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I just finished reading Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Baucham. I found it to be a very challenging book.

I think most Christians are aware of the troubling statistics regarding children leaving the faith. Between 70 and 88 percent of Christian teens are leaving their faith by the time they are in their second year of college. The vast majority of Christian teens do not hold a Biblical world view.

There are many efforts being made to rectify the situation, but these are all "inside the box" type solutions; Build better Sunday school programs, Build better youth para-church organizations etc. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these efforts, Baucham notes that there is no Biblical charter for their existence.. The Bible tell parents that it is their responsibility to disciple their children. Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us that we need to teach God's word at home.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

It is not an easy solution. It is not an comfortable solution. It is not the "take a pill" or "take a seminar" and everything will be better in the morning kind of solution that we love so much. It requires a lot of work. But it is the right thing to do.

I began seriously investing in my kid's spiritual development a few months before I got the book. I started reading 2 or 3 chapters of the Bible per night to my kids. Julia understands some of it. She is 6. Nathan doesn't seem to understand much. He is 4. I still do it, as I know that it is teaching him that his Daddy reads the bible at least 20 minutes a day, and that Daddy cares enough about his spiritual well being to invest 20 minutes per day. Oddly enough, Julia doesn't seem to care if she misses it, but Nathan begs me to read it to him every night.

Teaching is quite rewarding for me as the Daddy, and I plan to make it more central in our family traditions. After reading the Family Driven Faith book, I think we will try to incorporate a some worship songs and hymns, and some more general theology/doctrine lessons in addition to bible reading.

Some of Baucham's teachings tend to be quite controversial. He is critical of the age segregation that is normal in today's churches. He has advocated that the SBC find a way to pull their children out of the public school system. He is a homeschooling advocate. His arguments are quite compelling, but politically incorrect enough that they are very difficult for the Christian establishment to swallow.

Luckily the solution is not to change the world one denomination or one church at a time, it is to change the world one family at a time - Starting with my own. I am the leader of my family, and it is my responsibility to be their shepherd. Life change is contagious, so by changing my family, it is likely to encourage and exhort those we fellowship with.

Overall, I find Voddie Baucham to be quite prophetic. His words seem to be laced in biblical truth. He proposes a pretty radical prescription that many people are not going to want to swallow. I think every parent and church leader should be exposed to the ideas in this book, and should reconcile their resistance with the teachings of scripture.

I am not sure I am comfortable with ending age segregation in Church, but I do think that we need to work really hard to encourage parents to disciple their kids. Sunday School should be a supplement to home teaching, not the other way around.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been personally convicted that I should abstain from all wagering.

I feel that wagering is by it's very nature covetous and the bible tells us "thou shalt not covet."

I believe that wanting to get something from somebody and to give them nothing in exchange is stealing, and this is also a "thou shalt not" Stealing by mutual consent is not any different than murder by mutual consent in a duel. It is still murder, and it is still theft.

I believe that gambling is distinctly different then investing, as you receive ownership in a security when you invest, and generally the money invested is used for productive means. It is not the risk that makes gambling immoral, it is the heart condition that you are cultivating -- wanting something in exchange for nothing.

The Television, Radio, Billboards, and every store in my community have state sponsored signs teaching us "It is good to play".

So my question is when a good Christian invites me to engage in one of these wagering activities, what is my proper response?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Human engineering is an imperfect science. It is interesting to hear all of the Calvinist/Armenian debates erupt over the bridge collapse in MN. Mostly centered around John Piper's insistence that God is sovereign over catastrophes like this.

I think that God gives us the freedom to engineer. He however does not usually supplement our engineering efforts with miracles. Why did God allow the bridge to collapse? Most likely because the human effort to overcome the laws of physics failed.

How often do we place our faith in human efforts, then turn and blame God when our own efforts fail us?

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Quest Aircraft shows off their recently type certified Kodiak airplane. This aircraft is designed for missionary aviation, and is being built in Sandpoint Idaho. (Not to far from here)

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Joshua Bell becomes a sermon illustration.

HT: ThinkChristian

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Jeremiah 4 starts out with another invitation for Israel to turn it's heart back to God.

Verses 3-4:

For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

"Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds."

I see that as a challenge for myself as well. Where am I sowing among the thorns? What ground have I left fallow? We tend to invest a lot of effort into gaining stuff that God already promises to provide for us. When we do this, we are practicing a form of idolatry. We are seeking to gain something that God can only give from something that is not God. We spend less time investing in our relationship with Him, and thus are violating the first commandment "You shall have no other gods before me." Rather than sowing the field that God blesses, we sow fields that god has not blessed. When we plant among thorns, we get lust instead of love, wealth instead of security, pride instead of peace. It takes great faith to plant in the place of blessing because the place of blessing is also a place of humility and dependence.

Verse 9 is also quite interesting:

"In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded."

When the tests come, we often fail not in the areas where we are weak, but in the areas where we feel strong. Prophets should not be astounded, Priests should not be appalled, and officials should not lack courage. Many of God's men failed in unexpected ways. Peter, one of Jesus most faithful prophets denied him. David was a man of great self control, but he lost control. Moses was a man humbly dependent on God, but he took some of God's glory. When our righteousness becomes self righteousness, it fails under pressure.

As the chapter wraps up with some prophetic images of the Exile of God's people. in verse 27 God says: "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end" Sometimes God takes us to rock bottom. He brings us to our knees. He brings us to dependence. Or pain is not the end, it is actually a new beginning. He strips away all of the thorny land we have grown so fond of, and leaves us only with the fallow ground that is our relationship with him to sow on.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pastor Grant preached an excellent sermon at Liferoads this weekend.

Listen in!.

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Jeremiah 3 seems to paint a very nice portrait of the Gospel of Grace.

We are sinners. We have walked away from God, and sought to feed ourselves though the worship of other things. Jeremiah 3:1-5 compares the nation of Israel to a wife who leaves her loving husband to pursue a life of prostitution. This desecrates the relationship.

Originally the northern kingdom of Israel rebelled first. And God “divorced her”. The southern kingdom Judah followed Israel away from God and into ‘whoredom”. Sin is seductive. We do not learn from others mistakes, but are instead seduced by their adventure. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 2:23

In spite of this, God invites Israel back. He says that he is merciful and will not remain angry forever. He asks them to confess their rebellion and return to him.
He does the same for us. “While we where still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If they return, God promises them leaders who will feed them knowledge and understanding. He promises them a new method of worship without the need for the Ark of the Covenant. Nations will gather to worship in Jerusalem to worship God.

When we return, we also have teachers and counselors that help to restore us. Jesus and the Holy Spirit now fill those roles. They feed us knowledge from the Gospel teachings of Christ, and through the continuing counsel of the Holy Spirit. We now worship in Spirit and in Truth, without need for the Ark of the Covenant.

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Technorati now searches videos when you search for a phrase. I happened accross this, which was pretty cool from Liferoad's Easter service this year.

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In Jeremiah 2:1-3 we see Israel compared to a young bride to God. She was devoted to Him and trusted in Him and he redeemed her from slavery, protected her from her enemies and gave her an opportunity to be holy in Him. God's church is his bride. This was true in the old testament times as well as new testement times see Ephesians 5:23-24 God is the same yesterday, today and forever. I see this as a challenge as a husband. My relationship with my wife is a model of God's relationship with his church. When my kids read these verses, I want them to understand God a little better. This means that I should be a protector of my wife. I should be a courageous leader, leading my family away from the bondage of sin and into the freedom in Christ. I should protect my wife from those who would hurt her or deceive her.

As we move on to Jeremiah 2:4-20 we see that Israel rejects serving God, and tries to replace him. They abandon Spring of Living Water and instead build their own cisterns that are unable to hold water. I think it is easy for us to do this today. We can build faith in the business wisdom that we read in a Seven Habits book, or relationship advice that we see on Oprah or Dr. Phil. Human wisdom can help us cope with our fallen state, but they will not transform us into a less fallen state. When we live within God's invitation, he sustains us and transforms us, and we no longer need crutches to cope. See John 4:13-14 Verse 20 wraps up this section with a rather pornographic analogy:

For long ago I broke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
but you said, 'I will not serve.'
yes, on every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down like a whore.

When we serve idols, it is adultery against God. We defile ourselves to pay the bills that God already promised to pay. Where am I trying to gain something that God has already promised? Am I not defiling myself in the process?

In the concluding verses, Jeremiah 2:21-37, we see the nature of the defilement brought upon ourselves by our sin. We soil the image that that God has made us in. All of our effort to cleanse ourselves still leaves us reeking of lust. We try to explain away God by saying that we descended from trees and rocks (or monkeys). We call on God only when we want something from him, and we offer no love or obedience in exchange. God tries to correct us, but we rebuff his efforts and kill his prophets.

Verse 33 was quite interesting, as it seemed to indicate that women learn to be wicked as a result of our corporate rebellion against God. God's relationship with His people is like that of a husband to a wife. When God's people seek deliverance from many gods, women tend to seek love from many men. A perverted view of God perverts our sexuality while a right view of God sanctifies our sexuality

Out of this final section I can ask myself these questions: Am I seeking cleansing through faith in Christ? Is my faith true enough that I will allow Him to discipline me, or will I rebuff His efforts and oppress the prophets that he sends to me?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My BSF study of Romans is over for the year. Until September, I am pretty much on my own. I figured I should publish my notes on the Blog to keep myself accountable.

I decided to delve into the book of Jeremiah. This looks to be an interesting book, and I don't hear a lot of preaching on it. If anyone feels up to joining me in the challenge let me know, and I will cross link your blog. Also feel free to leave me comments if you think I am misguided or missed something big.

Out of Jeremiah 1:1-5;, I see that God put Jeremiah in a particular place in the history of Judah, and that he had work for him to accomplish in that context. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that as Christians we have a similar mission that God has set up for us to accomplish. What is my mission?

From Jeremiah 1:6-10, we see that Jeremiah feels inadequate to do the mission that God is calling him to, but God puts the words into his mouth, and gives those words authority. When I work within my mission, do I look at it as my work, or do I look at it as God's work? Where do I put my faith? Do I need faith to accomplish what I am trying to do? If not, perhaps my goals are set too low.

From Jeremiah:11-14 we see that God warns Jeremiah that opposition will come, but assures him that God will protect him from it. Am I bold it the face of opposition? Do I avoid it, cower in fear? Do I avoid speaking the truth because somebody might be offended? Battles will come, but God's truth will always prevail. Is there anywhere in my life that I am fighting a hopeless battle against God's truth? We also notice that Jeremiah doesn't immediately fully understand what God shows him. He sees an image, then dialogs with God to understand it. Do I investigate the odd feelings and visions that might come into my head through prayer?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is something about your college town that sticks with you. Especially with a small college town, it seems like you should know everybody. My college town had a pretty tough week. Even though there have probably been 100,000 people that have passed through that town since I left, I still found myself trying to figure out how I was related to the victims and the gunman.

If you are willing to shed a tear or two, take a glimpse at this slideshow.

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"Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself"

Comments???

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You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 79% Fundamentalist 75% Classical Liberal 64% Charismatic/Pentecostal 57% Neo orthodox 57% Emergent/Postmodern 50% Roman Catholic 46% Modern Liberal 21% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

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Donnie Johnson, one of the Pastors at Liferoads, has been posting some really good stuff at his Blog...

Check it out!

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I guessed on some, and used elimination on others, but I squeaked by...

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"I tell you what, better than taking the path of least resistance is waking up and seeing a redeemer in the mirror. that is what you men want to aspire to." Mark Driscoll, Redeeming Ruth, Part 3

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One of the local churches frequently puts up signs with little explanation. This week it says "Macho should be dead"

Anyone care to discuss?

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This summer Voddie Baucham preached a series of sermons about marriage at Northpoint church. He talked about the extra-biblical wisdom that parents and the rest of society pound into their children. "Haven't you read in second Hesitations where it says 'Thou shalt not marry until after college'?" His response is worth hearing:

"So, here is what you are asking him to do. You are asking him for the next year to two years to be stronger than Samson, more godly than David, and wiser than Solomon. 'cause all of them fell into sexual immorality. He wants this woman, God has designed a relationship where in he can have this woman in righteousness and holiness, but you would rather ask him to be stronger than the strongest man in the bible, wiser than the wisest man in the bible and more godly than the godliest man in the whole bible, so that he can finish school first. Help you."

When from the outset we subordinate marriage to second or third priority in our lives, is it no wonder that they fail?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I really wish that Mark Driscoll's critics would listen to more of his sermons. Most of the bloggers who I hear criticizing cherry pick certain quotes taken out of context and paint him to be a raging chauvinist. Any typical point in a Driscoll sermon takes a couple of minutes. He is not the preacher of people with 10 second sound byte attention spans. Here is an example, from this week's audio.

You can get in a lot of danger if you only say one thing that the bible says on a subject and don't clarify that it has other things that it says on that subject as well.

I will give you one example that I deal with frequently. We believe in male headship in the home, we believe in gender roles, and a the submission of the wife to the husband if he is obeying Christ, and all of those things, But for example if the men who are going through Colossians and Ephesians and such only hammer you know, 'wives submit to your husbands' they could miss that very important verse in Genesis 2 which the purpose of the wife for the man is to be what? Helpful. Helpful. So we are not talking just about complete and utter obedience to the little god in the home named husband. We are talking about her respecting him in such a way that she is helpful. So many wives are submissive, but they are not helpful. There are certain women that never say anything, and their husbands are idiots. It would be helpful if they where not disrespectful, but helpful.

I have met with many wives, and they say my husband is doing this, and that, and the other thing, and everything is a mess, he's got this dumb business idea and our finances are sideways, but I am trying to be submissive. Well, also be helpful. Like if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him!

That is my simple illustration of if you just say what it says in one place, but if you don't import some other things that it says, you could end up having an extreme position that isn't mitigated by the rest of what scripture has to say.

My wife and I had this discussion some years ago. There where some things that she saw in my life that she thought I needed to work on and she never said anything. And I said "Why?" She said "I was trying to be submissive." But I said " Your also supposed to be helpful, Now I need you to be helpful, not just submissive. You need to be submissive, but in a helpful way. And if you are a respectful wife, then when you speak to me, I will actually listen, because I know that you are not that dripping faucet that proverbs speaks of, you are this crown on my head like proverbs speaks of."

Now the 10 second sound byte version that gets ratings would be "if he is an idiot, and you are not, you should help him! And the bible says it is not good for him to be alone 'cause he is an idiot, he needs help, that is why you where made. Help him!", The cliff notes really leave out a good portion of the lesson, don't they?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bus riders get gifts from Secret Santa - Yahoo! News

Pretty cool eh?

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The Mondok Blog is running a cute series on "I am a Mac, I am an MD"

Took me a minute to figure out the Parody, but I get it now.

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Mars hill now has embeddable sermons. This one was one of my favorites from the current series. The last 5 minutes or so blew me away.

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It seems like the Spokane area has more than it's share of bizarre murders.

In 1999, Robert Woods Killed his son Christopher. He set fire to their house, blamed the missing kid, and tried to claim the insurance money. He was busted in part because a local photo processing shop alerted authorities to the before and after insurance shots on the same roll of film. Mr Woods hung himself in jail, avoiding trial.

Also in 1999, Brad Jackson killed his daughter Valiree. He buried her in a rural area. Police suspected he was the murderer. They tipped him off that they had narrowed down the location of her grave. Then they tracked his truck's movements as he dug up his daughter, and relocated her body.

Robert Yates hunted prostitutes on the streets of Spokane between 1996 and 1998. He is convicted of 15 murders, but is suspected in several more. When he plead guilty to several of the murders, he agreed to lead the authorities to one of the missing bodies. Which was buried right outside his bedroom window.

In 1996, Tom DiBartolo, a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed his wife, Patti. He also inflicted a superficial gunshot wound on himself in order to substantiate his story that they where mugged in a park. He had taken out a life insurance policy on his wife, and he moved in with his girlfriend shortly after the murder.

Last year, Joseph Duncan kidnaped two children Shasta and Dylan Groene, after murdering their mother, brother and their mother's Boyfriend. He later murdered Dylan Groene in the Montana mountains before being captured eating a midnight snack with Shasta in a Denny's resturaunt in Coeur d'Alene.

Last week, Richard and Teresa Kim where murdered by their 18 year old son, Bryan. Apparently Bryan strangled his mother with zip ties, and stabbed his father to death. When the parents employers reported them missing, police went to their home and found their body's in the bucket of a Bobcat.. Bryan was apprehended at his high school.

So, is there something in the water here? Or is this normal?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Imagine that you built a robotic machine to vacuum the floor in your house. You turn the machine loose, and it does what it is supposed to do for a short time, but then it begins neglecting it's duties. Worse yet, instead of cleaning, it tears apart your carpet to reduce it's workload. It doesn't care about your other tools either and often runs over them. Soon they too are unable to complete their tasks because of they are badly damaged.

Should you let your fancy vacuum it continue it's rampage? I would think not. It is time for the plug to be pulled.

God created us with a purpose in mind. Not only do we do a mediocre job of fulfilling the work that He has given to us, we tend to create our own purpose. We pursue our own goals without regard to the other people who we have to run over on our way. Not only do we damage ourselves by going off course, but we often interfere with others, by hurting or making them confused with lies.

I think this is what the Bible means when it says "The wages of sin is death" Like my wayward vacuum, we deserve to be powered down, and thrown into the scrap heap.

Eventually, God will go ahead and destroy all of his creations that are hell-bent on creating havoc. But he loves us enough to offer us another solution. If we come to Jesus, He will pay the penalty for the damage that we caused. Not only that, but He will rebuild us, repair us, and reprogram us, so that we can be all that he created us to be.

I think that is pretty darn kind of him, Don't you?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been pretty annoyed with the Blogshere's reaction to Mark Driscoll's comments after Ted Haggard's downfall. Many blogs and alternative newspapers are taking one of his comments totally out of context and assigning it a headline like "Blaming Gayle Haggard"

Mark begins his post by recapping the news of that day -- Ted Haggard's fall. He uses that as a reminder to the pastors who he leads that they need to be on their guard. "As every pastor knows, we are always at risk from the sin in us and the sinful temptations around us." From this point on, he has clearly transitioned away from the Haggard topic to more general advice for young pastors on how to avoid temptation. His advice is not about avoiding male prostitutes and methamphetemines. It is geared towards protecting against the less sensational run-of-the-mill heterosexual temptation that all men are exposed to.

He gives 12 bullet points. Most of them are very sound advice. They are all worth reading, and heeding. It is important to note that 11 of these points are geared toward men. By and large, men have a problem with sexual temptation. He offered 11 specific things that men can do to manage their temptations.

The firestorm was set off when Mark mentioned 1 thing that women can do to help. I am going to dissect his comment a bit.

Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives.

At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this.

He saw the storm coming and he decided to say what he had to say anyway.

It is not uncommon to meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness.

Pastor Mark likely knows a ton of pastors, and a lot of pastors wives. I bet he knows quite a few of them very well. Does this happen? I bet it does. Looking at the general population, after marriage, it is very common that people put on weight once they have their mate locked in. As a matter of fact, Here is a scientific study showing that people gain weight after marriage, and lose weight after divorce. I would guess that the amount of time spent in sweat pants has a similar correlation. The fact of the matter is that pursuing our mate is hard work, and once we don't have to, we get lazy about it.

A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.

Most bloggers ignored the part about the wife not being responsible for her husband's sin. They ignored the other 11 points in the article, that squarely put the responsibility on the man. They insert Haggard into the context, when Driscoll had totally changed the subject.

But what is more important is to analyze this teaching against scripture. Compare this statement to 1 Corinthians 7:2-5:

But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

It seems to me, that Paul is making pretty much the same point that Driscoll was making. If we do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with our wives then Satan will tempt us because of our lack of self-control. If Driscoll wants to lead people away from Satan's traps, wouldn't it be a pretty big oversight to not mention this truth? The context of the bullet points has already established the men have a lot of work to do. Since a healthy marriage requires effort by both the husband and the wife, it seems reasonable that he would encourage wives to be aggressively intimate. I wish Pastor Mark had cited 1 Corinthians 7 so that this argument was framed around scripture, rather than Mark Driscoll.

While Driscoll calls women to aspire to a physical intimacy with their husbands, he also in a later point calls men to an emotional intimacy with their wives. "Pastors must speak freely and frankly with their wives about their temptations. Without this there really can be no walking in the light and sin always grows in darkness."

Usually, I do not think that men have difficulty being physically intimate, and women do not have trouble being emotionally intimate. So he does hit both genders with advice on how to improve the intimacy in their marriage.

Anyway, this type teaching is what I really like about Pastor Mark. He calls us obey parts of the bible that would be widely ignored by the more cowardly preacher. He doesn't avoid the tough topics. He calls it as he sees it, and doesn't apologize for our culture's offense at God's Word.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a bit of contemplation, I feel I owe Pastor Phil a bit of an apology. I knew I only had half of the story, and seeing some of the other bloggers comments, I felt that they where not giving the denominations leadership the benefit of the doubt on an issue that would be pretty unprofessional for them to talk about publicly.

Based on the information in the article and the content of the church website, I could understand why leaders would be concerned. This Church is on a valiant mission deep in dangerous enemy territory. It is not surprising that folks would want to keep a close eye on their mission, and their focus. Sometimes units can get so involved in a battle that they undermine the war. If we focus too much effort on befriending the culture that that becomes more important than honoring and glorifying Christ, that is exactly what we do. That is a danger to every church, no matter who they reach out to.

Anyway, being a careless sleep deprived blogger can hurt people.. I definitely shouldn't have put the word "fame" in my headline. That was speculating as to his motive, and it was out of line. He can speak for himself. As he did in the comments. In my effort to slow a rush to judgment, I stepped on a man who was down. That isn't very nice.

I guess sleep deprived graveyard bloggers oughta save the send button for the morning.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Pastor Phil Wyman responded to my comments over on John Armstrong's Blog.

I noticed several blogspot blogs run by Pastor Wyman, If you want a better feel for his ministry, check them out, and form your opinion.

The Why Man

Squarenomore

Lessons in Christianity from Witch City

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of my co-workers (non-Christian) pointed out an article in the on the cover of the Wall Street Journal today about Phil Wyman, an Evangelical pastor who was expelled from his denomination because of his outreach to the pagan community in Salem MA.

The story in the newspapers is fairly one sided. The Foursquare denomination declined to comment, correctly in my opinion. They probably see this as an internal matter, and treat it with a certain amount of care and respect. Mr. Wyman on the other hand is using this incident to generate a ton of publicity for his ministry.

It looks like a lot of bloggers are rushing to judgment and supporting this guy based on the information in the article.

Searching the The Gathering website for the word "Jesus" yields very few results. It is only mentioned on one of the 4 front pages. I dug pretty deep into the website, and didn't find anything too obvious outside of the "What we believe" page, which mirrored the denomination's doctrine.. Witches are people too, and they need the message of Christ, not a loaner stage for their festivals.

Looking at the pastor's musings, many of them are fictitious extra-biblical stories about God. I don't see any direct teaching from the Bible. For Halloween, the church was hosting a seminar on Dream Interpretation. Obviously some biblical heroes where gifted in this area, but I would be interested to know what Salem gathering teaches in these sessions.

It is unclear what the specific charges against this pastor are. It is clear from the article that his church was loaning equipment to the local Halloween festival. It is clear from the website that they promote the traditions that cross over easily from Witchcraft. (Dream interpretation, Meditation, etc.) The pastor describes himself as a practical mystic.

Looking at the "what we believe" parts of the website, there is no doubt that they subscribe to the Christian faith. (I am fairly sure that they lifted these tenets directly from foursquare.) Hopefully their ministry is fruitful. There is no reason that their overly apologetic and accommodating approach should be endorsed or supported by a denomination that is not ashamed of the name of Christ.

It will be interesting to see if the denomination responds. I wouldn't blame them either way.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Blogrodent was right, Voddie Baucham's sermon was "out-of the-park"

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spent the last 3 days at a church conference. It was very good to stop and take a break from the everyday grind and worship like crazy. I am ready to go. All fired up.

Took Nathan to the airport the other day during a conference break. We saw the Fuel truck pull up to deliver the 100LL aviation fuel to the pumps. Nathan was pretty excited to watch all that activity... The folks at the FBO came out and made some measurements on the fuel to make sure it was up to spec..Nathan asked "Daddy, what they doing?" I replied, "they are mesuring the density of the fuel. It is important that airplanes don't get bad gas. They are using a hydrometer, can you say hydrometer??"

Nathan loves to play chess. He is starting to get it.. Although he always opens with moving his rightmost pawn forward one space, then thee second pawn then the third etc. It is kinda funny... I have learned that I have to challenge him somehow to break up the pattern, because if you let him continue, you get a big traffic jam on the board. Often we trade sides. What a mess!

Julia is liking chess too. She gets it pretty well, but doesn't keep her focus too well. That is okay. She is 5, and her brother is 3, so I can't expect too much.

Sprained my ankle yesterday chasing the kids at the park.

Had to move my cubical today.Hobbled from one end of the floor to the other, shuttling my stuff.. It wasn't much fun. My new cube almost has a support pillar in it. (One of the walls is punctuated). They haven't stolen my stapler yet, and I am still getting paid..

Posted by Josh Reighley at 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apparently NBC's version of "The Veggie Tales" has been stripped of any "God talk". Phil Visser is quoted as saying that he is only continuing to work with them in hopes that some parents pick up a real veggie tales movie at WalMart.

Bozell's News Flash: NBC Slices and Dices 'Veggie Tales' | NewsBusters.org

It’s truly sad that this anti-religious hypocrisy would emerge. Today, no one in network TV fears what the children are watching – unless it makes them think about God.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blind to death, he walks through his day.
Working for nothing, playing for nothing, loving emptiness

Seeing nothing, he invents meaning.
And begins his journey to the mirage.

His parched body hungers, and longs for loving touch.
Having never been satisfied, he doesn’t comprehend his pain.

As he marches, he gets no closer.
The monotony of his journey becomes his prison.

Inflicting pain on himself becomes his escape.
Adrenaline courses through his veins.

He only feels alive while participating in his own destruction
Scars form on his body and on his heart, and he rejoices in them.

A touch, a sip, or a bite would set him free.
One real experience and his delusions would be vanquished.

But nobody shares a touch, a sip or a bite.
Should a scarred man on a journey be interrupted?

So the pain of the journey continues indefinitely.
Until he falls into the lake of fire.

-JDR 8/16/06

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the local newspaper blogs, Huckleberries online posed the question "What's Wrong With Saving It For Marriage?" Apparently a couple saved their first kiss for marriage, and that had caught a lot of interest by the audience.

Predictably some of the comments where fairly negative on the idea:

"Foolish"

"Test Drive!
Test Drive!
Test Drive!"

"that which is worth waiting for is probably cool to get really early too"

"I never buy a pair of shoes without trying them on first."

"Would you buy a car without test driving it first to see how it handles?"

My comment was "If you need a test drive, you are testifying to your spouse from the beginning that your love is conditional."

Coincidentally, I last night, I was listening to a Mars Hill sermon where Pastor Mark Driscoll suggested three criteria for selecting a wife. Is she breathing? Does she love Jesus? Will she put up with me?

I wonder if much of our crisis in marriage isn't caused by overexposure to romantic story lines in media? If we marry a girl because she meets 20 or 30 items on our criteria list, isn't our love pretty conditional? Is it really love at all? Or are we just entering a contract in order to gain something that we want?

The culture that we live in most likely sees unconditional love as foolishness. After all a husband's love for his wife is supposed to be a picture of Christ's love for his church. (Ephesians 5:25) If the message of the cross is seen as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18), should a biblical marriage be seen any differently?

So, what do you think? Is unconditional love foolish?

Posted by Josh Reighley at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have become a bit addicted to the Mars Hill Church Podcast.

Pastor Mark Driscoll seems just gritty enough to annoy the fundementalists and conservative enough to annoy the liberals. Since he teaches in the young, trendy, and mostly agnostic City of Seattle, he tends to teach on controversial subjects most of the time. As an added bonus, he is totally unapoligetic about it.

Here is a slightly tame sample:

powered by ODEO

Link: Mars Hill Feeds

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I always liked Jon Kinta when he was playing in Seattle. There was nothing flashy about him, he just did is job, and was an all around good guy. I was sad to see him go. I am glad he is getting another chance!

Kitna discovers faith during reckless college years

HT: Brad Leach

Posted by Josh Reighley at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apparently Myspace is now the most viewed website on the Internet. Quite honestly, it kinda creeps me out whenever I go there.

Imagine if some old friends who you had not seen in several years invited you out to eat with them so you could catch up. You get the the restaurant, and you find that it really isn't a restaurant, but more of a seedy bar. It is so loud, that you really can't have a meaningful conversation. You are constantly being interrupted by people of both genders hitting on you. Then the strippers come out and start dancing on the tables. You feel really uncomfortable being there, but you would also feel uncomfortable walking out on your friends who you haven't seen in a long time. Oh, another odd thing, why are all of these underage kids hanging around a seedy strip club??

That about sums it up for me. I have a profile out there, that links here. Not too excited about spending much more time there.

Yahoo 360 is somewhat better. Not a ton better, but somewhat

Posted by Josh Reighley at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Andee and I have started to spend a little time each night studying the bible together. We started this week with Philippians.

We are using the homiletics method taught by BSF. In a nutshell it is a 5 step process for preparing to teach a bible passage. Step one is to list the content of the passage. Step 2 is to divide the content into 2-4 divisions. Step 3 is to write a summary sentence for the entire passage. Step 4 is to define the main idea that you want your audience to take away from your teaching. Step 5 is to write real life applications based on the divisions that you created in Step 2.

We are really pleased with this method. It forces us to actually immerse ourselves in the scripture and think about what we are learning from it. It also teaches us to express what we are learning to each other. Each study is generated from scratch, so we know that what we are learning is what the scripture is teaching us. I like being able to trust God to teach me what he wants me to learn rather than answering leading questions to teach me what the author of the study material thinks I should learn.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I believe that we spend way to much on the here and now. We spend so much energy trying to improve ourselves, that we fail to invest in those around us. When all is said and done, our legacy on this world is not defined by who we are, what we did, and what we had. It is defined by how we effected those who are around us.

The world around us bombards us with the language of justice all of the time. "You have the right", "You deserve it", "You earned it", "You shouldn't have to put up with that". When we accept these messages as being true, we often find ourselves quite self centered. Many times the world would be a much better place if we passed on our "rights".

The currency of Love is our acceptance of injustice. Giving our hard earned money to help those who are in need is accepting injustice. Forgiving our spouse for something hurtful that they did is accepting injustice. Being willing to not get credit for the things that we accomplish is accepting injustice. Letting the Joneses win is accepting injustice. Certainly loving your enemy is accepting injustice.

I find it amazing to go to funerals of people who get this. Often, the entire community turns out. Hundreds of people have had their lives changed just because they had a few interactions with somebody who is absolutely ordinary in every other way.

Posted by Josh Reighley at 3:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not quite sure what to think of this one:

mu''a'vo' mu' - A Klingon Word from the Word

Posted by Josh Reighley at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Junglepop posted an interesting question yesterday in his post:  Missionaries, Those Welfare Christians

He basically compares the scrutiny that we give to folks buying junk food with their food stamps to the scrutiny that missionaries feel when they spend their donated "Salaries" on certain indulgences.

I think that it is likely that if we where to get to know one of the welfare recipients, and take them shopping, they would probably use much better judgment with our money than they do when they are using the Governm