In my community, I see an increasing amount of young people being heavily influenced (bombarded) with bad information. Outright lies are what they are, and make no mistake about it, they are straight from the father of lies-Satan.

This "bad information" is in the form of negative peer pressure. Most recently, it has even affected my very own family-one of my teenage boys. No matter how much time I've spent sharing with them, praying with them, and teaching them how they should conduct themselves, I, like many others, found myself dealing with issues that I never dreamed my children would involve themselves in. Equally as frustrating is the fact that I see it being duplicated more and more often throughout our community.

Within the past few weeks as I've dealt with our "family issue", I have started sensing a need to be proactive in the battle for the hearts and minds of our young people, especially teenagers. How can I help our teenagers stand up to negative peer pressure and "be in the world but not of the world"? What makes our teens compromise Godly principles for unholy ones? Why is the need to "fit in" so great, and why does it almost always involve forsaking the Truth?

As I consider these questions, I face the harsh reality that I am being somewhat hypocritical. Many of these questions are those same questions that I ask myself from time to time. Yet, here I stand at a pivitol time in my life asking the question "what can I do to help"? More succinctly, "Here I am, Lord, use me."

What can you do? Well, the basic premise of this post wasn't to give you all of the details surrounding my personal experience, but I'm sure that many of you can relate. Rather, I'd like to solicit some ideas for some sort of teen rally/seminar/retreat to address these issues. Like many before me, I'm trusting God for a "life altering/changing event"- one that continues well past the few hours that we are together. Some of the initial thoughts that I have about this event are normal I suppose. I'm thinking along the lines of a one day event, probably on a Saturday. At this point, I haven't decided on the length of time, nor have I decided on the format. (I have started brainstorming with an Elder of our church recently, though). I've questioned whether or not to bring in some sort of "well known" teen evangelist. Should we seek a Contemporary Christian musician? How will we promote?

The content of the program is what I'm most comitted to. While I understand that "big names" will bring people, the most serious challenge is to find content that fits the need. Do you have any ideas? Can you share with me what you have experience with? What do you know of that has had positive/lasting results? Can you recommend someone?

I'd be interested to hear from you. This is not an issue that I'm approaching lightly, but it is one in which I'm actively involved in now with my very own teenage sons. It is with much prayer and anticipation that I shall proceed. I trust that you will help share some Godly wisdom and advice in this matter.

A brother in Christ,
Sonny

While I wish I were motivated to blog on a more regular basis, reality is that during the transition to a new employer, I just haven't taken the time to post recently. Within the past two months, the company that I'm employed with was purchased by a larger national company. The transition has been particularly stressful and things are moving much slower than anticipated.

In spite of the change, I have noticed that God has been present every step of the way. During my anxious moments He has brought me peace. When things haven't turned out the way I expected, He has brought understanding. When I've considered giving up and changing employers, God has renewed my zeal and encouraged me to press on.

I have no doubt that I'm not the only person who has to deal with these kind of issues. Yet I have found that it is during these times when God seems most able to communicate with me. His message is usually quite audible..."Trust in Me."

Audrey Barrick, a reporter over at The Christian Post, has written two articles about Pastor Steven Furtick's "Cow Tipping" sermon series. Furtick is the pastor of the Charlotte, NC megachurch Elevation Church. In Tuesday's post entitled "Megachurch Pastor Guides Christians on Alcohol, R-Rated Movies", the pastor is quoted as saying "I'm not going to try to make black and white issues out of what's gray in the Word of God. That would be malpractice on my part. I'm not going to back down either from making a black and white issue out of a clearly right and wrong scriptural issue."

Other interesting quotes from Furtick in the article:

• "Rather than make a Christian boycott list, he encouraged believers to ask themselves three questions when dealing with a gray issue: 'Is it best? Does it build (others up)? Does it bind?'"
• "Just because I can doesn't mean I should," the Elevation pastor emphasized.
• "Stop trying to get as close to the edge as you can and start trying to stay as close to the source (God) as possible," he urged.
• "Our Christian liberty is not a license to be idiots or to flirt with sin."
• As he continued, the pastor pointed out that while he doesn't always choose not to watch R-rated movies just to please other Christians, he does choose not to because it may not leave the best impression on an unbeliever. He states "I can't make a career out of catering to other Christians, but I can make it a priority to protect my testimony."

Wow. I was concerned that Christians these days just took pride in the liberties that grace provides and could care less about their testimony to unbelievers. These are indeed refreshing, and encouraging words. Comments?


Please take the time to go over to The Christian Post and read the entire aricle here: Article
You can also view the sermon at Elavation Church's website by clicking here: Watch Sermon

(Editors note: The above widget is an example only. My wife and I are not expecting.)

A few days ago, I stumbled across an interesting website called Widgetbox. It is here that you can download and install many different kinds of 'widgets'. What is a 'widget' ? According to Widgetbox, a widget is a mini, portable-applications that can be added to any web page and serve two important goals: add dynamic content to your site, and reach new users across the web. Wikipedia defines a widget (in computing terms) as a physically inspired applet on the web.

While browsing the different selections, I found the Baby Ticker widget to be a fun, practical way to chart the progress of a pregnancy. If you know of anyone that is pregnant, here is a neat application that you might want to share. Surely, someone who believes in the sanctity of life developed this.

I'm not an alarmist, nor am I someone that espouses to be a prophet. Certainly, I'd never claim to know when Christ shall return! I will claim, however; that according to the promises made in God's Holy Word, Jesus is coming back! It may even be today.

So, now that I have your attention, how should we live today, and tomorrow for that matter? Do we look forward to His return, or have we so attached ourselves to the world's lifestyle that it would be an inconvenience for Him to come today? What impact does this truth have on our daily life? What impact should it have?

For those of us that are in Christ, this will be a glorious day as our "faith shall become sight", and our sanctification will be made complete! We shall finally be able to see our Savior!! Have you thought about that LATELY? Are you looking forward to His return?

Just a friendly reminder.

Have a great day.

I must admit that this is an intriguing topic for me. With fear of sounding too legalistic or rigid, I'd like to pose an interesting question. The answer to the question may really be a bit irrelevant, but the point addressed is whether or not we pay attention to the sources from which we glean our education. By education, I merely mean information that we'll pass on to others as truth.

The internet has placed instant information at our fingertips. Much of the hassle of research, I dare say all of the hassle, has been removed by the 'search engine' (particularly Google). One need not spend countless hours at the local library anymore perusing through the card catalog hoping to find a particular author, or subject. With one well selected tag, key word, or label, the technology behind a search engine can have the information available to you within seconds. With that being said, there are millions (or so it seems) of information portals available to us at any given time. From blogs to websites, you can find any subject that you are looking for, and there is always someone posting something about everything.

While the variety of searches are vast, for this post I would like to limit the scope to ministry related topics. More specifically, I would say teaching pastors, teaching ministry websites, and Christian blog authors. It is no secret that most of today's well-known pastors, Bible teachers, and ministries, have used the internet to expand their sphere of influence. And why not? People are being reached with the Gospel in ways that we never dreamed possible. From pastors to laypersons to churches, we are bombarded with the Gospel and other teaching material.

When posting information to the internet, one instantly opens him/herself to instant criticism. Their doctrinal beliefs, while not always stated, are often times quickly discerned by the astute Biblical scholar. Yet, for others, what is read is eagerly digested and accepted as truth. This is problematic. Does the author's/ministry's doctrinal belief influence us in anyway? How important is it to you to know the background of whom you're reading? Do you ever take time to look at the "What We Believe", or the "About Us" link on most websites? If so, does it influence you as to whether or not you'll read a particular post?

For the sake of example, I've included a few quotes from three well-known ministries' websites. The selections that I've chosen are important to me, though, I also like to read about their view on salvation. After reading them, let me know what you think? What particular statements are most important to you?

The Bible...

• The Bible is God’s word to all men. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error.
• The entire Bible is inspired by God, without error and the authority on which we base our faith, conduct and doctrine.
• We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, a collection of books, written by men who were guided by God to teach us about Himself and His will. We believe that all those things necessary for our salvation are clearly set forth in the pages of Holy Scripture. We believe that the Bible, as applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, is the only true authority for the individual Christian, and for the church. To place any other authority, written or oral, along side that of Holy Scripture is to make the Bible superfluous.
  

God...

• God is the creator and ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God.
• We Believe…in one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this earth as Savior of the world.
• We believe in one God, who is our Heavenly Father, who made all things and rules over all in wisdom, righteousness and love. We believe that this one living and true God is a Trinity of persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
  

Jesus...

• Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to heaven’s glory and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
• WE BELIEVE…Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe that salvation is found by placing our faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again.

**Only two of my three sources had a separate statement about Jesus.

While cruising around the blogosphere early this morning, I found this site mentioned over at Thinking Out Loud. After viewing a few of the cartoons, I have to admit, I found quite a bit of sarcastic humor with a strange twist of truth. I'm confident that this is a good way to start the day...with a smile. Check out Mankindtoons.com.

**The authors of the Mankind Toons site gladly accept donations to continue their work. Please consider donating if you can.