25th Anniversary

On October 14th my wife, Kat, and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It is truly an achievement for us for the following reasons:

1. We are both products of multiple marriages that failed.
2. We both battled emotional difficulties resulting from events we experienced during our childhood.
3. Because of the above two things the expectation was that our marriage would fail.

During the past 25 years we have experienced many road blocks and difficulties that could have destroyed our marriage. These experiences would have destroyed most marriages but because of the following we survived:

1. We are committed to each other.
2. We rely on the Holy Spirit to provide the strength we need.
3. We refused to give up on each other.

Here is why I am writing this post:

1. There are people who are struggling with the affects of having experienced a divorce and are in need of encouragement.
2. People need to know that there is hope after divorce.
3. I am proud of what God has done in our lives and want to share it with others.

I could write a lot more and go deeper but you can read my past posts and get information on my life.

I want to encourage you not to give up and have hope that God can provide a mate for you. Be willing to commit to the other person and to allow God to guide your marriage. Always remember that even though you do those two things you will still face difficulties because you are in relationship with another human being who is subject to the influences of this world.

Why Organized Religion?

Not too long ago I read an article about how God did not intend for us to have churches bigger than a house church and or leading pastors. The writer made some good points about the draw backs of big churches and lead pastors. What I want to do with this post is state why we need churches that are larger than house churches as well as having house churches.

As far as lead pastors are concerned I want to share only one scripture to show that we need them and agree that the same goals can be met in a house church but it still requires a lead person.

1 Corinthians 12: ^27-31 You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything. You're familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his "body": apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, organizers, those who pray in tongues.

But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called "important" parts.

But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.

Lead pastors are just one small part of the church and they are needed just as the rest of the church is needed in order to do the work God has called the body to do. Their role is to train the church for service and give direction for the church.

To explain why we need to be a part of a church either as a house church or a bigger organization I will share what I witnessed the other night at a memorial for a young child who had died.

Because of the relationships, which is the key to both a house church and a bigger church, that the father and mother had with other people there was an out-pouring of love and compassion to the parents. True this can and does happen in house churches but usually on a much smaller scale.

God set for us an example through Israel and the Temple of what good leadership is. The human leadership was flawed but what came from the Mercy Seat located in the Holy of Holies was perfect. Today with the help of the Holy Spirit we can have human leaders who are guided by Him and not their own strength.

I do not believe that God is disappointed that we have mega churches or that a house church may have only five or six members. What disappoints him is the attitude we have toward one or the other. God created humans to need leaders and He shows us through the Bible what a godly leader looks like.

The young couple could have faced losing their baby son alone and because they have God's Holy Spirit would have found healing but because of the relationships they had with others in the body the healing is on a faster track. Because of these relationships they were also able to be a witness to the body and others in how they handled the tragic events.

Finally, Although we can be Christians completely secluded from others God does not intend for us to be lone ranger Followers of Christ. Part of our human nature is that we are drawn to leaders and groups. House churches and larger churches allow us the relationships we need to grow. Neither is better or worse than the other and God accepts them both as tools in sharing the gospel.