The Word and the Work: Thoughts on Preaching, Pastoring, and the Christian Life

It is a rarity for me to post two blogs in a week.  Heck it is rare for me to post two blogs in a month, but here I am.  I am writing here as someone who is just beginning to understand what God has in store.  Not just for me, but for us all.  God's plan is nothing short of miraculous every single day of our lives.  I would recount to you the examples of this in the last week, but I don't have the time nor the typing prowess to type that much.  God showed me something today in a very simple thing and that is miraculous. I am overwhelmed by how culture can effect our behavior even when we try to be on guard.  I had the pleasure of going to speak at a school today.  It was a Christian school and they asked me to bring a 10 minute chapel message.  Now, I wanted to get the kids attention so I took two Evangecubes I was planning on asking a couple of questions at the beginning and giving these 2 evangecubes to those who answered properly....

I am the SENIOR PASTOR of Chestnut Grove Baptist Church.  Not that there is a junior pastor.  There is just me, but the title remains.  I am simply the pastor.  So, here I am 2 months into my first pastorate.  I probably know it all by now, right?  Not hardly.  Luckily, I was blessed with a salesman's brain so names are coming easy, which makes things much more smooth. So, 8 weeks in I was hoping to have some great pearls of pastoral wisdom to share, but again I say, not hardly.  Anyways, I will tell you a few things.  The first thing is that people here are amazing.  They have been a blessing to both me and my family.  We have been provided with a great home and much more. Secondly, I will confess that I love my job.  I know I am not supposed to call it a job, but it is that and a lot more.  It is a calling, a lifestyle, and really just a lot of fun.  I have had some great and not so great moments already, but I ...

                                                                                                           But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 1 Cor 7:32   Everyone loves to talk about discipline.  Discipline in schools, discipline for your kids, church discipline.  Right? Actually no one likes to talk about it.  I am only talking about it because God is convicting me of a ...

I want you all to think about your pastor.I love my pastor.  I believe he is a mighty man of God that preaches truth. I am sure most of you feel this way about your pastor.  I have many men in my life that I look to as mentors and role models even in ministry.  Now, I want you to imagine that something drastic happened.  Imagine your pastor was caught doing something morally reprehensible.  I do not want to get into specifics but just tag him with the worst thing you can think of for the sake of the example.  No doubt about it he is guilty of this act.  Here is the question.  Does his action discredit wholly the message he preached? Will it end your walk with Christ because of what your spiritual leader did?  If it would cause you to walk away from your faith, then I want to tell you that you never had any faith to begin with.  Do not get me wrong, a pastor caught in sin is heartbreaking and it will shake a church, but it should not dest...

How many people can honestly say that they know what it is like to get their backside worn out by their Mom or Dad?  I know I can.  Don't worry Mom the statute of limitations on child abuse has run out so I can talk about this without fear of you getting locked up.  I have had my behind WHUPPED more times than I care to remember, and looking back I remember some of them quite well so I want to share. My Mom will tell you she remembers the last time she spanked me.  I remember it too. Mostly I remember thinking that somehow I got in trouble for being really good at a game.  My best friend Michael, myself, and some other kids were playing hide and seek and me and the aforementioned Mikey decided that the best place to hide would be on the roof behind the chimney.  Great plan.  Nobody could find us.  Except for Mom that is.  I remember her yelling something about getting a certain part of my body down off the roof right this instant.  Aft...

Wow, Have I fallen behind keeping up with this blog.  Why? Well, for example, right now I have a two page paper one day overdue that is needing to be written. Poor planning and procrastination caught up with me again.  However, this is not what I intended to comment on today.  Today, God has asked me a question I am having trouble answering:  Is it possible to have contentment and still have ambition?  Hmmmmm.... I would say that it is.  Maybe that is just wishful thinking or arrogance, but I do believe there is a way to walk that line.   Right now I am as happy as I have ever been with the way my family life, career, and even my educational situation as I have ever been.  Yet, there is still so much I want to accomplish.  I still have ambitions.  These two things do not have to remain mutually exclusive. The real test is motivation. Is my ambition tied to the mission God has for my life?  If it is then I have nothing to rep...

So here it is, Monday morning.  It is a glorious morning weather wise here in North Central Virginia.  We have had a wonderful two weeks of weather. I even think the 2 feet of rain was okay on Saturday.  This morning I have been pondering a few things.  After staying up late to finish some last minute homework I watched some old Disney cartoons and it got me thinking.  Am I a horrible person for laughing at the way Chip and Dale always get the best of Donald Duck?  I mean after all they are continually bullying him and taking things that are not theirs.  The particular cartoon I watched last night Donald was being a good conservationist and planting acorns to grow some trees, but Chip and Dale needed said acorns for their winter food supply and took it upon themselves to take them and hilarity ensued.  This was obviously before their Rescue Ranger days.  If you don't know what Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers is then yo...