Temple worship…

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body  and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Yesterday I toured (along with my youth group mission team) the new LDS (Mormon) temple at Oquirrh Mountain in the West Jordan area of Salt Lake City.  It is immense, grand, and clean.  There is much to be impressed about when you tour it, and there were hundreds of ushers, security, and other very nice LDS people there to help guide us through what is obviously a source of pride for them.  Before entering, we watched a carefully crafted video which gave testimony of what this temple (and the 130 others around the world) meant to them.  Over and over we heard that this temple made them feel closer to God, and that made me feel sad.

Sad that because the dedication will occur in August, and then no one, unless recommended by the Mormon hierarchy, can enter.  There is a desk at the entrance, and signs that say you are welcome as long as you have been approved.

Sad that the Mormon experience does not include a knowledge of the Holy Spirit.  It is based on good works, on trying to be seen as good enough to enter the temple, in order to be married for eternity, and to be sealed together as a family.  These are huge goals for any LDS person, and yet it is denied to many of the LDS people.

Sad because it is all unnecessary.  When Christ died on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn, allowing all people to have access to the Father.  The New Testament says that we can come boldly to the Father because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.  We do not need an address to feel closer to God.  We are in relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit indwelling us as temples of God.

It cost untold millions of dollars to build the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  And it is unnecessary.

And when before the throne, I stand in Him complete.

Jesus died my soul to save, My lips shall still repeat.

Jesus paid it all.  All to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain.  He washed it white as snow.

For pictures of our temple tours, see my facebook page.

Moving the tassel…

Just a few snapshots from the past year…

10 months ago – Female Outstanding Leader, Truth and Peace Student Leadership Conference.

6 months ago – Lady Cyclone Award, Volleyball.

2 months ago - Lady Cyclone Award, Basketball.

2 weeks ago – Rotary Student of the Year, as voted on by the Russellville High School faculty.

2 days ago – Graduated with Highest Honors, with several other scholarships and awards.

Every day – the kisses on our cheek when you are around us.

We are proud of you, Christen Paige Pointer!

A Free Will Baptist in a Lutheran…

2 pm on Thursdays, Central time.  Important, because for Neil, it is 3 pm in Charlotte.

This is a good time for me each week that we can meet.  We don’t meet at Starbucks, althouth Neil sometimes meets us from Panera Bread.  We meet through Skype for a chat, just the three of us:  the aforementioned Neil, single, on staff at a Lutheran church in North Carolina.  Andy, who is currently serving at a Lutheran church in the greater Chicago area, and who is expecting his first baby (well at least his wife is) later this year.  And me, the old married for 24 years with two daughters in youth group guy, who just happens to be Free Will Baptist, and wandered into Luther Land and stuck with these guys.

The Distance Learning program at Luther Seminary was in a trial phase (that passed with flying colors) and it attracted the three of us, and several others from around the U.S. to Luther Campus for intensive classes in January and October, and online the rest of the time.  The end result was an MA in Youth and Family ministry awarded in May of 2007.

But along the way, community developed.

A group of youth workers, all but two from an ELCA background were thrown together in classes and in the beloved dorm called Stub for what began to be a community of learning, and life.

From our first January, it went from guys who were rooming alone to guys who came together, and actually wanted to room together.  The three of us added Jeff to the mix, and our room quickly took on that crusty, male smell/vibe of testosterone, theology, and life.  Jason, Jason, Kevin and several other guys from time to time would wander in, or we would meet in the lounge, and life together was on!

Add to that the ladies from Texas, Washington, Pennsylvania, Missouri, North Carolina, and the Dakotas, and we ended up with a hodge podge of life experience, viewpoints, and fun that developed into something special.

For Cassie and Ingelaurie, it must have been something like episodes of My Boys.  Hanging out, interacting, and being a part of the group must have been an interesting study in sociology.

This experience confirmed, stretched, and molded us all in ways that allowed us to become the ministers we were called to be.

So, almost every week that we can, the three of us continue to meet, to discuss, to share, and to analyze a book, life, or the current state of theology.

It keeps that community going…

The world was not worthy…

What makes someone heroic?

It is a term that gets thrown around a lot today.  It becomes a designation so often for things that I think are less than heroic that it looses it importance.  It becomes common place.  It is like standing ovations in our culture.  We are standing so often for such uninspiring things that it has become one of my pet peeves:  We give standing ovations for our kids so often that they will not really know when they have performed in an outstanding manner.  Notice the standing in the out part in that word.

So not every game, not every election, and not every event has a hero.  They all have great people doing great things, but maybe upon further analysis, they are less than heroic.

Now Sully is a hero.  Saving the lives of all those passengers on the jet was a heroic event.  He didn’t want to embrace the title of hero, but began to understand just what he meant to the passengers, to New York, and to the nation.  I have no problem with him being called a hero.

I also don’t have problems with your heroes.  Most of us have heroes who will never be honored in a hall of fame, or recognized with a medal, yet have done something worthy of emulation in our lives.  A teacher, a coach, a pastor and parents all might be heroes to someone, and it may not be tied to a specific event.  It comes from a lifetime of service, and maybe of sacrifice.

This summer at Truth and Peace we are going to talk about Free Will Baptist heroes.  To my knowledge, none of them have rushed into a burning building to save anyone, or thrown themselves on a hand grenade to save their company.  However, in different ways, they have shaped and changed the lives of Free Will Baptists to a point where we have never been the same since.

And so, for many of us, their lives are heroic lives.

Who are your heroes?

Orange…but no juice.

I really like Orange.

I like the color, I like the fruit, and I liked the conference Orange that we attended last week.  (We, being Blaine otherwise known as Senior Pastor, and Joel, who would be the Children’s guy.)

But I have to say after reflection that the one word I am using to describe to people who ask how our week in the greater ATL went:  Unremarkable.

There were lots of things that I liked.  The check-in procedure was incredibly smooth.  (All macs!)

The stage audio/video was first rate.

Everything had pop, pizzaz, and was done in a fun, yet worshipful way, from the singing to Lanny Donaho, who I saw for the first time in over a decade.

I even like the Orange concept, although it is not the only model, nor do they claim to be, I think.  (It is hard to know, because everything was orange.)  I would even recommend it if someone is looking for a model of ministry.  It has research, and application to back it up.

It was just unremarkable.

Francis Chan was incredible, as always.  Reggie Joiner (the man of Orange) was good in talking about our pictures of family.  I really liked the discussion with Andy Stanley and Perry Noble.  My breakouts has good information.  Nancy Beach tackled the role of women in ministry in a thoughtful way.

But I didn’t really come back with a wow or aha! moment.  And that is what I missed.

Upon further review, no one opened up the Word, and really brought anything out to me that said, Wow! here is something new or fresh from God’s Word.

Reggie looked at Deut 6, and used that as a jumping off point.  His comment about there not being any normal families in scripture was good.

Don’t get me wrong.  Everything was Biblical.  It just wasn’t Bible.  And maybe it didn’t need to be.

But maybe that is why I feel it was unremarkable…

Here I am, again, but hope to be here for awhile

Upon the advice of blogging guru John Saddington at the Orange Conference, I am now going to streamline my web presence to the blog, Twitter, and Facebook.  So, if you are from the youth group, Truth and Peace, or First Free Will Baptist Church, these are the places to find me!

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