A Husband, Father, Youth Pastor, Geek, and Jesus Freak
Hey folks, I don’t think I’ve come out and said where I’m youth pastor at before. It is First Assembly of God in Front Royal, VA. This is in Warren County right beside the Warren Memorial hospital. I’ve been working hard on the church Web site the past year or so and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Give it a peek.
First, I want to say that this is an attempt at humor, quite possibly a squalid attempt. It is not social commentary not even remotely an attack on any church or person. I am familiar with churches and person's following God's will through a wide variety of means. Second, this is not a new concept. It is a conversation I've been having since college, but a random comment a couple of minutes ago brought it to my mind and I realized I've never blogged on this. I'm hoping the age of this makes it retro chic, not just hopelessly out of date. Church 1.0 aka Church Classic Over 2000 years of … [Read more...]
Earlier this week I received an email from Andrew Powers. I have to admit I think I might have been insulted just a bit, but only my pride. It reads in part Nick, I don't know if you've ever considered having a guest poster for your blog, but I have a request -- would you be willing to have me as a guest poster? Please? I would post this on my own blog, but I reserve my blog for more serious thoughts that I have about living for Christ, and hesitate to post satire. Apparently my blog is much better suited to ... less serious thoughts? All kidding aside, once I decided I wasn't insulted … [Read more...]
There is something that I want to figure out how to get going. I believe the church is a single entity that is supposed to work together; rather I believe that is what the ideal church is, but not what the existing church is. Most churches I've been in have pretty distinct divisions. First there is the division of the "church" from the "Church." That is, the entity that meets within a given building is separate from the entities that meet at other buildings in a community. This is not how I believe the Church is intended to exist, and it is a fairly recent phenomenon in church history that is … [Read more...]
So I was going to write about this shirt that I love for the blog carnival on "Church" today but I was making a comment at Stuff Christians Like and I realized something about Sex and the Church. We tend to think that inviting people to church is the solution, and what's worse we end up spending most of our time inviting people from other churches to our church so our church will grow. Think about it. It is much easier to invite a Christian to your church than a non-Christian. It is also easier to invite a non-Christian than to lead them to Christ yourself. This is the way the church … [Read more...]
I am afraid that I might be suffering from Post Traumatic Church Experience Syndrome, PTCES, as well as a great many people I know. PTCES sufferers might notice the following symptoms:Irritability, especially Sunday or Monday morning.Fear of new friends, old friends, strangers, answering the phone …OvereatingUnder eatingDepressionAngerBitternessBackslidingPTCES can be caused by many different circumstances but once set in it is not easily remedied. Years of counseling may yield little to no results and "going it own your own" rarely ever works.Fortunately a new breakthrough in spiritual care … [Read more...]
