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Introduction Our IMAGE high school group has been discussing the topic of relationships and friendships over the past couple weeks. One of these topics was about having unsaved friends and how to interact with them. I'm very excited for our kids to be thinking about this more as we want to have a youth culture in our church that is reaching out to others with the good news of Christ and inviting them into our group to experience the love of Christ while partaking of our community within the church. Where do we get the Idea of Relationships? Relationships were started from the very beginning of time and actually even before that in eternity past. We see in Genesis 1:26 that the triune God has relationship with Himself and from that He creates a man who is meant for relationship in His image (Gen 1:17). That God made man both for relationship with Himself and with other as well (Gen 2:18). Relationship are from God and are "very good" (Gen 1:31). Take a look at Eccl...

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...

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...