Newness

As I sit here in the first month of my time in Pennsylvania one main thought keeps running through my mind. The more time this thought has had to marinate in my mind, the more I realize that this is a very logical thought. The thought that has been just overwhelming me is how many “new” things are taking place. This is because here we are close to the beginning of a new year and some would argue that a new decade as well. Also for me, I am beginning a new chapter of my life by starting a new ministry here as well as getting married in early February.

There is a lot of new going on here in Blanchard as well. There is a new guy in town working with the Point Ministry (yes that’s me). From what I can tell there are a few other new things that have been taking place. Brandon Thomas left to return to school and Wally Kocher has stepped in to fill his role. This is an exciting time because of all the changes and “newness”.

Even with all this excitement taking place around here, there is nothing that can match the excitement of a “new” thing that Paul tells us about in II Corinthians 5: 16-18. He states, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”. Now that’s what should be exciting all of us.

Paul is saying that when we truly accept Christ, we become a new creation or that we are no longer who we used to be. You see, when we accept Christ, our sins are cleansed and we become like new through the power of Christ. So if you are excited about all these new things going on around here and haven’t experienced the best “newness” of all, please come talk to me and I will be more than glad to help you begin this amazing journey.

It's Been A While

It has been a long time since I have actually posted on here. One reason is because I have been busy with work plus my fiancee had been visiting for a while. Now, I have been hired by a church in Central Pennsylvania and started at the first of December. I will hopefully be blogging a little more regularly now that I am in a ministry position as I will have this open to the students I am working with. Also, I will have an article in the monthly church news letter so I will be posting that article on here as well.

A Thousand Questions Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNBmNl88Pk

This link is for a 10 and a 1/2 minute video that is really powerful. Theme goes along great with my last post of Workers Needed.

Workers Needed

So last Thursday night I went to Milligan College in Carter County TN for the evening worship service for a conference called Youth In Ministry. I went because a band was playing worship there that I absolutely love and I haven’t seen them in about two years. The band is Marc Imboden and Year’s Wages (at least the last time I heard the name, that’s what they were calling themselves). The worship was amazing, but to be honest, it wasn’t even close to being the best part of the night.

I didn’t know it when I decided to attend the night of worship, but Tommy Oaks was preaching that night. In fact, he had been the preacher for every night of the conference. I had only seen Tommy in person one other time in my life. He was at Cincinnati Christian University for a three day event about three years back while I was a student there. The really weird/cool thing is that my parents, way before I was born, used to be youth sponsors. They would work weeks of church camp during the summer and on more than one occasion had worked weeks with Tommy.

The whole concept of this conference is helping prepare teens to possibly go into full-time vocational ministry. The night that I just happened to be at seemed to be the climax of the week. Tommy’s message was simple, to the point, very clear and yet is was one of the most powerful messages I’ve heard delivered in a very long time. In fact, Tommy himself was almost in tears on many different occasions throughout the night because of how passionate he was about the message he was delivering from God. It was simply something I could only describe as a God moment. God was fully in that place and using Tommy to deliver His message with passion.

That message came from two separate passage, one from the New Testament and one from the Old Testament. Looking back at it now, I don’t think I would have ever put these passages together, yet it makes perfect and complete sense to do so now. The New Testament passage came from Matthew 9:37-38 which states, “Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’”. The Old Testament passage is actually one of my favorites from the Old Testament. It was the calling and commissioning of Isaiah found in Isaiah 6. Isaiah found himself in the presence of the Almighty God and the presence of God made him feel so unworthy and scared. This, however, is not the part that Tommy chose to focus on. His focus was on what happened after Isaiah was cleansed by one of the angels. The focus was actually just one simple verse. Many of you have probably already figured out what it is. Isaiah 6:8 states, “Then i heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”.

While these two passages have a lot to say separately, they say volumes more when used together. Tommy ended his message by giving the teens a little quiz, although he gave them the answers. The answers came straight from the verses. He asked, “What is plentiful?” and they were to answer “The harvest!”. “What are there few of?” and the answer was “Workers!”. “So what are we to do about it?” and the answer was “Pray for workers!” After asking this a few times, Tommy moved on to Isaiah 6:8 and did the same thing with that verse. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” and the answer was “Here am I. Send me!”

After asking these questions a few times he went on to say that he was going to have two invitations that night. The first one was he believed was something that every single person in the room that night could accept and commit to. That invitation or commitment is what is driving me to write this at almost 2 AM. He asked us all to commit to make this part of our daily personal prayer life. In fact, he asked that we pray for this in every prayer that we pray. That prayer is simple, but is very very important and I believe can have a great impact on this world. The commitment is to pray “Lord, please send workers into the harvest” every time we pray. Now I will admit that I have already failed at keeping that in every prayer or even praying that every day, but I am committed to making that a daily part of my prayer life because this world needs more people doing God’s work full time.

The next invitation he had was something that not everyone was going to be able to accept, and that was completely natural and fine. It was for anyone who felt God’s call in their life to enter full-time vocational ministry to stand and from the depth of their hearts answer God with, “Here am I. Send me!”. Now there were about 100 teenagers there that night and from what I could tell, half or maybe a little more than half of those teenagers answered God’s call in their life to enter full-time vocational ministry. You talking about an emotional scene, it was so uplifting to see teens making the same decision/commitment that I had made 7 years before them.

After Tommy closed out his message, Curtis Booher (my youth minister from back in my youth group days) got up to close the night out. He started to give the same quiz that Tommy gave earlier that night. He asked, “What is there a lot of?” and the teens answered “Harvest!”. He then asked, “What is there not a lot of?” and they answered “Workers!”. Then Curtis said something that was the perfect end to what had just happened. He stated, “But not as few as we had before tonight”.

Now I write all of this to get two points across. Matthew 9:37-38 still means the same today as it did the day that Christ first said it. What I mean is that there is a plentiful harvest out there just waiting but we don’t have enough workers. We need to prayerfully ask God to send workers into that harvest. So my first point is to ask that anyone that reads this blog and considers themselves a Christian to make the commitment with me and many others to pray on a daily basis for God to raise up workers for this harvest.

My second point goes along with Isaiah 6:8. If we commit to praying daily for workers to be raised up, some of us might start hearing God asking “But whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”. Not everyone will hear this call, but I truly believe that if we pray for God to raise up workers, He will. If you start feeling like He is asking you “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” be prepared to answer “Here am I. Send me!” Take it from someone who has personally experienced this. I tried to not answer for a long time, yet it never went away. Don’t waste your life.

Please pray with me for workers to be sent into this harvest. Be prepared, however, to answer that call if God starts leading you down that path. I feel like something big is getting ready to happen in this world. It seems to be close to catching on fire for God, but we need workers. “God, please, I beg of you from the depth of my heart and soul to send workers into this harvest. I am answering you again, and will answer you this way for the rest of my life, ‘Here am I. Send me!’. I know You have great plans in store for this world. Let us passionately serve You with everything that we have and use us, O God, to help bring in Your harvest! I love you with all of my heart God. Hear this heartfelt prayer. In Your Son’s precious name, Amen”

Delay

It's been a while since I posted anything on here. While I plan on somewhat regularly posting, this has been a really long gap in my writing. This is partly due to filling out a bunch of applications/questionnaires for ministry positions lately and partly due to finding the time to actually sit down and write. I do have a new post that is in the works, but I have no idea how long it will take me to get it done. I am in the process of trying to answer the question "What Makes You Believe in God". While I know the answer to this personally, I am trying to answer it from as many different angles as I can and it is proving to be a long process. I really enjoy writing posts for this blog and just wanted to explain the delay in my posting.

Kraig

How Much Do You Have To Hate Someone...

I saw this video the other day that has really hit me hard. The longer and more in-depth I think about it, the more I see God speaking to me and all Christians. It is amazing to see how God uses people to teach us His truths, people that sometimes do not even believe that God (or any god for that matter) even exists. I was not aware until I saw this video that Penn from the famous Penn and Teller duo is a very strong atheist. The video that I saw (which I will post a link for later in this post) was a clip from Penn as a response to a gentleman that attended one of his shows and then after proceeded to give Penn and Bible and witness to him.

While Penn openly states in this video that this man did not change his mind and he still “knows there is no god”, I believe 100% that God is using Penn to teach Christians an important lesson on evangelism. The reason I say this is a statement that Penn makes about those of us that believe in an eternal life and whether we should be telling people about it. First of all he says that he does not respect people who believe what Christians believe and do not try to tell others about it. Then he drops what I consider to be a huge bombshell and possibly the most amazing thought on evangelism I have ever heard (and I have spent my entire life in church and four years in Bible college). Penn states, “How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them”.

Here is the link for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM

I do not know about you, but I had never thought about it this way. As a Christian, evangelism, or telling people about what you believe, is something that should be of top importance. While this is how it should be, I have not experienced this a lot in my own life or observed it a lot in other Christians that I have had the pleasure of being around on a regular basis. In fact, I would even go as far as saying it is a topic that most Christians would be uncomfortable talking about. This is because either we truly do not care about other people or we are so scared about what other people will think of us that we think it better just to keep the most amazing gift ever given to ourselves. Another possibility that I see some people using as an excuse not to tell people about Christianity is they believe that only ministers or educated people can effectively do this. It might even be that they think it isn’t even their job to bring others to Christ.

No matter what our excuses are, we need to stop making them and start telling/showing everyone that we come into contact with the truth and gift that we were so freely given. There is no excuse that could ever be enough for us to not tell people about our wonderful loving God. In fact, Christ even commands us to go and bring others to Him. Matthew 28:18-20 states, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” (NIV). This is one of the last things Jesus told his disciples before ascending into heaven. It is a command that all of us are suppose to follow.

This is not an easy command to follow. In fact, I would argue that because Jesus commanded it, it isn’t really supposed to be easy. People will reject what we have to say. We will face persecution from following this command. Jesus never promised us a peaceful life in which no one would hate us for being His followers. In fact, He told us that this would not be the case at all. Jesus states in Matthew 24:9-10, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,” (NIV). Following Jesus is not easy. Following Him comes at a price and following His commands comes at a price as well. While Jesus never promised us it would be easy to follow him (in fact He promised it would be hard), He did give us something to hold on to. This is found at the end of the Matthew 28 passage I quoted earlier. Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (NIV). What could really go wrong with Jesus promising us that He will always be with us? It won’t be easy, but we have the King of the universe on our side.

I want to focus on what Penn said again for a few minutes. I really feel that his statement shows that he, as an atheist, might actually understand what is at stake with evangelism and why we should be doing it better than most Christians. “How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them?” Let that sink in a little bit more. We are supposed to love everyone but it really is an act of hate to let someone go through our life without trying to show them what we have to look forward too when this world is over. We should be motivated by our love for humanity more than our fear of persecution. All we can control is what we do, and we should try to show everyone what we have.

I do not believe that this means that we have to get in people’s faces every time we see them and try to convert them. We need to be outspoken about who we are and what we believe, but we have to come across as sane people who just care about others enough that we want to share what we believe can lead to everlasting life. Not everyone that we come in contact with is going to listen to us or end up believing what we believe, but we can still plant that seed. We can evangelize in many many different ways, but I feel convicted that we are supposed to evangelize anywhere and everywhere we go.

Again, there are no excuses that can get us out of that. You don’t have to be the best speaker in the world or know the Bible from cover to cover. In fact, I would argue that one would not even have to tell someone about Jesus to evangelize. One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from St. Francis of Assisi and I think it fits this post very well. He states, “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words”. That hits it right on the head. We should always be trying to bring others to Christ by our actions. Actions speak much louder than words, but our words should back up our actions. No matter what, we should be trying to bring every person we meet to a loving relationship with Christ. No excuses. When it seems hard to tell someone about your faith and what you believe, look back to what a self-proclaimed atheist once went on video and said, “How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them”. Also remember that Jesus promised to always be with us even to the end of the age. Let’s all try to make an effort to plant seed wherever it is we go.

Well I'm new to this blog. I have written (and will continue) on other blogs when inspiration hits, but since I am new to this, I thought it wise to write a little about me. This is also going to be an attempt to explain what I am going to use this blog for. First and most important, I am a Christian in love with God. I desire nothing above being sold out for Him. I am in the constant process of trying to deepen my relationship with Him on a daily basis. This is not an easy process, as I constantly fall short of what I know I am supposed to be.

I was born and raised in East Tennessee in an area known as the Tri-Cities (Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol). This has a great deal to do with who I am because I was raised to believe that men should treat women with respect and that God is the most important thing one can have in their lives. I was raised as an only child and my parents had me in church every Sunday. The initial church we went to was the church that my mom had grown up in. When I was in 4th grade, my parents made the decision to leave this church because of the lack of a strong youth program there. We visited a few churches until my parents found the church that I would now consider to be my home church.

The next year, I made the decision to be baptized, and after talking it over with my parents and my Sr. Minister, my dad baptized me. This is the best decision that I have ever made in my life and I wouldn't change that for anything. When I entered 7th grade, I was finally in the youth group of this church. I absolutely loved being in the youth group. It was fun but it also focused on God in a way that teens could understand it. I continually found myself getting more and more involved. By the time I was a freshman in high school, I was completely sold out in my life for God. If something was going on at church with the youth group, I was there. Very few things were allowed to interfere with this.

My life took one of its biggest and hardest turns the summer after my freshman year. The day that school let out for the summer, my family and I left for a vacation to Pennsylvania. While on that trip, my dad had a major heart attack and three days later he passed away in a hospital in Lancaster, PA. I still remember that morning of my mom waking me up in our hotel and telling me that something was wrong with my dad. I remember the paramedics rushing in while I was standing out in the hall. If it hadn't been for my friends, family and especially my youth group, youth minister and Sr. minister, I don't know how I would have come through that situation. But with their help, I saw the only option was turning to God and through one of the hardest times in my life actually found myself deepening my faith and relationship with Him.

The rest of my high school years were pretty average. I was still heavily involved with my youth group and church. I was a decent student (could have been much better if I had just tried a little harder) and was working through the dual path at my high school. This meant that I was taking college prep classes but also technical classes as well. So not only was I working toward going to college, but I was taking office technology classes because what I ultimately wanted to do was go into some kind of business. This led to the decision my senior year to attend Tusculum College in Greeneville, TN in the fall. Tusculum had a great business program and my first year was actually paid for in full except for books.

Then, the summer after I graduated high school, God sent me the next major turn. While at a week of church camp, I felt Him calling me into youth ministry. This scared me very much, as I was a very shy person and didn't feel like I would be able to get up in front of a group of people. The next week was a tough but exciting week while trying to figure out if this was actually from God. Once I decided that it was God, then I made a commitment in front of the entire camp that I was going to follow God's call for my life and go into youth ministry.

I initially decided to still attend Tusculum. During my sophomore year there, I started looking at seminaries that I could go to after getting my bachelor's degree so I could get a Masters in some kind of ministry and go into youth ministry that way. It was during this search that I felt God's next call in my life. He was calling me to transfer to what was then known as Cincinnati Bible College and major in youth ministry.

This is what I did. It proved to be one of the best decisions that I have ever made as well. My time at CCU (changed its name to Cincinnati Christian University during my first semester) gave me a deeper understanding of God's word and also prepared me so well for the world of ministry. I was able to be on the ground floor of a new youth ministry society called Nu Delta Sigma and actually became the first president. It was also during this time that I got my first two tastes of what real ministry was like. I worked part time during the school year with a church in Indiana. I also had the opportunity one summer to do a full-time internship at Georgetown Church of Christ in Georgetown, OH.

While I learned so much at CCU, I learned more in that one summer interning with another full-time youth minister than I did my entire four years at CCU. This internship also gave me something else that I never expected to get out of it. I found my future wife at this church while interning there. She was a senior in the youth group. We had a lot of great discussions and really got to know each other well. After my internship ended, we quickly started dating. We dated for almost a year before we got engaged last July. We are planning on getting married in July of this year (if I can find some kind of a job before then).

I have spent time as the youth minister of a small church in Indiana from January of last year through August of last year until my fiancee and I decided that it was better for me to go ahead and leave that church as it wasn't the right place for us. I am currently searching for where God wants my fiancee and I to serve Him in a full-time ministry role.

Now, what I am planning on using this blog for. I read a lot of blogs and articles and this gives me a lot of ideas for things to write about. I also feel led to write sometimes after reading and spending time with God. So, this blog is going to be my humble attempt to share my thoughts on possibly many different things. It might have something to do specifically with Christianity or ministry, but that is not the only things that I will probably write about.

Rest assured, however, that anything that is written here, will be written from the perspective of a sold out follower of Jesus Christ. This is my worldview and as such, everything that I write will come from that perspective. If you come across this and do not believe what I and so many others believe, that is fine. I ask that you allow me the same freedom to believe what I believe that you would cry out for if someone started arguing with you. I pray that my words could plant the seed in someone's heart and eventually lead them to Christ, but I respect other people's opinions as well. Thanks for reading and God bless.