and it also issues several commands directly to you fathers—it’s your responsibility to train your children (Eph 6:4, Col. 3:21). It’s true, your wife will spend more time at home with the kids while you work, but that doesn’t eliminate or diminish your responsibility to join her—in fact to lead her—in the parenting task.

Myth # 7: “My children won’t be able to understand spiritual truths until they are much older.”

Biblical history, human history, and common experience demonstrate how young children can comprehend spiritual truth. Remember the prophet Samuel, or the young king Josiah? Samuel’s close relationship to the Lord began at a very young age (1 Sam. 2:26), and king Josiah instigated spiritual revival in Judah when he was only a teenager (2 Kings 22:1; 2 Chronicles 34:33). In 1735, during the American Great Awakening, God saved Phebe Bartlet, a young girl in Jonathan Edward’s congregation, when she was only 4 years old. Parents and pastor alike thoroughly examined her comprehension of gospel truth and found clear evidence that she was born again. Time proved the genuineness of her profession. One of her favorite activities was attending church to hear the preaching of her pastor, Jonathan Edwards (not a theological lightweight). Don’t fool yourself parent—and certainly don’t try and fool your children. They are sharper than you think.

Myth # 8: “If I spank my children, it will exasperate and provoke them.”

Sadly, this myth is alive and well in many Christian homes. It intimidates parents and spoils children. Contrary to our anti-spanking culture, Proverbs 13:24 says, “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” Truth is, if you want to provoke and spoil your children, just continue to shelter them from the painful consequences of disobedience (Prov. 29:15). No kid loves a spanking, and we don’t like discipline either, do we? But the writer of Hebrews tells us that discipline yields peaceful, productive fruit (Heb. 12:5-11). (Here are a few other Scriptures to counter this insidious myth—Prov. 19:18; 22:15; 23:13; 29:17).

Myth # 9: “Spanking my children is the key to successful biblical parenting.”

For some of you, spanking your child seems quicker, easier, and more effective than the relentless dawn-to-dusk instruction called for in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (see Myth #4). Ephesians 6 also calls for “discipline,” but Paul clearly has more in mind than spanking. The positive command, “Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (v. 4), refers to the systematic training and instruction of children. Literally, the word “instruction” could be translated “putting in mind.” As a parent, you want to impart the knowledge of God regularly and lovingly to your child under the guidance of Scripture. That is the key to successful parenting. Spanking is just one part of that larger task.

Myth # 10: “If I teach my kids properly, God promises they’ll eventually turn out well.”

No doubt you’ve heard this myth. It’s a popular interpretation, and application, of Proverb 22:6—“Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.” How many times have you seen a parent cling to that verse in desperation as they watch defiant children forsake all they were taught? Some children sit under loving, prayerful instruction from their parents, only to later shame them with a scandalous lifestyle. It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it. But Solomon’s proverb is not meant to be a gilt-edged guarantee your child will eventually trust Christ and live righteously. Solomon is simply saying early training usually secures lifelong habits. It’s a charge to give great care and consistency to how and what you teach your children. God promises to bless us for parental faithfulness, but that doesn’t necessarily mean our children will be saved. They have their own relationship with God to work out.

Myths Worth Mentioning

2012-02-07T08:49:00.009-06:00

Below you will find the link and the blog concerning Myths of Raising Kids. I find it alarming that so many parents, who are believers, buy into the pop child psychology of our day. I want to encourage you to read this two part blog, as well as the Scripture references. I hope it serves as an exhortation to see your children as the gift they are.

http://www.gty.org/blog/B101022

Myths—they intrigue, entertain, and sometimes even humor us. From health and history to sports and science, myths and misconceptions seem to find their way into every realm of human thought and activity—including parenting.

As Christians, we probably dismiss most of the parenting myths we encounter without a second thought, right? After all, we’re Christians, those who look to and depend upon God’s Word to determine our reality, not worldly platitudes or cultural traditions. If you’re among those who think only naïve and untaught Christians fall for unbiblical substitutes when it comes to parenting, maybe you’d better take a look at our list.

Here are ten of the most common myths confronting Christian parents these days. Mom and dad, as you endeavor to raise your children to the glory of God, take note of them:

 Myth # 1: “Children must be the first priority in our family.”

Heard that one? According to this myth, the child-centered family is the successful family, so the more attention you give your children, the better they’ll turn out. Basically, you’ve got to prioritize your children over your spouse. No matter how pious they make it sound, it’s not pious at all. The Bible says your spouse is your priority, second only to God. Husbands, you understand this…God commands you to love you wife as your own body (Eph. 5:28). Why? Because you’re in a “one flesh” relationship with that woman (Gen. 2:24; Eph. 5:31). There is no such relationship between parent and child; it’s a different level of intimacy. To elevate the relationship with your children above the more intimate relationship you have with your spouse isn’t positive in any sense. It’s a subtle but dangerous myth that always weakens and sometimes wrecks a home. Beware. 

Myth # 2: “I should rely mainly upon the church—particularly the children’s ministry, to teach the Bible to my children.”

Most of us would probably deny believing this myth, but how we live tells all. Evaluate your habits at home, parents. Where does the majority of your children’s spiritual instruction take place—church or home? Who provides that instruction—an Awana leader or you? We’re not belittling the role of your local church’s teaching ministries. We are pointing out that Sunday school and youth group should supplement your teaching at home, not replace it. Both the Old and New Testaments assign parents, not pastors, the responsibility of teaching their children (See Deut. 6:4-9; Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21). 

Myth # 3: “The behavior of my children is a sure measure of successful parenting.”

That statement would cease to be a myth with a slight adjustment: Your response to the behavior of your children is a sure measure of successful parenting. See the difference? Your child’s behavior is mostly out of your control; your response is not. None of us, especially after the early years, can control our child’s behavior. But you can and must control your response to their behavior. God’s simple instruction to parents is found in Ephesians 6:4, “Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Your success as a parent relates to how faithfully you carry out that charge, not how well your children receive discipline and instruction. 

Myth # 4: “Quality time with my children is more important than quantity time.”

Some parents use this myth to ease their guilt for spending too little time with their kids. That’s not the biblical model. When God instructed parents to impart His Law to their children, notice how much time is involved: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:6, 7). We’re mistaken to think we can somehow schedule those teachable moments into a few scattered, “quality” interactions between dinner and dessert. Faithfulness to the parenting task requires more time than that. As you make yourself available, you’ll begin to see how many unplanned opportunities arise out of those times of sitting, walking, lying down, and rising up. 

Myth # 5: “My children belong to me.”

Behind this myth is the false notion that, “My children are my property, and it’s my right to raise them as seems best to me.” Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a gift from the Lord.” Even life itself is a gift, isn’t it? But it still belongs to God. Parenting is a stewardship, and we are stewards of all God’s gifts, including our children. We provide care, impart instruction, and teach them to fear God, and one day we’ll give an account to Him for how we carry out our charge. Children belong to God. 

She is Not Yet What She is Going to Be!!!

2012-01-31T08:33:00.000-06:00

In the past few weeks I have been alarmed and even frustrated with some blogs, facebook posts and youtube videos. It seems it is in vogue to talk about how ugly the bride of Christ is. It seems popular to bash the church - to highlight her flaws. Certainly, there are assemblies that meet today under the name of “church” that have no desire for real doctrine, no hunger for truth, no accountability or discipline; and yet, they claim to be a church - but that is not a real church according to Scripture. The truth is that the bride of Christ is made up of people who have been redeemed by Christ, that have a hunger and thirst for holiness, and they come together and connect for God’s glory, “warts and all.” Part of the beauty of the Church is that even though we sit by selfish, older or younger people that may be nothing like us, we are unified because of the sacrifice of Christ.

I read a post a week (or so) ago that said something like this: “I have been in church most of my life and some of the meanest people sit in the pews. Yet I have been in bars and know some people that would give you the shirt off their back.” Let me state first, I would imagine in those same bars, restaurants or mall that there are some very kind people, there are probably some very giving people, but also in that same room you will find people who will gossip about you, lie about you and even steal from you. Some within the church would also be found to be extremely generous and “giving”. But, the comparison this person is making is between the worse experience in the church and best experience from the bar (or anywhere else). Let me state, for the record that religious people can be extremely vile, but so can people at any restaurant. Should we expect more from the Church? Certainly! We should expect more from the people of God and, if the church would function as it should with grace, love and biblical confrontation there would certainly be less of this. However, I go to church with people who are struggling with gossip, lust, anger, lying and myriad of other issues. God has placed us together to help us sharpen each other, to provoke one another to good works, and to aid in one another’s sanctification. It is really easy to take cheap shots at the bride of Christ and truthfully, the world and believers should expect her to look more like her Groom: however, if you kept telling me how you like me, but despise my wife I would conclude two things: (1) You don’t like me as much as you say or you wouldn’t hate my wife (2) One of the ways you can love me is by being kind to my wife. I believe Christ says the same thing general thing when he states things like: Jn. 13:5 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Or 1st Jn. 4:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” If I was always quick to point out to my wife the beauty of other women, only to point out her flaws, would that be love?

All this to say, there should be a higher expectation among the people of God, but there also should be an understanding that we are sinners, saved by grace, being sanctified by Christ, His Word and His people. As a believer, if I attempt to make my case by pointing out the best of morality in man and the worst of the hypocritical church-goer, it leads to weak strawman arguments. Is the Church perfect? No. Can we glorify Christ as we strive to live holy under the authority of the Word and mutual accountability? Yes. She may not be all that pretty now, but on that wedding day she/we will presented spotless as we worship the King!

Is Your Anger Righteous?

2012-01-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

Many in our leadership are walking through a wonderful book by Robert D Jones entitled Uprooting Anger. I am also highlighting this book in our Bible study time on Wednesday night, as well as leading my family through it at home. Here is what I know…everyone gets angry, we display it in a variety of ways and many hide it better than others, but nevertheless all of us, in our fallen nature get angry. I find it perplexing however, how many times we allow our hearts to be our greatest deceiver by convincing us that our anger is “righteous” when in truth seldom, if ever, is our anger really “righteous.” In his book, Jones gives three criteria of righteous anger: as you read these criteria below, allow it to be used as a spotlight to search your heart.

· Righteous Anger Reacts Against Actual Sin: This means when looking at the Word of God in passages like Rm. 3:23 and 1^st Jn. 3:4 what is happening is a violation of God’s Word. There is a tendency to get anger over being inconvenienced, ignored or even your preferences being violated. But an angry reaction to any the aforementioned things is sinful.

· Righteous Anger Focuses On God and His Kingdom, Rights and Concerns, Not on Me and My Kingdom, Rights and Concerns: The emotions is coming because of God centered motives not self centered motives. Often times what we see as actual sin, is not what causes us to get angry. For instance if your boss is self-centered and mean spirited. Many times our heart wants to convince us that we are angry at his sin, but in truth, we are angry that his self-centeredness or his arrogance impacted us. Did the boss sin? Yes. Was your anger righteous? No. It was self centered and in fact arrogant because what made you angry is that you believe you deserve better. Sound familiar? It did to me.

· Righteous Anger Is Accompanied By Other Godly Qualities and Expresses Itself In Godly Ways: Does the anger you have show self control? Does it cause you to gossip? Does it cause you to have bitterness? Does it cause you to call, write, whisper, meet to “share your heart” with someone? If so we can put lipstick on the pig all day long, it is still a pig. We can tell ourselves how pure our motives are and how we are taking up our armor for the Lord, but in truth what we feel is leading us to sin, therefore righteous anger is not a reality to us.

When I went through this short little list in my mind I realized that seldom do I have righteous anger. Even when my boys need correction because of sin and I take them to the Word of God, many times I am convicted of my anger in the situation. Many times my first response is that angry feeling, not because of their sin, but because it inconvenienced my life. It is such a blessing and so refreshing for the Lord to reveal sin in our life that leads us to repentance; yep—it is sanctification! Thank the Lord for that!

Why My Wife Chose Mr. Wrong

2012-01-17T10:25:00.000-06:00

I am sure this title alone has caused some of you great joy and you long to hear all of my short comings! However, not only did Michele choose to marry me… “Mr. Wrong,” but I also chose to marry her, “Mrs. Wrong”. In the coming days we will have a new book on marriage by Tim and Kathy Keller entitled “The Meaning Of Marriage.” In short, Keller argues that in light of Scripture, none of us marries the right one. That is because marriage is intended by God to be a picture of the Gospel, it means commitment to a fellow sinner to love them by choice, and it is not some Disney, fantasy - driven emotion. Below you will see a link and the article by Tim Keller that is an excerpt from his new book. I hope it blesses you as it did me.

http://m.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationship/features/27749-you-never-marry-the-right-person

You Never Marry the Right Person

Timothy Keller

Thursday, 05 January 2012

How our culture misunderstands compatibility.

In generations past, there was far less talk about “compatibility” and finding the ideal soul-mate. Today we are looking for someone who accepts us as we are and fulfills our desires, and this creates an unrealistic set of expectations that frustrates both the searchers and the searched for.

In John Tierney’s classic humor article “Picky, Picky, Picky” he tries nobly to get us to laugh at the impossible situation our culture has put us in. He recounts many of the reasons his single friends told him they had given up on their recent relationships:

“She mispronounced ‘Goethe.’” “How could I take him seriously after seeing The Road Less Traveled on his bookshelf?” “If she would just lose seven pounds.” “Sure, he’s a partner, but it’s not a big firm. And he wears those short black socks.” “Well, it started out great ... beautiful face, great body, nice smile. Everything was going fine—until she turned around.” He paused ominously and shook his head. ”... She had dirty elbows.”

In other words, some people in our culture want too much out of a marriage partner. They do not see marriage as two flawed people coming together to create a space of stability, love and consolation, a “haven in a heartless world,” as Christopher Lasch describes it. Rather, they are looking for someone who will accept them as they are, complement their abilities and fulfill their sexual and emotional desires. This will indeed require a woman who is “a novelist/astronaut with a background in fashion modeling,” and the equivalent in a man. A marriage based not on self-denial but on self-fulfillment will require a low- or no-maintenance partner who meets your needs while making almost no claims on you. Simply put—today people are asking far too much in the marriage partner.

You never marry the right person

The Bible explains why the quest for compatibility seems to be so impossible. As a pastor I have spoken to thousands of couples, some working on marriage-seeking, some working on marriage-sustaining and some working on marriage-saving. I’ve heard them say over and over, “Love shouldn’t be this hard, it should come naturally.” In response I always say something like: “Why believe that? Would someone who wants to play professional baseball say, ‘It shouldn’t be so hard to hit a fastball’? Would someone who wants to write the greatest American novel of her generation say, ‘It shouldn’t be hard to create believable characters and compelling narrative’?” The understandable retort is: “But this is not baseball or literature. This is love. Love should just come naturally if two people are compatible, if they are truly soul-mates."

The Christian answer to this is that no two people are compatible. Duke University Ethics professor Stanley Hauerwas has famously made this point:

Destructive to marriage is the self-fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and the family are primarily institutions of personal fulfillment, necessary for us to become "whole" and happy. The assumption is that there is someone just right for us to marry and that if we look closely enough we will find the right person. This moral assumption overlooks a crucial aspect to marriage. It fails to appreciate the fact that we always marry the wrong person.

We never know whom we marry; we just think we do. Or even if we first marry the right person, just give it a while and he or she will change. For marriage, being [the enormous thing it is] means we are not the same person after we have entered it. The primary challenge of marriage is learning how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married.

Hauerwas gives us the first reason that no two people are compatible for marriage, namely, that marriage profoundly changes us. But there is another reason. Any two people who enter into marriage are spiritually broken by sin, which among other things means to be self-centered—living life incurvatus in se. As author Denis de Rougemont said, “Why should neurotic, selfish, immature people suddenly become angels when they fall in love ... ?” That is why a good marriage is more painfully hard to achieve than athletic or artistic prowess. Raw, natural talent does not enable you to play baseball as a pro or write great literature without enduring discipline and enormous work. Why would it be easy to live lovingly and well with another human being in light of what is profoundly wrong within our human nature? Indeed, many people who have mastered athletics and art have failed miserably at marriage. So the biblical doctrine of sin explains why marriage—more than anything else that is good and important in this fallen world—is so painful and hard.

No false choices

The reason that marriage is so painful and yet wonderful is because it is a reflection of the Gospel, which is painful and wonderful at once. The Gospel is—we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared to believe, and at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. This is the only kind of relationship that will really transform us. Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God’s saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us. The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent. The conviction and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God’s mercy and grace.

The hard times of marriage drive us to experience more of this transforming love of God. But a good marriage will also be a place where we experience more of this kind of transforming love at a human level.

Excerpt from THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE © 2011 by Timothy Keller with Kathy Keller. Published by Dutton, A Member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Excerpted with permission from the publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Worthy Resolutions

2012-01-10T07:42:00.001-06:00

On December 31 at 6 pm I saw a “tweet” someone sent out to their Pastor that read: “Pastor help! I only have 6 hours to run a marathon, lose 20 pounds and pray more.” As I laughed and read it to my wife, I also thought to myself: “At least he remembered what his resolutions were. Goals are good and I can’t think of a better time to set them than at the first of the year; however, they should be goals that matter - they should be goals that include not only “losing 20 pounds” but they should include goals that impact the Kingdom. I have shared before that one of the things Michele and I try to do is discuss our giving not just in the beginning of the year, but throughout the year. We know that giving can be something we simply do rather than an area we focus on growing in. Make a goal/resolution that impacts your children and spouse and challenges them to grow - make a goal that impacts your sanctification. There is nothing wrong with goals that impact your physical health and by all means do this… but in your goal setting go back and at least examine if any of them work toward the sanctification of you and your family. Below are just a few ideas to help:

Write Your Goals Down: I don’t mean in the back of some notebook you look at once every 6 months. We have wonderful resources today - use your outlook, calendar, smart phone and choose different periods of time to be reminded of these goals. One of my goals in 2011 was to journal more. I used a website I mentioned before on this blog to help me. http://ohlife.com/ it sends me an e-mail asking me how my day was and all I have to do is e-mail the site back a short or long journal entry. I didn’t return the e-mail as often as I should but I did better this year than ever before!

Have Primary Goals & Secondary Goals: John Acuff wrote a blog on this and called the secondary goals “cousin goals.” He calls them this because cousins are seldom like your brothers or sisters - they are people you like and want around but you seldom have them over except on holidays (sorry for all the cousins I just offended). But, in short you want to have primary goals that you see as things you “must do.” You make plans put them on your calendar; you put these in places that will remind you what you should be doing. The “cousin goals” are things that you would like to do but they can happen after the primary or as a result as the primary goal. For instance, if one of your goals is to read more this year and another is to have a more consistent family worship time this year, accomplish both by going through a book part as of your family worship. Or if you want to run a marathon (Primary) secondary would be to lose 20 pounds. Some of the weight loss will come as a result of the running.

Set Accountability: Tell your spouse or friend what some of your goals are and ask them to mention them to you from time to time. Often in midst of accomplishing goals…life happens. If I have someone asking me about them and holding me accountable, I tend follow through better. You can set a plan in place for accountability; for instance, if you want to read through the Bible this year there are wonderful Bible reading plans on the internet and even in apps for your phone that can help you.

Think About The "Why": If you think about the reasons you have set this goal, and the benefits and/or blessing that will come from it as a result, it will serve as motivation. For instance, if you want to read more just because you don’t read enough, chances are not very good for you to accomplish this. But, if you want to read more in the subject areas that you are struggling in personally and spiritually, then you have more meaningful reason/motivation.

Place Steps in Front of You: If your goal is to run a marathon, don’t go outside and start by running 20 miles hoping you can get the other 6 by the end of the year. Set a goal for a 5 or 10K by March. Then maybe a ½ Marathon by August (if it’s not too hot). If your goal is to read more, think through how many books and put on your outlook as a reminder in February that you should have finished your first __(fill in the number) books.

Set Realistic Goals: If you are 200 pounds overweight, you may not want to set as a goal that you will climb Mt. Everest by November. If you struggle with reading you may not want to commit to reading 200 books this year. But you may want to commit to reading a book every month or every two months.

I think one of the most important things we can do as believers is to set goals that glorify God and then set up ways to follow through. I pray that 2012 will be a year that the Lord works in our lives like never before!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T07:53:00.001-06:00

I want to begin this year by sharing a blog you have likely missed over the holidays, by Bro. Jeff Summers. I have had the honor of serving with Bro. Jeff Summers for the last 15+ years and love him and his sweet family. This two-part blog he wrote would be a great thing to for you to use in your family worship time to begin this year. Below is a copy of the first of his two part blog, to let you get a taste of what it is all about (the second part is linked at the bottom).

Also, beginning this year, I will probably post a new blog weekly rather than two blogs each week. The goal of this blog, first and foremost, is to help those in our flock at Trinity, but also to help other believers by providing either resources or food for thought. Thank you so much for following this blog during 2011 and for all the kind comments, facebook posts and e-mails. You can also follow me on twitter at Chad_everson.

Hope this blog blesses you and gives you a spring board to begin a great discussion with your children.

Part 1 below or here http://trinity4families.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/teenage-resolutions-for-mom-and-dad-part-1/

As we are on the precipice of a new year, its a good time to reevaluate our priorities, renew and strengthen the things that remain, and resolve(d)…in the past tense. In other words, our minds are made up. Its decided. Its not something we intend to do, but it is a settled mindset trusting in the strength of the Lord to supply the power and grace as we live out those resolves. This is crucial as it pertains to parenting…especially parenting teenagers.

John Piper wrote “Teenage Resolutions: For Mom and Dad” back in 1993 dealing with a teenager’s resolve for Mom and Dad. As I read it, I thought “Wow! This would be great to read to my three teenage children, because they NEED this!” And then I got to thinking, but what about me as a Dad. Instead of handing down this wise “edict” for them to apply, I began to evaluate my own resolve as a parent. What should our teenage children expect from us, as parents? Not just parents, but parents that claim the Name of Jesus as Lord.

So! I will add my own resolves [in brackets] to parallel John Piper’s. Not that his is lacking, but I need to do so as a way of making sure I parent as the Lord desires. This is a bit of a work in progress, so I would love to hear your comments. What would you say as a parental resolve to your children?

My plan is to sit down with our family and use this as a tool to discuss our commitment to one another, and ultimately to our Lord Jesus, who calls our family to live in faith in Him and His Word.

Due to the length, I will break this up over two blogs; one this week and one next. I’d love to hear your feedback on these resolves.

Resolved: I will obey your instructions and do what I know you expect of me, even when it is not mentioned. I will not force you into repeated reminders, which I sometimes call nagging.

[Resolved: I will make my instructions clear, and will refrain from impatient promptings when not obeyed immediately, and will not nag or repeat myself. I will deal with the issues of your heart, not simply behaviors.]

Resolved: I will not grumble or complain when I do my chores, but remember what a great thing it is to have a family and a home and clothes and food and running water and electric light and central heating in a world where millions of teenagers have none of these.

[Resolved: I will not grumble or complain when completing parenting responsibilities. I will express my gratitude to you remembering what a wonderful gift you are from the Lord.]

Resolved: When I think your demands are unfair, I will move to do them first, and after showing an obedient attitude, I will ask if we can talk. Then I will explain my side and try to understand yours.

[Resolved: I will patiently listen to your appeals with a desire for understanding, and will correct my demand if wrong.]

Resolved: I will not stonewall you and give you the silent treatment, which I dislike when my friends do it to me. If I am depressed and want to be left alone, I will say, “I’m sorry, I don’t feel like talking right now. Can we talk later? I’m not mad; I just need to be alone.”

[Resolved: I will respect your feelings and give you the necessary time that you need. I will not attempt to lecture or pressure you, but will be available to you to listen, guide, and pray with you.]

Resolved: When I do something wrong and let you down, I will apologize sincerely with words that you can hear. Something like: “Mom, I’m sorry, I didn’t pick up the pile of clothes.”

[Resolved: I will forgive you and give you the grace that God gives me when I fail. I will also apologize sincerely with words that you can hear when I fail as a parent.]

Resolved: I will call you by affectionate family titles, like “mommy” or “daddy”, or “mom” or “dad”. And I won’t let other kids pressure me into calling you nothing, or calling you something disrespectful as though true affection were embarrassing or childish.

[Resolved: I will express affection and treat you in ways that will not embarrass you in front of your friends. I will speak and act in ways that show your worth and respect in front of your friends. I will treat you as a young man or woman growing into adulthood.]

Resolved: I will say thank you again and again for the ordinary things you do for me. I will not take them for granted as though you were my slave.

[Resolved: I will say thank you again and again for the ordinary things you do for me and our family. I will not take them for granted as though you were my slave.]

Resolved: I will talk about my feelings. Both the positive ones (like happiness, pity, excitement, sympathy, etc.) and the negative ones (like anger, fear, grief, loneliness, discouragement, etc.). I will remember that unshared feelings lead to estrangement and coldness and even more loneliness and discouragement.

[Resolved: I will make our home atmosphere one where you feel free to talk about your feelings, both positive and negative. I will not minimize your feelings. I will take them seriously and help you work through those feelings biblically.]

Part 2 here: http://trinity4families.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/teenage-resolution-for-mom-and-dad-part-2/

The Last Blog of the Year

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

During this time of year it is crazy, and things really don’t slow down for any of us until the middle part of January. Because of that…this will be my final blog of the year. I want to tell you “thank you” for taking the time out of your busy schedule and reading this blog through the year. Thank you for the comments (mainly on facebook) that I receive from you, but also the e-mails. I am a blessed man… God has done an incredible work in the life of Trinity this year and I must say that the last 6 months have been some of the most enjoyable I have ever had in my ministry. To see where we have come from to where we are - to watch the wonderful families God has brought us as new additions to our church family (as well as some blessed subtractions we have said good bye to), the strength, the passion for discipleship, the desire for accountability, the understanding of how the gospel impacts our life on the daily basis, the passion for God’s glory, the unity – all of these are evidences of grace that I do not go through a Sunday without seeing! In a few weeks Michele and I will be celebrating our third year at Trinity. When I came I had no idea how difficult it would be, but I also had no idea the prayer, support, encouragement and hunger for the Word that God would cause to spring forth. Thank you for allowing me the trust and honor to walk book by book, verse by verse with you through the Word of God. Thank you for the encouragement and prayers you have given our incredible staff and me throughout this year. Thank you for holding fast through the storms and rejoicing in the victories the Lord has given us. I love you and look forward to many more years of serving our Lord beside you. I love you Trinity family, thank you for the joy of letting me lead you as your Pastor.

Happy Birthday Jesus Celebration

2011-12-15T08:00:00.001-06:00

In the very early days of my ministry there was a family who celebrated Christmas by having a big “Happy Birthday Jesus” celebration and, while they made it a lot of fun for the kids, they thought the best present to give would be an additional offering to the church that their family all contributed towards. When I heard about this and thought it through…and then considered the time that this family took in going about this, I felt it would be a great idea to introduce this to our church. I began this in about my second year of being a Pastor and it has always been a special time for our family and fellowship. Last year, our fellowship had a wonderful time doing this and I believe this year will be even better. On Sunday night we will have a very unique worship service then we will have a time to bring our gifts to the altar as a family. I want to encourage you to use this week to allow your younger children to make cards to package your gift and use this as a teaching time to explain what this holiday is all about. Share with them the importance of the cradle because it led Christ to the cross. Use this to herald the gospel to your children! This is a holiday which the world, Santa Claus and parties have all clouded the great gospel message. Don’t waste the opportunity we have as a church body to have fun, but also focus on Christ during this all too busy time of the year. Don’t forget to be here Sunday evening as we will have a time worship, praise and food at the end of our service. I am looking forward to how God is going to use this time in our fellowship at Trinity!

A Final Perspective to Consider....

2011-12-12T08:00:00.002-06:00

Let me state from the onset that there is a much that Mark Driscoll teaches that I disagree with…but, this is not a blog on the differences between Driscoll and me. However, I believe he does a great job in writing concerning his view about Santa Claus and it just gives us another perspective to think through. I hope this series has been helpful.

From: Mark Driscoll's blog

What we tell our kids about Santa

image by Patrick Mahoney

'Tis the season . . . for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa.

When it comes to cultural issues like Santa, Christians have three options: (1) we can reject it, (2) we can receive it, or (3) we can redeem it.

Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don't feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story.

Redeeming Santa

So, as the parents of five children, Grace and I have taken the third position to redeem Santa. We tell our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. We also explain how people dress up as Santa and pretend to be him for fun, kind of like how young children like to dress up as pirates, princesses, superheroes, and a host of other people, real and imaginary. We explain how, in addition to the actual story of Santa, a lot of other stories have been added (e.g., flying reindeer, living in the North Pole, delivering presents to every child in one night) so that Santa is a combination of true and make-believe stories.

We do not, however, demonize Santa. Dressing up, having fun, and using the imagination God gave can be an act of holy worship and is something that, frankly, a lot of adults need to learn from children.

What we are concerned about, though, is lying to our children. We teach them that they can always trust us because we will tell them the truth and not lie to them. Conversely, we ask that they be honest with us and never lie. Since we also teach our children that Jesus is a real person who did perform real miracles, our fear is that if we teach them fanciful, make-believe stories as truth, it could erode confidence in our truthfulness where it really matters. So, we distinguish between lies, secrets, surprises, and pretend for our kids. We ask them not to tell lies or keep secrets, but do teach them that some surprises (like gift-giving) and pretending (like dressing up) can be fun and should be encouraged. We tell them the truth and encourage them to have fun watching Christmas shows on television and even sitting on Santa's lap for a holiday photo if they so desire. For parents of younger children wanting them to learn the real story of Santa Claus the Veggie Tales movie Saint Nicholas is a good choice.

The Truth about Santa Claus

The larger-than-life myths surrounding Santa Claus actually emanate from the very real person of Saint Nicholas. It is difficult to know the exact details of his life with certainty, as the ancient records are sparse, but the various pieces can be put together as a mosaic of his life.

A Gift-Giver

Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and presents.

Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of sexual slavery.

A Bishop and Saint

Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5-6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicaea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in A.D. 325.

Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some two thousand churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas, since they were celebrated within weeks of one another.

Misnomer

During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kris Kringle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.

Folklore

The legends about Santa Claus are most likely a compilation of other folklore. For example, there was a myth in Nicholas' day that a demon was entering people's homes to terrorize children and that Nicholas cast it out of a home. This myth may explain why it was eventually believed that he came down people's chimneys.

Also, there was a Siberian myth (near the North Pole) that a holy man, or shaman, entered people's homes through their chimneys to leave them mushrooms as gifts. According to the legend, he would hang them in front of the fire to dry. Reindeer would reportedly eat them and become intoxicated. This may have started the myth that the reindeer could fly, as it was believed that the shaman could also fly. This myth may have merged with the Santa Claus myth, and if so, explains him traveling from the North Pole to slide down chimneys and leave presents on fireplace mantles before flying away with reindeer.

These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early twentieth century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew.

In sum, Saint Nick was a wonderful man who loved and served Jesus faithfully. So, we gladly include him in our Christmas traditions to remind us of what it looks like for someone to live a life of devotion to Jesus as God. Our kids thank us for being both honest and fun, which we think is what Jesus wants.

Continue to Think Through this "Santa" Thing!

2011-12-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

I wanted to post a few blogs that give some fuel for discussion for this time of year regarding Santa. If you will read my previous blog, you will find that I am not one of these guys that just believes Santa is another word for Satan. But, I do think it is something that Christian parents must think through at the very least.

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2141_thinking_about_santa/

Thinking About Santa

by Noel Piper | December 14, 2009

Over the years, we have chosen not to include Santa Claus in our Christmas stories and decorations. There are several reasons.
First, fairy tales are fun and we enjoy them, but we don’t ask our children to believe them.
Second, we want our children to understand God as fully as they’re able at whatever age they are. So we try to avoid anything that would delay or distort that understanding. It seems to us that celebrating with a mixture of Santa and manger will postpone a child’s clear understanding of what the real truth of God is. It’s very difficult for a young child to pick through a marble cake of part-truth and part-imagination to find the crumbs of reality.
Third, we think about how confusing it must be to a straight-thinking, uncritically-minded preschooler because Santa is so much like what we’re trying all year to teach our children about God. Look, for example, at the “attributes” of Santa.

He’s omniscient—he sees everything you do.
He rewards you if you’re good.
He’s omnipresent—at least, he can be everywhere in one night.
He gives you good gifts.
He’s the most famous “old man in the sky” figure.

But at the deeper level that young children haven’t reached yet in their understanding, he is not like God at all.
For example, does Santa really care if we’re bad or good? Think of the most awful kid you can remember. Did he or she ever not get gifts from Santa?
What about Santa’s spying and then rewarding you if you’re good enough? That’s not the way God operates. He gave us his gift—his Son—even though we weren’t good at all. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He gave his gift to us to make us good, not because we had proved ourselves good enough.
Helping our children understand God as much as they’re able at whatever age they are is our primary goal. But we’ve also seen some other encouraging effects of not including Santa in our celebration.
First, I think children are glad to realize that their parents, who live with them all year and know all the worst things about them, still show their love at Christmas. Isn’t that more significant than a funny, old, make-believe man who drops in just once a year?
Second, I think most children know their family’s usual giving patterns for birthday and special events. They tend to have an instinct about their family’s typical spending levels and abilities. Knowing that their Christmas gifts come from the people they love, rather than from a bottomless sack, can help diminish the “I-want-this, give-me-that” syndrome.
And finally, when children know that God’s generosity is reflected by God’s people, it tends to encourage a sense of responsibility about helping make Christmas good for others.
Karsten, for example, worked hard on one gift in 1975. On that Christmas morning, his daddy stepped around a large, loose-flapped cardboard box to get to his chair at the breakfast table. “Where’s Karsten?” he asked, expecting to see our excited three-year-old raring to leap into the day. Sitting down, I said, “He’ll be here in a minute.”
I nudged the box with my toe. From inside the carton, Karsten threw back the flaps and sprang to his full three-foot stature. “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them . . .” He had memorized Luke 2:8-20 as a gift for his dad. Karsten knew the real story.
In fact, a few days later, he and I were walking down the hall at the church we attended then. One of the older ladies leaned down to squeeze his pink, round cheek and asked, “What did Santa bring you?” Karsten’s head jerked quickly toward me, and he whispered loudly, “Doesn’t she know?”

The Question that ALWAYS Comes Up!

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

We have had so many new families come in our church and so many of them have younger children, inevitably we are asked about what our response should be concerning Santa Claus. So…I am re-posting a blog from 2009 hoping it at least gives food for thought: I will also post another blog I mentioned in 2009 at a later date. I hope for the next few weeks this will at least cause people think through some of these issues.

http://holding2truth.blogspot.com/2009/12/most-controversial-blog.html

The Most Controversial Blog

I remember as a child on Christmas listening for Santa on the roof of my house. I remember the joy of waking up excited to see what presents were waiting for me under the tree - and I remember not understanding why my parents were so tired on Christmas morning! Then, I became a parent…and then I couldn’t believe how difficult Fisher Price made it for “Santa” to put together a child’s toy! I couldn’t believe how tired I would be on Christmas Day after only getting a few hours of sleep - because it took my boys so long to go to sleep and I couldn’t begin “Santa Duties” until the boys were fast asleep. Growing up, both Michele’s family and my family enjoyed Santa Claus, and we did the same with our children. One of my dearest friends in all the world - who happens to be our Children’s Minister - never did Santa with his children. I believe that “Santa” is an individual family’s decision, and Bro. Jeff’s children never told my children any different. Now for the shocker…If I had it to do all over again, I would not do Santa with my children. Now, in family this would probably call for a collective gasp at this point, and let me state I don’t think a parent is wrong regardless of their view of Santa…but I do look back and see some difficulties in the way we handled things with our boys.

Michele and I always agreed if our boys ever point blank asked “Is there a Santa?” we would not say yes. However, we did present Santa to them as Omniscient (all knowing), one who rewards us based on our actions, one who can do the impossible, and so on. We take them to see Santa, we talk about Santa, we read stories about Santa - but then on Christmas Eve we talk about Jesus to them while they are anxiously awaiting Santa. Now, I do not feel my parents, nor most parents are “lying” to the children - they are just allowing the innocence of a childhood imagination to run wild. This is fun, it is fairy tale land, however, there is really no other fairy tale that we ask our children to live out or act upon and have faith in like Santa. Then, on top of this, there are many churches across our land that will have Santa come to Children’s Church, putting those parents who do not want to play Santa in a very difficult position. Now, while it is up to each family to make their decision if they will “do the Santa thing”, I don’t believe it should be answered with an easy “of course” as Michele and I did. If I had thought through the questions my children would ask, and thought through the confusion it could have caused, in all honesty I probably would have let my kids be kids and enjoy their toys, and their pretending and all the joy of the cartoons during holidays… but I would have passed on Santa.

I write this knowing some will get more angry about me “Rethinking Santa” than if someone were to actually speak negatively about their brother and sister in Christ (oops, sorry most don’t get very upset about that). But, it would do all believers well to understand that there really is someone who sees them when they are sleeping… and knows when they are awake….knows every action (bad or good, right?)…but even more, knows our hearts – and loves us with an unfailing love….

Keeping Christ in Christmas...

2011-12-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

When preaching to our church family, I have stated on several occasions that I believe we, as believers have placed ourselves at a disadvantage by not using our celebrations to focus on Christ enough. In the Old Testament there were all kinds of celebrations set up which caused their children to ask questions the meaning of the celebration…this gave Dad and Mom and opportunity to point to Christ during fun events. After all, we know that children love to celebrate! In fact, there is no celebration that children love any more than Christmas! As Christian parents our desire is to use each moment in our children’s lives to point to Christ, and while Christmas seems like an easy time to do this the truth is, we fall into the commercialism of the culture much the same way the world does. So, at the beginning of December I want to offer some very practical ways we can have more of a focus on Christ this year:

If you are a member of Trinity, begin now talking about our Happy Birthday Jesus service. This is where we give an additional offering to the Bride in celebration of our Savior’s birth. We do not do this as an ordinary offering, but we put this gift in an envelope or card. In the past we have talked to our boys about how much we are giving as a family and when they were smaller they made a card that we could place at the altar during this service. As a church family we have a birthday cake and celebrate the birth of our Savior.
Create ornaments with the names of Christ on them to hang on the tree. Take some time in your family worship to discuss what these names mean.
Invite a widow to have Christmas dinner with your family.
Minister to a family who has specific needs.
If you are in the Memphis area, visit St. Jude’s Hospital and take something small to the families who are going to have be there during Christmas.
Get involved with Operation Christmas Child as a family. We always participate in this church wide.
Make something for your neighbors…especially those whom you have been trying to reach for Christ.

If you do something as a family tradition or have any other ideas, tell us about them!

Gushing Gospel Gratefulness on Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.001-06:00

As you celebrate this Thanksgiving with your family and friends, I pray that you will take the time to truly be thankful for what God has done and is doing in our Church family at Trinity. I know for Michele, the boys and me, we are truly thankful for the opportunity to serve alongside you! Know that we love you dearly and wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We will "finish out" our staff blogs with a final offering of thankfulness from Bro. Brad Walker...hope you enjoy!

From Bro. Brad:

When the holiday season rolls around, I often reflect on the things in my life for which I am most grateful. I have never gotten over the fact that a sinner like me was met by the saving hand of God and confronted by the truth of the gospel. It is a divine exchange beyond comprehension: the righteous for the unrighteous, the innocent for the guilty, and Jesus ‘perfect record for my filthy rags (II Cor. 5:21). Likewise, my Heavenly Father has called me to be a Pastor, and it is an absolute joy that I get to fulfill my calling at Trinity Baptist Church.

During a couple of week stretch in October, the student ministry had a Student Ministry Vision luncheon, Man vs. Wild (2 day boys’ campout), Pampered Pajama Party (2 day girls’ retreat), and a 5^th Quarter (after football game student gathering). During this time, I was reminded both of my inadequacy to do ministry alone, and the unbelievable joy to see the Body of Christ in action serving as a team at these events. From all of the parents that spent the night as chaperones, to the ones that baked, or decorated, or served food, or did manicures, or set up, etc… I was overwhelmed by how blessed I am to have such a dedicated support system. We had church members that kept our three kids (not easy) so that Elicia and I could serve at the spring break events. We have had grandparents, student leaders, parents and people with a heart for students who have given up much free time to organize, plan, and to serve so that the teenagers of Desoto County will be impacted with the gospel. I am so grateful for our Student Leadership Team of Mentors that believes and live out ministry with students, and for servants that serve in logistics behind the scenes where no one sees. At our vision luncheon, many of our families were there, and I was reminded of the amazing work that God is doing in transforming lives and families in our midst. Marriages are being restored, broken lives are being put back together, Dads are stepping up to lead their families and children are trying to honor them. I am so grateful that I serve a group of students that are hungry for the Word and are eager obey it. I am fully aware that I do not deserve such wonderful people to serve, and God has been more than gracious to allow me the privilege of serving at TBC.

Few people on this earth wake up every day excited about their vocation, and I am one that is blessed to have such a job. While there are many challenges in student ministry, we absolutely love it! It meets the needs of my family financially and provides me the opportunity to fulfill my calling with joy. This joy is enhanced by the Godly and talented staff team and pastors that I serve with. I am so thankful for Emily Beitz, my former assistant, who very capably assisted me with much skill and recently took a promotion as a “stay at home mom,” and for Jerebeth Mehler, who now helps me in amazing ways and has taught me much about authentic, compassionate ministry. The depth of fellowship that our staff has in the midst of spiritual battle is deep, and the fun we have is great. I am also thankful for a senior Pastor that is my pastor, boss, and friend. There is no other pastor in the world that I would rather serve with than my Pastor.

Finally, the number of acts of kindness, babysitting, notes of encouragement, cooked meals, and loving gifts that we have received from our church family are too numerous to mention. Thank you TBC for loving me as one of the Pastors of your church body. Thank you for loving my family and serving us in a way that humbles and edifies us. Thank you for extending grace for my many weaknesses. Thank you for helping us to raise our boys. Thank you for keeping us accountable to God’s Word. Thank you for reminding us often of Jesus Christ and His work. Thank you for being our family.

Bro. Brad

Thankfulness - A Reminder from Bro. Jon Rushing

2011-11-21T08:00:00.002-06:00

Before I turn you over to read Bro. Jon's blog, I wanted to let you know that I am now also found on Twitter. You are welcome to follow me @Chad_everson if you would like. Now, enjoy Bro. Jon's blog!

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:12-17 ESV

And be thankful. This is a command that I can joyfully obey. When I look around with eyes opened to what God is doing in our midst at Trinity, I am amazed. I see people of different ages, backgrounds, social standing, skin pigmentation, styles of dress and types of personalities all attempting to live with one goal: the Glory of God. It is seen not only as we gather to worship on Sundays, but in offices and homes, restaurants and coffee shops, ball fields and gymnastic studios. Trinity is not about the building that sits at 7200 Swinnea Road. Trinity is about the people that have covenanted together to share a lifestyle of worship around the Word of God which changes them and changes the world. We are a people following Jesus on His mission of making disciples in the world. For this, I am thankful. God is changing us. And to all who will see it, He is rebuilding His church in His image. Praise Him! My family and I are humbled and excited about the days ahead. We do not want to be anywhere else. Trinity is home.

Looking back in gratitude. Looking ahead with expectation.

~Jon Rushing

A Message of Encouragement and Thankfulness from Bro. Greg Stringfield

2011-11-17T08:50:00.000-06:00

As I reflect on the past year, like most everyone, we have had some tremendous “highs” and we have weathered the storms. Like Nehemiah, we as the body of Trinity Baptist Church, need to rely on God’s supernatural power, provision and guidance when faced with problems, storm or goals that seem unreachable. At the same time, God has blessed us with incredible members and we need to use all our skill, energy and abilities as God directs in each situation. We need to find the balance that Nehemiah found between work and trust. While we work and trust, we must also realize that every success we achieve is because of God’s hand of blessing. Let’s make sure, as Nehemiah did, that we give God the glory for it all.

As most of you know my role on staff deals primarily with budgets and day to day needs throughout the church, so naturally I see the movement and grace of God in our fellowship in a very poignant way! As we were preparing the 2011 budget we had to make some difficult decisions knowing that, without a supernatural movement from God, we would not be able to fully meet our expected needs. Month after month this year God continues to “show up” in a big way and meet the needs we have. We have taken the steps necessary to be very diligent and resourceful, but God truly receives the glory as time after time He has met and exceeded our expectations! What Trinity has experienced during 2011 is only an expression of God’s grace and love! I’m so thankful that God has led many to respond for the first time in being faithful to their tithes and offerings. God is doing a great work through our fellowship, so let’s continue to be faithful to the tithe and allow God to provide and bless us with the desires of His heart. Pastor has just led us through Malachi 3 and taught us how easily we can be consumed with the world and our material wants - and when that happens, we are tempted to rob God. Let’s continue to be known through our community as a very giving church.

Thank you Trinity for your desire to have a deeper intimacy with Christ and because of that, we are experiencing growth in our tithes and offerings, growth in our desire to serve, and we are experiencing the fruits that come from a strong Biblically driven church. It is a rarity today to attend a church like Trinity; a church that is dedicated to presenting the Gospel correctly to our neighbors, and around the world.

In Him and Through Him Always,

Greg Stringfield

Pastor of Administration

A Word of Thanksgiving from Bro. Jeff Summers

2011-11-14T08:00:00.001-06:00

A Word of Thanksgiving from Bro. Jeff Summers:

2 Corinthians 4:15
“For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”

I must confess, far too often, I focus on the potential problems that lie ahead rather than taking the time to give thanks for what God has done and is doing amongst us. In the midst of giving thanks, I am able to reflect on God’s plans and achievements that otherwise may get overlooked by more pressing agendas and if you will, the “squeaky wheel” that out shouts those things God is doing.

Pausing to reflect on what God has done and is doing in our faith family, I can’t help but think of the increasing spiritual growth and hunger that I see at Trinity, and even more so since I first joined this body. Specifically, I see a hunger in parents wanting to know how to lead their children spiritually. One of our children’s teachers, in response to the call to help equip and encourage parents, has begun to reach out to the moms of the children she teaches by offering up her home for them to meet and disciple one another. There was a great response! All of our children’s teachers, of whom I am so thankful for, not only love to teach our children, but are seeking ways to encourage and help parents be that primary faith teacher for their children.

A similar effect is happening among our men and fathers as we meet in our Men’s Fraternity each week - at the break of dawn I might add...and I am not a morning person! But we are hungry to be the husbands and fathers God called us to be. God’s grace is moving in and through these men, and the benefactors are our families! Our praise goes to our Lord for the work of His Spirit amongst us.

As a family pastor, I am thrilled to see God’s Spirit doing a work in the hearts of moms and dads who have an increasing desire to raise up a Godly generation! I am thankful for a church, our senior pastor, and ministerial staff who all have the shared vision that our church partner with parents and families to raise up the next generation to know the Lord. We have dedicated teachers and other leaders in our various children’s ministries who are not only faithful to deliver God’s Word to our children, but are seeking ways to equip and encourage parents. I’ve mentioned our Sunday School teachers, but our AWANA leaders and directors see children growing to know God’s Word in a tremendous way, and our parents are a vital part of this growth. Tim Wyatt, and his team during D6Live Kids Worship, is not only equipping our kids with God’s Word each week, but he is supplying resources to our parents, and involving our parents in kids worship. I am so thankful to all our teachers and leaders who serve in Sunday School, AWANA, kids worship, our KidCare, nursery captains, and Angie and Pam who so lovingly serve our families not only on Sundays but through our Mother’s Day Out Ministry.

An evidence of God’s grace spreading through many, and the shared vision of the partnership between the church and parents, is the increasing number of children asking about wanting to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior. This is not an accident. As parents teach their children at home, and the Church teaches the family, the Spirit of God begins to bring children to a point of salvation! Praise the Lord!

As I turn to reflect on our church’s responsibility to carry out our mission to the world, our church is making great strides in growth toward realizing that we are all called to make disciples starting in our own neighborhoods and extending to the unreached and unengaged people groups around the world. We have had multiple families not only host block parties in their own neighborhoods during Halloween, but other families committed to being at home just so that they can be a witness to their neighbors! This is what making disciples means! From a consistent team of people serving the homeless in Memphis every month to men discipling one another, to our church sending teams to other areas around our world so that others may hear and be reconciled to Christ. We have been able to expand our partnership with other ministries and missionaries. The grace of God is at work in our church accomplishing His purposes in our families and enlarging our hearts and wills to reaching people for His Kingdom.

I want to thank the Lord for the men I serve with every single day. I am honored and privileged to not only call them brothers but to be serving with men who love the Lord enthusiastically and love his church, I am simply humbled. As the least of these men, I thank God for his providence of placing me here with them to serve His church. Finally, I want to express my deepest appreciation and thanks to Carol Ann and our children for their support, for their growth in Christ, and love in spite of my many, many failings. I love you guys!

The sad thing is this: I don’t say thank you enough to my Lord or to you. Thank you for loving my family, thank you for responding to the Lord and growing in your faith, thank you for serving our Savior, and being an encouragement to me. Know this, that my thanks to God is great because I see the grace of God abounding to more and more people within our family of faith, and extending outward to those who have yet come to know that amazing grace.

In Christ,

Bro. Jeff

Relections of Thankfulness....

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Our second staff blog is from Bro. Bubba Crowder. Hope you enjoy!

From Bro. Bubba:

It's interesting to see how thankfulness grows over the seasons of life.

As we walk through year two with our first child (Harper), the milestones she has gone through have been neat for two reasons. The first reason being simply how fast things change; from scooting, to crawling, to walking seemed to happen overnight. The second reason these milestones are neat is that in this stage of life growth and development is taking place SO QUICKLY. Could you imagine if developmental changes happened so quickly for a 50-year-old? It's just incredible to see how God grows a child.

The same thing has happened in the life of our church... God has done a tremendous work in growing the depth of the people in our church. One of the things I attribute this to is the way He has used the commitment by our BFG teachers to lead their Bible Fellowship Groups. From teaching God's Word well, to having fellowships, to using their group as a vessel to do ministry, our BFG leaders and members have truly been "the Church".

As this has evolved greatly over the last year, my thankfulness continues to grow with it. It's hard to look around at what God has done in the life of our Sunday morning BFG's and NOT be thankful. From combining classes of different ages to multiplying growth in other classes, there has been an obvious work of ministry happening on Sunday mornings.

I'm also reminded weekly of how thankful I am for the volunteers in our Media ministry. If you were a visitor to our church you would probably think our lights, sound, and video were all run by paid professionals. Quite the opposite: our committed volunteers do so because they understand the value of clearly communicating the Gospel, which they help by doing an excellent job of making sure the elements of Worship are all presented well. They are a blessing to our church!

On a personal note, I'm thankful for the people who weekly go out of their way to minister to my wife and child. It's an incredible blessing to know that they're being ministered to and they have a place to minister while I'm running around in a thousand different directions on Sundays and Wednesdays.

It's my prayer that each of us take time to sit down and look at all the ways God's blessed us in this past season of life, and in return we give Him all the praise and thanksgiving for what He has done!

Blessings,
Bubba Crowder

Heading into the Holidays!

2011-11-07T10:57:00.002-06:00

As we enter into the “holidays” and especially toward this Thanksgiving time, I wanted our staff to have an opportunity to express what they are thankful for and what Trinity means to them. I hope you enjoy these next few blogs and know that we, your staff at Trinity, love you wholeheartedly and pray that God will continue to grow us, as a body, into full maturity in Him! We pray that we continue to grow in grace and that His grace would be evident in each of us as believers!

From Bro. John Miller:

This past year, I have been blessed by the Men’s Fraternity study. Seeing men come together at 6:00 a.m. to take part in the quest for authentic manhood has been uplifting, even if it is at 6:00 a.m.! Thank you, Bro. Chad for leading this study.

Rosie and I have had our health difficulties over the past 6 months…and many folks have shown their love in many different ways, not only to Rosie and I, but to other folks who are in need. When there is a senior adult death or a senior adult in the hospital, so many of you are serving and ministering to meet the needs. This is truly an evidence of grace. Trinity is a church that cares about people. John 13:34-35 “Reaching upward, Always Growing” is our motto and goal for the senior adults. I’m thankful to know there has been growth in the senior adults by learning the truths of the gospel through Sunday School and worship service, and by serving in the church and outside the church this past year.

What a pleasure it is to see young, and older men and women step up and take leadership opportunities, to help in anyway or any place of service that is needed. This is taking place at our church and God is blessing.

I’m thankful to serve with an awesome staff - one that is in one accord. A staff with family ministry, missions and reaching the lost in our hearts. “Pray without ceasing” for your pastor and staff.

Bro. John

Men's Fraternity Graduation

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

We recently finished the 24^th teaching session of Men’s Fraternity. When I began this fraternity, I had no idea how it would turn out. I had no idea how many men we would have involved in this study or if they would be faithful to it through the end. My desire was to really push it in our fellowship and hope some of our men would show up. To my surprise, we have had upwards of 60 men (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less). But of these men, they have become disciple makers, encouragers, and leaders not only at home, but also at Trinity. Words can not describe the honor this has been for me to spend time with these men every Thursday at 6 am. I know for some it has been a sacrifice of getting up early, and for others it has been a sacrifice of getting off work and coming right to Men’s Fraternity (all sacrificing sleep and time). There are many sweet ladies who have had to get up a bit earlier without any help from their husbands in getting the kids out the door for school…ladies, thank you for serving your husband and our fellowship this way. In mid January we will be starting a brand new class. This will be a new book, new material and a new opportunity for our men… in this study we will walk through the Word and learn how to live out biblical manhood. It is also an opportunity for new men to get involved. Please take advantage of this wonderful time of fellowship and learning. In closing, I have put some of the comments from e-mails (minus names or personal information) and the impact our Men’s Fraternity has had: Thank you men and I look forward to our next class!

God made it clear to me that I needed this Bible study, just glad I was obedient because He is working in a masterful way.

Words can’t express what this study has meant to my husband and marriage

I am already at the point of dread, not wanting this study to ever end

This has revealed so of “self” to me! God is really working

Thank God for the men at my table and the honest and accountability we have in place

The reason for the change in our home and church has been this bible study!

I could include many other statements, comments and e-mails, but suffice it to say that this has been a blessing to our men, our families, but above all it has been a blessing to me as your Pastor. Thank you and I can’t wait until January!

Are You Reformed?

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Below you will find a short article describing what really should be celebrated today! On October 31^st as believers we should be saying: “Happy Reformation Day!” Yet, sadly most believers today have no educated idea who Martin Luther was or what he did that was so important. In fact, one of my journal entries some time ago, I copied a message that was referring to a sermon I preached where I quoted Martin Luther…the sad part is, this person was wanting to know what Dr. Martin Luther King had to do our doctrine! I can not make this stuff up! Anyway, I came across the blog below that gives a very short summary of Martin Luther. I hope it serves as a blessing to you.

So, before reading let me help you out on the answer to the blog title’s question… if you are reading this blog…yes, you are either reformed or the alternative, Catholic (and probably just finding out about it).

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-reformation-day-all-about/

What Is Reformation Day All About?

from Robert Rothwell Oct 31, 2010 Category: Articles

At the time, few would have suspected that the sound of a hammer striking the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, would soon be heard around the world and lead ultimately to the greatest transformation of Western society since the apostles first preached the Gospel throughout the Roman empire. Martin Luther’s nailing of his ninety-five theses to the church door on October 31, 1517, provoked a debate that culminated finally in what we now call the Protestant Reformation.
An heir of Bishop Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther is one of the most significant figures God has raised up since that time. This law student turned Augustinian monk became the center of a great controversy after his theses were copied and distributed throughout Europe. Initially protesting the pope’s attempt to sell salvation, Luther’s study of Scripture soon led him to oppose the church of Rome on issues including the primacy of the Bible over church tradition and the means by which we are found righteous in the sight of God.
This last issue is probably Luther’s most significant contribution to Christian theology. Though preached clearly in the New Testament and found in the writings of many of the church fathers, the medieval bishops and priests had largely forgotten the truth that our own good works can by no means merit God’s favor. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and good works result from our faith, they are not added to it as the grounds for our right standing in the Lord’s eyes (Eph. 2:8–10). Justification, God’s declaration that we are not guilty, forgiven of sin, and righteous in His sight comes because through our faith alone the Father imputes, or reckons to our account, the perfect righteousness of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
Martin Luther’s rediscovery of this truth led to a whole host of other church and societal reforms and much of what we take for granted in the West would have likely been impossible had he never graced the scene. Luther’s translation of the Bible into German put the Word of God in the hands of the people, and today Scripture is available in the vernacular language of many countries, enabling lay people to study it with profit. He reformed the Latin mass by putting the liturgy in the common tongue so that non-scholars could hear and understand the preached word of God and worship the Lord with clarity. Luther lifted the unbiblical ban on marriage for the clergy and by his own teaching and example radically transformed the institution itself. He recaptured the biblical view of the priesthood of all believers, showing all people that their work had purpose and dignity because in it they can serve their Creator.
Today, Luther’s legacy lives on in the creeds and confessions of Protestant bodies worldwide. As we consider his importance this Reformation Day, let us equip ourselves to be knowledgeable proclaimers and defenders of biblical truth. May we be eager to preach the Gospel of God to the world and thereby spark a new reformation of church and culture.

For Reformation Day!

2011-10-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

On Monday, you will see a lot of information about Halloween and I have already written concerning this, so I will not go into again. But October 31^st should really be celebrated because it is Reformation Day! Monday, I will have a very easy, short synopsis of what Reformation Day really means. But, during the Protestant Reformation there were 5 Latin fundamental beliefs that serve as pillars of the life of a true believer. Below, you have them explained in a concise way. Use this to talk about these essential beliefs during your family worship.

http://nicenecouncil.com/2011ReformationDay.docx

The Five Solas of the Reformation

By Dr. James M. Boice (1938-2000)

Dr. Boice was a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) pastor and scholar who pastored Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He was especially noted for his systematic theology book “Foundations of the Christian Faith” and many commentaries. He reminds us all of the essential truths handed down to us by the great protestant reformers such as: Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and Huldrych Zwingli.

“1. Scripture alone. When the Reformers used the words sola Scriptura they were expressing their concern for the Bible’s authority, and what they meant is that the Bible alone is our ultimate authority—not the pope, not the church, not the traditions of the church or church councils, still less personal intimations or subjective feelings, but Scripture only. Other sources of authority may have an important role to play. Some are even established by God—such as the authority of church elders, the authority of the state, or the authority of parents over children. But Scripture alone is truly ultimate. Therefore, if any of these other authorities depart from Bible teaching, they are to be judged by the Bible and rejected.
2. Christ alone. The church of the Middle Ages spoke about Christ. A church that failed to do that could hardly claim to be Christian. But the medieval church had added many human achievements to Christ’s work, so that it was no longer possible to say that salvation was entirely by Christ and his atonement. This was the most basic of all heresies, as the Reformers rightly perceived. It was the work of God plus our own righteousness. The Reformation motto solus Christus was formed to repudiate this error. It affirmed that salvation has been accomplished once for all by the mediatorial work of the historical Jesus Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification, and any ‘gospel’ that fails to acknowledge that or denies it is a false gospel that will save no one.

3. Grace alone. The words sola gratia mean that human beings have no claim upon God.

Important Upcoming Dates!

2011-10-24T08:28:00.000-05:00

All the information on this blog is aimed primarily at our Trinity family, but seldom do I aim it exclusively at our Trinity family: I want this blog to be able to help believers in a variety of ways. However, today’s blog is going to be information that I want our Trinity membership to take note of and put on your calendar. We have had some exciting things happening recently at Trinity (like our Missions Conference this past weekend) and I want to get ahead of the curve and make sure you have some very important dates down so you can make every effort to take part in them! It is a busy time – but an exciting time:

October 30: New Member Fellowship Chili Supper after evening services

November 11: Ladies Holiday Dinner

November 13: One Day Revival with David Miller

November 20: Choir Concert in the evening service

November 22: Twensday Service

December 11: Kidz Praise Concert in evening service

December 18: Happy Birthday Jesus Service (6pm)

December 25: ONE Worship service at 10:30 am

December 28: No Wednesday Services

January 1: ONE Worship service at 10:30 am

January 8: David Brickner with “Jews for Jesus” in our morning service

January 19: Men’s Fraternity starts back

Please go ahead and mark these dates down and take advantage of being a part of what God is going to do at Trinity!

Discipleship Conference!

2011-10-20T11:17:00.003-05:00

Two Conferences in ONE!

MEN’S Disciple-Making Conference with Herb Hodges

Friday, Oct 21 6:30—8:30 pm

Saturday, Oct 22 8 am—12:30 pm

Missions Sunday, Oct 23

9:00 am —Special Classes

10:30 am —Worship

Preaching: Dr. Harold Peasley, South Africa

12:00 pm —Missions Luncheon

5:15 pm —Snack and fellowship with Missions Organizations

6:00 pm —Worship

Preaching: Dr. Harold Peasley, South Africa

Making Disciples: Across the Street & Around the World!

As followers of Jesus Christ, it is not an option for us to make disciples or not, and it is not simply the responsibility of the church, or missionary. It is each and every believer’s responsibility. In other words, you can say: “It is MY responsibility!”

So, how does this happen? How do I, as a disciple of Christ, turn around and make disciples of all nations?

On the weekend of Oct 21-23, you will have opportunity to gain a greater understanding, conviction, and know-how on how you can be personally involved in disciple-making starting across the street and reaching around the world!

Our Men’s Disciple-Making Conference on Oct 21-22 will kick off the weekend with Herb Hodges leading our men on a disciple-making strategy. This is not a “how to witness” training. Rather, Herb Hodges will be going to Scripture to show us what God’s plan is for making disciples. Men, you will not want to miss this weekend.

Cost is only $10.00

Missions Conference is Sunday October 23

Dr. Harold Peasley, the director of Multi Ministries in South Africa, will be preaching at both the 10:30 am and 6:00 pm worship services.

At the 9:00 am Bible Study hour, we will have special breakout sessions specifically dealing with disciple-making in different contexts.

We will also have 19 ministries represented on this day for you to gain information, to see how they are making disciples, and possibly how you might be involved in one of these ministries. Or, to give you idea on how you can make-disciples where you are!!

Missions Organizations:

· Network of International Christian Schools

· SafeHaven

· YMOT

· Care Pregnancy Center

· Memphis Union Mission

· Orphanos

· Training Pastors International

· Pastor from Paraguay

· Pastor from Nicaragua

· The Crossings in Vancouver

· Multi Ministries of South Africa

· Associational Missionary w/ X-tended Missions Network

· Disaster Relief

· Impact Ministries

· The Sight Ministry

· Campus Outreach

· Palmer Home

· Baby Love

· Quilts for Su Refugio

· Mission Trips

· Adopting an Unreached People Group

Thank You AWANA Leaders!!!

2011-10-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was sent the following information:

Sparks: 77 sections completed
Adventure Girls: 24 sections completed
Adventure Boys: 14 sections completed
Challenge Girls: 9 sections completed
Challenge Boys: 40 sections completed

While I am thrilled at the number of children that we have hiding the Word of God in their hearts, I am so thrilled at the last line! The oldest boys in our AWANA ministry have completed greatest amount of sections! I believe this is a direct to the incredible number of men who have stepped up to lead in this ministry. I am just rejoicing over the way our men have committed to serve and lead in our church: this is not only a blessing and a benefit, this is biblical. Thank you AWANA leaders and parents for the faithfulness you show by doing all you can to help your children hide the truth of God's Word in their hearts!

What is Going on this Halloween

2011-10-13T13:06:00.001-05:00

Since I have been part of the church, I have watched a variety of reactions to Halloween. For that matter, I have taken a variety of stances on Halloween. It's that one time of year that so many believers struggle with, and on so many levels. I am intentionally writing this while Halloween is still several weeks away, and in my last blog I posted from Tim Challies on Halloween - I believe he discusses accurately and practically how we should stand. I know that much of this is a conviction issue, but I want to take a moment in this blog to simply share what we are doing at Trinity. Growing up in church, I experienced everything from going out knocking on doors for candy during Halloween, to staying at home and giving out candy, to “Fall Festivals” (which is the Christian way to celebrate it and still get lots of candy). In the past, we at Trinity have had a Fall Festival that has been widely attended, our parking lots filled up and a great time was had by all. But the question we have been asking as leadership is, does our Fall Festival really do anything as far reaching out to our community? I know it gives kids and families a safe place to go, but so do about 40 other churches in our area. I know it gives out safe candy, but in truth, I never met the kid who got the razor blade put in the apple and, for that matter, who in the world gives a kid an apple in the first place?! Hand them one of those wonderful miniature snickers bars! I digress…our desire is for us as a body of Christ not to just offer our community events, but we want to penetrate our community with the gospel of Christ. We feel like this will be best accomplished by having block parties in our neighborhoods. The budget we normally have to spend on everything dealing with our Fall Festival, will be divided for inflatables and other items for each block party. We will still be joining together as a church to bring candy to help each host family, and to train families as they are meeting and reaching people where they live. Why should we waste one of the only times of the year that people are out in their neighborhoods with their family, walking around meeting others. If we are not reaching the people we live around, we are hardly carrying out the Great Commission. So, in short, we are still taking up candy, we are still letting our children have fun, but we are multiplying our efforts to reach more people with gospel. Please be in prayer about this, and find out the closest “party” near you so you and your family can drop by. May God use this in a great way!

A Great Blog to Think Through

2011-10-10T08:00:00.006-05:00

I love Tim Challies's blog and I also have a high regard for Dr. John MacArthur, as Mr. Challies does. Below is an outstanding blog on Halloween that is, at the very least…food for thought:

http://www.challies.com/articles/halloween-fast-approaches

Halloween Fast Approaches
Halloween is fast approaching, and I am beginning to see articles on this always-popular topic in the blogosphere. I wrote about this for the first time last year and thought I would follow that article with a similar one, but one that is hopefully a little more developed as I've had another year to think about this issue. This topic was been discussed last year on an email discussion list in which I participate. One member of the list posted a couple of responses to Halloween provided by John MacArthur in an informal question and answer setting. MacArthur was asked, “Is there anything wrong with children going out 'Trick or Treating', like Halloween, and if so, what specifically is bad in it, and what do the MacArthur kids do? And, should Grace get involved in any alternatives?” His response was as follows:

“I think, it's not a wise thing to have children go out trick or treating. I mean, I think it's kind of dumb for Christian kids to dress up like ghosts and witches and weird things, and devil suits, and trouble-makers, and all that. I think, for example, you know, the whole thing of All Saints Day or All Hallows Eve has connotations, first of all of Roman Catholic tradition. It has connotations of demons and spirits. Plus the fact that little kids are exposed to screwballs as well as to cars, and all kinds of other things…What we do in our family is we have an alternative. Like you said, we do an alternative thing. We do something fun for the whole family. It varies from year to year, and our church has always done that, too, for the kids. Have parties and socials and things.”
Of course I'm sure it has been a few years since the MacArthur children asked to dress up for Halloween. I post MacArthur's response because I feel it is quite typical of the Christian attitude towards Halloween. He feels the day holds too many negative connotations and that Christians should find a more sacred alternative.
I acknowledge this as a difficult issue and that it is, in many ways, an issue of conscience. I do not believe there is absolute right and wrong here. Each person much examine his conscience and decide what he believes. The Bible says nothing about Halloween, though certainly there are principles we can find that will help guide us. But ultimately I believe we have to trust our consciences and our sanctified reasoning to guide us. Let me share where this has led me.
My conviction is that it is a very poor witness to have the house of believers blacked out on Halloween. Halloween presents a unique opportunity to interact with neighbors, to meet their children and to prove that Christians are part of the community and not merely people who want only to interact with Christian friends or to only interact in our own way and on our own terms. At the same time I despise how evil Halloween is. Already our neighborhood has ghosts hanging from trees and evil plastic figurines stuck into lawns. One section of houses nearby always feels the need to go the extra step, playing recordings of scary music, dressing in occult costumes and generally glorying in evil. To this time we have allowed our children to go out trick-or-treating, provided they do not wear evil or occult costumes. It is a compromise, and admittedly not one I am entirely comfortable with. Over the past several years churches in our neighborhood have offered an alternative to Halloween with “harvest parties” or similar events. These tend to be parties in a nearby community center that allows children to dress up and get their fill of candy in a less-pagan environment. But there are other churches that encourage families to be present in their homes, to greet their neighbours and to look for opportunities to interact with them. A couple of the pastors in a nearby church are going so far as to hold neighbourhood barbecues before dark and inviting people to come and share a meal with them. I think this is a great idea.
Perhaps the greatest fallacy Christians believe about Halloween is that by refusing to participate in the day we are somehow taking a stand against Satan. And second to that, is that participation in the day is an endorsement of Satan and his evil holidays. The truth is that Halloween is not much different from any other day in this world where, at least for the time being, every day is Satan's day and a celebration of him and his power. A member of the discussion discussion list wrote the following last year around this time: “Yeah… I've heard all of the 'pagan' reasons Christians should avoid Halloween. The question is whether we are actually participating in Samhain when we participate in Halloween? Who or what makes the 'Witch's League of Public Awareness' the definers of what Halloween is, either now or historically? Such a connection between Samhain and my daughter as a ladybug or my son as a Bengals Boy is highly dubious.” And it is highly dubious at best.
I am guessing my neighbourhood is all-too-typical in that people typically arrive home from work and immediately drive their cars into the garage. More often than not they do not emerge again until the next morning when they leave for work once more. We are private, reclusive people who delight in our privacy. We rarely see our neighbors and rarely communicate with them. It would be a terrible breach of Canadian social etiquette for me to knock on a person's door and ask them for a small gift or even just to say “hello” to them. In the six years we have been living in this area, we have never once had a neighbor come to the door to ask for anything (except for this time). Yet on Halloween these barriers all come down. I have the opportunity to greet every person in the neighbourhood. I have the opportunity to introduce myself to the family who moved in just down the row a few weeks ago and to greet some other people I have not seen for weeks or months. At the same time, those people's children will come knocking on my door. We have two possible responses. We can turn the lights out and sit inside, seeking to shelter ourselves from the pagan influence of the little Harry Potters, Batmans and ballerinas, or we can greet them, gush over them, and make them feel welcome. We can prove ourselves to be the family who genuinely cares about our neighbours, or we can be the family who shows that we want to interact with them only on our terms. Most of our neighbors know of our faith and of our supposed concern for them. This is a chance to prove our love for them.
The same contributor to the email list concluded his defense of participating in Halloween with these words: “One night does not a neighbor make (and one night does not a pagan make), but Halloween is the one night of the year where the good neighborliness that flows from being in Christ is communicated and reinforced. We are citizens of another Kingdom where The Light is always on.”
The truth is that I have several convictions regarding Halloween. I despise the pagan aspects of it. I am convicted that my children should not dress as little devils or ghosts or monsters. But I am also convicted that there could be no worse witness to the neighbours than having a dark house, especially in a neighbourhood like ours which is small and where every person and every home is highly-visible. We know that, if we choose not to participate, the neighbors will notice and will smile knowingly, supposing that we feel too good to participate. We have nothing to fear from our neighbours or from their children. So my children will dress up (my son as a police officer and my daughter as a princess) and we will visit each of our neighbours, knocking on their doors and accepting their fistfuls of candy. Either my wife or I will remain at home, greeting people at our door with a smile and a handful of something tasty. If the kids are deemed too old to trick-or-treat, they'll be forced to sing a song to merit any handouts. Our door will be open and the light will be on. And we trust that the Light will shine brightly.
My encouragement to you today is to think and pray about this issue. I do not see Halloween as a great evangelistic occasion. I do not foresee it as a time when the people coming to your door are likely to be saved. But I do think it is a time that you can prove to your neighbors that you care about them, that you care about their children, and that you are glad to be in this world and this culture, even if you are not of this world or this culture. Halloween may serve as a bridge to the hearts of those who live around you who so desperately need a Savior.

A Recipe We Want to Avoid!

2011-10-06T08:17:00.000-05:00

I am an extremely blessed man! One of my blessings is that I have a wife who enjoys cooking - and I know God put us together because she is married to a man who allows her to use her talents because I enjoy eating! We are a perfect team. However, there is a recipe that I have watched come together in churches, and it never turns out good - not under any circumstance! I was reading a book and found this… so original, yet so true, so I wanted to put this in a blog for us to ponder over and guard against!

How to Make Sinfully Rich Choice Morsels

of Delicious Gossip!

Ingredients:

1 Cup of pride----Prov. 21:24

¾ Cup of hearsay—Eph. 4:29

½ Cup of evil suspicions—1st Tim. 6:3-4

¼ Cup of grumbling—1st Corinth. 10:10

1 Tbl Spoon of bitterness—Eph. 4:29

¾ Tbl spoon slander---Lev. 19:16

2 Teaspoons yeast of exaggeration—1st Corinth. 5:8

3 Teaspoons of slurring the situation----Ps. 15:3

Pinch of flattery—Jude 16

Just a dash of unfaithfulness to Christ----Jn. 6:66

Directions:

1. Mix together all ingredients in a bowl of betrayal: Prov. 16:28, Matt. 26:23

2. Pour into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil constantly stirring: Prov. 6:14

3. Prepare in a dark kitchen: Jn. 3:20

4. Turn on low and simmer overnight: Eph. 4:26-27

5. Sprinkle with a little truth (optional)—Rm. 1:25

6. Serve hot to itching ears, warm to those not minding their own business and cold to those fearful; Acts 14:2; 1st Thess. 4:11; 2nd Tim. 4:3.

Use this “recipe” to walk through these passages today and it will cause us all to guard our words more carefully.

Great Questions for Your Marriage

2011-10-03T08:07:00.000-05:00

I came across this blog and I felt the questions were extremely helpful for married couples.

5 Questions for Married Couples Who Want to Become More Biblically Compatible

1. What do you focus on more frequently, what’s wrong with your marriage or what’s right with it? If you're a Christian, there’s a lot right about you because Jesus has saved you from God’s wrath and now owns you. You have every resource in Christ available to you (2 Peter 1:3). As a redeemed child of God, forgiveness and grace can flow freely from your heart allowing you to minister to your spouse’s weaknesses. But do you live that way?

2. When is the last time you did something intentional for your spouse? Kindness and thoughtfulness strengthen marriage. Yet many couples feel entitled to speak harshly, be contemptuous, or withhold forgiveness. “For better or for worse” is not permission to sin. It takes faith and humility to respond graciously when you are angry, hurting, or misunderstood.

3. Do you believe God knew what he was doing when he had you marry your spouse? When marriage is difficult it can be tempting to think you made a mistake, forgetting marriage sharpens us, often in painful ways. Step back and remind each other what you appreciate and admire about one another. Chances are, those qualities are still there, but you have allowed sin and selfishness to creep in and cloud your view.

4. Do you need to repent of discontentedness and complaining in your marriage? It takes a supernatural intervention by the Holy Spirit to make us thankful. Our tendency is to compare and complain. Thanksgiving is a lifestyle command in Scripture (Col. 3:15-17), not just a suggestion or holiday in November. What are you thankful about? What would it take for you to enjoy your spouse?

5. Do you and your spouse pray together? Do you pray for each other? It’s difficult to grow hard-hearted and embittered toward someone you are praying for frequently. God will do his best work in your marriage when you are in prayer. Prayer acknowledges our need for God and worships him.

A Great Thing about Sunday

2011-09-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

Recently, I had the joy of beginning another New Member’s Class. I often tell our church and the class, that teaching this particular class and subject is one of my favorite things to do. There are many churches today that recommend people participate in their New Member’s Class, but for us at Trinity it is a requirement for membership. When I first came, thankfully this was already a part of our by-laws. Now it wasn’t really enforced, in fact, we had some that were in leadership that had never taken the New Member’s Class and therefore, were still classified as a “Membership in Waiting.” Some of these individuals refused to take the class and wanted to stay in their position! As bizarre as this sounds to Trinity today, it should bring up the question… “Why is this class so important?” Well, below let me ask you to consider just three reasons we discuss in our class.

1. To preserve church unity: The best way to help the unity of the church is for her members to understand what is expected of them. We live in a day in which it is more difficult to join a gym than it is to covenant with the people of God to walk faithfully in His statutes. The result is we have churches who have many unconverted people as “members” of their church, many people who harm the testimony of Christ with their lifestyle, and many that have their names in a machine but never come, never serve and never give to the body of which they claim to be a part. I promise you that those who join Trinity they know who we are, and what is expected biblically of our membership after our 5 to 6 week class. This helps everyone!

2. To help new members fit in the body: Being members of a body means you serve the body. Being a member means you actually show up when the rest of the body parts show up. When we talk about the ministries and opportunities we have to serve Christ at Trinity, it gives our new members an opportunity to see where they would fit in to serve. I know this may be a novel idea, but when people join this body we believe God places them here to give, not to get. Now, in giving they receive, but as believers we are created to serve Christ first, and love the Bride of Christ with a white hot passion. Having a New Member’s Class gives us the ability to explain this in detail.

3. To help new members understand the structure and direction of Trinity: It gives me an opportunity to walk through the Word of God and explain why we are structured the way we are. It gives me an opportunity to discuss doctrine and why we are so passionate about it. We can explain our view about everything from missions to children. When this class is over, about 95% of those who attend join Trinity, but the other 5% know they need to be somewhere else. Either way, it clarifies the direction the Lord has for them.

All of this to say, I am thrilled that the Lord is allowing me to teach another New Member’s Class and I am so excited to share with you how God is working in the life of our church and our new members.

Reasons to Rejoice

2011-09-26T08:11:00.004-05:00

I have shared with our church before that, each Monday one of the first things we do as a staff is discuss “evidences of grace” going on in our fellowship. This not only allows us to rejoice in what the Lord is doing in the lives of our church family, but it also reminds us to look for ways that God is working around us. Each year on our Deacon’s Retreat, I have an opportunity to discuss the “Scoreboard” of Trinity. We, as Baptist pastors, have so many people confused as to what success is in the body of Christ, and what should we look for when trying to determine if a church is successful. In short, success is faithfulness! If we are faithful stewards of the gifts, opportunities and time God has given us for His Kingdom work, then that is success. If we are faithful in preaching the Word of God, if we are faithful in carrying forth the Great Commission, if we are faithful in loving one another, we will be successful as a church. Recently, in preparing for a meeting, we began to discuss the “scoreboards” at Trinity and, to be honest, it was a great time of sharing evidences of God’s amazing grace on Trinity. I thought it would be a blessing for our fellowship to see a few of the things that we mentioned (of course time and space will not allow for everything).

• We are involved in, or in the initial stages of getting involved with, a total of 20 different local, national and international mission projects. Of these, we were only involved in 2 three years ago. This ranges from dealing with reaching an “unreached” people group in Africa, to help in planting a church in Vancouver, to helping provide supplies and minister to those in our local Care Pregnancy Center. The passion of the people of God to carry out the Great Commission, not just with our money but with our actions is a great “scoreboard” to look at.

• Spiritual Growth and increased accountability: We have over 60 men in our Men’s Bible Study on Thursday mornings at 6 am. Of these men, there are multiple mentoring/discipleship relationships that have taken root and are meeting throughout the month. We have several senior adult ladies mentoring some younger ladies and we know of at least 4 young ladies who have a total of 8 other ladies they are mentoring. We have over 20 people involved in a Systematic Theology class each Sunday afternoon because they are committed to studying the theology that undergirds our faith. Each staff member has a minimum of 3 other people in church leadership with whom they have a discipleship relationship, and we currently have 24 students involved in evangelistic training. In our Parents meeting earlier this year we had as many as 50 parents coming together to walk through “The Heart Of Anger” and encourage one another in their calling to disciple their children. We have more children involved in AWANA this year than last year! When we had VBS this year, it was the first year (at least since I have been here) that we had all our volunteers in place several weeks out; they were signed up, attended training and were faithful to this outreach.

• We had 109 visitors register since January and we had a total of 77 join our fellowship.
Now, we have no way of knowing how many actual visitors we have had come in our church, but 109 filled out a card, and this means that over 70% of those that we have registered actually come to join our fellowship. This means they come in desiring membership and go through a six week New Member’s Class. Of the new members that have joined, 80% of them are involved in a ministry and are giving.

All of this to say, that these are things that God is doing through our people. These are things that matter! What KINGDOM work is going on? Are we more accountable? Is there real discipleship going on? THIS is what we, as a church, are called to do. Thank you for your love for Christ, and thank God for His wonderful grace!

The Gospel and the Titus 2 Woman

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

When I came across the blog below, I felt it is so relevant for our ladies and men to see how the gospel gives us acceptance, and the joy of being sanctified. I hope this blesses all of you today, but especially our dear sweet ladies at Trinity!

http://theresurgence.com/2011/07/26/titus-2-is-not-just-a-womans-to-do-list

Titus 2 is Not Just a Woman's To-Do List

Jen Smidt » God Study Scripture Heart Gospel Justification Holy Spirit

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. -- Titus 2:3-5

I think we may have put the cart before the horse.

Titus 2 is an excellent passage of Scripture for women looking to understand the call of a godly woman. The first few verses have been sliced, diced, and examined from every angle to comprehend what it is that a godly woman looks like. How should she act? What does she do?

First, She Must Be

After years of honing in on the beginning of this chapter as my “godly guide for women,” I actually took the time to finish reading the chapter and my eyes were opened to the fullness of truth that left me encouraged and equipped to actually live out the call of the opening verses.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. - Titus 2:11-14

What a relief! These verses change everything!

“ The list of already accomplished truths from these verses puts the focus squarely where it belongs: on Christ.”

Receiver, not Achiever

If I am only looking at verses 3-5 through the religious lens of, “I’ve got to do these things,” I will fail every time. It is an impossible list of tasks that cannot be accomplished.

A to-do list of this magnitude leaves even the best-intentioned of us feeling ashamed of our shortcomings. For every hour read through these verses, spend an hour basking in the identity that verses 11-14 lavishes upon you.

The list of already accomplished truths from these verses puts the focus squarely where it belongs: on Christ. It labels me a recipient of God’s grace and not an achiever of it.

• He is the Grace of God - I am given grace

• He brings salvation - I am saved

• He trains us - I am being trained

• He is Hope and Glory worth waiting for - I must wait

• He gave Himself - I will receive

• He redeems us - I am redeemed

• He purifies us - I am purified

Then, She Can Do

Because of Jesus’ love for me, I am excited to live out the actions of verses 3-5. I can be reverent, teach, train younger women, show self-control, kindness and love to my family. I have joy when working hard at home and submitting to my husband because I am humbled and amazed at the kindness and grace Christ showed me.

When read in its entirety, Titus 2 releases us from the treadmill of accomplishing as godly women and welcomes us into accessing the riches of Christ’s godliness to be all that a devoted female disciple is called to be.

Wish you people would just shut up....

2011-09-19T07:51:00.000-05:00

This title may be a bit harsh, but it is how I sincerely feel when it comes to Pat Robertson’s recent comments on divorcing someone who has Alzheimer’s. You can see his comments here http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110916/pat-robertson-alzheimers-patients-110916/20110916/?hub=EdmontonHome but, in short they state that it would be okay to divorce your spouse if they have this terrible disease because it is “a type of death.” Really, Mr. Robertson? So, are we now redefining death? Can you not see Pandora’s box in this situation? I mean if are “types” of death, then really is no life, if there is no life, then let’s end their life early. For that matter, when a disease is terminal, let’s not wait around - let’s just kill them now so those that are healthy at this time can get on with their life. Let’s not demonstrate to our children, to a lost world what the whole idea of what “in sickness and health” looks like. I know this is a very strange idea for you, and some members of your staff, but let’s take a look at what the Word of God says.

Malachi 2:14-16: “Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the Lord has been witness between you and wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion. And your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks a godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. ‘For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence….”

God calls this a “covenant” when he speaks of divorce and says that it “covers one’s garment with violence” – in short, it is the murder of marriage….not something to be taken lightly. So, why is it that Mr. Robertson is the only one who recognizes this disease as a type of death? After all, when a persons contracts this dreaded disease the medical bills and care can be astronomical! Why is it that they are not issued a death certificate and the life insurance company pays up? Why? Because they are not dead! Why is it when a person contracts Alzheimer’s we don’t go ahead and have a funeral? Because there is still a preciousness to life, even if the individual can remember nothing, there is an opportunity for the spouse and family to glorify God in what is surely, the worse of circumstances.

We have a dear family who brings their loved one to church periodically, who has Alzheimer’s. To watch these sweet ladies deal with this man as they worship, while their heart is breaking, is also God honoring. It displays the fact that we are still one in Christ, and marriage is still a beautiful thing even in dark times. Marriage is not about me! Marriage is a living illustration of the love Christ has for His bride. His Bride who forgets his love, His Bride who forgets his statutes, His Bride who forgets His grace, but His Bride who, in spite of her forgetfulness, in spite of the results of sin that stain her, HE NEVER LEAVES HER OR FORSAKES HER. That is real love – that, Mr. Robertson is God’s idea of what marriage really is!