Between The Hedges

FL!P

2009-07-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the pictures of our first year at Orange Beach. A great time was had by all and most left with a fresh desire to live out their faith. Not much more to ask for in a camp!

The JOYS of youth ministry in the summertime!

2009-06-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

SO this is what i do all the time now. I sit and look at teenagers as they come and hang out in my office waiting on their potential boyfriends or girlfriends to call them so they can then leave and go hang out. I am basically a matchmaking service. I'm really good at it apparently because to my credit i already have two matches. I dont get anything else done but hey four lives have been changed. so there you have! that is what i do. and they pay me for it! be jealous!

Be afraid....be very very afraid......

2009-02-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

TIGER IS BACK!

I love Andy Griffith!

2009-01-29T11:47:00.001-08:00

After a weekend of hanging out with High school students in Pigeon Forge, TN I needed some Andy Griffith on Wednesday. I went home for lunch and Kristi had everything ready when I got there. So right after I ate I laid out on the couch to watch some tv and Andy G. came on. Now what is so great about this show is that it was recorded in a much simpler time. It was recorded in such a simple and slow time that I didn't even make it to the first commercial before I was asleep. Thirty minutes later Kristi woke me up telling me I needed to go back to work. I can not explain how nice it was to have lunch at home, watch two minutes of Andy and sleep for thirty minutes after the weekend I just had. Thanks Andy!

God is Big

2009-01-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

Gen 1:1 tells us "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This past week in greenhouse we took a look at four stars.

The four stars we looked at are huge. When compared to the size of the earth they are enormous. Yet even though these stars are enormous, the God of the Bible spoke them into creation.

I can't even begin to understand how that happened. God is so big, so powerful, that when he spoke things happened, things where formed. The God of the Bible really is indescribable.

Isn't it so funny that we all find ourselves from time to time giving God advice. We take our plans our dreams to him and tell him what is best for our lives.

Like the God who planned the entire universe can't figure out what is best for us.

Sin does the terrible job of shrinking our ideas of God and puffing ourselves up. Sin trades the truth that God is sovereign with the lie that we would be better off if we were in control.

So the next time you are able to look up and see the stars. Remember how great and awesome the God of the Bible is and try not to give him suggestions for your life. I think he has it all covered.

I Finally Walked....

2009-01-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well if you haven't heard by now then you must live in a sound proof cave because I have screamed it from the roof tops.... (well not really...but if I could get on a roof top I would).

I finally graduated from Southern Seminary. I know, I hear many of you shouting back now "please shut up about this."

Going to seminary is something I have known God was leading me to since I was eighteen years old. When God called me into the ministry I knew that with that call was also a call to get an education. And I knew that going to seminary was God's will and not my own desire because I did not even want to go to college much less extend my education three or four more years.

So needless to say, walking across that stage on Dec 12 ended a ten year process in my life. A process that had many ups and downs. A process that taught me much more than what you can learn in a book.

You see it was a process of following God's will for me. Graduating was much more than getting a piece of paper. It was about the conclusion of a direction that God led me to...a conclusion that is filled with peace and contentment.

God's will is not always easy, it is not always quick. However, God promises to provide us with his strength in order to complete that which he leads us to.

Sooooo it was with great peace (and a little sadness) that I graduated. I am eager to see where the next ten years will take me....peace out SBTS

I've been elfed

2008-12-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

Well there isn't much more to say.....Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The truth hurts....

2008-11-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I learned the hard truth that I am both ugly and a loser. Let me explain. While playing a game called "signs," with several youth and youth leaders, it was suggested that my sign be the international sign for loser. That sign as we all know is your pointer finger and thumb in the shape of a L held up to your forhead. Nice. Later I found out I was ugly when one of our leaders wrote "I'm ugly" on my face as a type of warpaint before we played paintball. Real nice. Now I know what your thinking...."they were just teasing." However, the Bible says out of the mouth speaks the heart. So there you have it..... the truth hurts...... I am an ugly loser. Oh well at least we had fun

"Your knees swole up?"

2008-10-18T19:26:00.001-07:00

I recently watched a master evangelist use the title of this blog to begin a conversation with a man he had never met. Seriously.

He rolled down his window, looked at the older gentleman, and asked him, "Are your knees swole up?" The old man looked back and replied, "Well... yes they are actually."

He then went on to get the man's name and tell him he would be praying for him. The response the man gave convinced me that if the master evangelist would have had more time, and was not driving me and several other people back to our families that we had been away from for three days, that he could have eventually shared the gospel with the older gentleman.

As funny as the conversation was to me and as hard as I was trying not to laugh out loud, the evangelist had connected with the man.

What a great lesson.

You don't have to through F.A.I.T.H, Evangelism Explosion, Romans Road, or any other evangelism method to turn a conversation to a point where you can have an inroad to the gospel.

Be yourself. Use the gifts and personality God has given you to relate to those around you. Be constantly aware of those around you and how you can show that you are genuinely interested in them and their lives.

Just know that if I am around and you begin a conversation with a complete stranger by asking, "Are your knees swole up?" I am going to have a hard time not laughing.

But that's just me.

What a week and a phone call!

2008-09-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well, my first week at BCBC has come and gone. I still feel like it is last Tuesday. That is how fast the week went by. Man was it fun!! The only thing that really stunk was the fact that Kristi and Emery could not stay and be here with me, boo.

I hope this blog is helpful and well, if I'm honest...kept up! There is so much planning and other stuff that I have to get out of the way before I can begin the real fun stuff.

Some of the post on this blog will be light and hopefully humorous, while others will make you think. There is a reason that Christians must begin thinking. That reason is because you never know when you will need to respond to other world views. It is time the world sees intelligent Christians that can offer a reason for the hope that they have.

On Saturday I answered the phone at my parents house and on the other end was a person representing a particular presidential candidate. Naturally, He wanted me to vote for his candidate.

I replied that I could not because of several issues, the main issue being that his candidate was not willing to stand up for the rights of unborn children. He then went on to inform me that his candidate was in fact against abortion himself. He told me that his candidate believed that life began at conception, but that women should have the right to choose.

It is at this point that all Believers should stand up and respond. I replied that he was essentially saying that his candidate believes that abortion is murder, (if life begins at conception) and that it is okay for women to choose to murder their unborn children.

He said, and I quote, "you make a good point."

Well, he still wasn't convinced and our conversation went on for a good ten more minutes as he tried to "use" Scripture to support several other views. Finally, he concluded "I think it best we pray for our country." We finally agreed.

Well this story is good enough in itself but today Dr. Mohler posted an article on his web page containing this candidates vp running mate making the same argument. What is even better is Dr. Mohler is making some of same arguments that I tried to make to the guy on the phone.

I wish I had read Dr. Mohler's post before the call because he obviously argues the point much better than I ever could. So here in this last week both the presidential candidate and the vp candidate both made this same unlogical argument.

This kind of thinking and unwillingness to stand up for their own beliefs makes me very uneasy about voting for them.

You can go to Dr. Mohler's blog to read a very solid defense and model for intelligent conversation.