I don’t celebrate Mardi Gras.
At all.
But today, I did have a steak for lunch.
That’s because I was celebrating my successful Ordination Council from Sunday.
The Ordination Service will be on 2 April 2006 at 3:00 PM at First Baptist Church of Warren.
Yeah, I’m excited.
Peace to all y’all.
This evening I had the opportunity to pray with a group of people after one of our board meetings. The Spirit of God moved through us as we prayed; God spoke to us through things seen and through messages of knowledge and wisdom.
God is at work at the First Baptist Church of Warren, Ohio.
Grace and peace to all.
This afternoon, I defended my Ordination Paper in front of the churches of the Trumbull Baptist Association at a two-hour question-and-answer session at our church Sanctuary. This completes the final step in the process to move toward actual ordination.
Therefore, I am pleased to announce, that following an overwhelming vote of support from the association churches, The First Baptist Church of Warren, Ohio will hold an ordination service for me on 2 April 2006 at 3:00 PM EDT. Formal invitations will follow sometime next week.
I thank God that this part is over; it was a great experience to write and defend this Ordination Paper. This event today confirms my call to ministry, my preparedness for ministry, and my ability to relate well to my colleagues and the churches in the American Baptist Churches demonination.
Peace to you all.
Sermon 26 February 2006
Last Epiphany, Year B
II Corinthians 4:1 – 12
– No Title—
This afternoon, I will defend my Ordination Paper in front of a council of Trumbull Baptist Association Churches. The Ordination Paper is a summary of my call to ministry, my theology, and my philosophy of ministry (or, in other words, how I got here, what I believe, and how I intend to live that out as a congregational leader). This Council is a kind of Oral Final Exam prior to the actual ordination which is to take place in a month or so. Hopefully, with seven years of college education, multiple paper revisions, numerous congregational leadership experiences throughout the last decade and nearly a year of pastoral leadership here, I will be able to answer the questions posed to me without getting myself into more trouble than it’s worth.
This afternoon’s session is not intended to be antagonistic; it is not even set up to be an exam I might not pass. It is set up to be a means whereby First Baptist and the Trumbull Baptist Association can determine whether I am called to ministry, prepared for that ministry, and consistent enough with the Baptist way of life that we can cooperate together.
[Transition]
Paul writes 2nd Corinthians to respond to a number of accusations that the church at Corinth has lodged against him. The first thing that seems to be the problem is that he wrote them a previous letter that upset a number of members of their church. They were shocked at his tone and disturbed by its contents. That letter, the best we can tell, was 1st Corinthians. Of course, in First Corinthians, he challenges their little cliques and factions – the groups that are too well-defined to let anyone else in, and which are the source of much gossip and dissention. He challenges their sense of self-importance – their air of superiority – because Jesus isn’t about superiority and boasting. Paul then appeals to his authority as an apostle to challenge the church on several serious points. (more…)
via Steve:
Has anyone else seen this nonsense?
It seems that Paul Dell is being sued by Dell Computers for using his own name for a web address and has been summoned to appear before the Tribunal de Grande Instance Paris. Paul Dell – a web developer – had the nerve to register the domain dellwebsites.com. Now, Dell Computers is suing him and seeking both the domain name and 100,000 Euro in damages to Dell America + 50,000 Euro to Dell France! On top of that, they are seeking 500 Dell Euro for each time the word appears on Paul Dell’s website!
Paul also runs dellimages.com and has a group of friends supporting him at http://pauldell.blogspot.com/
Isn’t that just astonishing? They don’t even offer to buy the domain names, or seek some kind of deal. They just order him to pay for each time he uses his own surname on his website! My computer history may be off, but were Dell Computers even around when Paul Dell was born? If not, maybe he should be suing them!
If you’re as pissed off as I am by this corporate bullying, why not Help Paul Dell Win?
The last couple of weeks have been wild. Absolutely nuts. I haven’t posted in days here because of all the goings-on.
And I’ve really gotten behind on reading others’ blogs.
But tonight, after the Vision Group met, I was able to sit down with someone who has complementary spiritual gifts to me and pray through some of what I’ve been dealing with.
And I’m much more at peace now. We covered all the major topics of what’s beating me up right now and God was able to put them to rest. When we prayed, I received what the person prayed, and what the person saw in prayer. And I was able to be at peace - much more than I was before.
I’m still rather stressed out. But I know that God is at work and the end is in sight for some of the craziness.
Peace be to you all as well.
Sermon 19 February 2006
7 Epiphany, Year B
Mark 2:1 – 12
On returning from time overseas, missionaries and foreign Christian leaders often comment on the crowded churches in many places they’ve visited. Perhaps you’ve seen the pictures of the whitewashed frame meetinghouses that shoehorn in 3 to 400 people at a time, with people standing outside the open windows and doorframes leaning in to hear the message. It’s always standing-room only. The churches are always extremely poor; the people live an economically desperate existence. There is a mass exodus of youth to the cities, yet the churches are always full. The pastor, usually a part-time preacher, usually preaches for between 45 minutes and an hour and a half. The worship service, including the rousing, soul-filled music, the offering and communion, runs somewhere around three hours. And the church is packed, every week. Standing room only. Loudspeakers blast the message out into the yard for those left outside, pressed up against the building’s exterior.
I don’t know about you-all, but when I was growing up in church we’d have a missionary come through about once every six months or so to talk about what life was like where they were working in ministry – and to raise support. These are the kinds of churches they would often describe – usually in parts of Asia, Africa or South America.
The presence of God was obvious in their midst, and as they proclaimed the Good News of the Kingdom, people were freed from the power of Sin, Evil and Death through God’s activity in their lives.
These pictures of these people singin’ and dancin’ and prasin’ God, packed into these almost open-air church buildings – these are the images that come to my mind as we look at the situation of this passage of scripture from Mark 2.
(more…)
Annos undeviginti natus exercitum privato consilio et privata impensa comparavi, per quem rem publicam a dominatione factionis oppressam in libertatem vindicavi.
Caveat lector.
I posted a bunch of photos from Summer, Fall and Winter 2004 over in the gallery.
They are all here.
Here are a couple of teasers:
and 
This is the 3rd birthday of the M Squared T blog!
So now it’s an immature toddler.
Hopefully, it’ll be potty trained soon. 
(My first post is here.)
About the DI:
Feb. 15 - The editor in chief of a student-led newspaper serving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been suspended after printing cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad that, when published in Europe, enraged Muslims and led to violent protests in the Middle East and Asia.
Editor Acton Gorton and his opinions editor, Chuck Prochaska, were relieved of their duties at The Daily Illini on Tuesday while a task force investigates “the internal decision-making and communication” that led to the publishing of the cartoons, according to a statement by the newspaper’s publisher and general manager, Mary Cory.
(original Chicago Tribune Article here)
As usual, it seems that the DI didn’t use good judgment in publishing these.
This evening I’ve been reading Rob McAlpine (aka Robbymac)’s work on the “post-Charismatic” movement in the Emerging Church. (Thanks to Bro. Maynard for pointing it out.)
Basically, I see myself as either Charismatic or Post-Charismatic. I affirm that the gifts of the Spirit are active in the church today; nevertheless, I do not appreciate the typical charismatic hoopla. From what McAlpine says, I’m not alone.
That’s a relief.
Aside from numerous theological considerations, I am also concerned that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit be exercised according to the Fruit of the Spirit. Thus, when we practice them, we must do so with the humility of the Holy Spirit’s fruit - not with the elitism and the “second-class citizen” style of many classic Pentecostal/Charismatic groups.
So: continue to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and cleanse lepers, while proclaiming God’s victory of the Kingdom over Sin, Evil and Death.
Just do so without the theatrics, please.
This morning, I preached on Mark 1:40 - 45 - Jesus’ cleansing of a leper.
I used an object lesson of building walls to keep people from God; I related the cleansing to breaking down walls.
But since I injured my wrist getting the hammer un-stuck from the foam wall, I’m not going to type any more tonight.
