I attended this conference earlier this year. It was the Resurgence: Our Fathers, Our Future conference in Orlando Fl. At this conference I was challenged by a lot fo things and was exposed to Tullian Tchividjian for the first time. I also had the privilege to hear R.C. Sproul preach, one of my heros of faith.

So I thought that I would attached two lectures by Mark Driscoll that I thought were very valuable. I don't agree with everything he states here, but I definitely think that there is a lot of value in much of what he says.

Part 1


Part 2

Rick Warren and John Piper Interview

So several years ago a very nice woman in our church gave me a copy of A Purpose Driven Life and encouraged me to read it. She had said that it was life changing. At the time I was really starting to be attracted to "the deeper things" of faith. I was also reading a lot of stuff from the theologians of the time that looked down on Rick Warren and the "mega church" movement. So I graciously accepted the book and then let it sit on my shelf never really cracking the cover. Perhaps it was arrogance that I was beyond anything that a mega church pastor could tell me in his book. Last week I came across a tweet that had a link to an interview between Rick Warren and John Piper. I was intrigued. I had heard of the controversy over Piper inviting Warren to speak at the Desiring God conference and I have HUGE respect for Piper, so I thought I would watch. I have to say that my opinion of Rick Warren was ill informed. In this interview he displays a deepness that I hadn't thought he had. Piper did a great job in the conversation and I think the 1 1/2 hours you would devote to watching (or listening) to this will be well worth it. I may now have to go back and take that book off my shelf and read it.

Watch the Video here, or listen to the audio here.

A Great Quote From Michael Horton on the Resurgence Site

The below was take from TheResurgence.com blog post. Its a great quote from Dr. Horton.

We asked Dr. Michael Horton to answer a few questions for the Resurgence. One question was,

"What does your Bible time look like?"

Here's his answer:

For me, it looks like a sinful but faithful servant of the Lord (my pastor) absolving me of my sins through proclaiming God’s Word and giving me a good meal (bread and wine), as a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb. In other words, my main Bible time is church every Lord’s Day, morning and evening. Then our family also has devotions: in the morning, my wife leads the kids through catechism and at dinner I’ve been walking them through the Bible, verse by verse, since they were 4. So now we’re in Proverbs! I’ve learned so much along with them just by doing this. My dad was never the leader of our home spiritually, so I’m working against my native instincts. The hardest part is carving out time for my own time with the Triune God. After all, my vocation gives me the privilege of being immersed in Scripture nearly every day! Yet that’s not the same as prayerful meditation—communicating with the Lord. And we all know how good we men are at “communicating.” Pray for me.

Letters From Ohio

I haven't blogged in a while and for those of you who continually bug me about it, I am sorry. I hit a point since moving to Ohio where I was pretty depressed and unmotivated. I think it was a lot of things...being homesick, the financial stress of paying a mortgage back in DE and my living costs here in Ohio. I spoke to a friend on the phone a few weeks ago and he told me that the 6 month mark is just about right on schedule for people who move to new areas deal with a little depression. Well, I guess I am typical.


Thanks to those of you who have been praying for me, it helped a lot. The last several weeks have been much better. I think I am starting to get into a rhythm out here. I also have some renters coming on for the condo back home. Good news, some of the financial strain is lifting. It’s funny, in many ways when I accepting this position I thought it would be a financial benefit, but then the market didn't help. God is obviously teaching me to trust Him and to make some hard decisions about financial matters.

Great news, I believe that I have found a church. If you’re interested you can check them out here. Now that I have made that decision, I need to get involved. It’s been far too long since I have had any real regular fellowship with the body. The quick visits home I made during the summer were great to get me thru this period, but it is no substitute for regular weekly involvement with God's people. I also made the decision this week to go ahead and join their choir. I need to be serving God in this way. It’s been too long. I am going thru music depravation. To quote Tomlin, "How can I keep from singing your praise".

So that’s the news from Ohio, I promise to do better with this blogging thing. I really want to.

Horton Interview on Christless Christianity

I know I haven't posted in a while. I'm working up to it. In the meantime, check out this interview with Dr. Michael Horton on his latest book Christless Christianity from CBN.

Snakes.......Why Did It Have To Be Snakes??

Last Sunday my quest to find a church home took me to another church in the greater Columbus area. As with the last visit, this church also had a "The Church at....." type of name, but it was sort of the nick name of a local campus of a larger Lutheran church. This church has three campuses and they all seem to be doing very well. The service I attended had two options in two different areas of the building. They had a traditional contemporary service (circa early 90's style) in the main sanctuary, and then they had a more contemporary service in their family life center. I was very impressed with the way they administratively pulled this off. So in short here is my assessment......its a candidate.

The worship band was good, but the service wasn't just about the music. Being Lutheran in denomination it was impressive how they combined the traditions of the lutheran liturgy with new musical styles. They used technology, but it wasn't flashy or in your face. It was a tool. Then the sermon was preached. I was very happy so far.

Now to explain the title of this post. My blog is syndicated to a few other places on the web, and on one of those sites a friend of mine made a joke about the title. He knows that I HATE snakes and he knows that I have a certain disdain for churches where things like snake handling happen. He made this joke on my last post the day before I visited this Lutheran church. How funny when the sermon I received on this visit was preached on Numbers 21:4-9. For those of you who don't have a bible handy....

The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, [a] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I really didn't think back to my friends joke until the pastor threw a picture of Indiana Jones in the snake pit from Raiders of the Lost Ark up on the screen. I almost laughed out loud. It was awesome. The best part was that the pastor actually presented the gospel. I was so happy. So this church is on my list as a possible place to hang my hat, or at least to visit more frequently. This week I wasn't really feeling well and so I watched my old church online and got a little homesick.

This is the actual picture he used.

Some Churches Just Stink

So this past Sunday I visited another church in the area. It had one of those "The Church at ...." names. Very nice building with a coffee shop setup in the lobby. All the goodies were free, it was comfortable and they focused on making it feel very welcoming. The building is completely decorated to look like it is THE place to be. I entered the worship center (aka sanctuary) and took a seat in the back (see picture below for my view).

When worship started the band was awesome. They reminded me of the Reach band, but more trendy and good looking (sorry guys). For those of you who don't know, the Reach Band is the band that leads worship for our young people back in Delaware. I was in the band and we rocked.......but let me get back to the story.

The worship was great both in talent, participation and song selection. I was getting very excited that this may be the place for me even though I had reservations about what I had seen outside the service. Then the pastor come onto the stage and stunk the joint up. His sermon was awful. I suddenly realized why the pretty girl at the welcome counter hurried me into the sanctuary so I didn't miss the worship time. Her quote was, " worship is the best part of the service". Boy was she right.

The pastor didn't just stroll on the stage area. He came down and roamed around the crowd like a crazy homeless man wandering the streets and hassling people for money. It was like a bad motivational seminar about finances in these troubled times. At the end he made a "gospel" presentation. It consisted of the declaration that God loves us, and that he desires a relationship with us, and that if we want one with him that we just need to do it. That was it. Jesus name was not mentioned, nor the cross, nor our sinfulness, nor our need for a savior. The good news was...get right with God. So, this church was a dud. I will not return.

In other news, I have to say that my friends back home are great. On Monday I arrived home to discover that I had a package. This package contained a photo album that was put together of pictures of them with notes to me. I have to say it made me cry..... I was doing pretty good with homesickness until that point. Now I am really thinking I need to get back home for a visit. I don't know when/if I can make it happen, but I may be back in Delaware before my planned visit in May. Maybe this is their twisted plan to get me to move back home. Pretty clever.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

A funny thing happened. I checked my email today and in my inbox was my latest traffic report for my blog. I don't normally check it since I have been so inconsistent in updating the blog. I decided to take a glance, and wonder of wonders there was a spike in traffic after my recent update. I guess if I write something new, people will visit. So.........

As my adventures in worship continue in the great state of Ohio, I am searching for a church. The body of believers I left back in Delaware were truly family. When the Bible talks about us being brothers and sisters in the Lord, there is a real tangible connection. Even though I am away, I am still connected. The notes, and letters, and facebook posts, text messages, and phone calls all keep me connected. I am a big proponent of electronic communication as a means of staying connected, but I am no dummy. I know that it can not replace the true gathering together of the saints. I miss the saints in Delaware. I miss them a lot, but when I left I was confident that I had brothers and sisters where I was heading. I just had to meet them and be grafted into that particular branch of the tree of life. I am searching for that branch.

In that search I have visited two different churches. One is a mid sized PCA church that reminds me of my home church in several ways. I could see myself grafting in nicely there, but in a different way than "back home". The music program is less mature than what I am used to, but I am not sure that this makes a difference to me.

The other church I visited is a larger Brethren church, and it also has many good qualities. I could see myself really enjoying being involved in what they have going on. They have a large singles group and a mature music program. The problem is that they aren't reformed. Now I think it important to point out that I don't feel that they are apostate, but reformed doctrine is what I believe to be the most correct form of doctrine in the visible church. So at this point I am praying and pondering my decision. I am also looking around to visit a few more churches before I make a final call. One thing I do know is that I want to choose and commit to a place very soon. I feel that body life is important, and I need to get to the grafting part. I don't want to spend the entire adventure here alone in my apartment.

Hello From Ohio

I live in Ohio now. Thats right, I haven't posted in a while, and a lot has happened in my life since then. Short story = I moved for work, and leaving everyone and everything back home was painful. I'll probably share more on this in future posts.

So here are some initial thoughts on Ohio........Its nice. Its not super, and not the greatest, but it is nice. I think I could learn to really like it here. I live in a two bedroom apartment that overlooks a pond with a water fountain in its middle. Very peaceful and calm. I can't wait until the weather warms up and I can sit on my second floor deck and sip tea and read at the end of the day.

Two things I already miss about the east coast (besides family and friends) are hoagies and pizza. They have them here, but it just isn't the same. I think that the mid-atlantic region has these culinary delights down pat. The versions here just don't compare. This is probably for the best anyway, because I absolutely need to eat less of these treats. One of the things I want to focus on while I am here is my fitness. Since I don't really have a social circle yet, I have lots of time to work on me. I don't know if that is selfish or not, but I think that one of the reasons God has provided this opportunity is for this very purpose. I intend to return to DE some day as a resident, and I want to look very different when that happens. Goals.....I must have goals....and I need to accomplish them.

Well, there are some thoughts today. I am really going to try to post more frequent. Please hold me to it if you don't see anything for a while. If this moving experience is anything, it is an opportunity to really have an adventure, and I want to strive to make it an adventure in worship.
RAV

An Interesting Read

I read this today and felt it was worth sharing with you.

http://www.firstthings.com/blog/2008/08/26/back-to-saddleback/

Thoughts? Comments?

A Pilgrims Progress - Some Thoughts on Talkative

As I have shared before, I am reading A Pilgrims Progress. It is skillfully and wonderfully written and has caused me to see some things in new light. Below is a piece of the story.

At this point, Christian and Faithful have come upon a man named Talkative. Talkative desired conversation about edifying things about God and Salvation. During the conversation Faithful was convinced that they had come across a brother and fellow pilgrim on the journey to Zion. That is until Christian advised him that he knew the man from his days in the town of destruction and that he was not what he seemed. Faithful decides to steer the conversation in the direction of what saving faith is really all about. Here is part of Talkative's answer and then Faithfull’s response.

TALKATIVE. Great knowledge of gospel mysteries.

FAITHFUL. This sign should have been first; but first or last, it isalso false; for knowledge, great knowledge, may be obtained in themysteries of the gospel, and yet no work of grace in the soul. [1Cor. 13] Yea, if a man have all knowledge, he may yet be nothing, and so consequently be no child of God. When Christ said, "Do youknow all these things?" and the disciples had answered, Yes; headdeth, "Blessed are ye if ye do them." He doth not lay the blessingin the knowing of them, but in the doing of them. For there isa knowledge that is not attended with doing: He that knoweth hismasters will, and doeth it not. A man may know like an angel, andyet be no Christian, therefore your sign of it is not true. Indeed,to know is a thing that pleaseth talkers and boasters, but to do isthat which pleaseth God. Not that the heart can be good ithoutknowledge; for without that, the heart is naught. There is,therefore, knowledge and knowledge. Knowledge that resteth in the bare speculation of things; and knowledge that is accompanied withthe grace of faith and love; which puts a man upon doing even thewill of God from the heart: the first of these will serve thetalker; but without the other the true Christian is not content."Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shallobserve it with my whole heart." [Ps. 119:34]

TALKATIVE. You lie at the catch again; this is not for edification.

FAITHFUL. Well, if you please, propound another sign how this work of grace discovereth itself where it is.

TALKATIVE. Not I, for I see we shall not agree.

This exchange has reminded me that although there are those in the visible church who have great knowledge of the gospel message, they are not actually Christians. I work with the teens in my church. Many of them have been raised in the church and they know more about the Bible than some pastors of other churches (the liberal ones….ha ha). Anyway, when you strip it all away it is just what knowledge. To paraphrase John MacArthur, hey haven’t made Jesus Lord. They aren’t living out there faith in fear and trembling and that leads me to believe that they have no faith……just knowledge.

This goes way beyond the teens I know. I feel that there are adults in my life where this may be the same thing. Is this judgmental….a little I guess, but the passage above reminds me that these conversations need to be had. We need to talk to those in our lives about such things to either help them strengthen their faith or to understand where they are so we know how to best interact (read: evangelize) with them. Of course all of this should be wrapped in respect and love, and we are not to walk around quizzing everyone like some crazed all knowing super spiritual Christian. We are to look for the opportunity and enter the conversation wisely.

Interestingly, the answer Talkative gives is very familiar. Is this what we are afraid of? To disagree? Something to think about.

Again, I highly recommend reading Pilgrims Progress. It looks daunting, but I read it in small chunks. There is a site called dailylit.com. You can go there and sign up for free and every day (or every other day) or once a week they will send you an email with part of the book. It usually takes me 5 minutes to really read and digest what they have sent. These books are all out of copyright so it is perfectly legal to read them for free this way. Check it out.

Pilgrims Progress

I have been reading Pilgrims Progress. I purchased it several years ago. At that time an older man that was mentoring me said "you'll never finish it." He apparantly had a problem with books that are not written in the modern tounge. Anyway, I got distracted and put it down. I have recently started again and am determined to finish. I find that if I take it in small chunks I can really reflect on the story and what it is saying. Anyway, here is a little something I took from it...this is a song Christian sings as he is coming out of the valley of the shadow of death, after he has encountered Pagan and Pope. Enjoy!

O world of wonders! (I can say no less),

That I should be preserved in that distress

That I have met with here! O blessed be

That hand that from it hath deliver'd me!

Dangers in darkness, devils, hell, and sin

Did compass me, while I this vale was in:

Yea, snares, and pits, and traps, and nets, did lie

My path about, that worthless, silly I

Might have been catch'd, entangled, and cast down;

But since I live, let JESUS wear the crown.

Are You Serious?!?!

Well, I have been lax in posting again, but I think I have an excuse. I have been faced with some major life changing decisions lately. Let me start from the beginning.....

I have previously written about the things happening at my job. I work for a major American life insurance company, and they are consolidating some operations. In that post I shared that I had somewhere between now and 18 months before my job would be phased out and moved to Columbus Ohio. I did what every person in that position should do; I started the process of finding another job. Delaware has some good opportunities, and I just needed to find the right one. I had plenty of time because I was sure that I would be safe for about a year.

About three weeks after the big announcement, I was called into our director’s office. She wanted to know what my plans were for the future. I told her that I was looking around. I anticipated that she was going to offer me some sort of incentive to stay till the end. This is a common practice for companies to offer cash bonuses if you don't jump ship before they have moved your function. To my surprise, she said that my company wanted to keep me. They offered me a promotion as well. The caveat was that I would have to move to Ohio. The package was attractive, and I advised I needed to think about it. She told me that her boss in Columbus was going to be in town the next day and that I should talk to her about it.

I had the meeting and the info was very interesting. She advised me that I didn't have to move for a while (at least 6 months, maybe a year), and that I had two weeks to think about it. Wow, I needed to make that decision in two weeks. There was MUCH about this deal that was attractive.

Now I am not the sort of person who makes life decisions on a whim, so I really began to think about it, and pray. I sought advice from those that I respect and those that love me. The reactions were very consistent. They went something like this....."We/I love you and don't want you to be out of my/our lives, but this seems to really be a good opportunity for you and it seems that God is leading you there." I also went to my family, who immediately said I should go (insert joke here).

So after much thought I made the decision to accept the job. I will be moving to Columbus Ohio sometime in the next 6-9 months. I'm excited, and a little nervous. I have never lived anywhere outside of the same 10 square mile are area in DE. I never went away to college, or spent a summer living at camp. I am really looking forward to what God has in store for me.

My plan is to dedicate two years of my life to this. At the end of two years I will evaluate the decision and if God is leading me back to Delaware, then I will return. This is really going to be an adventure in worship. Pray for me.

A Thing Happened at Work Today

So today as I entered the building a strange feeling was the air. I didn't exactly know what it was, but it felt ominous. Certain people had a strange knowing looks in their eyes and others just looked like they hated their jobs or had a very rough weekend. I shrugged it off and got on the elevator. When I got off on my floor and entered my team's area, there were three coworkers huddled in a conspiratorial fashion. At first I thought they were talking about the weekend football playoff games and the way they had worked out, but I was wrong. They didn't look like they were enjoying the conversation. I walked over to a guy who sits near me and casually asked him what was going on. He casually replied that one of the managers in our area had been laid off, or so he had heard.

At this point my area erupted into disarray. There was wild speculation and at lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) running rampant. Then we got an email invitation to a meeting for everyone at 10:30. A couple ladies in my area started to immediately pack up their personal belongings because they believed that they would be able to just grab them and go home after this "termination" meeting. My manager came in and very emotionally asked them to stop speculating about what was going on, they would find out soon enough. There was complaining and a little argument.

I have to say that I was very calm. People get so caught up in their emotions. I understand that people have mortgages and car payments and debt payments and need to eat, but I usually err on the side of not worrying about a situation. It may have something with what Jesus said in Mathew 6: 27-33

27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the
field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in
all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that
you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.

There are things in this world you can not control. I'm grateful for those things because they make me depend on Christ more. If I could control everything what need would I have for a Savior? I'm not saying that I never worry, but I worry much less than those with no hope.

So we had our meeting at 10:30, and we were told that 15 people got 60 day termination notices and that the rest of us will be phased out over the next 18 months. I suspect that I have around a year left. Lots of time to still have a job, but also lots of time to rely on Christ and to truly discern what he wants for me. I can't wait to see what opportunities He has for me. Yes, I have a mortgage and a car payment, and credit cards and I have to eat (I could actually do this less), but overall I must trust in Romans 8:28

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.

I just need to understand and trust in His purpose. So I am employed for now, and grateful for it. But I may not be employed tomorrow. I need to prepare for this, but not worry. I need to make the necessary decisions to make sure I meet my responsibilities, but I need not fret. It will work out to His purpose for my life. Amen amen.

Sabbatical (A return to blogging)

So it is obvious that my posting has slowed considerably, and then when I did post they were either video clips or little things. I know that this is a horrible thing for bloggers. I must admit that I have been a bit overwhelmed with life the last several months. Some of you may be thinking that a single man with no kids should not be so overwhelmed with life. I disagree from the observations of my own life. I over commit. I work a full time Monday thru Friday job, on top

of that I was spending on average 4 nights a week participating in something at church. I also began kickboxing at the beginning of October. My home life consisted of me leaving my home in the morning and then stopping in to change clothes or grab this or that. My condo became for of a convenience store stop for me that my home. I was getting burned out.

 

This became apparent to me around early November. I began to speak to some people whose counsel I trusted about these feelings. Through that counsel and my own thoughts I decided to take a sabbatical from everything. I would take a break from youth work, choir, etc.. I can't tell you the last time I read a good book on theology or even my Bible consistently. I think that I can be held up as the poster child for doing ministry work, without personal growth. So beginning in January I am free. I still attend Sunday morning worship and sing on the worship team when needed, but that is a one morning a week commitment. The rest of the time I am focusing on some things that I have let slip. I am taking two classes this semester to accelerate finishing this degree hanging over my head. I am also looking to dramatically increase my working out and health goals.

 

I have also decided that I want to write more. I have long had a dream of being a writer of some sort. This means that I need to actually write something. Part of my dearth of blogging is because I want to put well thought out posts up, not just quick quips here and there. You will see more of that going forward. I know that most of this post is driving you English scholars crazy, but I think that writing well is like building a muscle. We'll see if I improve.

 

So there you have it. I'm going to be blogging more, and here is a list of things that I plan on talking about in the months ahead.

 

1. I want to decide how I feel about infant baptism. It has long been a topic of conversation between me and a couple of my more theologically interested friends. Some are for it, and some are not. I have always said I don't have to make up my mind since I have no kids, but......I just need to explore this issue and decide.

 

2. Issues of the modern church and how we "do" church. There is a lot of discussion going on about the emerging vs. emergent vs. traditional churches. I've posted some videos in the past with very little comment, but I want to actually discuss some of these ideas.

 

3. My goals with my weight loss. My successes and my failures. I have a friend who feels that journaling some of this stuff was vital to her journey. She blogs about it and suggested I try the same. It will be personal and I will need to become more public about some of this, but I think that it can be worth it in the long run. I really feel that there are certain things in my life that I either can't deal with or God is waiting to give me until I deal with this issue. More late...

 

4. Interesting stories and other odd posts that I think I may have a good angle on.

 

So I hope I can recapture your readership if I have let you done over the last 6 months, and if your new to my blog, then say hi.

 

RAV

From My Friend Aaron

Had to share this one.

The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had just gotten married -- for the fourth time. The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband's occupation. 'He's a funeral director,' she answered. 'Interesting,' the newsman thought.

He then asked her if she wouldn't mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living. She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years. After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, explaining that she'd first married a banker when she was in her early 20's, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40's, later on a preacher when in her 60's, and now in her 80's, a funeral director.

The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers. She smiled and explained, 'I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.'

Christmas Music

Here is a video that was forwarded to me by Tracy Wallace (our choir director). Its funny because there are several people that I am reminded of throughout the song. Check it out.






Here a little non Christmas music just to show how good these guys are.

Where The Rubber Meets the Road

Here is a great video that Pastor Dan made recently. Love it.

I Just Couldn't Resist

When presented with this opportunity I just couldn't resist.

Support for a Friend

I have a friend named Debra Gordon. She recently moved to Nashville to be involved with the music community down there. Those of you on facebook have seen the below video, but I thought I would show it to those of you who aren't. Hollar back and let me know what you think. I'm sure she would appreciate your support.



Deb's Description of the video:
"The first song I co-wrote with Steve Oliver when I got to Nashville, TN. This song is about getting over the loss of a loved one (more)"