Exciting Church Stuff, Free Modern Hymns, and I’m Getting Pumped

I’ve not been blogging on here regularly since I began writing on Theophilux.  I need to blog on here more.  It’s good for me to do so.  I need it to get through some things that I’m thinking on that doesn’t have an outlet yet.  So hopefully I will be back to blogging on here soon.

I’m excited about things happening in my church.

• New website (still filling in the pages, but this is a major upgrade for us that we needed)
• New Vision
  • Growing Deep, Growing Together, Growing Out
  • For more info on this, check out our website.  I think this is the best vision statement I’ve ever dealt with.  It is all encompassing.
  • Vision Sunday will be this Sunday.  The Vision will be given to the congregation.
  • The implementation of the Vision will be handled in a new organic way
• New Sunday School model
  • Previously, Sunday School (or Sabbath School) was modeled after an academic environment.
  • In case you haven’t noticed, the academic model of a single person lecturing is not that effective especially among children who have been in school for 5 days already.
  • The new model will be more discussion based (or activity based for the kids, and I don’t mean coloring)
  • In fact, its more like a small group; more personal yet maintaining a focus on the Biblical text
  • It will be called Growth Groups (In case you didn’t notice, Growth is the key in the vision statement)
• New Preaching model
  • My pastor has done some wonderful sermon series in the past.  They were topical in nature but they have changed many lives including mine.  But there is a better model.
  • Lectio Continua is the practice of preaching through a book of the Bible as a series.  In full, it is preaching through the entire Bible!  It is a Continuous Lectionary.
  • Preaching is the public exposition of God’s Word.  It contains the words of Life.  Therefore, preaching through the Scripture is preaching life.  And its preaching the way it was given to us.  (Anyone have a pastor that preaches this way currently (or are you a pastor that preaches this way currently)?
  • Currently, the plan is for the pastor to begin a Growth Group on Wednesday nights that focuses on the same book of the Bible that he is preaching through.  I think this will be tremendous in getting people to actively engage in the preaching on Sunday morning.
  • Many more plans are in the works.  Discipleship is the aim, Growth is the goal.

Free Hymns

I found a link on challies.com a while back that was to a ministry that has been recording hymns done in more modern ways, with new verses too.  The link is http://pagecxvi.com/share.  Here is an excerpt from the email I received from them after I downloaded the songs for free (they are free until Wednesday, March 25th):

For all of you who were wondering where our name “Page CXVI” came
from, we’d love to share with you a little bit about it. Page CXVI is
a reference to page 116 of our personal copy of The Magicians Nephew
by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing
Narnia into creation out of a black void. One of the characters,
Digory, describes it as,

“…it was the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so
beautiful he could hardly bear it.”

As the hymns project began to form, our hope was to wrap the strong
lyrical content of the hymns, with music that portrayed our personal
reactions to the life that God has brought to our “black void.” The
most personal song on the album is by far “Joy” with the counterpart,
“It is Well” was written by Horatio Spafford after losing his son to
scarlet fever, all of his real estate investments to the Great Chicago
Fire, and his 4 remaining children to the sinking of a boat. The
contemplative turn from “Joy” into the lines from “It is Well” comes
out of our own personal tragedy this past year and combines a Psalm
like lamentation with hope. Our intention with all of these songs is
to be a source of comfort and encouragement to all who hear them.

Thank you again for listening and sharing.

Page CXVI

Go download it.  It’s free right now and it’s quite good.

And I’m pumped.  God is faithful to those He loves.  I have no anxiety, only anticipation of what He will do in this age, and in the age to come.  Sola Deo Gloria!

I’m Back (and WordPress looks different)

It has been a long time since I have posted on here.  I have been spending  a lot of time on Theophilux lately.  There is a great discussion raging on.  There are (at least) two Open Theists on there and things have gotten interesting in the comment thread.  If you want to be a fly on the wall or join in on the discussion head on over.  On the main page, look to the right side of the screen and scroll down if you need to to see the most recently commented on articles.  Chances are the most recent one is the one titled “Do you pray like an Open Theist (I hope you do)”.  That was written by an Open Theist (obviously) and is where most of the discussion lies (or is it lays, I can never remember).

Things have been interesting for me lately.  I have a side job helping to film something and edit the videos (more info on that when it comes close to completion).  Also, I’m on the Christian Education Committee at my church and have been recently given the title Coordinator of Adult Sunday School.  So I get to be the head honcho on certain matters.  Also, I am teaching my first Sunday School class this Sunday.  It is on the Redemptive Story.  We will be looking through all 66 books of the canon at a rather brisk pace in order to see and understand the overarching narrative throughout the Scriptures.  I hope this class will be accessible to new believers as well as edifying and informative for those who have been in the church longer than I have been alive.  If you would like to come, it will meet Sunday at 9AM at Christ Church EPC in Anderson, SC.

Also, I got the new ESV Study Bible!  If you are in the market for a study bible, I heartily suggest this one.  I have seen and used others such as the NIV Study, the NASB Study, and the Reformation Study Bible (ESV).  But all those pale in comparison to the value of the notes, maps, and articles of the ESV Study Bible.

Here are some reasons I’m so overjoyed at this Study Bible:

• It uses the ESV, my favorite English Translation
  • It is literal, yet not wooden like the NASB.  It is readable yet not boring like the NIV.  It is in modern english yet poetic and beautiful like the KJV.
• The notes are powerful
  • I often ignored the notes in other Study Bibles because they were so, well, blah.  They failed to give further insight and usually just echoed a denominational perspective or sought to avoid any sort of controversy.  Difficult passages were rarely treated.  Not so in the ESV Study.  I can honestly say, that it really does add to my understanding of the passages.
  • They are set up in a tiered format.  First you get the note for the section of the text you are in.  Then a note on the subsection you are currently in.  Then it goes into verse by verse notes.  Its really wonderful and aides in seeing the each book as a whole.  It is very logical in its setup.
• The introductory material
  • Yes it has the standard categories such as Author, Date, and Purpose.  But it also seeks to ground each section of the Scriptures and then each book of the Scriptures into a cohesive whole.  The place of each book in the grand narrative is discussed (yay!).
• The Articles
  • This Study Bible has articles written by some of the top scholars of today.  Some articles will go unused by many no doubt, but for those that wish to read Daniel Wallace discuss the Reliability of the New Testament manuscripts, this is a treasure.
  • The article which I will refer to most is the History of Salvation in the Old Testament article.  It goes through and lists the verses in each book of the OT that correspond to Christ and His work and gives a short explanation.
  • It has about 250 pages worth of articles.  Go to the website listed above to scan it.
• It’s ONLINE!
  • When you receive your ESV Study Bible, you also receive a code to enter online.  This code gives you access to the very same material online.  Every map, note, article, etc. is online for your ease of navigating.  It is so great to read a great note with a reference to another text and simply hover over the text and read it.  I’ll have to look again and see if it gives you permission to print maps and such for use in church.  If so that would be yet another great thing.

I say this not because they give me any money if I refer people to them (that would be interesting).  I say this because I was thrilled that a truly wonderful Study Bible has come out.  The short time that I have had it has already aided me in reading the Scriptures with greater fervor.  My hope is that it would do the same for you.  If you need or want one, I cannot recommend this one enough.  If you already have Study Bibles but rarely find the notes worth reading, give this one a shot.  But, if you do get this one or already have a Study Bible you read, then remember, the notes are not inspired, only the Scripture itself is (no matter how intelligent the editors are).

One final note on it:

I know that for many the font and color of the text is just as much important to them as the notes.  If you have trouble reading the text your not going to get much out of it.  Well, the ESV Study Bible is one of the more readable texts for me.  The words of Christ are not in red though, so everything is in black font.  I personally don’t like black font on white paper.  My eyes don’t like that much for some reason.  So this text is more of the same in that sense.  But the font is more readable than others.  The notes however, seem to be the most readable that I have noticed.  I don’t know what it is, but the font of the notes are almost easier to read for me than the text itself is.  And if anyone has another ESV Bible, they may know the ESV for rediculously small font sizes.  The ESV is a respectable 9 point font.  All in all, quite readable on paper, even more readable on screen.

Catching up

Man, I’ve been busy.  I know that’s boring to say but “it is what it is”.

I’m on the CE committee at church now.  I like making a difference, I just don’t meetings.

I’m in my second year at Seminary now.  I like learning, I just don’t like papers.

Sarah (my lovely wife) has been working as an Admin Assistant at another church here in town.  The church cannot afford to keep her on after the end of this year.  So she’s doing the resume (how do I get those accent marks to come up?) thing.  I only work part time as I have a grad assistantship at Erskine that only allows me to work 20 hr/wk.  It’s a test, to not be anxious about it considering the current economy.  But, God has proven Himself faithful thus far, and I’m quite sure that won’t change.

Theophilux has taken off quite well.  We have eclipsed the 100 member mark.  Check it out.  I just posted an article today on the issue of homosexuality (hint…I don’t take the traditional approach to the issue).  If you are interested, click here.  In order to view the full article you would need to become a member (which is free).

I think I shall return to posting on here more regularly.  But Theophilux.com is where I do any meaty stuff.

Oh Happy Thanksgiving (which I think means give thanks to God for allowing us to be gluttonous for one day).