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I walked into the church early this morning and found a large box/tube sitting by my door. I didn't remember ordering anything so I was really curious to see what it was. The return address was from Calvary Church in North Carolina. When I opened it this is what I found:



For those of you who don't know what that is, let me tell you. It's one of the banners I created for our youth group in North Carolina. They've recently changed their name so they sent me one of the old banners with signatures and messages from the students and leaders written all over it!

I have to say that it was a really cool surprise. Thanks to everyone who had a part in this. It made my day.

Crazy Words

I must admit that when I'm preaching sometimes I say the dumbest things. My former youth pastor is still a member of Evangel and brought this list to me after the AM service yesterday:

"These are words that you never hear in church, I'm going to post them on the internet somewhere,

butts, weenie, dang it, poop, seat warmers and take out your cell phones"

So I guess I did him a favor and posted them on the internet for him. And yes, I did say each of these things. But I'm sure they all make sense in context!

Also, I tried something different at the end of my message. I invited people in the congregation to text pastormarc to the number 66937 if they wanted to receive more information from my message this week. If you try it yourself, you should receive a message back that you'll have to reply to with the letter Y. It's kind of a cool idea, I hope it works!

Interesting Discussion

I spoke yesterday on parenting in the AM service and had an interesting discussion with a first time guest following the message. She had an issue with the following survey I used (which I picked up from lifechurch.tv)

Kids Who Become Active Christ-followers as Adults

If mom and dad went to church: 72% of kids will as adults.
If mom only went to church: 15% of kids will as adults.
If dad only went to church: 55% of kids will as adults.
If neither mom nor dad: 06% of kids will as adults.

I was stating the importance of father's taking on the spiritual leadership in the household. She felt that I was minimizing the role of the mother because the survey shows that higher number of kids will follow Christ if the father only went to church than if the mother only goes to church. She spent several minutes explaining that I was sending the message to young girls that they're not equal with men. I tried to tell her that what I was talking about had nothing to do with being equal with men. It had everything to do with men being the spiritual leader in the home. Wow, I think she missed the point just a little bit.

I feel the survey upholds the biblical principle that the men have a spiritual responsibility in their homes. And if you look closely at the survey, the highest percentage is when BOTH mom and dad go to church.

But I thought the entire message on parenting was pretty good. At least it meant a lot for me as a parent.

Now I'm working on Week 2. Should be fun.

Your thoughts?

Saturday Studies

Trying to study on a Saturday.

Wolverine

Just a quick post...just saw this in USA Today:



It's too bad the movie doesn't hit theaters until summer 2009. Looks pretty cool.

Valentine's Day

I'm really not a big fan of Valentine's Day. And it looks like I'm not alone. Just check here and here.

But before you get really mad at me and feel sorry for my wife let me explain. I want everyday to be Valentine's Day with my wife. I don't think there needs to be just one day of the year that I tell her I love her and buy her candy, flowers, cards, diamonds....

Anyway, I want my kids to see how much their daddy loves their mommy. I want them to see me treat her the right way everyday. I want them to see me take her on dates more than once a year. I want to teach my kids how a man should treat a lady.

So my goal this year is to have more than just one "Valentine's Day." My wife is totally worth it.

KJV vs. NIV

Well I've never heard a sermon like this before. I had to grab my KJV Bible just to make sure. Go ahead and check out 1 Samuel 25:22 in the KJV.

Watch until the end for the full experience.



Love to hear your thoughts.