When setting out to try this, my mind was drawn to first meditating on the names of Jesus, the Son of God. Being a very visual person, to help with this I pulled together a list of names for Jesus in a text document.  This list did the trick for me if I had my laptop, but not so well if I did not.  So, what had to be the solution? You guessed it – a series of iPhone Wallpapers.

This is the first of the series.  My plan is to create one for each day of the week.   I hope this might help me take a few moments throughout the day to recalibrate by reflecting on the names and qualities of Christ. If you are a visual sort, perhaps it would be useful to you also.

See this wallpaper on an iPhone and get download instructions here.

The encouragement that I received was simple…

Resist the urge to reign down moral judgement on others, but rather focus on sharing the hope of Christ. Seek daily the ability to pour mercy and love on others as freely as Christ has poured his love and mercy upon you.

Take a moment to watch: Jesus Wants The Rose – Matt Chandler

… the most important reason why people stay at your church plant is relationships. Hopefully we hammered home the importance of you preparing and implementing strategies to build the relationships necessary to “earn the right” to keep serving these newcomers for our Lord. From David Jacksons Blog on “Five More Reasons Why People Will Stay at Your Church Plant”

At SK Church we break out into home based CE Groups during the week.  Another name for these meetings are Create & Engage Groups.  After SK services on Sunday morning, there is social interaction among the congregation.  However, this is usually not enough time to really find out what is going on in someones life.  This is where CE Groups come in.

Every two weeks, multiple CE Groups meet in homes around Garner, Clayton and Raleigh. The goals are simple – Create Community and Engage Community. What does this mean?

It means we create a community within our group that enjoys meals together, we talk about the highs and lows of the week together, we pray together, and we discuss the most recent message from our pastor together.  It also means that we engage community by planning events that try to put feet to our faith. Engage events range from serving the local Police and EMS families to caring for the needs of Battered Womens Shelters to hosting cookout events for local college students.

Whether its creating or engaging, the goal is to form deeper relationships. Relationships that will build trust that allows for the sharing of the hope that Christ has for us.

If this is the kind of community that interests you then I welcome you to email me at mike.askew@mindablaze.com or check out more information   here. You are always welcome to visit one of our groups.

Boiling this article down, the authors offers that theological issues can fall into 4 categories of relative importance.

Absolutes – Core beliefs of the Christian faith

Convictions – while not core beliefs, they may have significant impact of the health and effectiveness of the church.

Opinions –  less-clear issues that generally are not worth dividing over.

Questions – currently unsettled issues

The visual diagram for these categories resemble a target of concentric circles, with absolutes being the bull’s eye.

I find this a useful way to visualize the sorting of the various issues that come up in doctrinal debate.  But, the question is how to determine where the theological issue under consideration falls in the list. Will we be discussing Absolutes or Opinions? Are we pursuing issues of salvation or issues of cultural preference? Here are the guidelines that the ESV Study Bible Article offered for picking the category.

Where an issue falls within these categories should be determined by weighing the cumulative force of at least seven considerations:

(1) biblical clarity;

(2) relevance to the character of God;

(3) relevance to the essence of the gospel;

(4) biblical frequency and significance (how often in Scripture it is taught, and what weight Scripture places upon it);

(5) effect on other doctrines;

(6) consensus among Christians (past and present); and

(7) effect on personal and church life.

This guidance advises us to not  square-off with each other  over a particular issue of doctrine before weighing it with these seven considerations.  We want to be sure we know if we are risking unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ over an absolute or an opinion.  

My hope would be that we would be able to peacefully protect and defend the purity of God’s truth. It is a shame to me when followers of Christ break fellowship over issues surrounding the length of one’s hair, whether someone wears jeans or a suit to worship, or over what beat the worship music may have. The author of the ESV article expresses it this way -

The ability to rightly discern the difference between core doctrines and legitimately disputable matters will keep the church from either compromising important truth or needlessly dividing over peripheral issues.

Let us pray that we can have wisdom in these matters. That we can respectfully preserve the core beliefs of the Christian faith and recognize when we are having a disagreement of convictions.

Paul found himself on the street within 2 weeks of high school graduation after a series of disagreements with his mom. Needless to say, we did not know what we were getting into, but God had intersected our paths. The details of his life were very complicated, and I could go on for pages explaining it all. However, what is worth mentioning is that Paul was a bright kid who needed a break.

That night that we met Paul we hooked him up with a hotel room until we could regroup and determine how to serve him.   Within a week, some mediation between Paul and his mom had him back living in her home with some agreed upon terms of engagement. This was the first break that God gave Paul in this situation.

Next, Gordon began negotiating with the High School to let Paul do what he needed to graduate. This is where it became complicated. Paul was a bright guy, but he was lazy and irresponsible. There is no way to sugarcoat the description of Paul’s habits at that time in his life. Paul had overrun the high school’s allowable unexcused absence by 20 days.  Technically, he deserved to fail his senior year and repeat it all. But, God showed mercy to Paul for a second time.  The high school administration was willing to forgive the absences if Paul would pass all of his final exams.

Within a week, Paul had taken all of his final exams and the verdict was returned. Paul would not graduate with his class that spring.  He had not passed his British Literature final exam.  But, amazingly, Paul was shown another measure of grace.  The administration agreed to allow Paul to take the British Lit class over during summer session through the pleadings of Gordon on his behalf.  So, a summer of British Literature commenced.

During this summer term, another series of blessings came Paul’s way.  He became engaged with our fellowship of believers at Sovereign King Church.  We found that Paul had been gifted faith in Christ some years earlier and wanted to renew a pursuit of growing in his faith.  He began to form many mentoring and supportive relationships with the men of our ministry.  Paul began to attend worship services regularly.  He plugged into weekly men’s study and fellowship events.  And, even got a summer job working for one of the small business owners in the church.

But, what about summer school? How was that going….The answer was…not too well….

As Gordon checked in with Paul’s guidance counselor he found that Paul was continuing his habits of skipping class. Ultimately, he did not meet the terms of the agreement with the High School and did not graduate by the end of the summer session.  But, the breaks that God had cut Paul up to this point were not squandered.  Additional leniency for Paul was asked of the High School once again.  And, amazingly, he got one more chance during the fall semester to make good on passing British Literature.

Many men, with Gordon leading the way, came together to  provide Paul with some uninvited accountability.  With some Old Testament weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, he completed the class and received his High School Diploma in December. The Sovereign King Church Family rejoiced with Paul.

Now what to do?  Where would Paul go from here? What would Paul pursue after high school?

The answer from Paul was — The Marine Corp.  One small problem though, Paul was packing 260 lbs on a 5’8″ frame.  The Corp requirements for that frame was 185 lb.  So Paul began to work on his goal.

From January through April Paul put in the physical work to drop down to 205 lbs. At the end of April, he signed as a Marine Corp recruit on a weight waiver.  Today, he graduated from Parris Island 2nd Battalion boot camp as Pvt Paul Pagan, USMC with distinction as a sharpshooter.  He now walks confidently at 185 lbs with a gait that exudes discipline. To top it all, he was tapped to be trained as a Computer Data Analyst and will be shipping off to California for training in this field after a month of Warrior Training in Camp Lejuene, NC.

I thank God for his mercy and grace in Paul’s life. Today I am as proud of Paul as if he were my own son.

Private Pagan and Gordon Duncan