Author: Adam

Hey this is my personal info. My blog, at least right now, is intended for people who already know me, and they know that I am from Northeast Indiana, but for the summer of 2006 I'm chillin out in Tulsa, Oklahoma for an internship. So since everybody on this page probably already knows me I'm not going to waste extra time to say that I'm 22 and I just graduated with my music degree and I play the piano, and have felt called to ministry since I was in 3rd grade. Yea, I'm not going to say all that extra stuff.
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Family Ties.

If you read about the early church in the Book of Acts, you will see a drastic difference between today’s Christianity and the church described in the Book of Acts. Extraordinary events today were ordinary for first century Christians: healing, dead being raised to life, hundreds coming to Christ every day, miracle after miracle after miracle. So I dug into the Book of Acts to answer this question, “What did the early Church do that Christians today are not doing?” This post is a part of a series of posts that aim to answer this question.

As I read through the book of Acts there was a huge theme that kept coming up – FAMILY. I didn’t recognize this pattern until chapter 21, so that’s why this list of scriptures is not comprehensive.

There were many people traveling and spreading Christianity in the first century church – and they were all treated like family. When Paul is writing to churches, he often says things like, “I long to be with you . . .” The church viewed themselves as family.

I think this is one thing that’s challenging the American church today – we aren’t a family. Take Galatians 6:2 for example, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” What does it mean to carry each other’s burden?

About a year ago I had a friend that came to me and confessed to me that he was struggling with a sexual addiction. All it took was a girl to wink at him and he would have her in bed by the end of the day, sometimes within the hour. He was a Christian, but he was struggling. He came to me because he wanted to be healed and he trusted me. I prayed for him. A few days later he called me up and explained that he had sex with another girl again. I couldn’t believe that he was so far into sin and did it again! I couldn’t believe he was such a lousy human being – that’s really what I was thinking. His situation made me very uncomfortable and I began avoiding his phone calls and text messages until he stopped calling and leaving messages.

When I read Galatians 6:1-2 last month I felt great conviction from my actions a year earlier. I didn’t treat this brother like a brother – I treated him like an enemy simply because the nature of his sin made me uncomfortable. That’s my problem, not his. I wanted Christianity to be nice, clean, orderly, and easy. He was making it messy. In reality my friend had a healthier perspective of Christianity than I did – Christianity should be filled with messy poop, because poop is a sign of life!

If the American church really grasped this idea of our spiritual family ties, I think we would see more people openly confessing their sins. We would have a much healthier Christianity — we would be carrying each other’s burden.

Can I give you the same challenge I’m giving myself? It has two parts. First, be accepting of a Christian who’s confessing their sins to you. Remember they’re confessing because James 5:16 says “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you can be healed.” Secondly, don’t disobey the Bible – find people you can confess your sins to that will pray for you. And then do it!

**Cue Exit music: Sister Sledge doing “We Are Family”**

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Myths of the Ministry

In the 1980s, my dad heard a list of ministry myths about pastors at a convention of the Fort Wayne Bible College (later bought by Taylor University). Many of these are specifically regarding full-time pastors. I thought they were very interesting, and very applicaple for today as well.

  1. Pastors have perfect kids.  People actually think it should be that way!
  2. Pastors have the answers to everything. Don’t me how to change your oil!
  3. Pastors are super-Christians. The only difference is a Calling to full-time ministry. Pastors get tempted like everyone else.
  4. Pastors need less money. Historically this was actually true — Pastors used to get discounts for everything. But that hasn’t been the case for several decades. Pastors have bills to pay like everyone else. 
  5. Pastors only work one day a week. I’ve actually heard of a person who frequently would stop in to speak with a pastor and start out by saying, “I figured you didn’t have anything to do so I wanted to stop by and talk to you.”
  6. I lost it.
  7. I can’t find these.
  8. Not sure where I wrote 6-10 at…
  9. Hmmm…
  10. When/if I find 6-10 I’ll post them, too. But I didn’t want to mess up the beautiful numbering system…
  11. Pastors know what’s happening. Pastors do not magically know if you’re in the hospital or if you are offended or if your life is going down the tubes and you want someone to pray for you.
  12. It’s easy for a pastor to be a Christian. See note on #3.
  13. It’s easy for a pastor to witness.
  14. Pastors have no retirement needs.
  15. The pastor and his family are immune to troubles.
  16. Pastors always have their head in the clouds. Although many pastors need to be visionaries and look towards the future, so it may seem this way because pastors often talk about what COULD happen.
  17. Pastors are a third sex. Ha ha. This made me laugh. A pastor is either a male or a female – and you’re going to get all the emotions and characteristics that go with that sex.
  18. The Pastor’s home belongs to the church. This was the case many years ago but the parsonage idea is quickly vanishing across all denominations.  Parsonages were often bitter experiences because the family could go away for a day and when they return the walls and furniture could be completely changed– whether the pastor liked it or not!
  19. Pastors don’t need a vacation.
  20. Pastors should always be available. A good church should have a MINISTRY TEAM that is always available. If the pastor is on a date with his wife – leave him alone. This is why deacons were originally created.
  21. Pastors appreciate inside information (aka. GOSSIP).
  22. Pastors sleep in every morning. Sometimes a pastor needs to work 2nd and 3rd shift. I’ll never forget getting home at 2 or 3 a.m. from a youth group event and just as I was arriving home, my dad was leaving to go minister to someone in a hospital.
  23. The pastor’s wife enjoys all facets of the church ministry. My mom (a pastor’s wife) is an exception. But we shouldn’t assume that the pastor’s wife is Called to ministry – she is firstly Called to her husband. (If it makes you feel better, reverse the husband/wife thing to be politically correct). 
  24. If you hire the pastor, the pastor’s wife is part of the deal as well. I’ve heard of one church asking a potential pastor, “If we hire you, what will your wife do for us?”
  25. A pastor is Mr. Fixit. Pastors don’t know how to fix other individuals and all problems in the world. Don’t have an unrealistic expectations — pastors can give you Godly spiritual counsel.
  26. The pastor’s family appreciate hand-me-downs. Pastors families appreciate it just as much as any other family (its not bad, but its not exactly “Christmas” either).
  27. The pastor’s car is the church taxi. “Pastor, I need to get to a doctor’s appointment, can you drive me there?” This actually happens.
  28. Pastor’s don’t need study time or devotional time – they already know all spiritual truth.
  29. Pastors like to eat. Fellowship is important for a pastor – and food often comes with it… too much. 
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Two Awesome CDs.

The past several weeks I’ve been amazed at two CDs. I wanted to give a plug for them.

Israel and New Breed’s “A Deeper Level”
It’s got the classic “Israel Hougton” sound (and beats) that makes my mind spin, energy that competes with the Energizer Bunny, and a deeper message than most of Israel’s stuff. It is well deserving of its Grammy for the best pop/Contemporary Gospel album of the year. You can buy it here.

Leeland’s “Opposite Way”
Leeland is the best. That’s all there is to it. It is a powerful, powerful CD. God’s raising up a new generation of worshipers who aren’t afraid to go “the opposite way.” It’s great stuff. You’ve got to check them out. Their website has a link to where you can buy the CD and also has a thing on the front page where you can click to listen to the entire album (streaming). Go check them out.

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Struggles.

If you’re not struggling with sin, you’re probably not much of a Christian.

This statement popped in my head a couple weeks ago and I’ve been thinking about ever since. I have no idea where this quote came from or even if I thought it up myself, I can’t remember. When I first heard it, I immediately disagreed and began trying to disprove it because it didn’t make me feel good. It was, however, intriguing enough that I thought about it and considered what truth there might be to the statement. After thinking about it, I completely agree. This is a very true statement. Let me explain:

All have sinned, right? That means we all have a sinful nature. Those who have accepted Jesus also have a Godly nature. Paul talks about this battle of two natures in Romans 7:14-20. So considering this conflict of man, having sin in our lives is a given (unless certain parts of the Bible don’t apply to you :)). So if you’re not struggling with sin, then you’re just living with it — you’re not much of a Christian. …ouch.

So, it’s good for Christians to be struggling with sin. Is it messy? Oh yes, its very messy. But messes aren’t bad — its sort of like poop.

Now this got me really thinking. Have you ever been in a church when there is an altar call for people who want to re-dedicate their lives to Christ? I’ve often seen very few people respond to these. I think a lot of people are thinking, “Oh, that’s not for me – I’m not that bad.” Or maybe a huge hunk of people are thinking, “Nope. I’m not struggling with a sin right now.” Well . . . they should read this blog post, I guess.

I’m not trying to change altar calls nor am I saying they’re bad — those altar calls for re-dedications often are targeted towards those who have been running away from God. But if healthy Christians are supposed to be struggling with sin, shouldn’t each of us respond to our own daily re-dedication altar calls in our hearts?

Reader, can I challenge you? Is your sin a struggle or merely an annoyance to you? Do you even recognize your sin or have you been like those in the Laodician church and ignore its existence entirely? I’m not necessarily asking you to respond to these questions in the comments below, but I do ask that you respond to these questions in prayer. Think about it.

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Two Words.

If I surveyed each of you, I would find a lot of testimonies of how God changed your life – some large, some small. Perhaps yours would start out like, “I was spiritually oppressed … “, “I was at the brink of death …”, “I was an angry and bitter person …”, “My marriage was at the end of its rope …”, “I was doing drugs …”, “I struggled with gender identity …”, “Pornography consumed my mind …”, or “I was a liar ….” But for those of you who have had your life changed by God, this is only the start of your testimony. There are two words that usually come after each of these statements and they are two of the most beautiful words in the language:

“. . . But God.”

Pause.

If you are still breathing, your testimony is still in the making. That means we all have “starts of testimonies” that still need to be turned over to God – I’m talking to everyone here. When we turn to God, we open ourselves to a Better Solution that brings the words “but God” into our testimony once again.

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I’m Not Dead.

I just wanted to let you all know that I’m not dead. I got really sick a few weeks ago, and that set me back enough that I’ve been playing catch up ever since. The weeks leading up to Easter are the busiest weeks of the entire year for most worship pastors, and I’m no exception. I’ve got lots and lots of things to blog about, but just no time to develop the thoughts into clearly written communication. I’ll be back on regularly in awhile, I’m just taking a blogging break I guess. Hang tight! I love you all!

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Self-Centered Christianity.

Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own ‘victory’ over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God.


W. S. Plumer said, ‘We never see sin aright until we see it as against God … All sin is against God in this sense: that it is His law that is broken, His authority that is despised, His government that is set at naught … Pharaoh and Balaam, Saul and Judas each said, ‘I have sinned’; but the returning prodigal said, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee; and David said, “Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned.”

This is an excerpt from some sermon notes of Dwayne Roberts (from the leadership team of IHOP). This paragraph was a “Goliath moment” for me; it hit me right between the eyeballs.

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Are Creationists Wrong?

I consider myself a Creationist because I believe God created the Earth and everything in it. Most Creationists really depend on every word from Genesis. They believe what Genesis says.

But I’m starting to doubt that now.

I mean, Phil Collins isn’t even that good of a drummer.

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Jesus is NOT My Homeboy!

If you read about the early church in the Book of Acts, you will see a drastic difference between today’s Christianity and the church described in the Book of Acts. Extraordinary events today were ordinary for first century Christians: healing, dead being raised to life, hundreds coming to Christ every day, miracle after miracle after miracle. So I dug into the Book of Acts to answer this question, “What did the early Church do that Christians today are not doing?” This post is a part of a series of posts that aim to answer this question.

They Respected and Feared the Name of Jesus Christ. Here’s Scripture.

In the book of Acts we can see respect for Jesus formed after a great work. Amazing things were happening and it resulted in a Holy Fear for God. That didn’t surprise me, that just makes sense. But compare that to today’s world.

Today the respect for God has been diminished into the ever popular, “Jesus is my Homeboy” campaign. Thousands of T-Shirts with these designs have swept the country. The “Jesus is my Homeboy” design does a great job demonstrating the caring relationship we can have with Him, but it tosses respect and Godly fear right out the window. Jesus is NOT my Homeboy – HE IS GOD!

The natural result of Godly fear is genuine holiness. Revival starts with holiness.

Church, if we’re expecting God to come and do amazing things among us — if we’re hoping for God’s presence to show up powerfully — if we’re hoping for a revival, we must be holy. We must respect and fear Jesus and his commands. We must be obediant. God will come with great power when we’ve prepared a Church that’s worth it.

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My Gray Hairs Are Gone. Seriously.

My second year of college was the busiest year of my life. I was a full time university student studying music (which meant a lot of practice time). I led and directed a midweek evangelistic children’s program at my church. I worked a significant amount empowering the worship teams and choirs to serve more effectively. I took Bible college courses in the evenings. I had never been so stressed in all my life. I actually wrote out my schedule to help me organize my time and realized that I had a grand total of something like 4 hours PER WEEK of non-committed time. That means for every week, I had a grand total of 4 hours to hang with friends, watch T.V., take showers, or just whatever I wanted to do. I was about that busy all four years of college, but my second year was the worst. It nearly killed me.

During that crazy busy time, I grew 3 gray hairs. I knew exactly what they were from: stress.

Yesterday when I was getting ready in the bathroom, I realized that my gray hairs were gone. (Don’t even start with the, “You’re going bald” crap. I’m not going bald – the gray hairs are gone). It was quite cool – I mean do I have less stress? Maybe. But more than that, I think I’m handling the high levels of mental stress much better now that I’m doing a better job at living a LIFE of renewal.

Now of course I’m not equating no gray hairs with good spirituality. That’s not the point. I’m talking about what the gray hairs represented in my life. Good spirituality will eliminate the “gray hairs” (ignored stress). “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” That means if we’re spending time with God, eagerly anticipating Him, our strength will be RENEWED. We’ve heard that scripture in Isiah a million times, but seldom do we live like it.

When crazy busy times come our way, I think we go into a “focus” mode and we only do the things that MUST be done — which ignores our time with God. That thinking is killing Christians! When we have more work to do than ever before, we should pray twice as much! God will make up the difference, he never lies: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”