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On the Origins of Trick or Treating:

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…some claim that marking All Hallows’ Eve may have originated as just such an occasion to “trick” Satan, the most prideful of all creatures, by giving him what is most offensive to his arrogance: mockery. As Luther would say, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn.”

David Mathis, from the article Trick or Treat? It’s Martin Luther

I’ve read this before. That dressing up scary-like was an attempt to make fun of the devil and his demons. I’m guessing American capitalist added the candy bit. See below:


Filed under: News & Info, Quotes

“If we really wanted to be seeker-sensitive, we’d forget the coffee and put in a bacon bar” ~Checking in on the Church Curmudgeon

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A curmudgeon is basically a grumpy old man. But the spirit of a curmudgeon can come out of any of us whatever our age or gender. The attitude is not very helpful in church and is actually spoken against in scripture (Philippians 2:14). The Church Curmudgeon is actually on Twitter and if you’re there you should follow him for a good laugh and for a good look at how generations are colliding in 21st century church life. Here’s a few of my favorite recent Tweets by the Curmudgeon. Have you heard or said any of these? See my first check-in here.

  • Here’s a shout out to the worship leader: Turn down the stupid guitar and learn a HYMN!
  • I note that the pastor planned his stewardship series -after- pastor’s appreciation month.
  • I say we turn the clock back again this week. And every week ’til we hit, say, 1952.
  • If we really wanted to be seeker-sensitive, we’d forget the coffee and put in a bacon bar.
  • Liquor is an abomination. Homemade cold remedies, however, are Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
  • The coffee today was like the deacon’s board. Weak and bitter.
  • So glad we’re not worldly in our church. In the world, the comedian comes out before the band.
  • Seniors’ Online Safety Seminar today – Keeping Your Finances Secure. Hosted by Mbewe Ahore of Nigerian Central Bank.
  • As I recall, the French were “seeker-friendly” in 1940.
  • Your prayer labyrinth looks exactly like my circuit through the Costco food samples.
  • When a great innovator dies, it leaves a hole in the cosmos that never quite heals. Still miss you, Col. Sanders.
  • If I had known there was going to be an internet, I wouldn’t have bought all those encyclopedias back in ’52.
  • I accidentally loaded my Monday pills in the Sunday box. No wonder the sermon didn’t make sense.
  • Putting the bulletin announcement in 8-pt font -a sneaky way to keep the seniors out of the business meeting. We shall repay.
  • I keep forgetting which kind of progress I’m supposed to impede on Wednesdays.
He takes a hilarious shot at new church names:

Filed under: Quotes

Article 7

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“Apathy is passionless living. It is sitting in front of the television night after night and living your life from one moment of entertainment to the next. It is the inability to be shocked into action by the steady-state lostness and suffering of the world. It is the emptiness that comes from thinking of godliness as the avoidance of doing bad things instead of the aggressive pursuit of doing good things.”

John Piper, in his latest book Bloodlines


Filed under: Books worth reading, Quotes

Good tip for us parents: You Can’t Bad-Attitude Someone into a Good Attitude

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When is that last time someone confronted you in anger and your immediate response was something like, “Oh thank you, I am so motivated now to do better and try harder.” Correction packaged in a bad attitude is not motivating, stimulating, or helpful.

If it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, we would do well to encourage repentance in others the same way.

from Rick Holland


Filed under: Marriage & Family, Quotes Tagged: Discipline, Parenting

Real Men in Church

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You cannot defeat men like this. Tell them to keep quiet, and they disobey you. Throw them into prison, and they convert the jailer. Whip them, and they rejoice to be allowed to suffer for Christ. Stone them within an inch of their lives in one city, and they carry on with just the same message in the next. Kill them, and others arise to take their place. Endurance like that simply has to win in the long run. But we do not see enough of it in our western church. There is plenty of obstinacy, to be sure, but usually about the wrong things: church property, ministers who aren’t liked, or style of services.

Michael Green on the endurance of the early church in his great book called 30 Years that Changed the World.


Filed under: Books worth reading, Quotes

May Wrap Up

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Top Post and Favs for May ’12:

  1. Sweet Baby Kate – Welcoming a new baby girl to our family was the tops & fav for our family of course. Here’s an announcement Vid.
  2. “Isn’t that in a bad part of town?” – Why the phrase “the bad part of town” needs to be removed from our vocab.
  3. Current Church Planting Bibliography - Updated my tops list in Church planting Lit.
  4. This Momentary Marriage – Moving video by Desiring God about commitment in marriage
  5. How to Plant a Church Without Losing Your Marriage – Great list from Brian Bloye’s book It’s Personal.

From my Twitter Favs:

  1. Dave Ramsey ‏@DaveRamsey If you will live like no one else…Later you can live like no one else. Definition of maturity: ability to delay pleasure
  2. Rick Howerton ‏@rickhowerton There’s no such thing as a lazy leader. #oxyMORON
  3. Rick Warren ‏@RickWarren The fewer things we want, the wealthier we are.
  4. CMAResources.org ‏@CMAResources Don’t defend the way you do church with scripture. Define the way you do church with scripture. – @brandonhatmaker
  5. Ed Stetzer ‏@edstetzer The community surrounding a church should benefit from the its presence. — http://bit.ly/KagY9i
  6. Floyd McClung ‏@FloydMcClung  To activate faith of potential disciples Jesus always asked a step of faith from them. Little obediences sow DNA for big obediences.
  7. Bryan Loritts ‏@bcloritts  Cohabitation (shackin up) is on the rise largely b/c our boys aren’t becoming men. Boys play house, men make homes.

Articles I Tagged:


Filed under: News & Info, Other Blogs, Quotes, Reflecting

Faith or Feelings?

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by Martin Luther

Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God—
Naught else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose word cannot be broken.
I’ll trust in God’s unchanging word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
His word shall stand forever!

Heard this earlier this week & it stuck with me. What’s the basis of your belief & your life? Faith or Feelings?


Filed under: Discipleship, Quotes

“All disciples of Jesus are called to be a sent people”

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Reflections on our recent Basic Training for #ChurchPlanters:

Wrapped up another Basic Training for Church Planters this weekend at ABC Camp in Eunice. We had about 20 church planting teams, preparing to plant new churches and campus’ across Louisiana. And we actually did this training simultaneously in English and Spanish. Find the Basic Training materials online here. Here are a few highlights:

  • Church Planting is all about relationships.
  • There is only one kingdom and it belongs to God. And God’s kingdom is extended to the ends of the earth through His church.
  • All disciples of Jesus are called to be sent people.
  • You can’t plant a church in your head, you have to plant it in the community.
  • We don’t plant churches just for the community, we plant them for the whole world.
  • Every congregation is a world missions strategy center.
  • Contextualization is answering the communities questions about God and the gospel IN their terms. NOT ON their terms.
  • Discipleship = Applying the inner meaning of the Gospel to persons at the point of their need.
  • Multiplication principles: You reap what you sow. You reap later than you sow. You reap more than you sow.
  • Don’t just start services, start making disciples.
  • Discipling is a process of learning to obey Jesus.
  • Disciples are shaped by serving, not just sitting and singing.
  • Don’t use people to get ministry done. Use ministry to get people done.
  • Small Groups are the seedbed to develop new leaders.
  • In church history, a significant amount of missionary activity and advance was carried out by unrecognized teams of church planters. i.e – the Moravians
  • The Moravians saw witnessing as the common concern from all members of the faith community and sent small groups of ordinary believers to plant churches and testify for Christ in new areas.
  • “Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing – its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs, or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumeristic, and not radically obedient…” Neil Cole


Filed under: Church Planting, Quotes

God Is With Us

Good Friday Quotes:

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“We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to the United Way, or serve in a soup kitchen on good-friday1Thanksgiving, or perform a hundred forms of penance and self-injury, and the result will be the same: the stain remains…The only answer in these modern times, as in all other times, is the blood of Christ.” – JOHN PIPER

“The concept of substitution lies at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.” – JOHN STOTT

“The symbol of the religion of Jesus is the cross, not the scales.” - JOHN STOTT

“When Satan attacks you, command him in the Name of Jesus to bend his neck. On the back of it you’ll find there’s a nail scarred foot print!” – E. STANLEY JONES

“Gethsemane is where He died; the cross is only the evidence.” - LEONARD RAVENHILL

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.” – ELVINA HALL

“Apart from the cross, condemnation is normal. Without Jesus, we all deserve to be condemned and punished for sin. But here’s the good news: ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1).” – C.J. MAHANEY

“Most Christians are being crucified on a cross between two thieves: Yesterday’s regret and tomorrow’s worries.” – WARREN WIERSBE

“The debt was so great, that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it.” – ANSELM

“Mt. Sinai says, ‘You must do.” Mt. Calvary says, ‘Because you couldn’t, Jesus did.’ Don’t run to the wrong mountain for your hiding place” – Tullian Tchividjan

“…He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.” – Colossians 2:13-15 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)


Filed under: Gospel, Quotes Tagged: Cross, Devotion, Quotes

“Don’t just invite people to a meeting, invite them into your life”– Small Group Training Notes from @RickHowerton

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Great day of learning yesterday with Rick Howerton. Rick was gracious to give a day to leaders in the Greater New Orleans area. On the Northshore, we foundRickHowerton that only about 4% of the population attends an evangelical Bible Study of any kind. Small Group leaders are needed to shepherd people to maturity in Christ.

Here’s a few big takeaways from his talks.

  • A small group is four to twelve people doing the Christian life deeply together, REALLY. It’s more than just a class. They are more than just friends. They are fellow disciples.
  • Churches can choose to run programs or grow people. Small groups is the best way to grow people.
  • The goal of church is not to get people to stick, but to make disciples that make disciples.
  • The goal of small groups is to make disciples that makes disciples. Not just to help people become good friends, but to move them to maturity in Christ.
  • Don’t just invite people to a meeting, invite them into your life.
  • On expectations and commitment: If you continually lower the bar, it will accomplish nothing in someones life.
  • On Multiplying Groups: Start each group with the vision and expectation that it will multiply. Have an apprentice leader from the beginning that is there to multiply the group. The group that doesn’t multiply in 24 months, never will.
  • When groups don’t want to multiply: Teach them that the mission of God is more important than the desires of individuals. Ask, “What if the first group of 12 would have chosen to just stay together?”
  • On reproducing leaders: People don’t do what they’ve been told to do, they do what they see someone they trust doing.
  • On keys to small group leadership: Stay connected with God, Confess all known sin, Be filled with the Holy Spirit on a Daily Basis, Prioritize your daily devotional life, Depend on God more than techniques.
  • The best person to cast vision for small groups is the Sr. Pastor. The Sr. Pastor should be leading or attending a group.

Looking forward to learning more from Rick in the future. He blogs daily HERE. Great daily dose of solid Small Group thinking. Also, his latest book is A Different Kind of Tribe, published through NavPress.


Filed under: Northshore Baptist Associations, Quotes Tagged: navpress, Notes, RickHowerton, smallgroups

Quotable: Lottie Moon

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Lottie Moon served as a Missionary to China in the late 1800’s. The Southern Baptist Convention missions offering that was named after her has raised over $2.8 billion since it began. She could have been easily forgotten, because after a long & difficult missionary career, she died on a ship near Japan, without the money to even get herself back home to the states. But she lives on as an example of courage & gospel fervency. Here’s a few great quotes:

  • “I do not believe that any trouble comes upon us unless it is needed, and it seems to me that we ought to be just as thankful for sorrow as for joys.”
  • “The harvest is very great, the laborers, oh! so few. Why does the Southern Baptist church lag behind in this great work? …a young man should ask himself not if it is his duty to go to the heathen, but if he may dare stay at home. The command is so plain: ‘Go.'”
  • “The needs of these people press upon my soul, and I cannot be silent. It is grievous to think of these human souls going down to death without even one opportunity of hearing the name of Jesus.”
  • “It fills one with sorrow to see these people so earnest in their worship of false gods… Then to remember the wealth hoarded in Christian coffers! … Should we not press it home upon our consciences that the sole object of our conversion was not the salvation of our own souls, but that we might become co-workers with our Lord and Master in conversion of the world?
  • “I have a firm conviction that I am immortal ’til my work is done.”

Found written in the fly leaf of her Bible after her death:

  • “O, that I could consecrate myself, soul and body, to his service forever; O, that I could give myself up to him, so as never more to attempt to be my own or to have any will or affection improper for those conformed to him.”

For more info on the life of Lottie Moon, pick up Danny Akin’s short book 10 Who Changed the World.


Filed under: Missions, Quotes Tagged: Lottie Moon, Missions, Quotes

“The size of a church does not determine its health, but…”

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Small churches don’t get a lot of airtime, even though they are the rule & not the exception across the globe (90% of churches have less than 100 adults in attendance on any given weekend), so I enjoyed Outreach Magazine‘s annual trek into Small Church America in their July/August 2014 issue. Check out a few of my big takeaways that may surprise or encourage you. And make you think.

  • “The size of a church does not determine its health, but a church’s health can determine its size.” – Ed Stetzer, Lifeway Research, EdStetzer.com.
  • “A small church measures success by how faithful they have been with what God has given them.” Dave Jacobs, SmallChurchPastor.com.
  • “The average church attracts fewer than 90 adults on a typical weekend. 60% of protestant churches have 100 or adults on a typical weekend. Just 2% of churches attract more than 1,000 adults on a typical weekend.” – Barna
  • “We need to be content with who we are, but never content with staying where we are.” Karl Vaters in the Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking that Divides Us (New Small Church, 2012).
  • “Bloom where you’re planted. Instead of trying to be what you are not, know what you do well and do it well.” – Jim Thomas, SmallChurch.com.
  • “What drives us? Spotlight and recognition? Influence over 1,000’s? Power that comes with a title? Or would we be content with a downward movement of faithful servanthood, even if it meant obscurity?” – JR Briggs in Fail: Finding Hope & Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure, IVP, 2014.
  • “Churches of 200 or less are four times more likely to plant a daughter church than churches of 1,000 or more. The smaller the size of the church the more fertile they are in planting churches.” – Lifeway
  • “The number of evangelicals has not boomed. We have just become more centralized in fewer, larger churches that produce better Sunday performances.” – John S. Dickerson in The Great Evangelical Recession, Baker Books, 2013.
  • “Since the Day of Pentecost, innovative small churches have been the way the majority of Christians have done church.” – Karl Vater, NewSmallChurch.com.
  • “local engagement – the engagement with our local neighborhoods, villages, towns is harder and harder the bigger and bigger you get.” – David Fitch
  • “The growth rate of churches decreased with increasing size…” – Christian Schwartz in Natural Church Development.

Biggest takeaway –  “No matter the size, age or denomination of our churches, there’s one question we should all be asking… Where do we grow from here?” Bobby Gruenwald.

I personally believe that small church or big church should not be our motive or goal or badge of honor. God’s glory & the soul’s of men should be the goal. Be encouraged where you are & work hard for God’s glory & the souls of men.


Filed under: Ministry, Quotes Tagged: Quotes, small church

Gathering Strategy: “Draw them with love” #churchplanting #spurgeon

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“Compassion magnetizes a man… A big heart is one of the main essentials to great usefulness… You may collect people for a time by some extraneous means, but unless they perceive that you love them, and that your heart goes out with desires for their good, they will soon weary of you.”

From a sermon by Charles Spurgeon entitled “Compassion On The Ignorant.” Check out the entire clip HERE


Filed under: Church Planting, Quotes Tagged: Church Planting, GATHERING, SPURGEON

Worth Reading: Missional Essentials

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MissionalEssentialsThis past summer I worked through a 12 lesson study by Brad Brisco & Lance Ford called Missional Essentials. This is a great primer for discovering life on mission right where you are and understanding basic missiology. It would be great for small groups, discipleship groups, or personal use. Deals with issues like the nature of God & the church, consumerism & mission, rest & time management, biblical hospitality, & more. Check it out here:

A few of my favorite quotes:

  • in the church, we have focused almost exclusively on the idea of sending rather than being sent. We think primarily of sending and supporting missionaries in faraway places rather than seeing ourselves, both individually and collectively as being sent.
  • We should be sending people in the church out among people of the world rather than attempting to attract people of the world in among the people of the church.
  • We in the church often wrongly assume that the primary activity of God is in the church, rather than recognizing that God’s primary activity is in the world, and the church is God’s instrument sent into the world to participate in his redemptive mission.
  • Instead of thinking of the church as an entity that simply sends missionaries, we should instead view the church as the missionary.
  • God has sent you on assignment as a participant in his mission to the world. Your locale is no accident.
  • Hospitality involves living life in a way that places a higher value on relationships and community than on consumption and productivity.
  • Our families and our homes should be places where people experience a foretaste of heaven.
  • LIGHT: Listen to the Holy Spirit, Invite others to share a meal, Give a Blessing, Hear from the Gospels, Take Inventory of the day.

Filed under: Books worth reading, Discipleship, Quotes Tagged: Books, Missional

Not Life PLUS Mission, Life ON Mission

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the secret to increasingly living our lives together on God’s mission is to move away from seeing discipleship as something that needs to be tacked onto an already busy schedule, toward seeing all of the normal stuff of life as full of opportunity for discipleship and growth in the gospel.

This is not a call to life plus mission; rather, it is a call to life on mission.

If life on mission, a life of discipleship, is too hard, or seems impossible with your schedule… Choose a different rhythm.

Ceasar Kalinowski, in Small is Big Slow is Fast: Living and Leading Your Family and Community on God’s Mission

Loving this book!


Filed under: Books worth reading, Discipleship, Quotes Tagged: Books, on mission

“It’s not what you do today, but what you do everyday that makes a difference” #newyears

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Heard this a few years ago & it stuck with me. We are shaped & changed by those things we do over & over again. Thinking today about what I want to do everyday in 2015.

  • Kiss my wife.
  • Make my kids laugh.
  • Read the Bible. (Read along with me here).
  • Journal.
  • Read. (One chapter per day as a goal. Should read 20 books per year).
  • Exercise. (long shot)
  • What if I shared the Gospel everyday?
  • What if I encouraged someone, everyday?
  • What if I gave of myself generously, everyday?

What are those things worth doing everyday? Today’s a great day to get started.


Filed under: Devotional, Quotes Tagged: Devo

Small is Big. Slow is Fast. And #Multiplication Always Wins.

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In the book Small is Big Slow is Fast: Living and Leading Your Family and Community on God’s Mission, Ceasar Kalinowski paints a picture of the kingdom of God that makes you believe anybody can be a part of expanding it. That’s the belief we need to go viral in the church today if we’re going to see a movement of evangelism & discipleship in North America, so I want to highly recommend this book to you. The book challenges popular notions that have slowed multiplication including church has to be made up of big crowds & buildings to be real, discipleship should be scheduled in the midst of the busyness of everyday life, & only a few highly trained people should develop the skills to lead churches. Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:

  • A disciple is someone who has reoriented his or her life around another to become, in essence, who that person is.
  • We don’t live on mission because we are supposed to. It is our birthright. We get to do this.
  • We will never lead another group of friends or anyone else father and deeper into discipleship and mission than our own family.
  • If we are not careful, we can end up being the nicest, friendliest people in the neighborhood but fail to lead anyone one step closer to walking in the ways of Jesus.
  • multiplication doesn’t just happen accidentally. Everything we do must be intentionally simple, scalable, and reproducible.
  • the secret to increasingly living our lives together on God’s mission is to move away from seeing discipleship as something that needs to be tacked onto an already busy schedule, toward seeing all the normal stuff of life as full of opportunity for discipleship and growth in the gospel.
  • This is not a call to life plus mission, rather, it is a call to life on mission.
  • When looking to develop leaders, we initially have to identify who wants to lead. We do this by looking at who is ready first to be a follower.
  • Some days are packed with very obvious kingdom activity, while others feel like nothing special… until you look back.
  • Not everything happens as quickly as or in the way we want it to. People drop off the radar and out of community. This is messy stuff! On this journey, you must trust that God is filling your lives with opportunities for discipleship and kingdom expansion every day. Some you will notice; others you may not.
  • Do we need to have larger gatherings… No. But you get to.
  • Our identity is found in Christ, not the frequency of size of our gatherings.
  • The mission of the church is discipleship, not creating church services.

The book also includes a very helpful chapter outlining what life on mission may look like in the typical week & a great appendix outlining the first 3 years or so of steps to launching a missional community movement, as well as a great list of tools & resources for multiplication of groups. Great resource for anyone looking to simply multiply & bear fruit for God’s kingdom.


Filed under: Books worth reading, Quotes Tagged: Books, multiplication, Quotes

Glorious Contradictions #devo #Tozer

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“God has revealed so many glorious contradictions in the lives and conduct of genuine Christian believers…”

  • The Christian is dead and yet he lives forever. 
  • The Christian saves his own life by losing it, and he is in danger of losing it by trying to save it. 
  • the Christian is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strongest.
  • The Christian is in least danger when he is fearful and trusting God and in the most danger when he feels the most self-confident.
  • The Christian actually has the most when he is giving away the most

Lord, help me be a glorious contradiction to this world. 

http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=235 

 


Filed under: Devotional, Quotes Tagged: AW Tozer, Devo

No Limits

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“You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits”

– Michael Phelps


Filed under: Quotes
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