Review of Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger

It recently came to my attention that I never posted my book review of the book Simple Church over here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts. I realize that many of you may have already read this review, but at least some of my readers have not read it - or, if they have, they were not able to comment on it at SI due to the fact that they are not members at SI, so I am posting it here as well. (By the way, my review of When You Pray: Making the Lord's Prayer Your Own by Philip Ryken has already been submitted to SI and should be coming up at SI shortly.)

Book Review of Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger - review written by Pastor Frank Sansone

About the Authors
Thom Rainer is the president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, a frequent speaker and church consultant and author of sixteen previous books, including The Unchurched Next Door, Eating the Elephant, and Breakout Churches.

Eric Geiger is the executive pastor of Christ Fellowship (formerly First Baptist Church of Perrine), a large, multi-cultural church in the Miami area.

Review of Simple Church
Simple Church is one more in a myriad of books that deal with the issues of church growth and effective ministry in churches. In Simple Church, authors Rainer and Geiger attempt to show that the key to vibrant churches is to do away with the complexity of multiple programs adapted for various purposes and instead to redesign the church around a single, simplified process. While Rainer and Geiger seem to overstate some of their research to make their point, Simple Churchhas some materials and insights that can be a help to pastors and leaders who feel like they have become managers of programs rather than ministers to people.

"Out of complexity, find simplicity." With this quote by Albert Einstein, Simple Church begins its push to encourage church leaders to simplify. In fact, on the first page, it promises, "This book will help you design a simple process of discipleship in your church. It will help you implement the model you have chosen. It will help you simplify."

The authors begin with the fictional story of "Pastor Rush" to exemplify a typical, harassed pastor struggling with too much to do and not enough time to do it. They then argue that "simple is in" (p. 8 ), using Google, Apple, Papa John's, and others as testimonies to the importance of simplicity and stating that while these organizations understand the value of simplicity, growing and vibrant churches know this as well. In other words, if you want to be a "growing and vibrant church," you will need to know this truth as well.

After arguing for simplicity in general, the authors then look at two specific churches—one that is "simple" and one that is not. After setting up the picture of what a simple church looks like in contrast to a non-simple church, they argue that "simple church leaders are designers, not programmers" (p. 59) and indicate that many churches need an "extreme makeover" in order to become "simple." They define a "simple church" as "a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth" (p. 60).

Following their "hunch" (p. 63) that "vibrant and growing churches" are streamlined and simple and that struggling churches are complex and cluttered with programs, they present research to test their theory.

After evaluating several churches they identified as vibrant churches with a simple process, they conclude that the four key elements in a simple church are "clarity," "movement," "alignment," and "focus." They used that information to develop a survey they referred to as the "Process Design Survey." The survey consisted of 20 statements to which the respondents had to indicate their level of agreement (from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"). Their research then consisted of disseminating that survey to 407 churches—210 churches that had grown five percent a year for three consecutive years (the "vibrant churches") and 197 churches that had not grown or had declined over the same three-year period (the "comparison churches"). Using the results of this survey, the authors provide examples of simple churches, detail the four key elements of simple churches, and relate those elements back to the research, making application
to the readers.

Clarity, Alignment, Movement, and FocusClarity—They define clarity as "the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people" (p. 111). They challenge church leaders to consider the fact that "if the process is not clearly defined so that everyone is speaking the same language, there is confusion and frustration."

Movement—They define movement as "the sequential steps in the process that causes people to move to greater areas of commitment" (p. 139). They argue that "stagnant believers and congested churches go hand in hand" (p. 136).

Alignment—They define alignment as "the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process" (p. 168). They explain that "it is not enough to unite the church around the same what (purpose), but they also must be aligned on the same how (process)" (p. 168).

Focus—They define focus as "the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process" (p. 203). They exhort church leaders to focus on one thing. Also, they add that "while clarity, movement, and alignment are essential, they are meaningless without focus" (p. 203).

In the concluding chapter, the authors use Malachi 1 and examples from the medical field to urge church leaders to "Change or Die" (p. 229). They outline a four-step process (connected to the four key aspects of a simple church) for becoming a "simple church." They conclude by declaring that "the simple church revolution has begun" and by asking, "Are you in?"

Rainer and Geiger succeed in producing a readable book that deals with an important topic. The need for various aspects of ministry to function together should be evident to most pastors, but it is easy to hold onto specific programs long after they fit their main purpose due to traditional or pragmatic reasons. This book does a good job of challenging that paradigm and encouraging the reader to consider the "how" aspects of what is going on in the church. Church leaders are exhorted to refocus and pursue a unified process in which discipleship and spiritual growth are intentional rather than accidental.

The concepts about hiring staff with the "process" in mind are also interesting. I would hope that churches and pastors would understand the need to bring on staff that are a fit in ministry philosophy, but based on some of the examples given, I wonder how often hiring is the result of a person's talent or reputation instead of how he fits into the overall picture of what the church is trying to accomplish.

When it comes to areas of research, I have some concerns about statements regarding some of the conclusions of that research. For instance, several times the authors state that something is "vital" though even when the majority of "vibrant" churches have not indicated they "agree or strongly agree" (the standard the authors use throughout the book) with the statement the authors use to prove their point. While it would be accurate to indicate that there is a correlation in this area or that "vibrant churches" are more likely than "comparison churches" to do X or state X, to call something "vital" seems to raise it to a higher standard. For example, on page 148, the authors claim that "moving people through your ministry process is vital," and they give the statement they used to test that statement—"we are intentional about moving people from one program to another." The survey results to that question (on the next page) indicated that 37 percent of thevibrant churches "strongly agreed" or "agreed" with that statement compared to only 15 percent of the comparison churches. I wonder, "How can something be ‘vital' if even the majority of the churches the authors are promoting as ‘vibrant and growing' churches do not agree or strongly agree with the statement?"

When the reader looks at the survey results, he sees that there are some areas the survey does point out as being very important (such as having a class for new attenders), but in many areas the connections are not as strong as the authors try to indicate. The most blatant example of using statistics to make a point they do not make is found in regard to the statement "We limit the number of conferences and special events that we do as a church" on pages 216-217. Instead of following the pattern throughout the book of emphasizing the percentages that "agree" or "strongly agree" with this statement, the authors first point out that the "strongly agree" is 25 percent to 6 percent (vibrant versus comparison churches). If the reader looks at the actual data, he discovers that if he considers all three levels of "agree" with that statement, they are almost in a statistical dead heat (78 to 76 percent). (Due to the presentation of the data using bar graphs without corresponding numbers, it is difficult to be exact on any numbers except those
specifically mentioned in the book.)

Also helpful would have been to have the questions and resulting answers compiled together in an appendix. While the survey results are given, they are spread throughout the four chapters on clarity, movement, alignment, and focus. Placing the survey results together would have made it easier to evaluate the survey and its results and to consider other implications of the survey.

The book also seems to downplay the importance of Bible preaching and right doctrine. I recognize that early in the book the authors touch on this topic by saying, "Thom has written several books on the primacy of sound, biblical, and orthodox doctrine in growing churches" (pp. 14-15). As one reads through the book, he discovers that the focus is process-oriented and could conceivably work regardless of what a church preaches or teaches.

I found another feature to be disconcerting. As demonstrated through the churches highlighted throughout the book, there seems to be a general assumption that the main service(s) of the church are to be viewed as the way to attract visitors rather than to prepare saints. I realize that even fundamental churches disagree as to the nature of the Sunday morning service; but in every case, the process moved from the main service as a gateway to small groups or to ministry/service groups without asking whether the worship service should be the gateway for visitors to begin the process of spiritual maturity.

Simple Church is targeted at evangelical churches and pastors who are overwhelmed with the busyness of church and are looking for a way out. For this audience, the message of the book offers hope—hope that everything will get better if they become a simple church. While the authors agree in the second appendix that "ultimately it is God who brings growth and vitality to a local church" and "it is against the laws of research to assert causation" (p. 249), the book promotes the idea that if readers follow the authors' advice, their church can move from being a dying church to a vibrant and growing church.

If you are a fundamentalist pastor who has found himself more involved in managing programs than in ministering to people, the message in this book may be helpful to you. Consider the nature of the various programs in your church. Make sure they not only fit the purpose of your church but also contribute to the process of moving folks towards greater spiritual maturity.

I found the book to be readable, but the book's message could have been said in half as many pages. The authors clearly believe in the case they are making and make a strong case against the ministry schizophrenia that comes from incorporating fad programs from the latest conference. I found the material on "movement" to be particularly challenging since I've had to think through how to encourage people to move from being attenders to becoming more mature in Christ and eventually serving. I was also encouraged to implement a more detailed approach to dealing with new members or prospective members.

If you struggle with being overwhelmed in ministry, this book provides helpful suggestions for refocusing the ministry of your church and is worth getting a copy.

If you're not quite at that stage, the book provides a read that may help you to clarify how your church does ministry or to think through that process in your church and how you articulate that process.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

P.S.

Colin Adams has posted another good review of this book at Unashamed Workman for those of you who are interested.

Frank

The Cult of the Young

Ben Witherington has recently written a post entitled "Michael Vick's Mea Culpa". It is worth a read for his whole take on the Michael Vick situation, but his third contributing factor I found intereting.

3) And unlike Biblical culture, our culture is fixated on youth. 'Youth must be served' is our motto. So we watch endless programs with the young and the restless-- swimsuit models with barely any swimsuit and barely old enough to be beyond being called 'jail bait', young athletes, young this and young that. We even made up a phrase for it--- 'the Pepsi generation'. How very different this is from the culture of the Bible where it was the oldest and wisest who were most revered in society, and youth was deemed to be wasted on the young, who were too immature to appreciate such life and vitality. And here is an important Biblical point--- the person to be admired is the one smart enough to realize that youth and beauty are fleeting and vain, and cannot be recaptured once gone, but eternal life, is forever. Life is not too short when its eternal, and you have the gift of eternal life.

I still consider myself a young man (although now that I recently turned 38, I think that this youth is fleeting) and I think his use of "the Pepsi generation" reveals that he is a little "behind the times" :), but what about his point here?

I think that Dr. Witherington is correct that there is an inordinate fixation on youth in our culture. Not only is this seen in the entertainment fields such as the ones that Dr. Witherington mentioned, even more tragically it is seen in areas where it should be even more clear that age and wisdom are important - such as politics and education.

I would even go beyond Dr. Witherington to say that not only is there an inordinate fixation on youth within our culture, there is also an inordinate fixation on youth within our Christian culture. In recent years there has been much said about "Young Fundamentalists" (as well as Young Evangelicals and the Younger Evangelicals). There have been conferences specifically geared towards reaching out to them and how to deal with them has often been the talk of the blogosphere. I have heard of a few different pulpit committees that have made youth a significant part of their criteria in looking for a new Pastor. We often spend much more in churches to focus on the needs of children or youth than we do for the seniors or other groups. I know that there are some reasons for some of these things and I am definitely not anti-youth (I was involved directly in youth ministry for over a decade and I currently teach our teen Sunday School instead of the adult class at our church), but I wonder if sometimes we don't fixate on youth to the detriment of heeding and focusing on the grey heads among us?

Just my thoughts,

Frank

So, what say you, is Dr. Witherington correct or is he a washed up old man?

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Let Another Man - 2

My friend and fellow-blogger Chris Anderson made some comments objecting to my last post. I was going to respond to them in the comments section, but I decided to go ahead and address them in a post instead (it is a little too long for the comments section anyway).

Before I begin, I want to place the comments here so that you do not have to go searching for them.

Hi, Frank. I often agree with you. This is not one of those times. If you carry your position to its logical conclusion, anyone who specializes in a certain field is precluded from addressing it. Apply that to your ministry. You can't preach on the importance of the local church because you're a pastor. You can't preach on the need for women to submit to men in the home and church because you're a husband and pastor. Etc.

The only one authorized to address an issue would be the one least qualified to do so. It's absurd. Of course a seminary president has thought more about seminary than the rest of us. Of course missionaries on a foreign field have a perspective on supporting national which we don't. That doesn't make them right, but neither does it disqualify them from speaking to the issue. Again, the alternative is people waxing eloquent about issues which they have no interest in. How can that be a good thing?

How about this: we acknowledge that no one is entirely objective, then way their arguments on the basis of Scripture and logic, not their personal gravitas? I think that's the only sane answer.

My two cents, anyway.

Oh...I also think your use of Proverb 27:2 is a stretch.

And, of course, I consider you a friend. :-)

I will start by saying that I plan on saving the first part of his comment in my archives so that I can someday put together a puff piece of mine own. "Chris Anderson says of Frank Sansone, ‘Frank, I often agree with you.'" It will make a nice "blurb" on the cover of some future book. If I learn to use ellipses as well as Gail Riplinger, I might even be able to grab even more impressive quotes out of the comments.

Now, when I first started to respond to this post, I was prepared for a pretty strong defense of my position. In fact, this is at least the third draft of my response. However, as I have thought about it more, I think that Chris is probably more right on this than I am - although I also think there is at least an element of his understanding of my point where I think I was misunderstood - but that is probably because I failed to communicate clearly what I was trying to say. I do think that there is some validity to what I was trying to get across, however, so I do want to at least attempt again to make that point - but to clarify it a little.

First of all, I would like to clarify that I did not say that the cases made by the men in question were completely invalidated because of their position, but rather I stated, "the effectiveness of their cases were hurt because of who they were. "

Chris also commented that "if you carry your position to its logical conclusion, anyone who specializes in a certain field is precluded from addressing it" and, later on, "the only one authorized to address an issue would be the one least qualified to do so. Its absurd" and "Again, the alternative is people waxing eloquent about issues which they have no interest in."

Since Chris came to this conclusion, I think it would be helpful for me to clarify that this is NOT what I trying to say. I am not calling for the uninformed to pontificate - we already have way too much of that. Instead, I am calling for people to be careful in coming across too strongly as an advocate for a position that can clearly been seen to benefit themselves personally.

My last two paragraphs in my first post attempted to make this point and I think that since this is the heart of what I was trying to get across they bear repeating (with a small caveat to be included afterwards).

In both cases, a better scenario for addressing the issues at hand may have been to let it be handled by someone other than the individuals that handled it. In the case of the missionaries' presentation, a national pastor who had experienced and witnessed some of the same things that the missionaries wrote regarding could have more effectively written the paper - by doing so he would not have come across as self-serving since the position taken would not be benefitting him and he would have been less likely to reach so greatly in his justification of his positions. In the case of the seminary article, a more effective presentation may have been made by a seminary graduate who highlighted the value that going to seminary has added to his ministry - perhaps someone who was in ministry pre-seminary and went back to seminary for more education. This would have again brought more credibility to the article and helped to avoid some of the interaction that came across as elitist and "out of touch."

In both cases, a practicing of the principle espoused in Proverbs 27:2 could have avoided some of the problems in the presentation. Likewise, Pastors would be wise to have others be their advocates rather than seeking to be their own advocates. Even if you have a good point, it can be easy to come across as self-serving when you are pushing for things that can be seen as directly benefitting you and it can also blind you to other perspectives.

If you will notice, in this first paragraph, I gave two specific examples of the types of people who could make the cases better (IMO) than the ones who made the case. In neither case was I calling for someone uninformed to make the case, but rather for someone who was indeed informed, but not directly involved.

Now, in light of re-thinking some of this, I think a couple of clarifications are in order.

1. I think Chris' point about a pastor preaching regarding the local church and a man preaching about a woman submitting could be viewed as a violation of this thought, is an important point and one that makes me want to clarify that I am mainly speaking of opinion or distant application, not direct Biblical teaching. I would say that a Pastor who preaches something clearly in the Bible is not arguing for his own cause, but proclaiming God's cause. Perhaps I making a distinction without a difference in this, however, and to many it may indeed come across as a Pastor proclaiming the truth of the importance of the local church or the headship of the man, etc. is teaching something to benefit himself. So, in this case, it would seem that what I have said here is off.

2. I wonder if I was so put off in the way these things were done that rather than just indicate that the particular people involved came across as self-serving, I sought to make a principle rather than just deal with the particular problems presented by the particular articles/authors.

3. I am still pretty sure that a pastor having an advocate is a wise move. While a church should be concerned about paying their pastor properly, I don't think the wise pastor parks on that in his preaching. I am not saying that you ignore it when you are preaching on a book and the topic comes up, but don't be pushing it all the time or you will find it backfiring. Paul could make the argument in behalf of others, in part, because they knew he was not personally benefitting and that he had been willing to be a tent-maker.

4. I still think it is a good idea if you do find it necessary to address something that could come across as directly benefitting you and you cannot find an advocate in your behalf that you get others to read/listen to your point before presenting it so that you are not blind to your own bias' on the matter.

5. I still think that even though the Pastor could make a strong declaration of truth regarding submission of the wife, he would be unwise to attempt to be the one counseling his own wife in this area if there were a problem - but maybe I am just a wimp.

6. I can agree that Proverbs 27:2 may not have been the best verse for this. I was thinking of "praise you" to include the idea of talking about how worthy you were or arguing in your behalf, but I will admit that it was probably a stretch and I am sorry for making that stretch.

Just my (adjusted and hopefully clarified) thoughts,

Frank

Let another man praise you

Proverbs 27:2 tells us: "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

Twice in the last two weeks I have found myself reading an article written by individuals whose perspective on what they were writing made the nature of their writing suspect. In both cases, I am sure that the writers are good men and I actually agree with part of what they said, but the effectiveness of their cases were hurt because of who they were.

In one case, the paper was dealing with the issue of American churches supporting national pastors and evangelists on foreign mission fields. The writers of this paper were both veteran missionaries of the foreign mission field. There are definitely some benefits to writing such an article from that background. After all, I am sure that they have interracted with many nationals who have received American dollars. There are also some drawbacks from writing such an article with that background. One, it tends to come across as self-serving - the traditional missionaries are worried that the limited supply of missionary money is going to go to nationals rather than being used to support traditional missionaries. Second, it tends to become an apology rather than an evaluation. Instead of realistically looking at the pros and cons of such a situation and then evaluating those pros and cons Biblically, the paper took the unwise measure of overstating the points at time and actually hurt their cause rather than helped it. (If you followed some of their arguments to their logical extreme, for instance, you could actually make the point that you should not be supporting missionaries at all - which is clearly not what they were wanting you to conclude from the article.)

In another case, the article dealt with the issue of seminary training. I believe seminary training is a very helpful thing and, as such, I agreed with the main concept of the article - get all of the training that you can get. However, this is again a case where the person making the case may not be the best one to make the case. As an employee of a seminary, his pushing seminary education comes across as self-serving. Also, as an employee of a seminary, his article supporting a seminary education (and more importantly in this case, his interaction with those who responded to the article) seem to have limited his ability to look at the situation objectively and interact with those who question his conclusion in a manner that displays a charitable understanding of the positions of those with whom he is supposed to be interacting. The result of this is that the article and thread actually have the effect of pushing some away from his stated objective.

My purpose here is not to address and critique the particular articles in question. I may choose to do that at some point, but that is irrelevant to the point of this post.

In both cases, a better scenario for addressing the issues at hand may have been to let it be handled by someone other than the individuals that handled it. In the case of the missionaries' presentation, a national pastor who had experienced and witnessed some of the same things that the missionaries wrote regarding could have more effectively written the paper - by doing so he would not have come across as self-serving since the position taken would not be benefitting him and he would have been less likely to reach so greatly in his justification of his positions. In the case of the seminary article, a more effective presentation may have been made by a seminary graduate who highlighted the value that going to seminary has added to his ministry - perhaps someone who was in ministry pre-seminary and went back to seminary for more education. This would have again brought more credibility to the article and helped to avoid some of the interaction that came across as elitist and "out of touch."

In both cases, a practicing of the principle espoused in Proverbs 27:2 could have avoided some of the problems in the presentation. Likewise, Pastors would be wise to have others be their advocates rather than seeking to be their own advocates. Even if you have a good point, it can be easy to come across as self-serving when you are pushing for things that can be seen as directly benefitting you and it can also blind you to other perspectives.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Charles Spurgeon on Evolution

It is a rare thing for me to link to SharperIron, since I generally assume that anyone who reads A Thinking Man's Thoughts probably already reads SharperIron.

Today's blog entitled, "Spurgeon on the Bible and Darwinism, Part 1" by Doug Kutilek is worth stopping over there for a read. (Doug does not yet have it posted on his own site, so I am linking to the version on SI.)

Charles Spurgeon ministered in a day when Darwinian Evolution was coming to its forefront. To see his comments in the midst of the expansion of evolution were interesting.

I thought this comment was particularly interesting coming from one without the benefit of resources such as the Institute for Creation Research or Answers in Genesis.

There are abundant evidences that one creature inclines towards another in certain respects, for all are bound together in a wondrous way which indicates that they are all the product of God’s creative will; but what the advocates of evolution appear to forget is, that there is nowhere to be discovered an actual chain of growth from one creature to another,—there are breaks here and there, and so many missing links that the chain cannot be made complete. There are, naturally enough, many resemblances between them, because they have all been wrought by the one great master-mind of God, yet each one has its own peculiarities.

I assume there is a "Part 2" coming up as well.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Stop Picking On Me - Or Things I Like About Fundamentalism

This is a couple of weeks old, but Ellis Murphree over at "As For Me And My House" recently posted a short article entitled, "Stop Picking on Me" that is a refreshing read. In the midst of all the clamourng and complaining about Fundamentalism, Ellis finds and discusses 9 things he appreciates about Fundamentalism.

Those nine things include things such as "Solid, biblical teaching", "Quality music", and "Formal worship services" - things that I often hear are not present in Fundamentalism.

I think Ellis hits the nail on the head with this post and his experience in Fundamentalism lines up much closer to what I have experienced than some of the characitures of Fundamentalism that you typically read on the internet.

Go over and check out the entire article - Stop Picking On Me.

Wife convicted of killing preacher out of jail after five months in jail!

I am not a lawyer and don't play one on TV (that is a reference to an old commercial for all of you young'uns out there). However, the case of Mary Winkler seems like something is gone awry in the Tennessee justice system.

This past week, on August 14, Mary Winkler walked out of jail after having spent a total of seven months in custody (five in jail, two in a mental hospital)* for having shot her husband in the back with a 12-guage shotgun.

I am sure by now that most of you have heard something about the story. Her husband was the Pastor of a Church of Christ in Tennessee. According to most reports, he was well-liked and respected in the community. However, on March 22, 2006, his wife shot him in the back and took off with their three children to Alabama. Reports say that when Mary Winkler left, her husband was not yet dead from the shooting, but rather than calling 911 or trying to help him after what she said later was an "accident", she took the children and fled.

When she went to trial, she said that she had been the victim of abuse. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know if this is true or not. There was no collaborating evidence presented about the alleged abuse. The couple's nine-year old daughter testified that she never saw her father mistreat her mother (even though testifying as such could have caused this little girl who has already lost a father to also lose a mother to a long sentence) and Mary Winkler herself said under cross-examination that her husband did nothing for which he deserved to die. Police said that Mary Winkler had been involved in a financial scam and that this had led to some arguments on the nights she killer her husband. The jury, however, returned a "Voluntary Manslaughter" conviction rather than a 1st-degree murder conviction.

Now she is out of prison and out of the mental hospital and free. Something does not smell right in the state of Tennessee.

Some news reports regarding this story:

Mary Winkler Told Cops She Shot Minister Husband After Fight

Preacher's Wife Guilty of Manslaughter

Did Preacher's Wife Get Away with Murder?


Just my thoughts,

Frank


* The seven months include credit for five months she was held before her conviction. After her conviction, she only served 67 days, 60 of which was in a mental hospital.

The FFBC Blog on Hate Crimes Legislation

The FFBC Blog has a post about Senate bill S.1105 on so-called "Hate Crimes" entitled, The Danger of So-Called "Hate Crimes" Legislation.

(Please note: I am linking to something I wrote over there. It may be inappropriate to do so, but I thought the post was more appropriately placed over there and I wanted to make sure my readers here were aware of it.)

Regarding the AFA video - HT: Stephen Racite (via email) and then Chris Anderson.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Recommended Blogs for Pastors

In some previous posts, I mentioned that I was in the process of compiling a list of recommended blogs for Pastors for use at the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches Annual Conference next week in Montague, New Jersey.

This project got expanded on me a little bit to include Internet Resources for Pastors as well as Recommended Blogs for Pastors. This will be a one page (front and back) handout. I have split them into two posts, but I thought some of you might be interested in the final product and other readers might find the information helpful. I already realize that I left off some things I wanted to include (such as Sermon Audio).

Anyway, here is the Recommended Blog portion.


Religious and Pastoral Blogs

A blog is short for “weblog” and is a sort of online newsletter that allows for user interaction and comment. It is this interaction feature that makes blogs a unique and popular feature on the internet. Blogs are easy to start, but to post on them regularly often requires either a serious commitment to writing or a group effort. Many of the most successful blogs are “group blogs” which feature a group of writers who work together to post regularly. Blogs are often viewed as successful based on either a large readership or strong “linkage” - however, both of these can be manipulated and the relative value of any blog cannot be measured by these factors alone. Due to the relative ease of setting up a blog, almost anyone can have a blog and as Solomon might write today, “Of the making of blogs there is no end.” This continual growth of the number of blogs makes reading and evaluating them a hard task and I am sure there are worthy blogs that will be missed due to this fact.

While you can read a blog with pretty much any computer and browser (such as Internet Explorer), the prolific nature of blogs makes the use of a “Blog Reader” a helpful addition. A Blog Reader allows you to check all of the blogs you are interested in reading at one time by highlighting which blogs have new or updated information. Depending on the setting of the blog reader and of blog site itself, you can view the headline of an article, the beginning of the article, or the whole article from within your Blog Reader without needing to go to the individual blogs unless you want to check things in further details. A couple of the most popular Blog Readers are Blog Lines (http://www.bloglines.com) and Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/). I use Blog Lines and have found it easy to use and helpful.

* Current Christian ((http://www.currentchristian.com)

Current Christian is the blog of Pastor Greg Linscott. Greg does a great job of highlighting articles and news items from around the web that are particularly relevant to Pastors.

* Sharper Iron (http://www.sharperiron.org)

Sharper Iron is the biggest of the “Young Fundamentalists” blogs and forums. The blog itself is pretty good and conservative, while the forums tend to be a mix bag that leans (strongly at times) to the left of conservative Fundamentalism. The blog itself often features helpful articles by leaders such as Kevin Bauder, John Whitcomb, Sam Horn, and Mark Farnham, as well as interviews of leaders (both Fundamentalist and Evangelical) and a number of helpful and informative book reviews.

*Church Matters (http://blog.9marks.org/) and Albert Mohler (http://www.albertmohler.com)

Church Matters is the blog of Pastor Mark Dever and his organization 9 Marks (Pastor Dever wrote the book “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.”) Dr. Mohler is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Both of these men are leaders in the conservative and Calvinist side of the Southern Baptist Convention and their writings reflect this. They also frequently address issues of the church (Dever) and social issues of the day (Mohler).

* Christianity Today News Feed (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct) and Live Blog (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/)
* World Mag Blog (http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/)
* Baptist Press (www.bpnews.net)

Each of these blogs tend to focus on news items and commentary from a New Evangelical perspective.

For the sake of space, the following are presented without comment. Disclaimers still apply.

* Expository Thoughts (http://expositorythoughts.wordpress.com)
* Tim Challies (http://www.challies.com/)
* Pyromaniacs (http://teampyro.blogspot.com/)
* The Shepherd’s Scrapbook (http://spurgeon.wordpress.com)
* Theosource (http://www.theosource.com)
* Pulpit Magazine Blog (http://sfpulpit.com/)
* Biblical Preaching (http://www.biblicalpreaching.wordpress.com)
* Between Two Worlds (http://theologica.blogspot.com/)
* Pure Church (http://purechurch.blogspot.com/)
* Unashamed Workman (http://unashamedworkman.wordpress.com/)

Internet Resources for Pastors

In some previous posts, I mentioned that I was in the process of compiling a list of recommended blogs for Pastors for use at the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches Annual Conference next week in Montague, New Jersey.

This project got expanded on me a little bit to include Internet Resources for Pastors as well as Recommended Blogs for Pastors. This ended up bein a one page (front and back) handout. One side made some comments regarding the Internet and gave some general internet resources for Pastors. The other side gave some comments about blogs and gave some recommended blogs. I have split them into two posts, but I thought some of you might be interested in the final product and other readers might find the information helpful. I already realize that I left off some things I wanted to include (such as Sermon Audio).

Anyway, here is the General Internet Resources for Pastors portion.

Internet Resources for Pastors

The internet can be a place of great blessing and great peril for Pastors. There has been much mentioned over the years regarding the dangerous aspects of the internet - and those warnings are still valid and are still needed. The internet can also be a source of great help and encouragement. Below is a list of some web-sites, blogs, and other resources from the internet that Pastors may find helpful. Inclusion in this list does not indicate endorsement of these sites, resources or organizations that run sites by either the FFBC or me, but they are listed here because the information on these sites may be helpful for Pastors. This list is also not intended to be exhaustive. This same list of resources will soon be made available at The FFBC Blog and at A Thinking Man's Thoughts(my own blog). I also plan on adding similar resources shortly at another one of my blogs - Links for Christians . For the purposes of this list, I have avoided resources that cost money, as well as resources that are primarily secular in nature (with one exception).

Bible Study Aids

* E-Sword (http://www.e-sword.net)

E-Sword is a free Bible program that is a valuable aid for Pastors and other students of the Word. This program features a myriad of resources, such as ISBE, Barnes’ Notes, Robertson’s Word Pictures, Vincent’s Word Studies and more. Unlike most of the other resources in the list, this is a resource you download and install on to your computer, rather than use while online.

* Blue Letter Bible (http://www.blueletterbible.org)

The Blue Letter Bible is similar to E-Sword except that it is designed to be used online instead of downloaded as a program. In addition to searchable Bibles, there are also commentaries, maps, charts, outlines and more available at this site.

* Crosswalk Study Bible (http://bible.crosswalk.com)

Allows you to search the text of the Bible and the commentaries. Can click on a reference to read what an assortment of commentaries have to say about a passage. The Crosswalk site has a number of other helpful items as well.

Miscellaneous Resources

* Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/)

This site provides the text of thousands of Christian books that are public domain. A special emphasis includes works by the “Church Fathers,” but there are many other works included as well. Many of the works also include short biographies of the authors. Many of these books can be viewed in different formats and can be downloaded and stored on your own computer so they can be used when you are not connected to the internet.

* Sermon Illustrations
From Bible.org (http://www.bible.org/illus.php)
From Crosswalk (http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/illustrations/)

These sites allow you to view thousands of sermon illustrations. Both sites allow you to search the database for particular words. The Bible.org site is presented in a more useful format. There is a lot of overlap between the two sites.

* Cyber-Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org)

The Cyberhymnal is a site that has over 6,000 hymns and Gospel songs. The site features a search feature that lets you search for hymns that contain particular words or phrases. It also has a chart of Scripture allusions to enable you to locate hymns that may allude to a particular passage of Scripture. There are often pictures and biographical sketches of the authors and composers included with the songs as well as a MIDI file that will allow you to hear the tune of the song.

* What in the World? (http://www.bju.edu/resources/witw/)
* Calvary Contender (http://home.hiwaay.net/~contendr/)

These are online versions of popular news and information sources for Fundamentalists. While Calvary Contender is no longer published, the site allows you to search past issues for research purposes.

A Great Time with Faith Baptist Church of Champaign, IL

This past few days we have had the privilege at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury of hosting a mission team from Faith Baptist Church in Champaign, Illinois.

The team came with Youth Pastor John Cashner, Jim and Dawn King and family, and eight teenagers. It was great to have the team here at the church and we rejoice in the great time that was had. It was great to have this group of young people with us for the week and we are encouraged by God's working throughout the week.

On Saturday, we visited a number of homes and gave out church brochures and invitation to the Cola Clash and Vacation Bible School. In the evening, we held a Cola Clash Youth Rally. We had over 20 young people in attendance and the activities went well and the spirit of the meeting was great. We had a number of visitors for the night and the Gospel was proclaimed. We are praying that some who came without Christ will come to know Christ through the message that was preached and through the tracts and other information that was given out to those who came.

On Sunday we had a Fellowship Sunday and Pastor Cashner preached the afternoon service.

Monday through Wednesday nights we had Vacation Bible School, with the group from Illinois running everything. The team also completed some needed tasks around the church and were a real blessing. I know that our people also enjoyed the times of fellowship with the group throughout the week.

Thanks for coming, Faith Baptist Church. May God continue to bless you as you serve Him.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

The Cumulative Effect of Taking in God's Word

Yesterday after church I was involved in an humorous and interesting conversation.

During the morning service, I had preached a message on Biblical change from 2 Corinthians 2:18. Following the service, we had a meeting and then after the meeting folks were preparing to leave and a lady from church commented to me that the message was "an excellent message" (no, that is NOT the interesting part :) ), to which another lady who was nearby replied, "Yes, it was - and so was last week's message." The first lady replied something to the effect of "What was last week's message, again?" And the lady who had commented on last week's message said, "I can't remember, but it was really good."

Then there was a pause while both ladies tried to remember what last week's sermon was about. (And while I also tried to remind myself of what last week's sermon was about in case they asked me - while I am currently doing a series on Right Thinking from Philippians on Sunday nights, I am not currently in a series on Sunday mornings.) After a short delay, the one who had originally made a comment regarding last week's sermon remembered that it was in Isaiah, which then triggered everyone's memory (including mine) that it was on Isaiah 6 and the holiness of God.

The thing that struck me as interesting was the fact that the individual could remember "it was an excellent sermon", but not remember anything about it. Now, I don't fault her for that but it does seem kind of strange - yet I can completely understand it.

I have listened to well over a thousand sermons in my life. Some of those sermons have been excellent sermons - sermons that I have even made it a point to listen to a number of times. However, I would guess that there are probably only a relative few sermons that I have heard that I can still remember the sermon now. I can remember one sermon from my Youth Pastor, Ron Hamilton (not THAT Ron Hamilton) on "God Can Use What You Have." I can remember a sermon by Dr. Jim Berg on "What it Means to Know God" that I first heard on a Sunday in Rodeheaver Auditorium (it was preached during the summer on Sunday AM service). If I sat here and tried, but it would still be a relatively small number compared to the totality of the sermons that I have heard, but that is not necessary for my point.

If I am typical (and I have seldom been accused of THAT), why bother preaching sermons? After all, if people are not going to remember them anyway, is it not just a waste of time?

My answer to that is "NO." It is not a waste of time. I am convinced that there is a cumulative aspect to the intake of the Word of God that affects our Christian growth. When you and I take in the Word of God (whether it be via hearing a sermon, reading the Bible, studying a passage, meditating on a passage or whatever), there is an affect from that intake - even if we cannot actively sit down later and remember what we learned from a particular sermon.

The way that I like to illustrate it is this: (I am sure I borrowed this or adapted this from somewhere, but I have no idea where).

My mom was/is a great cook. She made excellent meals and I know that I enjoyed a bunch of those meals. However, there are only a few meals during all of the time that I grew up that I can remember. I remember Mom's lasagna (wow, my mouth almost waters thinking of it). I remember the pork chops and fried apples meals that we had as a special treat. I remember some polish sausage and fried potato meals. However, when I think about it, there are a lot of meals my mom fed me that I have no recollection about at all. Yet (and this is the important part), those meals fed me and helped me grow.

So, the next time you start to think - why bother doing the work necessary to prepare and preach this sermon - OR - why bother going to hear another sermon that I am going to forget anyway, stop and remember this illustration - while we may not be able to remember the specific details, these spiritual meals can still feed a soul and help it grow.

Andy Rupert posted some similar (but briefer) thoughts from Pastor Ashbrook over here at Isle Kerguellen that kind inspired this post.


Just my thoughts,

Frank

What role does Singing have in teaching?

Over the years, I have heard a number of the "music gurus" in Fundamentalism quote from Colossians 3:16 and highlight the fact that one of the roles of hymns and other spiritual songs is that it is to help "teach and admonish" us.

Yet, when I read and study the passage, it seems highly likely to me that this is not what this verse is saying. When you look at the passage logically and when you examine a number of commentaries on this passage, it makes sense that the breakdown of the verse should be like this.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another

In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Now, I could be wrong on this, and I recognize that the nature of punctuation is such that it is hard to be dogmatic on the punctuation (after all, the originals did not have the punctuation), but this seems to me to be the logical reading of the verse.

SOOO, if this is correct, does this remove the claim that singing is to have a teaching role in the church? Or does it just remove one of the most common verses used to support/argue for this teaching role of singing?

If singing does still have a teaching role (and I tend to think it does), what other verses or arguments would you use to support this idea if Colossians 3:16 is thrown out of the mix?

Just my thoughts,

Frank

(P.S. I find a similar thing when educators' conference point to Ephesians 4:11-12 and fail to recognize the connection of "pastor-teachers" in that passage.)

Blog Readers - Bloglines vs. Google Reader vs. NewGator vs Whatever else

Okay. Like I mentioned on my last post, I wanted to ask this question, but I wanted the discussion for this question to be separate from the discussion from the question about what type of list of recommended blogs for Pastors.

So, here it is:

I am intending on putting some type of comment on the list regarding subscribing to RSS feeds of blogs.

Which reader do you recommend and why?

Also, if you were recommending a RSS Reader (is that the right term?) to people who are most likely relatively inexperienced at this whole blog thing, would that a make a difference in which reader you recommended and why? (For instance, I am assuming that most who use the list are going to be using IE and will not be that interested in switching to Firefox, etc.)

Thanks again for your input.

Looking for your thoughts,

Frank

Recommended Blogs for Pastors - Part 2

In an earlier post, I asked about recommended blogs for Pastors and I got a couple of responses (feel free to add more at the end of this post or at that post).

However, this question is slightly different.

My question in this regard is in the nature of the list that I should compile (I have another question regarding this same list that I am going to ask in another post in just a minute related to "Readers" such as Bloglines, NewsGator, and Google Reader.)

I currently use Bloglines and have a number of blogs that I subscribe to regarding Bloglines. In my blogline subscription, I have 59 feeds and find that there are some which I check every time I see that there is a post on that subscription (usually starting with the ones of guys I know - such as Chris, Don, Greg, Andy, etc.), but there are others that I do not check as soon as I see they have something, but I do check them if I happen to have been blessed with a little extra time when I am online.

So, my question is:
If you were to be given a list at a conference of some blogs to check out and to be aware of, would you rather that list be pretty large or pretty selective?

I can see arguments for both sides of this, so I was wanting some additional input. If you could tell me what you prefer, that would be good. If you could tell me why, that would be even better.

Also, how would the fact that a majority of the Pastors to whom this list would be going are probably not regular readers of hardly anything in the blogosphere affect which things you would recommend?

I would appreciate some feedback from the readers on this if you have a minute.

Looking for your thoughts,

Frank

Don't Give Too Much for that Whistle!

Don't Give Too Much for that Whistle!

In the writings of the American statesman Benjamin Franklin, there is a little article entitled "The Whistle." In this article, Dr. Franklin tells the story of an incident from his childhood and a lesson that he has learned from it.

"When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My, brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.

This, however, was afterward of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Don't give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money.

As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle."

It is a very easy thing to pay too much for a whistle. Many men devote their entire lives seeking the whistles that this world seems to offer.

Some men give their lives in order to try to gain the whistle of prosperity - ever more searching for wealth and the things that wealth might buy. Many men have violated Scriptural principles in such a search. Many have sacrificed their families and their walk with God to pursue the "almighty dollar." Only to find themselves in the end of their lives hearing the words of Luke 12:20 "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"

Other men give their lives in an effort to attain the whistle of power - lusting for the sense of being in control of others. Politicians and business leaders have often ran over the "little guy" in an effort to "look out for number one." Yet, in reality, the whistle of power is a fleeting toy, for man does not even have power over himself, let alone power over others. Jesus asked in Matthew 6:27 "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?"

Some men give their lives in an effort to gain the whistle of popularity and fame. It is not uncommon for people today to subject themselves to absurdity in order to get a few moments of fleeting fame. People go on reality TV shows and talk shows and make a total fool of themselves because they want to be popular or famous. Many times this whistle of popularity is not sought on a broad scale, but on a small scale, people selling their principles down the river in order to not come across as odd or different among their peers. Teens often sacrifice a right relationship with their parents because they want the whistle of popularity among their friends. Guys and girls often sacrifice their purity or at least their modesty because they want the whistle of popularity with the opposite gender. Rather than fear what men think of us, we need to remember that "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe." (Proverbs 29:25)

What is the whistle that you are pursuing? Is it a whistle that is really worth all the effort? It is a whistle that is really worth sacrificing that principle or taking that wrong stand?

Perhaps there are some who may read this who are pursuing these whistles of prosperity or power or popularity or something else and think that these pursuits are worth while. If so, you are like the young Benjamin Franklin looking at the whistles and not even realizing the true worth of those items.

Jesus said it best: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Recommended Blogs for Pastors

In a few weeks, the Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches will be holding its Annual Conference at Tri-State Bible Camp and Conference Center in Montague, New Jersey.

As part of the packet of information that is being put together, I have been asked to contribute a list of recommended blogs for Pastors.

I have a number of ideas on my own, but one of the great things about the blogosphere is that it is easier to borrow brains from others.

I realize that a lot of you have probably given up on reading A Thinking Man's Thoughts since I have been so rare in my posting lately, but I am hoping that some of you are still around.

So, I am asking all of you who happen to still come by and read here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts if you would be willing to give me a list of recommended commentaries for pastors. If you want to give your comments on why a particular blog should be included, please feel free to do so.

Thank you for your help.

The blogs on the list do not necesessarily need to be from a Fundamental perspective, but we are looking for blogs that would be helpful for Pastors in particular.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Sign the Declaration of Independence

Today is the celebration of Independence Day here in the good old U.S.A.

I was hoping to write a profound article about Freedom and Liberty and Sacrifice, but who has time for that anymore (or is willing to make the sacrifice)?

I did, however, think that this was an interesting thing for the Fourth of July - over at the National Archives web-site you can add your own name as a signer of The Declaration of Independence. Your name will show up right next to John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, John Witherspoon, John Adams and all of the rest.

You can even print out the newly created document that now includes your own name.

So, be the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence (if you are younger than Edward Rutledge's age of 26 at the time) or the first woman signer.

You can visit the site at: http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_join_the_signers.html

If you manipulate the final product, you can add more than one signature - that way your whole family could sign it!

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Some Thoughts on Fathers

With this week being Father's Day and our "Father-Son Camp-Out" last night for Fellowship Baptist Church, I have been thinking a lot about fathers this week, as I am sure many others have been as well.

It does not come as much of a surprise to anyone who looks around to see that we no longer live in a "Father Knows Best" society. In fact, just the opposite is usually true today. It is very rare to see a father portrayed in the media as someone who knows anything - and this has been going on for years. Television has portrayed fathers as inept for years. Whether it is Homer Simpson or Al Bundy or Tim Taylor, the television father is often a goofball who can't quite get anything right.

Not only are fathers portrayed as inept by the media, they are also portrayed as irrelevant. From the Murphy Brown episode of the eighties (and yes, Virginia, Dan Quayle was right) to the "couples" like Rosie and her pal being promoted as good parenting to the repeated celebrity adoptions by single mothers, the role of the father in these situations is seen as unnecessary. Other than supplying a necessary physical ingredient, the father is often out of the picture.

It is not just the media, however, that indicates a lack of importance of the father. A new term has risen up around these parts that underscores the seeming irrelevance of the continued involvement of fathers in the life of a child in today's society - "baby-daddy." When I first heard the term, I thought the person was just talking fast and was speaking about the baby's daddy. However, I have heard the expression a number of times since then and the best that I can understand this new term is a noun that refers to the person who physically fathered the child. It is often used in the context as an expression that marks out the fact that this is not the husband or even the (current) boyfriend, but was the one who "fathered" the child. In some ways, perhaps this is actually a better term, since "father" should be referred to one who actually has more to do with the child's life than providing seed. (Anyone else out there in a place that uses this expression? I did hear it in passing one day on a television show, so maybe it is a more national thing than I think.) The usage of this term and the promiscous relationships that are represented by this again show that an involved father is not part of today's view of fathers.

When you look at the life and ministry and message of Jesus Christ, however, you see that He had a much different picture of fathers. The term "Father" was a term that He frequently used. It was with the phrase "Our Father which art in Heaven" (Matthew 6:9) that He taught His disciples to address God in the Lord's Prayer. It was by this term that He challenged the disciples to be perfect "even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48)." It was by this term that He reminded us that "your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things" (Matthew 6:18) and that "how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11).

Not only did Christ often use "Father" to refer to God the Father, He also often expressed positive expectations of human fathers. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father is eager to forgive. In the teaching on prayer, he shows that he expects that fathers will give good things to their children when He asks "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?" (Luke 11:11)

When you stop to consider the Biblical picture of a father (best seen by the Perfect Father), some of the things you will find is that in the Bible a father is to be given honor (Ex. 20, Eph. 6), a father is expected to discipline out of love (Heb 12), a father gives good gifts (Matt 7, Luke 11), a father pardons (Luke 15), a father comforts (2 Cor 1:3) and much more.

We need to get back to a Biblical picture of fathers (and The Father), rather than allow ourselves to be caught up with the world's way of thinking about fathers.

A Father's Day Poem

Below is a poem I wrote for Father's Day a couple of years ago. I printed this and put it on some wooden bookmarks and gave them out for Father's Day at church. I think I have posted this before.


A Father's Day Poem

I must be careful
as I live as father,
Love my dear children,
not count them a bother.

Teach them truth
in the way that I live
Show them God's wisdom
in the teaching I give.

Walking in Christ
as I walk before them.
Pointing them always,
always toward Him.

And this is my prayer,
as I pray all my days,
That they live for Christ,
both now and always.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Yes, I am still alive

I know that you have not heard from me lately. I imagine that not many of you care, but some of you are still coming by and checking things out occassionally, so I will at least put something up today, especially in light of the fact that Pastor Don Johnson has practically called me (and others) out about our lack of writing in this post and Pastor Chris Anderson has "tagged me" in this post.

I will wait until Chris is back from vacation to respond to his tag - I'm sure that will disappoint everyone.

I have just about completed my reading and review of "When You Pray" by Philip Ryken. I hope to submit it to Jason Button of the SI staff by the end of this week. (I was actually hoping to submit it today, but we'll see.)

This coming weekend is our second annual "Father-Son Camp-Out" for Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury. Last year we had a great time as we camped out by the Nanticoke River at the Insley's. The Nanticoke is a beautiful river and the time of fellowship with the men was great. I am looking forward to this opportunity of fellowship again.

In a couple of weeks we will be having our second Vacation Bible School at Fellowship Baptist Church. We are using the Regular Baptist Press VBS material called "Rescue Zone." We had in the twenties for our first-ever VBS last year. This year, we are hoping to have a few more as we try to reach out to some additional children in the area around the church.

My job at WM is going well, but is very tiring. Having both husband and wife working nights is a tight juggle with kids. Trying to schedule our nights so that one of us is home with the kids every night and still get in the needed hours has been an interesting juggle. When we were first married, we were able to both work full-time nights, but we could both be gone on the same nights because we had no children at home to be watched.

I have been trying to figure out some additional sources of income (like many others, I am sure). I have not had much progress in this area, however. I have been thinking of starting a couple of side blogs that would have as their purpose to provide some useful information and to provide a revenue stream, but I really do not know if these things actually make any normal people money. I have thought about doing a site of links for Christians (in fact, I even started a blog for this site - here - but have not posted anything but my introduction - and have not put up any ads on it, yet.)

I also have toyed with the idea of doing a "This Day in History" type of site and made a couple of test-posts on a blog for this at http://whathappenedonthisdate.blogspot.com/ , but I am not sure about that either.

I was wondering if any of my readers have any experience with Adsense or with affiliate programs and if they would like to share that experience. I cannot imagine that it is really that worth-while, after all, Jason must have felt that the adsense ads were more problem than they were worth at SI, since he dropped them a long time ago and Greg only had them up briefly on www.currentchristian.com.

Anyway, I am rambling. I hope to make a useful post soon.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Free Download of Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor

I have long wanted to do a book discussion here at A Thinking Man's Thoughts (similar to what Chris has done with the Ryle's Holiness - but actually completing the book :) ) and one of the two books that I have thought about starting with is Richard Baxter's classic book on ministry entitled The Reformed Pastor. I hope to start this discussion after I finish reading and reviewing the two books I am currently reviewing for SharperIron (This Little Church Stayed Home and Ryken's book on The Lord's Prayer).

A lot of you may already have the book and have already read it (I will admit that I have read a decent chunk of it, but not finished it). However, it is currently available for a free download from www.christianaudio.com. Here is the link - Free Download of Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor (Note, the list price is $22.98 and you need to enter this coupon code at check-out to receive the free download - May2007.) You do need to register for the site to qualify (e.g. give them your email address and other information), but this is a good deal for a good book.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

HT: Ken Fields

Free Books

EISENBRAUNS, which specializes on ancient Near East and Biblical studies, has been offering a free book to the first 25 people who responded by sending an email to their marketing department.

I read about this over at Jason Button's blog (Theosource), but thought I was probably too late by the time I saw it. However, I visited the site and decided to give it a try - and I received my book in yesterday's mail.

You have no control over the book that you will receive and the material is not always conservative, but I received a book that I am looking forward to reading entitled, The Uttermost Part of the Earth: A Guide to Places in the Bible by Richard R. Losch.

The book came quickly and as advertised and even the shipping was free.


The note that Jason posted that alerted me to this said,

Yes, this is real, not a late April Fools joke. To win your free book, be one of the first 25 to send an e-mail to marketing at eisenbrauns.com with your name and address. These are new, recently published books, we choose from over 25 titles and we pay the freight!"

I looked for the quote on the site and could not find it except in an RSS feed, but when I sent an email, I got a positive response and now I have a free book.

So, stop over at www.eisenbrauns.com and look around and see if you can get a free book.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Simple Church book review posted on Sharper Iron

As I mentioned two posts ago, my review of the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger was soon to be published on Sharper Iron. Well, it has now been published.

You can find the review here.

Feel free to comment there or here.

I will also be publishing it here at a later date.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

A Question about a Gospel Presentation

Here is a practical and theological question for you:

If you needed to distill the Gospel down to something that would fit into a 2 x 3.5 inch space on a piece of paper (such as a brochure), what would you include and why? This space would allow you to write "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country" 12 times without any formatting, so we are dealing with a very limited space.

I am the type of person who generally spends at least a half of an hour with explaining the Gospel when I deal with a person who expresses interests in salvation, so this "distilling" is a little difficult for me and I would like to enlist the wisdom of other believers.

What aspects of the Gospel would you include?

What verses would you include?

Would you write the points in your words and include references or would you have less points and quote the verses that you did use instead?



A couple of things to clarify as we begin:

1. If you choose to actually include the whole thing you would place in such a space, please do so - warning, if I like enough, I might steal it.

2. If you want to indicate which elements that you think are essential or at least most important to include in this type of situation, please do so. Feel free to even argue about why you think they are most important or necessary. However, once you have made your point and/or counterpoint, let's not take the thread down long rabbit trails.

3. In your comments - and in your responses to other people's comments - please remember that no one is claiming that things not included are not important, we are trying to work with a limited situation.


I would love to hear your thoughts,

Frank

Hello, again

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but I plan on doing better.

As most of my regular readers know, I started a new part-time job a few weeks ago. This has made things a little bit busy and it has taken me a little bit of make some adjustments.

With the second job, blogging has been put a little further back on the back burner (okay, it was temporarily taken off the stove). I have actually written some things over the last few weeks, but they are on my notebook and my PDA (I wrote part of what will become a post while on lunch break at WM) and I have not been opening up my notebook where I have internet access as much. I also have generally blogged at night, but since I am at other places at night ... well. You understand.

Anyway, I am planning on adding a couple of posts over the next few days. On one of them, in particular, I would really like to have some input.

I also have finished reading and writing a review of Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger's book entitled Simple Church. This review will be posted on SI soon and then after that I will be posting it here and on The FFBC Blog. I am also in the process of reading and writing two other reviews for SI (This Little Church Stayed Home and When You Pray: Making the Lord's Prayer Your Own) and may be writing a couple of reviews for A Thinking Man's Thoughts on some secular books that I have read lately.

I have also been in the process of researching and trying to develop an additional income stream or two to be able to focus more on the things at the church without working a regular secular job. If anyone actually has some really good ideas, let me know (I hope this is not soliciting a lot of spam :) ).

Anyway, this is just to update things while I had a minute. An actual real post should be coming by Monday night (or maybe Tuesday).

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Oops, I never did this officially, yet

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Our 2007 Thinking Man's Tourney Time winner for the 2007 NCAA Men's National Basketball Tournament was Brother Sam Knisely from Pennsylvania.

Second place went to Brother Ron Bean from Virginia.

I finished in third place, with Brian Morris and Andy Rupert rounding out the top five.

Congratulations Sam and Ron for a job well-done.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Fraudulent News by Oliver North

I know this article is a few weeks old. I read it awhile ago and meant to highlight it, but did not get around to it at the time.

Mr. North has written an excellent piece on the current state of American journalism and argues that "fraudulent news is not only bad for morals, the environment and morale, it can also be disheartening and sometimes downright deadly."

In the article he hits on a number of "hot-button" issues - from global warming to terrorism to Muslim extremism to the "lost tomb of Jesus." It is a short article, but worth the read - even if I am a little late in putting it up here.

So, take a couple of minutes and read "Fraudalent News" by Oliver North.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Maryland Passes Stupid Bill

I don't generally make a lot of posts regarding politics, but this one needs some comments.

Earlier today, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a bill that makes Maryland even more irrelevant in the area of Presidential politics. Our local paper, The Daily Times, writes about the bill in this article - Maryland poised to be first to approve Electoral College change.

Maryland is setting itself up so that the voice of the citizens of Maryland are irrelevant when it comes to the election of the President of the United States. The bill awards Maryland's electoral votes (currently 10) to the winner of the national popular vote. This is just plain STUPID!

Think of some of the effects of this bill.

1. It ignores the choices of Maryland voters. Maryland voters could vote overwhelmingly - even unanimously - for a particular candidate, yet the state's electoral votes would go for that person's opponent if the opponent won the national popular vote.

2. It makes Maryland even more of an afterthought in campaigns. Maryland has 10 electoral votes. This places Maryland in a tie for 18th most electoral votes. Not exactly anything to brag about, but nothing to sneeze at either. This bill tells Presidential candidates that they can skip Maryland except for fundraisers - after all, why worry about the votes in Maryland when you can mine for extra votes in a more populous state? You get twice the bang for your buck - you campaign in an effort to win that states electoral votes and you get Maryland's thrown in with them.

3. It specifically goes against the concepts that the framers of the constitution tried to use when they set up the electoral college in the first place. This was set up as a protection for the "smaller states," but now a smaller state is advocating getting rid of it. Go figure!

Now, Maryland's law still needs to be signed by the Governor - he is expected to sign it - and a number of other states need to pass similar laws before Maryland's law would take effect. Here's hoping that there are not that many other stupid states.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

All is lost - oh, not really

If you have been following the posts on The Thinking Man's Tourney Time, you know by now that Sam Knisely has nicely moved in to the lead of our little NCAA Men's Basketball Bracket Challenge for 2007.

With the loss by UCLA (did they even show up or is Florida actually that good?) to the Gators, Brother Knisely moved into first place in our tournament and Brother Ron Bean moved into a second place tie with me. Both of them have chosen Florida to win it all, so Sam will win the overall title, while Ron has a chance to move into second place. Of course, I am rooting for Ohio State tonight, although I don't really care either way.

The good side of having my teams all gone is that I don't find myself like I did on Saturday - wanting to root for Ohio State, but feeling obligated to root for Georgetown because it would help my bracket more (by not giving Sam and Ron the points for an OSU win).


So, without further delay, the current standings going into tonight's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship are as follows.

1. Sam Knisely - 219 points (47 correct)
2. (tie) - Ron Bean - 216 points (46 correct)
2. (tie) - Frank Sansone -216 points (42 correct)
4. Brian Morris - 207 points (41 correct)
5. Andy Rupert - 199 points (43 correct)

Sam, Ron, Brian, Andy, and John Kjaer (who is in 7th place) can all add to their point totals tonight. Sam, Ron & Brian have Florida winning it all and Andy and John have Ohio State University winning it all.

On a related note, a certain blogging Pastor friend of mine is gloating over the alleged fact that he had picked all four Final Four teams and selected the correct two teams to advance to the championship (you can read Chris' comments at http://mytwocents.wordpress.com/2007/04/01/final-four-check-final-two-check).

I would make two quick comments regarding this post by Chris:

1. Based on his previous comments on my blog at this post, my calculations would indicate that Chris has at best 43 correct picks with a chance for 44 tonight. While that is nice and it beats my 42 correct picks, it doesn't stack up to our Thinking Man's Tourney Time. Even Andy Rupert (who is in 5th place in our Tournament) has the same amount of wins as Chris - and has also picked OSU, so Chris cannot pass him even if OSU wins. Beyond that, Ron Bean (who is currently tied for second) has 46 wins already and Sam Knisely has 47 wins aleady. Both of them also have OSU vs. Florida in tonight's game, but both have Florida winning over Ohio State.

2. I think Chris needs to re-read, this post - or at least the book upon which the post is based :).

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Goodsearch and Blog comments

As some of you may have noticed, I have updated a few things on my blog over the last week or so.

One of the updates that I made was adjusting the categories so that clicking on the categories no longer takes you to the "fake" blog that I created as a work-around for the fact that blogger did not have that feature previously.

I have went through a number of the older posts and added labels, but I have not made it through all of the old posts to add new labels to them yet. I also decided that while I may have a bunch of labels that I actually use on posts, I don't think I will include all of them as side categories. Of course, you can always click a label at the end of a post to see what else has the same label.

I have also added a link to Goodsearch. Goodsearch is a search engine that is powered by Yahoo! and gives money to the charity of your choice each time you use them to search - supposedly about 1 cent a search. Obviously it will not add up to much unless a whole bunch of people use it, but it could perhaps bring in a little extra cash (for instance 10 people performing 5 searches a day would add up to $182.50). Some of the bigger organizations like Cystic Fibrosis Foundation have earned $3,120 according to the Goodsearch web-site, but we are a small church. Goodsearch also offers a Goodsearch toolbar that can be downloaded and used to search with Goodsearch from whatever web-site you are browsing. You need to indicate which charity you would like to get credit for your searching. If your church is not signed up, our church (Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury) is on the list of approved charities for which you can search. (This Goodsearch link and the one on the side of the blog take you to the Goodsearch sight with Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury prepopulated in the "Who do you Goodsearch for?" section. ) If you use the Goodsearch toolbar, make sure you choose your charity manually (where the toolbar says "My Charity"). I started using this a few weeks ago before putting up the link to make sure that it worked without causing any problems. I use the toolbar primarily. The toolbar also has a popup blocker, which is a nice feature and works pretty well.

Anyway, I am not sure how much blogging I will do in the next week or so. I have done some orientation on Thursday and Friday and I start my first of three night shifts in a row on Tuesday night.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

NCAA Update - UCLA Must beat Florida

Wow! The Thinking Man's Tourney Time has tightened up big-time.

Ohio State managed to keep their heads together even when Oden spent most of the time on the bench in the first half and Georgetown failed to use Hibbert effectively and now my lead in The Thinking Man's Tourney Time is down to 3!

UCLA needs to beat Florida for me to win. A UCLA win would seal the victory for me. A Florida win would give Sam Knisely the victory and moves Ron Bean into a tie with me for second place. A Florida championship moves Brother Bean into second place by himself and moves me into third place.

So, GOOOO BRUINS!!!

Just my thoughts,

Frank

Oh, Oh Alfallo (sp?) has three fouls in the first half. URGH!

Thursday begins a new adventure

On Thursday, I do something I have not done in a long time. I re-enter the secular work-force.

I am not resigning from beign Pastor or anything like that, but, with the expense of the new church building, our church was in need of making some difficult choices if we wanted to balance our books this year.

So, in our January meeting, I took a 20% pay decrease to help us get things back on track. So far, it has worked out pretty well from the standpoint of the church, but for the last few weeks, I have been trying to find a part-time job that I could work around my church responsibilities and around my wife's job. (Missy is a labor and delivery nurse at PRMC.)

Last week I was hired to work overnight stocking at Wal-Mart. I am pretty sure that fellow blogger and very poor NCAA Tournament participant Scott Bothwell also works overnight at Wal-Mart if I remember correctly.

Anyway, on Thursday I have my orientation. I think I actually start working some time next week. The job is a temporary assignment (the store is hiring for a 90--day remodeling project) and I am not sure what our situation will be when the temporary assignment is completed. (They indicated that they will likely hire some of the temporary hires for more permanent positions after the remodeling, but I don't know if I will be chosen for this or if I will need it still at that time.)

I expect I will be trying to streamline some processes in my life over the next few weeks, but I also figure that there are 416 employees at the Wal-Mart that I have not yet met, so "a great door and effectual is opened unto me."

I do not know what the policies are regarding blogging and the job, but orientation is on Thursday and I will probably find out then. If you think about it in the next few days, pray for me and my family as we make this adjustment.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 NCAA Tournament March Madness Update

The Final Four is set. Ohio State versus Georgetown in one game, Florida versus UCLA in the other game.

These should be some good games. This has been a good tournament this year, although without as many of the big upsets that often make the first weekend more exciting.

Things at The Thinking Man's Tourney are heating up. With three games left to play, there are still three of us with a chance to win. At this point, it looks like the key game will be the UCLA versus Florida game. I have picked UCLA to win it all, while the next three players in our little bracket challenge have all selected Florida.

The top five leader board is as follows:

Frank Sansone - 216 points (42 correct)
Sam Knisely - 207 points (45 correct)
Ron Bean - 204 points (44 correct)
Brian Morris - 201 points (40 correct)
Andy Rupert - 187 points (41 correct)

If I am reading the CBS Sportsline information correctly, the top three still have a chance to win, but Brian and Andy have officially been eliminated from winning (Brian can achieve no more than 214 points, which falls below the 216 I already have.)

Sam has moved ahead of Ron in both wins and points after this last round. They both have Florida winning it all, so I don't think Ron can move back ahead.

Just my quick thoughts before taking the kids to school,

Frank

2007 March Madness Update - Elite Eight

We are quickly approaching the end of the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and with that, the end of the 2007 edition of The Thinking Man's Tourney Time.

As we have reached the Elite Eight, the top five scoring for The Thinking Man's Tourney Time is as follows:

1. Frank Sansone - 205 (40 correct)
2. Ron Bean - 194 (42 correct)
3. Sam Knisely - 191 (42 correct)
4. Brian Morris - 184 (37 correct)
5. Andy Rupert - 177 (39 correct)

Both Ron and Sam correctly picked seven of the eight teams in the Elite Eight.

With USC's loss to UNC last night, I only have five of the Elite Eight remaining - and I am now missing two of my Final Four.

Some may wonder how I can be in the lead with the stats like I just mentioned. Well, I run the tournament :). Just kidding. Actually, I have picked the West bracket almost completely perfect (the only game I missed was a first-round mistake of picking Gonzaga over Indiana) and the scoring is such that you are awarded one point per round for getting a game correct, plus the seeding of the winning team. Thus, picking VCU over Duke (which I did) and Winthrop over Notre Dame (which I did) gives you 12 points in the first round for each of those games (1 for the round and 11 for the seeding). As the rounds increase the round points for each victory increases (so, a win by a team in the Final Four is worth 5 points plus the seeding). So, while I have a lead, I believe I can still be beaten, depending on which teams win. Both Ron and Sam have Florida winning it all, while I have UCLA, so we'll see how things develop.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

2007 NCAA Tournament Update - After Round 2

I just realized I had not posted an update regarding the standings for A Thinking Man's Tourney after Round 2 of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. Since Round 3 begins tonight, I thought I should quickly update this information before those games begin.

After two rounds, I am still in the lead with a score of 182. In second place is Ron Bean with 163, followed closely by Brian Morris (160), Sam Knisely (159) and Andy Rupert (155).

Both Mr. Bean and Mr. Knisely have nailed all but one game in the South Bracket (both incorrectly chose Tennessee to lose to Virginia).

Out of those named above, everyone except for me and Andy Rupert still have all of their Final Four teams remaining. I think I need the University of Southern California (USC) to do well and at least upset the University of North Carolina (UNC) in this round if I want to keep my lead. It would not hurt if Florida went down in this round, either.

Anyway, that is my meaningless March Madness update.

Just my thoughts,

Frank

A Person Who Deserts Deity - Sermon Notes from Revelation 2:1-7

On Sunday night, we continued our week of Special Meetings at Fellowship Baptist Church with Evangelist Ron DeGarde.

For Sunday night’s message, Brother Ron preached a good message on Revelation 2:1-7 on "A Person who Deserts Deity."

In his introduction, Brother DeGarde dealt with some of the details of the 1995 case of Aldridge Ames’ Treason against the United States and the selling of information about a number of
U.S. agents to the U.S.S.R.

He then dealt with three truths about deserters.

I. The Deserter’s Description

A. His Camouflage shows one thing

1. Serving

2. Steadfast

3. Separating

4. Searching

B. His Character shows another thing - Idolatry

1. Robs God of time

2. Robs God of tithe

3. Robs God of talents

4. Robs God of temple

II. The Deserter’s Danger

The deserter’s danger is that God will remove His power.

God has not lost His power, but we have.

III. The Deserter’s Deliverance

A. Remember - deal specifically with your sin

B. Repent - have a change of mind

C. Repeat - do the first works

For a closing illustration, he used the account of the patriot Nathan Hale who faced death and said, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Rather than be a deserter, his stood firm and his life counted.

It was a very well done message and I appreciate the ministry that God has provided through Ron's ministry this week, despite Ron's difficulties with his foot.

Just his (and my) thoughts,

Frank

Sin's Power - Sermon Notes from Hebrews 3:13

On Sunday morning, Evangelist Ron DeGarde took time to remind the folks how we could have a successful series of meetings:

1. We need to be INTERCEDING - praying that God would do a work this
week.
2. We need to be INVOLVED - being faithful to all of the services.
3. We need to be INVITING - encouraging others to come out to the
meetings.
4. We need to be INVESTIGATING - examining our lives in light of
God’s Word.

For the Sunday Morning Message, Brother DeGarde focused on The Power of Sin from Hebrews 3:13.

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any
of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

It was interesting how closely a lot of what he said meshed with what I preached on last week when I dealt with the need of God’s people to turn from their wicked ways.

I. The Subtlety of Sin’s Power

A. Sin has the power to Deceive

Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it slew me.

Isaiah 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

1. It will deceive you about its pleasure

Hebrews 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

2. It will deceive about its penalty

B. Sin has the Power to Destroy

1. Sin puts men in misery

2. Sin puts men in Hell

II. The Shattering of Sin’s Power

Christ became our Propitiation - Our Substitute that Satisfies

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Just his thoughts,

Frank

The Incredible Wealth of God's Word

I mentioned in an earlier post that I wanted give some reports on the Special Meetings with Ron DeGarde that we are having this week at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury.

For Sunday School, Evangelist Ron DeGarde started off our week by dealing with a familiar passage - 2 Timothy 3:15-17.

This is one of my favorite passages of all of Scripture. In fact, when I taught Bible at Gloucester County Christian School in Pitman, New Jersey for four years and when I taught at Heritage Christian Academy in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey for the four years before that, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 were usually the theme verses for the class.

Brother Ron DeGarde gave us three reasons why there is Incredible Wealth in God’s Word.

I. The Word of God has incredible wealth because it has Incredible Power

The Holy Scripture is able to make you wise unto salvation.

Able is the Greek work "dunamai" - from which we get our word
dynomite.

God Word is powerful in that it is able to save - even in the context of
the last days.

Brother DeGarde connected the "that" in v. 15 with the "this know also" in
v. 1, so that the idea is:

This know also

That - in the last days perilous times will come (v.1)
That - the Holy
Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation (v. 15)
I have never
seen that connection before and hope to look more into it when I get a good
chance.

None of my quickly available commentaries (read: those in E-Sword and
PowerBible) mention anything about the "that", so further study is needed when
time permits.

Making that connection, Ron points out that even in the midst of the
wickedness that Paul describes as he explains the last days, God’s Word is still
able to make you wise unto salvation.

He then used an illustration about George Mensak (sp.?) who was a member of
Al Capone’s gang who got saved at Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Chicago,
Illinois.

II. The Word of God has incredible wealth because it has an Incredible Profit

The Bible is not a menu from which to make a selection, but a mandate tow
which we must submit.

A. It is profitable for doctrine

B. It is profitable for reproof

C. It is profitable for correction

D. It is profitable for instruction in righteousness

III. The Word of God has incredible wealth because it has a Wonderful Purpose

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished - completely
outfitted

Evangelist DeGarde did a good job of setting the table for the week in Sunday School.

Over the last four weeks, I have spoken regarding 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 - the first week with an overview of what God wants from his people and the nature of revival. While I explained that we were not Israel and this was not a pattern that we could use to manipulate God, the passage does show some traits that God wants to be evident in His people - a humbling of ourselves, praying and seeking God’s face, and a turning from our wicked ways - and that God has expressed blessing to His people in response to this.

Anyway, I think that things have gotten off to a good start.

Just my thoughts - okay, they are mostly Ron’s thoughts :)

Frank.