Ministry

God Is Better

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Ever feel like you are stuck in a temptation trap and can’t get out?  Francis Chan offers great insight and advice in this edition of “Short Sermon Saturday” in the clip below entitled “God Is Better.”

Jesus Didn’t Die for You to Continue in Sin

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I’ve had some great conversations since Sunday’s sermon.  God used his Word and his Spirit to show areas in need of change in the lives of our church.  It’s been incredible to hear what people are doing as a result of God’s Word (James 1:22). If you didn’t get to hear the message, you can check it out below.  If …

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Why Pastors Should Visit the Sick in the Hospital

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Confession: I used to dislike hospital visits. Fresh out of college, I came on staff at North Side and was immersed in a training program.  It wasn’t one in a classroom or one that had a syllabus, but it was one that provided a new situation weekly in which I was forced to learn what to do. My first week …

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What Is The Deal Brothers?

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I wanted to give you an edition of Short-Sermon Saturday.  It’s a couple of minutes to really challenge you. This one comes from David Platt as he addresses how guys need to grow up and become men.

The Promise of His Return

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Today was a busy and yet great day.  I actually had the privilege to be ministering in one way or the other in 3 different ways today.  Love seeing what God is doing in lives around me. North Side I didn’t get to be at North Side this morning, but I put a lot of Bible study, prayer, and preparation …

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Is Snake-Handling Biblical?

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I could never go to a snake-handling church because: 1) I am not a fan of the vile creatures, and 2) I am not sure of the practice is biblical. The practice has gotten in the news again because Pastor Jamie Coots, a serpent-handling pastor and co-star of the “Snake Salvation” reality television show, died Feb. 15 after suffering a snakebite …

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The Open Door Policy

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I can still remember the specific conversation in seminary.  We were discussing the practice of ministry as it relates to a pastor’s schedule.  How many hours should one spend in preparing sermons?  How many hours should be utilized for pastoral care (hospital visits, counseling, etc.)? It was a rather interesting conversation.  Some guys didn’t know what their schedule was or …

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The 2nd Question I Ask My Wife

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As a minister, our family’s schedule can be hectic.  I’m not saying it’s more or less hectic than other folks, but there are unique challenges associated with my job as there are with yours. From time to time, I have been asked to get involved in certain ministry opportunities.  Whether it is a chance to speak at an event, write …

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“Shepherd the Flock” // Storytellers

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On Sunday, we played the song “Shepherd the Flock” for the first time at North Side.  John Kennerly sang it at our Epworth Night of Worship, but since he was out of town this weekend, they were stuck with me singing it ;). The song is based off of 1 Peter 5:1-5. The Scripture 1 Peter 5:1 So I exhort …

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Blocking Your Own Team (And How Churches Do the Same Thing)

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College football just experienced an intense weekend.  So many games were on the verge of an upset and Auburn’s victory over Alabama in the last seconds will be talked about for years to come. With many highlight-worthy moments this weekend, you might not have seen one of my favorite highlights from the previous weekend.  It came when Florida lost to …

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“Call Me Jeff”

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  On Sunday, we surprised Jeff and Sandy Lethco with a banquet after morning services to celebrate their 15 years at North Side.  We shared testimonies, gave 15 gifts, and thanked God for their influence in our lives. I spoke to many who were excited about this time, but who got very emotional during the service.  They had the intention …

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The Enduring Word of God

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This was my Sunday: Soundcheck. Worship. Worship. Surprise Lethcos. Banquet. Clean up. Set up. NSU. Community group. Hopewood Haven awareness night. Drive thru. Recliner. It was great.  I wouldn’t trade anything for it.  It was a full day but it was a great day. The entire time of worship was great.  Surprising Jeff and Sandy was stellar.  The church’s encouraging …

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Motivation for Holy Living

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I got to be a part of today’s worship while I was on the beach with my family.  We had taken a quick family vacation, and we had family worship together around the table that morning, but as I was getting the kids ready for the day, I got to join in worshiping with the church family over my phone. …

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The Integrity of the Church

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“If you want to be a shepherd, you have to smell like sheep.”

That was just one of the best lines from today’s sermon.  This was our second week focusing on the biblical role of elders.  In 1 Timothy 3, Paul tells Timothy some of the characteristics and traits that an elder or a pastor is supposed to have.

A true pastor must desire the calling.  It’s a noble thing.  This was one of the best things I have ever heard on calling and the danger that many treat it with mysticism.  If you are called, you desire this work.

You must be above reproach.  There must be a good set of morals and living them out.  I never really thought about the trait of hospitality like I did today.  A true pastor is going to be around sheep.  He is going to have them in his home.  He is going be near the people in his congregation or he’s really not a good elder.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Church Matters

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Sunday, we are starting a series at North Side entitled “Church Matters.”  During the summer, we are going to look at what the New Testament says about what a church is and is not.

Much confusion exists today on what a church is and what a church should be doing.  We hope to clarify that.  Not with our opinions or thoughts, but the Word of God.

We recently got some church members together to talk about how being a part of North Side has changed their lives.  It was incredible to listen to their stories:

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1 John Recap

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A few months ago, we looked at the calendar and needed to plan how we were going to end the series on 1 John – “Knowing That You Know Jesus.”  I had this random idea.  I began to tell Jeff what I was thinking, and he said, “I was thinking the exact same thing.  Let’s go with it.”

So, anyway, that “go with it” happened this morning. It was powerful and unexpected.

We simply read through the Book of 1 John.  At the end of different sections, we worshiped according to the truth read.  It was so simple and powerful just letting the Word speak.  No commentary.  No need for explanation.  And we know it did not return void.

Gus Burgdorf did a great job sharing his work with the Gideon’s ministry.  The Word is powerful (getting the theme yet?).

Today, we worshiped to a lot of music:

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Love {in}Deed Recap

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Still hearing reports of all God did through his church on Sunday as North Side participated in a Love {in}Deed day as we served Greenwood.

We said, “Amen,” and then we went throughout the city to serve others.  As the worship service concluded, the real service began.

Here were some of the feedback we received from just a few of our sites:

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“All Things Are Possible” – Storytellers

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“All Things Are Possible” was the first song that I worked on for the “Knowing Jesus” album.  I had a direction for the album, I was getting ready to unveil the plan to the band, but I needed something to share with the band so they could see what I was thinking about.  I didn’t want to write to much of any song or a little of a bunch of songs.  I wanted them to be a part of about every corner of it, but I needed one to show them what I was thinking.

That night, I gave them a list of 14 major songs that we would do for the album.  It listed the titles of the song and the themes of the song, but the song had not been written yet.  It was just a direction for the theme of each song or the time period in Jesus’ life that it would cover.

As I prayed through the list of song titles, I decided to take a stab at “All Things Are Possible.”  This would be the song that would cover the sign ministry of Jesus.  This would somehow attempt to summarize all the miraculous deeds that Jesus did during his 3-year ministry span.

No easy feat.

But we took a shot at it anyway!

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The Gospel of John

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We took 11 sermons from our Knowing Jesus: The Gospel of John sermon series and made sermon remixes from them.  Our worship team reduced the time and put some music to some great sermons.

Jailhouse Religion

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We had the privilege last night to lead worship at Leath Correctional Institute.  It’s one of the South Carolina women’s prisons that is stationed here in Greenwood.  For many of our band, this was the first experience like this.

And it was one of the most memorable times of leading worship I have ever experienced.

We led the “Knowing Jesus” presentation and I did a sermonette towards the end.  It was intended to be a mere couple of minutes, but they were giving me too much response for me not to go on a little bit longer.

We originally were supposed to go Wednesday night, but the storm kicked us out because they didn’t want 200 inmates in an open room if the power went out.  When I told the workers that it’s all good and we were there to serve them, they said that was a unique attitude.  Many that come into the prison to minister or to help have shown a little arrogance.  That’s just not so wonderful to hear.  So we decided to really change the vibe in there as much as we could.

Many people claim what we saw last night was “jailhouse religion” that is just an escape from reality. It is a crutch to get through. It is a safe assurance that won’t last longer until they get back on the streets.

The reality?  Some of their spiritual maturity in prison makes so many of ours seem shallow and empty outside these walls.  Shame on us who walk in spiritual and physical freedom and yet never live a life that beams gratitude.

Here are just some of the highlights from the evening:

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Stuck in the Orphanage

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I was his father.  He was my son.  But at the time, we were just learning each other.

I was in Ethiopia getting ready to bring my son home from the orphanage.  We had many obstacles in his life to combat, but we really had faith that God was going to do some special things in his life.

When I called home to tell Amanda about our first encounters, I told her of how Eli was so handsome, funny, and energetic.  I told her that the nannies called him the “bus driver,” because all the bus drivers in Ethiopia were short, fat, and assertive.  Not sure if that was a good thing at the time or not.

She then asked if there was anything else that she needed to know.

Well, there was on thing for which she needed to prepare herself.

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Sermon Risks

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I’m preaching Sunday.  I sometimes have mini-sermonettes while I lead worship.  I feel like my part of my job is to be a pastor with a guitar.  Not the fella who picks out the songs. But this week, I get the honor of opening up the Word of Life for the North Side family. And I’ve got that feeling.  I …

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We Can’t Hear THE Name Because All We Hear is YOUR Name

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We live in a very interesting time in American Christianity.  In some ways, so much incredible Kingdom stuff is happening.  In other ways, I feel like we can’t hear THE name because all we hear is YOUR name.

Translation: many Christian leaders and Christian ministries are focused more on building their kingdoms than they are on building God’s Kingdom.

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The Vine

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As we planned for today’s worship, we studied the passage of John 15 concerning our need to stay connected to Christ to accomplish anything.  So what we planned to highlight is to see the fruit of those who are accomplishing great things here in our church.

We highlighted some children’s and student ministry leaders.  We wanted to hear them talk about their commitment and the reward of service.

We then wanted to be led in some of the “fruit” of their work.  We had our student band lead worship for part of the service, and we also had some of our children lead us in worship.  They sang one of the songs from this year’s VBS.  When I heard them do it at VBS, I knew we had to use them.  Such a beautiful expression of worship.

Today’s worship list:

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Why Ministers Love Yard Work

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It’s been a little hot lately.  Greenwood has been cooking.  With these early summer temperatures sky-rocketing for the area, most people are letting their yards go.  Deal with the yard when it cools down.  After all, it can’t grow that much in this type of heat!

That’s the way some people feel.

Not me.  I love it.  I love yard work.  I love to get out there and work and sweat and get cut up and bleed.  I look forward to it.

And, for a very interesting reason, I know many other ministers who love yard work as well.  Even among the scorching heat, the hard work accomplished, and for all the things that still need to be done, many ministers love to get out and do yard work and here’s why:

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Ministerial Exhaustion

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Years ago, our pastoral staff took a retreat.  I can remember we really didn’t talk a bunch on the van ride up.  We were all very tired, and honestly, we were very drained with our jobs.

I remember spending a long time on our face before God.  These weren’t bold prayers concerning the health of our church.  These were pastors who were exhausted and tired and pleading to God for help.

What we talked about those few days was how we were overwhelmed with the pace of ministry.  The programs and events of the church were booming, yet we were exhausted and unsure if our efforts were actually assisting any real life change.  From that week, a lot of things at the church changed for the better.  Our entire staff got fired and rehired.  We changed jobs and really started focusing on people over programs.

Two weeks ago, our pastoral staff took another retreat.  We were all very tired yet again, yet this time we were overwhelmed for another reason.

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What’s Better Than 1 North Side Worship Album This Year?

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Exciting stuff in the works with North Side Worship this year.  As a worship ministry, we are really focusing our efforts this year to help disciple our church through worship.  I have shared some of what that means, but I thought I would clue you in a little bit more today.

Today, you can pick up THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD: SERMON REMIX 2011 on iTunes or you can get a hardcopy at North Side.  That is just the 1st step of projects that we are working on as a worship ministry this year.  Months ago, I gathered the band together and asked them, “What would be better than 1 worship album this year?”  Someone got bug eyes, and replied, “2?”  The answer was correct as I shared what would be album #2 for us.  But then it went to 3.  And then even to 4.

Yep, we are planning on releasing 4 worship albums this year through North Side.

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When God Does the Most With the Least Expected

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In my life, I’ve learned that God often does the most with the least expected.

We often think we’ve got it all figured out.  In our estimation, we have enough knowledge to map out God’s plan for our lives.

But that rarely happens.  Oftentimes, God uses things in our lives that we never ever saw coming.

I said “yes” to the ministry when I was a teenager.  I really didn’t know what area I wanted to serve, I liked doing so many different things.

And yet, if you look at what God is using me the most in right now, I never would have seen this coming.

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The Manifold Wisdom of God

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This project focuses upon the teaching ministry of North Side. These 10 tracks were taken from 10 pivotal messages preached to our congregation in 2011. Our worship team then trimmed the messages down, arranges, composed, and recorded some music to accompany these biblical truths in an attempt to further disciple those who would listen. As a result of this project, …

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The Man Born Blind

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What a fantabulous day at North Side!  We were thrilled to release our new album “The Manifold Wisdom of God: Sermon Remix 2011” (photo courtesy of Taylor Wolfe).  While I couldn’t talk Jeff into doing his part live, the band did accompany his preaching.  We played track #10 off of the album which is in my top 2 favorite tracks.

Thank you for all that got copies today.  I loved hearing about the lines at the bookstore!  Hope the biblical truths are impacting you today!

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Revelation of the Christ

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As we continue our Christology, this week we are focusing on the teaching ministry of Jesus.  This is the Revelation of the Christ.  Through his preaching, he displayed the attribute of wisdom as he proclaimed words of life.

Nobody taught like Jesus.  No one will ever teach like Jesus.  He was able to communicate long messages to all types of people and his words survived in a mainly oral culture for us to read today.

Some things to remember about Jesus’ teaching ministry:

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Sermon Remix 2011: Track Listing

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You are looking at the great cover that Cory Wilson designed for our upcoming Sermon Remix 2011 album.  If you missed this announcement, we have taken pivotal messages at North Side from 2011, spliced them down to under 5 minutes, written and recorded music to back them up.

Since the last time I mentioned it here, we have added 2 additional tracks.  An EP is a 5-7 song collection, when you get all the way up to 8, you might as well go for 10!  Jeff picked two additional messages from last year on Habakkuk and Nicodemus.  So glad these were included!

Cory did a wonderful job on the artwork, and the final mixes are being worked on currently and they are sounding great.  The worship team members who have been involved have all stated that they thought this was a neat idea, but now, listening to them, they are blown away with how impacting these tracks are all the while being impacted by biblical truth.  This is a very unique project and we can’t wait to get it in your hands on Sunday, March 18th.

Here is the back cover and the track listings:

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Sermon Remix: 2011

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I’ve mentioned in the last couple of weeks some pretty exciting stuff coming up for North Side Worship this year.  I’ve talked about how we plan on discipling our church through our worship ministry.  I shared with how I felt the Holy Spirit was leading to a pretty big initiative and our team jumped at all the opportunities.  Let me now share our 1st offering coming your way very, very soon.

In many of our previous recordings, we have included a spoken-word track.  On Overcome, it was a message that was trimmed down from 40 minutes to 4 minutes with some music written for the piece.  The sermon served as a catalyst for the entire album and really summed up a lot of how God was leading our church at that time.  Jeff was originally against the idea because he didn’t want to have a lot of focus upon him.  I was able to talk him into it, and since we have released that album, I have heard more encouraging words concerning the track “Don’t Give Up” over any other track on the entire project.  It is powerful.

And I’ve always wondered: what would it be like if an entire project was dedicated to a sermon remixes?

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It’s Always Better With People Like This Around

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Tuesday night, I huddled up members of our worship team and shared some direction I’ve been feeling for 2012.  As we completed our last recording project, God had been pressing on my heart a few different things, and over the course of the last couple of months, through prayer and study, I really have fleshed out a direction that I feel like would be honoring to God.

The only problem with sharing it with this group is: the plan sounds kinda crazy.  It’s very different.  It’s pretty ambitious, and there’s a lot that someone could look at say, “There’s no way that’s gonna happen.”

In that meeting, I was shocked to find something completely different.

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The Health of Your Heart

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What a powerful day today!  Band, singers, choir, tech team did awesome today!  All I did was give an announcement and be led in worship by some fantastic people.  Wonderful prayer time.

Loved that one of our host team preached for us today.  Jerry Rentz, door greeter extraordinaire and elder at North Side, brought the Word today!  He did great.  Love his passion and his authenticity.  Learn from him so much!  He shared a lot of what God has been teaching him in 25 years of dedicated service in prison ministry.  When he said that some of the most passionate, godly men he knew were behind bars, it woke me up.

I had someone come up to me after 1st service and say, we better watch out or some church may hire our greeter as their preacher.  He then said, “How could you not hear God speaking to you today?”  I agree.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Preachers’ Kids

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Our culture has a stereotype of pastor’s children that is the complete opposite of this biblical expectation.  When people mention a “preacher kid,” they are normally referencing some rebellious hellion bent on tarnishing his father’s reputation in the community.  This stereotype reveals more than an unfortunate circumstance, it shows unbiblical perspectives and qualifications present in the church today.

Repeatedly, many preacher kids reveal a father who took care of the needs of everyone else except for those living in his own house.  In attempts to appease this member or that family, he neglected his own wife and children.  As the years went by, not only does the minister’s family resent the man of the house, but they also resent the church and many never return once they leave home.

Your pastors need to care for their own children more than they care for your children.

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Prepare the Way for the Lord

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I was so thankful that my buddy, JW, got to lead us in worship today at North Side!  We did a highlight for our Sonshine ministry at North Side, and Greg Thompson and JW helped us be mindful of how God is using all of North Side.  After the video, they both shared, JW prayed and then led in worship to “I’ll Fly Away.”  Awesome time!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Why Many Student Ministries Are Failing

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Since the inception of student ministry (not that many years ago), the growing belief is that parents should aid and assist the student pastor to evangelize and disciple the students.  By serving in either assistant teaching roles or crowd control, parents are expected to help the student pastor in his ministerial work focused on their children.  I cannot begin to tell you how many parents describe that situation and say that the student pastor spiritually “raised my child.”

If we were to follow the biblical example, we would reverse the trend.  Parents should not aid and assist the student pastor.  The student pastor should aid and assist the parent to evangelize and disciple one’s own child.

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1 Week Offline (And the Return Back…)

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We had a family vacation at the end of July.  It was great.  I decided to turn my email off and really, really be on vacation (which by the way, is a great recommendation for all).  I replied to all emails Sunday night around midnight before vacation officially started.  I went on vacation on Monday.  On Friday night, I decided to turn my email back on, and it kept rising.  Below is the number of emails that I received that week:

743.  Within 5 days, I collected 743 emails.  When I started going through those emails, I was overwhelmed and excited all at the same time.  And here what was in those emails:

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