When I showed my mother the new Bible I got for Christmas (part 1 if you haven’t read it) she mentioned needed a new Bible. Mom still carries the same Bible that Dad gave her back in the late 1980’s. She keeps it in a cover which may have been replaced a time or two. The Bible inside is over 30 years old and has pictures, newspaper clippings and notes from grandkids stuck in between the pages here and there. She wanted to know if my new Bible was a “real Bible” or something else. I knew exactly what she meant. That comes from spending a lifetime with a KJV only husband/preacher. Continue reading
A Bible Story, pt. 1
I was ordained as a minister at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Silver Creek, GA back in March of 2004. My pastor at the time, Mike Jones, had already asked me what version of the Bible I would like to receive at the ordination service. We were new to full time ministry, serving as state missionaries in Kentucky, and I had recently been introduced to the English Standard Version (ESV) by Michael Spencer. Mike Jones presented me with a thinline ESV, bound in black, which I carried on a regular basis for the next nine years in Kentucky. I preached from it in chapel, led BCM, taught Sunday and preached as pulpit supply as well as reading through it from cover to cover a few times. We “came home” in 2012 and visited a few churches before joining Trinity in Calhoun, where I was soon active in Sunday School, helping with church youth, preaching on a regular basis and eventually leading men’s ministry (still referred to as Brotherhood in some areas). After 15 years of regular use my trusty Thinline was looking worse for wear, the spine held together with some very distinguished looking black duct tape if I say so myself. Continue reading
Paperless Hymnal
This is a follow up to Dumping the Screen is Not the Answer. If you have not read that post please click here (before or after reading this post).
When I wrote about how screens are not the problem with worship I used an image from The Paperless Hymnal. I’m going to share a link to their website with the understanding that 1) I have not purchased or used their products and 2) this is not a paid endorsement. I like the idea of having the words and music projected onto the screen for all those people that miss being able to read the music and follow along during worship.
A big screen is merely a vehicle to deliver information. If the information is creating a problem with your worship service, you need to project something else. If your old hymnal was a theology textbook, and your millennial praise and worship leader keeps giving you mind numbing repetitive choruses, the problem is not that projection ruined your worship experience. Screens and neither good nor bad, neither is a hymn book good or bad. If you want to sing congregational hymns steeped in good theology it shouldn’t be a problem, with or without physical hymnals. You may have a problem getting it past your church leadership but that’s another issue entirely.
Dumping the Screen is Not the Answer
I see memes on Facebook that say things like “Throw the screen in the trash.” My friends share links to competing articles promoting the virtues of digital projection and also what we lost when we stop using hymnals. I don’t think we have correctly identified the problem. Continue reading
Happy Monday
Why Happy Monday? It’s been a while since we answered that question. Because “Happy Friday” or “Happy Saturday” is like shooting fish in a barrel. Those are basically given. Mondays are tough for most people and Christians have just had a day of worship, communing with fellow believers and with the Holy Trinity. Monday is about leaving the sanctuary and entering the mission field; and the mission field has traffic, kids that can’t find but one shoe, printers that jam, spilled coffee… Spilled coffee is the adult equivalent of dropping an ice cream cone.
We can’t make it not Monday. So here’s a dose of scripture, quotes, memes and cute animals so you can seize the day or, at the very least, smile while you look for the other shoe. This is Happy Monday #359.
Satur-deja Vu
Seeing is no longer believing. I know that used to be true. Today anyone can make a fake sign and even real news articles sometimes have misleading headlines when you see them on social media. Sometimes satire websites, such as Empire News or the Christian site Babylon Bee, publish articles that are confused for real news and then get shared without the disclaimers. Take everything with a grain of salt unless you can verify through multiple sources. “If knowledge is power, then the internet is filled with completely useless power.” -Abraham Lincoln Continue reading
Happy Monday
Verses of scripture, inspiring quotations, comics, funny pics, cute animals; it’s what we do here. Pour another cup of Joe and hunker down. This is Happy Monday #358. Continue reading
The Truth is Stranger than Fiction
This morning at church I preached a rare topical sermon. I wanted to point out two things, first that all expositional sermons have a topic and secondly that even when offering a topical sermon I do so in an expositional manner.
What I really said – or tried to say, perhaps almost said – was that I would deliver a topical sermon in an exponential manner. Exponents, you know from math class. If the sermon multiplied exponentially that would mean the longer I preached the more of it there would left to preach. It would never end. Not what a congregation wants to hear at 11:30 on Sunday morning.
You can listen to the Never Ending Sermon at the Unity Baptist website. Don’t worry, the actual run time is only 36 minutes. There should be a link in left-hand sidebar to Storms of Life. This funny moment brought to you by a tongue tied preacher. Writing can be edited; live and in person just happens.
Satur-deja Vu
Most of the country either has been or will be affected by this weather system. In the South that means heavy rain, thunderstorms and a few tornados, further north snow and ice. Stay safe, check on your neighbors, we hope to see everyone back next week. Continue reading
Happy Monday
If this were the Satur-deja Vu we would probably lead in with the Ricky Gervais speech you will be hearing about all day. Google it if you have to. No, we’re all about a smile on your face and a faith in your heart on this first Monday of 2020. This is Happy Monday #357. Continue reading
The Master's Table 