Just watch the video, laugh out loud, then go on about your day.
Author Archives: Clark Bunch
Open Door Policy
Summer is the season of mission trips, Vacation Bible School and Backyard Bible Clubs. I would like to share a personal experience that I find especially encouraging.
Our church is hosting a large number of volunteers this week from Lynchburg, VA. Their mission team is doing a few construction projects and running several Backyard Bible Clubs in different locations. One of them is at the small country church I frequently preach at. This is an old church, and does not have central air. During the day we open up the windows and turn on a couple of fans. We’ve been leaving the front door standing open, just to move some air. Well, this morning a young couple was driving by and noticed the open door. She has been looking for a job, and everyone knows what that is like right now. She felt the need to stop in and pray. They entered the back of the sanctuary, and listened to the children’s Bible lesson that was being taught. When the kids went downstairs for snacks and crafts, we had the chance to listen to their story and pray with them. We invited them to join us tomorrow, and certainly for service on Sunday.
They stopped at the church to pray because they saw the front door open. We often (I hope) invite people to church, but how inviting is our church? How many others would stop and pray, ask questions or just talk to us if they saw the door open? This happened at 11:00 on a Thursday morning. There’s a lot of hurt, a lot of need, a lot of fields white for harvest out there. It may be a stretch just to imagine people with problems wanting to be anywhere near “church people.” Imagine if more churches had open doors and people waiting to pray with those passing by. Just a thought.
Having An Excuse vs. Making An Excuse
Years ago my family went to church with a guy named Ted. He was a lifelong smoker, and had developed a pretty bad case of emphysema by the time we met him. They finally starting bringing him to church in a wheelchair, and he stayed on oxygen all the time. There was a large machine in his house with little hoses run to each room, and he carried a small tank around with him on wheels. He frequently spent time in the hospital. No one would have held it against Ted if he had stayed at home. It would not have made him a lazy Christian or a bad witness. But instead he was one of the most faithful members. He wanted to come to church for as long as he was able, and did. Continue reading
In Order to Understand Scripture
There is a lot of criticism of the Bible in our culture today, and of those who believe in it. Some of those criticisms may be valid, although many are certainly not. There are Christians who have trouble responding to these critics, partly because even those believers do not understand what they are dealing with. And of course a novice student of the Bible, even with the best of intentions, may have difficulty understanding the Bible due the nature of it’s age and form. In order to understand scripture, there are some things that one must realize first.
1) The Bible will not answer all our questions. When we look at the Constitution, it is important to try and understand the framers’ intent. The same holds for the Bible. No Biblical author was attempting to provide an exhaustive list of every answer to every possible question that would arise. Continue reading
Bible Survey: Tower of Babel
I haven’t posted to Bible Survey in over a month. I thought it would take a while to get through the Bible, at this rate it will take forever and ever. I hope there’s Internet access in Heaven.
The Tower of Babel story creates more questions for some than it answers. Is the story literal, or just of way of simplifying things? Why does Genesis 10 talk about nations and languages, and then chp. 11 says that all people were of one language? Can we prove the Bible is true? Join me at Bible Survey to explore these and other and issues.
Discussions That Are Academic
There are some discussions/debates that are purely academic in nature, meaning that they have no real bearing on anything practical. Is Superman strong enough to beat up the Incredible Hulk? It doesn’t matter who wins the debate, there is no practical application for the results. Continue reading
Cleaning the Blogroll
When I first started blogging, I worked to build up a blogroll. These are the ones I read, and wanted to share with my readers. Recently I’ve had to make a couple of subtractions.
Tim Wilson lives in the United Kingdom, and was the author of Christ Centred. His last post, the one linked, asks the question “Should Your Blog Exist?” It also explains why he quit blogging. The short answer is that there are a lot of blogs out there, and many are better than his own. Since pastor’s like John Piper and C.J. Mahaney are doing such a good job, his blog was either redundant or inferior. My name didn’t come up in his consideration. Hmmm. Tim concluded that the vast majority of Christian bloggers need to shut it down.
My good friend That Dude You Know is taking some blogging time off. He says at least a year; no blog writing, no Facebook, no Twitter. His goal is to re-prioritize the things in his life. He is supporting a family, raising two kids, and working on a seminary degree. I’ll watch for him though, and should he return I’ll recommend him again.
There are some I wonder about. Cafe e Vino, A Small Faith and Red Head Rev stuggle sometimes to hang in there. I’m going to leave them on the blogroll, and suggest perhaps stopping by and/or leaving a word of encouragement. In the words of Red Green, we’re all in this together.
Re-Introducing Jesus
This is everything some have us have been saying about “other” Jesus for years (Hippie Jesus, Cool Jesus, BFF Jesus, Discount Jesus) we just haven’t been throwing down lyrics.
Thanks to The Joy of Grace for posting this (so I could post it also). I figure the more people see it the better.
p.s. The full screen button works!
Jesus’ Example: Knowing When to Shut Up
Jesus certainly developed the reputation of knowing how to say exactly the right thing at the right time. On many occasions the Pharisees tried to trap him with rhetoric, only to have Jesus make them look foolish instead. His words could condemn with their harshness or heal with their gentleness, depending on what the situation called for. We have all wished at one time or another that we could do that. Yet Jesus also knew when it was appropriate to say nothing at all. Continue reading
Jesus’ Involvement in Starting the Christian Church
If we began a study of the first century church, 9 times out of 10 we would begin with Acts chapter 2. The Holy Spirit comes as promised, and Peter preaches a fiery message proclaiming Jesus is the Christ. Certainly by the end of Acts 2, we see the first Christian believers come together in an organized way. But if we back up a just a few chapters, Jesus gives the disciples instructions on what will happen next, going beyond his death, burial and resurrection.
Critics of Christianity, as an organized religion (the Church), even claim that Jesus had no intention of starting a new church or movement of any kind, but rather his followers started one in his name. To put it mildly, these critics have not studied the Bible. Continue reading
The Master's Table 
