All Things to All People

"To the weak, I became weak, to win the weak. I have become ALL things to ALL men so that by  all possible means I might save some." 1 Corinthians 9:22

Are our churches today taking every means possible to save the lost? This is something that has been heavy on mine and husband's heart for quite some time now. Lost people are no longer coming to us...so are we going to go to them? Most times when you talk about "church" to a lost person, a negative connotation  arouses in their mind. So what are we going to do about it? In the words of my husband, "Our God is big yet our faith shows Him being so small. Our BIG GOD should be portrayed in how we do and be the church! The moves we take as churches should be in faith...faith in our BIG God! Some churches portray such a small God. We have to step out and step up in order to reach those souls that don't have a positive view of church.

Have you ever been to a place where you felt SO out of place?? I had to visit many churches when I was still in college as a part of my worship classes and let me tell you, 9 out of 10 churches I visited I was completely out of place..(and under-dressed)...they had a routine and I just followed along like a lost puppy...and I'm saved! Imagine how a lost person would feel walking into some of our churches today...are we meeting them where they are in their life? Are we bringing the gospel to them in terms that they understand in order to save their soul? We have got to think like lost people in order to reach them. Paul is seeking to IDENTIFY with these lost souls. He doesn't set himself above them nor does he preach down to them. He gets on their level- eye to eye- in order to understand where they are. Didn't Jesus do this for us? Am I saying we should take part in sinful activities like the lost? Absolutely not. Am I saying we need to identify with them, befriend them, look at them as God's chosen people? Yes.

I think it's time for churches to identify with the lost in order to get them in our doors because they are not coming to the 'church building' anymore. We have to go to them and bring them in, and lead them to salvation. Let's step it up!

He Knows Me

This past Saturday night we ventured back to Lee Road Baptist in Taylors, SC. My dad was preaching at their 50th anniversary. This is the church that we left when I was 9 years old when my dad accepted the job at Millbrook in Aiken. I remembered this church. I was saved and baptized there. However, I have a very faint memory of some of the people. Of course there are a hand-full of people I will never forget because they made a lasting impression on me, but many came over to speak to us and we were clueless. Now, on an elementary level I was thinking...how embarassing it is for me not to remember these people that loved us so!! Then I thought...how awful for those to get to Jesus one day and have Him say, "I never knew you." [Matthew 7:23]

We may think that we know Him...but...does HE know YOU?

Gamecock Country

This past Saturday, I got to introduce husband to Gamecock Country...my gator fan loved it ;) My mom and my brother, John, met us in Columbia and we had such a fun day! Go Gamecocks!

[the nature of] Sin

"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned" Romans 5:12

"The bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man's sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man...BUT it also says that another Man (being God) took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away-an infinitely more profound revelation."

 "Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26

"The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, "I am my own god." When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, not any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man."

"He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person." John 2:25

"It is through the cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so."

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

(Oswald Chambers; The Nature of Degeneration) 

The Vision and the Reality

"There are times when we do know what God's purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God...Isn't it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does." -Oswald Chambers

Light

Happy Fall! I hope to have more of a "fall season" this year. It always seems to hop from Summer to Winter in a matter of two weeks. A lot has happened in the past few months. From family vacations to Myrtle Beach and Florida to celebrating one year of marriage to opening a new student worship center to starting a college worship service and now finally having some "down-time"to catch up on little things it has been a whirlwind; but God is good. In the past few months we have noticed a significant joy in the lives of our students. They have grown into people of God that worship and live as though today is their last day whether that means sitting at a lunch table with the "not-so-cool" kids to crying out to Him in worship on Wednesday nights. You remember when you just "got it"? You know, finally the light bulb flicked on and you understood? I think the light bulbs are flicking on rapidly in the lives of God's children at Clearview. God is good. 

I hope your light bulb is still on and is not burning out...because that's easy to do. When I feel my light bulb burning out, I remember that God's light never burns out on me and unless my cup is full, I cannot pour into the lives of our kiddos. 

Be a light today...in this dark world!

NYC, Papa, 24

Long time no blog :) It has been one crazyyyyy July! As my mind wants to write you a book to fill you in on our July happenings...I'll just give you some highlights. July 4th weekend we flew to Aiken for a day (because we all know ministers don't really get vacation time) so we jumped at a free day to spend July 4th with my family.

NYC: We just got back in town from a week-long missions trip to Brooklyn, NY. We were there with Spreadtruth ministries and helped the Brooklyn Tabernacle out with a VBS that they put on for about 300+ children. Let's just say...I was discouraged before we even got there. Why, you ask? Well, my "duty" was snacks. I was really hoping to hang out with the children but for some reason, God thought I needed to prepare snacks for them. These kiddos got some LUXURY snacks, let's just say...it wasn't an easy task. However, I think I became the most-loved staffer there. I heard stories all week that went something like this, "Please, can I have some more...this is the only food I'll get to eat today." This sobered me up REAL QUICK! A lot of people question, "Why would VBS be considered missions?" Well, these broken children come from broken homes with broken schedules and broken relationships. These children do not have schedules and most do not have love. Some of our people spent the whole week chasing these students around the building while trying to disciple them and show them the love of Christ. While some of us helped with VBS, husband and two other guys from our youth group helped run a basketball camp in Queens and got to share the gospel with many children and even teens and adults. At the end of the week, the gospel had been shared with almost 5,000 New Yorkers and 459 said "Yes" to Jesus! Jesus said, "go"...we followed, and He worked!

**I'm working on editing some videos from the VBS that I'll post soon!

24: I turned 24 Tuesday and yes, I feel old! I had to drive to Aiken Monday for a doctors appointment and had lunch with mom, Jess, and John and they lavished me with goodies. Husband surprised me with a new nailpolish (he loves me!) and he had planned for my family to drive up and surprise me for dinner...sweet man!

Papa: Thank you to those that have been praying for my grandpa! He had a heart attack Saturday and was hospitalized for a few days but now he's HOME and well, just tired! Thank you, Jesus for your mercy on him and sparing his life!