Prayer

My last post was rather negative toward Baptists and public schools. Let me say that it is not the majority of Baptists who believe that way, but many in leadership do feel that way. That's what scares me. What also scares me is that most people in the pew do not know that is going on. Just on my own experience within churches, I would guess that 5-10% of the congregation is made up of public school leaders: whether they be teachers, coaches, janitors, principles, or administrators of some kind. I commend you and your willingness to be a Christian in the public schools.

I also did not want to leave for Africa on a negative post. I am asking for your prayers for the 100 people from Waco who are going over there. We will be visiting different orphanages and visiting those who are suffering from AIDS. Pray for us that God may open our hearts to the oppressed, and that we may join God at His work among them. I leave you now with a prayer by an unknown source that is dear to my heart:

"Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen."

Public Schools

This summer the SBC in San Antonio will vote on a resolution to start an "exodus" from the public schools in America. The sponsor of the resolution, Vodi Baucham, whom I like, reasons, "If the SBC and American Christianity are to survive in any culturally relevant way, we are going to have to repent of our unfaithfulness in the education of our children." Is he serious? The President of Southern Seminary, Al Mohler, has been on record as saying that Southern Baptists need an "exit strategy" to get out of public schools. The resolution itself says that our school system an "anti-Christian government school system." This makes me absolutely sick, but not surprised. Before I get into this very much, let me say that one of my best friends growing up, Philip Childree, was homeschooled. Also, two of my best friends in college, Ryan and Bode, were educated at Shiloh Christian School (go Saints) in Arkansas. I myself attended OBU, a private university. I have no problem if a parent wants to homeschool or perhaps if the public schools education is not up to par, sending their kids to private be it Christian or other. However, what kind of message does planning an exit strategy from the public schools send to our society? Yes, I agree that parents have a responsibility to help educate and disciple their kids. But this to me, says that we have all the answers, you have nothing to say to us, and we are just going to let you go to hell. Invoking the language of an exodus? What are our Christian kids enslaved to? Algebra 1? US History? And then the kicker for me, "remaining culturally relevant." How do we remain "culturally relevant" when we are not willing to engage culture? Are we worried that our perfect, Christian kids will be infected with sin? Oh wait, they already are. Are we worried that sinners might find Jesus with our kids effecting the school from the inside? Hmmm. There was another group who stayed away from sinners, Pharisees. What was their punishment? Oh yeah, the fires of hell.

Just Checking In

It has been a while since I have last posted. I have much to say about a lot of things, but not enough time. This week is finals week for me and I have a lot to do. In about a week and a half I am going to Kenya to work at an AIDS orphanage for two weeks. It promises to be a life changing experience for my team and I. Please pray for us as we travel and are over there doing ministry. I leave you now with a prayer by an unknown author:

Almighty and ever-living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen
Peace be with you all.

Prayer

Please be in prayer for some family friends of mine. I played high school basketball with two brothers, the Bailey twins. They were involved in an unfortunate situation last week, with Jonathan going to be with the Lord. Also, be in prayer for all those involved with the altercation, as things are about to get nasty. God, grant us the strength to forgive when we can't, and the ability to accept your grace when we don't have it. Thank you.

The Bible in a Bar

I saw this article the other day and thought that it was a cool idea. It's interesting that this is a Southern Baptist Church in Missouri. It is a great example of bringing the gospel into the world rather than the world coming to us. It's not for everybody, but read it and let me know what you all think.

Bible and Beer

I need to be Studying . . .

I really should be studying right now, but I have not updated in a while, so I thought I would. There are a lot of things that have happened in my life since my last blog. The best change of course is Lindsey. There have been a lot of things that I have wanted to blog about, but I have not taken the time to do so. For instance, I got to go to Rob Bell's church, Mars Hill, for a pastor's conference. It was incredible. I will get back to blogging, I promise. However, just for a teaser, I will leave you with an article to think about. Christians are just so smart . . .
Jerry Falwell

Rick Warren and AIDS

This post is about two weeks too late, but I thought I would write it anyway. A couple of weeks ago Rick Warren held an AIDS summit at his church in California. He invited a wide variety of guest speakers including U2 leadsinger Bono (that's for you Dr. Kelly). His most "controversial" speaker was Senator Barak Obama. Senator Obama is a Democrat who is pro-choice. He also believes in helping out the AIDS crisis. Many right-wing conservatives blasted Pastor Warren for inviting Sen. Obama to the summit. In a letter signed by 18 conservative religious leaders, including many Southern Baptists, Warren was condemned for having Obama. The letter said, "If Senator Obama cannot defend the most helpless citizens in our country, he has nothing to say about the AIDS crisis." You can read more of the letter here ABP Article.

What a statement to make! What have conservative evangelicals done for the AIDS crisis besides blame it on homosexuals (mind you I'm a conservative evangelical)? Why should we have to agree on everything to work together? I'm reminded of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The people who were supposed to have compassion upon the robbed and beaten man did not. The Samaritan man, who was hated by the Jews in Jesus day, was the one who had compassion. It is time to put aside demonizing each other, and start working together to help solve some of the world's issues such as poverty and AIDS. I like what Pastor Warren said at his conference, "Today you have heard Compassionate Conservatism and Compassionate Liberalism. The thing they had in common was compassion." Well put Pastor Warren.

This Week in God on Left Behind video game

Christians and video games? Check this out!

Sermons

If some of you out there have some time, you can listen to a few of my recent sermons here:

NEBC SERMON

Enjoy (hopefully)!

Competitive

Let me start off by saying that I am a competitive person. I hate to lose. The other day I was playing basketball in Waco as I often do on Fridays. This particular week was not a good one for me on the court. My shot wasn't falling, and worse my teams kept losing. But I, being the competitive person that I am, did not leave until I won a game. It took over two hours, but finally a team I played on won a game. It's a sick thing, this addiction to winning. Often my mood on Saturdays is determined by the outcome of the OU football game. Our society has placed winning on a pedestal. For instance, look at our national basketball team. They have finished third in the world the past two years at the Olympics, and then this year at the World Championships. Yet we blast them for not winning. As a nation we take great pride in never losing a war (although in the War of 1812 the White House was burned down). This air of competition has swept in the church in America as well. I remember growing up comparing our church to other churches around the area. I found myself comparing our youth groups to other's youth groups (even though most of the time I had never even visited the other churches). We have become competitive in our numbers, as we have allowed them to determine success. (To refute my own argument, I believe in the church and the life-changing message that the church brings through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, so I want as many people there to experience that life change). Church, however, is not about competition. Look at the story of the rich man and Lazarus. What was the rich man's problem? It seems to me that the Rich Man thought he was better than Lazarus. Basically he was a winner, and Lazarus, a loser. The rich man was too good to even give Lazarus crumbs. Even in death the rich man thought he was better than Lazarus! Notice he asks Lazarus to serve him by dipping his finger in water to cool the rich man's tongue. Then he asks Lazarus to go tell his family! How arrogant is this guy? How arrogant are we? The rich man thought he had things figured out. He was a winner, he had success. But he neglected his fellow man, and considered the needy man outside his house a loser. And where did his competition land him? In the same Gospel of Luke, Jesus is shown as getting baptized in a line with everybody else, rich and poor. Jesus did not regard others as winners and losers. Lord, help us to do the same.

Thank you to all who have prayed for my family the past two weeks or so. My Grandmother went to be with the Lord last Wednesday morning. Her funeral service was well done by her pastor. She would have been pleased. Thank you once again.


On a different note, congradulations Jon Bodenstein on his engagement. You're crazy man!

Yesterday as I was watching tv I saw something that really impacted my life. I was flipping through and turned it onto MTV. I know, I know, MTV and life impacting? Pimp my Ride didn't speak to me, nor Sweet 16. MTV was showing a "Diary of the Clinton Foundation." It chronicled Bill Clinton's and another man's experience in Rwanda, trying to raise awareness for the genocide going on in the Darfur region. It was meant mainly for the awefulness of genocide, and it showed how people's lives were affected. But what struck me was the extreme, extreme poverty that these people lived in. For instance, in one hospital there were only 60 beds with over 1000 people that needed hospital treatment. At the same hospital there was no running water, so they could not wash there hands after surgery, or even clean the building. It broke my heart. Often as Christians we seem to only care about saving people from hell, but we need to wake up to the fact that there are people living in hell on earth right now (I recomend going to Rob Bell's website and listening to his sermon on hell). As Christians I believe our job is to bring the Kingdom of God to people who have no hope right now! The MTV show called for political action from the UN. Well, that's good and all, but I do not believe that the UN will do anything. I believe that the solution is Christians working together in an ecumenical movement to bring the Kingdom where it has not been reached. The Kingdom of God is more than just fire insurance, and more than just a relief agency. Rick Warren is attempting to do this, and I applaud him, and hopefully will get to join the cause.

On a personal note, please pray for my Dad as he travels to Oklahoma, and my Grandma as she faces heart surgery tomorrow.

Seperation of Church and state? Check out this article on BP and tell me what you think:

BP Article

This past week was a pretty life-impacting week for me. I was reminded of feelings that I had for one of my friends a couple years ago, as I found out that one of my fellow Truett student's dad had died. Please pray for Lloyd and his family.

We also had a great chapel service this past week that really spoke to my heart. Our speaker, Dr. Sharyn Dowd (yes a woman for all you who care about such things) spoke about loving God with our minds. When asked the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted the Deut. 6 passage which talks about loving God with your whole person. Jesus even adds mind to the Deut. passage. Though I realize that the heart, being, and strength is in reference to the whole person, I think that Jesus did add the mind for a reason. God gave us a mind, and He expects us to use it. This does not mean however that we become so intellectual that we neglect our service and devotion to Christ. However it does mean when confronted with new ideas that we allow ourselves to open up and explore the idea. It's not like God hasn't heard it before, so I really don't think he minds if you allow strange, perhaps even unorthodox thoughts to enter your mind.

The Emergent church's language is full of building community. I like that. I like being apart of a community, and feeling welcomed by a group. I also feel that my church does a good job of that in Beaumont. My concern is however that through this language of building a community is that we have lost an individualistic spirit. Now some of you out there would say, "Ray church is a community." Yes, but the community ought to be made up of individuals who have different characteristics and opinions. I do believe that in the essentials, we ought to be unified. However, with non-essentials I think there is beauty within diversity. Because even though we may disagree over a particular issue, say speaking in tongues, we serve the same God, and it is beautiful when people worship together and get along in community despite individual opinions. In Baptist life we have lost this. Historically, Baptist churches have been autonomous, and supposedly they still are. Now it seems that if you do not agree with me on a specific issues, there is no way we can even be in the same room without tension, much less worship together. However, we were all created in God's image. God also created us different from everybody else. God created us to be diverse, and to have different outlooks on life. God created us to be individuals. That is why it is an individual's decision to come to Christ, and not a family's. Family has an important role, but ultimately it is up to the individual to make the decision to come to Christ. As Baptists, as Christians, we ought to welcome individualism, and realize that we are all in it together. That is community.

About a year ago, Joel Olsteen got blasted by many of my Baptist friends by saying that he didn't know if non-Christians in India who he saw "the hand of God" upon were automatically condemned to hell because they did not know Jesus. After getting blasted, he apologized and said he absolutely believes that Jesus is the way to salvation, as do I. However, sometimes I wonder, and last night I was confronted with it, is there a difference between someone who has been saved and someone who is a Christian? For instance, for someone to be a Christian I believe there are certain dogmas one must hold, such as the ressurection. My question is, can someone who does not believe perhaps in the bodily ressurection of Jesus be saved? Albert Schweitzer is one example that comes to mind. Here is a man who has poor Christology I believe. But he gave his life to the teachings of Jesus, and judging by his life, it seems that he loved Jesus. I know I am treading on dangerous territory, almost heretical it seems. But my point is that God is a gracious and merciful God. Our job is to be Christians, and to spread that salvation is through Jesus. God's job is to save people, and for us to condemn somebody to hell, well, I think we tread on God's territory. What do you all think?

Moving

I have decided I hate moving. I'm excited for the change, but I hate moving. Setting up takes time, effort, and money that I don't have. Also, as of right now, I don't know that many people, and none of my neighbors have been out to talk to. Change is hard, but good at the same time. Today I was putting things on my wall and for some reason began to think about Abram. Abram was a successful man before God called him. His friends and family were there, and I'm sure it was a comfortable life. But God called him to move out of the country he had grown up in into a land which God would show him. Abram didn't even know where he was going to go! At least I know that for the next few years. Although Abram made some mistakes, he followed God and God took care of him. I can only hope for the same thing for myself.

If you ever want to start a huge argument among Christians bust out the whole Calvinism vs. Armenianism debate. The thing I do not like about the debate is that both sides read the Bible through a system, and do not read the Bible for what it says. We always want to put systems or creeds in order to understand scripture, and I'm fine with that. However, many times the creed or system becomes the only way for a person to read the Bible. If you do not read a certain scripture a certain way, then you get lumped into a different group, an enemy if you will. For instance, if you do not read the Bible through a Calvinist's system, then you must be an Armenian, or vis versa. I just have a hard time believing it to be true. The fact is that there is evidence for both Calvinism and Armenianism in the Bible. As Dr. Mullins said "It's both." Maybe we should stop limiting God to a certain system, and start realizing that God is bigger than any system that humans can come up with.

When I started this blog, I was determined that I would not write anything out of anger. But only a month into the blog, I am going to break that. Today I read an article about a ruling of US District Judge Robert Pratt. He ruled a Christian program called the InnerChange Freedom Initiative in Iowa unconstitutional because it violates church and state. If he would have left it at that, it would not have been a big deal. This program, which has been very successful, is an evangelical effort to help prisoners rehabilitate and gets money from the Faith-based initiatives. What Judge Pratt did that greatly overstepped his bounds was define evangelicalism in a twelve page opinion. He found that Evangelical Christianity to be "anti-sacrimental which downplays baptism, holy communion, marriage and ordination." Evangelicals are also "comtemptuous of Roman Catholic practices." I'm all for seperation of church and state. Whenever the church gets into bed with the government, the church gets raped. However, what this man did was as a judge define Evangelicalism as a narrow, mean-spirited minority. He also took a step toward a court defining what is and what is not legitiment theology. Seperation of church and state was really created to protect the church from government. Why then in this ruling, supposedly upholding church and state, did a government appointed judge define evangelicalism? That is over the boundary that the government is supposed to abide by because it could then be applied to any church-related program that does good in society. I hope this decision gets thrown out in appeals court.

If you know me well, then you know that one of my heroes is Martin Luther King Jr. I am facinated by the civil rights movement under his leadership. He took the teachings of Christ and helped change the fortunes of African Americans living in the south. He did it by loving his enemy even when his enemy jailed and beat on him and his followers. Growing up hearing about Dr. King, I always placed him on this huge pedastal, like God was speaking directly to him and he was just carrying out the plan. In reading about him though, Dr. King was human. He made mistakes and at times got depressed. Before he died, and the riots of '68 were happening, he fell into a great depression. The voting rights act and the civil rights acts had been signed, and he really did not know where to go from there. Within the African American community, he had been losing influence to the Black Power movement. But then, according to Jesse Jackson, he would preach himself out of depression. He realized something. He realized that he could not do things on his own. He said in one of his last speeches "And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured." What he said was that we all have struggles, we all have sins, and what we do affects the world around us. But together we must press on together to overcome our struggles.