Posted on

Top Posts For April 2013

The craziness has escalated for us. If you haven’t yet heard, we are moving back to Missouri in mid-May. I have accepted the call to be the lead minister at the Cabool Christian Church, in Cabool, Missouri.

Needless to say, our days are increasingly filled with packing and wrapping up the details of our ministry here in Florida.

April 2013 Word Picture from Wordle.net

That means that the next few weeks will be a little sporadic for my writing schedule. We still have a long way to go to be ready to load the trucks in less than three weeks, and then the move, and then the unloading and unpacking.

Like I said, craziness.

In case you missed them, here are my top seven posts for the month of April:

  1. When God Shifts Your Focus
  2. The Difference Between Purpose, Vision, and Mission
  3. Why You Need To Develop A Philosophy Of Ministry
  4. Trying A New Bible Reading System
  5. My Current Philosophy Of Ministry
  6. 7 Steps To Defining A Purpose And Vision For Youth Ministry
  7. Floating The Upper Jack’s Fork River

I was very surprised to see that this list is exactly the same as last month, with the exception of the post about our coming change in ministry. My series dealing with developing a vision for youth ministry continues to attract readers, and I’m considering updating it to reflect more than just youth ministry.

April kept us pretty busy. Producing a podcast twice a month for DeliberateDads, our trip to Missouri and the interview there, and finalizing things here has managed to fill our time pretty effectively. The next several weeks will be just as full, including the birthday on one of my kids. We are looking forward to what God has in store for us in the coming days.

My favorite post written in April was a book review of Bodie Hodge’s book, Tower Of Babel. This was an extremely fascinating book, detailing the history of man’s spread over the face of the earth after Noah’s flood. Of course, the post with the most view was When God Shifts Your Focus, announcing our new ministry and upcoming move. While May will probably have fewer posts, at least until we get settled in Cabool, it promises to be just as productive!

Have a great month!

If you are a blogger, leave a comment with your top post for the month. If you don’t blog, leave a comment with a favorite post or blog that you read this month.

Posted on

Book Review – The Genesis Factor by Ron J. Bigalke, Editor

The Genesis FactorGenesis is the target of significant controversy concerning several matters, especially in the realm of earth’s history and our origins. Much of the mainstream scientific community rejects the contents of Genesis outright as myth, or worse. However, there are many scientists who accept history as laid out in the book of Genesis.

In response to many of the arguments and compromises concerning our beginnings, Ron Bigalke, Jr. has compiled several discussions from many brilliant leaders in the church who accept Genesis at face value in The Genesis Factor, from Master Books.

Many of these essays are mere summarizations each author’s work in that particular area, but each chapter digs deep enough to give the reader a significant understanding of the topic. Covering many different subjects, from evidences of a young earth in the geologic column to the oceans to the atmosphere and beyond, and a deeper look at many different facets of Noah’s flood, The Genesis Factor is a great starting point for understanding the massive amount of detailed evidence available that shores up the foundations of God’s Word, beginning in Genesis.

Many often ask why such topics matter. Isn’t it enough to believe in a Creator, regardless of how he created? The answer is that it does matter, tremendously. If we allow compromise or even outright reject God’s Word as he revealed it concerning our origins, what else might we reject or compromise that we dislike? Rejecting the literal truth of Genesis starts us down a slippery slope that will eventually lead us to a point of no return. We must accept Genesis as literal history. One of the final chapters gives multiple reasons why this is so crucial.

While a lot of these essays were deep and weighty, reading like the technical scientific information that they are, this book is full of incredible resources that can help you defend your faith, and the historicity of Genesis.

I fully recommend that you add this to your library today!

Do you have any major questions about creation and Noah’s flood? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

If you are interested in reading The Genesis Factor: Myths and Realities, edited by Ron J. Bigalke, Jr., you can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle, or directly from Master Books.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from New Leaf Press/Master Books as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

Posted on

Coffee Break – 04.29.2013

Coffee Break

America’s Best Coffee Shops – The Daily Meal just released their list of America’s top coffee shops. With more than 30 making the list, this seems like a great bucket list to add to my bucket list.

10 Very Costly Typos – This is an entertaining list of misprints that ended up costing someone a lot. I often hear stories about someone finding an incredible deal on eBay because something is spelled wrong. But I’ve never had it happen to me…

Real Beauty – Dove has long been laboring at building confidence and self-esteem among women. Their latest effort at “creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety” is another smash hit for their work. It has gone viral on YouTube and Facebook. Pretty incredible.

My Favorite Picture – Sometimes you read an article that hits you where you live. This article did that to me. I’ve never compared my marriage to a work of art, but now I can see so many ways that this idea fits. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

Intended Allegory In The Song Of Songs? – There are two main camps when viewing the meaning of the Song of Solomon. One side views it as intended for a husband and wife. The other side sees it as an allegory of God’s love for his Bride. I can see both points of view, and in fact, think it may actually be both. But this article takes a good look at the depth of allegory in this short book in the Old Testament.

Two Sets Of Wants – There is a simple dichotomy in being a parent. We want our kids to stay kids forever. But we also want them to grow up and step out on their own. This Parent Life takes a look at these different wants, and then turns to what God wants.

A belief is something you will argue about. A conviction is something you will die for. – Howard Hendricks

Posted on

Memorize Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:13-15

Paul wraps up his instructions to Timothy in this week’s passage, completing his thoughts on the role of women in worship. This also concludes chapter two, and Paul’s letter turns to leadership roles next.

This week’s passage contains an interesting twist. You can find it in 1 Timothy 2:13-15:

1 Timothy 2:13-15

There are a couple of critical issues addressed here. Let’s deal first with the subtle, and then the more obvious.

Paul continues his instructions concerning women with an appeal to the authority of Scripture. He goes back and refers to Adam and Eve and the original sin, from the early chapters of Genesis. This is important, because it reveals that Paul accepted the early parts of Genesis as totally authoritative, just as Jesus did when speaking about marriage in Matthew 19:4-6.

In our society today, we have almost totally relegated the early portions of Genesis, if not the entire book, to the status of mythology. There is a fundamental problem with that though. Jesus, Paul, and many other early church leaders, and the Church Fathers for the next few centuries, accepted Genesis as literal and historical. But we’ve allowed “science” to replace God in the 21st century. As a result, we’re rejected the authority of several significant portions of Scripture. And if parts of God’s Word are to be questioned, then how can we know that the rest is valid? We can’t. To reject the authority of a part of the Bible is to reject the whole thing.

Posted on

Movie Review – Mother India from Word Films

Mother India DVDMy family and I watched Mother India, a documentary from Word Entertainment.

This is a documentary that strikes your soul and helps you see parts of the world in a new light.

Mother India examines the plight of orphaned children in the nation of India. There are over 31 million orphans in India, which will soon become the world’s largest nation.

31 million children have either lost their parents or run away because of abuse and torture. Their circumstances are certainly heartbreaking. With drug use, abuse from the police and others, these children have almost no place to turn. And they have no hope.

Watch the trailer:

When three Americans journey to India to discover more about these orphans, they discover a group, much like a family, of twenty-five abandoned kids living near the train station, and just outside of their hotel.

Joining them on the streets, these film makers follow their lives, experiencing their hardships with them, and being welcomed by them.

Posted on

When God Shifts Your Focus

Twenty-three years ago, I started volunteering in a small youth ministry near Ozark Christian College. A couple of years later, I was hired as a weekend youth minister at Park Street Christian Church, my first “official” youth ministry. And from there, I continued to grow in my ministry effectiveness and skills as a youth minister.

Cabool Christian Church

If you had asked me at any point throughout most of my time in youth ministry, I would have told you that youth ministry was all I could ever see myself doing. And for a very long time it was.

However, as I have aged, God has changed my focus gradually. For some time, I’ve been thinking and feeling that my effectiveness as a minister to teens was coming to an end. My passions have been changing from planning events and lessons to writing sermons and articles. My relationships have shifted from hanging out with teens to parents and beyond. God has been shifting my focus into new areas of ministry.

Recently, one of the students from my first youth ministry contacted me, asking me if I knew of anyone interested in a position with the church where he was serving as worship minister in Cabool, Missouri. Since it was a preaching position, I didn’t think twice about it. After all, I’m a student minister, and have been for more than two decades. But after much prayer, and a few more conversations with that former student, my wife and I decided that this might be where God was calling us to go. So, we should check out the possibilities.