Soccer News

One of the European teams I attempt to keep up with has one not only the English Premier League but also the European Champions' League.

The game went 1-1 through regulation and overtime thus sending the game to a penalty shootout. Both teams missed one and left them tied 4-4 on penalties. The shootout continued with Manchester United prevailing with a total penalty shootout tally of 6-5. Man United's goalie, Edward Van der Sar, saved a shot from Chelsea giving them the win.



Notably, Manchester United and Chelsea finished in the 1 and 2 spots respectively in the Premier League.

United has now completed another season double: winning both the Premier League and European Champions League.

What I Desire to See from Ministry

I desire to see one church that is faithful in the mission of Jesus Christ for His church and growing in Christian godliness and not legalism.

Pray for the Chapman Family

Pray for the Steven Curtis Chapman family. Yesterday they tragically lost their youngest daughter, Maria, when one of her teenage brothers accidentally hit her with the family car. To lose one so young is troubling but the circumstances compound the difficulty of the loss.

Steven Curtis Chapman sites: 1, 2, 3, 4

Book Review: Family Driven Faith

I have recently finished reading the book, Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. I first encountered Voddie while in college during our annual Christian Focus Week. His preaching style inspired me, and his thoughts on life bordered on common sense. His wisdom for living the Christian life was not complicated but inspired freedom in living.

In this book, Voddie spells out how to disciple the next generation of believers, at home! When we see the statistics, the church is losing more people than gaining, and his summary is that the loss stems from poor discipleship. So what program should we use in order to better disciple church members? Train the parents to disciple their children beginning at a very young age.

Throughout the book, Voddie gives advice, guidelines and helpful tools in order to accomplish the intended goal. He also clearly demonstrates that this is a biblical idea and not a personal quest or ambition. He desires to lead the church to return to the biblical precedent for discipleship found in Deuteronomy 6.

I would recommend this book for any pastor, church staff, parent, or those who hope to one day be a parent.

Found at Christianbook.com for $14.99.

5 stars

Two for the Weekend

Two for the Weekend

Brotherly Love





Connor giving Brennan a ride.

UPDATE: Brennan has been taking regular treatments and is doing much better. Please continue to pray that God would lead us to His ministry for us. These past couple of months have been extremely difficult and trying.

Coming Soon . . .

It has been a while since there has been a true update, and I will not bore you with the numerous excuses. Especially concerning ministry, please continue to pray that God would guide us to His place for us. In this area, I (Aaron) am extremely frustrated for numerous reasons. I am really wrestling with what God has for us to do, and I want to be certain before we move to whatever ministry it may be.

Also, please pray for Brennan. He has asthma, and right now, it has just begun to be fully treated so he is continuing to deal with a lot of uncontrolled coughing. He is not able to sleep well, and he is becoming extremely angry with not sleeping and all of the treatments.

Integrity in Church Membership

The Southern Baptist Convention is actually in decline. The new Annual Church Report numbers have been fully tabulated and put into the desired charts and categories. We are truly in decline.

I would like for you to read a resolution that has been submitted to the Committee on Resolutions since 2006 but has never been passed to the messengers for vote. The past two years the author Tom Ascol has attempted to have it brought to the floor for a full vote, but it has failed both times. This is the full wording of the resolution:

Resolution on Integrity in Church Membership

Whereas the Baptist Faith and Message states that the Scriptures are "the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried" (Article 1); and

Whereas life in a local church should be characterized by loving discipline as the Bible teaches in passages like Matthew 18:15-18, 1 Corinthians 5 and Titus 3:10-11; and

Whereas the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Church Profiles indicate that there are 16,266,920 members in Southern Baptist churches; and

Whereas those same profiles indicate that only 6,148,868 of those members attend a primary worship service of their church in a typical week; and

Whereas the ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle as described in Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message; and

Whereas the significance of believers' baptism tends to be lost when churches that practice it fail to exercise loving care for all their members; therefore, be it

RESOLVED that the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-11, 2008, urge Southern Baptists to repent of our failure to maintain responsible church membership, and be it further

RESOLVED that we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention to repent of the widespread failure among us to obey Jesus Christ in the practice of lovingly correcting wayward church members (Matthew 18:15-18), and be it further

RESOLVED that we plead with pastors and church leaders to lead their churches to study and implement our Lord's teachings on this essential church practice, and be it further

RESOLVED that we encourage denominational servants to support and encourage churches that seek to recover and implement our Savior's teachings on church discipline, especially when such efforts result in the reduction in the number of members that are reported in those churches, and be it finally

RESOLVED that we commit to pray for our churches as they seek to honor the Lord Jesus Christ through reestablishing integrity to church membership and to the reporting of statistics in the Annual Church Profile.

May we pray that all churches would seek to be faithful witnesses to Gospel redemption and transformation.