Foundation Leadership Structure

Ok, so here is a diagram of the newly created Foundation Leadership Structure that was revealed at the Strategic Planning retreat. Take a look, ask questions, and share what you think. I'll post more information regarding individual parts of the model later. Enjoy!




(click image to enlarge)

Professor's Movie Review - Rocky

Ok, so I know I have no credentials to be a movie critic. However, I wanted to give a review on the new Rocky movie in case you have not seen it yet and might want to. My advice is this - if you have seen the other Rocky movies, great, you'll know what's going on. If not, it wont make as much sense to you. To be honest, its not the best movie in the world, (its no Forest Gump or Saving Private Ryan), but you get to see all the classic Rocky stuff like him drinking raw eggs and running up the steps. Plus, homeboy is still stout to be like 60 years old and the fight scene is classic Rocky action. As a Christian, this movie doesnt contain too much bad material, maybe just a few curse words, with even a few faith references through out the movie. I think its important to be conscience of the material we let into our minds through our eyes. Rocky is a good movie, go see it! Two thumbs up!

For another great review by Christian blogger Ben Witherington click here.

Church Needs Dudes

I ran across this video today and found it interesting. Pastor Mark Driscoll of this church in Seattle shares what he thinks is one of the problems with churches today...not enough men..and that most of the men that do go to church are wimps. "The problem in the church today: its just a bunch of nice, soft, tender, chickafied church boys." (start the video about 1:30 in)

What do you think?

NCSU Engineer Explains the Physics of Santa

Well I already knew that I graduated from the greatest university on the planet but this definitely has to seal the deal...an Engineering professor over at NCSU has explained the plausible science behind how Santa can deliver millions of presents around the world in one night...

"Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, that space can be squeezed like an orange and that light can be bent,” Silverberg says. “Relativity clouds are controllable domains – rips in time – that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye.”

Read the entire article here.

This guy looks a lot like someone I know...

Have you ever seen an elf dance? Click the picture to see what Professor Webb has been doing on the side in order to pay the bills...just think how many kids he's made happy on their annual visit to the mall to see Santa. Doing it for the kids...what a guy!

(sorry Webb, I couldn't resist)

Strategic Planning Retreat

Sounds like a fancy name huh? Well that's what we hope happens from Thursday to Saturday of this week as our leadership team will be in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee planning for upcoming ministry. Be in prayer this week for our leadership team as we will be traveling with a chance of snow, but mainly for what God will do while we are up there. We will be reflecting on the last year of ministry and then dive into the big question; What's next? It's going to be a really important series of meetings that is going to directly impact the future of The Foundation...so remember that this week during your prayer times.

Reminder: Keep checking the blog, but we will begin slowing down here during the holiday season with the number of posts, so my apologies for that. However, expect to see a big turn around in post frequency starting in January! So stay tuned...

Thursday HangOUT

Thursday's HangOUT will be the last one until the new year...so be sure to come. There will not be a HangOUT on Dec. 21st or the 28th...but we are working on a pretty cool idea for a back to school bash in January, so stay tuned....

HangOUT @ the Center: Thursday 7pm (directions)

Blog Template Stuff

Must We Believe the Virgin Birth?

I ran across this today and thought I would post it since we kind of talked about the same thing on Thursday. It is from Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.,who is the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. There is supposed to be a three part series, so I will post them as he writes them.

Friday, December 08, 2006

In one of his columns for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof once pointed to belief in the Virgin Birth as evidence that conservative Christians are "less intellectual." Are we saddled with an untenable doctrine? Is belief in the Virgin Birth really necessary?

Kristof is absolutely aghast that so many Americans believe in the Virgin Birth. "The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time," he explains, and the percentage of Americans who believe in the Virgin Birth "actually rose five points in the latest poll." Yikes! Is this evidence of secular backsliding?

"The Virgin Mary is an interesting prism through which to examine America's emphasis on faith," Kristof argues, "because most Biblical scholars regard the evidence for the Virgin Birth ... as so shaky that it pretty much has to be a leap of faith." Here's a little hint: Anytime you hear a claim about what "most Biblical scholars" believe, check on just who these illustrious scholars really are. In Kristof's case, he is only concerned about liberal scholars like Hans Kung, whose credentials as a Catholic theologian were revoked by the Vatican.

The list of what Hans Kung does not believe would fill a book [just look at his books!], and citing him as an authority in this area betrays Kristof's determination to stack the evidence, or his utter ignorance that many theologians and biblical scholars vehemently disagree with Kung. Kung is the anti-Catholic's favorite Catholic, and that is the real reason he is so loved by the liberal media.

Kristof also cites "the great Yale historian and theologian" Jaroslav Pelikan as an authority against the Virgin Birth, but this is both unfair and untenable. In Mary Through the Centuries, Pelikan does not reject the Virgin Birth, but does trace the development of the doctrine.

What are we to do with the Virgin Birth? The doctrine was among the first to be questioned and then rejected after the rise of historical criticism and the undermining of biblical authority that inevitably followed. Critics claimed that since the doctrine is taught in "only" two of the four Gospels, it must be elective. The Apostle Paul, they argued, did not mention it in his sermons in Acts, so he must not have believed it. Besides, the liberal critics argued, the doctrine is just so supernatural. Modern heretics like retired Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong argue that the doctrine was just evidence of the early church's over-claiming of Christ's deity. It is, Spong tells us, the "entrance myth" to go with the resurrection, the "exit myth." If only Spong were a myth.

Now, even some revisionist evangelicals claim that belief in the Virgin Birth is unnecessary. The meaning of the miracle is enduring, they argue, but the historical truth of the doctrine is not really important.

Must one believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? This is not a hard question to answer. It is conceivable that someone might come to Christ and trust Christ as Savior without yet learning that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. A new believer is not yet aware of the full structure of Christian truth. The real question is this: Can a Christian, once aware of the Bible's teaching, reject the Virgin Birth? The answer must be no.

Nicholas Kristof pointed to his grandfather as a "devout" Presbyterian elder who believed that the Virgin Birth is a "pious legend." Follow his example, Kristof encourages, and join the modern age. But we must face the hard fact that Kristof's grandfather denied the faith. This is a very strange and perverse definition of "devout."

Matthew tells us that before Mary and Joseph "came together," Mary "was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." [Matthew 1:18] This, Matthew explains, fulfilled what Isaiah promised: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name 'Immanuel,' which translated means 'God with Us'." [Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 9:6-7]

Luke provides even greater detail, revealing that Mary was visited by an angel who explained that she, though a virgin, would bear the divine child: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God." [Luke 1:35]

Even if the Virgin Birth was taught by only one biblical passage, that would be sufficient to obligate all Christians to the belief. We have no right to weigh the relative truthfulness of biblical teachings by their repetition in Scripture. We cannot claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and then turn around and cast suspicion on its teaching.

Millard Erickson states this well: "If we do not hold to the virgin birth despite the fact that the Bible asserts it, then we have compromised the authority of the Bible and there is in principle no reason why we should hold to its other teachings. Thus, rejecting the virgin birth has implications reaching far beyond the doctrine itself."

Implications, indeed. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, who was His father? There is no answer that will leave the Gospel intact. The Virgin Birth explains how Christ could be both God and man, how He was without sin, and that the entire work of salvation is God's gracious act. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, He had a human father. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, the Bible teaches a lie.

Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of evangelical theologians, argues that the Virgin Birth is the "essential, historical indication of the Incarnation, bearing not only an analogy to the divine and human natures of the Incarnate, but also bringing out the nature, purpose, and bearing of this work of God to salvation." Well said, and well believed.

Nicholas Kristof and his secularist friends may find belief in the Virgin Birth to be evidence of intellectual backwardness among American Christians. But this is the faith of the Church, established in God's perfect Word, and cherished by the true Church throughout the ages. Kristof's grandfather, we are told, believed that the Virgin Birth is a "pious legend." The fact that he could hold such beliefs and serve as an elder in his church is evidence of that church's doctrinal and spiritual laxity -- or worse. Those who deny the Virgin Birth affirm other doctrines only by force of whim, for they have already surrendered the authority of Scripture. They have undermined Christ's nature and nullified the incarnation.

This much we know: All those who find salvation will be saved by the atoning work of Jesus the Christ -- the virgin-born Savior. Anything less than this is just not Christianity, whatever it may call itself. A true Christian will not deny the Virgin Birth.

David "the Hoff" Hasselhoff

Well you just never know what kids will show you these days. I had some kids in before school today programming their video games and one of them wanted to show me a music video on Google. Well shortly thereafter I watched the video you are about to watch, and needless to say my childhood hero has let me down. You see, growing up in the 90's as a young boy in a small town, David Hasselhoff was an everyday name, common to all boys my age. He was the star of Knight Rider, driving KITT, his smooth operating black 1982 Trans Am around battling the forces of evil as a lone ranger. But he is most revered for his days on the glorious "Baywatch." As a 12 year old boy it is hard not to look up to a man who is loved by mobs of women and runs around on the beach with the most beautiful women on TV saving peoples lives. A man that stars in a show that has the same plot every single week but you still want to watch it anyway (I wonder if it was CJ and not "the Hoff" that kept us watching). Anyways, enough drama, the Hoff has released this music video "Jump in My Car." Somehow I just don't see the "Hoff" the same anymore, and come to think of it, Baywatch really was a pretty crappy show. Things always seem better when you were a kid. Enjoy the show! (*disclaimer* The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of The Foundation or its participants and have absolutely nothing to do with ministry.)

Facelift

Hey yall, the blog is undergoing a facelift during the next couple days. Let me know if you find any bugs or glitches in any of the links or pages. Let me know what you think about the new look and anything else that you would like to see added to the site.

Featured Blog of the Week

Gary Lamb

Blog: Mad Babble From a Church Planter

Lessons learned from NOT attending church...

...

1. The large majority of people DO NOT go to church - Every pastor who has ever said we don't need more churches or that their church is reaching the community just fine is simply an idiot. I got the family up this morning and took the family to eat breakfast and run some errands and every place we went to was SLAMMED. Driving through the neighborhood I saw the large majority of my neighbors home. The church parking lots were empty as well. As pastors we are in church on Sunday mornings and as a result we don't see the facts about our community. The large % of people are not in church and see no point in it. The church better wake up and accept this fact and they better do it soon.
2. Men don't go to church - Yep, this is my hobby horse and I make no apologies about it at all. I would say there were 3 men out for every one woman we saw. I heard three different men at three different times at three different places make some type of comment about the wife and kids being at church. The church has become to feminine in it's methods and practices that men look at it as something women do and the kids should do. This is a hill I am willing to die on and as such RSC will always focus on reaching men because if you reach the man, you reach the family.
   

continue reading here...

Israel

Do you know what the name Israel means? In the Old Testament in Genesis 32, God gives a man, Jacob, the new name of Israel. Jacob had 12 sons. His sons multiplied and became the 12 tribes of the nation Israel, God’s people. The name Israel is made by putting two Hebrew words together, isra = to fight or wrestle, and el = God. What you end up with is a word meaning God fights or one who struggles and wrestles with God.

It is interesting to me that God would choose to give this name to his people. I think this may show us a picture of a relationship, two people wrestling together. It is interesting to think that God wrestles with his people. It reminds us that God is a relational God. In order for two people to wrestle, they have to be latched on to one another. Sometimes God allows us to grapple with him, to plead and petition for things, and sometimes God grabs us and pins us down, placing us where we need to be. It gives us greater cause for thanksgiving, comfort, and celebration to know that the LORD is deeply involved in our lives and is a relational God, not just a far removed deity who simply watches as things happen on Earth. On the contrary, he does stretch out his hand to comfort, to build, and to wrestle.

Top 100 Guitarist of All Time

I ran across this the other day on Guitarport online. http://www.guitarport.com/top.html

Here is their Top 20, you can get the rest of the Top 100 from the link.







1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Eddie Van Halen
3. Eric Clapton
4. Jimmy Page
5. Steve Vai
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan
7. Joe Satriani
8. David Gilmour
9. Brian May
10. B.B. King
11. Carlos Santana
12. Jeff Beck
13. Mark Knopfler
14. Angus Young
15. Les Paul
16. Slash
17. Yngwie Malmsteen
18. Eric Johnson
19. Randy Rhoads
20. Ritchie Blackmore

It is always hard to pick the top guitarist, but I think guitarport did a decent job, especially on the top 10. After that it gets kind of hard to rank them.

For the Top 10, I would proably move Eddie Van Halen down to spot 4 and move Clapton and Page in front of him.

I don't agree with some of the later ones. I think Wes Montgomery is way better than 59, Gary Rossington should at least be in the Top 50, not 96. Duane Allman and Prince should probably move up a few spots also. And where in the world is Brad Paisley, country and southern rock don't get any respect.

But anyways, I thought it was a decent list, way better than Rolling Stones list, which is a joke.
What you think?

HangOUT Thursday

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and all the turkey that came along with it. The HangOUT this week will be back at the normal time and place...so don't miss out. We'll be meeting at the Center @ 7pm on Thursday night. Directions to the center can be found here.

Eat & Treat

Hey Ya'll. I know many of you may be out of town or busy this week but Wednesday night 11/22 we are going to go out and have a good time. We'll have a little eat&treat action up in Forest City...eating and bowling.


We will meet at 6pm over at the Renfro Center and leave from there to go eat at Fatz followed by another night of bowling at the Autumn Lanes.

The cost of bowling was 6 or 7 bucks last time. If you have any questions, email me back or give me a call at 472-5576. And all ya'll OG's who have been gone to college all semester and will be home this week, we'll expect to see ya there so we can show everyone how the L-Town Crew rolls!

Spoon

Feature Blog of the Week

Yeah so being the single guy that I am, as soon as I ran across this blog the other day I knew it had to be the featured blog of the week. Oh and let me remind you that I didn't write this blog, I wish I did...except for the fact that Perry was slappin me around with some of these comments, so just remember that as you read this because I wish I had the whole single dude thing down as he describes it...

Perry Noble

Five Things A Single Dude NEEDS To Know…

OK guys…here we go…I’ve been wanting to do this one for a long time. Please keep in mind that I made TONS of mistakes as a single dude…so these lessons are NOT all as a result of my success stories. BUT…I did manage to do some things right…and I have a red hot wife to prove it. (Thank You Jesus!!!)

#1 - If You Are Interested In A Girl…YOU Need To Talk To HER.

The Bible says in Proverbs 18:22 that he who FINDS a wife finds what is good (AMEN!) Men…it is up to you to FIND a wife…that means YOU are to be the one to initiate things…if you want to be the leader IN the relationship then you should take steps to be the leader at the beginning of the relationship!

This means, if you are interested in a girl…you talk to her!!! You don’t call HER friends and ask them to drop hints for you…unless you are a pathetic wimp. You don’t get YOUR friends to drop hints to her friends. BE A MAN! If you want to ask her out…ASK HER OUT! Trust me…her friends don’t want to talk to you about it anymore…and if you keep bothering them they are going to tell HER to stay away from you!

continue reading the other 4 things....

CCC HangOUT THIS week

This week marks the first ever CCC HangOUT!! We'll be meeting @ 7pm on Thursday in the auditorium inside the main building on the Cleveland Community College campus. This will be a fun time as we are basically getting a feel for what a service would be like in the auditorium. The band is going to be there and will definitely rock the house and we'll just have a good time of fellowship with each other.

The auditorium is just inside the front entrance, closest to Post Rd., and is just across from the college library. Since it will be a Thursday night you will have to park in the student parking lot which is across from the main entrance of the fairgrounds. We'll have someone outside to meet you @ 7 in front of the Visitor Entrance. I'm sure many of you will get lost and not know where to go...so if that happens just give Chance a call at 472-5576.


(click to enlarge)


Driving Directions: (click for map)

• Remain on 74 East into Shelby
• Turn left onto Highway 180 North (South Post Road)
  (This turn is at an intersection of Gasland/Bojangles and Keeter Ford)
• Go through one stop light (.4 miles)
• Turn right at the second light (Elizabeth Elementary School is located on the left). Visitor parking is after you pass the James B. Petty Amphitheater (right) in the visitor parking lot on the left.

John Piper and John MacArthur Release Rap Songs

Haha, well not really, but these are great. You can listen to John Piper's rap rendition of Michael Jackson's "Bad" by clicking here. Indeed, Piper is Bad! Gotta love some Piper.

And not to be outdone you can check out MacArthur's rap by clicking here.

Feature of the Week- Oxymoron-Liberal Evangelical

Tony Campolo on "Being an Oxymoron"


(excerpt from the Huffington Post)

A few weeks ago I was a guest on Steven Colbert's popular television show, The Colbert Report. He introduced me as an Evangelical who is liberal on social issues. Then he added, "He's a living oxymoron!"

Sadly, his words reflect the way Evangelicals are regularly perceived. Here in the United States, Evangelical Christians have become so married to the Right wing of the Republican Party that it is hard for those outside our faith community to imagine that a significant minority of Evangelicals have socially liberal politics.

....

The word liberal has become a political label of ill-repute among many Evangelicals. But if by social liberal, you mean someone who believes America should guarantee medical coverage for all of its citizens; fund the public schools in poor urban and rural communities at the same level as those in rich suburban neighborhoods; be committed to progressive environmental policies; give more than four-tenths of one percent of its federal budget to help the poor of other countries; and give up its militaristic adventurism--then I embrace the label with enthusiasm.

CONTINUE READING...

Thoughts from New Orleans mission trip this past Aug.

For a year seeing photos, videos, and hearing stories on the TV and Internet increased my desire to go to New Orleans and minister to the people. After driving almost 1,000 miles, the two girls in my car and I finally passed a sign that read “New Orleans.” I still remember how it felt to finally arrive in New Orleans this past August. My heart went out to the people of the city as my friends and I approached the crest of a hill and drove past buildings with windows blown out and tarps still covering their sides.

I looked out in front of my car and took in the sight of New Orleans. It was a broken city that still had so much work needing to be done to restore it- both physically and emotionally for the people living there.

Our team of 3 girls and 3 guys ranging from ages 17 to 21 were ready to arrive at the Vieux Carre Baptist Church where we would be staying for the week. We had worked with this church a year ago and were excited to come back and minister with them again. The Vieux Carre is in the French Quarter, just a couple streets over from the well-known Bourbon St. and close to where numerous homeless people line the sidewalks to sleep at night.

What a strategic place for ministry outreach the Vieux Carre has in the French Quarter! The placement of this church provides its leaders a great opportunity to minister to the storekeepers and the homeless in the quarter.

Depending on where people live, whether in New Orleans, a third world country, or in the foothills of N.C., the way for Christians to minister to people around the world can differ. Some people have physical needs that must be met before they will give somebody a chance to tell them about salvation through Jesus. Other times people are open to debating theological issues with anyone who will talk. However, in other situations people may be so turned off to religion that they won’t listen to what a person has to say about faith or salvation until they see that person live out what he or she believes.

One of the main things I have learned at GW as a Religion/Missions Studies student is that wherever Christians are, we should find a way to make the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ understandable and relevant to the culture in which we live. Ministry techniques often need to change with culture, age groups, and more. This concept of ministry is something that became heavy on my mind particularly while in New Orleans.

In the blogs I hope to post in the near future, I’d like to discuss some ideas about new ministry techniques Christians are using to make the Gospel relevant to cultures around the world, as well as here in the U.S. While the ministry techniques change so that the needs of the people are met accordingly, the message remains the same- salvation through Christ.

Alright…so there’s more to come!

Service Poster

NO HangOUT Tomorrow!!

Hey guys. There will be NO HangOUT Tomorrow night (11/2) :-( We are taking the night off after having the Halloween party on Tuesday. See everyone Saturday night @ 7 for the service! :-)

Halloween Party Pics

Check em out! Click the picture to visit the album.

Halloween Time

Worship Gathering This Saturday

Just a reminder that there will be a Foundation Worship Gathering THIS Saturday @ 7PM in the Aldersgate Gym (directions/map).

Last service was really awesome as we had a special guest speaker, Steven Staton come from Ohio and deliver the message. This time you are in for a treat again. Josh Childers is driving up from Alabama to speak to us on Saturday night. Josh is a commissioned Air Force Officer and is currently stationed in Guam (the other side of the world), but is in the States for a few weeks and is taking his weekend off to come share with us.

Last service was the largest service to date and I hope that all of you are working as hard as you did the last service to invite your friends to come check it out. Please try your best to come and bring someone new with you, because who knows it could possibly change their life. :-)

Yall have an amazing week!

The Great Pumpkin

In light of the Halloween spirit here's and excerpt from Michael Spencer's imaginative piece, " The Great Pumpkin Proposes a Toast."

(The following toast was taped at the 4,231st Halloween Dance and Potluck, held this year in the basement of the Salem, Masachusetts City Hall. The guest toastmaster was The Great Pumpkin, well known advocate of Halloween among children. Those in attendance included a variety of witches, ghosts, fairies, gremlins, mummies, headless horsemen, bats, vampires, werewolves, monsters, members of the Adam's family, the Munsters and, of course, thousands of things that go bump in the night. Cassette's and printed copies of the toast are available at www.thegreatpumpkin.com.)

"Ladies and gentlemen, ghouls and goblins, monsters and monstrosities both real and imaginary: It's truly an honor for me to be with you this evening on what is always a wonderful time of rekindling old friendships and wishing one another well before our big night. Many of us never see our fellow members of the realm of imagination except at this gathering, and it's really wonderful to see all of you again. I especially want to thank this year's President of the Halloween Society, Harry Potter, for all the work he's done this year. What a year, Harry! (Applause.)"....

(continue reading here...)

Bring Your Knife

Who: Any and everyone is invited.

What: The Foundation Halloween Bash. Wear your costume.

When: Tues. Oct. 31st- 7pm-until

Where: The Center (HangOUT Location) ( map)

More info: Call Chance @ 704-472-5576

...................................................................................

This comes from our minister of fun, Mary Walker:

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder about the BIG Halloween Party tomorrow night. Its gonna rock your socks. So, we need people to bring some junk food, cookies, candy, chips, red velvet cake.... the drinks are covered. And you also need to bring a knife, we will let you know why when you get there.
:- ) And you have to dress up or you cant come in, just kidding...but really. I hear tale that the band will be playing as well. See yall tomorrow!

Featured Blog of the Week

Michael Spencer: www.internetmonk.com



Thoughts on One SBC Church Split

In thousands of SBC churches, there is a story no one wants to put it in the papers. It’s the story of people with money, people with local and family power, men who want to control churches and have the church staff dismissable at their call. It is the story of repeated attempts to circumnavigate the congregational processes and influence churches in ways that are never acceptable in a New Testament church. How many pastors are acquainted with that story?....

Continue Reading...

Haunted HangOUT & Halloween Party

• This Thursday the HangOUT is going Haunted!! We are going to load up and head to either The Haunted Pyramids or the Haunted Corn Maize. We will meet over at The Center (directions) @ 7:00 and leave from there. Please invite anyone you think would enjoy going...the more scared people the better, haha. The cost is around 10 bucks.

• There will be a Foundation Halloween Bash next Tuesday night Oct. 31st @ 7:00. Oh and you have to have a costume, otherwise you aren't cool! So begin planning to get your costume and inviting people to the Halloween Bash...more details later.

Colbert Report: Richard Dawkins

I ran across this video the other day of Richard Dawkins, esteemed evolutionary theorist and outspoken atheist, on the Colbert Report. It's kinda funny that even a political comedian can lay the smack down on arguments by those who don't believe in God...it's funny, so watch!!

Featured Blog of the Week

Perry Noble: www.perrynoble.com


Can God Be A Pain In The Butt?

OK…this is awesome! I had this thought in my quiet time yesterday–that God can be a pain in the butt to those who are most opposed to Him…that you do not have to fight His battles…that He’s a really big God and can take care of Himself. This all came from I Samuel 5:1-12.

See, here is what happened…the Israelites were getting their rear-ends kicked all over the place by the Philistines. SO…they had this idea, “Let’s take the Ark of the Covenant into battle–then we will win.” (Basically they were attempting to use God as a good luck charm–which always turns out bad!)

continue reading....

Amazing Weekend!!

Praise God for everything that happened this weekend! Wow was it a crazy busy few days. Many of us took off Friday from work to get a lot of work done. We bought a set of lights, built a stage, and got the gym set up for the service on Saturday night. The band got together around 5:00 Friday evening and practiced until about 12:30 AM before calling it quits... man was the music awesome Saturday night. Steven got in from Ohio around 9:30 Friday night and it was awesome preparing for what God was gonna do on Saturday night.

We started early on Saturday morning, meeting at the Snack Shop for breakfast, followed by a great game of golf over at Pine Grove. I know Steven mentioned it in the service on Saturday but I'll say it again... me and Steve beat J Walk and Casey in Captain's Choice... an event that has never happened before. Casey ended up throwing a 3Wood into the pond, haha...it was great. Anyways we got back over at Aldersgate around 4 o'clock and began getting the final preparations done for the service.

As it got close to 7PM many of us were getting nervous because of the great responsibility that comes along with a Gospel Presentation. We were expecting many new people attending for the first time as well as many to respond to the invitation...and it all happened. We had our largest crowd of any service to date, with around half of the people in attendance being first time visitors. Josh Childers, all the way home from Guam, shared a powerful testimony and the band led us in a time of worship unlike any other service. As Steven came up to speak, I knew it was going to be an amazing service. His message was all about the cross and the forgiveness that comes through what happened on that cross. It was a message all about Jesus and what he did for each one of us. It was a powerful message that hit home with so many of us. At the close of the message, the band played "Carry My Cross" by Third Day and as the song was played, different video clips from "The Passion of Christ" was displayed on the screen. As the song ended, Steven came back up for a time of invitation. God was at work in a powerful way! We saw an overwhelming response to God as there were over 40 people who came up and "laid their rock down" at the foot of the cross. We also know that there were people who made first time decisions to accept Christ as Lord or their life during the first invitation. How awesome!!!

It is unreal to think about what God has done so far in The Foundation ministry... and to think that God's using a bunch of inexperienced, undependable college kids makes it an even bigger "God thing." God is being glorified and I can't wait to see what He's gonna do next!!

New Banner/ Logo

We are working on a new website which will be in addition to this blog and here are a couple rough drafts of the new banner/logo. It's gonna be a LONG work in progress, but I think its going to be a really cool site once we get finished. What ya think?

It's Here Yall!!

What is here you ask? I'll tell ya. This is a HUGE week for the Foundation and a HUGE week for many people who are going to come to the service on Saturday because we believe many are going to meet and accept Jesus on Saturday night! Start inviting as many people as you know.

• Gospel Presentation Service is THIS Saturday night @ 7PM in the Aldersgate gym. Steven Staton is coming down from Ohio to share the message and he is STOKED about what's happening and how God is working already in this service. All I'm gonna say is that it is going to be POWERFUL and there will be a cross, some rocks, and Passion clips included in the service...so you'll just have to come and see for yourself how it all goes down.

• Begin praying for and inviting anyone you know who may be lost and needs to encounter Jesus. We are working our hardest to plan a service that will make the gospel very clear and understandable to anyone who hears. There were 88 names brought forward at the last service of people we knew who needed to experience Jesus in a real way and I hope all of us are being faithful to try our dang'dest to get these people here on Saturday. Drag em if you have to, I promise you'll never regret it after you see someone you care about get saved, it's the greatest feeling in the world.

• HangOUT this week is going to be a time of prayer and worship in preparation for Saturday's service and I think it's going to be awesome yall...bringin' back the weekly Prayer Meeting kinda thing, its going to be cool.

Foundation Vision

Hey yall! Last service we talked about the vision for The Foundation and I thought it would be helpful to put it up online as well. I'll put up the strategic gameplan for our vision later but these are the main areas where we want to see people growing in. Enjoy!

Mission Statement

We exist to bring glory and honor to God. Our mission is to go out into the world sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and making disciples of all people.

VISION

We want every disciple to grow in these four facets:

Foundation:

Disciples who are grounded in the truth of God’s Word which is salvation through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3.11-For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Fellowship:

Genuine disciples who are engaging in authentic community with other believers to be God’s people.

Acts 2.42-47- They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Follow:

Gospelized disciples who are intentionally pursuing Jesus to become more like Him.

Matthew 4.19- "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Feed:

Missional disciples who are equipped and confident to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus in a way that makes God’s love tangible.

John 6.35- Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 21.18-Jesus said, "Feed my sheep…

HangOUT heading to the Fair

This coming Thursday the Hangout is going to head on over to the good ole Cleveland County Fair. We'll meet over at the Renfroe Center (map) @ 6 PM on Thursday ( 10/5) and leave from there. Yall be sure to bring someone with ya, and lets just see how big a crowd we can roll up with to the Fair. See ya'll tomorrow at the service.

It's Gonna Be Awesome!

Everyone who reads this needs to make sure they come to the Foundation Worship Service this Sunday Oct. 1st @ 1:30 in the Aldersgate Gym.

Man we are pumped up about the next 3 weeks, they are gonna be awesome. This Sunday's service we will be sharing the Vision for The Foundation and where we see God leading us. Rest assured you will get pumped up on Sunday when you see how much God has been doing in this ministry so far and where he is leading us to go next. So much has happened in the past week, that it is ridiculous... God has been opening doors left and right...You won't want to miss this. There will be another Service Oct. 15 that we believe is going to change people's lives, so begin planning to come and invite people to these next two services. It's gonna be awesome... and that's all I got to say about that.

Any questions email us: thecorefoundation@gmail.com

Is Religion Making Us Fat?

Is religion making us fat? Cathleen Falsani from the Chicago Sun-Times addresses this question in a recent article and gives us some interesting things to think about. Check out this quote from the article:

"he found there were more obese people in states with larger populations of folks claiming a religious affiliation than elsewhere -- particularly in states with the most Baptists."

"If they don't drink and don't smoke, what do they do?

Eat, apparently."

Interesting stuff huh? So basically we have replaced the bad habits of drinking and smoking with the habit of gluttony? Interesting thought. So what about the Baptists who eat, drink and smoke? I guess they are up the creek without a paddle!

I always new casseroles were from the Devil, haha, but you honestly can't beat a good fellowship meal after church. Some of my fondest memories from growing up in church were all the great Homecoming Meals at church and getting to eat Geraldine's famous chicken salad. Gosh, that was soo good. But thinking about this, I actually stayed for a meal after church last Sunday and I remember being told, "Alright Chance we are gonna have to see how much you can eat today?" So maybe this article carries some weight afterall.

I guess before long the new fad in churches won't be Family Life Center's but Atkins Approved Fellowship Meals!

Anyways check out the article in Sun-Times by clicking here

So what ya think, have we just replaced drunkeness with gluttony in the church?

Rock and a Hard Place

Have you ever been in between a rock and a hard place, in a situation in which none of your options were good and you felt as if you had to simply choose the lesser of two evils? Abraham was in a similar situation as this one time. Genesis 12:10-20 says that there was a famine in the land of Canaan and Abram was forced to go down to Egypt to look for food. However, before he entered Egypt he told his wife to pretend to be his sister. Abram did this because he was afraid that one of the Egyptians would kill him and then marry Sari, which must have been a culturally acceptable practice 4000 years ago. Next, Abram did something almost unthinkable. When Pharaoh noticed how beautiful Sari was, Abram gave her over to Pharaoh to be his wife in exchange for material goods, sheep, cattle, donkeys, and servants. One of the most horrible things I could ever picture is giving my beloved wife to another man. However, before we are too hard on Abram we must remember that he did not have many options. Either he let his family die of famine in the land of Canaan, or be killed and have his wife stripped away from him anyway. This was the only option, (or so he thought) to keep all of his family alive. However, God did something unexpected. He intervened. The Lord struck Pharaoh with a disease and evidently made him realize that Sari was Abram’s wife not his sister. Pharaoh then made Abram leave the country in shame. However, Abram got Sari back, and escaped with his life. From this I guess we can remember that when we are in between a rock and a hard place, we should remember that God can intervene and give us options we did not realize existed. He can restore what is already broken, and mend mistakes we have made. Let’s remember to be patient and wait for his rescue.

Does God Want You to be Rich?

If you didn't know, TIME Magazine's cover story this week is the above title: Does God Want You to be Rich? I think its a pretty interesting article and the fact that it is getting national publicity from Time may or may not be a good thing. This article relates directly to some of the comments I made on my previous blog on Left Behind. So yall check out the article and let's hear your thoughts on the Prosperity Gospel. I've included a link to a photo essay on God and Dollars from Time as well.

Links:

Time Magazine Article

CNN article on Time Cover Story

Photo Essay: God and Dollars

Calvinism vs. Arminianism Part II: Total Depravity

In the second blog of this series I am going to talk about the doctrine of Total Depravity as Calvinism teaches it and also about free will. In the next blog I will talk about irresistible grace.

Here is a link to the introduction on Calvinism and Arminianism.

A little side note about Calvinist that I picked up as I was studying, was how high they regard the sovereignty of God and Grace. This idea of God’s sovereignty is crucial to them and will pop up a lot in their teachings. The idea of God’s sovereignty almost seems like a lost or ancient idea these days, so I will define it quickly. It basically means that God is God and that He created the heavens and the earth, and that He is in control of all things and can do what He likes.

Total Depravity

Total Depravity is the teaching that every part of man was affected by the fall, his body, mind, heart, emotions and even his free will.

Total Depravity does not mean that man can do nothing good in relation to other humans. It means that if those goods deeds did not proceed from faith, then it is still sin in the sight of God.

"whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23)

So Total Depravity is absolute when compared to God, but it is not absolute when compared to other humans. You still following me? It basically means that you can’t comprehend the nature of your depravity by comparing yourself to other people, only when you compare yourself to God do you get a sense of the depth of total depravity. The other four points of Calvinism logically flow from this doctrine, so total depravity will be crucial in understanding, irresistible grace, limited atonement, unconditional election, and the perseverance of the saints.

Because of total depravity, man is not able to freely choose God.

(Note: Just keep in mind that most of this deals with a person before he has been regenerated. So if you are a believer then you can’t think about some of this in your current regenerate state, you have to think about it from an un-regenerated perspective. Because now you have a new nature and can choose good over evil)

Here are some effects of total depravity:

1. Man’s fall from God is total.
There is no one that seeks God, no one that seeks holiness and no one that seeks what is right.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

“for there is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46)

“Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.” (Psalm 143:2)

(Romans 3:9-20; James 2:10-11; 1 John 1:8)

2. Everything man does is sin.
“…everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14: 23)

“18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)

John 3:19-21

3. Man’s inability to submit to God is total
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8)

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)

(John 3: 5-7; Romans 6: 17-18; Ephesians 2: 1-5; Ephesians 4: 17-18; 1 Corinthians 2:14)

Arminianism teaches that man was greatly affected by the fall, but he is not in a total state of helplessness. God enables sinners to repent but does not interfere with their free will. This free will is untouched by the fall and is able to choose good over evil. The person has the power to cooperate with God and be regenerated, or don’t cooperate and perish. So man needs the spirits help to believe but he doesn’t have to be regenerated before he can believe.

In Calvinism, through irresistible grace, the Holy Spirit regenerates you before you can believe. (I’ll get into this in a later blog)

To me it doesn’t make sense why everything would be affected by the fall except your free will. So the next logical step is to take a look at Free Will.

Free Will

Free will is sometimes described as why some people accept Jesus and others don’t. This position is generally taken by the Arminianist. They reject the Calvinist idea that God is completely sovereign over our free will and that He elects and predestines people based purely on His desires. The common defense of the Arminian view is that God looked into the future to see who would pick Him and then predestined them. This seems like an icky position to be in, because it states that God had to look into the future to see what a person’s free will choice would be, basically denying God’s omniscience. God’s view of time is very different than ours; He doesn’t have to look into the future.

A common objection used against Calvinism is that they take away man’s free will and make God the author of evil. Since man cannot freely choose God, God has to predestine or elect some people to believe, and the others will perish.

But this is not the case with Calvinism. Man still has free will, but his free will can’t choose to do good.

Libertarian free will states that an unbeliever is able to will whatever he wants to, independent of his sinful nature. Compatibilist free will states that an unbeliever is only able to do what his sinful nature permits him to do.

The Calvinist sees free will as containing four aspects: conception, desire, choice, and accomplishment.

1. Conception

• We must be able to conceive of an idea before we can desire, choose, and accomplish it.
• But we cannot conceive of something beyond our ability or nature to conceive.
• I can’t conceive of something I can’t conceive of.

2. Desire

• We can only desire what we can conceive.
• I can conceive of becoming a huge bird, so I can also desire it.

3. Choice

• We can only choose what we can desire.
• But we cannot choose beyond or ability or nature to choose.
• I am free to try to attempt to accomplish my desires

4. Accomplish

• We can only accomplish what can be chosen to accomplish.
• This doesn’t mean I can accomplish all my choices.
• I can conceive of becoming a huge bird but I cannot accomplish it because I cannot violate my own nature.

Therefore free will is limited by our nature and what we can conceive of, desire and choose. We are not free to conceive of anything possible, we are not free to desire anything possible since not all things can be conceived of, we are not free to choose what we cannot desire, and we are not free to accomplish that which we cannot desire.

God has free will right? But God is only free to choose what is in accordance with his nature. God has the ability to conceive of lying, but he can’t accomplish it because it would violate his nature.

Calvinist believe that we have free will just like God has free will, but we can’t freely choose to do something that is against our nature. If our nature is totally depraved like Calvinists believe then we cannot choose to accomplish good, because it goes against our nature. So God has to regenerate us first and give us a new nature before we can have faith and believe.

So this is a summary of what the doctrine of total depravity is about. If the doctrine of total depravity as presented by Calvinism is true, then it would seem to me that no one would ever believe in Christ unless God predestines and elects people and overcomes their total depravity with His irresistible grace.

So from what I can gather it seems to hinge on total depravity. Is our free will limited by our sinful nature? Or is our free will fully independent of all things, including the sovereign knowledge and control of God, and equally free to choose between good and evil?

munchies back?

So, it’s been a while, I know. I can only guess the amount of confusion and disappointment yall must have been experiencing with out my contributions to the awesomeness that is http://thecorefoundation.blogspot.com aka, The Foundation. So I’ll think, what topic from my grab bag of assorted things to make people think will I pick. How about this one; living in the world, but not being of the world.

The bible says in at least two places that a person gained favor with God and man, the first is David and then about Jesus after the temple incident when he was 12 (its in Luke, any help with the bible verses would be appreciated). This is a little confusing because Jesus also says that the world will hate you(John 15:21). Somewhere, something has to give. Personally, I kinda want people to like me, even people who aren’t Christians. This might be selfish, but I still want people to like me.

I think the difference comes between the world and people. The world sets standards that are basically evil. The world barrages us with porn even in commercials and we grow so accustomed to things like this that we don’t recognize it as porn. People on the other hand we can respect. People have opinions of their own. That being said, the best way to get people to like you is to just be Christian. Christians should by nature be servants and all around really nice people. Who wouldn’t like someone who respects and actually loves them? In the book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoffer (someone check my spelling) wrote that if we act like Christians, we shouldn’t have to worry about governments persecuting us, because we should be model citizens, only doing good things.

So maybe this muchie is a little shorter, and not quite so much thinking about things as I would have liked, but maybe its enough to make you think and remember, that while we are not of this world, we are in this world, and it is very important to the world, what they world thinks of us. (think on that grammar anomaly)

"Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammo"

Sometimes Christian's bother me. Especially those who try to get rich off of the gospel. Some of you may have read the Left Behind books and I'm sure they may be good, but with the release of a Left Behind video game, were you join in during the epic battle with the AntiChrist, somehow I just can't help but question someone's motives. Even though the concept sounds cool, and actually might make for a fun game, I have a problem when LaHaye and company boast the game as a method to share the gospel and reach the lost. Afterall LaHaye says, "Our real goal is to have no one left behind." So in a game where you are killing those who lack the faith, what gospel are we sharing? Here's a quote from an article on the topic:

Yes, but reach them with what message? Convert or we’ll kill you? The message is more al Qaeda than agape; more Bin Laden than Bible. It makes me wonder if anyone who developed the game has ever actually read the New Testament.


Makes me think. I don't have a problem with the game at all. Actually it seems like it has potential to be fun, but let's not go around trying to market the game in church. This is a concept the creators believe is going to happen. In fact, the CEO of Left Behind Games said, "megachurches are very likely to embrace this game."

How about we let Best Buy do the advertising for the game and let's focus on the real gospel in Church. The last thing we need is more "Christian" junk thrown at us by people trying to get rich by slapping the label "Christian" on their product!


What do yall think about this? Should we be promoting this to share the gospel?



Here's an article which goes into more detail about the game: LINK

Check out the game website here: LINK