New Orleans: August 5-12

I’m so excited to be able to post blogs on here now! I think for my first post I will tell about the mission trip to New Orleans I just returned from, so here goes…

Almost a year ago Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans, the levies broke which led to devastating flooding throughout the city. Homes, buildings, stores, street lights and signs, along with trees, bushes, and everything else that came in contact with the storm’s fury still show signs of being damaged by hurricane Katrina. It was astonishing to see what work was still left to do after a year had passed.

Driving through the ninth ward, one of the hardest hit places in New Orleans by the flood waters, our team saw homes caved in, street lights not functioning, stores vacant, and parking lots filled with FEMA trailers where people are still living. Our team’s focus during the day was to gut homes. I heard many stories on the news of how people lost everything…but it never really hit me how much “everything” meant until I was picking it up piece by piece. Furniture, clothes, toiletry items, towels, photos, televisions, shoes, birthday cards, the latest purchases from Wal-mart, ceiling fans, tile, carpet, and sheet rock. After gutting everything out of the home, the studs of the house would be inspected. If the studs had too much water damage, the entire framework of the person’s home would be lost; the house would have to be demolished. Our group was able to finish two and a half partly gutted homes; it was a lot of hard and humbling work, but well worth it when doing it in the name of the Lord!

In the evenings, our team would return to the church we were staying at to get cleaned up. After eating dinner we filled our backpacks with Ziplock bags that were stuffed with toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, deodorant, and other toiletry items. We headed out to Jackson Square, which is in the French Quarter, and passed these bags out to the homeless who were sitting out on the park benches. The time in the evening was amazing, we had the privilege of talking with the homeless for hours every night; the relationships built during this time were precious and made it very difficult to say goodbye on our final night out.

Homeless people may often be viewed as the lazy or crazy people living on the streets, however, our team met several who were working hard to get off the street. One man called “Shorty” said he knew he did not need to be on the streets anymore. Shorty had just gotten a job and hopes to find an apartment to move into soon. The homeless people we met were all precious, and I have too many stories to share right now about people like Momma Rose, DeAngelo, Carl, David, Stephen, Popi, Barbados, and many others.

This week in New Orleans was very challenging, and our group witnessed the Lord move in peoples’ lives and our own lives in some mighty ways. For now I’ll just leave you with this recap…but rest assured I will follow up with more specific stories and lessons from the trip in the future! :)

New Location for HangOUT

As mentioned the HangOUT will be changing locations from Steve's old house to another place. The new location is in the basement of the old Pastor's Parsonage across from Sandy Run Baptist Church. The upstairs of the house is now the church offices and is called the Renfroe Center (MAP).


Directions: From Shelby

1. Head West on 74 towards Mooresboro/ Rutherford.
2. At the cautions lights on 74 in Mooresboro turn left.
3. Travel up Academy street to the stop sign.
4. Cross straight over at intersection and stop at next stop sign beside post office.
5. Turn left onto Sandy Run Ch. Rd.
6. Contine 1/4 miledirectly after you pass Sandy Run Church there will be a brick house on the left with a sign in the front yard for the church offices. This is the new house. We will be in the basement.

Directions: From Boiling Springs

1. Travel North on Main St. towards 74/ Lattimore.
2. Continue past John Deere Store towards Springmore Elem. School
3. Just before Springmore, turn Left onto Whitaker Rd.
4. Contine till the end of Whitaker and turn Right onto Sandy Run Ch. Rd.
5. Travel 1/4 mile and the brick house across from the Graveyard at Sandy Run is the new location.

Man Laws for Christians

I came across this the other day on this guy’s blog and I thought it was funny.

Some Man Laws to help avoid those awkward moments with other dudes in church:

1. There shall be no hand holding during prayer. The proper alternative to hand holding is the placement of the hand on the other man's back or shoulder, but in the case of some lapse in mental judgment or sheer desperation, and hand holding becomes the last resort, then a man shall not interlock fingers with another man.

2. When two men feel the need to hug, the Hug-Hit law must be followed. This is where the two men involve themselves in a skillfully choreographed motion that makes the experience last no longer than 3 seconds. This is a careful discipline because there can be no lingering or holding on. This is a seamless motion where the guys' shoulders collide, then the mandatory 2-hits on the back and we're done. This is to say that I am not only hugging you, I am hitting you also.

What you think? Any more Man Laws?

What's Happening This Week

• Service THIS Sunday Aug. 13 @ 1:30 in the Aldersgate Gym. Goal for the service: Every person invite atleast one new person to the service. Professor Webb will be preaching and there may be some special music so stay tuned..

• The HangOUT this Wednesday is the last time we will be meeting in Steve's old house. The new youth minister at DSBC will be moving in so we have to find a new home. Directions to the new place will be posted ASAP. This Wed. 8:00 @ same house as usual.

• Our small groups for the fall will be kicking off soon. A tentative date for the small group kickoff bonanza is Sept. 2. Check back for more details soon.
  

• New Website coming.... The new site will be www.thecorefoundation.org. As of now it is forwarding to the blog but construction of the site is underway. If you want to help or know someone who could help us do the web design for free let us know... we need all the help possible.
  

Camping Retreat Pics

Just a few pics from the Rafting/Camping trip to Ocoee this past weekend. More to come.

(Click on any image to enlarge)

Guilt

I didn’t really know what to name this one so I just decided to name it Guilt. This is something that has been on my mind for a long time now and I’ll have a follow up to it soon I just didn’t want to write on this as well because I thought that it would make it unbearably long. Well after seeing Bill Donohue on The Colbert Report the other day I decided that I would write something. Bill is the President of the Catholic league. Two things that he said during his interview with Steven struck me pretty hard. They were, “I believe in moral restraint and it is not a dirty word,” and, “I am all in favor of guilt.” This brings me to what this blog is about, guilt.

My question for this blog is; do Christians ever feel conviction anymore? I look around at some people who know good and well what they are doing is wrong but continues to do it anyways. This blows my mind completely. Not to say at all that I am perfect because I am not, in any way at all, but I still feel conviction. I just wonder how someone can claim to be a God fearing Christian but continue to live in the ways of the world without feeling any shame or actually believing that they are living right. Matthew 15:7-8 says, “You Hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” This verse also shows up in Mark 7:6.

In my own opinion I feel that if you do not feel convictions anymore than something is wrong. Something I’ve always heard in my church is when you think everything is alright something must be wrong. As humans we will continue to sin throughout our lives and if we no longer feel convicted that just means that we have become accustomed to our sin. We let our sins become acceptable and sometimes habitual. When we let this happen we continue to live in the ways of the world and can cause someone to stumble. In Galatians 2:13 it says, “The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” 2 Peter 2:2 says, “Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”

Also if we allow the world to continue to influence us we can become a lukewarm Christian. It says in Revelations, “So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” This is one of my biggest fears, that God sees me as a lukewarm Christian, and I hope it is one of yours too.

After reading some more I found some hope, just so some of you won’t think that I only point out problems and do not try to offer a solution. In 1 Peter 2:1 it says,”Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Sorry if this blog is in anyway hard to understand, I know it is kind of unorganized but after hearing Bill say that stuff about guilt it got me thinking. I do not think guilt is a bad thing, in fact I see it as a good thing. Whenever I feel guilty or convicted about something I see it as God screaming at me, “Hey Justin, look at what you’re doing!” I pray that more Christians will feel convictions when they sin as well instead of letting it become a habit.

Martha Mason Shed Destruction

Here are a few pics from our service work over the weekend we did for Martha Mason. We tore down an old shed behind her house that was in bad shape. If you don't know Martha's story you can read about her book here. Martha is a wonderful person and is thought to have lived in an iron lung longer than any other person.

WARNING! Contents Under Pressure May Explode: Warning Signs of a Church in Danger

When I was younger and still to this day I have an obsession with fire, danger and anything that explodes. I guess you could call me a high-tech-pyro-redneck! One thing I used to enjoy doing back in the glory days was making Draino bombs. With the right combination of tin foil, draino and plastic, one can take a 2 Liter bottle and have some fun. Once the ingredients are mixed and the lid screwed on, the bottle begins to expand, very quickly. The contents become under great pressure and eventually "bam," the bottle explodes from the pressure. (metal trashcans sound the best, haha).

The church is similar. Churches have life cycles. Churches are born, churches grow, and churches die. Here are four warning signs of a church in danger:

• Lack of Vision: What is vision? Vision is a specific, detailed statement of direction, unique to an individual or church’s ministry. Its clear. It concentrates on the future. It's from God. It unifies, it empowers, it’s inspiring, and it’s contagious. It creates passion, it creates action. It challenges, It separates. It's a ministry's strategic game plan. Vision is key.

Vision Killers: Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of the unexpected, Tradition for the sake of Tradition, Complacency, and Lukewarmness(Rev. 3.14-22).
Results: Apathetic Christians. No passion. Shoulders sag, hope fades, and the dream of doing something great for God diminishes. No direction.

• Lack of Leadership: In case you didn’t know, the Pastor isn’t the only minister in the church. We place the responsibility on other people's shoulders and then complain when things aren't the way we want them to be. Pastor's are burdened down by having to spend all their time workin IN the church and don't have time to work ON the church.

• Lack of Growth: Healthy things grow, period. A thriving ministry should be growing. And yes, numbers matter. Numbers represent souls and souls matter to God. Many times we get comfortable with the size of our ministry or church, while there are still numbers of people all around us in the community dying and going to hell. A ministry should be growing. True disciples create more Christ-followers.

• Lack of Unity: Division in churches is the biggest danger of them all. This happens as a result of all of the above warning signs, but goes much deeper. This is the result of sin in the church. Pride, selfishness, and gossip are the big ones the divide a church quicker than anything.

Relieving the Stress

• Cast Vision- Jesus said we are to be Fishers of Men. Vision is like the bait. What good is bait if its stuck in the tackle box of the fisherman? Can’t catch a fish is you don’t cast the bait. So as a church we aren’t gonna catch men unto Christ is we don’t cast a vision.

• Creat Disciples-We will be much for effective in creating geniune Christ-following disciples if we quit teaching people a set of "Do Nots," on how to be like us, and instead challenge and teach them the person of Jesus and encourage them to fall madly in love with Him.

• Be Relevant- Meet the needs of the community around you. Tradition for the sake of tradition isn't going to cut it. As the needs change in the culture around us the church must change methods to reach the lost. Change the method and hang on to the same Message.

• Be Unified- Quit sinning habitually. Stomp out gossip. Humble yourself and squash pride. Be servants. Take ownership and responsibility for how the church is.

( These are some notes from the sermon I preached at Sandy Run for those of yall who were not there)

Service Project Saturday

If any of yall are interested in helping us out over at Martha Mason's to tear down and old wood shed for her let me know. We are going to get busy on Saturday and see if we can't have some fun tearing down the shed and haulin it off. We'll meet over at the SnackShop for breakfast on Saturday at 8am and then head over to Martha's at 9am. If you don't go to breakfast meet us at the Lattimore Fire Dept. at 9am and we'll head on over to Martha's. Bring a sledge hammer, crow bar, and anything else you may have that can cause destruction.

What's Happening this Week?

This Wednesday the HangOUT will be going over to Crossroads @ Gardner Webb University for their evening worship service. We'll meet in the gravel lot behind Hardee's at 6:45 Wednesday evening. Carl Cartee should be leading worship and Clayton King preaching so it should be awesome as usual.

Those who are going rafting. We have 12 spots reserved so far. Bring your money on Wednesday to cover the rafting ticket. Cost= $45. If we have more than 12 pay, we'll try and reserve a few more spots. Remember: cost is free if you want to go just camping, so come on! Any questions email thecorefoundation@gmail.com.

This Saturday we will be doing some service work in Lattimore. The plan is to tear down an old shed behind Martha Mason's house and haul it off. More details later.


Foundation Worship Gathering is happening again this Sunday, July 23 @ 1:30 in the Aldersgate Gym. Feel free to invite whoever you'd like, last service went well and we are expecting even more this time, so come on out.

What does God want to be called?

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has just approved a new phrase to describe the Triune God. Along with “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” the PCUSA has voted to use the phrase “compassionate mother, beloved child, and life-giving womb.”

Other contestants such as "Rainbow, Ark and Dove," "Speaker, Word and Breath," "Overflowing Font, Living Water and Flowing River," “Sun, Light and Burning Ray," "Giver, Gift and Giving," "Lover, Beloved and Love," "Rock, Cornerstone and Temple," "Fire that Consumes, Sword that Divides and Storm that Melts Mountains," and "The One Who Was, The One Who Is and The One Who Is to Come” put up a good fight, but in the end they couldn’t match the creativity and genius of “compassionate mother, beloved child, and life-giving womb.”

The concept of the Trinity has been a major doctrine of orthodox Christianity since the beginning. It deals directly with the nature of God, and the Gospel can’t be understood fully without it. It teaches that they are not three separate Gods, and that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not secondary or created gods that are subordinate to the Father. It teaches that God has always existed as a Trinity, and that each are distinct but inseparable persons that are fully and equally God.

These new names for the Trinity don’t do a good job at conveying the nature of God. Most of them don’t make a lick of sense and the others do a good job of confusing you and can give you the wrong idea about God’s nature.

Take "The One Who Was, The One Who Is and The One Who Is to Come” for example. It can give you the idea that they are separate gods that exist at different times, instead of the three persons of the Trinity that are coexistent and coeternal. And how can anyone believe that "Rainbow, Ark and Dove" is a reference to the Trinity.

It seems that some women somewhere were offended by God being portrayed as male, or maybe it was some men who were concerned that women could get offended. Anyway, so what do they do? They give Him a new name since the Bible was written long ago and our society is different from the society back then, forgetting that God has called himself Father, and that the language He used to describe himself was not feminine but masculine.

I am not saying that God is a male. I am just saying that God has the right to name himself, not us. Everything that we know about God has been revealed to us by Him, not something we have made up or come up with.

Anyway here is an article you can check out, and their website.

Third Base Coach

It occurred to me after our softball game tonight that God is kind of like the third base coach of our lives. During the last inning of our game, we were losing badly and I got on 1st base after hitting a ground ball to the short stop which resulted in the consequence of Jimmy getting thrown out at 2nd base. So there was one out, with only me sitting pretty on first. We had not scored a run the entire game. Ross came up to bat after me and I thought to myself, “ I don’t really care anymore, I’m going to just run as hard and as far as I can after he hits the ball. Before I rounded 2nd base, Tater, who was acting as 3rd base coach, was yelling “Go three Webb, Go three.” As I came near 3rd, Tater screamed with bouncing enthusiasm, “Go home, Go home, Get you one Webb.” So I never looked up the entire time, never tried to listen to anyone else, just heard Tater’s words echoing in my head and ran like there was no tomorrow. After my foot slapped home plate, I turned around to see Ross not far behind me. He got home safely as well.

How does this apply to anything related to God? Psalm 119:33 says, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” During the game, I ran as hard as I could and only listened for Tater’s voice. We must do this for God. We run as hard as we can in the things that we already know constitute God’s will for our lives. Then we listen for his voice to tell us which base to stop on. For example, I already know it is God’s will that I live a holy life and live as an example to others, so I try to do that and then listen for His voice to guide me in what to do for specific situations or major decisions.

It is however, hard to run in God’s commands if we are not aware of them. Interestingly, Colossians 1:10-13 tells us four things that help us to live a live worthy of the Lord and please him in everyway. Seldom do we read scripture that specifically and blatantly tells us, ‘this is how you please God.’ However, these verses instruct us to bear fruit in good works, grow in our knowledge of God, be strengthened by God’s power to live a life of endurance and patience, and lastly, to joyfully give thanks to God for providing redemption to us through Jesus. How are you doing in these four things? Go home; get you one.

Rafting/Camping Retreat

The Foundation will be going to Ocoee, Tennessee for a Rafting/Camping Retreat July 28-30. We'll be leaving late that Friday and coming back sometime Sunday afternoon. We'll camp in a campground and hit the whitewater in the Upper Ocoee which is where the Olympic Course was held in the '96 Olympics. The cost of the trip is $45 a person which will cover your rafting ticket. We'll provide food/ transportation. This should be a great time to get away and reflect on God's greatness and grow closer to God together. We will be doing some Scripture Discussions and other cool things, so if you want to go, email us at thecorefoundation@gmail.com, call me 472-5576, or leave a comment before next Wed. 7/12.

1st Worship Service Announcements

In case you didn't catch the announcements, Lattimore Cop Style, here they are:

• The next worship gathering will be on July 23rd @ 1:30 in the Aldersgate Gym*

• The HangOUT @ Steve's is every Wednesday night at 8:00PM. Check for directions in this blog.

• Rafting/Camping Retreat coming up toward the end of July. More info later.

• Small Groups starting in the fall.

• There will be upcoming local ministry opportunities for those looking to serve our community- check blog for details later.

• Sign Up on the Email List. Leave a comment on this blog with your email or send an email to thecorefoundation@gmail.com to be added to the list.
  

*(if location changes, blog will be updated and email sent).

Directions to the HangOUT @ Steve's

The HangOUT @ Steve's is relaxed environment where we just hangout and spend time together in a laid back atmosphere. The typical night includes a short Scripture Discussion, food, loud music, and crazy games of Cranium or Scattergories. And no there isn't a guy named Steve who lives there. Suppossedly Steve is the ghost of an old blue tick hound who got run over in the front yard of the house and still haunts the premises. Sometimes you still hear the old boy howl. Maybe that's why the house is still empty?


From Shelby:
1. Head West on 74 out of Shelby.
2. Turn Right onto Plato Lee Rd. (Pantry near Crest Middle)
3. Continue on Plato Lee until you reach stop sign at PPG
4. Turn left onto Washburn Swith Rd. Continue Half mile.
5. Turn Right onto Double Springs Ch. Rd.
6. HangOUT is in the third brickhouse on the left across from church.

From Boiling Springs:
1. Head towards Crest Middle School on E Homestead/ Beaver Dam Ch. Rd.
2. Go straight across at stoplight at 74 Pantry onto Plato Lee Rd.
3. Continue on Plato Lee until you reach stop sign at PPG
4. Turn left onto Washburn Swith Rd. Continue Half mile.
5. Turn Right onto Double Springs Ch. Rd.
6. HangOUT is in the third brickhouse on the left across from church.