News and Views from the Pastor of Drennon Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Henry County, KY

Friday, October 26, 2012

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman

The song we'll sing at Drennon on Sunday, October 28, 2012.  Come worship with us at 11:00 am!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Carry Me To The Cross, by Kutless

A beautiful song by the young group Kutless.  What an image, how God carries us...

Saturday, September 1, 2012

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, by Casting Crowns

Beautiful slideshow set to Casting Crowns' version of the old hymn, which we'll sing tomorrow at Drennon.  Great images of daddies with their kids.Very moving to think of our Heavenly Daddy loving us like this, lifting us up on His shoulders, hugging us, making us laugh--us making HIM laugh.  Wow!  God bless all children!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Tree63 - Blessed Be the Name

We'll sing this song this Sunday at Drennon.  It's always been one of my favorite praise and worship songs, especially after I heard it explained at the Londen Institute for Evangelism.  A musician classmate of mine pointed out that in both the good times and the bad--blessed is His name.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Aaron Shust - My Savior, My God

Here's the song we'll try to sing Sunday at Drennon.  Pray for us!

The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard

After participating in the Man Challenge Bible study/men's group this past spring at Southeast Christian Church Oldham Campus, I jumped at the opportunity to join the summer Bible study that would go through Dallas Willard's book The Divine Conspiracy.  Kurt Sauder and Chris Brown sort of co-led the study, based on which of them was available that particular week.  Both did an outstanding job with the study, and you could sense the passion each of them had for the material as well as its subject matter.

Willard used this book to expound upon Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, and articulate how God wants us to live while here on earth.  Willard states that we spend too much time focusing on just saving someone to assure them of heaven, while not focusing on what needs to happen after that with a person during his or her remaining days, whether its just days or several decades.

Willard's writing is dense and very interllectual, but not totally unapproachable.  I would compare it favorably to some of the reading I did as a student with The Londen Institute for Evangelism--difficult but vital.  The Divine Conspiracy was so worthy a read, and I hope to read something else of his some day, especially because I understand that this one was really just one section of a trilogy.

I have written previously about how Southeast Oldham has impacted me, my Christian walk and my ministry at Drennon.  This study, which I took my son JR with me as a sort of "auditor", was the best thing I've experienced there yet.

Weird, by Craig Groeschel

I read Groeschel's other book It a few months ago and really loved it because it spoke to me so much about what we as a church might need to do to capture that indescribable essence that exudes the Holy Spirit. This book, Weird, deals more with a person's one-to-one Christian walk and how it relates to everything we do individually. Again, Groeschel is a very entertaining, personal writer, but this time I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous book.  Nothing to knock this book at all, because I still really enjoyed it, but it didn't bowl me over in the same way that It did.

I'd still recommend Weird and hope to read The Christian Athiest and Soul Detox eventually, but this one didn't strike me quite as forcefully.  I'm sure it's where we are as we read each individual book.  I truly admire Groeschel and his work, though, as I have tried to tell as many as I can about his church, LifeChurch.tv, and its efforts to make the Bible available free to any smartphone or tablet owner.

In Weird, he makes the point that living normally by the definition of the world isn't working any more, and isn't a goal that any of us as Christians should pursue.  Groeschel remains one of my favorite Christian writers, and I look forward to reading more of his work...

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson


What a great book, by a new author to me.  I kept downloading samples of Mark Batterson's books, unaware that they were all by the same guy.  (Duh.)  When I put two and two together I decided to read one, and I'm glad I began with his new one, just published this year.

I have always struggled so much with prayer, for dozens of reasons.  This book has immensely helped me, though, and has given me a lot of hope.  It has helped me with some current personal crises, and I pray that others read it and gain the same new understanding.

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC, one of the most innovative churches in the USA.  I just bought Pastor Batterson's first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, today at Half-Price Books, and can't wait to read it too.

Monday, June 25, 2012

A Simple Idea

A couple of months ago, one of our elders, MB Hardin, Jr., had the idea that a good summer activity for us would be to try to clean up and restore our cemetery a bit. It turns out that the Drennon cemetery is the only untended-to cemetery in Henry County, the only one without a custodian. We quickly got to work Saturday morning, though, and figured out that professionals weren't needed as much as just willing hearts. It felt like a simple little slice of the life in Christ: common-minded folks just gahering for a little needed work...

Friday, June 8, 2012

TobyMac - Lose My Soul

I'll be playing this during our fellowship time at Drennon this week.  This song will probably never get old for me...

Fishers of Men, Rhonda Vincent

We'll be singing this one Sunday at Drennon in celebration of our youth event by the same name...

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Constantine Codex, by Paul L. Maier

Number three in the trilogy that also contained A Skeleton in God's Closet and More Than a Skeleton. While this one wasn't as enthralling as the first two, in my opinion, I still truly enjoyed it. Of note was the interesting relationships between Christians and Muslims. This was a major part of the story, and I thought Dr. Mailer handled it in a thought-provoking way.

The story deals with the possible discovery of an older copy of the New Testament than has ever been found, and the possibilities of there being more material to consider for the Canon.

Again, this one wasn't as much a page turner as the first two, because there wasn't as much intrigue or crisis involved, but I'd still recommend any and all three of them to Christian or non-Christian readers. I hope there's a part four in the near future.

Sent from my iPhone

Friday, May 11, 2012

Unearthed Stained Glass

We've known there was one up in the church attic above the sanctuary, and here it is. It's so different from the others. Darrell and Pam Moore are going to clean it up, strengthen it, and help us figure out how to display it.

Our New Porch & Ramp

We've been working on a new porch and ramp for our fellowship building--what an incredible difference! We're hoping this will address some needs as well as beautify out church grounds. Come and see...

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Goober Says Hey

For almost three years we have enjoyed The Andy Griffith Bible Study at Drennon Christian Church.  I believe tonight will be our 85th lesson overall, with no momentum lost.  We've traveled to our commonwealth's capital the past two years to see The Andy Griffith Christmas Play, too, and became a chapter member of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers' Club (Drennon's Deputies chapter), so we love Mayberry.  Tonight, though, we'll meet with a heavy heart.  Goob's gone.

I remember the day Don Knotts died several years ago, and how TVLand showed his best episodes over and over, and we got quite misty-eyed (or at least I did).  I know that over the years we've lost Aunt Bee, Floyd, Otis, Ernest T., Briscoe Darling, Howard, Emmett, Clara, Helen and too many more, but this one really hurts.  Goober was a TV character for longer than any of these others combined, if you count Mayberry RFD and Hee Haw.  Nearly thirty years.

It's always a great consolation when you know the lost loved one was a Christian, though, and I learned that George Lindsay was when I read the forward to the original book that started The Andy Griffith Bible Study.  We've been to Mt. Airy about three times, and I just wish I had been able to run into ol' Goob before he finally went up to heaven to goose St. Peter.

RIP Goob.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Blind Pig and the Acorn

I always like to play good Christian music during our fellowship time at Drennon, and I really wanted to play some old-timey bluegrass this week because of Eric Bush sharing the message for our Stewardship Sunday service.  Searching for bluegrass hymns on YouTube, I came across this family group, Blind Pig and the Acorn.  Just one word:  Wow!  I love their sound.  I love how it makes me think of my family in Rosine, Kentucky, the home of Bill Monroe and Bluegrass Music.  These guys are amazing, and their music is truly haunting.  Bravo!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

We're Not Going to Kenya After All

It is with profound regret that I have to write that my family is not traveling to Kenya after all.  With my wife's recent health scares and surgeries, we have had to face many, many fears, from ourselves, our family, our church family and from all around us.  Harriet's health improves every day, but concerns remain for her immune system to stay in tiptop shape, especially faced with the prospect of traveling overseas to somewhere as far away as Kenya. 

I feel ill that this spring has unfolded as it has, because it's been an unpleasant April, but the graciousness and Christian love that Bishop Jacob Chris Barasa Lusweti showed me when we spoke on the phone a few minutes ago underscored that we serve a Great God, one who loves us and wants us to love serving Him.  We don't know what our next serving opportunity will be, but right now we're going to try to focus on our family life.  "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord..."

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Lark Rise to Candleford

After putting off trying this series out, even though my parents recommended it over and over again, we finally got the first disc of Lark Rise to Candleford on Netflix.  After watching now about fifteen episodes, Harriet and I have actually found a TV series we enjoy even more than our beloved Downton Abbey.

I grew up on The Waltons.  Harriet especially loved Little House on the Prairie.  This sort of TV show that did so well in the 1970s just doesn't really exist any more, except on TVLand and Hallmark. 

Nowadays you have to delve deep into rerun-land to find wholesome, but top-quality shows like these.  At Drennon we have The Andy Griffith Bible Study, and it fits our congregation to a T (and Harriet and me too).  My other favorite shows of all time include M*A*S*H, Northern Exposure, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Office, none of which really have the same high values as Andy Taylor, John Boy and Charles Ingalls exude in their beloved shows.  This one comes close.

The scenery of Lark Rise to Candleford is amazingly detailed and historically accurate (to my layman's eyes).  The characters are real--earthy, gritty, warts-n-all kind of folks.  The stories aren't all pretty, and there's occasionally sadness, but that's okay.  This show is a thing of beauty.  The picture I included above says it all:  patient Queenie and mad hatter Twister, as appealing a pair as you could every imagine.  I've fallen in love with finding out what happens next with Alfie, Pearl and Ruby, Thomas Brown, Dorcas, Robert and Emma--everyone.  The only sad part is knowing that, even though this show was a smash hit in Britain, it ended last year after four seasons.  Once we hit the fortieth episode, that'll be it.

Find this show on Netflix, on DVD or on YouTube.  It makes you feel good in an age when TV rarely does that.

Levi's Will, by W. Dale Cramer

My wife and I have always been fascinated by the lifestyles of our Christian brethren that live the older, simpler lifestyles than what we're accustomed to these days in 2012.  We visited Montgomery, Indiana, about three or four years ago to witness the Amish community there.  Seven years ago while I was on a mission trip in Belize, I traveled a couple times past a Mennonite settlement.  Finally, one of our favorite places on earth to visit is the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill near Harrodsburg, right here in Kentucky.  (And let's not forget South Union Shaker Village in western Kentucky.)

While the Shakers are mostly gone, except for a few in Maine, the Amish and Mennonites are going strong.  This particular book is written by a man whose family is Amish, although he left that life many decades ago.  The story of the novel pretty closely follows the experiences he's had through his life, and in fact its writing and publication affected his family so much that some of the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation from the story came true in the book's aftermath.

This book is beautiful, in my opinion.  Much like in reality, the folks of this story go through some frank, tough struggles, up to and including the ending.  Nothing's black or white as much as it's several shades of gray.  The main character goes through a several-decades-long process of learning about himself, his Amish roots, his immediate family and his place in God's Kingdom.  I was really struck at how realistic this novel was at showing how long it can truly take for someone to come to grips with his or her faith.

There's not much objectionable in this book, and I'd recommend it to anyone.  I'll probably have to read some more of Dale Cramer's works in the future.

Making Vision Stick, by Andy Stanley

This little book has done a great job in helping me understand how to launch our new vision for Drennon.  Over the course of about two months, I preached about the need for a clear, easy to understand vision for our church (for three weeks), then solicited ideas for inclusion in the vision from the parishioners.

All of the ideas came together to focus us one this one statement, written as a combination of everything:  welcoming others into a life in Christ with open, loving arms.  These next three weeks--the first after Easter--I will spend delving deeper into what this vision means and how we will live it.

I read another Andy Stanley book just a couple of months ago, as a gift from our good friend Chris Chmielewski of Northeast Christian Church in Louisville.  Andy's a terrific writer, easy to read and follow, and this thin volume has been a great supplement.  It basically comes down to our, as a church, identifying the problem we need to face, coming up with a solution and knowing why we need to do what we do.

The world needs Jesus.  We need to welcome others into a life in Him, with open, loving arms.  I hope and sincerely pray that we can embrace this vision and make sure everything we do as a church addresses it.

The Voynich Cypher, by Russell Blake


I love free Kindle books, but like any book you never know what you're going to get.  I enjoyed this one, but it probably was best as a freebie.  The two problems I had with this fun, exciting, action-packed book were pretty common in today's entertainment:  1. gratuitous sex, and 2. not enough meat to make the archaeology believable.

The sex part basically takes this from the realm of being able to be recommended by me.  I love to read escapist thrillers about Biblical artifacts, but like with most fluff novels, there always has to be a love interest.  Amazing how every time someone faces a crisis, they have to either have a torrid love affair or find their soulmate.  Sometimes yes that happens in real life, but not always.  Making the affair explicit and taking up plenty of pages describing it, though, takes away from it, to me.

The other part concerns the archaeology.  The Voynich Manuscript is a very real artifact from the Middle Ages, one of the most mysterious religious writings in history, still undecoded.  Learning about it was a lot of fun, but then the mystery kind of goes nowhere at the end.  How many novels have been written since The da Vinci Code that have tried to debunk Jesus' resurrection?  Far too many.  I remember reading Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy and loving the book but being disappointed in yet another group of scientists finding Jesus' bones.  Well, here we go again.

That would put this book into the classic "debunking Christianity" category, except for the twist that the bones in question are described as having human, but not quite human DNA.  Does that mean this author believes Jesus was someone special, someone unexplainable, someone divine?  Then why write a story about someone finding His bones? 

How many great preachers, evangelists, writers and theologians does it take to remind us of how important Christ's resurrection is to the entire Christian story?  Without the resurrected Christ, there is no story.  I really enjoyed reading this page-turner, but I wish this author believed in the resurrected Christ.  His story would have been that much better.  A better book would be A Skeleton in God's Closet, by Paul L. Maier, which was not only a better mystery but also a very Christian novel.

Thanks to All for the Love

I haven't posted anything on this blog for quite a while, with lots of work put into preparing for Holy Week, then more than that with my dear wife Harriet's illness and subsequent surgeries.  I am typing this from her hospital room, where we hope to leave for good tomorrow.

We have received such a nice outpouring of love from our family, friends, church friends, work friends and baseball friends.  It's made this ordeal so much easier to bear, considering we thought we were going to celebrate our sixteenth wedding anniversary and spring break, but instead got a huge health scare and a week in the hospital.

The flowers, balloons, chocolates, phone calls, text messages, emails, visits and help with housing our son JR have all been so wonderful.  Sometimes it's been very hard for Harriet to get any rest at all with how busy the hospital has been this week, but the consolation of all the love we've been shown has been tremendous.

That is what the church should be:  helping one another in the ways we need it.  May God bless you all.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Sacred Journey, by Steven Brooke

I've traveled to 48 of the United States (the contiguous ones) and 10 foreign countries, but the ultimate trip to me would be The Hold Land of Israel.  About every inch of the country has been trod by Biblical feet, and nowhere moreso than in Jerusalem.

This little book is a travelogue about the area of Jerusalem that Jesus traveled on the day of the crucifixion, the Via Dolorosa or Via Crucis.  I got the book several months ago when I signed up for Crossings Christian Book Club, and saved it till right before Easter for time-appropriate reading.

Seeing the pictures of the historic stops on the walk is awe-inspiring as well as humbling.  Nowadays many of the places where Jesus stepped on His last day on earth before He died and rose again are just normal, everyday streets, shops, schools or residences.  Imagine walking each day through the same side streets where Jesus carried His cross.  It's mind-boggling to me.

Churches have been built on some of the major sites around Jerusalem, some of which probably kind of obscure the exact locations.  Of course, many of the locations are based on speculation, since it's hard to know exactly where He walked.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built over several of the last spots, including the proposed site of Calvary as well as the tomb.  It would be interesting to know what those sites actually looked like back then.  Then again, perhaps it's best to have a little mystery involved too.

I truly hope my family and I get to travel to the Holy Land someday.  I can imagine no greater earthly trip...

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Comeback Churches, by Ed Stetzer & Mike Dodson

Comeback Churches Book Cover

In my quest to try to shake things up and focus things at Drennon over the past four months, I've read lots and lots of books on the subject.  Still probably not enough, but it's a start.  This one, Comeback Churches, took me a while to read because it's very full of statistics, charts, data, etc., making it a little harder to "not put down."

The impact is, I hope, very high, though.  What these two men of God discuss in the book is just how a large list of churches--324 in fact, ranging from tiny like us to megachurches--transitioned from dying or plateauing to thriving and growing. 

Some of the more important findings were the importance of a focused church vision, a revived, Spirit-led pastor and effective lay ministry.  The focus wasn't on making everything modern, or big, or bright or loud, as one might stereotypically think, but instead it was about being the church needed at your location, sharing and spreading the gospel to the people of the area.  Some churches need to be more modern, some need to embrace traditions of the past.

Even though I struggled a bit with this book because of its readability, I am thrilled to have read it.  It has confirmed much of what I recently learned in the Craig Groeschel and Andy Stanley books I've recently read, and has helped further focus me with our congregation.  I'm unveiling the new Drennon Christian Church vision statement this coming Sunday, based on recommendations from young and old within our pews.  I'm investigating doing a spiritual gifts inventory this summer, which has never been done before within the memories of our parishioners.  And finally I'm probably going to try to embark upon my John Wayne Bible Study I wrote three or four years ago as a student at the Londen Institute for Evangelism.

I hope to continue to find good reading material to help me grow as a pastor of our small church in Drennon Springs, Kentucky.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Amazing Grace, by Il Divo

This week we're singing along with these four tenors who sing Amazing Grace in old Roman ruins.  Emileen Tindle alerted me to this rendition of the classic hymn...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

God's Not Dead, by Newsboys

This is my new favorite song.  I've loved the Newsboys for as long as I've loved contemporary Christian music.  "God's Not Dead (Like a Lion)" is the title cut from their new worship album.

When Peter Furler left Newsboys two years ago, I was skeptical because his voice was the Newsboys sound, to me.  dcTalk's Michael Tait came in to take lead singer duties, but I was still skeptical.  I love dcTalk as one of the giants of contemporary Christian music, and was blessed to see them perform at the 2001 Billy Graham Crusade in Louisville, but never thought Newsboys would be as relevant.  "Born Again", their first post-Furler album, was a hit but not great, in my opinion.  I'm really glad to say that my son liked the title song more than any Newsboys song he'd heard, since it's so urban and modern-sounding.  To me, though, something was missing a little.  That changed with this song.

I hear the trademark Newsboys sound, except for Peter Furler's voice.  I really like Michael Tait's singing on this one, and the addition of dcTalk member Kevin Max really gives the song a Newsboys meets dcTalk feel.  That's a huge compliment from me.

More than anything, though, I love the sentiment of this song.  "God's Not Dead" is quite a blunt title, as well as lyric.  The world around us acts like God is either dead, or at the very least irrelevant.  The video they present here underscores that feeling, with individuals having to change things up and remind us that our "God's not dead, He's truly alive.  He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion."  I hope Newsboys continues on in this same vein in their future projects, and I'd love to hear more Kevin Max cameos, and maybe even a TobyMac or Peter Furler cameo as well...

Friday, March 16, 2012

Water's Edge, by Robert Whitlow


Yet another new Christian novel I saw and liked because of the cover the last time I visited Lifeway.  Downloaded onto our Kindle, I read this one in just a few days and loved it.  I'm not huge on legal thrillers, because they don't interest me much, but I'm really big on novels that chronicle the spiritual growth of a character.  This one does that for sure.

The main character is a young lawyer who comes back to his small hometown to tidy up his father's affairs after his untimely death.  There, while staying with his retired pastor great-uncle, he's drawn into the circumstances around the death and the various people it has touched and affected.  Over the course of the novel, Tom Crane has to face his spiritual status, which up to this point has been nil.

It's interesting that in this particular novel the main character's spiritual awakening or transformation isn't miraculous, sudden or 100% perfect.  Tom experiences more ups and downs after starting to sense God's presence in his life than before, and goes from joy to despair to joy again the last half of the novel.  I like the honesty of this portrayal, as opposed to some novels that make it sound like everything is perfect after conversion.

I saw at the end of the book that Robert Whitlow has written several other novels that I can try.  I'm sure I'll run into Robert Whitlow's work again in the future.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Little Serendipities

Sometimes it helps to have some little things happen to brighten your day when you're not feeling up to par.  Monday morning I was awakened by a text message.  It turns out my wife and I had overslept enough that we were going to be hard-pressed to get to our respective schools on time.  The text was from one of our parishioners, who sent me a scripture, Colossians 1:9-13:  "9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."  That certainly helped my day go more smoothly.

This morning, as I was looking for an extra box to use from my art room closet, I found the little clay cross in the picture above.  I haven't seen that cross for years, and I don't really know where it came from.  I think it was a Christmas ornament given to me long ago.  How it came to be in my art room closet at the bottom of a junk box, I don't know, but I'm glad to have found it.  I normally carry a small wooden cross I got on a recent REC weekend, but today I've added this larger, more substantial one.  It helps to have this constant reminder in my pocket, that Jesus is with me wherever I go and whatever I do. 

To be awakened with scripture when oversleeping one morning, then to find a beautiful little cross the next morning--that's quite a nice little serendipity.

Monday, March 12, 2012

The Deepest Waters, by Dan Walsh

Last week I finished reading a new book by a new author (to me), and I just loved it.  This one is based on a true story from 1857 concerning a shipwreck and a displaced young couple trying to get their ways back to safety, totally separate from one another out in the Atlantic Ocean.

The best part of this truly moving story is the true aspects of the story seem almost like miracles, or at least "God things".  The circumstances leading to the couple being reunited all happen in such a "coincidental" manner than you wouldn't believe the story possible if the author wasn't just writing a story around true events.  The story itself is very faith-affirming, showing that occasionally really good things happen to really good people, and also that others who are not so nice can sometimes grow and learn to be better and more godly people.

I'd recommend this novel to men and women both.  It's a seafaring adventure, which should appeal to male readers, but the love story that provides the backbone of the adventure should also appeal to women.  (Sounds like a stereotypical review, which I don't intend, but my point is that the traditional male/female tastes are covered for all readers.)

It's very much a Christian novel, and one I hope many Christians and non-believers read.  I'll have to read Walsh's other three novels at some point too.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Winter Wonderland in March

The scene from our driveway this morning before leaving for school.  We awoke to about two or three inches of snow, on March 5 of all times.  Last week we had seventy degree weather and a nearby series of tornadoes, now we have the winter wonderland/white Christmas we didn't have back in December, January or February.

What a beautiful sight.  I don't take too many pictures--not enough, really--but this morning I pulled out the camera and took several shots.  Both of the area around our property and alongside the lake.  We didn't get a blessed snow day from school, but the sight was something to behold.


Sunday, March 4, 2012

Kenya Trip?


Yep, we're going.  I told Reverend Chris Barasa Lusweti last Sunday afternoon that we'll come to the Leadership Conference in October in Eldoret.  Harriet will speak to the ladies and JR will work with the orphans at the adjoining school.  I will speak to a group of new ministers being commissioned to "go out" and enter new pastorates.

We have been blessed in the past to work on other mission teams, as close as the local prisons and Louisville and as far as Chicago, Washington DC, Belize and Brazil.  This will be our farthest trip, for sure.  As Harriet said this morning at church, when God calls you, you say yes.  A trip all the way to Africa is a scary prospect, but an exciting one too.  More to come...

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Yours, by Steven Curtis Chapman

A great song to sing together on a Sunday morning when we're talking about missions.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Our God, by Chris Tomlin

Here's our song for Drennon this Sunday, February 26. I truly believe Chris Tomlin will someday be looked at the same way we now look at some of our great hymn writers from the past. His songs are that good (to me)...

The Harbinger, by Jonathan Cahn

I saw this book at Walmart and it caught my attention.  It looked like one of those archaeological/theological/prophetic thrillers I like to read, for better or worse.  It was in the Christian section, which was a good endorsement for me.  Picking it up and looking more closely, it gave kind of a backhand slap of a testimony for it, saying something along the lines of "If you loved The da Vinci Code you'll love this!"  I read that one years ago when it first came out and was sweeping the world in sales.  It was a fast-paced, but very ill-advised and misguided book that probably didn't help Christianity one little bit, making Jesus seem like he ended up creating a family with Mary Magdalene and therefore having holy progeny down through the generations.  Poppycock.

Before clicking "Buy Now" on the Kindle, I did a little research on The Harbinger and found out that it was written by a Messsianic Jewish rabbi from the NYC area.  That was plenty enough for me, and I didn't mind the da Vinci Code reference at all, because if it drew in non-Christians to read it because of that, then more power to Cahn and company to spread this message.

The gist of this book is that Cahn links the past eleven years of American history, post-9/11, to the downfall of the Jewish nation in the 700s BC, specifically from Isaiah 9:10 and following.  The Scriptural links are astonishing, based on both the events of the past decade but especially on speeches and references made by our American leaders that seem to all coincide but in a separate, apparently random way.

I certainly agree with Cahn that America needs to come back to God, which seems to be his main point.  I wholeheartedly agree.  I also know, though, that a lot of readers will probably find his story (which he claims is all based on truth) to be hard to believe.  I believe it, probably mostly because I see the way America has seemingly turned its collective back on God, more and more each day.  Again, though, this book will be one that many will dismiss.  Too bad.

I would recommend this book for someone who would like to delve very deeply into Scripture, into prophecy, into history, politics and economics, and has an open mind to the hand of God still being very present in the world today, but would definitely not recommend it to someone looking for a da Vinci Code-style romp through archaeological popcorn entertainment.  It ain't that.  It's so much more.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Youth Sunday

What a double-edged sword:  to be working on the Residents Encounter Christ weekend at the Kentucky State Reformatory, or to be at our Youth Sunday event at Drennon.  I didn't have a choice, since I had already agreed to work on the REC, but I wish I had been at Drennon too.  I wrote in an earlier post about the changed lives that occurred at KSR, including some surprising developments at the tail end of the weekend that truly showed the importance of programs like REC, but sometimes something small and simple like just having the young people get together to make an ordinary church weekend into something special is a beautiful thing too. 

I'd like to thank Eleanor Sharp for stepping forward and having the idea to present her "Tools of Life" message from when she was a youth a few years ago, alongside most of our active youth.  From everything I have heard from those in attendance, the service was a smashing success.  I'm not the only one that missed it--we had pretty low attendance numbers to due a lot of circumstances--but I'm also probably not the only one that regrets missing it.

I know we can't afford to wait very long before we do something like this again at Drennon.  Our Fishers of Men Youth Event will take place in the early summer, which will be here sooner rather than later.  Maybe we'll have to do something that Sunday...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

KSR REC #32

I was blessed enough to be asked to serve as Spiritual Director on Residents Encounter Christ weekend #32 at the Kentucky State Reformatory last week. This was probably my fifteenth or sixteenth weekend of this sort, but never in the capacity of spiritual leader.

The weekend was such a tremendous blessing to me personally, and I know the Holy Spirit truly changed the lives of many of the inmates in attendance. Several made decisions or rededications for Christ, and one inmate even made a renunciation of a sinful lifestyle choice that had plagued him since he was a youth.

The REC program, as well as the Walk to Emmaus program above it, has been so pivotal in shaping my Christian walk and helping me discern and accept my call to the ministry. I pray that more and more men, women and youth will consider going on an Emmaus, REC or Chrysalis (teen/young adult) weekend. Their lives will be forever changed for the good.

The Search Committee, by Tim Owens

Yet another great Christian novel I've read on the Kindle.  This one caught my eye at the Louisville LifeWay store, and I couldn't wait to download it once I finished the book I had been reading then.  I don't read very quickly, but this one I read in about three days.

The topic of this novel is obvious from the title, but what I didn't expect was that it concerned a church in the PC(USA) denomination, which we were a part of for almost seven years in LaGrange.  A lot of the commentary and storyline seemed really familiar to me because of that, and that gave me even more kinship with the story.

The story itself reminded me somewhat of my beloved Mitford or Harmony series, with a very divergent cast of characters interacting with a church as the center of the relationships.  I don't know if Tim Owens plans for this to be a one-off book or the first in a series--it's his first published novel--but I'd buy part two if it ever came out.

Without giving anything away about the outcome of the plot, I'll just say that this book struck a real chord with me because of the real-life struggles the main characters went through:  death, reputation, adultery, childhood baggage, illness, hypocrisy and the true heart of Christ-like living were all dealt with by one character or another.  Their common cord was their working on the search committee for the local Presbyterian church, and their going out on weekend jaunts to try to find the next-best-thing as a minister.  This book was ultimately inspiring to me, in a quiet way.  I loved it and would recommend it to any Christian reader.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Youth Sunday

This Sunday I will be working on a Residents Encounter Christ weekend at the Kentucky State Reformatory, so I won't be at church.  I've only missed three or four weekends at Drennon since we arrived there two and a half years ago, and I really don't like to miss at all.  This is a great opportunity for me, though, to go back to The Well and draw some Living Water.  Jesus will be in charge of the weekend, and while the inmates at KSR will surely gain something by our being there, we'll gain just as much or more.

While I'm gone, the congregation will plug along without me just fine, and in fact the youth of our church (of which there are very few) will join Eleanor Jones Sharp for a message on The Tools of Life.  Something like this occurring just underscores again the importance of our searching for our church vision.  I want to mobilize the troops so they don't have to look to me for direction.  I think it'll go great, and I only wish I could be there.

With Youth Sunday and our vision in mind, I post the two above pictures, which point back to our history.  Eleanor located an old pulpit Bible from the 1930s and the two ledgers dating from 1919 till the 1960s, by asking around amongst families no longer associated with Drennon but whose descendents are still around in one way or another.  We have so little of our history written down and preserved in an easy to locate space.  These discoveries are huge.  Nice juxtaposition:  Youth Sunday and our historic artifacts. I look forward to really delving more and more into the documents included in these books, and also working further on our church vision.

Directed Verdict, by Randy Singer

Nothing beats a free Kindle book, especially if it's an award-winning Christian thriller.  I don't read many legal novels, and in fact only read two John Grishams about twenty years ago.  I dove into this one and ended up really enjoying it.  I didn't read it as quickly as the others I've read lately, because legal thrillers aren't usually my thing, but this one raised a lot of interesting questions. 

The story concerns a case brought by a missionary against a religious police officer and his country, after the plaintiff was brutally beaten and her husband murdered.  Issues brought to light included the rights of missionaries actively working for Christ in countries organized under different faiths, as well as just a fight for justice for "what's right."  The bulk of the protagonists in the story were not even Christian, but were tasked with trying to win a benchmark case for a Christian due to her Christian actions and beliefs.

Because of those themes, I was able to finish the book and be glad I did.  I would definitely like to read another Randy Singer book.  Believe it or not, once last fall when I took my son to the orthodontist, the music minister from my home church growing up (who was also my English teacher at Henry County) was reading a Randy Singer.  Good testimonial.  So, if you like legal thrillers, Randy Singer's come from a Christian slant but don't come across as hokey or preachy.  They're just good.


Saturday, February 11, 2012

Communicating for a Change, by Andy Stanley & Lane Jones

Our long-time friend Chris Chmielewski, from Northeast Christian Church, has stayed close with my wife Harriet even though we haven't been part of the same church for several years.  They get together at Starbucks and talk on the phone and text.  Chris has recently been a student at Louisville Bible College, for a degree in Christian Counseling.  Her husband John is periodically an elder at their church, and all of their four kids have been very successful in life thus far.  These are good people. 

Chris recently told Harriet she wanted to encourage me as a new pastor (I guess I'm still fairly new in this) by giving me three of her favorite books from Louisville Bible College:  Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley & Lane Jones, Preaching by Fred B. Craddock and Speaking with Bold Assurance by Bert Decker & Hershael W. York.  I just finished reading the Stanley book, and feel like I learned a lot.

Having just completed It by Craig Groeschel a week before, I feel like this book goes hand in hand with it.  The spirit I've felt over the past two months or so at Drennon, plus my recommencing my blog writing, plus serving as Spiritual Director at the next KSR REC, plus getting the invitation to Africa (which we're still praying about), plus all the Christian reading I've been doing on our new Kindle, plus reading It, and finally Chris sending me these three books, has overwhelmed me.

To focus on the Stanley book for this post, I'll just say that it has really helped focus me as a preacher.  I say preacher and not pastor, because this book is all about preaching, or speaking, just one aspect of being a pastor.  The half hour or so of preaching I do each week is just one tiny speck of the pastoral position, but it's always one that receives a lot of attention.  For me, this book confirms a lot of the changes I've been making on my own.  One big idea from the book is about Finding Your Voice.  One of the things I've been trying to do these past two months is speak with more passion and more volume.  It's not something I'm trying to do in a calculated, mercenary way, but something I'm feeling because I want our small congregation to passionately desire Jesus and a life with Him.

Other things that've really struck me with this book is focusing on one big idea, placing the Scripture exactly where it fits within your sermon (not just in the beginning), having more catchy hooks to grab attention, what we do during our service and even where I speak from.  I'm very seriously thinking about the tall table and chair/stool idea.  The conversational tone of this approach really appeals to me, and I've seen it over the past few years many times with great success (at least in my mind).  I want our people to love coming to church, and unfortunately I have a lot to do with that.

I have truly enjoyed this learning process I've entered the past couple of months, and don't really know how it came to me.  It's like everything is coming together all at one time, and honestly it's not been easy, especially since I have just registed a few weeks ago to try to recertify as a National Board teacher at my school.  This requires submitting a long portfolio of information, which I truly don't have time for with all of this going on with our church life.  Oh how I wish I could serve the church full-time, but I know that's not to be right now...


Thursday, February 9, 2012

My Kenya Invitation


I have received an invitation by Bishop Chriss Barasa Lusweti of Eldoret, Kenya, to speak at the Awakening Leaders Conference 2012. I am going to prayerfully consider this opportunity, and am thankful that my principal at the school where I teach has already granted me permission to miss the days I would have to in order to attend.

I don't yet know whether or not I will attend, but I do know that this invitation is one of the most humbling honors I have ever felt. The above video is from last year's conference, submitted to YouTube by Dr. Ralph Wilson of Nevada City, California, who has spoken at this conference several times since 2007. Dr. Wilson has been very encouraging to me and has shared a lot of vital info on the region, their needs and the conference in general.

Revelation Song - Phillips, Craig & Dean

Here's the song for Drennon on Sunday, 2/12/12. What an amazingly moving song by Phillips, Craig & Dean, also recorded by many others...

Friday, February 3, 2012

Captured by the Spirit

For my day job, I am the art teacher at an elementary school in Oldham County, Kentucky.  I've been in the public school system here for nearly seventeen years, and I'll admit that some days I'm more motivated than others, more effective than others, happier than others.  Today seemed to be one of those days, and I give the credit for that to the Holy Spirit.

What struck me today was the helpful attitude I saw from some very young children when they needed to help some of our special needs children.  In a world that can be completely disheartening at times, I saw a few kids give of themselves unconditionally to make sure a few of their challenged classmates had just as much enjoyment as possible on our Paws-itively FITT Friday activities.  Most Fridays we integrate music, technology, PE and art activities into ways to get physically fit, and it's a chaotic mess (a good mess, though).  These kids I'm alluding to helped lead around their special friends and made sure they were safe, pariticipating and happy.

It's beautiful to see, and although I don't know any of these children's spiritual affiliations within their families, it's Jesus.  In Luke 13:34, Jesus says, "How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings."  That's what I saw in the hearts of a few young children today.

It

During my frequent visits to Lifeway Christian Store lately to buy both the Courageous movie and our new NIV Bibles, I came across this book by Craig Groeschel.  I had seen his book Weird at the Disciples of Christ General Assembly last summer, and have it downloaded to read on our Kindle, but I used a coupon to buy It because it looked like exactly what I needed to read about jump-starting our church.  I had felt myself to be in a rut as a leader of late, and needed some fire.

This book has given me that, or recaptured "it" for me, in a way I had sort of forgotten.  I've read far too many Christian books by pastors that want us to adapt to exactly the type of churches they have, usually pastors whose churches are flashy, high-tech and edgy.  No doubt, those churches are experiencing a success of one sort or another, but our little country church at Drennon isn't that sort of place for many reasons.  First and foremost, I don't think the people there want that sort of change, and I don't even think the folks of Henry County want Drennon to completely leave the nineteenth century of its heyday.  Drennon Church and especially the Drennon Springs community surrounding it are as historic as they can possibly be, and we like it that way.  We're a small, tightknit church, and we like it that way.  Growing a little larger in numbers, and much deeper spiritually, would be great, though.

Craig Groeschel uses his book It to encourage us as church leaders to capture, or recapture, "it", meaning the Holy Spirit.  Churches young and old, big and small, high-tech and low-tech can have "it" or just as easily not have "it".  So much of what I've been thinking lately in relation to Drennon while reading this book makes me think that we can definitely grow deeper spiritually, and maybe even add a few to our numbers, if that is what God wants of us.

It's easy to say this kind of statement, but I believe this book might be the most influential one, to me, that I've read since entering the ministry.  It spoke to me, and I hope I can take the ideas it inspired to our church and help us find "it".


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Be Thou My Vision

Something's going on at Drennon, despite my failings as a pastor and our failings collectively as humans on earth.  Our folks are quietly coming up with great ideas and recommendations that are Kingdom-centered and outward-focused.  We've started working on our church vision, trying to focus and hone our ministries so that we better serve Jesus while we're stranded here on earth.

It seems each week, and sometimes each day, I'm seeing more and more things our people are doing in this vein, whether it's an elder trying to go deeper in his congregational prayers, or a musician flexing her muscles instrumentally, or different ladies coming up with catchy, but true, phrases towards our vision, or members nominating very interesting people for leadership positions, or everybody buying new NIV Bibles for our church use, or making sizeable gifts to help renovate and rejuvenate our buildings, or even me feeling more led to speak loudly during service, be unleashed from hiding behind my clergy robes, introduce a prayer warrior program during the service and add more contemporary music (those ideas concerning my leadership are not mine but borrowed, stolen and found from others, haha).

I feel such a strong spirit right now at Drennon, one that I truly haven't felt in this particular, specific way since arriving here in July 2009.  It's not because of me, or us, but I know it's because of Him.  We've suffered so many losses, illnesses, injuries, surgeries and problems as a small body of Christ, that I guess we've had to dig a little deeper spiritually in spite of ourselves.

Praise Jesus!  Thank you Lord!  To Him be the glory now and forever!  Amen.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Our New Church Bibles


It's been a long time coming, but this afternoon I was able to pick up our new church Bibles.  We have some beautiful, fairly new KJV Bibles in our sanctuary already, but I have wanted to add a modern translation for church use ever since arriving at Drennon two and a half years ago.  Plus, it's gotten so more and more of our members have asked me what sort of Bible to read from instead of the King James, due to the fact that the KJV is just so hard to read.

It was a great phone call to receive at school when I got a voice mail from Lifeway Christian Store in Louisville, saying our Bibles were ready for pickup.  It was a really difficult day today for me and my family, with lots of stuff going on distracting us from our school days.  To hear from Lifeway, and then to go down to the store and open up a box of beautiful navy blue Bibles, written in the brand-new NIV translation, was a joy.  Kind of an affirmation on a very emotionally cloudy day.

We started asking for folks to purchase these Bibles for church use only about three weeks ago, and already they've been paid for completely by church members and regular attenders.  I will never want to start using the KJV Bibles we have at Drennon, because it's the most beautifully written translation, still probably the most trusted and definitely the best for memorizing Scripture verses.  Now, though, we can alternate back and forth between the majestic beauty of the KJV and the ease of understanding of the NIV.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The Chair, by James L. Rubart


The Chair is the second book I've read this past year by James L. Rubart, a fairly new Christian author.  The other one, Book of Days, concerned a hunt for the scriptural Book of Days, while this one dealt with a chase for the possession and use of a chair purportedly built by Jesus Himself during His carptenter days.  Both books were fast-paced, action-packed suspense novels, and were absolutely fictional stories.  Neither a physical Book of Days existing here on earth or a legendary chair built by Our Lord are actual objects that anyone claims to exist here today, but that is irrelevant to what these books are about.

Rubart explains in the afterwards of both books that they're more about what goes on inside of us as humans in relation to the Gospel and each other.  I would agree with that.  In both books the main characters are men who come to Christ due to their being thrown into these biblical archaeological mysteries.  Anybody at Drennon knows of my interest in biblical archaeology, due to my speaking on several current subjects as well as about the numerous holy relics that remain in churches across the world today.  To me, putting a character's inner struggles and journey to Jesus against a backdrop of biblical archaeology draws me right in and satisfies me as a reader.

The mysteries themselves in Rubart's books are not really the greatest.  They're good, but also pretty thin since there's no evidence in real life for anything like Jesus' chair or an actual physical Book of Days.  That takes away somewhat from the stories due to my interest in the subject.  Again, though, that's not the main point of Rubart's books.  His stories are about more inner journeys, inner mysteries, and because of that I'll continue to read his books.  He has only one more thus far, called Rooms, and I have a sample downloaded to our Kindle already.  I'm sure I'll read it sometime soon.


Monday, January 23, 2012

Renewing Your Mind

I'm on my way into a formation meeting for our upcoming Residents Encounter Weekend at the Kentucky State Reformatory. Always great to hear our music team practicing those beautiful contemporary Christian tunes...

Anyway, on the drive over I listened to a part of the "Renewing Your Mind" program with Dr. R.C. Sproul, on WFIA 94.7 FM. I always feel very enlightened and educated from the Gospel when I listen to Dr. Sproul, and he's quickly become one of my favorite teachers. If you've never listened to his teaching, I believe his program is from 5:30 to 6:00 pm daily.

Now on to the meeting, where I also hope to "renew my mind"...

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Church in a Grocery


In yesterday's Courier-Journal, Peter Smith wrote in his Faith and Works article about Portland Avenue Presbyterian Church relocating to the former Kroger grocery store building next to their old church structure.  Apparently a couple of years ago their historic sanctuary burned down, forcing their hand.  They've worshipped in a former Catholic church since, until now when they're ready to commence worship in their new space.  Besides worship and classroom space, they'll also have room for community meetings, a food bank, a clothing bank, etc.  Somehow out of ashes a great thing will happen for the Portland community.  It'll be different than what folks are used to at Portland Avenue Pres, but it sounds like it will be beautiful.

Our church at Drennon isn't located in a grocery, although there used to be one across the creek in the historic Drennon Springs area, as well as several other businesses, homes, a public school, three different hotels and a U.S. military institute.  Nowadays we still have lots of homes, but no more businesses right nearby, although the old grocery building is still there and you can peek in the windows.  Our church building is a beautiful, traditional, old-fashioned structure, built in 1852 and substantially renovated and restructured in the 1920s when Port Royal Christian shuttered and sent its bell tower and stained glass windows down the hill.  We have the same issues most older church buildings have, with constant talk of repairs, renovations, new coats of paint, needs for better restroom facilities, handicapped access, etc.  Our folks love our church building and take pride in its beauty and its use.  Although we're small we're thriving and lively, and the people can't be beat.

I mention our church and Portland Avenue Pres because my family has spent a lot of time in another "grocery church" the past few months:  Southeast Christian Oldham Campus.  We've been going there pretty often on Sunday nights for two reasons:  to fortify me as a pastor who can't really preach to himself, and to give our son JR access to a youth group that might have some familiar faces from the area where he lives in Oldham County.  The idea of attending a church where the sermon is piped in by satellite from their larger campus was very, very strange at first, and in fact it still is at times (my wife Harriet asked me tonight if Kyle Idleman was there or just a projection on the screen, because it looks eerily like he's there with us in the room).  What we've found, though, is not only fulfillment of the two reasons we came, but also connections to friends we didn't know we'd find there.

One of Harriet's close childhood friends is a member there, and has been taking her granddaughter there to get her into a good youth group after moving here from Canada.  A boy who Harriet and I have coached in baseball alongside JR just joined at Southeast, and I will baptize him there next month.  We're hoping to make a family connection there with the new study based on The Story, the new Bible novelization that's taking many churches by storm.  And I've been able to meet their pastor, Kurt Sauder, who began his life in ministry at a small country church like Drennon in Indiana.  Sometimes God presents us with more bountiful blessings than we could expect or certainly deserve.

All of this in a grocery.  Southeast Oldham meets in the old Winn-Dixie building that sat vacant in Crestwood for so long.  I think it's fantastic when an older abandoned building can be repurposed, especially for something as great as a new church.  When I was taking my ministry preparation courses with the Londen Institute for Evangelism, we visited at church in Cleveland, Momentum I think was its name, that met in a Tinseltown movie theater.  They were allowed to convert the lobby into their foyer each Sunday, then use the first theater inside the door as their sanctuary.  They obviously had an incredible screen for their videos and PowerPoint slides.

I went back home to our church at the time, one which was also from the megachurch model, and told the leadership what I found.  I begged them, as they were branching out in expansion, to give LaGrange a shot as their next location, maybe even in the Great Escape Oldham theater.  I told them that if they didn't, probably Southeast would come in any put their footprint all over Oldham County.  Well, they did (Southeast, that is), and I'm so glad they did.  They're already impacting me and my family, and I hope my experiences there help me be a better pastor at Drennon.  Our people there deserve the best.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Courageous

Wednesday night our little Bible Study group, which usually follows The Andy Griffith Bible Study, instead watched the new movie Courageous, made by the same church that gave us Fireproof, Facing the Giants and Flywheel.  Considering it was a tie for our largest-ever Bible Study group in the Beatty family's two and a half years at Drennon, I'd say the response was pretty good. 

The movie's hard-hitting for sure, and I for one am glad of it.  There are so many Christian, or so-called Christian movies, that are poorly made, painfully obvious and sugary sweet.  This movie seemed to pull out the unexpected surprises all the way up to the final few images of the story.  As one Drennonite said, "It was a good movie, but I didn't enjoy it."  I understand that sentiment exactly:  Courageous is a wonderful Christian film, but there's so much hardcore depth and truth that it's hard to just enjoy.

I actually did enjoy it, maybe even more than the first time I watched it in the theater, because I was able to step back and really reflect on what the filmmakers at Sherwood Baptist Church were trying to do.  The Christian life isn't always pretty, it isn't always nice, and it isn't always perfect.  It's certainly not always going to be easy.  I really look forward to seeing what the Sherwood folks do next.

PS--A special shout-out to local Christian actor, Tony Stallings, former Louisville Cardinal and Louisville Fire football player, who played the main villain of the movie, TJ.  I hear he is a wonderful Christian man who now works and worships in the Louisville area.  Big-time kuddos to him for getting into this movie and having the gumption to play the bad guy.

The Homeless Bishop, by Joseph Girzone

I've been a Joseph Girzone fan for over fifteen years, since my wife read one of the Joshua books in a women's Bible study group.  We were a new couple, and I moved my church membership over to her long-time church, where she was in a very strong small group.  After reading that first Joshua book after she had finished it, I checked the rest out of the Oldham County Public Library and devoured them.  Then, several years later, my wife bought me the movie version of the first book in the series, when I didn't even know one had been made.  It's probably been the movie we've shown to the most people, and in fact was the first one we showed at Drennon after arriving there in 2009.  Bottom line, I love Joseph Girzone and the books he's poured his heart and his faith into, probably as much or more than any other Christian writer.

Somehow I saw online that he had written a new book outside the Joshua series, The Homeless Bishop.  The premise followed just what the title implies, so I was hooked immediately.  When we bought our Kindle for Christmas, it was the first book I actually spent money on (Mom and Dad had given us an Amazon gift card, so it wasn't really money).  The Homeless Bishop has to be one of the top five Christian books I have ever read.  From the first page to the last, I totally "got" what Girzone was trying to say:  we need to live a Christian life down in the trenches, just like He did.  We don't need to sit high on thrones of glory and piety, but instead need to minister to "the least of these". 

This book deals a lot with the structure of and leadership of the Catholic church.  I am not a Catholic, but also feel a "we're on the same team" camaradie with that particular denomination.  I learned a lot, and also respect how Girzone, a retired Catholic priest, was willing to push the envelope and challenge some of the more thought-provoking Catholic policies, such as clergy celibacy.  I fully think this is a book any Christian can and should read.  To me, it's a potentially life-changing book, an opportunity for Christians to come closer to Him, as well as respect and love one another better.

I look forward to Joseph Girzone's next literary endeavor, and will surely read it as soon as I can get my hands on it, either hard copy or Kindle.

Secret of the Shroud, by Pamela Binnings Ewen


I've been fascinated with the Shroud of Turin for several years, but especially since becoming a clergyman three years ago.  I believe there are tons of Christian relics out there that further validate the incidents, people and places of the Bible.  I also believe the Shroud of Turin is one of them.  Many will point out the Vatican-sponsored scientific study of the Shroud back in the seventies and eighties, and say that it was proven to be a medieval hoax from Europe.  Further tests and studies, though, have shown that the snippets of cloth that were tested back then were in fact patches sewn on to the Shroud in the 1200s after it had been damaged by fire.  Tons of evidence on the Shroud show the main cloth to be of much, much older origin, of different material entirely, and including pollen from plants and flowers known only to exist in the Jerusalem area.  Plus, tests have shown that the 3D nature of the images on the Shroud could not have been replicated with Middle Ages technology, or in fact even with twenty-first century technology.  Essentially, until there's absolute proof otherwise, I believe the Shroud of Turin is exactly folks say it is.

So I wanted to read this book Secret of the Shroud because I love to read biblical archaeology stories.  I picked it up at the Cokesbury store at the Nashville Disciples of Christ General Assembly this past summer, then didn't buy it.  Afterwards, I looked and looked for it in local Louisville area bookstores, but never found it.  Finally, when my wife and I bought an Amazon Kindle Fire this Christmas, I went straight for it and bought it.  I'm glad I read the book, but was also a little disappointed at times.

I love how the author sprinkled Shroud history and lore into a modern-day story, but what disappointed me somewhat was I couldn't figure out exactly what the author was trying to accomplish with certain characters.  There are two "clergymen" who seemingly switch roles of protagonist and antagonist over the course of the fifty-year narrative, but it's hard to tell exactly, even at the end.  There's a war hero who stands up for Christianity against the corrupt clergyman, but who is disgraced on national TV and never allowed to be resolved as a character.  The corrupt clergyman, who's really the main character of the piece, kind of goes through an Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader transformation, but then as he returns to Anakin at the end, his narrative is cut off.

Basically, I really enjoyed reading the story, but perhaps am reading too much into the "fine literature" factor.  Fine literature it's not, and I suppose it's not supposed to be either.  At the same time, though, I think it would have served as a better Christian witness if the entertwining stories within the larger narrative had been tied up with stronger bows at the end.  I'd recommend the book, but don't view it as any kind of classic.

The Well, by Mark Hall & Tim Luke


I was loaned this book by one of our parishioners a couple of weeks ago, and just finished it today.  I became a fan of Mark Hall's Christian music group, Casting Crowns, after hearing their song "Slow Fade" in the movie Fireproof a couple of years ago.  I received their new album, Come to the Well, from my daughter and son-in-law on my birthday, and saw an advertisement for the book.  Lo and behold, this friend texted me about it and told me about it at church and offered to loan it to me.

The most striking aspect of this book is that, while it's very deep and moving, it's also written in a completely conversational style.  It includes personal stories from Mark Hall's life that relate to the Christian walk, with such diverse subjects as the Chinese church, Jewish rabbinical training, life in prison, small churches vs. megachurches and even the first Halloween movie.  That's another thing that impressed me--Hall wasn't holier-than-thou enough to not admit to watching a movie like Halloween, one that many Christian have surely seen but many wouldn't admit to.

The whole book relates the story of the Woman at the Well, and how we continually as humans and as Christian believers go back to wells in life that give us no real help, while the true Well is standing right beside us, or residing within us (Jesus, duh).  The message is sounds so elementary, but like so many simple things, we don't even see the forest for the trees.

I highly recommend this book to any Christian believer who'd like to reach deeper in his or her Christian walk, but also doesn't want to have to read a 600-page theological treatise.  There's certainly a place for those 600-pagers, but not so much.  Plus, anybody who loves Casting Crowns music like I do should read The Well to learn more about their leader, Mark Hall.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I'm Back

I abandoned this blog several months ago for various reasons, but now want to bring it back. My plan is to use it to comment on all things Christian, be it church items or issues, or even just my thoughts on Christian books, movies and music. I hope to update it at least once a week. I gain so much insight on Christianity from similar blogs put out there by pastors, so my prayer is that these comments can reach at least one person for Christ. God bless...