Church is like eating at home

Church is like eating at home with your family. But many think it's like eating at a restaurant, and that's why they can't be satisfied...

Providence Pageant

The children of our church put on a great Christmas pageant last night under the able direction of Mrs J.
We were all impressed with how much work went into this one-night only performance. From the set to the costumes everything looked great. But most impressive was the focus on the Scriptures, with many of the children reciting substantial passages from memory or singing solos of Christ-centered Christmas carols.
This also turned out to be a great outreach event to our neighborhood and friends. So it was a win-win for evangelism and for nurturing the faith of our covenant children.
This will be one of the highlights of our time at Providence.

Pinky's post on God's faithfulness to a widow

Read it here.

Family Camp

Our church joined the other PCA churches of Northern New Mexico (and Durango, CO) for the 9th annual family camp in the beautiful Jemez mountains.

Family camp

We're signed up!


We hope to see our Providence friends there in August.


Let's go camping!

Pig Roast!

The Newnams have proven again to be "good people". They opened their home and acerage and roasted 80 pounds of pork to provide a great time of fellowship for our church family.

I didn't do too well documenting the great time we all had, but hopefully other church blogs will make up for my lack of photos. One picture I wish I would have thought to take was Zeke asleep in the car before I even started the engine to head home. That's a sign of a good time!

Congratulations!

He's too modest to just blurt it out, but Justin was recently named a Distinguished Graduate of Squadron Officer School! This is a high honor in the Air Force and sets him apart from most of his peer group. Way to go, Justin!

The real membership test

Are we a church or are we a club? As I think of the scope of needs that are facing our little church and consider others that could be around the next corner, Piper addresses a significant question:


HT: Z

Las Cruces

I spent today in the southern New Mexico college town of Las Cruces representing our church at the regional meeting of elders (called Presbytery). Our Presbytery covers NM, AZ, and the El Paso region; we rotate the Presbytery meetings through the different churches in the region. Today we met in a converted skating rink that is now home to Grace Covenant Church. The day-long meeting is work but it's a good kind of work. Today we:

Ensured two pastors moving into our region were biblically faithful in doctrine and life

Helped about a dozen men who are becoming pastors to better prepare for the ministry

Heard reports from border ministries, campus ministries, and church planting, then prayed for each of them

Proposed a strategy for increasing church planting and campus ministry

Prayed repeatedly and passionately for our churches, our communities, and missions

Worshipped the Lord together through Word and Sacrament

May King Jesus be honored in all we did today

How to have a good day

I got to hold a one-day old baby today. No matter how rough a day you were having before that, everything is great with a newborn son of the covenant in your arms.

Actions, Habits, Character

Have you ever thought you knew something only to meet someone else who shows you all that you're missing? That's what Whyte's book on the characters of Pilgrim's Progress is doing for me and has done for many through the years. In the past I enjoyed the urgency of Christian's journey and the characters he encountered along the way. But I missed the fundamental point; where do I show up in each of these characters and what will I do about it? Whyte's book illumines and helps, pointing out that actions lead to habits and habits become character. So does this sermon based on Whyte's book. If you need more godly character in your life I recommend both!

Tripping over the tiles

I accompanied my pastor last night on a shepherding visit. The older man we visited lives in a retirement center and joked with us about how before we arrived he tripped over some tiles near the dining hall and entertained the other residents with his quick footwork trying to avoid a painful fall. It sounds like the residents receive great and regular medical care, but we'd all prefer if he didn't need it.

As I reflected on this enjoyable visit while driving home a parallel between the retirement center and the church hit me. Residents in a center like his are frequently in need of physicians and medical attention. They are frail physically and want good doctors that will care well for them. Likewise, as members of a church we are spiritually frail--prone to trip over the tiles if you will--and frequently in need of a physician of the soul. I'm thankful that our church has a good one.

A preacher's nightmare

Since our pastor is out of the country I preached today. Now that it's over I'll share a dream (a nightmare really) about the sermon from a couple of nights ago.

I dreamed that I arrived at church in a raggety t-shirt and shorts. Only 4 people came to church and I forgot my Bible. I borrowed one but when I opened it in the pulpit the letters were so tiny that I couldn't read any of the words. I squinted and stared at it long enough that people started whispering to each other and chuckling. So I borrowed another one. But this one was like a magazine; there were advertisements all through it and even though I feverishly searched I couldn't find my Scripture text any where in it. Now the congregation (all visitors in my dream) was cracking on me outloud and eventually I just gave up and left.

Before leaving the house this morning I double and triple checked that I had my Bible with me.

Mr. and Mrs. Sorice

Kristin and I attended a friend's wedding this weekend near Portland, Oregon. We had a fabulous time, thanks in very large part to a great couple that watched all of the kiddos while we were away!

My camera didn't do too well with the lighting, but here are a few wedding photos from yesterday.

The first kiss for Mr and Mrs Soricealt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256384953412089842" />
Presenting the Sorice family...
We also enjoyed catching up with Chris and Jennifer; he was the best man and she sang during the wedding.

Since the wedding was in the evening, that gave us the day (which was sunny!) for tooling around Portland. What a refreshing contrast to New Mexico's desert landsape! It was like waking up to spring after a long winter.

Tributes for a deceased brother

In what may be the best use of blogging I've seen, this week several friends have posted tributes to Brent and his family on the first year of his sudden death (here, here, here, here, and in the comments pages associated with those sites).

We also remember him fondly. Brent and his family convinced us to make Providence our home church. They didn't do this with words; I don't think they even realize that they had any effect on us. But they're the kind of people that once you meet them you can't help but to love them and want to be with them again, and hopefully, to become more like them. And that's what happened to us--it was the easiest church decision we've ever made!

I was visiting my mom in South Carolina last October when a somber phone call delivered the blow that he was dead. Through it all, his wife has rested on God and found Him faithful.

I can't estimate the effect that knowing Brent, even for a short time, has had on me and my family. But one Day I will know and will get to thank him in person.

No church, no problem? (pt 2)

I'm making a point of inviting more people to church, for two reasons. First, I'd like to see new people added to our number. Second, and more importantly, people need a church.

I've invited two families recently; neither have come (yet). What puzzles me is that both families profess to be Christians and much about their lives back it up. But neither attend any church in town, and they're okay with that. In a city this large with many church choices this strikes me as oddly inconsistent.

The blessings of old age

In preparing to teach a class on "What is a good church?", I've used a Google search tool to pull together people's thoughts on this from across the blogosphere. One common sentiment that pops up among bloggers is that they want a church with lots of people their own age. They especially dislike churches that are elderly.

This brought to mind how my thoughts towards the elderly have changed. There was a time when I too avoided churches with older people. In fact, for years, a church I attended had no one over 50 that I can remember.

But this changed when I prayed with an old man in the sunset of his life. He has walked with God longer than I have been alive. His body is failing him, but His God has not. His faith has stretched across time and has lasted through adversity, and this gives me hope that I, too, will not fall away.

When we don't know our elderly fathers and mothers in the faith we miss out on one means that God uses to assure us of perseverance. Just as Jacob, when dying blessed his sons, leaning on his staff to worship (Heb 11:21), so too can our fathers in the faith bless us in their worship of God.

Sheep & greener grass

In this sermon Pastor Joel Beeke shares a good anecdote about changing churches.

After a sermon he gave at a conference a woman approached him and fawned over the message saying that she wishes she could hear preaching like that at her church. Dr Beeke cautioned her that if she were to switch to his church, within a few months she would probably be tired of his preaching, too. He went on to explain that as sheep we are prone to think the grass is greener elsewhere and often it can seem that way at first. But soon the newness wears off, other grass looks greener and the cycle perpetuates.

I've experienced this first hand and have come to regret it later. Commitment in all areas of life (which should include membership in a local church) is the better approach.

No church, no problem?

The latest podcast of White Horse Inn is really good, especially if you're not sure why it's important to be part of a local church. The corresponding magazine articles in the current issue of Modern Reformation is also well done.

Presumption -- children and church membership

"Presumption is as iniquity and idolatry" 1 Samuel 15:23

Many adult Christians have never known a time when they didn't believe; they have grown up in the church from their earliest years. My wife is one of those; however, what she said recently serves as a warning to Christian parents against presuming the spiritual state of their young children.

She cannot identify a time when she didn't believe, yet she speaks of being converted as a teenager. Is this doublespeak? I don't think so. She grew up in a Christian family and learned all about the fundamentals of the Christian faith (think Apostles' Creed) and rejected none of it; she believed this was true. However, there came a time years later when she embraced Jesus Christ as crucified for her sins, as taking her penalty upon himself and freely offering his righteousness to her. She points to this as her moment of conversion.

I write about this tonight for two reasons. First, my two older children have begun church membership class at the tender ages of 10 and 8. They have a fairly good intellectual understanding of the Christian faith (thanks to diligence in memorizing much of theWSC), and they believe it to be true. But as a parent great discernment is now asked of me. If they complete the class do I allow them to go forward in joining the church? This would imply that I consider them to be regenerated. The seriousness of this decision causes many Christian parents to postpone their children's membership until the end of high school. This makes sense to me, but how should I respond to my children's wonderful desire to join the church now?

A second cause for this post is that there are many today that were raised in the church, like my wife, that continue in it into adulthood, yet cannot recall what I described above as a conversion. This is foreign to me and I am puzzled by it. I don't doubt that many of these people are Christians--that somehow God converted them very early, even before their earliest memories. But I am curious to know whether they would say that they have always had more than an intellectual belief in the Christian faith, that they have always had the marks of saving faith in their life (a hatred of their own sin, a dependence upon Christ to save them).

This issue is wrapped up in a person's view of covenant theology, but even as an advocate of that, I see reason to be on guard against presumption. Because the stakes are so high (we're talking about your children's eternity afterall), it seems to me that Christian parents should view their children as "children of promise" without going so far as to consider them saved and ready to become full members of the church. Membership may best be saved until they reach a point in their maturity when their profession of faith reveals more than an intellectual belief.