Baseball is Back

Minnesota Twins home opener tomorrow. Stephanie and I are bringing the two older kids. Can’t wait. It should be a lot of fun!

Have You used Hotwire?

Stephanie and I are planning a trip to the DC area in may for The Whiteboard Sessions conference being put on by my friend Ben Arment. Can’t wait for the time away and meeting some new friends out there!

Right now we’re trying to line-up hotels and flights out there. Man this stuff is expensive. Stephanie wants to book now, I think if we wait long enough the rates on Hotwire.com will keep coming down. What is your experience with this? Now or later?

*If you have an frequent flyer miles you want to transfer let us know! We’d be happy to work out some compensation. 🙂

Minnesotan Priase

From the singing lips of my kids this morning….

“Pharaoh, Pharaoh, oh baby let my people go, uff-dah…yah sure ya betch ya!”

They are disturbingly Minnesotan.

Amazed People Still Go to Church

Justin Buzzard keeps posting great quotes. Here is another,

Martyn Llyod Jones reporting after his six months away from preaching due to illness, in which he simply attended church services:

“My general impression is that most of our services are terribly depressing! I am amazed people still go to church; most who go are female and over the age of forty. The note missing is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’…There is no life, no power! We of all people ought to have it. Joy and power are intimately related. One without the other is spurious.”

Speaking Opportunities

God is good. He knows I’m a preacher without a pulpit and lately he’s bringing some really cool opportunities my way.

Tonight I was able to share with a group of seminary students.

Tomorrow I’ll be speaking to a group of students in Minneapolis.

Sunday I’ll be partnering with my beautiful wife to teach some kids at Sunday School.

Then, there is also something pretty cool brewing up for late April.

Anytime I get a chance to speak and use my teaching gifts I get pumped! Thank you Jesus for your graciousness in my life.

Pray for Your Pastor

Shared these stats last night with the Bethel Seminary students. I’ve posted them here before but it is worth the reminder to post again. Pray for your pastor.

At the 2006 Reform and Resurge Conference in Seattle, Pastor Darrin Patrick from The Journey in Saint Louis (www.journeyon.net) spoke frankly of the burden that pastoral ministry is. He presented the following statistics, which he gathered from such organizations as Barna (www.barna.org), Maranatha Life (www.maranathalife.com) and Focus on the Family (www.family.org). (HT: The Resurgence)

Pastors

• Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
• Fifty percent of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce.
• Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
• Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
• Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
• Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
• Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
• Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.

Pastors’ Wives

• Eighty percent of pastors’ spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
• Eighty percent of pastors’ spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
• The majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

Kern Dinner and Tips to Avoid Moral Failures

Had a great dinner tonight at Bethel Seminary with Stephanie and a group of students. Six years ago I was the recipient of a gracious scholarship from the Kern Foundation which covered all my seminary tuition for three years. This evening I was invited back, along with other alumni, for a time to eat and reconnect with other Kern Scholars. Besides seeing old friends, I was given the opportunity to co-keynote the event and share where God has lead me since graduating seminary.

While it was difficult to publicly share about the trials Stephanie and I have faced, it was very rewarding to be given the chance to possibly help save others from the pain we’ve gone through. The goal of my talk was to give the Kern Scholars a list of things they can do to protect themselves from sin and the failures that too many pastors end up committing. I hope to adapt the talk into an article in the near future. I’ll post it all when it is written. Until then, here is a summary of the tips….

1. Believe you are broken

Romans 7:18 – For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

2. Trust in the value of marital transparency

Genesis 2:25 – And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

3. Understand the process is painful

John 12:24 – Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

4. Consider Christian counseling

Proverbs 19:20 – Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.

5. Share your struggles with someone

James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

6. Build your boundaries

Proverbs 16:17 – The highway of the upright turns aside from evil; whoever guards his way preserves his life.

7. Stay away from dangerous situations

1 Timothy 6:11 – But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

8. Cling to Christ

Psalm 63:8 – My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Happy Easter 2008!

Doing Relationships God’s Way pt. 2

In part 1 of this article I suggested 4 things a person can do to avoid the suffering and disappointment so many single people experience while dating. Those four things were:

1. Get Right with God
2. Focus on Friendship First
3. Be Satisfied with Singleness
4. Go in a Group

Now in part 2 I would like to offer an additional 5 tips for doing relationships God’s way.

Read more…

A Gentle Rebuke in Love

Psalm 141: 5 Let a righteous [woman] strike me—it is a kindness; let [her] rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.

Proverbs 13:1 A wise [husband] hears his [wife’s] instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

This past week Stephanie has been teaching everyday and I’ve been home with the kids. Last night Stephanie let me know it was obvious the kids were getting way too much screen time (TV, computer) and she asked me to cut it back in the future. It was a gentle rebuke and a proper one.

Thanks babe.