This book is a strong call for loyalty to Christ above all.  It is written by Lee Camp who is a professor at Lipscomb University.  I never had Mr. Camp as a professor.  He was a popular teacher on campus in the Bible department.  The book is a strong plea for total dedication to the kingdom of God.  It has a great explanation for the coming together of the present age and the age to come.  This was one of the best parts.  Also, the book deals with the problem of people seeing Christianity as a religion that is believed but not to lived.  The book is written at a high level of understanding.  A person would need a deep background in the church to grasp the majority of the ideas that are presented.  The book is deep.  The book highlights the problem that some Christians are more dedicated to the nation of America than they are to the kingdom of God.  I love America, Canada, but I love the church and Christ more.  This is a needed call to numerous Christians.

Today was a wonderful day on the campaign trail.  We ate a waffle, not as good as I expected, and headed to the city of New Orleans.  I drove by there once on the way to Texas but never stopped because it was late and I was on a trip.  Since I was so close to the big city, I wanted to see the place myself.  As we were driving there, it was amazing at the amount of buildings that still were in disrepair.  The city was truly destroyed.  It was hard to imagine that all those buildings were under water.  We did not stay for a long time, but we did hit the French Quarters.  It was beautiful.  It was a very historic place.  We went into the St. Louis Basilica, which was an extremely old congregation of the Catholic church.  It was interesting to walk into with the statues and scenery.  We ate at Jimmy Buffet’s place, I had a po-boy and hot onion rings.  The food was great.  On the way back, we walked on Bourbon Street for about two blocks.  I heard of this street, but always thought that it was more of a tourist trap of a few bars and resturantes.  I was wrong.  It is really a nasty place of all types of perversions.  I felt dirty walking on the street.  But then I got thinking about Jesus going into the house of sinners.  This must have been how the religious people felt about the sinnerful people in His day.  These people must have seemed nasty and dirty.  No wonder they felt Jesus was wrong in eating with them.  This was no place for religious folk.  I learned a valuable lesson about the Lord and myself today.  It is truly hard to reach out to truly sinnerful people.  Us religious people just do not like it.  It really makes us feel uncomfortable.  Just admit it.  Another interesting lesson was about the huge church building in the middle of the French Quarters.  Here was this big church, and here was this culture of sin.  The point of christianity is not to build a big church building and have no real influence on the community around us.  It was a great day on the campaign trail.  We stayed at the building for hours after the preaching just to sing and fellowship.  It is really a blessing to be down here.  Ray is doing great.  Poncho was in the good books for picking a great place to eat.  The women are super to be around.  It is great to be with the in-laws all by myself.  They are truly family, my family.  

I am engaged in a Gospel Meeting with the Pearlington church of Christ in Mississippi.  This is a small town that was forgotten during much of the relief efforts but was cared for by the churches of Christ relief effort out of Nashville.  There was not a congregation of the Lord’s people in the town, but because of the good work done by the churches of Christ, there are new Christians in the area now.

     The amazing part of driving through the town is that there is still much work to do in a relief effort.  Homes are still being rebuilt.  Cleaning is still taking place.  People are still living in Government provided housing.  Hurricane Katrina hit a few years ago but the effects are still being felt in this small town.  It was a moment in time for millions of people across the nation, but it is still a way of life for people along the gulf coast. 

     This background brings us to the part of pain.  Severe pain in life is like a hurricane through a town.  Most people know about another person’s individual pain but to the individual the pain can continue for years to decades.  When a loved one is lost, when a people has be violated, when a person has suffered, these times of pain are not fixed up in a matter of years, but linger for ages.  We go to a funeral to offer support, but the loved one will remain in a state of grieving for months to years.  We forget about the long lasting effects of severe pain in life.

     For Pearlington, as well as neighboring communities, Katrina was more than history, it was a life shaping event.  In one of the homes that we visited, there was a little girl and her cat named “Katrina.”  “Katrina,” I said.  “Why did you name your cat Katrina?”  The little girl answered back, “Because that is her name.”  We can forget the pain of Katrina, we can forget about the pain of people around us, but for those who have suffered, they will never forget.

     The day went great.  We ate a nice breakfast at the Hotel.  After this we went swamping and saw a ton of gators.  It was amazing being a foot away from these powerful animals.  It was entertianing, educational, and relaxing.  After this we went to the building to clean it because there was a funeral and an all night vistation which was new to me.  It is a Cajun thing.  We had a lot of people for the meeting.  We had some wonderful people from nieghboring congregations.  Even one of the visiting ministers played chess.  It was a great day.  Carter almost killed us a few times driving.  Poncho chickened out on fighting a gator.  It has been a great day and meeting so far. 

The first day for the meeting at Pearlington was hugely successful.  It started off on a perfect note as there is a Starbucks next to the Hotel.  A Starbucks always makes for good preaching.  The building was nicely built with a loving and kind congregation.  This is a relatively new church plant that numerous congregations across the South has helped.  Hopefully, the preaching went well, that preacher certainly has room to improve.  The service was simple without the suit and ties.  The area is a poorer area that was serious damaged by the storms.  People are still struggling to get back on their feet.  People forget the major devastation that Katrina caused.  Years later towns are still in disrepair.  We had a great potluck.  A lot of wonderful Cajun food, it was not your typical Tennessee potluck.  I enjoyed the variety.  I met some wonderful young Christian people from a sister congregation in Tennessee.  The only sad part was that one of the teen boys was an Alabama fan, he grew up there then moved to Tennessee.  He will see the light with time.  It was nice to be with Poncho again.  We had a blast teasing each other.  It was nice to see the young man that I baptized fives years ago from Gallatin.  His parents mostly do not attend with him, but he has stayed faithful all these years.  It is amazing to see how he has grown into a sharp young man.  Please continue to pray for the work.   

This Sunday through Wednesday I will be in Pearlington, MS for a campaign and meeting.  I should still be posting throughout the week as I believe there is wireless at the Hotel that I am staying at.  On Friday and Saturday, the town will be covered by workers from the Hartsville Pike church of Christ.  I will arrive on Saturday to preach for the meeting and to knock doors if need be and conduct home Bible studies.  In the evening, I will be doing the preaching for the congregation and campaigners.  This is a small town close to New Orleans that was severely damaged by the Hurricane a few years ago.  It is a church plant.  Those who have been working with this congregation have done a good job of following up and maturing the congregation.  If I have any extra time, I believe I will go on one of those swamp tours to throw some rocks at the alligators and snakes (Maybe I will just look at them).  This should be fun.  If one of them comes after me, I have a young man that is a close friend of mine named Jeffery or I call him Poncho, that I will toss to the reptiles.  I am looking forward to serving the Lord through this congregation.  Please pray for the success of this endeavor. 

Throughout the church ministers can become frustrated with elders and vice versa the elders can become frustrated with ministers.  Instead of creating a synergistic relationship, there are rivalries and power struggles.   The typical scenario is a minister venting over the lack of vision, approval, openness, and methodology of the eldership.  But when the minister vents to members or in the pulpit, this creates a negative and unhealthy atmosphere.  The minister is positioning himself as the one who has the vision or direction, and the elders are the ones keeping the congregation back from growth.  This is a tempting role to play as it provides a sense of importance to the minister when faced with a declining congregation.  It is easier to blame the elders than to admit weakness.  The minister might not realize this, but he is hurting the growth of the congregation because no one wants to be in a church with a bad eldership.  Instead of complaining about the elders, make the elders look good.

The minister must brag on the elders.  If there is a good work, give the elders credit for approving this or supporting it.  Talk about the strengths of the eldership.   As the minister increases the congregation’s feelings towards the eldership, this will increase the positive spirit within the congregation.  Of course this is easier to do in some congregations than others, but by publicly putting down the elders you are destroying an atmosphere of growth.  Elders and Minister must be working to make each other look good, but doing the opposite, you are only hurting yourself and the congregation.

The Misunderstanding of the Stumbling Block Argument

It seems that most bullying tactics within a congregation are rooted in the conscience argument from 1 Corinthians 8. The chapter deals with the issue of eating idol meat. Paul separates the two groups into weak and strong categories. The strong Christians are engaging in the eating of idol meat while the weak Christians are being tempted into dining on idol meat again which will defile the conscience. Chapter 8 has been used in the modern church to advocate the “stumbling-block principle.” Many have used the text to manipulate other believers to conform to their standards of behavior. The text is not speaking to those who may be feeling offended but rather to those who feel tempted to emulate an action that may be hurtful to them. Paul says that he will not do what will cause his brother to “offend” that is, fall into sin, not what “offends” him. Many times the offended invoke this principle in peripheral matters of behavior. This text is dealing with matters that may lead to the destruction of the believer. The text is not dealing with an issue or a practice that the person dislikes, but rather is dealing with a behavior that will lead someone to compromise the soul. If the strong Christians continued to engage in the eating of idol meat in the presence of the weak, this could cause the eternal damnation of the weak brother (1 Cor. 8:7-13).

Often the use of this tactic is phrased as a threat of leaving the congregation to attend another congregation because of some perceived stumbling block that the congregation has chosen to continue. The 1 Corinthians 8 passage is not dealing with Christians that are demanding the congregation to follow the unique conscience of a member that is just going to place membership with another congregation, but rather with the conscience of the member that will be pulled in a direction that will create conditions for the compromising of the soul. A congregation is not held in slavery to every particular whim of every individual member.

There is certainly a time and place to forsaking one’s rights to ensure the salvation of a brother in the Lord. There are various questions that must be asked when a brother is offended by a practice in the church. (1) Will this practice lead the brother to engage in sinful practices according to his conscience? (2) Will this practice cause the brother to lose his soul? If the answer to these questions is “yes,” then the congregation is under obligation to refrain from the activity. But if the offended brother is threatening to merely leave the congregation for another, the congregation does not have to cave in to the weak brother’s conscience.

The dynamics of loss aversion within the human mindset can have a stagnating impact on a congregation. Congregations become risk averse because of the continued threats of leaving by immature members. Instead of allowing the weak members to guide the future direction of a congregation, the strong must be able to push forward for congregational growth to take place. Instead of caving into the pressure of loss, the congregation must maintain the non-anxious presence of Christ as seen in John 6. Also, congregations do not have to relinquish positive steps for growth because of a brother merely being offended by a certain practice. A congregation must practice the Biblical instructions of 1 Corinthians 8 by forsaking one’s rights if this leads to the destruction of a soul, but also must follow the advice of Paul in not allowing a weak brother to dominate a congregation’s agenda because of the erroneous stumbling block argument. If the practice is merely disliked by a member or if the member threatens leaving to attend another congregation, these are not Biblical reasons to allow a congregation to stagnate.

This book is not trashing America, but revealing some of the tremendous influence that America holds within the world.  The author is optimistic about the future of the nation.  In years past, there was a sense of worship of the America dream in many nations, but with the “rise of the rest” there is increased nationalism within the world.  Other nations are increasing in power and affluence.  But as one reads the book, the author notes on numerous occasions the distance between America and the other nations.  America’s economy, education, and system is huge compared to the other nations of the world.  In some of the news reports, it seems that America is about to sink below a China or a India, but this, if it happens will not be for decades to come.  America, according to the author is sailing away well.  I did like one part in the book and that was a caution to how America wields its power in the global world.  America might be in the position to dictate policy, but he highlights some of the examples from former Presidents in using soft approaches to influence the world.  America can bully any one, but it would be best to treat other countries as equals even though this is not the case in military or economic power.  The book was a interesting read as well as very insightful into the changing dynamics of the global “rise of the rest.”  The book is very pro-american and encourages the country to take the proper steps to maintain a positive influence in the world.

I remember sitting through chapel at Heritage Christian University as Coy Roper was delivering the message for the morning. Coy Roper was not the most dynamic speaker in the area, but when he spoke you listened. His lessons were always deeply insightful and cutting to the heart. This morning Coy had a lesson about routine and being real. He might not have called it that, but the lesson dealt with taking the special times of God for granted.

This is the problem with excessive routine. Routine can sink into mindless habit. The Lord Supper becomes a “sip and a chip” instead of a communion with God and with one another. The Body and Blood of the Lord are taken without proper reflection on the majestic work of Christ. A baptism can fall to the status of an interruption to beating the Sunday morning rush to Cracker Barrel. It sinks into a routine while all along one is telling the person dying to self and being raised to newness of life that this is the greatest decision he or she has ever made. Instead of a special time of fellowship and rejoicing, it turns into perfunctory handshakes and half-hearted platitudes. The great actions of faith must never turn into mindless routine or habit. We must always capture the magic and celebration of these glorious times.

Last Sunday night, after the three baptisms, one of the ladies in the congregation that I admire most made an insightful comment. She said, “Matthew tonight was out of the routine, tonight the fellowship felt real.” We had three baptisms, we had deeply sincere prayers, and we had a prayer with one another holding hands as we rejoiced as a congregation with the Ray family. It felt authentic, it felt real, and it felt what church ought to feel like. It felt real.

This book was about the terrible season in 2005 when the Volunteers never made it to a bowl game.  It was a season that was expected to end with a birth in one of the BCS bowl games with a strong possibility of playing for the national championship.  At the beginning of the season, the Vols were ranked 3rd in most magazines.  The book was originally started to document the victorious season, but ended up discussing the downfallof the powerhouse.  The book is an interesting read as it details a inside look into the malfunctions with the team.  There was a controversy about the quarterback, there was discipline problems with the players, and maybe too much confidence which lead to a lack of focus on practice.  It is a great read for a true Vol fan, it is not about the high but a low in the program.  Hopefully, this season will hold a bright future as the team completes for another national title.  Mostly I want to see the Tide lose, too bad Sonny, Dale, Bobby, and Leon, there will be tears this year on October 25 I believe.  So far, the Vols recruiting is strong this year and there are a ton of play-makers returning too.  The starting quarterback looks to be strong as well.