Lunch Meeting

I had the chance today to meet with Charlie Hornick, the pastor of Grace Bible Church, a local church in the community. Grace is the church my parents attend. Pastor Charlie is a man I admire and respect, both for his immense knowledge of the scripture as well as an obvious sincerity on his part to live according to God's Word.

Pastor Charlie wanted to know a little bit more about what we were doing, and offer his assistance and prayer. He had reviewed some of the family integrated information on the internet as well as led family integrated churches in the past and wanted to offer his opinions, based upon scripture. I'm very appreciative that he was willing to take the time to meet with me and discuss these important matters. What's more, I admire his willingness to offer assistance to our church group as we need it instead of being threatened (which sadly enough is the reaction that I suspect most pastors would have).

As we have some overlap in our attendance, I'm looking forward to working with Pastor Charlie / Grace Bible Church (along with other area churches) as together we attempt to reach this community for Christ. We are all part of the same body, though we may have different functions.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" - 1 Corinthians 12:17-21

These are the Generations of...: Foundations to Build On: Dominion

Scott Head over at These are the Generations of... has wrote a good article on the Dominion Mandate: Foundations to Build On: Dominion. I'm linking this here as he makes several mentions of Christian Biblical Worldview as it relates to having children. Something to think about...

Finding a Balance

I have to admit, one of the biggest challenges since we started hosting a church in our home has been ensuring that our marriage relationship and our relationships with the kids aren't given the leftovers. Adding the extra tasks of food preparation, hosting, and cleanup each week consumes a significant amount of time. Add to that attempting to be available to those who have needs throughout the week and family can be quickly lost in the process.

Since one of the primary goals of the church at our house is to encourage fellow Christians in their family relationships it is important that we find the right balance for our time. Crystal and I have both felt somewhat overwhelmed in the past few weeks trying to fit it all in. I pray that God will give us the wisdom to make the tough choices when it comes to our time: becoming better organized so as to maximize the time we have and learning to cut the unimportant from our schedules.

If Only He Knew

I recently finished If Only He Knew by Gary Smalley who specializes in helping Christians develop stronger relationships. This book is written to husbands who wish to better understand and relate to their wives. To be honest, there is a lot of great stuff in this book that really helped me to better grasp my wife's thought processes and reasons for doing things. This is one book I'll be keeping around to re-read from time to time, just so I have a constant reminder of the way I should be treating my beloved wife!

I recommend this book to all married and soon to be married men, and for the ladies out there I recommend the companion book For Better or Best.

The Threat of Heresy in the Organic Church by Neil Cole | CMA Resources

I just read this article by Neil Cole: The Threat of Heresy in the Organic Church by Neil Cole | CMA Resources, and I think there is a considerable amount of truth to it. I know of several churches being run by power-hungry pastors in an almost cult-like fashion. When all the leadership authority is given to one person it becomes easy for heretical teaching to enter the church, even if the leader's intentions are good. It seems a properly equipped church (regardless of size or model) will possess a body that is active in its pursuit of scripture as individuals, with a minimum of two seasoned elders providing leadership and guidance.

Eden Sleep-Dancing

We took this movie of Eden a few weeks ago. He had fallen asleep in his jumper and was dancing in his sleep to the music we were playing. We experimented playing several different styles of music (everything from rap to country) and he kept jumping in time to the music regardless of what was playing. It gets really good toward the end of the video....take a look.

Movies

Antioch Community Church - Whatever state you're in, be content

Antioch Community Church - Whatever state you're in, be content

An excellent article and reminder from Pastor Mark Fox of Antioch Community Church and author of Family Integrated Church.

Peace Like a River

I just finished the novel Peace Like a River by Leif Enger on the plane to California on Wednesday (heading out for an overnight business trip). The setting is 1960's northern mid-west US. I must admit, my preferred fiction reading is sci-fi, but I found this book to be rather enjoyable. It's written from the perspective of an eleven year old boy as he watches his brother get into trouble with the law and become a fugitive. The book is rather pro-christian and while it does deal with several adult themes it avoids objectionable content. The author does a good job of capturing a child's perspective of living in an adult world.

We dun' had church!

Including our family, the turnout was 30 last night for our first church gathering (13 adults and 17 kids). After eating Crystal's enchiladas we went downstairs, gathered around, and read, sang, prayed and discussed. Afterward we enjoyed some dessert upstairs while continuing our discussions. I truly believe the Lord was with us last night, and everyone seems to be looking forward to next week's gathering.

I must admit, though I should know better from past experience, that (perhaps due to rosy descriptions of church-life in some of the books I have been reading) I expected there to be an instant cohesion between those of us that gathered: we would agree on everything, everyone would know their part and perform it perfectly, the children would all be orderly, etc. While last evening was a good start it was far from perfect. I realized (again) that the church is formed of imperfect people, apart from Christ we are like babies that can't do anything but mess in our pants. Yet God chooses to build his church out of us imperfect people so the glory can be His, and I'm excited to see how he will build this church out of the diverse group we have.

Back from Tepee Camp

So, the lack of posts for the past week was due to being at Tepee Bible Camp for the week. I served as chief while Crystal was the nurse. We had nineteen 8th and 9th grade campers (a small camp). The theme of the week was discipleship, and despite some problems it really seemed God was at work in the lives of some of the kids. If any of you campers or fellow staff happen to read this drop me a note to let me know how its going.

As always, our children had a blast playing in the dirt and enjoying being at the camp. Purity even did the "big hike" (7 miles) with us for the first time (at least the first time on her own legs) and didn't complain once!

We have our first official house church meeting at our house tomorrow night so today was spent unpacking from camp, doing laundry, preparing food, and getting things in order around the house.