Pastors, Tigers, and Cheetahs

Did you see the recent New York post headline about Tiger Woods and his “personal transgressions”? It read: “Tiger admits I’m a Cheetah” By now most of us should be used to the news of celebrities being “caught with their pants down”. Its amazing how celebrities adore the limelight and every bit of publicity they can get until they get caught in a major screw up. It then becomes about how they need to work out their personal problems in private, that no one is perfect, and we all deserve forgiveness. I have no problem with privacy nor forgiveness but I do have a problem with glossing over lack of personal self control and simply labeling it a ” transgression”.  What about the church and those that God allows to lead it? What standard should they be held to? The rest of this post is aimed at church leaders and not your average Christian. It would be great if everyone took this advice to heart but God has a very specific message for those who want to lead His church as pastors.

The bible sets forth some pretty specific qualifications for those chosen to lead the church. 1st Timothy chapter 3 illustrates the requirements for those who desire the position of pastor. This passage is all about having self control, living wisely, and having a good reputation. It says people outside of the church must speak well of you. This same passage says that the wives of church leaders should also exercise self control.  Now with all of this straightforward teaching why do disgraced pastors believe they can do what ever they want and after a certain “cooling off period” and time of restoration they can step right back  into the pulpit and limelight? When other leaders call their hand they become angry and complain they are being publicly attacked, mistreated, and misunderstood.

Here are some simple guidelines for pastors and church leaders:

Don’t take a big stinking dump on the bride of Christ and expect everyone to tell you it smells like cotton candy. The world is confused enough concerning morality without the church going around trying to comfort pastors who screw around on their wives. The pastor is held to a higher level of accountability than other Christians. How can you expect a  congregation to trust you if you will lie to your own wife? A few months away from the pulpit while allowing God to restore you does not change your reputation in the community and how the world sees you. There is no “do over”;  you screwed up, face it and move on. God does forgive you and still loves you but that doesn’t mean He wants you to represent His church.  God demands a lot from those who lead because they influence decisions concerning Heaven and Hell.

I cant understand how things that were once shameful even in our secular society are now being found acceptable for church leaders.  No wonder the church is losing its influence in society; it is slowly killing itself from the inside out.

Happy Halloween from the Munsters

Here’s a video clip from one of my favorite Munsters episodes. Grandpa is in a match race driving the Dragula. This clip is set to the Rob Zombie song. Enjoy!

The True Meaning of Halloween or Stupid Christian’s Eve

Here is an update of my post from 2008 concerning Halloween. Check out this opinion article from the Chattanooga Times Free Press October 29, 2009:

Halloween celebrates Satan

Luke 11:2, “Our Father which are in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”.

Hallowed means to hold holy, honored reverenced.All Saints Day, Nov. 1, long ago once was a day that Christians remembered those Christians who had died and left a good witness of a life lived for Christ and the good deeds that they had done for his sake.The evening before Hallow-Eve, the poor would go door to door asking alms, food, clothing, the necessities of life and were given these in the name of our LORD.In time, the pagans, Satan worshippers, to mock the Christians, would disguise themselves as evil beings, witches, devils, ghosts, monsters, coming in the dark to frighten and demand a “Treat,” alcohol, food, money and animals to sacrifice to Satan in their worship of him on a night Christians used to honor Christ.If the pagans’ threats were denied, they would “Trick” by vandalizing, stealing, burning, to punish their victims, just like today.In time, other people and Christians too, began to dress as the same and play “Trick or Treat.”Christians, why are you today still joining in on this holiday celebration of Satan? Please understand and stop.

Jesus loves you all. He is Lord.

ROBERT “BOB” M.

STANLEY JR.

Hixson

Wow talk about revising history to suit your own agenda! The “Christian” festival known as All Saints Day was actually moved from May to November in order to supplant existing Pagan festivals.  These Pagan festivals already featured many of the customs we attribute to modern day Halloween celebrations. To say that these customs were invented to mock Christians is absolutely untrue. No wonder the world continues to shake its collective head at all of the “Stupid Christians”

Watch this hilarious video concerning the origins of Halloween. The real point is that no matter where the traditions originated they have become thoroughly commercialized just like Christmas. By the way churches you might want to reconsider that “fall” or “harvest” festival you have as a Halloween alternative since that is the original reason for the Pagan holiday. I still haven’t figured out how when children dress-up and fill their plastic pumpkin with candy at a church it’s a great alternative but if they do the exact same thing at their friend’s and neighbor’s houses it’s wicked and evil? Churches need to wake up and smell the pumpkin pie. The Church should realize that the only kids participating in their “festivals” as a true alternative are the church kids who aren’t allowed to venture out and associate with their neighbors. The rest of the kids have figured out that churches simply offer a great way to score tons of candy quickly to supplement what they already get going door to door.

Resurrection Rod Run 12 on Vimeo

Check out some cool video from the October 09 car show at Mile Straight Baptist.

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Resurrection Rod Run 12 Slide Show

Here are some pictures from the October 2009 car show at Mile Straight Baptist Church. A big thanks to everyone who showed up despite the threat of rain!

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RevScottie Rod Shop MG Replica

OK here’s our latest project. It’s a replica of a 1953 MG roadster. Didn’t need a lot of work just new fuel lines, buffing, and clean-up. It’s a FiberFab kit built on a VW platform and runs great. It’s a fun little car to drive and it gets lots of looks going down the road. And as always it can be yours if the price is right. 🙂

Cat’s Out of the Bag

Well Mark Love let the cat out of the bag this morning. Journey Chattanooga will be moving out of the theater soon. The theater has served us well but there have been limitations. Anyone that has ever rolled into the theater parking lot before daylight knows the first limit. The theater requires an intense amount of set-up on a weekly basis. Volunteers begin arriving shortly after 6am in order to make it all happen and stay till noon or later to tear it back down. You may have noticed our more simple lobby set-up of late. It is because of the theaters summer movie schedule. We would barely get set-up and would have to start tearing down almost immediately because the theater opens at 11:30 am. We are essentially renting space for a little over an hour each week.  The theater also limits our ability to be creative. Anybody remember the fog machine and the fire department visit?

We want to do more in the community and God has dropped a more permanent space into our laps and thats not just trying to be all churchy talking either. Even with its shortcomings we werent looking to move out of the theater anytime soon. This opportunity just came out of the blue. We believe its one of those God things.  I dont know how Journey would have started had the theater not been available. Mark and I both envisioned it as sort of a nuetral meeting space where those uncomfortable with traditional church would feel free to come check out God. I am excited about the new warehouse space and I cant wait to see what God has in mind for us next!

Hillsong United Concert Road Trip

Hey guys the Journey Chattanooga crew road trip Saturday night was a blast!  We had a great time and I actually enjoyed the concert except for some of the middle portion which was just too slow for me. I’m a rocker, what can I say? 🙂

Concert aside we partied hard  including a midnight stop at the Donut Den in Nash Vegas. (If you enjoyed this Sunday’s donuts this is where they came from) Thanks to Mike Donehey of 10th Avenue North for the awesome suggestion.

 Here’s a short video clip from the Hillsong United concert. I shot this clip with my Flip video camera and it was probably the most high energy song of the evening. Enjoy!

Vintage Gospel

 

Wow its been quite a while since I’ve blogged, let’s see if I remember how this thing works…Ah there we go it’s coming back to me now. This is where I post thoughts that are too long to tweet. Maybe that’s the problem, I haven’t been thinking enough lately.

This Vintage Gospel series has really made me think. I  had to pause and evaluate my understanding of the Gospel after reading this tweet from Chris Elrod: “Speaking at a homeless shelter tonight. They know the Gospel better than I do – they’ve had to hear it 3 times a day just to get a sandwich.” How many of us have reduced the Gospel down to a presentation instead of a way of life? I have been taught in church for my entire adult life how to present the Gospel. I have taken college level courses in evangelism and even taught them myself. The question is how do you boil down an earth shattering transformed way of life into a “presentation”? The answer is you can’t. If it were as simple as just memorizing some verses from the Bible and sharing them with others don’t you think God would have been smart enough to give us a “cliff notes” version (or in modern terms a Wikipedia entry) that we could simply recite? Instead of that God sent his Son as a living breathing example and teacher of what it means to be a Christian. The Bible is full of life lessons on how to handle our relationships with others, our relationship with God himself, examples of how to treat the poor and outcasts of society. The problem is that living the kind of life that Jesus led is a heck of a lot harder than memorizing some verses. I think I’ll just try that approach from now on though because I suck at memorizing stuff anyway 🙂

The Portable Church Challenge

     One of the biggest challenges to being a portable church are those elements that are totally beyond your control. This morning I walked into the theater and found Jason waiting to welcome me bloody knife and all. Although I certainly appreciate the creativity that went into this I could just imagine some of the younger set from Journey freaking out and not wanting to come back to the creepy movie church.  A quick application of some pipe and drape saves the day but in this type of environment you’ve always got to be ready for any challenge thrown your way. For those of you looking at planting a church in a movie theater here are some practical tips.

• Expect the unexpected. Our theater loves to put creative displays together promoting movies. Problem is these displays often alter our Sunday plans. Stop by the theater before Sunday and see what adjustments you might have to make.
• Be prepared. Pipe and drape are your friends. If there is something that will detract from your church’s atmosphere cover it up. Although a certain segment of your church may find a 10 foot tall display of a busty Angelina Jolie with guns blazing attractive not everyone will share in the enthusiasm.

  

• Safety first. If there is something that kids can play on they will. Just because it belongs to the theater don’t think it’s not your responsibility to make sure the environment is safe for everyone.  A portable drill and a few self tapping screws shored up this somewhat floppy display in the middle of the  lobby.
•   Form a good relationship with the manager of your theater. Remember you are sharing space and they are just as worried about you screwing up their work environment as you are about them screwing up your church environment. If you move something put it back where you found it and teach this to all your volunteers. Capture a “before” picture with your camera phone to help you remember where everything goes.
• Learn where light switches, thermostats, alarm panels, breaker boxes, etc, are in your theater. Trust me; one day you will need to know this information.
• Hide your empty carts, boxes, etc, behind the scenes. Your environment will look better without a lot of clutter reminding people that you are portable.
• Be flexible. Movie start times vary and there will be some days that you may have to start tearing down only minutes after setting up especially if you are using your theater’s lobby.
• Finally own the environment. Just because you are portable doesn’t mean you have to look it. Invest money in quality signs and banners. Like it or not some folks may not give you a second chance if you don’t look like you’ve got it all together. Make the best first impression that you can.  Here’s a shot of what you see entering our theater’s lobby.
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