Word Studies

In the last few posts, I talked about Jesus, as "the Word." In future posts, I will show how this "Word" can relate to the "words" of Scripture.

Today, though, I am using "word" in its usual sense.

One of our students gava a good example of identifying important words in what a person is studying.

Here is my reply to his report:

"Criticism" was a good example of a common word used in a specialized way.

Historicity is an example of a word being important because of how frequently it occured.

Veracity may have been a word that was slighlty familiar. Your impresion that it meant, "genuine," seems to me like it could fit.

"Something that is true" is one dictionary definition (veracity. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/veracity (accessed: December 22, 2009).)

When I looked up "genuine," one of the synonyms was "true." (genuine. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/genuine (accessed: December 22, 2009).)

So, your guess was pretty good. It was accurate. Just remember the word, "truth," occurs a lot in the definitions too.

When you are studying material with vague or unfamiliar words, a very effective thing to do is to note what you think the word means according to the context of the sentence and see if that idea fits throughout the time of your reading. If it does, great. If not, keep refining your definition or come up with two or more possible meanings based on the context. At the end of your study, compare your guesses with the dictionary. Sometimes you will find an exact match. Most of the time you will find a meaning that is at least close to yours. At other times, you may find you were way off. Still, the discipline of going through this process will cause the word to stick in your mind.

God's Supreme Revelation

God’s Supreme Revelation

I spoke of Jesus, The Word, yesterday. As such, He is God's supreme revelation.

Look at how the writer of Hebrews puts it in chapter 1:

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
(Hebrews 1:1-4, NKJV)

God revealed Himself in the Living Word, which paves the way for Him to reveal Himself in the written word.

Jesus Is "The Word"

Words, as we know them, are representations of other things. If I say a word, a picture of an object may come to your mind. If I say another word, a picture of an action may come to you mind.

Jesus is the representation of the Father. He said that He and the Father are one. He said that, "if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."

Words are expressions of other things.

The divine Word is the Expresion of the Father, or another way of putting it is to say that the Word is the divine expression of God.

The Word is Jesus because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

That divine Intelligent Designer of the universe is God, and Jesus is the Word, the divine expression of God. In fact, the Word was (and is) God.

Life is given by God. Eternal life is given by God. If we are going to experience eternal life, it will be given to us because God gives it to us. God, the designer, sets all things up according to His plan. Eternal life is what we call Heaven.

The way to Heaven has to be the Designer's way. Since Jesus is the Word, the way to Heaven will be His way.

Jesus is the way to Heaven. Thank God for the divine expression of His Word.

Jesus, The Creator, Was Born

One of the most fascinating things about Christmas is that Jesus, the Creator, was born as a baby.

This just underlies the fact of the Trinity. Jesus was "God in the flesh." In Jesus,"God became man." Those are all true statements.

This fact, though, also refutes the idea of modalism, that indicates that God just exists as one person at a time. If that was the case, who is keeping the universe together when God the Son, Jesus, is a baby? Also, who keeps things running when Jesus is dead?

Modalism implies that you had God acting as God the Father in the Old Testament. Then He acted as the Son while Jesus was on the Earth. Following that, He acted as God the Holy Spirit.

Actually, the three Persons of the Godhead are eternally distinct in subject-object relationship. Yet, they are all of one essence. The Godhead is like this: The Father is God in essence, but the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit in personhood.

Likewise, the Son is God in essence, but the Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit in personhood.

In the same manner, the Holy Spirit is God in essence, but the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son in Personhood.

We cannot comprehend some aspects of this because, in our experience, we are used to there being one "being" in a one-to-one correspondence to one "person." For humans, it is one being tied to one person.

In the case of God, we have one "Being," but three "Persons." All of those Persons are, however, one God.

We cannot fully comprehend this, but we can apprehend that this is what the Bible teaches.

When we think of ways to Heaven, we understand that God is the only one who can make such a way, but we cannot remoe the fact that Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus is the way to Heaven.

Archaeology, the Bible's Friend

Arhaeology has been very useful for conservative Bible scholars. Some statements in the Bible were questioned as to their historical accuracy by liberal scholars. Then, years later the statements were confirmed by archaeological finds.

Roger, here is a story that relates to marriage and parenting. It was sent to my by my friend and former co-worker, Dr. Rober Griffin.

"Some years back as a good father, I bought my only daughter a special Barbie Doll House. Sadly (for me) it arrived in 189 plastic pieces. The instructions said that it could be put together in about "30 minutes or less". It took me most of the night and I was blurry-eyed and out-of-sorts on Christmas morning.

"I'm not vindictive, but after it was all put together, I wrote the company a check, cut it into 189 pieces and mailed it off for THEM to put together in 30 minutes or less."

Course 10 Week 8 Main Posting Area

You may place your comments for week 8 in the comments section below.

Also, you may place your course wrap up here too.

For the course wrap up,
Answer the following questions:
1. What was your course about as a whole? (Try to boil it down to one sentence.)
2. What were the major parts of this course? (How was it organized?)
3. What were some of the important words in this course? (How were they used? What did they seem to mean as used in this writing? List at least three.)
4. What further study would you like to do on this topic, or what did you like best or least about your study this time?

The Reliability of the Gospels

I just wanted to share a little of what Roger was getting from his booK:

"In the Exegetical issues surrounding the Gospels it is noted that the Gospels prove to be divergent in what is included in their own gospel account however when you consider the differences in audiences your learn that each man was speaking and teaching to a slightly different culture, still the events and chronology of them actually harmonize between the gospels. Certainly evidence that the events and recording of them prove true to be actual accounts."

The Word of our God will stand forever!

The Life of Christ

Roger's Book is covering events in the ministry of Christ.

Deacember is a great time of year to focus on Jesus because Christmas, of course, emphasizes His birth.

We realize that what make the birth unique, however, has to do with the divinity of Christ, the incarnation, the sinless life, and the death burial and Resurrection of Christ.

Jesus truly was "God in the flesh." If you had seen Jesus, you had seen the earthly expression of the Father. The Trinity is another reason why the birth of Jesus is important. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Jesus' birth is important becuase of the plan of salvation, which was worked out before the foundation of the world.

May the blessings of Christ be yours during this Christmas season and always.

The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage

In marriage seminars that I conduct, I talk about the LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

LOVING is an acronym for the following:

Leaving: The Most Important "Move" You Will Make in Your Marriage
Overcoming: The Most Important Commitment You Can Make in Your Marriage
Valuing: The Most Important Attitude You May Have in Your Marriage
Intimacy: The Most Important Connections You Will Make in Your Marriage
Needs: The Most Important Understanding You Will Gain in Your Marriage
Giving: The Most Important Action You Will Perform in Your Marriage

My speaking schedule is posted on The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage website. You can find it by doing a search for "The Loving Way to a Successful Marriage," or a search for "Six Keys to Marital bliss." If you do go to that website and look at the "fee" section, please look at the next page that talks about special disounts for churches (which means basically that I will come for a free will offering if at least travel and lodging expenses are guaranteed.)

I have used these topics to do marriage counseling with good success. In so doing I met with the couple for eight or nine weeks and covered those six topics in sessions 2-7.

Course 10 Week 7

You may place your comments for week 7 under the "Three-Fourths Done" post.

Three-Fourths Done

It is hard to believe that we are three fourths of the way through this course. I hope your study has been a blessing to you.

Wedding Ministry

In the Rockbridge course, we are discussing ministry that you can have in connection widh the task of performing weddings.

I want to share one of those with you here. (Bro. Roger, you will probably recognize who I am describing.)

A couple of days ago, I described an experience I had in a wedding where the groom used a cigarette lighter to light some of the candles. That was when I met him. (Our church did not have a policy of requiring pre-marital counseling.)

His wife had attended our church off and on for the last couple of years before the wedding. He was a truck driver and not home a lot of weekends. Then he got sick (some type of cancer--possibly related to his years of smoking.) He started attending church. Then he came to join the church. He said he had been saved and baptized (by immersion) earlier in his life, and he attended a Methodist church in those earlier years.

He could no longer drive his truck, and he started attending very regularly. On occasion I talked with him, and he "firmed up" his assurance of salvation. Then he had surgery on his throat. He was on oxygen and carried his tank with him. Still, he bacame more and more regular in church.

One Sunday, he was in church, and one of the ladies in the church was talking to him about his wife who was not there. He carried notepads with him to communicate. He said, "My wife asked me if I was not feeling well." He wrote further that he replied to her like this: "I'm not feeling well. That's why I'm going to church."

A few weeks before he died, our song leader asked if anyone had a request for a congregational song. He raised his hand, and the person next to him told the song leader what song he had picked out. It was, "I'll Tell the World That I'm a Christian." What a testimony that was. He wanted to communicate that assurance even though he could not speak.

I did perform his funeral, and I am thankul for the relationahip we developed and how a ministry developed from a humorous wedding experience.

(Bro. Roger, I am having internet connection problems--wrote this from McDonalds. I will get back on by Monday at least even if I have to take the computer somewhere else to hook up.

We will see you at church tomorrow for Homecoming. I will be preaching at ten o'clock at another church, so we will probably come in a little late.)

Jesus' Gallilean Ministry

This week, we will be studying about the ministry of Jesus in, and around, the area of Gallilee. This is usually divided into two parts, the early ninistry, and the later ministry. We will discuss both.

Course 10 Week 6 Main Posting Area

Please place your comments for week 6 in the comments section below.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Some of our scheduls may have been a little different this week.

Tomorrow will be out "catch-up day" for week 5 (if any catching up is needed).

Hope you had a good day today!

The Historical Jesus

Of course, Jesus is a historical figure. He is actually the focal point of history.

Some people who have gone on a quest for the "historical Jesus" have done it from an approach that seemed to undermine Scripture. They try to find the historical facts behind the "mythology" of Scripture. While they define "myth" in a way that is not as bad as the usual understanding of the word (as related to the Bible), they still are way too skeptical of some of the words in Scripture in my opinion. I do assure you that my stance is to be fully committed to the inerrancy of the Word of God.

Course 10 Week 5 Main Posting Area

Good Job

Tyler and Roger,

Ijust want to say that you both are doing a great job with this course.

Keep up the good work!

Hospital Visits

I notice that that the Rockbridge students have several threads of thought about the length of a hospital visit, about whether to pray or not to pray, and thoughts on the book and the Pastor's Tips.

I want to give you some tips based on my experience. They don't differ greatly from what has already been presented, but they may give you some encouragment.

As always, in any situation in ministry, we want to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We also want to observe what happens when we enter into a new situation, and learn from our experiences.

One experience I am grateful is that of working as a hospital chaplain for the V.A. Medical Center in our local area. When I started, I was somewhat apprehensive about what I was supposed to do. I soon found, though, that the main chaplain was overloaded with a need to do administrative work along with the "visiting" work. It turned out, that I would end up doing about 80% of the visits. I was not given too many guidlines. A lot of this was like the "cold calling" several of you mentioned.

Our practice was to visit each new patient that entered the hospital, and to visit every paitent who was put on the seriously ill list. We would visit other patients more often if they indicated they wanted those visits.

After a couple of weeks of doing this, I came up with the following plan that was acceptable to my supervisor (the main chaplain) also: Basically, a visit would go like this. I would enter the room and introduce myself to the patient. I said something like, "I am here from the chaplain's office, and we just wanted you to know that we would be glad to come by and have prayer with you sometime." Then I would be quiet. Like one of you said, the ball was then in their court. From there, I just responded to the patient. Sometimes they were talkative, and I would stay and talk. Sometimes they would just say, "O.K." or "Thank you," and I could tell the visit was over. Many times (most), I was quite comfortable asking, "Would you like me to have prayer for you today?" Almost always they would say, "yes," but on a few occasions they would say "no." Since I had included the word, "today," the tension over a refusal was diffused. Another way to handle that would be to use the word, "now." "Would you like me to have prayer with you now?" This works well if earlier in the conversation you have said something like that you would be glad to have prayer with them sometime.

On an average day, we would visit anywhere from 15 to 20 patients, so a lot of them got the "five-minute" type of visit. On the other hand, there would be those (usually two or three) who were open to talking about spiritual things or who just wanted to talk in general. Often I figured out that those two or three patients were really the reason why I was there--why God had placed me there for that time. Still, those longer visits seldom ran longer than 20 minutes.

Another thing I did was to ask the question, "What are the doctors telling you?" Then I would listen carefully to what they had to say. When I first came on board, when a doctor entered the room, he or she often just brushed right on past and ignored me. This didn't happen every time, but it did happen enough to be noticeable. At that time, we had access to the patient's charts, and we wrote notes in them ourselves. When I first started, our goal was to document ten percent of our visits in the charts. Then we set a goal to go to twenty-five percent. The hopital made a change to electronic documentation, so we started putting our comments into the computer. I was fairly computer literate, so I started documenting all of my visits. I say all of that to come to this. Since I always asked the patient, "what are the doctors telling you," I always put their answer into the electronic chart. I think others also transferred thses over to the paper charts--or maybe we printed them out and put them in there too. Anyway, the doctors began to notice that I had asked that question, so many of them began to read our comments because they wanted to see if the patient really understood what they were telling him or her. Since they were reading our comments, they soon began to occasionally consult with us too. (I'm sure they already did that some with the main chaplain since he was established, but I thought the progression from being ignored to being consulted was interesting in my own case.)

My own preference for a hosptital visit for member of my own congregation, or their family members that they ask me to visit, is to be comfortable with leaving after about five minutes if it seems natural, but to go twenty minutes if the patient seems alert enough for this and if conversation, either from the patient or the family members, seems to be flowing well enough to warrant that length of stay. I do usually, but not always, ask if they would like for me to pray with them today. If it seems "forced" to get that question in, I don't worry about not asking it. If it is a person I know very well and who attends church regularly, I will often ask them if they would like me to read Scripture too (before asking about prayer,) They usually will like that too. Contrary to what some may say about picking out a very appropriate passage, I don't necessarily worry about that either. I just try make sure the passage I read does not raise troubling questions, bring up bad memories, or things like that. I have several verses from Roman chapter 8 underlined. Sometimes I will just read some of those. In our area, regular church-goers will appreciate the reading and prayer. In all of these situations, though, I don't try to force anything.

My take on what to do when the doctor enters the room is to do what we did as chaplains. When the doctor came in, we would get up or move away from the bed so as not to be in the way. After I was established, someimes the doctor thought I was leaving, and he or she would often say, "You don't have to leave." So, now my policy has to do with how well I know the patient. Many patientes would prefer that I be in the room, so they could ask me questions to make sure they heard correctly what the doctor said. Many times a doctor visit is very routine, and it is not necessary to leave in those cases.

They way I do it now when a hospital staff member comes into the room is to start to move so as not to be in the way of whatever they have to do. Many times a nurse will simply say, "You don't have to move," or "You're O.K." Then I stay put (unless I need this as sort of an excuse to leave.) When a doctor comes in, I get up and move away from the bed and move closer to the door. If his or her visit seems very routine and not sensitive or confidential in any way, I stay in the room. The key is to watch the patient, the patient's family members, or the doctor. If any of them seem to want to speak confidentially, I quickly excuse myself (or just slip out without saying anything.) Many times the patient or family member will introduce me to the doctor. Then leaving may seem a little strange. I think in this regard, to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, to be aware of what seems natural, and to closely observe the patient, doctor, or family member, will allow you to receive the wisdom to know what to do. I am not saying there is anything wrong with always excusing yourself when a doctor comes in, I am just giving you my take on what to do in these situations.

Outside of the hospital room, staying quite a while in a visiting room with the family often gives some good relationship-building opportunities. Often, I just "play it by ear" as to how long to make those visits.

I hope some of these things can perhaps be helpful to some of you.

I do enjoy learning from your insights.

Offering Prayer as Part of a Hospital Visit

The chapter (in Pastoral Care in Hospitals by Neville A. Kirkwood--the textbook for the Rockbridge Seminary Course) on offering prayer as a part of a hospital visit was interesting. Do you do that every time? Do you only have prayer when it is requested? The end of the chapter was valuable in that you can often discern when prayer will be appreciated without being specifically asked for.

While you don't want your prayers to be particularly "canned," there are certain things that have such a wide apprpriateness, you may find yourself verbalizing things over and over again. This can be bad, but it is not necessarily bad. The example of the "blessing prayer" used by the author in almost all of his visits is an example of such a prayer that is not necessarily bad even though it is quite repetitious..

Your regular church members may expect Bible reading and prayer. The key is to exercise discernment. (Remember that God will not "upbraid" us for asking for wisdom.)

Course 10 Week 4 Main Comments

Please place your comments for week 4 in the section below.

What Is the Way to Heaven?

In studying about Jesus being the only way to Heaven, I think what comes to mind is: If Jesus is not the way to Heaven, What is the way to Heaven? How do these other views relate to the justice and mercy of God? One way, perhaps, is simply to say that God is merciful, but how is that applied? What about the idea of punishment for atrocities? Does anyone deserve eternal punishment? Most people seem to think that some crimes deserve some type of punishment. If something or someone does deserve some type of punishment, God will be just. Will He be just across the board? How do other ways of salvation relate to God's justice?

The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil, which is related to suffering, as described in the Rockbridge textbook, has been around for a long time. I find, at least in part, that free will as described in the text gives some ways of giving partial explanation, which at least removes some blame (that others may place on Him) from God.

The problem will probably continue to be debated until we leave this earth. Then we will be given the mind of Christ. Until that time, it is probably best to recognize that some aspects of life will only remain a mystery. The best course, as our confidence grows, is to trust God--even though we don't understand what is going on.

It is easy to say that when we are not the parties going through suffering. However, it does seem to be a mark of maturity when we see those who trust God in the midst of their confusion.

Jesus' Role in Creation

As I continue to think about the importance of Jesus being the way to Heaven, I am taken, once again, back to the thoughts of Creation. In Genesis 1, God said, "“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." That, being in the plural, shows one of the earliest ideas of God as Trinity. Since Jesus was the second person of the Trinity, the Father could have been speaking to the Son here. (The Spirit was already mentioned very early in the chapter.)

That is why there really is no contradiction when John 1 speaks of Jesus being involved in the act of Creation: "1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." (NKJV)

Jesus was unique in Creation, and I believe that eventually plays a part in His providing salvation.

Course 10 Week 3 Main Comments

Sorry, I forgot to put this up yesterday. Your comments below the other post will count for this week.

End of Life Issues

In the Rockbidge class, we are dealing with some difficult issues that families sometimes have to face concerning end of life issues. You may continue on with the lines of thought you have raised for the remainder of this week, or you may comment on the following:

As we continue the discussion this week, for our pesonal wrestling with some of these issues, perhaps we could be helped by some of Joni Earickson Tada's thoughts. She pointed out that we have to determine if our decision will prolong life or if it will prolong death. In what ways could we perhaps be helped by the principle she just mentioned.

My father passed away almost 24 years ago. He had eight years of dealing with chronic lymphocytic leukemia after he was diagnosed. His wish was, "Have them do everything they can for me as long as I can breathe on my own." He did not want to be hooked up to a ventilator (Just because I am sharing this does not mean there are no times whenit is very beneficial for someone to be placed on a ventilator.) He really had eight "pretty good" years before he went on to be with the Lord. He wanted life prolonged, but he didn't want death prolonged. In my case, Joni's way of looking at things helps. Is it helpful for you? Does it raise other questions? If so, what?

Funerals for Those You Don't Know Very Well

It is difficult to believe that we are already 1/4 of the way through the course. This week, the Rockbridge students will turn in some reading questions and we will deal with some issues such as illness and theology, and bioethics.

In our discussions, I just wanted to share with you a little about preaching funerals. Sometimes you will be called upon to preach a funeral for someone you don't know very well. I am often glad to do this, but it is challenging to personalize your message.

Yesterday, I conducted a funeral for a gentleman I did not know very well. Bro. Roger did know him, so he actually observed my going through some of this process first hand

I had about an hour to circulate among the family, and I asked different ones, "If you could describe _______________ in one or two words, what would you say?" I found the answers to be fairly consistent: "hard worker," "knowledgeable/wise," "quiet," "married for 57 years!" I used to ask people if any particular memory stands out, but lots of times they "draw a blank" when I ask that question. This one, about describing someone in a few words, seems to work much better.

The people I talked to also told me about his early church attendance, that he had been saved and baptized. The church attendance had slacked off in the last few years; however, his three sons and several of the grandchildren very openly testified of their faith and even of his faith.

When I talked with him last, he had caught a squirrel. I went back and forth in my mind as to whether I would use that as part of the message. I actually was able to use that as an illustration of how we are captured and Christ sets us free. I also was able to use the fact that the Bible compares marriage to the church. This fit in very well because of their longevity in marriage.

During the service, one of the grandsons spoke of some specific memories and also talked of his grandfather's "Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." He did a very good job of speaking.

All of this new information made the task much easier. The sons also encouraged me to transithon into an evangelistic message as part of the service too. I usually do that anyway, but they particularly wanted the Gospel to be presented.

So, it ended up being a good day.

Care-Giving Is Like Communication in Marriage

Have you noticed that much of what we have been talking about relates to marriage communication?

I have studied this over the course of the last several years, and in preparation for a chapter in the (soon to be published) book, The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss. The idea that men and women think differently (actually have different ways of forming their thought processes) often seems to intrigue audiences when I speak on this aspect of marriage.

Bill and Pam Farrel have written a very good book on this subject called, Men are Like Waffles: Women are Like Spaghetti. Basically, the idea is that men tend to think in compartments like the little boxes in waffles, and that women tend to view all of life as being interrelated like spaghetti all tangled together.

Men are ofen in problem-solving mode (and sometimes that is what the wife needs), but often the wife just needs him to empthize with her, or help her as she tries to see how what she is talking about relates to the rest of life. Sometimes all she wants is for him to listen.

Men relating to men in a care-giving situation can be done somewhat differently than men relating to women, but often we see the advice given to us in care-giving situations being more like the advice given to a husband when learning how to communicate with his wife. Why is that? Do you think it could be that in many care-giving situations we really can't fix the problem? So, we learn to be there for the person we are trying to help, just like a husband does for his wife in the situations where she really doesn't need the problem to be fixed.

Does this seem to make sense? Can you think of any other ways this analogy might work? Do you have any illustrations you might be comfortable in sharing of how just being there can help in your spirtual care-giving situations? Maybe you would like to show the distinction of where the analogy breaks down. (All anologies break down at some point because they only show how different things are alike--but still they are different things.)

Share some of your thoughts on this in some of your posts in unit 2.

More about Boundaries

I have enjoyed listening to the students at Rockbridge Seminary describe the value of putting boundaries in their lives. This is something that is important for our Preachers Meeting participlants to learn to do also. We are not always successful at this, perhaps, but for the sake of our health and for the sake of our families, this is an important thing to do.

The president of one of the companies/ministries that I worked for in the past taught on this subject. He said for us to learn this statement:

"At no time
will your problem become my problem;
for, then you wouldn't have a problem;
and, I like helping people with problems!"

The more we can learn to do this (without being calloused), the stronger we can be for the one to whom we are trying to minister.

Two-Question Method of Counseling

Sometimes you will be called upon to help people in times of crisis. At other times, you will be asked to counsel people in the midst of all kinds of problems. Listen is a skill that can help in both cases.

Years ago, I had the privilege of attending a Billy Graham School of Evangelism. One of the speakers was Dr. Charles Allen. He spoke on the topic of counseling. He had what I later came to call the "two-question method of counseling."

He said a person or a couple would come to him for counseling. They would be seated before him at his desk. The he said that he would put his hands together, and ask, "Now, what is the problem?" Then he would be quiet and just listen.

After a while they would clarify the problem. Sometimes that is all that is necessary, he said. When the problem is clarified, that might be all they need.

After they stated the problem, he woud fold his hands together and say, "Now, what do you think you should do about it?" Then he would listen.

Finally, he would say, "That sounds like a good idea. Why don't you try that?"

He said he had a lot of success with that type of "counseling."

Obviously, if what they thought they should do was clearly against Scripture, his experiement would not work. However, in a lot of cases, what they came up with was pretty good.

Listening is a skill that is very useful in many areas of life. True listening between husbands and wives can help them work through many, many things.

People in crisis sometimes just need someone to listen to them.

May the Lord help us all to become better listeners.

Course 10 Week 2 Main Posting Area

Please place your posts for week 2 here.

Spiritual Care-Givers and Boundaries

One of the things in ministry that is a chellenge is to be involved with helping people. Sometimes we are thrust into the postition of being a spritual care-give. That seems to be overwhelming. We have to learn to help without bringing everyone's problems home in such a way that they negatively affect our health or our family. How can we do that?

One the things that can help us, because we deal with so many people who have problems, is to remember that "we are responsible to people, not for them." I don't remember where I first heard that quote, but I have found the principle to be helpful for relieving stress in my own life when it comes to trying to help others.

We don't have all the anwers, but we know we can point people to the One Who does have the answers. (The challenge is that sometimes the Lord speaks to us only in a whisper, or even seems to be silent--that is why personal Bible Study is so important. Our mind being saturated with Scripture helps us with objective truth when our personal subjective experiences cause us concerns.) We can gently put things in a spirtual perspective when we are thrust into the role of "spiritual care-giver."

Creation and Christ

For me the importance of Christ in the area of our salvation actually begins with the very first words of the Bible.

All Christians agree that God created the universe instead of the universe evolving without a design.

While there are some Christians who subscribe to the theory of an "older earh," I believer the "young earh" Creationists present very credible arguments.

Even those who subscribe to an older earth theory, should, in my opinion respect the young earth theory proponents. The young earth theory certainly fits in better with a literal reading of the Bible. (My view of that is that the literal reading is always preferred unless a figurative meaning is obvious.)

Don't we all agree that God created?

Life's Confusing Moments

One of the things that is a challenge in pastoral care is helping people deal with life's confusing moments. The Book of Job gives some help in this respect.

You remember that God challenged Satan to "consider [God's] servant, Job." Then the Lord allowed Satan to bring all kinds of tragedy including sickness.

When Job was covered in boils,three friends came to comfort him. They did well, at first, by just being there and silently sympathizing with him. Then they started getting philosophical. They decided that Job must be experiencing this troupble because he had committed some sin in his life. Job knew this was not true, and he told them so. However, they continued to argue along that line of thought.

In Job 26 you can see:

The Folly of Man's Wisdom,
The Power of God
The nearly silent (whisper-NKJV) voice of God

and then in the context of the whole Bible, you can put this chapter into perspective when considering;

God's Plan of Salvation

There are four points you could use. (I did this morning as a guest speaker.)

If they are helpful, take them, revise or improve them, and add to them for messages of your own. Help yourself!

Some basic thrusts are that we cannot see the whole picture, but we know enough about God to know the He is trustworthy, even when we don't understand all that is going on. God is powerful, but known only to Him are the purposes of when He chooses to exercise that power in this life. God provides salvation, and, ultimately, that makes life worthwhile.

I hope you had good services this morning, and that God will bless you the rest of the week.

Pastoral Care and The Exclusive Claims of Christ

Last term, I embaked upon some study dealing with the exclusive claims of Christianity. This term, I will be immersed in Pastoral Care, and observing and interacting with your textbooks as well.

So, I plan to make my posts in this section over the next few weeks relating to any one of those three topics.

I am beginiing to see how my thoughts of how important the Second Person of the Trinity is actually colors how I look at life--and how it relates to my reading of the words recorded in the Bible.

"Preaching" and "Jesus and the Gospels"

I have enjoyed your comments up to this point. Asking each other questions will be helpful. Roger, you and I could do Tyler a great service by asking him questions about some of his chapter titles since he will have so many choices about what to comment on. Tyler, since you have been through Roger's course already, you may be able to ask about some of the things you wished you could have discussed with someone else.

The Rockbridge Seminary course is off to a good start too. We only have six students in the class this time, so that will make some of my grading assignments a little easier.

Course 10 Week 1 First Day!

Good morning, everyone,

This first week, as always, serves several purposes. We are to introduce ourselves to each other. I like it because I spend more time interjecting myself into your discussion than I do later in the course. You get to practice making posts, and a lot of purely social posts will be counted toward your goal of making nine quality posts. I remind everyone that, during a regular week, you will need an initial post in each forum by Thursday.

My wife and I both grew up in Southern Illinois. (If you are from southern Illinois, you capitalize the "S" :) !) I accepted the Lord as my Savior when I was eleven years old. During my senior year at Southern Illinois University, I recognized God's call to preach. Two years later, I married my wife Rhonda.

We have lived in Kansa City, MO (seminary), Fort Worth, TX, (seminary) and Memphis, TN (seminary), Chester, GA (pastoring, first child, Rachelle), Eatonton Georgia (associate pastor, Christian school principal, next three children, Ralanna, Rusty, and Rita Beth), Thompsonville, IL (Pastoral staff, principal), Lewisville, TX (pastoral staff, writer/editor for Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E.), professor of Christian college) and back to Thompsonville, IL, where we have been for the last 22 years (a couple of pastorates and a church plant.)

Since all our names begin with "R" we were affectionately dubbed "the RC six-pack" at one of our churches.

The Lord has sent all of our children wonderful mates, and they all are involved in church. My son, Rusty, his wife, Brenda, and their two-year-old daughter, Grace, are Career Missionaries to Japan. You can check out their ministry here.

I resigned from my church last April and am currently involved in a speaking/writing/missions ministry. My most recent trip was to Acun(with a "tilde" over the "n")a, Mexico. My wife and I plan to make trips to Hokkaido, Japan, and to Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. I addition to that, I plan to make several more trips to Mexico, another one to Japan, and one to South Korea.

If you are interested in our speaking/writing ministry, please check out the website, The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage. If you refer a church to that website, make sure they also see the "special arrangements" page.

I have been in ministry for 39 years. I look forward to sharing with you during the next few weeks of this course.

Tyler and Roger, I think it will be the three of us again for a while.

Course 10 Week 1 Main Comments

You may place your comments for week 1 anytime after 12:01 a.m. Wednesday in the comments area below.

Remember that this is an introduction week. Tell us about yourself again, or give us some new information about yourself. The week is also a practice week for posting. Any comments that are at least 3 sentences long will count toward your total. In the weeks that follow, you will have to have certain types of comments to gain points.

Look at the section that describes the weekly requirements to learn how to get points.

Have a great time!

New Course Starting Tomorrow

As mentioned earlier, we will be starting a new course tomorrow. If you are intrested in joining us, look over the requirements and send me an email at rcarneysurvey@yahoo.com.

I look forward to being with you again. I started the course, Pastoral Care, at Rockbridge Seminary this morning. It looks like it will be a good course.

New Course Starting Wednesday

We will be starting a new course Wednesday. If you would like to sign up, read the infromation on the sidebars at the left. Then send an email to rcarneysurvey@yahoo.com. We will set you up with the ability to make regular comments.

Visitors are always welcome to join the discussion too. Just click on the word, "comments" at the bottom of any post.

I will be doing double duty this time as I will also be teaching the course, Pastoral Care, for Rockbridge Seminary. To learn more about Rockbridge, click the link in the sidebar on the left.

If you would like to book Dr. Carney for a speaking event, please visit the website,
The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage. Then send an email to rcarneysurvey@yahoo.com and put the word, "Speaking" in the subject line. (Go to the "Special Arrangements" page for a discount for churches.)

Have a great day!

Grades

Tyler, and Roger,

Check your email for your grades.

You both did an outstanding job this term!

Tyler's Posting Area

Tyler, you may post your comments here while we are waiting to start the new course.

Roger and Corey, we will start a new session the day after the next Preachers Meeting.

Course Wrap Up

For this term's course wrap up, write a summary of the course. Include any comments about things that will have the potential to help you in your ministry, or tell what you wish would have been covered in the course.

Course 9 Week 8 Main Comments

You may place your comments here anytime after midnight Monday night.

Course 9 Week 7 Main Comments

Please place your main comments for week 7 here.

Course 9 Week 6 Main Comments

You may place your comments for week 6 here anytime after midnight on Monday. You have been doing a good job of carrying this by yourselves. Thank you.

I hope to see you all tomorrow night.

Course 9 Week 5 Main Comments

Please place your comments for week 5 Under "The Saftey Factor . . . " post. There is an explanation there. I hope to get back to the position of being able to post about the exclusive claims of Christianity soon.

The Safety Factor in Making Truth Claims

We have been talking about the fact that almost every major religion makes exclusive claims to truth.

Some have said that it sounds arrogant for Christians to make the claim that Christ is exclusively the way to Heaven. While Christians certanly are capable of making arrogant statement (and capable of making a whole lot more mistakes too), that does not mean that it is not possible to make truth claims without being arrogant.

Aside from sounding arrogant, some making truth claims can be so narrow that to oppose them can be very dangerous. I know of no nation that has been heavily influenced by Christianity that puts a person's life at risk if he or she claims another religion other than Christianity. However, there are countries where it can be very dangerous for a person to convert to Christianity. Countries, such as, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iran, are examples of places where a person can put himself or his family at risk if he were to convert to Christianity.

The bottom line is that it is possible to talk about the truth in a loving manner. That should be the desire of all Christians.

The Exclusive Nature of Truth Claims

Pilate, when Jesus was brought before him, asked the question, "What is truth?" That question implied his hopelessness and frustration with real meaning in life. Can we rely on anything?

Since we believe in absolute truth, we also become aware of the exclusive nature of claims to truth. Our society tries to make the claim that "Everything is relative." There is a problem with that, and we will note it in a minute. Christianity, on the other hand acknowledges that "some things are relative, and some things are absolute."

Since every major religion makes claims of exclusivity, it is not really fair to claim that Christians are arrogant when they make the claim that there is only one way to Heaven. The Christian claim is no more arrogant than the claims of the other religions.

Truth, by definition, is exclusive. If something is true, then opposing items must be false. The opposite of truth is certainly excluded by truth itself.

Some People try to deny this (that statements contrary to each other are exclusive). However, the assertions they make that are regarded as "truth" and yet are contrary to each other are nothing more than opinions. Look back at the statement made earlier: "Everything is relative." Another way of stating that principle is "There are no absolutes." Now, concerning truth, others may say "there is no exclusive nature to truth claims."

Let's look at the words that are used by those making the statements mentioned in the last paragraph. "Everything is relative." "There are no absolutes." "There is no exclusive nature to truth claims." Did you notice that those are all absolute words? They are all absolute claims.

My son puts it like this: someone says, "There are no absolutes." Then he asks, "Are you sure about that?" Then they might slip up and say, "Absolutely!"

Truth inherently is exclusive. If something is true, then something contrary to it is false.

In your comments this week, I challenge you to see how claims to truth relate to what you are studying. Tell us how truth, or surety of truth, affects preaching and doctrine.

Almost Every Major Religion Claims Exclusivity

Sikhism is a challenge to both Buddism and Hinduism. Atheism excludes many with theistic view points. Baha'ism claims to embrace offshoots of most major religions; however, while it is inclusive of many viewpoints, it does exclude others who claim to be exclusivists.

Hinduism Claims Exclusivity

Hindus claim to have a very tolerant faith, but when you look more into their belief system, you find that, yes, they claim to be very tolerant--as long as you buy into their belief system as it speaks of truth. What is that belief system? It is syncretism. Syncretism is the attempt to bring together different, or perhaps even apparently opposing, beliefs. So, they are intolerant to those who believe in absolute truth, such as that which is presented in the Word of God. Since they exclude others, they too claim exclusivity for their belief system.

Course 9 Week 4 Main Comment Area

You may post your comments for week 4 below anytime after 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

Course 9 End of Week 3

Today is the last day for week 3.

I hope you all are enjoying your study. I think that Tyler has already finshed his course on doctrines. It turned out to be much shorter than either one of us expected.

Course 9 Week 3 Main Comment Area

Sorry, Fellas,

I made a trip to Dunn Loring, VA, (a suburb of Washington D.C.) to speak at Jameson's (my sixth grandchild's) baby dedication service. On our way home on Sunday evening, the fuel pump went out on our car. We were towed to a town about 18 miles back down the road. We could not get anyone to work on the car until Tuesday.

I will extend the deadlines for the bonuses by two days for each one, but we will still try to end the week on Monday.

Tyler, the comments you made on the Muslim's Claim to exclusivity posting area, will count. Roger and Corey, if you have already made some in another posting area (like last week's), they will count already too.

All new comments should be placed below.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Muslims Claim Exclusivity

We have been talking about the fact that Christianity is not the only religion that claims to have an "only way" to God.

Muslims claim to have the truth. They believe, if I understand it correctly, that the Koran gives the only truth about such matters; however, they believe that translations of the Koran only corrupt the truth. So, if you really want to know the truth, you must understand Arabic and study the Koran in that language. Also, you must have an advanced standing when it comes to comprehending the Arabic language.

I mention these other claims to exclusivity as a foundation for saying that if you want to include some of them as having another way to God, there is a problem with that as far as what they claim themselves. They would not accept the other ways (other than what their claims are).

Exclusivity Seems Offensive

A claim to exclusivity when, it comes to getting to Heaven, seems offensive in our culture of relativism. A buzz word of the day is that of "pluralism." Religious pluralism means respect for all religions.

While we respect all religions, it really is not fair to say that "anything will work." If I wanted to go from here (Illinois) to Atlanta, GA, I would need to go east. Someone would say you cannot get there by going west if you stay in the United States. Others would make a case that if you kept going west (outside of the United States and all the way around the world), you could eventually get to Georgia. (Of course, you would have to go a little south too.)

If you went straight north or south you would never get there. It would not matter whether saying that was offensive or not. You just would not get there. All roads do not lead to Atlanta.

While there may be more than one way of getting to Atlanta, we do have to agree that not all roads lead to Atlanta.

Likewise, not all religions get to heaven. Especially if they have contradictory points. This does not prove there is only one way, but it does narrow things somewhat. The question is, "how far are things narrowed down?" That is the question with which the Bible deals.

Christianity's Claims to Exclusivity

While you are going through your materials this time, I plan to do some study on Christianity's claims to Exclusity. Christianity sometimes comes under fire because of its claims that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. This is often done in such a way to makes it appear that Christianity is the only religion that makes such claims.

But, is this really the case?

I will share with you some of the things I find out.

Couse 9 Week 2 Main Comment Area

You may use this area to make your comments starting anytime on Tuesday (after midnight on Monday).

I will try to join in better with you next week.

Again, good job, for each of you getting started.

Cpourse 9 Week 1 Last Day

Today marks the end of week 1.

All of you did a good job getting startecd. Your goal was to make 9 comments this week. Count them and see if you need any more.

Tomorrow starts a regular week. Read over the requirements again, and take off for week 2.

Anyone wanting to join us as a regular participant must do so by tonight or tomorrow. Others, of course, are welcome to join the discussion by commenting on our posts.

New Materials

So far, we know that we are going to be dealing with doctrines and preaching. One of the ways of dealin with the doctrinal issues is to major on them as they relate to orthodox Christianity in general, and to learn from the denominational distinctives that are presented too.

Sean emailed me and said he will be sitting out this time. Corey is gone for a few days, but he hopes to be able to give several posts this weekend or at least on Monday.

I think I emailed your transcripts to you. If you did not get them, please let me know.

Again, it is a great time to solidify your thought on doctrines and to learn great communication tips for preaching.

Course 9 Week 1

Enter your posts for week 1 in the comments section below this post.

This week, as usual, is an introduction week. Please try to introduce yourself. If you have done that before, you may paste it in here again, or you may tell us something else about yourself.

Your first or second post should include the title of your book or DVD course. Then list the table of contents from the book (or at least the chapter titles of all the chapters if it has an expanded table of contents.)

You will try to make 9 or more posts this week. They can basically be about anything, but they need to be at least 3 sentences long to count toward the 9. You can make other posts that are shorter than that, but they won't count toward the minimum requirements.

Anyone is welcome to join us this week if he has a book that he would like to study. Just send an email to rcarneysurey@yahoo.come, and we will set things up.

Taking Off a Little While

Our next local Preachers Meeting will be in August. We will rest a little and regroup then. In the mean time, I will periodically put some posts on various topics here.

Have a great summer.

On Our Way Home

This is late Friday night, July 17. I am able to hook up in our motel room.

We had a great couple of weeks (9 days of church services and teaching seminars). About 20 people (probably more) made professions of faith in Christ this week! It is great to see people recognize their need of Christ and come to Him.

I guess this is the last week of this course, ending on Monday. I will try to catch up emailing your previous grades before then.

I heard that Roger acknowledged his call to preach at Unity last Wednesday night. Praise the Lord!

We will probably be home tomorrow afternoon. Lot's of catcvhing up to do. Hope you all are doing well.

Several Services

Hi, Guys,

We have had three services at Pastor Antonio's church. (Bro. Roger, you will remember Pastor Antonio as being the head of the orphange we visited that had the banana tree in the front yard.)

Last night, we had our first service at Pastor Jose's church. (Bro. Roger, he was the pastor (under Bro. Carlos) of the church where we had the service in the open air. His church is now where Pastor Carlos' used to be.)

There were six salvations or decisions for Christ last night, with many more coming for prayer. In all, we estimate about ten salvations, or at least decisions that appeard to be salvations, on this trip.

Hope things are going well.

Tomorrow is when I start the first of three days of seminars for pastors. I may not be able to get back online until Thursday or Friday. I may not even to get to read all your posts today. I hope you are discussing among yourselves and finding the posting areas O.K.

Catch you later!

Church Service

We had our first service last night at Pastor Antonio Ramirez' church in Acuna, Mexico. Bro. Roger did a good job of preaching with a new interpreter. He spoke on the subject of "Who Jesus Is." We prayed with serveral Christians for various needs after the service. Pray for tonight's service.

We had probably between 55 and 60 there. The building, like many down here, had no air condintioning, and I'm sure the temperature earlier in the day had been over 100 degrees! We took bottled water in with us, and we all seem to be doing O.K. today.

Del Rio

We have made it to Del Rio, TX.

We will have our first church service here tonight. Be praying for Roger Odom, who will be bringing the message. I got on at the library in town. Keep conversing with each other, and I will check in when I can.

Sulphur Springs

We made it to Sulphur Springs, TX, today. Tomorrow, we should make it to Del Rio, TX, and the rest of the time we will be crossing the border quite a bit to minister in Acuna, Mexico. We will be involved in revival/evangelistic meetings at three different churches, and we will have a seminar for pastors while we are there.

I hope things are going well for all of you.

Scroll Down

I have put up posting areas for the next two weeks. Scroll down to find the appropriate places to put your posts, depending on what date you are posting.

Have a great finish to the course. I will touch base with you when, or if, I can.

Course 8 Week 8 Course Wrap Up

Anytime during July 14-20, place your course wrap up, which is worth 4 points, in the comments section below.

Anwer these questions:
1. What was your book or course about as a whole? Try to state what it was about in one comeplete sentence (or at least a short paragraph if you cannot do one sentence.)

2. What were the major parts of the course? Tell what the themes of major sections of the book were.

3. What were some of the important words in the book? List at least three. Without looking at a dictionary. Tell what you thought they meant when you first read them. Optional: Tell what they seem to mean as the author uses them. Then (not optional) look them up in a dictionary and tell which dictionary meaning seemed to be closest to what your guess was as to what the word meant.

4. Evaluate the book according to its practical application. Tell how this book has helped you in your ministry, or how you think it may help you in your future ministry. If you don't think it will help, tell why you think that.

Course 8 Week 8 Main Posting Area

You may place your first question here anytime on July 14-16.
You may place your answers to questions as well as your other regular posts here anytime on July 14-20.

Course 8 Week 8 Initial Posts

You may place your first two posts for week 9 here anytime on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 14 and 15.

Course 8 Week 7 Main Posting Area

Besides your first two posts, please place your first question here anytime on July 7-9. You may also place your answers to those questions as well as the rest of your regular posts any time during July 7-13.

Course 8 Week 7 Initial Posts

Please place your initial posts for week 7 here on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 7th and 8th.

Posting areas

I am going to put up the next two sets of posting areas. I will be in Mexico the next two weeks, so I am not sur how often I will be able to get online, if at all.

Stever Arnold and I will be accompanying Roger Odom of the Many Hands of Christ mission ministry. We will be involved in revival meetings at three different churches and a seminar for Pastors.

You all know what to do, so discuss your materials among yourselves.

Handling Crises

Roger's book spoke of many men of God who handled crises in their lives in such a way that those crises drew them closer to God. (Please understand that they may not have always handled all of them well, but at least some of the crises in thier lives were handled well by them in such a way that they were drawn closer to the Lord.)

Can you think of a time in your life when a crisis brought your closer to God?

Paul's Letters

The letters the apostle Paul wrote are such a blessing to us. They contain deep theological truths coupled with practical living. One of the best descriptions of the process of salvation is found in several Scriptures in the book of Romans.

His letters also emphasize that salvation is by grace through faith. Praise God for His wonderful grace!

Course 8 Week 6 First Question

Please place your first question for week 6 in the comments section below.
You may use this area after 12:01 a.m. of Tuesday, June 30.

Course 8 Week 6 Initial Posts

Please place your first two posts for week six in the comments sections below:
You may use this area after 12:01 a.m. of Tuesday, June 30.

Course 8 Week 6 Main Posting Area

This week, place your initial posts in another place. Also post one question in another place. Then place all of your other posts in the comments sections below.
You may use this area after 12:01 a.m. of Tuesday, June 30.

Focusing on the Homegoing

Today was the funeral for George Flanagan.

For nearly two years, he was married to my Aunt June. Though he was not doing well physically, these last few were some of the best of his life--as far as having a relationship with the Lord goes. He and his wife, June, had devotions twice a day. In the morning, he would tell about what he had been reading. In the evening, she would tell about what she had been reading (both books were devotional books.)

Some of you are talking about the characteristics of a man whom God uses. A strong devotional life could be one of those characteristics.

Sunday

Today, I preached at God's Tree of Life in Pittsburg, IL.

This afternoon, we had a meeting for the workers for Camp Jericho.

Tonight, we went to Busby Chapel Free Will Baptist near Goreville, IL. I preached and Ralanna, Rhonda and I sang. The chuch took up an unexpected offering for us. Praise the Lord that moves us to having about 70% of what we need for the Mexico trip coming up in July.

It was a good day. We have our daughter, Ralanna, from Nashville, TN, and her two daughters, visiting with us. Of course, Grammy and Grandad are loving that.

A Homegoing and a Sunday School Record

My uncle by marriage, George Flanagan, passed away yesterday. His funeral will be at Mt. Zion on Monday morning at 11:00. Visitation will be at 10:00. His pastor from South Carolina will be here to preach the service.

Tomorrow will mark the Sunday that my aunt June will have been in Sunday school for 73 consecutive years. I don't know if that is a world record, but it is certainly remarkable. George had encouraged her to go ahead and go to Sunday school on that day, no matter what happened.

May the Lord grant us the grace such that our loved ones will no where we have gone when the valley of death casts its shadow. Praise the Lord.

Course 8 Begining of Week 5

Hi, Guys,

I enjoyed learning how to put up the videos. I liked the smile that was frozen on the first one better than the look of intent (some might mistake it for a frown :) Ha, on the second one.

My ISP has been down for a while. I hope getting this posting area up on Tuesday afternoon will be O.K. for you. If it caused a problem, let me know.

Otherwise, we will all try to catch up. I know Corey is having computer problems, but he was able to get on and make at least one comment.

Course 8 week 5 Main Posting Area

Please place your comments for week five in the comments section below.

End of Week

More Reluctant Leadership--Response Postings

In the continuation of our discussion this week, include in your answers to each other, comments in the main posting area, or in the comments section below, more discussion of reluctant leadership.

How have you experienced this? How have you overcome it in the past? If you are comfortable, you culd even tell what you may be struggling with now (but that's not requred.) Those are some ideas for taking this dicussion to anoter level.

Hava a great day.

Relucant Leaders

Corey said of Moses, "[Phillip Yancey] compares Moses to people who took over when communism fell in some places in asia and Europe, and when Czechoslovakia split. Explaining how Moses was a reluctant leader."

Sean also spoke of Moses and compared him to Joshua, saying, "[The chapter he read] spoke of how God had to somewhat encourage Moses to lead at first, he hesitated. But Joshua immediately answered and took action. Maybe he learned it from Moses that its best to act quickly when the Lord asks."

When God gives us opportunities, are we quick to make excuses, or are we more like Joshua. Which is better--to make a mistake by jumping and trying to serve the Lord when the opportunity presents itself, or to hold off saying we are not sure we should do what the opportunity presents?

If you are honestly trying to serve the Lord, don't you think that he can make His direction clear while you are trying to do something for Him? If you are supposed to do something and are not doing it, is it possible that the opportunities presented to you will become less. To him who knows to do good, and does not do it, it is sin. Which is better to jump in with the slightest inkling of light or direction you have, or to to keep not responding using your unsureness as an excuse?

Hopefully you don't have to make that choice, but I think we should try to respond with a willing heart when God presents us with opportunitiess--all the while asking Him to confirm His will. Sometimes it may take months for God's confirmation to fully come through. How much lost ministry would happen during that time--if you had failed to serve when an opportunity was given you?

On the other hand, when you are serving with a willing heart, the confirmation comes little by little, or God will give you a new direction just as you need it. In that case, ministry has taken place. Which is better--to serve while trying to get clear confirmation--or to avoid serving while trying to get confirmation?

We do want to be perfectly within God's will in any case, but I caution us to not use the excuse of "unsureness" to avoid the next step God would have us to take within our lives.

The Drive for Evangelism

Tyler talked about the churches that were growing. He said that one of the things that characterized them was their focus on leading others to Christ. It was seen it that everything they did was either directly, or indirectly, related to this focus.

Let's have a drive within ourselves to see others come to Christ.

Course 8 Week 4 Main Posting Area

You may begin posting here after 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, June 16.

How God Shapes Our Lives

Bro. Roger said,"There are many ways God shapes us. He can shape us through life experiences whether good or bad he can use those time to shape us. He can shape us through blessings,through a crisis, or through tragedies. As a matter of fact God can use anything that happens in our lives to shape us. The question is, are you shapable? The key to being shapable is the condition of your heart."

I pray that our hearts will be "shapable"!

Man Goes to His Long Home

I am preaching at Union today for their homecoming.
Ecclesiastes tells us that man goes to his long home. That long home is eternity.

It's important to know that that will be a good experience as opposed to a bad one. Thank the Lord that He provided a way for us to enter in Heaven and our eternal long home will be a good one!

Response Postings

I usually am encouraged to encourage you to take things to a deeper level. What is the most profound, most important, or most practical idea that comes to you because of this study (can relate to other students' books as well as your own.

The Childhood of Jesus

We don't know much from the Bible about the childhood of Jesus other than the time Joseph and Mary missed him on their journey and went back and found Him teaching in the temple. However, there may have been some clues from historical studies about the culture of that day. Do any of your books give much information on this topic?

Course 8 Week 3

We have completed the first quarter of our course. Now we move into the second quarter.

What has stood out to you the most so far from what you have been studying? It could be new information that has come your way, or it could be something that you think you will try to apply in a very practical way.

Course 8 Week 3 Main Posting Area

You may use the comments section below for your comments for week three after midnight on Monday, June 8.

Course 8 Week 2 Last Day

This is the last day for comments for week 2. You have until midnight tonight to get in any further comments to count toward this week.

Your comments have been especially good this week. Keep up the good work.

Visitors are always welcome to join in the conversation. Just click on the word, "commente" below any main post. Each week, there is a post called the main posting area. That is where most of the discussion takes place.

Union--Relationships

I preached at Union, near Thompsonville, IL, this morning.

We had been talking about relationships. I often give a testimony about events leading up to my profession of faith in Christ. One of those events involves a conversation between two young men about their assurance of salvation. I walked away from the conversation without joining in because I did not have anything to say about my assurance of salvation. Later that week, the Lord used that memory of that conversation to bring me to Him.

One of those young men attended Union at that time.

I am scheduled to preach again at Union for their Homecoming next Sunday morning.

Exclusivist!

Christianity is sometimes when the exclusivist postion is taken, but many fail to recognize that most religions have an element of exclusivity.

Jesus is the only way to Heaven, but "the grace of God hath appeared to all men." That makes things fair and makes it so that anyone has a chance. That is inclusive, but it is often left out in some discussions.

Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. Without exercising faith in Christ, there is no basis for a biblical assurance of salvation.

Relationships--Response Postings

Here is a copy of my response to Tyler earlier this week.

"57 % is a clear majority. Isn't it, Tyler. That many say that relationships had a part in getting them to come to church.
"
What about all of us? Did relationships play a part in our coming to church--or did we decide to attend a church from some other reason?"

"In my case, of course, my parents took me to church--so, relationships played a part. Another thing, though, is that one of my best friends in grade school attended our church. Another one attended church, just a couple of miles further away. After that, my circle of friends seemed to be formed from people (kids) whose families went to church."

For this week, along with your regular posts, give us an example of how relationships played a part in our coming to the church we attend (if they did). You may place those posts below this one or in the main posting area.

Our Questions

One of the weekly requirements is to ask your fellow students questions.
Since we are all posting in the same area, I want us to be aware of the questions asked. The following items need to be responded to in the posting area. (You may have to copy and paste to refresh us on what question you are asking.)

Here are the questions so far:

What about all of us? Did relationships play a part in our coming to church--or did we decide to attend a church from some other reason?

I feel I've been fortunate to be a part of a church that has been growing. I could agree with what the book said. But my question is, whats the formula to keep it going?

I hope that I can be better at getting to know people that I don't know that well. What do you guys think about ways we can help our churches grow?

Taking the Gospel into All the World

Today, my wife and I took Evangelist and Mrs. Larry and Ginger Sauvageot to the airport, where they departed to New Zealand. They will be there for a couple of months, and then they will go on to Australia. They have family in Australia, but the New Zealand opportunity came through other contacts. They are faithful to go where the Lord leads, but Bro. Larry has a heart for Revival to take place in the United States of America.

In a little over a month, I will be leaving with the Many Hands of Christ ministry to go to Acuna, (pronounced, "Uh-coon-ya") Mexico. Among other preaching or speaking opportunities, I will be teaching a seminar for a group of local pastors on their requested topic of "Faith."

We should take what opportunites we can to share the Gospel--whether in our hometown or as far as the Lord will let us travel.

We also can be involved by sending as well as going personally.

If the Lord impresses you to help with this trip to Mexico, send an email to rcarneysurvey@yahoo.com, and I will give further details as to how you can do that.

May the Lord bless all of you in your ministries as you share the Gospel!

Course 8 Week 2 Main Posting Area

Everyone posting in the same area seemed to work last week, so we will continue to do that.

Course 8 Week 2

This is the beginning of week 2. We got used to posting last week. This week academic posts of 3 or more sentences will earn points according to the course guidelines.

Course 8 End of Week 1

We are off to a good start, with everyone weighing in this first week. The week ends at midnight tonight, so if you need to make somre posts, go ahead and get them in. Otherwise, I look forward to the dicussion for the rest of the course.

This Term's Topics

Church Growth
Old Testament Survey: Poetry and Prophecy
The New Testament: Its Background and Message
The Bible Jesus Read

Those are what we are studying this time. Three books about the Bible and one practical ministry book.

Thanks for the Introductions

Thanks for the introductions. I think it is great that the Lord will use us in whatever way he sees fit. May the Lord bless our study this time.

Course 8 Week 1 Main Comments Area

Please post your introductions (unless you did it under the other post), initial comments, questions, social comments, jokes, etc. in the section below.

This term we are going to try to have your comments all mixed together, just to see how that will work. If it does not work well, we will go back to setting up your individual topic areas.

Course 8 Week 1

As always, our first week is an introduction week.

We often use it to just get used to posting and finding our way around.

Most of us have already introduced ourselves several times. You may go back and find an earlier inroduction and just copy and paste it here again. You do need to have one comment telling about yourself.

I have been involved in a writing/speaking/missions ministry for the last several weeks. It has been great to see the Lord provide our needs during this time. Also, a possible trip to Mexico now really is planned for July 6-18th. That's a little about me. What about you?

If you want to start with your book this week. Divide the number of chapters in the book by 8, and that will tell you how many to deal with this week. If you wish to wait till next week to start on it, you will have to divide the number of chapters by 7 at the beginning of that week.

Your first post for you book should give the title of the book and the chapter titles (like the table of contents.) When everyone does this, we have an idea of the overview of each think you are studying.

Basically, though, this week, any comment you make that is 3 or more sentences long will earn points.

So, have fun. Give testimonies. Share prayer requests. "Razz" each other.

Course 7--Last Day!

This is the last day of course 7. All posts need to be in by midnight.

It has been good to have all of you participating. We will start again on Course 8 this Wednesday.

I trust your study has been a blessing this term.

Course 7--Last Day!

Winding up--the practical issues.

Roger and Corey, your courses were a little more on the technical side of things, while, Sean and Tyler, yours were a little more on the practical side of things. However, everything we study can make a difference. As a result of taking your courses, what difference will what you have learned make in yours or someone else's lives? Or, what difference CAN what you have learned make, even if it is not something you can immediately put into practice?

Was there anything you learned that you put into practice in your own ministry during the last eight weeks?

Is there anything on the topics covered that you wish the author or instructor would have covered in more detail? If so, what?

If you would like, you can incoporate some of this thinking into your final comments for this week.

New Course

It will be time to start a new course next Wednesday. I look forward to the "live" preachers' meeting Tuesday night. The last one, where the deacons joined us was great! Bro. Andy Lee will be teaching this time.

Let me know if you need a break or if you will continue on the next term.

Course 7 Wrap Up

Here is your assignment for the course wrap up.

Answer the following four questions.

1. In your own words of one sentence (or a very short paragraph), what was your course about as a whole?

2. What were three important words in your course?

3. What did you think those words meant before you looked them up in the dictionary? Did your thinking about the meaning of the word change as you went through the course? If so, give your changed definition. What dictionary definition seemed to be closes to your guess for the meaning for each word. Do this for each of three words.

4. What were the major parts of this course for you? (How was the marerial divided up? Don't divide and divide. You should be able to identify any where from 2 to 7 major divisions in your course material. If you need help with this one, email me.

Place your finished course wrap-up assignments in the comments section below. This is worth four points.

Week 8 Corey, Roger, Sean, and Tyler's Posts

This week, I am asking all of you to post under this section. Place your initial posts, questions and answers to questions here.

Course 7 Week 8

Hello, Everyone,

I am trying to send you emails that will catch up informatin about your grades.

This week, you will need to do your two initial posts as always. This should finish up your materials. Ask a question early in the week. We need all those bonus points!

If you have not completed the "word-detective assignment" for this term yet, you need to do that this week.

Catch Up Time!

Good morning everyone,

Another storm last night! Hope you all made it well through it.

We can play "catch-up time" now.

Please get your initial posts in for this week: the ones about the titles of your chapters. If you haven't completed the word-detective assignment from an earlier week, you need to get that in. This week's assignment is to try to state what one of your chapters or video lessons was about in one complete sentence.

Have a great day!

Power Back On

Most of us should have our power back on by now. We need to get back into making posts unless tonight's storm takes things out again!

Course 7 Week 7 Bonus Points

Course 7 Week 7 Prayer Requests

Course 7 Week 7 Roger's Topics

Course 7 Week 7 Sean's Topics

Course 7 Week 7 Tyler's Topics

Course 7 Week 7 Corey's Topics

Inland Hurricane

We have had such high winds here, over 100 MPH at times, that many of us have been without power and ways to get online. This is my first day back, and I am only doing this by way of a generator.

If that was the case for you, let me know. We will make some adjustments for the schedule change last week and the first part of this one.

Hope you all are doing well.

Word Detective Assignment--An Example

Word Detective--An Example

What does this completed "word-detective assignment" look like?

Tyler has provided a great example:

He said,

"I have only found two words that I did not understand.

"1. papacy
guess- something ran by one man
2nd guess- somethin to do with
the pope
definition- the system of ecclesiastical government in which teh pope is recognized as the supreme head

"2. magisterial
guess- simple state of something
2nd guess- headed by a person of
authority
definition- of, pertaining to, or befitting a master, authoritative; weighty; of importance or consequence"

You can see that his guesses did relate to the dictionary definitions, but they (his wording) is a little easier to understand. You also see he grasped the basic meanings. (It would have been O.K. even if he completely missed the dictionary meanings. In that case, he would have really learned something in the process.)

Here is my response:

"Very good, Tyler,

"You get the prize for the first on the word assignment.

"You can just pick out a third word. It can be one that you do think you understand.

"Still do the steps: Write the word; write your definition; see if your definition fits as it is used in the chapter; then compare your understanding with a dictionary definition. Sometimes even familiar words are given more specific meanings during this process. Sometimes not, but we usually go through the process at least once during the term because sometimes you may find a word that is very hard to find in a dictionary, or the dictionary meaning might relate to a different field. You also sometimes "firm up" the meaning of the word as you go through the process.

"Good job on the two you have done. I hope everyone else learns from your example. Everyone should read the comment at the bottom of the assignment post too. That tells how to do this if you have already read your chapter."

For our focused response postings this week, continue on with your discussion, and be sure to include your results of the assignment. (For those who need it, you can get three posts out of this also if you do a post for each word.)

Word-Detective Assignment

Yesterday, I mentioned about finding the important words in any writing or communication. Review that post to identify those types of words.

Here is the assignment.

Pick three important words. You may have an idea of what they mean or they may be completely unfamiliar to you.

Step 1 -- without consulting a dictionary, write down the important word.
Step 2 -- based on the context in a sentence, (like replacing the word with a blank underline--like a "fill-in-the-blank question), write down your first impression of what the word means in this chapter.
Step 3 -- each time you come across the word again, see if your first impression or guess still fits. If so, go on. If not, write down an alternate meaning for the word or refine your original guess. If you do refine it, write down the second guess, etc. Keep doing that until you come to the end of the chapter.
Step 4 -- look up the word in the dictionary AFTER GOING THROUGH THE ABOVE STEPS. Compare the different different definitions the dictionary gives to your final guess as to a definition of the word. Write down the one that is the closest. (Most of the time you will find that you did at least get close. If not, still write down your guess and a dictionary definition--and chalk things up to experience.)

So, your final report for this assignment will be like this:
1. word 2. original guess 3. subsequent guesses if the original changes any 4. final guess 5. dictionary definition that most closely matches your homemade definition (if there is one close--if not, write down the one you think matches best to what the author was talking about.)

Do this for three different words.

(Yes, these reports do count toward your required number of posts for the week.)

Course 7 Week 6--Important Words

When you are studying any writing, it is important to identify the important words in a document? They obviously are the words that are used to describe the central meaning of the writing. They fall into several categories:

(1) The major words in a descriptive title (not necessarily those in a "cute" title, those that are in a title that really describes the theme of the writing. This is not to say that "cute" titles should never be used.)

(2) Common words that are emphasized by the author.

(3) Common words that the author is using in a specialzed way. He may be using the word in a different way from its common meaning.

(4) For each reader, the most important words, for him or her, are the words that are unfamiliar. It it is a word he has never heard of, that, of course is important to him because he needs to be able to understand it to understand the rest of the document. It may also be a word that he has a vague idea of the meaning.

This week, as I do each term, I am encouraging you to become a "word detective." I will tell you how to do that in tomorrow's post. (Those of you who have taken the course before know how to do this, so you could begin today if you wish.)

Course 7 Week 6 Bonus Points

Course 7 Week 6 Prayer Requests

Course 7 Week 6 Sean's Topics

You may use this Tuesday morning (after midnight Monday night.)

Course 7 Week 6 Roger's Topics

You may use this after midnight on Monday evening (Tuesday morning.)

Course 7 Week 6 Corey's Topics

You may use this Tuesday morning (after midnight tonight).

Course 7 Week 6 Tyler's Topics

You may use this after midnight Monday.

End of Course 7 Week 5

We have until midnight tonight to get in the required posts for the week.

Great Quarterly Meeting

We had a great Quarterly Meeting this weekend. Bro. Tyler, Bro. Dale, and Bro. Andy brought wonderful, inspiring, and challenging messages. We also congratulate those who were licensed as ministers and deacons today.

Academic Posts and Social Comments

Sometimes we make purely social comments that are not related to the academics. Those are great, and they really spice up the conversation, but they sometimes do not count toward the minimum number of required academic posts. Bro. Roger's comment, listed below this paragraph, however, shows how to combine a social comment with the material we are studying. These types of posts do work.

Here is that good example: "Hey Sean, hope every thing is ok on your end, missed you last week, and I saw your post was on good preaching, last night at the preacher/deacons meeting we heard some good preaching, Bro. Eddy Donaldson broght a good message and inspiring one at that. Don't you think good preaching is like throwing gas on a fire?"

See, Sean's academic post was on good preaching, and Roger's post was relevant to Sean's comment.

Corey has been doing some other writing. If he can show a creative correlation between what he is writing and what some of you are studying, he can cut and paste and get double mileage out of some of what he has already written.

For response posting instructions this week, have some fun and see if you can make some more of these posts that relate the academic material you are studying to social comments or events.

I look forward to Quarterly Meeting this weekend at Unity. Tyler, we also are looking forward to hearing you preach tonight!

Course 7 Week 5 Prayer Requests

Please give us your prayer requests and updates below.

Clarification

I just read the post I made. It sounded like I mean that we had finished week 5. Actually, we are just beginning week 5. The end of week 4 was the half-way mark.

Half Way--Course 7 Week 5

It is hard to believe that we just finished the half-way mark of Course 7 Week 5. It has been a good journey so far, and it has caused to think about the Gospels, the Old Testament, Church Growth, and pastoral ministry.

Here is a reminder of how we get started each week. Most of you know the drill quite well. Make at least two initial posts in your posting area. The first one will be the name of the course, and the names (or numbers of the DVD's) of the chapters or lectures you will be covering during the week. The second one will be a comment on one of those chapters. You will receive one point for getting the first post in on Tuesday or Wednesday. You will also get a point for getting at least one more initial post in.

I look forward to seeing you tonight at the Live Preachers and Deacons Meeting!

Course 7 Week 5 Bonus Points

I will keep up with your bonus points for the week here.

Course 7 Week 5 Tyler's Topics

Please place your initial posts here.

Course 7 Week 5 Corey's Topics

Please place your initial posts here.

Course 7 Week 5 Roger's Topics

Please place your initial posts here.

Course 7 Week 5 Sean's Topics

Please place your initial posts here.

Course 7 End of Week 4

This is the last day to get in your postings for week 4. We slacked off a little last week. Those who had bonus points built up will benefit greatly from that. Of course, some of you may not even need the bonus points because you may be planning to catch up today.

We had a good day yesterday, visiting the church I grew up in. Bro. Kent Dunford did a wonderful job of bringing the message about the parable of the talents. Then last night, we went to Grange Hall, Sean and Tyler's church. Tyler was away, preaching at Marion First church. Sean helped me out by running the Power Point presentation as I spoke. Rhonda, my wife, gave her testimony and sang. We enjoyed the time at Grange Hall. I am thankful that some signed up for the "Gideon/s 300," which represents a monthly commitment of $10.00. These gifts will allow us to participate in mission trips to Mexico, Japan, and Australia during the next three years. It will also give me the opportunity to finish the book, The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

Have a great day, everyone. May the Lord bless you in your personal ministries.

Bro. Randy

Bible Study, Prayer, and Church Growth

Our topics of study this week revoleve around the Gospels of Mark and John, as well as the book of Psalms We are also studying about the Pastor's Prayer Life, Pastor's Study, and Church Growth.

Church growth involves the commitment of the pastor whose life will be enriched in his Bible study and prayer life. The Gospels, of course, show us the earthly ministry of Jesus. The Psalms give us the example of the devotional life of David, and Sean's book gives further practical advice as it relates to the 21st century church.

Course 7 Week 4 Bonus Points

I will keep up with your bonus points for week 4 here.

Notice: the deadlines for the bonus points for this week only are extended by one day.

Initial posts in on Wednesday and Thursday.
Question before Saturday morning.

Course 7 Week 4 Corey's Topics

Sorry, Corey,

I should have had this up for you yesterday. I was out of town most of the day.
You may extend the deadlines for bonus points. If you get two initial posts in on either Wednesday or Thursday, you will be able to get those two bonus points. If you ask a fellow student a question before Saturday morning, you can get the third bonus point. I hope that helps.

Course 7 Week 4 Roger's Topics

Sorry, Roger,

I should have had this up for you yesterday. You may extend all the deadline for bonus points by one day.

Course 7 Week 4 Sean's Topics

Sorry, Sean,

I should have had this up for you yesterd. You can extend all the deadlines for bonus points by one day.

Course 7 Week 4 Tyler's Topics

Sorry, Tyler, I should have had this up for you yesterday. You can extend all the bonus timelines by one day.

Pioneering Ministries

Some of the things we are studying this term relate to Church Growth. One of the things that helps in this area has to do with having a core group of people who have a vision AND a Christian worldview. Where do you get a group of people with a Christian worldview? First of all, such a worldview comes from strong Christian families.

How did we get away from such a worldview in the United States? Many things contributed, but one of those was a move away from prayer and Bible Reading in the Public schools. Yes, I remember such, not so much actual Bible reading, although I'm sure it could have been done, but especially prayer in my grade school. I also remember a teacher in the fifth grade who told us a continuing story each day. Toward the end of that story, there was a happy ending. A boy who had been through all kinds of hardship was reunited with his father. He was afraid at first, but then he found out that he had a "new Dad." Why was that? It was because his Dad had been saved! That was in public school.

In 1963, a great confusion moved upon education, and talk about God--as well as the cherished concept of "academic freedom" began to be removed from the system. That is described in Ben Stein's movie that came out last year. The name of his movie was "Expelled." He basically described how credible evidences for Intelligent Design were being unfairly presented, and suppressed, by the established order.

Where can you get help to restore a Christian worldview? Christian schools can help with this. However, when a young person goes off to a secular university, he often becomes confused because so many things come his way from a non-Christian, and sometimes anti-Christian viewpoint.

Yesterday, I went, along with three other individuals from West Frankfort, IL, to Springfield, IL, to see what would be required to start a Bible school which would move through four phases: Phase 1, Bible School offering certificates; Phase 2, Accredited Bible College offering degrees; Phase 3, (Christian) Liberal Arts College; Phase 4, (Christian) University. The last two phases would be institutions that offered more than religious courses, but from a Christian point of view.

One aspect of my past (and probably present) ministry has been helping new ministries get started. This is sometimes called "pioneering."

The meeting yesterday was very encouraging. I began to feel almost a year ago, that the Lord was going to move my wife an me in a new direction. I knew nothing about this interest in a Bible college in the area until I had already told my church that I was going to resign.

I don't know if much will come of this, but I am willing to lend my experience in the area of pioneering ministries. Would you join with us in prayer about this undertaking?

The Bittersweet, But Good, Day!

If you have followed Bro. Roger's topics, you will notice that we have talked about a bitterseet experience. Yesterday, was my last day as pastor at Unity. It was bitter or sad because Rhonda and I really love the church and each of its member, but it was also sweet.

One of the reasons it was sweet was because of the response to the invitation on Sunday morning. One person came to pray about discovering his own personal ministry. A young lady came and rededicated her life, and young (some might say he is young middle-aged:)) married man also rededicated his life.

It was also sweet because Rhonda and I had already received our last check from the church almost a month ago, and we have several things that needed to be taken care of by the 24th of this month. Individuals gave enough gifts to cover that need. That was also additional confirmation about the step we are taking. Also, several people signed up to give on a monthly basis. Praise the Lord!

We look forward to being at Grange Hall this Sunday night. Bro. Kevin has requested that I preach on a particular topic relating to marriage.

I look forward to seeing some of you then!

Praise God for His goodness!

End of Course 7 Week 3

Week 3 ends at midnight tonight.

Bittersweet

Bro. Roger's chapter this week is about Deuteronomy, and it has to do with "a taste of bittersweet."

In your responses to each other this week, please try to work in a discussion of something being bittersweet. Alternatively, if that doesn't seem to work in around your regular conversation points, you can post a comment about this below this posting area.

What does "bittersweet" mean?
How come something be bitter and sweet at the same time?
Are there some types of candy that are bittersweet to you?
When have you had bittersweet experiences?
Have you had transition times in your life that are bittersweet?

Perhaps those questions will give you some ideas for discussion.

Great Discussion

Great discussion last week. Keep up the good work! Your questions to each other and your follow-up comments are very good.

Course 7 Week 3 Bonus Points

I will keep up with your bonus points for week 3 here.

Course 7 Week 3 Prayer Requests

Course 7 Week 3 Roger's Topics

Please use after 12:01 am on Tuesday.

Course 7 Week Corey's Topics

Please use after 12:01 am on Tuesday.

Course 7 Week 3 Tyler's Topics

Please use after 12:01 am on Tuesday.

Course 7 Week 3 Sean's Topics

Please use after 12:01 am on Tuesday.

Course 7 End of Week 2

Week 2 ends at midnght tonight.

The conversation has been very good this week. You need to count your posts, and if you still need to make some to bring your total to 9, you need to get thiem by midnight.

We had a great morning at church yesterday, and a good time with Joe Arview and Thunder at church last night. The have an exciting ministry of going to NASCAR events and playing music in such a way that it opens doors for witnessing.

Check Your E-mail

I know we have a lot of visitors who follow this post, and they are welcome. You four local participants need to check you e-mail though for a message of how I appreciate the difference you are making in my life, and in the lives of others!

Church Growth and Health--Preaching, Witnessing, Assimilating

The common thread of our studies this week relates to church growth and health.

We talked about the need to preach the Word. Roger agreed with this and said, "Amen to that Bro. Randy, I know that there is no substitute for the "word of God". Salt may have one, sugar may have one,teachers may have one, but there is no substitute for God's holy word. That is to our benefit as well as to the ministry, we don't have to choose between the two, we have one gospel and that is all we need!!!!"

Then we also focused on witnessing and received some good tips for that. Corey has much experience in this area, and I am looking forward to his sharing about that. Sean gave several practical tips for witnessing that came from the material he is studying. Here is one of them: "He [the author] gave another point in getting back the control of the conversation when a person gets sidetracked or changes the subject is to say 'Let me ask you this question', he gives an example of a person saying, 'I went to church and the pastor was caught doing something, or a person was a hypocrite and so I quit going'. He would say 'Let me ask you this question, will you answer for this or will the person doing the act answer for it?' His point is that people are more willing to talk about things if you ask them for their opinion instead of making them feel like they are being told something."

Beyond that we discussed the importance of letting people know what they are getting into when they make a commitment to join the church. This is sometimes difficult to do when you want to be welcoming to those who might be interested. In most of our congregational churches, in the past, all a person had to do to join the church was to come forward during an invitation and let their desire be known. In the last several years, some of these same types of churches have been requiring people to attend a "class" or "session" that explains the commitment they are making when they want to join the church. I think there is quite a bit of value to this. For others, though, this is too non-traditional. One thing we do, however, when people want to join our church, is to read our church covenant to them, and ask them if they are ready to begin to attempt to live up to the ideals that are expressed there. Tyler's study sparked our discussion about this. He said, "The DVD was about the character of a preacher. He went into great detail about not drinking alcohol. I agreed with everything he said. He also talked about the fact that we need to tell people who want to join our churches about it in detail and explain to them why it is important." Roger raised the issue of the importance of challenging people to understand what they were getting into. Sean gave a great testimony about his personal experience along this line.

In some of our comments for the rest of the week, let's focus some more on assimilation: taking people from being "attenders" to becoming "members." What do some of you think about a "class" requirement for those who would want become official members of your church? What would be the advantages? What are the disadvantages? How well would it be received by your more traditional-minded members? Would such a change be worth it? Is such a requirement "wrong?" You may comment in relation to the general discussion in any of your posting areas or even in the comments section below this post. Let's think about this a little.