Friday, November 30, 2007

When It's Too Good to be True...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
My Dad use to tell me, "Son, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is (too good to be true that is). Yesterday, I received a cashier's check in the mail for $2800 from some kind of supposed contest or lottery called "Lucky For Life." The $2800 was just the first installment of the $30,000 I had won along with 9 other people. I was immediately suspicious because I have never purchased a lottery ticket and the postage stamp was from Canada.

But of course, I have to admit there was a small part of me that was looking at that check for $2800 and thinking "Wow... I could really use that!" I even went online to see if the bank was a legitmate bank. And it was! I mean, even if the rest of it was a scam and not true... $2800 would be just fine with me. :)

But then I called the Bank in Tyler Texas which the cashier's check was from, and sure enough... it was a fake check and it was a big scam. What they want you to do is to deposit that check in your bank account and then call them with your bank information so that they can "wire the rest to you." Right! The truth is as soon as you give them the account information, your money is as good as gone! So, if any of you out there receive a "Lucky For Life" sweepstakes letter saying you've won a lot of money... Don't buy it. It's all a big scam.

p.s. Found this afterwards... a "Rip-off Report"
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/287/RipOff0287601.htm

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Newest Item on Christmas List

Today, I went out to lunch with a friend and while we were out he showed me the neatest thing in his car. It was called a Navigon. I have seen items similar like this before, but I never realized how cool they were until I actually saw his work. This incredible piece of technology will absolutely do away with having to stop and ask for directions forever. Not only can you type in an address to get directions, but you can even just ask for things like hotels and restaurants, and it will come up with a whole list, and all you have to do is say take me there and it does. How cool is that? I can't count how many times I have been in a strange city riding all over the place looking for a particular place. And the best thing about it is there are no monthly subscriptions to a satelite service; all the information is right in the machine. You just pay for it once and go. Yep, this is definitely the newest item on my Christmas wish list.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Friday, November 23, 2007

Monday Memories - Meeting a former Colts Player

Last year I had the privilege of meeting Shawn Harper, former NFL Offensive Lineman for the Indianapolis Colts. Shawn is now a Christian Motivational Speaker. He travels all around the country sharing his testimony of how Jesus Christ has saved him and what God can in your life if you let Him. In fact, that is how I was able to meet Shawn. He came to Bellevue, Ohio at the invitation of Touch the Heart Youth Ministries. While there he spoke in several schools and hosted a big youth rally in the park the following Saturday. If you would like you can check out his website at: http://shawnharperministries.org/

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thanksgiving at Grandmother's

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
For my entire life, we have always gone to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter for big family gatherings. Of course, I grew up seeing my grandmother a whole lot more than that, seeing as how I only lived like 300 yards from her. Haha. Well, today Caleb and I took the hour and a half trip back to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, little Taite was sick so Andrea decided to just stay here at home with him. I hated they weren't with us, but I know it was better for Taite... he slept most of the day.

Below is a picture of my son, Caleb enjoying some of grandmother's good cooking. Her turkey and dressing is the best I've ever eaten. I wish I had entire dish of it to bring home. I did bring Andrea some food for supper. And some very kind people from our church brought her some turkey for lunch which I thought was very sweet of them.


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

And well, after doing a lot eating, playing, and enjoying all of the family, we were pretty tired. As you can see from the picture below, Caleb got to enjoy a nice little nap on the ride home. It was a good day. I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving day with family and friends!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Joint Thanksgiving Service

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Tomorrow night, our church (West End Baptist Church) is going to have a Joint-Thanksgiving service with Everettes Baptist Church. I'm really excited about this and am very glad that Jason (their pastor) and the church body decided to do this with us. I think it's going to be a great time of worship and fellowship as two different local bodies come together to worship and give thanks to our great and loving God for being so good to us.

I think it's really great when churches can come together for worship, service, and fellowship. Sometimes, people (even pastors) can become competitive with other churches. If another church down the road is growing faster, or has a better building, or more programs than their own church, people at times can get envious and bitter. Sometimes they will even become resentful that God seems to be blessing one church more than another. Even at the conventions and things, pastors will at times compare numbers and/or ministies with others, like we're in competition.

But we have to remember, that when the Word of God is our center & authority and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being accurately presented, then we're not in competition with one another... we're on the same team! And in this day and time, especially in our culture, it takes all kinds of different churches to reach all the different kinds of people. Some people like formal services, others like casual worship. Some people like Southern Gospel, while others like Contemporary Christian. Some people like to dress up in coat and tie, while others like wearing their shorts and sandals. And truly, the Word of God gives freedom in these non-essential areas.

So, I'm very excited about tomorrow night and I hope we have a good turn out of fellow believers who desire to take special time out of their busy lives to praise and thank God for all His wonderful blessings that He has given. And most especially for the precious gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. And I pray that He will indeed be glorified and pleased with our small demonstration of unity tomorrow night.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Personal Reflections on the Annual Meeting of the BSCNC

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Most of you know that I have spent the last few days in Greensboro, NC meeting with fellow messengers of the Baptist State Convention for the annual meeting. I have never really been that involved with convention matters here in N.C., probably because I am just now beginning my first pastorate in N.C. And because I spent the last 2 years in Northern Ohio I was certainly out of touch. So, for the last few days I have spent a lot of time reading and listening. It was a very interesting convention, and I believe a pretty important one because some major decisions were made. Allow me to list briefly the 4 Major Actions taken by the convention and my personal reaction to them.

1) The convention voted to exclude Myers Park Baptist Church of Charlotte, NC from it's fellowship.
Last year, the convention made the decision that if any church of the Baptist State Convention affirms or blesses homosexual behavior is to be considered "not in friendly cooperation" with the BSC. By their own admission, Myers Park Baptist Church were and are in violoation of the conventions membership policies regarding the issue of homosexuality. The most interesting thing is that this large church of Charlotte with it's approximately 1,900 members contributed less than $250 to the cooperative program of the BSC last year and hasn't sent a messenger to the convention in 8 years. So, why this year? Do they want a little publicity? Are they trying to gather sympathy from the world? Only God knows their motivations. I'm sure this will come out as if we baptists hate homosexuals, which isn't true at all. We welcome, invite, and beg all men and women to come to Christ, and God loves all and saves all that call upon His name. But the Bible also tells us that God loved us too much to leave us the way we were in our sin. The Bible says, "If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, behold all things become new." It is not we who are hating homosexuals... it is really those who choose to deceive them by telling them that God does not care enough for them to deal with their sin.


2) The convention also approved a proposal from our baptist colleges that will give the schools the right to choose their own trustees in exchange for relinquishing the funding they receive from the Baptist State Convention over the next 4 years.
The Baptist colleges of N.C. (Campbell, Wingate, Gardner-Webb, Chowan, and Mars Hill) no longer want any say-so or control from the BSCNC. In the past, we have appointed the trustees to these schools. But apparently our convention leadership has reached the point that they believe we would be better off just to let them go their own way, let them appoint their self-perpetuating boards of trustees, and for us to no longer have any say so. The presidents of these colleges asked the messengers "to please trust us..." that they would continue to appoint trustees from cooperating Baptist churches to their college boards. However, I must admit that I'm a little pessimistic. Maybe because I know very well human nature, and maybe because I've seen the direction that so many other previously Christian colleges and universities have gone. This truly saddens me. I would love to see our Baptist colleges remain under the guidance and direction of the convention, and be places of quality Christian education where solid conservative theology is upheld and taught. But it doesn't appear this will be possible.


3) Another important matter dealt with the severing of the relationship between the Baptist Retirement Homes of N.C. and BSCNC.
The truth of the matter is, through the unethical and illegal procedures of the trustees of the BRH of NC, the relationship between the BRH and the BSCNC has already been severed. There were talks of litigation which I believe we would win hands down since the board of trustees violated their very own constitution and bylaws. However, Scripture is clear that brothers in Christ should be mature enough to handle disputes and differences without sueing one another and bringing reproach to the name of Christ. Personally, I don't know about the spiritual condition of the BRH trustees, but I do know that the leadership of the BSC are Christians, and are deeply convinced that saving face and not doing harm to the name of Christ is far more important than anything else. Therefore, the convention voted to respectfully request the BRH to follow the procedures outlined in the BSCNC by-laws to officially sever the relationship with the convention and to seek to establish a new relationship. It was also approved to make this decision financially beneficial to them for doing this. But personally, I am not going to hold my breath waiting for them to comply with the request. The Baptist Retirement Homes Study Committee did a wonderful job in investigating and reporting to the convention the situation. The findings were very disturbing and sad, and I think a lot of good baptist people would be shocked if they read it, which I do recommend.


4) And finally, the convention also approved the board of director's proposed budgets for 2008 & 2009 and the N.C. Mission Offering allocations for 2008.
The big deal about the NCMO for 2008 is the fact that it doesn't include the WMU-NC. It is a very long and drawn out ordeal, which I won't get into all of it here. But the main issue had to do with the final say-so in the hiring and firing process of WMU-NC staff. Ruby Fulbright, the current president of the WMU-NC said she had it. But according to the BSCNC by-laws, which states that WMU-NC staff are employees of the BSCNC, the truth is, that the Executive-Director Treasurer has the final say-so. Further more, to give up that responsibility would cause the BSCNC to be open and vulnerable to all kinds of serious law suits and ultimately financial disaster. Therefore, the BSCNC position could not be compromised. But yet even so, understanding all the implications of their decision, the WMU-NC executive board still decided they would rather separate themselves and take on all the financial burden, and have therefore asked all the WMU-NC staff to resign from the BSCNC effective Dec.31st 2007. When one cuts through all the politically correct terminology and double talk, one finds that the gist of the matter is this: The WMU-NC executive board decided that they would rather be completely independent of and not be accountable to the BSCNC, and would rather instead be completely free and able to work with other entities like the CBF and the BWA. This is what it all boils down to. They want baptist money, but they do not want any accountability. This is not only wrong, it's unbiblical.

Personally, I think this is a terrible move by the board, and I do not believe that it represents the feelings or thoughts of the thousands and thousands of faithful ladies of the WMU across this convention. I love the WMU; they are extremely hard working and supremely faithful and devoted to the cause of Christ. And nothing would please me more than to see the executive board's decision reversed and the WMU-NC once again realigned with the BSCNC (which by the way has been offered to them) And if I were one of the ladies apart of the WMU, I would be calling for Ruby Fulbright's resignation and a return to the BSCNC. However, if they choose to continue down this road, then I believe we have no choice but to let them go and begin making efforts to establish a new mission education organization within the BSCNC. These are indeed troubling times, but I know the God whom we serve... that He is faithful and true... and I know that we will weather this storm, and I know that in the end the name of Christ will be lifted up and magnified. And I will pray to this end.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Movie Warning: The Golden Compass: Apparently Hostile to Theism and Christianity

I don't know about this personally, because the movie hasn't even came out yet to be viewed by the public, but I thought I would pass this along to any would-be concerned parents or persons.

From OneMillionDads.com:

The Golden Compass is a film from New Line Cinema based on the first book of a series, His Dark Materials, written by English atheist Philip Pullman. It is set to release December 7 in theaters nationwide. From watching the trailer, it's easy to see that the film has a C. S. Lewis/Narnia feel to it, but don't be deceived. Pullman's book trilogy is the story of "a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God," BBC News reported.

The Guardian, a British newspaper, goes even further to describe the books as "metaphysical fantasies encompassing parallel worlds, the death of God and the fall of man ...." "I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say," Pullman said in an interview posted on his website.

"One of the [book] series' main themes -- the rejection of organized religion and in particular the abuse of power within the Catholic Church -- is to be watered down," according to the Telegraph, a newspaper in the U.K. "But when the film is released in December the Magisterium will be shown as a critique of all dogmatic organizations, thereby avoiding a religious backlash."

Therefore, without yet seeing the film, OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com is alerting Christians to the potential dangers of The Golden Compass. Because of Pullman's clearly articulated anti-Christian motives, we are warning all movie-goers to avoid the film.

Additional resources:- Read "Shedding Light on His Dark Materials" by Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware to explore hidden spiritual themes in Philip Pullman’s popular children’s fantasy series.