Easter Weekend will never be the same for me again. Last Good Friday was like any other. I went to work all day. I drove home. My wife and I headed to our church to sing and pray and remember Jesus' death for us together as a body. We pulled a dinner audible afterwards and decided we could go out to eat (I think we had leftovers on the weekly dinner menu scheduled). We ended up at a delicious Japanese steakhouse that looks like a leftover set from a 70's Kung Fu movie. The two of us got in with little waiting and ate some delicious food and went home... ...Easter Sunday we missed Easter … [Read more...] about Between a Friday and a Sunday…
No More Saturdays!
It’s Saturday on the calendar today, and it’s the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. It is a day that there is very little written of in Scripture. The only thing in the Gospels about Saturday is the request of the chief priests and Pharisees to put a guard at the tomb, Luke references that the women who had accompanied Him rested as was the commandment, and we do not see any information on the Eleven. We see the Crucifixion end with Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking the body and laying Him with about 100 Roman pounds of myrrh and aloe. So they buried Jesus. Mary, Mary, Joanna, … [Read more...] about No More Saturdays!
Liberty Publicly Refutes Peter Lumpkins (but leaves wiggle room)
This statement (HT) came out of Liberty University regarding Peter's blog post about their Trustees and Mark Driscoll. I'm interested is the wiggle room they left and how it might suggest Peter is closer to the truth then they want to admit. Announcement MISREPRESENTATIONS BY BLOGGER RE. LIBERTY'S BOARD Student Affairs On April 4, 2012, a Southern Baptist blogger, Peter Lumpkins, wrote an innacurate account of Liberty's recent Board of Trustees meeting as it relates to the university's invitation to Mark Driscoll to speak in Convocation. Lumpkin’s recent blog contains information that … [Read more...] about Liberty Publicly Refutes Peter Lumpkins (but leaves wiggle room)
The Line Between Almost and Always
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-21 While I don’t comprehend fully why some things happen, and some don’t, I do believe God is always with me, even in those moments when the grey claims the day, and the bleak overwhelms the week, just as much as on the days where all is … [Read more...] about The Line Between Almost and Always
The Men Who Came to Dinner
With apologies to Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, as well as Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein for mangling the title of their play and movie adaptation. Today is Maundy Thursday on the liturgical calendar of many historically liturgical churches. We Baptists tend to know the name but don't really do a lot with anything on the liturgical calendar except Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday. We remember the day as the day of the Last Supper and the arrest of the Lord Jesus. Let's take a look at that Supper, shall we? Let us consider this Passover, starting with the facts as we know them. It … [Read more...] about The Men Who Came to Dinner
Liberty University Vs. Peter Lumpkins: Seriously???
I had a good laugh last night when I received the following email from David Corry, a General Counsel with Liberty's Office of Legal Affairs. I'm posting it here with grammatical, factual, and spelling errors as received. from: Corry, David M dcorry@liberty.edu to: "peterlimpkins@gmail.com" cc: "Tony@sbcvoices.com" cc: "court-orders@wordpress.com" date: Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 6:39 PM subject: Cease and Decist False Statements regarding Liberty University Trustees Peter Lumpkins: Your recent internet blog on peterlumpkins.com/typepad.com has come to the attention of Liberty University … [Read more...] about Liberty University Vs. Peter Lumpkins: Seriously???
Don’t like changes at NAMB? Here’s a novel idea… (by William Thornton)
(The SBC Plodder has been ruminating and cogitating, and has some wisdom to share with us.) In the past decade or so, it seemed that you couldn't type or say the words "North American Mission Board" without appending the word "dysfunctional," or worse. In my view things have changed and I support the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering without the serious reservations that I have had the past few years. Evidently, others feel the same way since the AAEO was significantly up for 2011. NAMB has been the SBC's main newsmaker the past few years and I know of no SBC entity that has undergone … [Read more...] about Don’t like changes at NAMB? Here’s a novel idea… (by William Thornton)
The Root of Angry and Divisive Calvinists: Part 4
“Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.” This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 Concerning the question of eating food offered to idols, logically and theologically the “strong” Corinthians had this question nailed. They rightly believed that there is only one God, “an idol has no real existence” and correctly deduced from this that a “nothing cannot affect meat”[1] Yet, what they failed … [Read more...] about The Root of Angry and Divisive Calvinists: Part 4
In Honor of the Cross: Tell Us How God Saved You
I was saved at the age of 6. I actually have no memory of the event and struggled with it for some time. If I do not remember it, was it real? I believe it was. My dad used to read a book to us called, "Little Pilgrim's Progress", a children's adaptation of the Bunyan classic. There is a scene in it in which little Christian takes his burden to the cross and lays it there. My dad helped me to pray and place my faith in Christ. I was a "good kid" (except for the common refrain from teachers that I talked too much) but I did not serve the Lord until I was out of high school . I … [Read more...] about In Honor of the Cross: Tell Us How God Saved You
Marks of an Unhealthy Church
I've got a headache today. I'm sneezing. I feel awful. It's not a mystery. These are common symptoms known to anyone with seasonal allergies. With this early spring, with every green thing God ever created blooming right now in Sioux City, the pollen count is rising like the national debt under President Obama. Symptoms are the outward expression of sickness inside. Feeling as I do, I have been sitting at my desk, pretending to work (oops, too many of my church members read this blog now - I've got to stop saying things like that) and I came upon an article by Joe McKeever called "10 … [Read more...] about Marks of an Unhealthy Church