Pastor With Coffee

Weekend Rewind

2009-07-14T15:15:00.002-05:00

Sunday we started a series titled, "The Remnant." We are going to look at the Biblical principal of The Remnant for several weeks. The concept is that God will not allow the knowledge of himself to be erased from humanity. Nietzsche said, "God is dead." Societal evolution says that religion is a set of evolved ideas, this assumes that those ideas could go extinct! Some atheists think that we can de-evolve the concept of God, even going so far as to insinuate that there is some biological defect in the brain that causes people to have a perceived need for god and perceive religious experiences. What if those assumptions are wrong? What if God is real and we are misinformed? What if science is examining evidence trough the wrong set of presuppositions?

The Biblical principal of the remnant reassures us that the truth of God, the truth about God, will never disappear from the earth. There are dead religions. We know from history these were once practiced and now are only elements of past cultures. The promise of the Scripture is that God will not allow that to happen to the truth about him. At least once in history the truth of God hung by the single thread of one human heart. God not only saved Noah's family in the ark, God saved the truth about himself in the heart and mind of the man in the boat.

The principal of God preserving a remnant for himself is needed today! Biblical Christianity is demeaned by many as the myths of the uneducated and brainwashed. In the future the truths of Christianity will become more and more counter cultural. In the face of the attacks on your faith you need to remember that God is going to preserve a remnant for himself. God will preserve the remnant and he will enable them to pass his truth on to the next generation.

The question is not, "Will the Church survive?" The question is will you work with God and be the remnant? If you do not, God will use someone who will.

My Bible Reading

2009-07-08T16:48:00.002-05:00

Today I finished reading Leviticus. This is my 17th time through the book. This time I took note of all the rules for remaining ceremonially clean. To stay clean a person has to avoid an awful lot of stuff.

Here is the bottom line. if I had to be conscience of that many particular things throughout my day and interaction with people I would have to think about God all the time! The trouble starts when we fall into the trap of thinking about the law without thinking about the law giver!

It was a real wake-up cal to me. I need to be more conscience of God and his word to me throughout my day. I should be more conscience of temptation and take even small temptations to be rude, lazy, unsympathetic, unmerciful, or thankless more seriously.

Finally, can you imagine having laws in place in your society that are enforced by your priest or pastor? No king in Leviticus. No elected officials, just priests and an occasional prophet to keep us accountable in our eating and drinking, honesty, household cleanliness, and sexual life. In Christ we do have liberty! The law of the Spirit of life set us free from the law of sin and death. Let's not use our freedom to be careless with our relationship with God.

My thought goes 4th

2009-07-04T09:21:00.002-05:00

Have a great 4th.

Failing to exercise our freedom to worship is the result of our worshiping things, institutions, and frivolities of our culture.

What is worship? It is trusting some entity. Sadly we trust politics, science, the free market economy today more than we trust God. Today's mantra is, "Call your congressman." But we will not pick up litter, love our neighbor, teach our children restraint. Today's hope is that future technology will cure our troubles. The prescription for economic improvement is to let the market fix itself. These are idolatry.

Worship is spending you time on anything of value to you. Sadly we spend more time on our possessions, and meaningless things than we do on God. Yesterday an 11 year old boy was talking to me about how sad he was the Michael Jackson died. Another adult interjected into the conversation that Jackson went to court for child molestation. The boy became livid and would not even believe that Jackson had ever gone to court for such a thing. He is ignorant of the facts. But, the real trouble in my eyes was the worship of popular culture figures. Such faith was placed in Jackson, that in this boy's eyes, he could do no wrong. Who have you thought more about this week, Jesus or Jackson?

Failing to exercise results in losing what should have been exercised. After celebrating your freedom today, exercise it tomorrow and take your family to church.

Family Day

2009-07-03T15:33:00.003-05:00

This Sunday is family day at church. No nurseries, no Jungle Jam, and no Kids Church. Just like church was back in the 1800's (except that we are going to do all kinds of fun and crazy things for the kids in the service).

We have three purposes. One, to give some workers a break. Two, to help everyone see the value of every kids ministry helper. Three, to make time for families to pray together at the end of the service.

I know that this plan has some serious risks. However, if we all dive in together this can be one of the most meaningful services of the entire year!

God Provides

2009-07-03T15:24:00.002-05:00

This week has been a crazy week for me. Many, many interruptions and unexpected things. In all of that, I have been aware of God's provision in small ways. Our car broke down out of town on Monday, but God is faithful and the best part was the sense of peace I had dealing with the trouble. Tuesday we finally found the tile we have been looking for in our bathroom addition. We found a great deal too.

Here is what I learned this week. If I stay calm and stay prayerful in stressful times I am far more capable of thinking clearly and thanking completely. I can think clearly to solve problems. I can thank completely by noticing God's help in little things.

Timing

2009-07-01T07:41:00.003-05:00

Sunday was our fourth Sunday in the series of messages, "We Are Family." The message had a simple title, "God Heals Family Pain." We looked at the experience of Jacob returning to his brother Esau. We often forget that the reason that Jacob left home was to escape from his brother who was thinking of killing him. That estrangement from his family brought about the travels which give us so many rich stories from the life of Jacob found in the book of Genesis.

Jacob wanted the promises of God for his life. God preferred Jacob to Esau because of Jacob's willingness to struggle for God's blessings. Esau on the other hand treated the blessings and promises of God very casually. Though Jacob's means were not perfect, his passion for God's blessing made him the heir of God's blessings.

To gain those blessings he had to face the family pain he had run away from for so long. Some of the pain was put upon him by external forces. From an early age he was labeled by his parents as trouble (his name means supplanter). He was also the victim of an emotionally divided home, his father favored Esau and his mother favored him. However, some of his pain was his own fault. He had lied to his father to get the blessing intended for Esau. He was a victim in some ways, but he was also the cause of some of his own pain. Regardless of the source, he had to face his past to get the blessings promised to him in the future. He had to return home.

Here are the steps to healing from Jacob's story in Genesis 32.
#1 The first step toward hope and healing in family pain is to face the truth.
Stop sweeping your past under the rug. If it is ruling your decisions and your chance for optimism and faith then you must face your past pain.
#2 The second step toward hope and healing in family pain is to get alone with God.
When you are alone with God you can be transparent with God, and there will be no distraction from others.
#3 The third step toward hope and healing in family pain is to wrestle with God in prayer.
How do I wrestle in prayer? Be honest with God. Let God be honest with you. Meditate or consider God's vantage point on your situation. Go so far as to consider God's love for your enemies.
#4 The fourth step toward hope and healing in family pain is to take God’s new identity for you.
When you wrestle with God think about the tags that marked your life (alcoholic, abused, victim, trouble maker, slow, second best, or any other painful tag you carry). Then, when you have accepted Christ and his forgiveness ask God what his new name is for you. You will face family pain with a new confidence when you have your new tag from God.

What made Sunday great was that there were several people who needed that message that day. I always want messages to be timeless, full of truth that is good for anyone, anywhere. But, the real trick to Spirit anointed preaching is that messages are timely, the right truth at just the right time. I thank God for helping our church to be both.

Fair Parade Float

2009-07-01T07:37:00.002-05:00

Forthe last few years we have been entering a float inthe fair parade. The event is the weekend of July 31st this year. That is the weekend after kids camp and the weekend before we leave for General Council. So, I need a ton of help.

If you would be willing to guide a few friends in the building of the float in my absence please let me know. I can help, but will be out of town the week before and week after the parade. I really need a volunteer to head this up in 2009. If you are up to the task please let me know!

You Have A Diadem

2009-06-24T08:46:00.002-05:00

People in out church have taken a 90 day challenge to read the entire Bible in 90 days. My wife and several others are on track, I am about 12 days behind already. I am starting Leviticus today and should be in Judges.

Reading through Exodus I noticed that the High Priest was to wear a crown with an inscription on it, "Holy to the Lord." I don't think that the crown was holy to the Lord, though it was a holy item for God's service. I think the inscription was intended for the Priest. The man, the servant, is "Holy to the Lord."

As a New Testament believer we are a part of a peculiar people a holy nation a royal priesthood. You are set apart for God's pleasure and purpose. Being holy is not only being pure in holiness, it is being set apart from the common things of life for the God's pleasure and purpose.

You may not see it. You fortunately don't have to carry around the weight of it physically. But, you have a glorious and weighty crown upon your head. You are marked by its splendor today and inscribed upon your crown is the inscription, "Holy to the Lord."

Dad's Day

2009-06-21T23:50:00.002-05:00

Stephanie and I are not good at traditions on holidays. We live close enough to family, and are busy enough with church stuff that most holidays are never exactly like the one last year. We feel a bit bad about that, but we don't feel bad about the flexibility that we have made to make sure that we see family and keep up with church at each holiday.

Saturday we went to three parties. Birthday with twin cousins, birthday for Associate Pastor's daughter, and graduation for one of our awesome youth. While on the road (from 9:00 a.m to 6:45 p.m.) Steph asked what I want for Father's Day and do I feel bad that we don't have a tradition.

Here is what I wanted. We have done it several times before and it is a good tradition that is simple for Father's day. We load up all the kids glasses with grape juice (ours too). Then we practice toasting each other. We make the kids say, "Here's to... and cheers."We have been doing this occasionally to teach the kids to say nice things to one another.

Lib is four and her first toast was, "Here's to dad. I love him." Three toasts all were exactly the same, "Here's to mom, she takes us to the swimming pool." Ben even went beyond the room with, "Here's to Grandpa Scheperle who gave us pumpkin plant seeds for the yard."

If you don't have a Dad's Day tradition do this one. It is super simple and teaches kids to think and say encouraging things. BTW! With little kids you need some tough glasses. They like to hear them clank together, but that can be fatal to a glass!

Summer

2009-06-18T14:59:00.002-05:00

It is summer. All the pastors I know say that this is the least busy time of year for a church. I think it is the most busy for the pastor! Sorry I have not been posting entries. Here is what I have been doing.

Went to youth camp for a week.
Worked with our Relay For Life Team.
Working MEGA Sports camp this week at our church.
Attended four birthday parties since the last day of school May 27th.
Finished grading two directed studies in Philosophy and two in Sociology.

I really want to put more devotional thoughts on the blog. I have a lot, but I am being pressed out of time to write them down. I have to think of how I ma using my time and make some more writing and thinking time.

Back in Blogville

2009-05-27T17:38:00.002-05:00

This week has been absolutely crazy. It is tough to find time to type in my blog thoughts. I am having more and more blog thoughts, and less and less time to write them or type them down. Then when I do have time, I have forgotten the best thoughts. Frustrating.

Here is one that stuck. This is an excerpt from the sociology book that I am currently teaching from.

"Interestingly enough, individuals who watch television a lot are the ones least likely to be well-connected with others, because television watching is the most consistent predictor of civic disengagement. (Putnam 2000)." From, Engaging the Sociological Imagination by John Curra and Paul Paolucci, 2004.

The question is this, do disengaged people just watch TV, or do engaged people slowly become alienated by watching TV? Obviously, the couch potato will not automatically have a bunch of friends and be respected in civic circles if they go home and surf the net or stare at the wall. But, it is telling. TV is a one-way medium of mind numbing entertainment. Video games can be the same kind of one-way entertainment.

Our culture is desperate for real friendship. In the last few months my wife and I have been reminded by several situations that many people have no friends, and don't know where to find any. We just invite them to church. It has worked beautifully for several this year. Praise God for a very friendly church.

MEGA Sports Camp

2009-05-20T16:19:00.003-05:00

It is time to sign your kids up for MEGA sports camp! Registration forms are in the church foyer and in the office. They need to be signed by a parent or guardian. Many kids from school have already heard about this and want to sign up too. Feel free to help friends from school get signed up. Work fast, next week is a short week and the last week of the year. If there are questions call the office number listed above.

This is our first year and we are trying this rather than our Halloween outreach in the fall. We seemed to max out that event two years ago and every other church and organization in town noticed and now everyone has a Halloween event. So, we have to stayed creative and this looks very creative and fun.

MEGA Sports Camp is like a week of VBS except it is fashioned after a sports camp and teaches the fundamentals of selected sports while also teaching Bible lessons. Kids like to play sports (I guess I am a kid) and so we get to be involved with them in something they really like.

13 Billion Lost

2009-05-19T23:09:00.002-05:00

I just heard a report that says that grocery stores loose 13 billion annually in un-scanned items that are mis-scanned at the cash registers! I don't think I have any of these items in my bag based on my bill! I was stunned at this huge number. In an attempt to be fast and efficient stores are essentially sloppy enough to miss products that are actually passing through the hands of the checkers.

I know this is sad, but what if everyone who started with Jesus Christ at our church in the last 6 years stayed with Jesus? We are stunned at the sloppiness of grocery stores, and at the same time we don't even care about our own.

Think of the correlations! An honest store owner approaches the counter. An honest seeker approaches the Church. They actually give the products willingly to the professional. The seeker honestly gives their heart to Christ. The professional misses something and items are not scanned. The church misses something and new Christians slip through our fingers.

The advertising works. The product is accepted and liked! The deal is not completed.

Lord give us attentive hearts, hands and eyes!

Weekend Rewind

2009-05-19T23:00:00.002-05:00

Here are a few highlights and wins from the weekend.

First, we continue to have great offerings.
Second, we continue to gain testimonies that mirror the blessing we pray in the tither's blessing each week. Two more this week!
Third, we had a great baptism service baptizing three adults. I loved hearing their testimonies and how God brought them to this point.
Fourth, our ATTIC Youth trivia night was a BLAST again!!! It may be the funnest (is that a word?) event of the church year. We raised money for youth to go to camp and drastically reduced the price of a week of camp per camper.
Fifth, we had a great ice cream social for Relay for Life and gained several new team members and raised over $120 dollars in donations for the American Cancer Society.
Sixth, we had a great Small Group meeting Friday night while my wife led the girls club sleepover Friday and Saturday.
Seventh, I was able to help out with the Optimist Club Bike Rodeo at the fair grounds from 8 to noon on Saturday morning. Great turnout and great event for the community. I am proud and glad to be able to help out.

Very busy for my family, but also very fulfilling!

Will the APA make the news?

2009-05-18T13:24:00.002-05:00

Will the APA (American Psychological Association) make the news? Not likely! However, they made news in the late 90's when they reported that there may possibly be a gay gene. I remember it being the cover story of news magazines like Time and Newsweek. Since then, public opinion regarding homosexuality has swung widely due to the false assumption that "sexual orientation" is genetic or hormonal and can not be chosen or changed.

Will the APA make the news now that they have essentially revoked their previous stance on the issue of the possibility of a gay gene or hormone? Again, not likely. If you hear about this adjustment in the APA's statements on a major media outlet please surprise me (pleasantly) and let me know.

No news is unbiased. No matter what source you get the news from. The bias of the reporter comes through in a myriad of ways in print, audio and video. Epically in video format where facial expressions and inflection tell the truth of the bias of the reporter.

This is our chance to find out how biased the news is in the Unites States of America. Are they really objective and balanced? Can they really overcome ratings and advertising money to publish the news from a respected group like the APA, when the APA publishes a report that is not going to make social liberal groups happy?

Read the article here. http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=528376

Water and Ice Cream

2009-05-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid we used to go to Central Dairy in Jefferson City for ice cream. It is the best ice cream in the state, maybe on the planet. I am not alone in this determination. Ask Bill White or Louie Day from Franklin county. Ask van Mitchell from Springfield. Ask Robert Scott form New York. Ask Greig Gladen from Cincinnati, OH by way of Detroit. All agree, it's the best.

Now that we have scientifically proven that Central Dairy is the best ice cream ever, using a sampling of people from various age demographics and geographic locations and backgrounds we can continue.

When we would get ice cream there, it was very cold ice cream. Nice hard ice cream, no soft serve stuff from the equivalent of a cement bag. For some reason the nuts and sugar of the sweet ambrosia would make a boy thirsty. At the end of the bar was a water fountain. It served cold tap water. Water never tasted so good as when it followed Central Dairy ice cream.

It makes me think of this coming Sunday!

We will celebrate water baptism at 2:30 at First Baptist Church. Then at 3:30 we will all head back to First AG on 8th street for an ice cream social to raise money for our Relay for Life team and celebrate with those who have just been baptized.

Nothing like water and ice cream.

Youth Camp

2009-05-13T09:50:00.001-05:00

Youth camp applications are due this week. Please go after your kids and grand kids to go to youth camp. Need an application? Put your mouse HERE and press it two times quickly.

Saturday night is our youth trivia night. Child care is provided by the youth. Tickets are $10 per person or $50 for a prepaid team of six. Make your team and go get your ringers, as long as they have ten dollars! There are no other stipulations! Snacks will be served while we play. The winning team of six will get six tickets to see the Cards play the Phillies (I think its the Philllies). All proceeds go to help kids tuition to camp. If you have questions about camp comment on this post and I will respond.

By the way! our camp is uber cheap! Five days and four nights, lodging and food, swimming, fun with lake water craft, the blob, hoops, volley ball, carpet ball, ping pong, video games and eight great opportunities to hear from powerful speakers and worship teams. All this for $140. There is no other deal close to it in the entire nation. Believe me, I have checked other District camps and other denominational camps. If any offer more they are as much as $350 per student.

By the way #2, our camp is uber safe! All camp workers are carefully screened with a criminal records check. There is a security team and camp nurse on duty each week. There are certified lifeguards at water events.

By the way #3, our camp is uber fun! Just watch the camp videos on the camp site.

By the way #4, uber is a real word with a real definition and etymology! It means super in German. It comes from the Latin super (camp is super) and the Greek word for hyper (which is the way kids are at camp) as well as the English over (because camp is over the top)!

If you miss this when you could have gone, you will be uber sad. But if you go to camp you will be ubermensch, which means superman.

Tuesday Night Entertianment

2009-05-12T21:12:00.006-05:00

Some of you might wonder what I do for fun. I like hunting and reading. I like hanging out with friends. Tonight I have been watching some YouTube videos. Here are a few.

The first is an interview with former atheist scholar Anthony Flew who turned from atheism to theism in 2004.

The second is a video of Richard Dawkins, another acclaimed atheist who refutes Flew by calling him a poor philosopher and personally attacking his intelligence rather than his arguments.

The third video is a video of J. P. Moreland who defends Flew.

If you have read Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, or Sam Harris (which I have) you will see that often they revert to the attack mode of making fun of their theistic opponents and simply calling them "stupid," in this case, in front of a group of college students who get excited and shout for them, kind of like a bunch Bible belt Christian summer campers excited about Jesus. Hummmm.

Now that's entertainment!

God Provides

2009-05-12T15:49:00.002-05:00

The last few days have been absolutely crazy! In repairing our pluming so that it will pass inspection and meet code before we get into a remodel project we had the city turn the water off. Our water valve is, or was, obviously newer than all those around us because the cement slab of sidewalk that it is buried in is, or was, the only new one in the area.

The city turned it off Tuesday. Then on Wednesday to finish the job came out to turn it off again. They could not. Then it started leaking out the top onto the ground. It is between $1200 and $1500 to replace one. After digging it up (about 3.5 feet down) we found that the key on top was twisted off. But God provided.

Me and a neighbor broke up the sidewalk. A plumber friend helped me change the pipes and valve out. It just so happened that the company that contracted with the City to replace sidewalks was doing our street this week without notice. The city then gave us a new valve and box so that I only purchased two small fittings since the old valve was not the same size as the new one they supplied.

Yesterday I replaced a clogged up drain tile while the sidewalk on the other side of the house was torn up. God timing.

H2O Baptism

2009-05-07T11:35:00.002-05:00

May 17th at 2:30 p.m. we will meet at First Baptist Church on 14th street for a water baptism service. We have a lot of people who can be and should be baptized! If you have not been baptized by immersion since you became a Christian, you should be baptized.

Bring a change of clothing and a towel or two. Feel free to invite friends and family to see your baptism and take pictures. We will be taking pictures and video of the service too. I would desperately like to get some video testimonies from those who are being baptized. You can be a huge encouragement to others when you share your faith story. It is sometimes easier by video and it lasts longer too.

Following baptism we are all heading back to church for an ice cream social at 3:30 p.m. to benefit our relay for life team. Let's invite friends to celebrate our water baptism and help a great cause! Treats are free, but we will take donations. If you would like to donate toppings please let us know, that would be great. All the ice cream has already been donated!

Youtube Infomercial

2009-05-07T10:28:00.004-05:00

A few months ago Laura and Kaler Carpenter helped my to video tape an informational spot for our church. The resolution on Youtube is a bit grainy, but Kaler did a great job putting this together. I hope it can be used in e-mail invitations that you will send to friends to introduce them to our church and to Jesus.

Boundry Spanners

2009-05-05T17:36:00.003-05:00

I am teaching sociology for some students at Missouri Baptist University currently. Re-thinking sociology is interesting.

Essentially, we are all a product of our society.

We are socialized into a certain way of thinking throughout our lifetimes. We don't really choose what we think, we are given what we think by our society, then we may (or may not) make small changes on the way our society thinks by our influence. We are a product of our society in that a society that needs to punish crime will produce criminals to punish. The society that needs warriors to go to battle will produce large numbers of warriors.

What is interesting is that there has to be an acknowledgement that there are some individuals who break our of the sociological norms. They break out of their sub-group and bring together two separate factions. These are called boundary spanners. We need some boundary spanners.

Let me illustrate.

In our youth group at church we have a lot of kids who have no church background. The main bulk of our church, however, has some church experience, or a lifetime of church experience. The bulk of our church has been socialized into the group. But the youth are literally boundary spanners! They have broken from their group of origin and entered another connecting two separate worlds as it were.

In response to this unbelievable step that many in our youth group have taken, we need to respond to them by stepping out of our comfortable social arena and entering theirs. Every person in our church needs to find a youth on Wednesday night and become heir friend. Then, you can be a boundary spanner too.

Illustration #2

When you witness to a person who is not from the same background as you and the same social group as yours, you are being a boundary spanner. I would love to reach about 100 people in their 20s in the next year. How can that happen? We need a lot of boundary spanners in our church. We have a great group of couples in their 20s right now. But to really focus on this age range we need boundary spanners who are willing to witness to someone outside their demographic.

Being a boundary spanner is not the norm. Break out of the norm. Live radical!

New Book

2009-05-05T17:35:00.001-05:00

I really feel the crunch to finish the book I started in January. I just need to get it edited and published. Several people are asking for it and I am trying!

Casbah Chicken and Couscous

2009-05-05T17:33:00.003-05:00

The title of this blog entry was my dinner tonight! I have no clue what I ate. I liked it. My kids did not like it and the cook (my wife) did not like it. She took all the leftovers to the neighbors. I can't wait to see if they like it!

Weekend Rewind

2009-05-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

This was our May missions weekend. We had three missionaries, John Heidi, Brad Keller, and Lance Smith. Our missions offering was very good. And our regular tithe and offering was, well, huge!

I am hoping that at least one of our teens in the Small Group tonight will catch the vision for Youth Alive in our Schools. Since it is student led, it is the most potentially powerful campus ministry going in America in my opinion. Brad also talked to us about The 7 Project. It could be a great outreach opportunity for our community of churches in the future.

I am really excited about next Sunday. It is Mother's Day and LeAnn Baughmann will be leading worship. I am also trying to think of something great to do for Stephanie.