countering culture with the TRUTH of GOD's word
Recently I saw a social media friend of mine (who also happens to be a pastor) post the following question: “What are you going to do about your complacent approach to Jesus and His church?” And it got me thinking about the many times… Continue Reading “S4ep13 – Complacency in the Church and How We Can Begin to Reverse It”
Among some of the other profane things being yelled by someone not happy with our presence was this question: “What are you going to do for them?” By them, she meant the children we were there to save. This question is loaded with bogus… Continue Reading “S4Ep7 – It Takes a Village (The Churches Response To Abortion)”
He knew better. He knew teachers would be judged more harshly. He knew that invoking God’s name in these abuses was a direct violation of the 4th commandment. He knew that the things done in the dark would be brought to the light. He knew the consequences of sexual sin. So… why?
Testimony time! (NOTE: Car pictures is NOT my car) So, I have the day off. I was getting in my car to go visit my wife at work and get a coffee, when my car got stuck in the mud of our driveway. As… Continue Reading “Sowing Seeds of Kindness”
It’s Black History Month…and I am reminded of the “I have a dream” speech that Dr. King gave as he fought for the rights of the community he represented…the black community. His words were simple and powerful…and, like a sword, they pierced to the… Continue Reading “Dr. King, I Have a Dream Too!”
The following is a peak behind the curtain at a discussion between the Angry Christian Podcast hosts via Facebook messenger as it relates to the effectiveness of the new Arizona Bill HB 2650 aimed at charging those who get an abortion and those who… Continue Reading “Abortion and A Homicide Charge – Arizona Bill HB 2650”
Donald Trump has lost his campaign to regain his seat as President, and as of tomorrow, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the new president. Now what?
Yesterday I posted an article where I began to raise some questions about the immense amount of focus that gets placed on the role of the pastor. If you haven’t read it, check it out HERE. I talked with my wife a little bit… Continue Reading “The Unexpected Familial Casualties of Being a Pastor in the Modern Church”
Over the years of my life I have noticed something that few like to talk about or question and that is this: why there is so much emphasis placed on pastors in the church? Especially when one takes a look through scripture and you… Continue Reading “Why is so Much Attention Given to Pastors Over all the Roles Found in Ephesians 4?”
There are many applications of the definition of foundation. It is the underlying base of support that a building is built upon (see def. 4 and 5 above). It is an institution that donations can be made to (see def. 3 above). It is… Continue Reading “The Indispensable Worth of Discipleship and the Longevity of Faith”
What is worship? Can governments restrict worship? Can churches really be shut down? We talk about this and more!
In a time when racial tensions are high, people often want to bring Jesus into it. Not just from a “what would Jesus do” aspect, but also from “What race was Jesus?”. So, in this episode, we explore that a little. Was Jesus white? Was Jesus black? Tune in to find out where we land on this question.
On episode 2 of season 3, we continue our discussion and exploration of who Jesus is by asking the question, “Was Jesus a Warrior, a Pacifist, neither, or both?”
You see, we’ve spent countless years building our little castles in the sand, adorning them with seashells and other ocean matter, inviting people to come see what we have done instead of inviting people into a relationship with a mighty God and see what HE is doing, enjoying ourselves immensely as the masses are entertained, only to have 2020 come in and a virus come along and wash it all away.
There is such a thing as an optimal environment for everything in life. Optimal environments for raising children. Optimal environments for pets. Optimal work environments. Optimal health environments. And so on. There is one thing I’ve been learning with my wife as we explore… Continue Reading “Optimal Church Environment”
Imagine with me, for a moment, a Church where… there is no paid staff, and the pastor and other staff do not rely on the local church to provide for their families. there is a pastor, and other leaders are organically raised up from… Continue Reading “All Has Been Stripped Away, But Will We Simply Come?”
It’s Saturday night. I’m laying in bed, everyone is asleep, and two incidents from the week keep replaying in my mind involving each of my sons oddly (well perhaps not too oddly) leading me to some thoughts about discipleship: Incident 1 – Declan (4… Continue Reading “Discipleship: Sunglasses and Bike Rides”
Most churches are still putting a great deal of effort into making the 1 hour Sunday gathering viable over the internet for most of their church body. Some are making efforts to find discipleship opportunities outside of Sunday morning. And unfortunately, a great deal of people are still screaming that they want things to go back to the way they were.
Seeing all of these reactions, I can’t help but ask, should we go back?
When we recorded this the number of cases was around 182,000 worldwide and the US was in the #6 spot for number of cases. As of writing this post, we are over 380,000 cases today and the US is now in the #3 spot… Continue Reading “S2 Ep004 – COVID19 – To Close or Not to Close”
The Democrat Debate took place the night we recorded this episode and it got us thinking about some things. Does God have a political party? Is it fair to say “Not My President”? Is it possible to agree with those on the “other side” on various things without supporting their overall political platform? How do we get to a better place in our political discourse? Does the Bible have anything to say about politics? These questions and more we discuss in this episode of the Angry Christian Podcast.
I’ve got to admit that I do miss the predominantly black church. The big choir, the animated sing/preaching, the dancing during praise, the soulful southern gospel style of music — almost everything. Yes, it is easier to go and be with people that also… Continue Reading “Black Christian/White Church”
Join us for Ep001 – Battle of the Ages, where we discuss the ongoing and ever growing battle between the ages within the church body. Modern church growth strategies often elevate targeting young families as the best and most important growth model…but is it… Continue Reading “S2 Ep001 – Battle of the Ages”
Matthew 19:13-14 NLT – One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”
What is to follow is a response from me to the article, Why Churches Should Ditch The Projector Screens and Bring Back Hymnals that was posted to http://www.thefederalist.com back in June of last year (2019). I have seen this article numerous times before, and had debated on responding, but it seems to have resurfaced again, and so I felt a respectful push back would do the discussion some good. And that is what I intend to do.
Please note that this article is not intended to attack traditional churches, or solely support contemporary churches, but to directly address the points made by this author in his article. As a worship leader, I have a deep appreciation for all aspects of church musical worship, so I appreciate and see the value in it all.
I used to be obsessed in a very unhealthy way with politics. It consumed my thoughts, my actions, my social media, my discussions, my arguments…it very literally consumed everything. I spent many years expressing my views about all things political, and it was exhausting. It’s Election Day 2019, and here are some of the thoughts running through my mind on the matter.
We have all been there before. Someone (or perhaps even it is us) is trying to communicate something very important but the delivery of the message is conducted in such a way that it immediately causes the hearer to throw up walls, tune them out, or flat out reject the message. It doesn’t matter if what is being communicated is true, important, or eternally impacting…the delivery is simply abysmal and causing more harm than it is helping.
It was his sixth grade year and the boy was not only in a new school, but he was in a new city and a new state as well. Every aspect of the life he once knew had been uprooted and planted firmly in the middle of the state of North Carolina in a small town called Wake Forest.
I used to be pretty critical about those who didn’t “go to church”. Clearly, they lacked something I didn’t because they didn’t want to be AT church. Clearly they weren’t as committed to God and the Church as I was…I who was on staff… Continue Reading “Don’t Just Judge, Judge Rightly: An Inconvenient Truth”
Today felt lively. The local church showed up in great numbers and there were prominent voices in the abolitionist movement present. Joseph Spurgeon, R.C. Sproul Jr. and Rusty Thomas were among the more widely known voices pleading for the lives of the unborn among… Continue Reading “Murder Mill Musings #003”
Question: Why do you believe the bible? Answer: Because it’s a reliable collection of historical documents written by eye witnesses during the lifetime of other eye witnesses that reported supernatural events in fulfillment of specific prophecies. Finally, they claim that these messages are divine… Continue Reading “Divinity”
Recap: In the previous entries on apologetics, I’ve shared the emphasis God puts on knowledge and the unique composition of the the bible. In this entry, I’ll share the next reason I believe what the bible says and why I think you should too.… Continue Reading “Eye Witness Testimony”
In part one of this series of entries about why I trust the authority of scripture, I explained how important wisdom is. God doesn’t want us to be uninformed about the legitimacy of His claims, who He is or the implications all that has… Continue Reading “The Reliability of Scripture”
Notice: All of the answers you’re looking for are in the bible. I, a pastor, or any well educated theologian can tell you all about what we believe, why we believe it, and what we know about history that corroborates with it, but you… Continue Reading “Apologetics Intro – Bearers of Truth”
THROWING UP THE WALLS Since I’ve begun my foray into examining and critiquing modern Church practices and settings in hopes to find what the Church really should look like, I have found that from the moment I began I have been met with a… Continue Reading “Obese Church VS Keto Church”
On January 20th, 2013, my life changed drastically in an instant. In the span of maybe an hour, I went from looking for trouble at the bar to being distraught at the realization that I was at the mercy of a God I didn’t… Continue Reading “Identifying a True Christian”
THE MOVEMENT Around 1997, a man by the name of Jay Shafer began a now growing and increasingly popular movement known as The Tiny House Movement. The purpose or vision of most who are moving toward the Tiny House movement is really quite simple:… Continue Reading “The Tiny House Movement: A Big Lesson for the American Church”