Olympics 2012

It's that time again. The best athletes from all over the world are coming together to compete. We'll see people run, jump, dive, and swim. There will be tears of joy, tears of sorrow.

Be sure you don't miss one of the most exciting competitions--fencing. Fencing? Yes fencing. I must tell you my sentimental attachment to the sport.

Ruth took fencing in college. I asked her why. She said she was looking for a PE class in which she did not have to throw a ball, catch a ball, dodge a ball, or hit a ball. Fencing filled the bill.

My sweet babe took fencing. Therefore I like it. Bring it on.

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50 Magicians

Allow your Pastor to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. I've read blogs and reviews about a new book "Fifty Shades of Grey" and a new movie "Magic Mike". Evidently, the book contains sexually explicit reading, and the movie is about male strippers. I have seen neither the book nor the movie, and do not plan to. Thus, rather than deal with specifics in the book or movie, I will limit myremarks to the general idea of Christian purity.

Books and movies like these are regularly being released. The difference this time is the seemingly positive response these two are receiving within the Christian community.

Whenever we confront a cultural phenomenon like this, we as believers have to find an appropriate Biblical response.  We all agree the Bible speaks about purity of heart in sexual matters (Prov. 7:25), speaks against lust in one's heart (Matt. 5:28; Job 31:1), and against any type of sexual activity apart from marriage (Heb. 13:4; Prov. 5:15-19).

         It is wrong for a believer to watch any scene that would cause lustful thoughts, or to read any sexually explicit material, even if it has a good story line connected with it (Rom. 13:13-14). We as believers have to be extra careful in our conduct. Otherwise we find ourselves doing what the worldly culture around us does.

         This is no minor matter.  Danger lurks in activities like this. They can be slippery steppingstones into further sin.  They can obsess attention, spawn fantasies, and cause discontent within marriage. As your Pastor, I urge you to be careful.

I ask you to follow a simple Bible guideline. Ask yourself, would Jesus read this, would He watch this? The Bible reminds us we should engage only in activities Jesus would be pleased with.

I pray God will make you wise to do right in all situations. A more detailed blog by Pastor Todd Carnes about the movie and book is accessible at this link.  http://toddcarnes.com/2012/0/50-shades-of-porn/#more-649

 

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College Small Group

This Fall Ruth and I hope to host a weekly college small group in our home. We are working with our college minister Daniel Hood to figure out how best to do this.

The obvious question is, why would we try this? Good question. I want to influence the next generation for God. That's one obvious reason. But there's more.

I feel totally isolated from lost people, the ones God is sadly missing at His table. I think I need to be proactive in trying to make a dent in the kingdom of evil.

Here's the plan. We will gather around us a group of believing college students. We will take a few weeks to bond with them and then try to create a safe zone where we can bring unbelievers.

We will ask our group members to bring unbelievers with them to our house once we feel we can all trust one another not to "blow it" too bad if a lost person does something we might find offensive. Pray for this experiment. Maybe you would like to do something similar. I'll keep you posted.

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Home Sweet Home

Ruth and I have been away doing the Lord's work for over a week in New Mexico. I preached six times at a youth camp for AWANA students.

The camp is located 15 miles up in the mountains northwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico (not Nevada). Ruth and I had a hard time breathing at the 7600 feet altitude.

We drove over 1700 miles. I must tell you the truth. I enjoyed every second I spent in the car with Ruth.

The only problem was communication with the outside world. We had WI-FI in the dining hall. This made email and social networking possible, but I did not talk on a telephone from Saturday to Thursday. It's hard on a preacher to not be able to talk to whomever whenever.

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Harvest Hill Church

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The progress being made in the former Colonial Freight building in Strafford is unbelievable. Our church plant, Harvest Hill, is back in town. Huzzah!!

"Missourians on Mission", a nonprofit mission group that seeks to serve God through construction, transformed the interior of the building Harvest Hill recently purchased.

The church will soon be needing construction volunteers from Second. Be ready to serve. I am proud of Pastors Craig Coppenbarger and John Edwards. They and their wives are some of the finest young adults I've ever known.