Monday Quote

A few notes first:

• We had a great time at the beach last week and want to thank all my parents for the graduation gift. 
• Birthing classes again tonight, should be fun!
• About 8 weeks until the baby gets here, we will go tomorrow to find out if that is in fact the right date. 
• M-Fuge  camp begins next Monday, I hope the A/C on the bus gets fixed. 

Monday Quote:

I spent most of my reading time on vacation finishing up Ed Stetzer’s new book “Missional Church Planting.”  While it has great information in the area of church planting I don’t know if they are what I’m looking for to fill this space.  So instead I’m going to turn to John Piper’s short book, “Pierced By The Word,” and his 5 Things God has told us about humility.

1.)  Humility begins with a sens of subordination to God in Christ. (MT 10:24, 1 Peter 5:6)

2.)  Humility does not feel it has a right to better treatment than Jesus got. (MT 10:25)

3.)  Humility asserts truth not to bolster the ego with control or triumphs in debate, but as service to Christ and love to the adversary. (1 Cor. 13:6, MT 10:26-27)

4.)  Humility knows it is dependent on grace for all knowing and believing. (1 Cor. 4:7, James 1:21)

5.)  Humility knows it is fallible, and so considers criticism and learns from it; but also know that God has made provision for human conviction and that He calls us to persuade others.

 

Seek Jesus.

Matt

 

Monday Quote

Well sorry I missed the last couple of weeks.  Last week was VBS week around here and things get a bit crazy.  We had a good week and a good turnout.  We made the move to evening VBS last year, and while we needed to make the move in order to staff VBS, I’m not sure I like it.  Also, I also gave alot of thought to the possibility of doing a VBS alternative.  I know some churches are doing sport camps or different than traditional VBS.  I wonder if that would reach more families?

Sorry for thinking out loud there for a minute.  All this church talk leads me to “Simple Church” for today’s quote.  If you are in church leadership and haven’t at least checked out a couple of pages in this book, please give it a few minutes.  Here are a couple of quotes to give you the idea and get you started.

“The church, as a whole is doing more and more.  And the church, as a whole is making less and less of a difference.” 

“Church complexity is costly.  The cost is beyond time and money.  The kingdom is not expanding.  Lives are not being changed.  Transformation is not happening.  Churches are not growing.” 

Have a good week. 

 

Back from Indiana

Jenn and I went to Indiana over the weekend for a baby shower and church on Sunday.  Jenn and her mom came back on Monday and I made it back Wednesday evening. 

The trip was too quick, as always, but really good.  My sister gave us a baby shower on Saturday afternoon and it was fun to see some people I hadn’t seen in years, or in some cases months.  Although I was the only guy there (with the exception of my Dad who didn’t come out of the kitchen) it was nice to see everyone.  Thanks for all the great gifts, you will be receiving you Thank You notes soon, I hope. 

On Sunday Emir Caner was preaching at FBC Sellersburg and it was awesome.  If you haven’t heard his testimony or his brother’s (Ergun) search for them on the web (this is the place most bloggers would include a link, sorry I’m lazy).  Then on Sunday night I had the chance to preach.  I always enjoy the opportunity to preach and am always blown away by the faces I see and support I receive. 

After some time with my grandparents, a couple rounds of golf, some Wii Olympics, and a few card games I headed by to Wendell.  Thank you to all who made this trip home so memorable for us.  We look forward to our next trip, but it will be much different, with THREE Walton’s making the trip.    

I’ll try to blog more in the next few weeks, but with VBS this week it might be tough. 

Matt

 

When I grow up…

 

I want to be an animal trainer!  Last night we had Dan  with Creatures of Creation and I got to be the assistant.  Well not really, but I was the guy who opened the door to the building and held his van door open when he would change animals.  We were all reminded of the creator in some incredible ways.  Last night he showed us a porcupine, owl, gibbon, and alligator up close and personal. 

Check out his website and be in prayer for Dan in the coming weeks.  He has a great opportunity with the National Educators Association.  Currently he does numerous school assemblies throughout the year and this would open up new doors to talk about creation in the public school. 

Thanks Dan for you time and ministry. 

 

                                     

 

 

Monday Quote

As I have previously mentioned I’m excited about the opportunity to read books beyond those assigned to me by my Seminary professors.  The first book that I have recently sat down with is Timothy Keller’s “The Reason for God.”  There seems to have been a recent surge of books in the area of apologetics in the last five years, or it could just be that I am more aware of the.  Either way I want to encourage you to take the time read a couple of them.  I am only about 50 pages in but I would suggest that Keller’s book is a good place to start.  Through his introduction he provides us with numerous reasons that we should tackle a book like this.  Today’s quote comes from the introduction of his book and the middle of such an arguement.

“Believers should acknowledge and wrestle with doubts-not only their own but their friends’ and neighbors’.  It is no longer sufficient to hold beliefs just because you inherited them.  Only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive.  And, just as important for our current situation, such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt.”

I apologiz for the length, but could really cut off his thought.  If you interested in learning more about the book here is a short video clip from Keller.