Pastoral Ministry

Flyfeelitis (flī– fēl -īdəs)

Flyfeelitis (flī– fēl -īdəs): the overwhelming urge to touch one’s zipper to ensure that it is in the up position. The origin of this disease can be traced back to the inclusion of the first zipper in men’s pants however, not all men who wear pants suffer from this disease. Researchers hypothesize that those who suffer from this disease acquired it during a traumatic incident involving the individual being discovered in a public setting with their fly undone. This disease is habitual and although annoying and difficult to cure, it can contribute to avoiding further incidents in which the sufferer is caught with his zipper down.

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Evolution And The Church

For those who have already fired up your search engines or copied a link from your favorite creation website; hold your horses. As much as I would like to debate 6 day creation (not really), evolutionary traits in nature (not my thing), and Darwin vs the Bible (not smart enough), this is a post about church change over the years not biological change over millions of years. If you are still all worked up over evolution in the church, would it help if I made it clear I am against evolution in church?

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Pulling The Plug

It is perhaps the hardest decision anyone will have to make. The negative implications of choosing any of the options loom large over those who are given the task of deciding what future if any lies ahead. Choose to let her live and she might still die. Choose to pull the plug and her death is on your hands. Still, something has to be done. She can’t go on like this. She can’t exist in a coma like state. The way she’s propped up by life support is not really living but it’s not death either.

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A Little Understanding – A Culturally Relevant Landscape and Décor

When you hear we need to make sure our church service is culturally relevant, be excited, but approach it with cautious optimism. Both the Christ follower and those who are trying to find out what this Christ following thing is all about understand everything in terms of the culture in which they live. This makes a culturally relevant church necessary. The problem only comes when cultural relevance becomes cultural dominance that dictates the message presented so that the ways of the world become the ways of the church…

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A Little Understanding – We Need More of God

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Luke 18:17 (NIV)

A Little Understanding – The Entryway isn’t Enough

Childlike faith is the key to the entire floor plan, starting with the entryway but going far beyond. We must believe that there is more, laying out our lives in such a way that we can discover it. Childish faith is just happy where it is, in the entryway. When the entryway dweller does become a little restless, their options are limited by their one-room floor plan. They can look all over the space they have and discover there is no more to discover! The only way to improve the entryway is to give it a facelift. Make things look better. Continuing with the entryway metaphor, adding a coat of paint, a new closet organizer, updated tiles, a table for cell phones and keys, and new door mats should do it. It may be the same room, but it looks so much better!

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