Matthew | April 28, 2011
For some time, one of the super star members of Castle Rock has added video sermons to the website. We experimented with various formats such as youtube but the time was too short, we did talkshoe, and I believe we still are because people can download these to an ipod. But I am really happy [...]
Matthew | April 27, 2011
I have always felt that once a author writes one or two books, the goodness of the material declines. This is because mostly the author uses his best ideas first, and the following books are not the fresh or original. Fortunately, it seems with Hirsch that he continues to think well in producing new material for [...]
Matthew | April 26, 2011
Churches struggle with moving forward because there are multiple visions within the congregation. Often a eldership or the membership will have competing opinions on the major direction of the congregation. People will fight or hold that fellowship is the number value, or truth, or growth, or evangelism, or love, or something. So instead of a [...]
Matthew | April 25, 2011
During the farewell discourse by Jesus, he promised to send the Holy Spirit to continue the work of God on earth. John 14:16 states: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” The Greek term for “helper” is transliterated as paraclete. Grayston, after examining the historical [...]
Matthew | April 21, 2011
Fortunately, I was invited to be part of the Amazon Vine program. This is a wonderful blessings as the website provides a list each month of materials to review. Luckily, I saw this title in the newsletter, because I was hoping to read it anyway. The book is a wonderfully written journey about two people. [...]
Matthew | April 20, 2011
God continues his missional activity through the incarnation of his son, Jesus. There is no greater example of the missional ethos than God himself sending himself to earth to participate in the affairs of man. The incarnation provides much of the paradigm of the missional church. The term “incarnation” is not found directly in the [...]
Matthew | April 19, 2011
Lesslie Newbigin considered the conversion of Cornelius to be paradigmatic for his personal work as a missionary. He felt that he was most successful when he was in line with God moving into new areas. This method was not part of a church’s strategy as it was totally guided by the Spirit of God. But [...]
Matthew | April 18, 2011
As I was learning to preach, I would hear advice from preachers. One of the pieces of advice was to “not be issue oriented.” This meant not to ride hobby horses, just preach the gospel, and avoid pointless arguments. This seems easy, but in reality it is hard to practice if the congregation you are at [...]
Matthew | April 14, 2011
Some of the best mentors I have had were the most caring and pastoring people. Bobby Pinckley and Burnice Wesbrooks were some of the best ministers because of the great ability to care for people during the difficult times of life. I was thinking about this yesterday because I was doing a funeral for the [...]
Matthew | April 13, 2011
This was an interesting book. I am not sure what I think of it yet, as one part seems sexist while another aspects seems true. I have noticed for some time that the role of the man is changing, and this is not always for the better. Men are becoming bigger baby’s instead of providers [...]
