what I am up to lately …

what I am up to lately …


Board Meeting
Monday evening Pastor Victor from Kabardino-Balkaria attended our board meeting. This was a real joy for me because last time I was over there Victor brought me to his board meeting. So I did, to him, exactly what he did to me. I sat him down before our board and asked him a bunch of questions about his ministry.


What are your worship services like?
How does your church support missions?
What is a typical week of work like for you?
How do you practice church discipline in application of Matthew 18?
What kinds of persecution are your people currently facing?


I loved seeing our deacons and elders get to interact with this dear brother (who they have prayed for, heard about, and given to) for themselves.


Over Eighties Party
Did you misread that as eighties party? That would be fun. Can you see the Miami Vice pastels, big hair, and leg warmers? But I am talking about the over 80s party. Once a year, RBC hosts a party for all of our active members who are over 80 years of age. This group knows how to have a good time together. I love talking with these elder brothers and sisters. We talked about missions, how the church is growing, what we have been learning from the Word, the Brewer’s season, opinions about Herman Cain, and our feelings about pumpkin milkshakes.


A Thought Provoking Article
I appreciated the wisdom here, from Kevin DeYoung, about the church refusing worldliness.


So how do we avoid the crushing weight of Babylon the Great? The first step is to admit we live in Babylon. Everyone does. Every culture has its “isms” to tempt us to idolatry. In Africa the test of faithfulness may involve animism, and polygamy. In America the isms are a little different.

Scientism: truth is only found in what can be measured, tested, and published by peer review.
Journeyism: as long as I keep searching, maybe people will quit bothering me to find something.
Protestism: if I always speak out against evil out there, I can ignore the evil inside.
Healthism: younger is always better, and when I get old there is a pill and a video to help me feel young again.
Entertainmentism: if it doesn’t make me feel something right now, then it can’t be worth my time.
Advocacyism: I care, therefore I am.


I could go on and on about consumerism, materialism, moralism, pragmatism, and all the other worldly “isms” of our day. But you get the point. We are much more a product of our culture than we think.


[How do we counter this?] It’s being shaped by a different set of assumptions. It’s demonstrating a different ethic. It’s being supremely relevant to a dying world by smashing the idol of relevance. If you want to always be relevant you must deal with the things that touch eternity and if you are dealing with eternal things you always seem a bit irrelevant.


You can access the article here:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/10/18/blame-it-on-babylon/