Greg Habegger and I are preparing to start a new website that will make the new hymns that are somewhat buried here at My Two Cents more accessible. We have some technical and artistic gurus ready to help, and we’re hoping to have the site up and running before long. However, we’re missing something important—a name that represents our heartbeat in an accurate, memorable and succinct way.
We’ve discussed some ideas, but nothing has stuck. We need some help. Remember, the last time I named a ministry I actually settled on “Buckaroo.” Enough said. :)
Here’s what we’re about: we intend our music to be doctrinal, Christ-honoring, cross-focused, accessible (bothy textually and musically), passionate, and congregational. How can we communicate that through a name? Any brilliant ideas?
(An occasional suggestion that is genuinely helpful amidst what I imagine could be a collection of wise-guy laughers would be appreciated.) :)
Here’s what I said about the men’s 4×100 freestyle:
“I don’t imagine that any of the posts to follow will top this first one. The final of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay (complete with French trash talking, swimming phenom Michael Phelps, a world record time for the 5th place finishers, and the most amazing finish I’ve ever seen) was just sensational.”
Well, what I saw a few minutes ago topped it. Phelps’ win to claim gold medal #7 in this Olympics was like nothing I’ve ever seen. He was way back at the turn of a 100M race that leaves almost no room to make up time. He was way back at 50M, way back at 60M, way back at 70M, even way back at 80M. He was going to lose. He should have. I thought he did, as did everybody else, including his mom and coach.
But he didn’t. He led that race for all of .01 seconds, which is the margin of his win, but he won. He snuck into the wall by what? A fingernail? It’s like an angel pushed him or something.
My girls and I (with the exception of 4-year-old Grace, who was rudely awakened by the ruckus) went nuts during the last 50…as if our screaming could make him swim faster or something. And when his name popped up as the winner? Pandemonium at the Anderson home!
I’m in the middle of a two-part series on The Christian and Money, and it’s killing me. Seriously, comparing my thoughts on money with Scripture’s is devastating, though necessary. All of us—rich or poor, old or young, male or female—struggle with greed. In fact, I think there is probably no part of life in which Christians are more worldly than in our thinking about money. We need to scrutinize ourselves with the Word on this matter.
The first message in TCBC’s money miniseries focused on The Importance of Money in the Teaching of Christ. In short, there are a lot of red letters that address the green stuff. I’ve summarized it this way:
Money can be a useful tool.
Money can be a dangerous trap.
Money will be a spiritual test.
After some introductory thoughts, the message is essentially a reading on the topic of money in the gospels with occasional commentary. It’s been good for me, both when I prepared it a few weeks back and when I reviewed it yesterday in preparation for part 2 Sunday night. Unless you’re the one person in the world whose life has been entirely eradicated of the greed that seems to be a universal part of sinful flesh (and you’re not), it will probably be good for you, too. Give it a listen.
Here are some miscellaneous thoughts and links for your consideration, including bits about Matt Hoskinson, The Solid Rock, homeschooling, how sanctification is like building boats, and a crazy YouTube link:
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Pray for Matt Hoskinson…and Grow with Him
Matt Hoskinson’s cancer journal has been extremely encouraging to me. Matt has been intentionally devotional, focusing more on spiritual than medical matters. I commend it to you, and I encourage you to pray consistently for Matt and his family.
David Powlison recently cited the following quote from French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery, which I believe is very germane to believers provoking one another to godliness:
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood, and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
I’ve been praying for Bible Community Church of Mentor, Ohio since they began looking for a pastor last year. Bible Community is a church with a strong history. They have sent out several pastors and missionaries over the years, have taken a strong stand for truth, and have ministered to churches and families in Northeast Ohio via Mentor Christian School. It’s also a church with which Tri-County Bible Church enjoys sweet fellowship. They have been in the midst of a crucial pastoral transition for quite some time, and I’ve been praying for the Lord to grant them the wisdom to make the right decision.
By God’s grace, I believe they did so Sunday. Josh Scheiderer has accepted the call from Bible Community Church, providing them with a pastor who I believe will provide solid leadership for them and providing Northeast Ohio with another young, gospel-driven pastor who is committed to the best of historic fundamentalism. I believe that the Lord is working in a unique way in this area, and it’s my privilege to co-labor and fellowship with such men as Tim Potter, Kent Hobi, Dave Saxton, Todd Nye, Dan Greenfield, and Joe Tyrpak. These are fine men, and I’m glad to see their number increase by newcomers like Aaron Keteles, Rich Peffer, and now Josh.
Welcome, Josh. I’m excited to have you here, and I’m eager to see the Lord bless BCC under your leadership!
I’m an Olympics junkie—have been since 1984 and the L.A. Olympics. (Think Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Greg Louganis, Karch Kirali, Flo Hyman, Mary Lou Retton, and the great ‘84 men’s gymnastics team featuring Peter Vidmar, Bart Conner, Tim Daggett, and Mitch Gaylord. Mercy, I even remember the Beatrice commercials that aired incessantly during the Olympics that summer.) All that to say, I’ll be keeping up with the Games over the next few weeks and pointing out some of my favorite moments.
I don’t imagine that any of the posts to follow will top this first one. The final of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay (complete with French trash talking, swimming phenom Michael Phelps, a world record time for the 5th place finishers, and the most amazing finish I’ve ever seen) was just sensational. You can watch a replay of it here. If you haven’t seen it, you must.
One of my favorite preachers, Albert N. Martin, has retired following 46 faithful years pastoring Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ. He concluded his ministry with 9 messages filled with counsel to his beloved congregation. You can read about the messages (which seem to encapsulate his strong philosophy of ministry) here. (Thanks for the good post, Ryan.)
I was initially introduced to Pastor Martin’s ministry by my good friend Mike Goldfuss, a missionary in Mexico City. (Thanks, Mike!) I’ve benefited much from Pastor Martin’s ministry, and I’ve posted links to sermons on several occasions. (The MTC posts that mention him can be found here.) There are 358 of Pastor Martin’s sermons available at sermonaudio.com, so the church will continue to benefit from his good ministry. One particular message just rose to the top of my “must hear” list. I discussed it in this post in October 2006, but I think it’s especially germane in light of Pastor Martin’s retirement, and I want to consider it again. Here’s a brief description of it from my previous post:
“One of my favorite preachers, Albert N. Martin, provided the answer to that question 4 years before I was born in this lecture, initially given “at the Ministers’ Conference of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church at Westminster Theological Seminary in September 1967,” then published by Banner of Truth (from sermonaudio.com’s summary). Here’s a bit of historical perspective: Martin delivered the address a day after D. Martin Lloyd Jones had preached at the same conference.
So what’s wrong with preaching, then and now? Martin’s answer is essentially preachers. Sure, Martin describes the problem under three headings—’The Man, the Message and the Manner’—but the last two points are wanting essentially because the man is wanting.”
Pastor Martin modeled a faithful life and ministry for 46 years, all in one church. He was sober and passionate about his responsibility as a preacher of the Word. By God’s grace, he modeled the very things which he prescribed and avoided the very pitfalls of which he warned 41 years ago.
Lord, give us more men like Albert Martin. Indeed, make us men like Albert Martin.
This week my family enjoyed a few days at Middle Bass Island, a vacation place on lake Erie—a trip that included parasailing! Here’s a short video I took while being dragged around by a boat some 300-plus feet below me:
Better than my parasailing was the parasailing of a 74-year-old friend of our family, whom I’ll only identify as “Mrs. C” out here in cyberspace.
She pulled it off. With class. And in a dress. They call that “chutzpah!” Ironically, I was the one who got green from the boat ride, not her. The Lord is perpetually finding new ways to humble me. :)
You can see pictures of Helen’s excursion and the rest of the trip (including a couple of gorgeous sunsets and five gorgeous Anderson gals!) here.
Yesterday I preached a message entitled “The Heartbeat of Tri-County Bible Church.” It was (to quote the sub-title) “A Look at TCBC through the Lens of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians.” It’s essentially our philosophy of ministry in one “drink-from-a-fire-hydrant” message. It addresses issues that are vitally important to us, including a doxological purpose, cross-centeredness, thoughtful worship, intentionality (vs. being merely traditional or contemporary), decentralized leadership, every-member ministry, gospel-driven separatism, whole-counsel preaching, an environment of gracious transparency, etc. Lord willing, the message will be useful now and in the future to remind our members and inform newcomers what TCBC is passionate about—what are our non-negotiables. We are hopeful that communicating our values clearly will serve as a target, allowing us both to aim our energy, time, and money at the right objects and to measure how we’re doing. We believe that it will also serve as a magnet, both attracting those who are like-minded and repelling those with competing agendas, both of which are good things.
The meat of the message and the distinctives of our church really come out in the unpacking of these points, but we’ve summarized our core values as follows: Read more »
Here are some miscellaneous links, thoughts, and resources I’ve been collecting for a while. Some (like the sermon and a few outreach ideas) are quite serious. Another (the Wordle of Ephesians) is fascinating, I think. And others (including a shocking article about a Florida friend, a thought about HomeSat, and a “you might be a fundamentalist” link) are just for fun.
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Doran’s Message from the 2008 FBF Conference
If you’ve not yet heard “Biblical Separation and Fundamentalism,” Dave Doran’s message on separation from the recent FBF conference, you need to give it a listen. He affirms the importance of biblical separation. However, rather than preaching a message which would merely draw “attaboys” from the already convinced separatist crowd, Doran posed thoughtful questions regarding the application of separatist principles in ministry today. I was encouraged by the message. Good stuff. Read more »
Greg Habegger and I are preparing to start a new website that will make the new hymns that are somewhat buried here at My Two Cents more accessible. We have some technical and artistic gurus ready to help, and we’re hoping to have the site up and running before long. However, we’re missing something important—a name that represents our heartbeat in an accurate, memorable and succinct way.
