The Nines

Scott Hodge is the pastor of Orchard Valley Community Church in Aurora, IL. We came in contact with them a few years ago when my wife’s unchurched family started attending there and later when my wife’s grandfather passed away and they held the memorial service there. He has been a blessing for me to listen to ever since once I got an iPod last year and started downloading the The Orchard’s iTunes podcasts. Here is a short video of him speaking:

If you’re looking for a more local pastor in the Indianapolis area, here is Jeffrey Johnson of Eastern Star Church.

“The Nines” was an experiment allowing dozens of Christian leaders across the country to address other Christian leaders about important issues facing the church.

Did You Know?

I posted a similar video about a month ago asking whether or not social media was a fad. Here are some more figures in this video:

There’s a lot to think about here:

• Businesses that embrace the slow delivery of content are probably headed for extinction.
• The internet has broken open a brand new audience that watches television, gets information, conducts business, makes purchases and primarily communicates via mobile devices and laptops.
• Technology is often faster than the speed of common sense.
• Does what you see demonstrate that our sinful desire to have what we want right now is fueled by technology?

There are probably more things to mine from that, and maybe we’ll come up with some on Wednesday. I’m not trying to demonize technology, but I think that it certainly urges some caution.

Hat tip to Daniel Mosley.

Roane County High School Prayer

A friend of mine sent this to me in an email last week, and I verified on snopes.com that it is true. Whenever I hear stories of people standing up for their faith in the public square, I am encouraged, but it’s not enough. We need to be protectors of the freedom to proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ.

This is a statement that was read over the PA system at the football game at Roane County High School, Kingston, Tennessee by school Principal Jody McLoud, on September 1, 2000. I thought it was worth sharing with the world, and hope you will forward it to all your friends. It clearly shows just how far this country has gone in the wrong direction.

It has always been the custom at Roane County High School football games to say a prayer and play the National Anthem to honor God and Country. Due to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, I am told that saying a prayer is a violation of Federal Case Law.

As I understand the law at this time, I can use this public facility to approve of sexual perversion and call it an alternate lifestyle, and if someone is offended, that’s OK.

I can use it to condone sexual promiscuity by dispensing condoms and calling it safe sex. If someone is offended, that’s OK.

I can even use this public facility to present the merits of killing an unborn baby as a viable means of birth control. If someone is offended, it’s no problem.

I can designate a school day as earth day and involve students in activities to religiously worship and praise the goddess, mother earth, and call it ecology.

I can use literature, videos and presentations in the classroom that depict people with strong, traditional, Christian convictions as simple minded and ignorant and call it enlightenment.

However, if anyone uses this facility to honor God and ask Him to bless this event with safety and good sportsmanship, Federal Case Law is violated.

This appears to be inconsistent at best, and at worst, diabolical.

Apparently, we are to be tolerant of everything and anyone except God and His Commandments.

Nevertheless, as a school principal, I frequently ask staff and students to abide by rules that they do not necessarily agree. For me to do otherwise would be inconsistent at best, and at worst, hypocritical. I suffer from that affliction enough unintentionally. I certainly do not need to add an intentional transgression.

For this reason, I shall render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and refrain from praying at this time. However, if you feel inspired to honor, praise and thank God, and ask Him in the name of Jesus to bless this event, please feel free to do so. As far as I know, that’s not against the law — yet.

AND … one by one, the people in the stands bowed their heads, held hands with one another, and began to pray. They prayed in the stands. They prayed in the team huddles. They pray at the concession stand. And they prayed in the announcer’s box. The only place they didn’t pray was in the Supreme Court of the United State’s of America — the seat of “justice” in the one nation under God.

Somehow, Kingston, Tennessee, remembered what so many have forgotten … we are given the Freedom OF Religion, not the Freedom FROM Religion.

Praise God that His remnant remains!

Borrowing heavily from the Reverend Joe Wright, Principal Jody McLoud delivered this speech before a Roane County High School football game on 1 September 2000. Mr. McLoud, who had been principal of the 740-student school for eleven years at the time, was protesting the prohibition against leading prayers “on school property, at school-sponsored events, over the school’s public address system, by a speaker representing the student body, under the supervision of school faculty,” which was brought about when the United States Supreme Court upheld the ruling in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that such activity violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Principal McLoud’s speech was also read into the Congressional Record on 20 September 2000 by Representative Zach Wamp of Tennessee.

Four Things You Cannot Recover

Randy Alcorn posted this great set of pictures on his blog that are a great devotional and an example of great design. Look how simple the pictures are, yet communicate so much, and notice how the black-and-white half-and-half look separate each half of each quote.

Having the Master’s Perspective

A great video from Daniel Mosley… check it out.

So often, I know I focus on my circumstances and how frustrating they are. When you look at them from God’s perspective, it’s not that He thinks of those circumstances as unimportant or trivial. After all, Jesus experienced the same pain and suffering and temptation that we all have experienced here.

Instead, God invites us simply not to worry about those circumstances. He invites us into his presence to find rest (Matt 11:28). He invites us to cast our burdens on Him (Ps 55:22, 1 Pet 5:7). He tells us there is nothing to be gained from worry (Matt 6:27).

When fall on him in times of struggle, I think it becomes easier to see that God is not making us responsible for getting out of the situations of life we find ourselves in. Instead, he is simply holding open a door, giving us a roadmap for the path we should take, and clearing the obstacles for us from the road ahead.

Not by Sight

Someone shared this video on Twitter about Indiana Wesleyan, and I thought it would be good to share here as well.

For those of you in the CAPS program, do you also think of yourself and your cohort as a community? Sometimes, it seems in the competition of getting a good grade that relationships between students and teams can become acrimonious. For what reason, I don’t know… you are only in competition with yourself to succeed.

Anyway, you should treasure this time with the community of students and believers to which you belong, because you are moving toward the same goal that God has inspired all of your classmates to pursue.

A Parable on the Beach

An excellent visual-based teaching on the Parable of the Sower, found in Mark 4 and Matthew 13.

Life Without Water

Our electricity went out a couple of Fridays ago, and it was a major deal at our house. We were unprepared, could barely find a working flashlight, and had to figure out how we were going to entertain ourselves for the evening. Two miracles: we’ve had a mild summer, so we didn’t really miss the air conditioning, and it was late enough to put the kids to bed.

My wife and I ended up going out to the deck, lighting all the citronella candles we could find, and played cards for three hours until the power came back. Our only modern conveniences: a radio (which was powered by C-cell batteries I had bought by mistake instead of D-cell) and Taco Bell (which I drove over to Plainfield to get).

A long time ago when I was an unsaved and unsuccessful worker bee, I didn’t have enough money for a season to pay all my bills. I got behind on the gas bill, and they came and turned it off. I went through three months of cold showers and no heat in my apartment. I was too embarrassed to have anyone over and too embarrassed to share my experiences with anyone I knew. I just put on my “Everything’s okay, I’ve got it under control” mask and went back out into the world.

Daniel Mosley shares an interesting experience that happened to him lately where he forgot to pay the water bill.

He makes some interesting points. We are so reliant on our modern conveniences that when you don’t have them for a day, you really start to think how dependent we are on basic utilities that we take for granted.

Church Under Construction

Does your church or ministry feel stagnant? How readily does your organization embrace change? It’s a wonderful thing when prayerful consideration is paid to focusing on growth through change. Maybe it’s time to add new personnel, change scenery, or refocus the vision.

Hat tip to Daniel Mosley and his shaky-cam.

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

A great story about living through adversity, especially in light of Steve Jobs’ recent health issues…

I’m not aware of his faith, but it is always a good time to remember Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (NKJV)