getting involved in the community

I attended a Pastor’s Luncheon today to learn about different areas of ministry in Manatee County, Fl. I’ve talked with Dan over at Jesus and Java about how churches should be focused more on the community around them than the inreaching that always occurs within the body of believers. To make a long story short…I signed up to pray the invocation for our City Council Meeting in March! What a great opportunity to really get involved and make a name for the church in the governing body of this town! Churches should be involved in what their government is doing. I preached a sermon once that raised the question that if our church had to close it doors…would the community around it mourn the loss of the church as being a vital part of their city? county? state?

Should Christians Support Starbucks?

I know the very title of this post is going to raise eyebrows and begin the process of hate-mail but I must get this off my mind! The answer is NO! They shouldn’t! If you are truly a Christ Follower, would you support the advancement of the New Age, Zen Buddhism, Mysticism, etc.??? Under the disguise of casual interactions with friends, over-priced (and low quality coffees), and social status is a little company that has made its way into the store shelves. This company is the the supplier of Starbuck’s Teas…TAZO

  You can visit their site by clicking here. Did you know that they claim each box of tea is “blessed by a Shaman” ? This is a crying out to all who read and even are daily drinkers of coffee to banish Starbucks from their vocabulary and checkbooks! You might be saying that you don’t drink tea so it doesn’t affect you…I site the many verses in the Bible warning us not to partake in the ways of the world and having nothing to do with paganism. So come on “Christians” stop giving your money to companies that support everything you “believe” to be wrong.

Hard To Get Along With Someone?

We all have that someone at work, school, church, family, etc. that we just have a hard time loving and getting along with! What do you do with them? Click Here for the answer! You may not like it.

I’m Up Before the Firing Squad Today!

Tomorrow Evening at 6:00 p.m. I will be taking the next step in my ministry and becoming ordained. Many have chosen to be ordained before entering college and their first “jobs” at a church but I chose to wait. I had never been approached with being ordained by any of the churches I had been a part of and I feel it is the duty of the church to recognize, nominate and ordain someone. I’ve always felt that if I was the one to bring it up or ask to be ordained it would be selfish.
Today is my ordination counsel here at church. I’ll be sharing with other pastors, deacons of the church, and others about my testimony, call to ministry, education goals, theological beliefs (which is the part I’m worried about answering…I know what I believe, but some of my views aren’t the traditional Southern Baptist’s), and whatever else they decide to hurl my way.
When someone gets ordained there is a orientation of praise, recognition of achievement, etc. and I don’t want that. Yes I will have the “REV.” before my name from now on, but it’s a prefix I don’t want to flaunt around like some in the media light do. Anyways…I hope I come out alive!

God and Politics

Now that I am back from Orlando I have much to share with you readers in the next few days about The Florida Renewal Project Conference I attended. Let me start off by saying that this was an eye-opening, jaw-dropping experience for me as the Christian morality of this country in the realms of politics has been steeply decreasing. It seems that most Christians feel that they should leave politics out of the church and their lives. Wrong! It is our God-given duty to elect the right leaders for our government. To not care (not vote) in my opinion is an absolute sin in God’s eyes! We must vote based on our Christian values, not on a party preference or getting one candidate in over another one.

Also, the Florida Marriage Amendment is falling short of petitions due to and audit (I feel it was corrupted by the ACLU) and If you have not signed it, are registered to vote in Florida, and feel that marriage is between one man and one woman, then click here…sign the form and mail it now. It must be in by Tuesday the 29th in Orlando. Get as many as you can and sign it now!

Looking forward to sharing with you some thoughts from the speakers like David Barton, Newt Gingrich, Tim Lahaye, John Hagee, Bob Mcewen, Mike Huckabee, and others. Do not forget to vote on Tuesday!