The Persecuted Church

Brief thought of the night (after a few months off).

Tonight I taught my teens about the persecuted church. First we looked at Acts and how the early Christians lived. Secondly, we discussed what that looked like.

Thirdly, we watched some videos, such as the one included below:

My wife then posed an amazing question (which is why I married her, because she’s stinkin’ awesome.).

We watched about 6-8 videos of persecuted Christians. We were touched emotionally and encouraged by their faith. Her question was this:

How would the persecuted church react if they were to sit down and watch a video of our lives and testimony in one of their services?

Glee Part 2

Irony strikes after my last post. Some people come to the table when you say something about Glee and they’ll defend it to their deathbed. That’s fine.

I struggle with this issue of Christian Liberty, because that’s a hard line to draw.

I love war movies. I can watch war movies all day long. I can tolerate the reality of death and language. But I struggle with Christians watching Glee or other shows of the like.

I still stand firm claiming that shows which glorify sexual sin, the way that Glee does should be avoided. I’m looking at it from a logical standpoint that sex is probably the sin most people struggle with in the United States. I don’t have stats, but I have examples of people in ministry who have lost their jobs due to sexual sin. Not only that, just open your local newspaper and you’ll see people who fall apart from it. Does Glee lead to sexual sin? Not always. I don’t know, this post isn’t about Christian Liberty anyways.

This post is actually about me further proving a point about Glee of its agenda.

Last week, two of the girls posed on the cover of GQ magazine. You might have seen the pictures, you might not have, but they’re very suggestive. (And by suggestive, I clearly mean the girls are dressed like sluts and are trying to turn men on. If you deny this, you already lose.) You can click here to see those photos, but I’ll just suggest that your teenager not be around to see them.

Now, not all 14 photos on that page are sexually suggestive. The dude is playing drums in one of them.

But, let’s think for a second. The image that was burned into my mind whenever I first saw the photos on CNN (and even their commentators suggested that they were over the top) is the one of the girl sitting on a locker room bench, legs spread open in her underwear, holding a lollipop. In fact, this is the direct quote from a FoxNews article on the issue:

“Glee” stars Dianna Agron and Lea Michele got down and dirty for a GQ magazine spread released last week, set in high school, sucking lollipops, with their legs wide open.

Let’s not be naive, she’s selling sex.

And there are parents who support their kids watching this show week in and week out.

Maybe you haven’t let your kids watch it yet, but here’s yet another post on a “ultra-conservative, legalistic rant” that is suggesting you refrain from partaking in a show. Call me uber conservative and a Pharisee, but I will never support people who claim to be following Christ and fleeing from sin to watch Glee, as all Glee has done is promote sexual freedom.

 

Glee

It’s a show that your youth are watching. I guarantee it. It has absolutely taken over the nation. Check Twitter on Wednesday morning and you’re going to see where people are posting all about Glee, or as the phrase has been coined, they are “Gleeked out.” (Or something like that.)

Anyways, this show is a phenomenon for youth. In my very youth group I’ve had students talking about the show. So, one night I sat down, saw it on, and I had to see what it was all about. In my head, I was thinking “High School Musical.” I was half-right.

The first episode that was ever on my tv was turned off within about 15 minutes. Two girls came up to one of the guys in the Glee club after class and propositioned him to make out with both of them. Whether this was the extent of their hope is unknown, but they were very forward in their attempts, to the point where in my opinion it suggested they would do more than make out. It was very sex-filled.

The second episode was a couple of weeks later as we were passing through the channels late on a Tuesday. My wife stopped on Fox as Glee was on to hear one of the songs while I was on the computer. At the conclusion of the song, one of the girls from the show, who is nothing more than the popular girl who is popular with all the boys, comes up to one of the guys everyone thought was gay but found out he wasn’t. She said something to the effect of, “I’ve made out with all the guys in our class but you because I thought you were gay, but since you weren’t, I’d like to add you to the list.”

It turned off shortly after that.

Since that point, I’ve had many a conversation about the show with people. For the most part, those who are in ministerial leadership look at the show with disgust, and rightfully so might I add. But, when mentioning it to youth and others, you run into the problem of not being able to filter out the trash that comes with the show. I’m not pretending that I have it all together, but I do recognize that there are some shows and themes of shows that absolutely should NOT be permitted into our minds. The two examples above seemed to solidify that form of thinking in my mind.

Last night, the Glee episode was trending on Twitter this morning. The title: Grilled Cheesus caught my eye, so I began to do some research. I read through the plot and figured what better way to spend my morning than watching the episode from last night on Fox.com. Who doesn’t need a few teaching points.

The show featured the main popular character making a grilled cheese and seeing the face of Jesus on it. He begins to pray to the grilled cheese for three things: 1.) That they win their football game, 2.) That he can touch his girlfriend’s breasts, and 3.) That he can be the new QB for the football team. Long story short, all three of them happen. He soon realizes that God did not allow those things to happen and does a stirring rendition of “Losing My Religion.”

If you just read through that paragraph and didn’t wince at the complete sacrilege  of the plot of the show, then I don’t know what is wrong.

The other themes in the show go with a heart-wrenching battle as the gay character’s father has a heart attack and is in a coma. The many spiritual kids in Glee club want to pray for the father, but the gay character refuses to let them.

The mean, evil teacher battles over the students singing religiously themed/spiritually themed songs in Glee club and makes the claim that students are not allowed to do that on school ground.

In the end, I don’t know what the theme was besides loving everyone.

There are true points to what was on the show last night. They talk about how the church has done a poor job of loving the gay community – and that’s a true sentiment. You see that through the lives of the friends.

In the end though, I have to give a “Big Whoop” to that.

If you are a Christian and you watch Glee, I really don’t understand why. If you’re a parent who watches Glee, stop. If you’re a teen and you’re reading this blog, you surprise me and I want you to stop watching Glee. If you’re a parent who lets your teen watch Glee, then stop. I don’t understand the fascination within churches with Glee. There is nothing but pure justification for sin in watching the show.

The show is filthy. It is laced with anti-Biblical messages.

I am all for love. I am all for taking care of people no matter what sins they are involved in. But we have to say enough is enough with media. Christians absolutely should not partake in watching Glee. And Glee is just the beginning. What other shows should we stamp out?

Simply put – the themes and ideas that are presented within any show that you watch…does the Bible tell us to flee from them? If so – don’t begin to argue with me about why it’s okay to watch the show. We all (present company included) must flee from sin. We must not allow those themes in our lives. We must turn to Christ and be a new creature. No matter if it’s “House M.D.,” “Outsourced,” or “Glee” we must set the stage for our youth in showing them that we shouldn’t allow those things into our minds.

Thoughts?

A Confession

I’m not super compassionate…well, kinda.

I have to be honest, I get tired of reading articles and whatnot about people in America who are struggling financially. I mean, I know that is a real ordeal going on. God has been very good to my wife and I. As the recession was going on – we never felt it. We were very well taken care of. Even now, as my wife can’t find a job, we’re doing great.

But I have to be honest again, as I read about people who have thousands of dollars in student loan debt and they can’t pay it off, I don’t have much compassion. As I read about the spiked poverty levels recently in America, I had very little compassion and tolerance. Why? Because the Americanized culture is so materialistic.

As I read about people who have $90k in debt and they can’t find a job, it’s hard for me to look on them and go “Oh, you poor soul” because I question financial decisions leading them $90k into debt. It gets even worse whenever the interview talks about them having to make their car payments, which anyone who knows anything about cars knows that you should never finance a car because you pay much more on it than what it is ever worth.

But yet, I am compassionate. Most recently, as I was in Haiti, we were driving through the streets of Port-au-Prince, and I saw a little cafe. Now, don’t think Starbucks, or some other little local place like we have in America. Think of a block building with no one in it and it says “cafe” on the top. My assumption is that someone owns a small little restaurant there with no tables and people can come in and buy some food. I began to think – “How many of the Haitians that I have come to know over the past four years have ever sat down and said, ‘Let’s go out to eat tonight!'” It hit me of how there are SO many things in America that we have that the rest of the world doesn’t.

I struggle with this. I struggle with materialism.

I’ve heard people say, “It doesn’t mean we should deny ourselves a treat every now and then…” and in a lot of ways, I agree. But I have to ask myself occasionally – “What if I denied myself that $6 I spent at Sonic on ice cream each time and sent it to Haiti to feed a family?” Which is more beneficial?

Now, the other side of me has compassion for America. I know that there are people who are working hard and trying to get jobs and they are still not ever getting a leg up. I know this is a tough economy for the majority of people out there. I know that some people are really trying. There are exceptions to every rule, of course. But I argue that for most people, it can be looked at from their history that they never really tried. The decisions that are made usually lead people to where they are in America. I know plenty of people who make great decisions with their money. (READ: They don’t spend money that they don’t have.) Those are the people who haven’t felt a pinch from the hurt economy. I know one guy who lived that way. He lost his job last August. He didn’t have a job in June. And he wasn’t hurting at all! Why? Because he was smart with his money. Materialism was there, but it was still a distance away because he recognized that he couldn’t live like the rest of the world.

This is essentially a big ramble, but my hopes are that people who read this do a little self-examination. Are you really a good steward? Would I have compassion on you? (Probably not. I’m a jerk. And you’re probably not Haitian.) I have to work on my compassion for sure. It’s a weakness.

If I cannot love my neighbor in America, then I have no business loving my neighbor elsewhere with someone beside me hurting.

What mission fields do I miss in America?

Youth Ministry and Missions Trips

It’s that thing that every kid loves to do: missions trips. At least in my brief experience with youth ministry, everyone wants to do a missions trip. Everyone wants to be involved in going somewhere else to work. In fact, I love missions trips.

My first was in 1996 at the age of 10, when my dead led the youth group to Mexico. I still remember those experiences. Seeing kids stricken with poverty. Praying for a Hispanic lady from our church who was having border issues every time we went in. The size of the roaches in our dorms. The lack of communication and the frustration I felt.

In 2000, I was able to go to Puerto Rico, experience things I would have never imagined experiencing, and again, being left in awe at poverty. In fact, while I was there, we canvassed an 18 story apartment building that was essentially the projects. While there, I saw three drug deals and a teenager waving a pistol around. I was 14 years old at the time, and the only adult in our group of 14, 17, 17 year old boys, was a 75 year old former missionary to Uruguay. Safety was of concern.

In 2001, I went to St. Croix, Virgin Islands and fell in love with the place. Yes, the tropical paradise was sweet, but the people – they impacted me. I felt touched by their desire to know us. I can remember returning after the trip, looking up at planes, and wishing I was a passenger headed back to the V.I. because it was such a great trip.

Then I entered college in 2004, and things were different. Not in a bad way, but instead, I was just busy. I was working full time my junior and senior year. I was poor, because I was a college student. From 2001 til 2007, I was uninvolved in missions. Not that I didn’t take notice or lack the desire to go, but I just didn’t have the finances or opportunity.

Then, in 2007, my life changed as I entered the country of Haiti for the first time. The love for the people quickly grew. In 28 days, I’ll go back for the 4th time, and now as the director of our children’s home for Mountain Faith Mission.

Needless to say, missions has played a big part of my life. Even in 2009, I was able to visit some FWB home missionaries to just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, and be greatly impacted by their service, dedication, and the excitement of new converts.

I have been fortunate.

But now that I am in the role of planning and executing trips, I have to question: are we always doing things right?

There are multiple articles out there that suggest maybe some things should change. What is the lasting impact on the students who attend missions trips? How does it increase giving? How many students who attend missions trips end up being missionaries? How many students who attend missions trips pay attention to missions the rest of their lives?

Now, this might be overthinking, but my wife and I are fortunate to know quite a few people on the mission field. When I look at them, I have to ask: Are groups really of great benefit to them?

I asked one friend if they had been having groups come up. He said yes. Then I asked if any ever came up and just didn’t do anything. He quickly said yes again. It broke my heart at that point. Have we lost the vision of missions even within our own church? What do missionaries think of groups that come in to “help?” What percentage of groups leave the missionaries with a sense of accomplishment? What percentage of groups leave missionaries with a sigh of relief when that church van goes over the horizon?

How should we go about planning trips? Should we go about it focused on how it will impact our students? Or should we go about it on how it will impact the missionaries and their work? Should we always have a trip planned, even when in the end, the money it costs to go will outweigh the lasting impact? Or is that even able to be quantified?

There are a lot of questions running through my mind, but the one thing I feel that I have going for me, is that maybe a lot of youth ministries go about it the wrong way.

Praise God when students go on missions trips and maybe a specific student is so impacted that he/she answers the call to full-time ministry. That’s awesome! But honestly, should we always be focused on what will impact our students? Because this is the way that it seems a lot of ministries focus on their missions trips. The focus and result is placed upon the student. How will it change them? How will it impact them? Whereas, I feel the better questions will be “How will we impact the world we are visiting with the message of Christ?” Now, I know that’s cliche and every youth group thinks that is what they are doing – but honestly, are we?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Input?

Fatigued and Loving It

Almost two months ago, my wife and I left our first ministry in Indiana and drove five hours west, just outside of St. Louis to pursue our second ministry. You can read back through this blog to read about that adventure and to see how God had coordinated numerous steps for us to be able to make the journey here to pursue His will. I am still in awe at how obvious His hand has been throughout this entire ordeal.

Today, I find myself in the office, officially feeling like the new youth pastor at my church. Not that the past two months have NOT felt like me being the youth pastor, but things have just been so busy. For the first three weeks, there wasn’t a whole lot going on while I was here. I wasn’t teaching Wednesday night youth group, as they were preparing for VBS. Then, VBS week came, and Lindsey and I enjoyed the socks off of it. Then we were on vacation. Back home for a week and I taught on a Wednesday. Left for a convention. Came back home and slept a billion hours. Last week, we split between junior week at state youth camp and the teen missions trip to downtown St. Louis.

I’m fatigued.

But the fact is, I’m loving it. I’m worn out. Today, I slept through my alarm, woke up 6 minutes before 8:00 am, and rushed to be in the office by 8:15 (the joys of living about 3 miles from the church…).

This is ministry. As I prepare here for Wednesday’s lesson, I am having the opportunity to minister.

On Sundays, my pastor has begun a new series out of Romans called:

As we were talking about this series he would be pursuing on Sunday mornings, I couldn’t help but think about youth group on Wednesday nights. We began to talk about how many times in youth group, or even adult classes, we are hit with numerous different sermonettes throughout the week. You get Sunday School where you get one little nugget. Then the morning worship service where you get another. If you have Sunday night service, you get another one. Then mid-week, you get another one. So I thought, “What if we were on the same page? What if I took Wednesday evenings with the youth group to still teach them and disciple them, but we’re on the same page as the Sunday morning worship?”

It’s going to stretch me. It’s going to fatigue me. But in the end, I think the payoff will be good. What are the benefits?

1. Students will see one cohesive church, instead of numerous nuggets thrown at them every time they come to church. Why not? Why not show them that on Sunday morning, as my pastor is preaching Truth, it is directed at them, too! Why not bring consistency to give them a double dose of what the church is about?
2. Make parents do work. Since the move, my attitude has become harsher. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a jerk. But I think I’m tired of playing the game of church and youth ministry. Deuteronomy 6 calls for parents to disciple their children. I want to empower the parents to disciple their kids through teaching the same things on Wednesday night. We won’t examine the same passages, but instead, we’ll take the theme or a point and look at it from a different aspect of Scripture. Then, I’ll be expecting my parents to take it home, talk about it, reiterate it, and use it for a teaching point. There’s been a movement of churches pushing parents into the light of their children’s lives, and I love it. But, I think we need to be bold enough to let parents know that God’s plan is for them to teach their students at home. If God commanded it, then when they don’t, that is called sin. Call it what it is.

Yeah, I’m worn out. Yes, I’ve slept more in other places during the month of July than I have in my own bed. Yes, I’ve travelled over 3,000 miles in the month of July in a car. But would I have it any other way?

No, because I’m right where God has called me. This is ministry. I am learning and growing in ministry and seeing God work in the lives of those who need it. I have a ministry that God has placed me in, where I recognize it is my job to teach youth and empower their parents to raise them at home in the Word.

So no matter how tired I get, I can always put a smile on my face.

There’s no other place I’d rather be. (Except maybe asleep….)

Longing For August

I’m pretty sure that summer is a time that all youth pastors love. Why? Because it brings about events. Tons of events. There’s always something to do. In fact, there’s usually too much to do.

For me, it seems that each of the past three summers I have been serving as a student pastor, August brings peace.

It has been a LONG time since I have posted anything here. Why? Because life has been so busy.

Lindsey and I made our big move on June 5 to Missouri in the St. Louis area. I am now the student pastor at Calvary Fellowship FWB Church in Fenton, Missouri. Everything has really fallen into place for our move. I ask that you continue to be praying for lindsey as she is seeking to find a job.

Since that time, we’ve had VBS, a family vacation, a National Convention for Free Will Baptists, and tomorrow begins half a week of camp and half a week with my new teens on their missions trip to downtown St. Louis.

Thus, I am longing for August. At August, life “slows down.” By slows down, I mean that I am no longer gone for weeks at a time. Until September 3, I am at home. At that point, I will be returning to Haiti for my 4th trip in, and the first trip following the January earthquake.

In the meantime, I have been appointed to take hold of the children’s home and become the director of support. Basically, my job has not changed within the mission – I just now have a title. Thus, in September, I will be heading in for VBS with the agenda to make sure I can have all of the correct information on our students.

In addition, I’m overjoyed because some of our close friends have finally made it to the mission field where they are planting a church in the Denver area. We prayed very hard about joining them, but for some reason God closed that door. We stand 100% behind them and cannot wait to partner with them in ministry in the future.

For now, I quit, because it’s an update and that’s it.

Within the next week, I’ll post a seminar that I led at my recent convention, as well as a study idea I have about missions and youth groups.

Stuff That Makes Me Mad

So, I’ve recently found a website called Topix, where they have individual forums by zip code. I’ve been in my hometown zip, and the surrounding areas reading, when suddenly some Christian issues came up. Basically, it happened where there were some anti-theists spouting normal anti-theist propaganda that is easily refuted and basically nothing more than trolling on their part.

I simply went on there replying to some of these people. Some of the people were educated and nice. I like people like that. They are respectful and listen and can carry on conversations that are easy to follow and educated. Some of the other people were nothing more than trolls, making ad hominem attacks and doing zero to help their cause.

But then something interesting happened. I’m from the hills of Tennessee where there’s a lot of traditional evangelicalism that goes around. That’s what I was raised in. It’s very easy growing up in that to fall into an almost Pharisaical trap. That whole “holier than thou” attitude.

I’ll admit it, in high school, that was me. I was a great kid…and I knew it. I stayed out of trouble. I never drank, chewed, went with girls who did…(that didn’t rhyme). This caused me to be very arrogant in some things. When it came to the Bible and whatnot, I was very arrogant. As I went to college, it got worse. It wasn’t until I did my internship and got into apologetics that I began to open up to the fact that not only did I not know everything, but I didn’t know much at all. From that point on, I have seen the importance of studying to defend my faith, explain it, and to not be a total jerk while doing so.

I love studying. I love learning more. And I’ll be honest – I don’t think there are enough Christians who do so. Too many Christians are uneducated when it comes to their faith. As they hear the typical “arguments” from anti-theists, they balk. In my opinion, education of Christians MUST take place.

Anyways, on this website, after talking for a while, I was attacked. Except it was by another “Christian.” I was called arrogant and this guy kept asking me all about if I trusted education, being a youth pastor, knowledge, or good works to get me into heaven. He keeps asking me for my views on different things. He has called me a punk and arrogant.

I’ve had to re-read the things that I have typed to make sure he really is just an insane person. I asked my best friend to read through the threads, and he confirmed the guy is insane.

This is what makes me mad: JUDGMENTAL CHRISTIANS.

I am all for purity within church. I am all for church discipline. I’m all for people making sure that other Christians truly are living up to the Bible whenever they claim to be followers of Christ. But what I am not for is people to publicly rebuke other Christians, especially when they are surrounded by non-Christians in the community.

Let’s face it, with numerous scandals going on in different churches, the public has plenty of fire-power that they call on. Christians who claim to follow Christ need to have those fruits in their lives of a Christ follower. I will never condone sin. But I also know that speaking the truth in love is an imperative in the Christian life. And that is not just when sharing our faith and dealing with the non-Christian, but I believe it is just as equally important (if not even more important) to do so with the Body of Christ. The Bible paints such a beautiful picture of the unity amongst members.

So this is what makes me mad – it’s not the judgmental, correcting attitude. That is scriptural. We must help keep other people accountable to following Christ. What makes me mad is whenever people publicly confess Christ, but come across as such arrogant jerks, it almost turns me off from Christianity.

But of course, I know I don’t have a lot of room to speak, because that is even me sometimes.

So, since we know that this is wrong, how do we correct it? Honestly, what are your helpful tips and hints to dealing with the negative nancies of Christianity? How do we maintain purity, even when dealing with the people who have it all figured out (like I used to.) Arrogance is something I have always fought, so what do we need?

Understanding Mormonism

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a fascination with the Mormon church. It all stems from May 2007, as I was spending my first weekend in Russellville, AR during my internship at the First Free Will Baptist Church. The YP there was out of town, getting his Master’s degree and I was at their home on a Saturday morning when the doorbell was rung. I looked, and lo and behold there were two, young, white shirt, gentlemen at the door.

As we began to talk, I began to sense that they knew what they were talking about, from the standpoint of how to present their side. Me, being a senior in college, began to use my Bible training to my disadvantage as I began to get flustered while talking to them. I essentially told them that I believed the Bible to be true, while they told me that the Book of Mormon presented the name of Christ 2500 times. I asked them if they had ever read the Gnostic Gospels, which also mentioned the name of Christ, but did not make them true. It was at that point, they left, and I felt as though I had earned a victory. Yet since that time, I recognized that I was very unprepared to defend my faith. Not only that, I was acting like a jerk while doing it, getting a big head at the thought that I “ran off the Mormons.”

Since then, Mormonism has both intrigued and impressed me. I have read some books on it, as well as different sources and articles. I have tried to strike up conversations with  Mormons that I have met. I have done research in order to understand what they believe, and the most efficient way to share my faith with them. And, I have secured my own copy of their Book of Mormon.

Here’s what I have learned thus far:

• Mormons are very knowledgeable. They are very willing to share with others what they believe. They have at least received some form of training in Mormon history and belief. They know the phrases to use, such as “plain and precious” truths to describe Scriptures.
• Mormons are tough to witness to. This is in direct relation to the above statement. They know what they believe, and therefore, they are hard to sell. In addition, Mormons “bear witness” or testify of what they know to be true. They know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God because they feel it and it has been revealed to them by prayer. They know that the Book of Mormon is true because they feel it and it has been revealed to them by prayer. This makes it difficult, because even at the supposed contradictions and problems, they believe they are true because of what they feel to be true.
• Mormons are insistent to challenge you to try their faith. They are always offering you to read the Book of Mormon and ask God to know whether it is true or not. This is an awkward moment, as it calls on someone to make a decision right there in my opinion. But, they insist upon it, and challenge those that they speak with on the topic.

So there are many things that Christians can learn from the Mormon church and believers. Their knowledge and insistence are to challenge us. What would happen if each Christian dug into the Bible the way that the Mormon church digs into their beliefs and Scriptures? What if each Christian were to share their faith with strangers with the fervency that the Mormons share their faith? It would be dramatically different.

The one thing that has intrigued me most about Mormonism, though, is the belief upon the Scriptures. Mormons believe that the Book of Mormon is the second testament concerning the life of Christ. While the Old Testament gives the history of the Jewish people, and the New Testament gives the story of Christ and the explosion of the church, the Book of Mormon gives the account of Jewish travelers who came to the “American continent” and settled, to be visited by Jesus Christ later after His ascension into heaven. In the Book of Mormon, we find a prophecy in 1 Nephi 13 that in the future, the Bible would lose its “plain and precious truths” to be corrupted by the abominable church, thus showing the need for the additional testament of the Book of Mormon.

Yet, this is not what intrigues me the most. What intrigues me the most is the view that the Bible is the Word of God “as far as it is translated correctly.” So I have inquired to a few Mormons – Where has the Bible been mistranslated? Below are a few of the answers I have received.

• “Have you ever wondered why there are so many different churches with different beliefs?” The claim is that since different people translate different ideologies from the Bible, that it has obviously been mistranslated.
• Acts 7:54-60 contains the stoning of Stephen. I was actually not able to get answers as to what the problem with this passage was, because the Mormon missionary I was chatting with lost their computer. At some point, we are supposed to reconnect online and pick up where we left off, but thus far, I have received no further information on this “mistranslation.”
• 1 Samuel 16:14 speaks of the Spirit of the Lord departing Saul and a bad/evil Spirit coming to torment him. This is one that I was able to talk about for a while. I pulled up the wonderful resource at StudyLight.org and informed the Mormon that this is not a contradiction (as they supposed since they claim that God does not have an evil spirit – agreed of course) as the Hebrew word used for “evil/bad” is ra, which simply means a bad spirit that came upon Saul. The conversation quickly changed. I do not count this as victory, but instead, just a change of subject.
• John 1. John 1 contains John’s speech on Christ being eternal with the Father and establishing Him as the Word. This is contradictory to Mormon doctrine and belief that Christ is eternal, and instead He was a created being from God and Mary. The source that was used here threw me for a loop, as I realized that the Mormons believe this is mistranslated because of the Joseph Smith Translation (JST). The problem with the JST is that some verses stay the same, while others are completely changed. Yet, there is no proof anywhere that these need to be changed. So I inquired further about how we can know that this is true, but again, it came back to “Praying and asking God to reveal the truth while reading the Book of Mormon and the JST.” I asked for other examples, but every time, I was given links to the JST. This is the easy way to cop-out that the Bible has been mistranslated, simply because Joseph Smith claimed it was.

I’m presently studying a little further about the Joseph Smith Translation, and will post some more once I receive more information. But it creates a difficulty in discussion when informing the one who you are speaking with that if the Bible has been mistranslated, then from the thousands of manuscripts from hundreds of years would document this. But it all referred back to the JST and the testimony that it was true. It’s difficult.

What do you know about Mormonism?

What Role Do You Play?

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. My mother might be one of the six people in the world who accidentally stumbled upon this blog in the past, so “Happy Mother’s Day Mom! You’re like a mother to me!”

Regardless, with all of this hoopla concerning honoring our mothers on this one special day, I’ve been thinking a lot about parenting. Now I’m not a parent, and my wife and I don’t plan to be for a while. As a youth pastor though, I get to deal with parents quite often. Sometimes, I deal with parents more than I want to. Other times, I get to deal with parents less than I want to. Either way, understanding parenting is something that I have strived to do since I entered ministry.

Simply put, most parents don’t play the role that they should in their child’s life. For us “traditional” Christians, who have grown up going to church and it is all that we know (such as my wife and myself), Sundays were a day that we woke up, went to church, no questions asked. In fact, most of the time, there was no argument from me. I never asked if I had to go as if it were a chore, but instead, I loved going to church because this is where my close friends were. For a lot of my friends, it was the same.

Others though, I look and wonder where the priorities lie. I’m not just talking about church attendance (although, I do believe this is essential in parenting, as well as for the children), but instead, just the role that parents play in their lives.

As I interviewed for the new position in Missouri last month, I was asked the question: What discourages you in ministry?

Like a big emotional baby, I began to get emotional as I explained how it truly breaks my heart to see some kid’s parents show no interest, not only in their lives, but in the church. There are simply too many parents who strive to be the politically correct friend to their children instead of leader and mentor.

I’ve done no research, I have no statistics, and I don’t really care what you think about my opinion, because I’m pretty sold on the fact that if parents do not raise their children with the priority to follow Christ above all else, then they are not parenting according to the Biblical model. When parents do this, then it is not their fault if their children grow up to reject church, Christ, or anything else surrounding their upbringing. People make decisions. I made the decision to follow my upbringing. Others, instead, turn their backs upon this.

Yet, I will throw this statistic out there (which is made up on the spot): I believe that 90% of the cases we see of people not in church today, even though they grew up “going to church,” is to be blamed on parenting. I look at my upbringing in the church. Again – my parents had me there. There was no choice. Sundays, there was nothing else that came before church. Wednesdays, we were there. Revivals, we were there. This is not be confused with church attendance equating the totality of our relationship with Christ, but instead, the priority that was placed upon commitment to Christ. I look at others I grew up with who were in the same boat that I found myself in.

Then, I look at others, whose parents did not fulfill the role of raising them to see the importance of commitment to the church and to Christ. Thus, my statistics come – those who were committed to church as youth because of their parents commitment to church still find themselves committed. It’s amazing – as parents actually parented their kids – and weren’t just the cool-go-to-parent, their kids are still in church, if not SERVING in a church. In fact, Thom Rainer in Essential Church has plenty of statistics to back up the role that parental involvement in the church versus students being committed to the church in adulthood plays.

While I have rambled throughout this entire post, what it all boils down to is understanding that as parents, it is YOUR role to fulfill to teach your students to follow Christ above all else. The best way to do so is by setting that example. Your child watches you.

But, when your half-hearted devotion is evident, your student will follow those footsteps, too.

As a youth pastor, I love working with students. But I am not their rock. I am not the one who trains them day in and day out the importance of Scripture. I should be the one who is reiterating what they are learning at home.

Unfortunately, the roles have changed.

What role do you play?