The Periodically

I recently expressed my desire to volunteer again with a secular program I'd given volunteer hours to in the past. I was saddened when I learned that they did not need my volunteer role to exist anymore. Being sad isn’t a bad thing. I believe sadness is a tool that God gives us to give us energy and focus to think of how we can best glorify Him. It did just that for me…at first. I was surprised at how long my sadness lasted. I began to dwell on the decision. I began to question the decision. I allowed my emotions and sadness to take control over my thinking. Why was this a struggle for me? I began to look at my heart and saw that I had an idol of wanting my life to go the way that I believed it should go (James 4:1). I had built this construct or mini-kingdom of how my life was supposed to go, and God in His loving sovereignty was not giving me what I wanted (James 4:3). My heart began to rebel as I wanted what I wanted (my mini-kingdom) and n...

Just a quick note as Casey and I are at a church in Lafayette for a training conference on biblical counseling. We are enjoying the learning and the fellowship with other BCCers while we are here. Let me tell you...if you want to laugh a lot, sit with Mark Herrmann, Gary Baranowski, and Bill Winkler for a meal. These men love the Lord and know how to have a good time. Casey and I are in a track at the conference where you work on certification through the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC). We've appreciated being shepherded well through the process. The leadership at the conference has helped us to see that the process is doable by God's grace. We've accomplished a lot on the certification path while here and will have more to go after we leave.  Being here reminds us of our love for Bethany Community Church and the focus on the glory of God by proclaiming and preparing. We are so thankful for a church that desires to honor God through the caref...

On December 11 and 18 (both Sundays), I will be leading a two-part Gospel Institute class/discussion called Parenting and Sexuality in the Washington library from 10:30-11:45am. I'd love for you to join me. This class is for those with teens or those who are preparing to be parents of teens and will cover topics like helping our kids see a higher joy as they mature, resources for parents, gospel-centered tech use, and how our marriages can help shape our kids' view of sexuality.  I was reviewing my notes and found something I have quoted in the class that I wanted to share. The quote is from Matt Smethurst on an post he made on the Gospel Coalition site and can be found here .  "I think it's a series of conversations beginning around puberty where we help them see that their new desires for romantic and sexual intimac y can either lead them into sin or lead them to greater fellowship with Christ and (possibly) to a future spouse. The self-control we hope our children ...

Image by Andrew Lamb What would it look like if your care group was all people from your neighborhood? What a powerful community that would be to partner together to reach a neighborhood together. If that is not your current reality, what if you partnered with a few key families in your neighborhood to do a Neighborhood Watch Program. Some in your neighborhood won’t come to a neighborhood gathering unless there is a purpose higher than “just getting together”. The Watch Program could be that very thing. Our family recently asked another BCC family down the street to join us to helping to get together a Neighborhood Watch informational meeting. We also asked another family in our neighborhood to help. We had a great turn out and while we were there, a group decided to plan a neighborhood block party. Both events have tied our neighborhood relationally together and give believing families entry ways into the gospel. We printed off a google map of the neighborhood and now h...

How can a Christian use Halloween to build relationships in their neighborhood that lead to sharing the gospel? Here are some ideas... First thing first. Here is what John Piper, former pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota, said when asked about his perspective on Halloween: "It's kind of one of those questions of, 'Do you see Christ against culture, Christ in culture, or Christ over culture?’  I would guess that at our church there would be people from one end of the perspective to the other.  That is, some who would say, 'We don't want anything to do with that demonic holiday! Why would you even be involved with that at all?' And others who would have their children dress up as a butterfly and go knocking on doors and say, "Trick or treat!" And then in the middle would be people who do counter events, like a thing at the church where you dress up like biblical characters and have a great time. I would hope tha...

Continuing from my first post, as we remember the gospel, here is another reason why all believers are called to joyfully share God’s plan of redemption with the lost world: a love for those who do not yet know Christ. What does a love for the unsaved look like? It means being willing to lovingly and graciously b e willing to offend. According to the Scriptures, the unsaved  will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians 1:9).  The anguish of the rich man is real (Luke 16:23-24). Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Meditate with deep solemnity upon the fate of the lost sinner…when you get up early to go to the place where you commune with God, cast an eye toward Sodom and see the smoke thereof going up like the smoke of a furnace. Shun all views of future punishment which would make it appear less terrible, and so take off the edge of your anxiety to save immortals fro...

It is certainly a privilege to be the first writer on the Bethany Community Church blog. They say that if you want a sure fire way to guilt your congregation, talk about prayer or evangelism. My hope is that my part of these blog posts on evangelism will not heap any guilt on you, but instead, what you read will motivate you to see the joy of reaching your neighbors for Christ. Additionally, I hope to give you some good ideas for how to reach your neighbors. The thoughts in my posts are from a recent men's breakfast and adapted from Pastor Mark Dever, and at times, I am not sure what is from Dever and what are my thoughts. Let's assume if you are reading good stuff, it was from Dever. Consider the following statement: The more you meditate on the gospel, the easier evangelism will become to you. I certainly agree. The fault of many posts on evangelism is to motivate the church to evangelism through guilt with statements like “God has done so much for you; w...