Meet Trouble (A.K.A. Slippy)

Meet the newest addition to my office! This is Trouble (a.k.a. slippy). My friend, Diana, and her daughter, Hannah, brought him by yesterday. Hannah celebrated her 5th birthday over the weekend and brought me a fish from her party.

Diana named him Trouble because while in the pet store purchasing him she bought Hannah a Guinea Pig before asking her husband. Therefore she thought she might get in trouble with her husband.

David has renamed him Slippy, because of the mess I made on my desk trying to pour him into the fish bowl. It will be interesting to see how long he survives.

Chartering Into Unknown Waters

As the time draws closer to David's graduation day, the more I resemble the picture to the left(wanting to put my head in the sand and pretend that it's all a dream). Seriously, we are chartering into unknown waters with trying to get scholarship papers turned in, financial aid forms filled out, and college applications mailed. David did hear back from one school of his choice (Full Sail Real World Education) on Monday by e-mail telling him he has been "conditionally accepted". Which means pending graduation, finanicial ability to attend and paperwork completed by the deadline he will be accepted.

This has been a learning process for the both of us. We have finished applying for Federal Student Aid, which by the way is quite interesting.

Though excited to see where God is going to lead him in this next phase of his life, I am struggling with the reality of him going out on his own in 6 months without me daily by his side to guide him. However, I confident that David will do fine without me by his side and that God will provide the courage, comfort and peace as I ship him off to college. I am constantly reminding myself "to be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let my requests be made known to God."

Madeline Grace Brooks

Congratulations to Jonathan, Lori, and Hannah Brooks on the birth of their daughter and sister, Madeline Grace. Madeline was born today at 5:30 p.m.
She weighed 9 lbs 2 oz. and was 20 inches long. Both Madeline and mom are doing great.

Jonathan will try to post pictures tomorrow on Lori's blog. I can't wait to see this precious little one.

Alex and Brett Harris are co-authors of the Rebelution blog. They are using this blog to give teenagers a biblical worldview. Recently they did a Modesty Survey and released the results on Valentine's Day. Just today I viewed the results. Having two teenagers, I realize what a struggle this is for them. The results are very interesting and I have to admit I am much more aware after reading the results. I loved the open questions in the survey and the one response I wish to pass all to all young girls especially my daughter is this one:

There is one that is more in love with you than any man can ever be. You are incredibly valuable to Him, and you never need question His commitment to Him. He thinks you're beautiful in the morning without your makeup, and He'll think you're just as beautiful when you're 80. He is Christ. In you should treat Him with the loyalty and respect of a Husband. There is no need to attract a man to you - Christ will lead the right man to you. And when someone that loves you as much as Christ arranges a marriage, you may rest assured it will be far better than anything you could have done. You are His - be content there.

My Best Friend

Today is my best friend's birthday! He has brought so much joy and laughter into my life. Sometimes I wonder why certain people are placed in our lives. I know it is God's providence that people are placed in our lives and I am thankful that on this day I can celebrate his birth. But most of all I celebrate because he is a part of my life and is such a good friend.

Happy Birthday Tom! Praying that you have many more!

New Link

On Wednesday night the youth are studying the Voddie Baucham Bible Study "The Everlasting Truth". This study addresses the cost of being a twenty-first century Christian in a world that believes there is no absolute truth. Voddie answers questions such as: "Why do you believe the Bible?" and "How do you know the resurrection is true?" The aim is to teach the audience how to study the Bible, how to study the world, and how to give a defense for the basic doctrines of the faith." (1 Peter 3:15).

As Pastor Brian and I were talking about last night's study, he asked if I had read Baucham's blog. Which until just this morning I didn't know about nor had I read it. Now that I have, I recommend for others. Therefore, I have added a link to his blog for others to use to navigate to easily. I pray that through Voddie's thoughts we are encouraged, edified and spurred on to search for the truths that are revealed in God's Word.

My First Love

Being that today is Valentine's Day I wanted to take the opportunity to say I pray that my first love will always be Jesus Christ.

I am so unworthy to be loved by Him, yet He loved me.

Spuring One Another On

If you are interested in hearing a sermon on how believers are to "spur one another on in love and good works" listen as our former youth pastor preaches from Hebrews 10:19-27 at Christ Baptist Church in Wilson, North Carolina.

Mardi Gras

On Saturday night the Lion's Club hosted the annual Heart Ball to raise money for the Dan McCarthy Scholarship. This year's theme was Mardi Gras. The John Boy Auditorium was beautifully decorated by several members of the Lion Club to resemble the French Quarter. Bubba & I enjoyed getting dressed up for the night of dancing and being among some of our friends. Once again the Jukebox Band was awesome and we hated to see the night end.

A silent auction is held to raise monies for the scholarship that will be awarded to a high school senior that is vision or hearing impaired. Last year I did not bid on any of the silent auction items. However, this year the Ipod Shuffle caught my eye. After passing by it a couple of times I finally gave in and made a bid on it. I was expecting someone to out bid me, but I am now the owner of an Ipod Shuffle.

I waiting for a friend of mine to make a disc copy (I forgot to take my camera) of her pictures from the night so I can post some pictures.

Church Membership

Of late it God has burdened my heart regarding church membership. It is not unusual to find a difference in a church’s membership number and the number of those that are active within the church. Let me explain my view of active. . . An active member of a church is someone that is at each of the services the church has (given there will be times that you miss occasionally) and they are serving within the body of the church. With that said let me tell you some statics from the Southern Baptist Convention. Ready? The typical Southern Baptist Church has 233 members and 70 attending a Sunday morning service.

What does this mean? It’s obvious with that static in mind that church membership is no longer looked at as a responsibility or a testimony to unbelievers. Sadly, too many churches today have membership rolls where over half of those members have not attended regularly in years.

I spoke of membership being a responsibility. . . We are commanded in Scripture to be an active part of the body of Christ. Hebrews 10:25 says "we are not to forsake our own assembling together." Yet we have allowed it to happen. We have not sought after these names on our membership list that aren’t assembling with us. We have just brushed it off or under the rug. Then we wonder why the body isn’t functioning the way God intended. 1 Corinthians 12:14 tells us that the body is not one member but many. Verses following describes how the body functions, how God placed each member in the body as He has desired. To me that says every member of the body (the church) has a place within it. Yet how can the body function properly if each member isn’t present? As a member of a church we have a responsibility.

Church Membership is also a testimony to unbelievers. When we as a congregation welcome a new member into our body we are testifying of their salvation. Yet, how can we testify of someone’s salvation if they have not been a part of that body. How can we attest that they are faithfully running race Christ has set before them? How are we as the active part of the body caring for, suffering with, rejoicing with that part of the body that is not present?

I don’t pretend to have the answers about how to make people take church membership seriously, however I do pray that church membership would come to mean something more than it currently does. I pray that we would have a biblical understanding of church membership and practice it in our churches across the land.

New Links

Please note that I have added new links to the sidebar. Those links are:

Brian's Blog - Our Pastor's Blog
BibleGateway - tool for reading and researching scripture online

Congratulation Brian & Katherine

I am thrilled to announce that Brian and Katherine are expecting! Brian made the announcement this morning as he was dismissing us. Congratulations! We are very excited and can't wait to meet this new member of their family. We rejoice with you in this blessing, and we will be praying for you as God prepares your growing family over the next nine months.

Groundhog Treat

I had forgotten that today was Groundhog Day until returning from lunch to find three Groundhog cupcakes on my desk. Our preschool teacher's daughter, Hannah, had left them for Pastor Brian, David and myself. They were so adorable and tasted great. Thank you Hannah for such a cute treat.

Youth Afterglow

Last night we hosted a Youth Afterglow at our home following the evening worship service. Pastor Brian, Katherine and Nathan came over along with two of the youth from our church. We had little smokies, pizza rolls, chips and dip, a veggie tray with ranch dressing and drinks. After eating we all enjoyed a game of Balderdash before everyone went home.

Nathan loves our cats and had a good time loving on them. He has also fell in love with David and Angela. Here are some photos from the night.

Church Youth Groups and Entertainment

Why is it that most youth groups have bought the lie that, to be an effective youth group, you must put on a night of entertainment so that the local young people will come, have a truckload of fun, hear a short message from the Bible, and then maybe come back next week for more. For many people, the local youth group is nothing more than a place to hang around, have a fun time, come back next week, and start all over. That is, until you move on to better, more fulfilling entertainment.

Sadly this is what our teenagers want to find when they come to youth night at church (and it's what many of the adults view as the youth minister's job). What do you think of when you think about what a successful youth group looks like? Do you picture it's a crowd of sweaty, smiling young people running around the church hall, playing a rowdy, mindless game, and trying to have fun or is it place for discipling our youth, building strong Christians and then using what's built to reach out to the non-Christian.

There are times that we should have games, go on youth outings that are entertaining. However, the focus should not be on entertaining them in order to keep them coming. Our focus is to grow these young people in grace and knowledge. So that they can give a "defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you…" (1 Peter 3:15).

It is an unhelpful pattern to only provide entertainment because it teaches young people that church is either entertainment or boredom.

Show me in Scripture where we are commanded to entertain. I could be wrong but I don't think God intended us to merely entertain . We're to be a place of love, salt, and light. Our attraction lies in this, not in activities or entertainment. It's the changed life and the loving Christian community that must attract the outsider. We are to live "honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they may malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge." (1 Peter 2:12). Reflect on Acts 2:42-47. Here we see how the early church lived, which reflected Jesus and was deeply attractive. Note the end of the chapter, "And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."

And parents. . . it's not up to your pastor, youth pastor, or youth leaders to get your children interested in spiritual matters. That is your job. They are placed in your children's lives to assist and encourage. Speaking as a mother of two teenagers. . .I praise God that he has placed the desire in my heart to teach my children the things of God and I also praise God that since they have been old enough to be a part of a youth group our Senior Pastors (past and present) and our Youth Pastor desire has been to focus on discipleship and not entertainment.

Changes

I've made some changes to the blog today. There will be other changes coming once I figure out Html codes and stuff. One of things I would like to learn to do is find out how to add music to it, but so far no luck. I have added a sidebar item "Current Listening". If you click on the link it will take you to Amazon.com, just scroll down until you see "Listen to Samples", look for the name of the song and click on it. It should play a sample of the song at that point. Hope you like the changes and will come back to see what else I have up my sleeve.

Fearless Parenting

I came across this blog post yesterday and thought it was worth sharing. I could totally relate to what she had to say regarding parenting. In fact I think I may have written a post regarding Fearless Parenting, but she does a much better job.

Yesterday was the Brooks' last day in Clewiston (except when they come back to visit). Although we knew this time was coming and were delighted to see them follow God's call, at the same time we knew their last day would be hard. I have never been one to say goodbye and actually last night I still did not say goodbye. We said "see you later".

We (I even checked Angela out of school for lunch) had lunch with the Brooks family, Katherine and Nathan Hamrick. Pastor Brian could not be there due to a prior engagement that had him out of town. We chose to eat at the Clewiston Inn for their farewell staff dinner. Normally the Inn is quiet and peaceful. Yesterday that was not the case. There was a tour bus with tons of people there at lunch time. It was extremely noisy, but in spite of that we enjoyed being together and the meal.

David laughed that it has become custom around the church office to take our ministers to the Inn for lunch. When we bring them in for the initial interview the staff search committee usually has dinner with them at the Inn and as they move on to another minister and move away the staff takes them to dinner there. Guess the Inn could be nicknamed "Hello & Goodbye Inn".

Please continue to pray for Jonathan and Lori as the settle into their new home. Pray for Jonathan as he starts his new job (in the secular world) and his job at the church. Pray for Lori that she will get some rest before giving birth to their new daughter. Pray for Hannah that she will adjust to the new home, new friends, and new church family. We miss them already but rejoice that they are obedient to God and his call upon their life.

Congratulations Michelle on the Birth of your beautiful daughter Presley!

Born Monday, January 15 at 1:45 p.m.

6 lbs. 10 oz.

We can't wait to meet you and hold you.

Honoring an Elder

Last night, following our evening service we had dinner in honor of Jonathan & Lori. It doesn't seem like only 3 years ago we issuing a call to Jonathan to serve as our Youth Pastor. During the evening service, Pastor Brian had a special time of prayer for this family and many asked that God would bless their new ministry and them. It is a joy to hear brothers and sisters lifting one another up in prayer.

Pastor Brian asked Bob & Barbara Buker to say a few words regarding the Brooks' ministry here. I was determined not to cry, however, Barbara broke that determination when she teared as she was sharing her thanks to this beautiful family. Bob summed up the Brooks' ministry here when he read from 1 Timothy 3:1-7, 11.

Throughout their ministry we have become dear friends. I will miss working alongside of Jonathan each day and sitting under his teaching on Wednesday nights. I have been greatly blessed by Lori. Don't let anyone tell that a younger woman cannot teach a older woman. I have learned so much just from watching this godly woman. David and Angela have been mentored by them as well. Wilson, North Carolina is gaining a wonderful family and a family that lives their life to the glory of God.

As the days grow closer to them leaving the harder it is to not tear up thinking of it, yet at the same time I am anxious to see how God is going to use them in Wilson. Wednesday is their last day with us (until we visit or they visit us - this side of eternity). All tears and hugs are reserved for then.