This weekend I was sent a free copy of Outreach Magazine. This magazine use to impress me. The conferences looked incredibly interesting and helpful. The speakers looked so cool in their up-to-date hair cuts. The magazine was selling the dream of the mega-church. If you could grow a culturally relevant church, then you could be profiled in this cutting edge article. There was a time when this seemed to be the measurement of success for the minister. Grow a big church and God will be glorified. Today I disagree with this model completely. As I flipped through the magazine I did not see success but shallowness. In fact, it could be that the mega-church movement has hurt the church more than helped. It has brought into the mindset that Christians are consumers. If you have the best worship program, the best youth ministry, the best preacher, the best building, then you will attract the most people. Some even in the church buy into this methodology. Whatever happened to the questions of does this congregation need me? Does this congregation need more Bible class teachers? How can I contribute to this congregation? There is nothing wrong in attempting to have the best ministries, but there is something wrong with people in the church that are looking for congregations to serve them without them desiring to contribute in return. The size of a congregation does not make it more or less important in the eyes of God. It is the quality of the congregation that counts, not just the size of it.

While I was in Canada for the Holidays, I was blessed to accomplish some reading. The “Divine Embrace” was not a planned read, because I was going to spend most of the time on hockey books. But I brought this book along “case in just”. Thankfully I did. This is one of the best Christian books I have ever read. For those of you who read this blog, you know I read a lot. This book dealt with the topic of spirituality in a highly Biblical way. It roots spirituality in the narrative of the God story. Unlike many modern expressions that are centered in self, this spirituality is centered in the story of God. It gives a great overview of the various expressions through the ages of Christianity. This section was extremely interesting. The author continues by fleshing out the practice of spirituality. One of the strongest points of the book is his emphasis on baptism. The book is deep, but readable. It has a spirituality that is highly rooted in the Biblical text. If you are looking for a wonderful book on spirituality and the various expressions of this discipline, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it to Christians that desire to grow stronger in their relationship with God.

As part of the trip to Canada, it was on the menu to read a good hockey book. I purchased this book before the trip in hopes of it being a worthy read. It is always disappointing to read bad material on vacation. Fortunately, this book did not disappoint. I remember this Canada Cup as a child. Unclear memories, but a hazy moment stands out. I remember the goal. I was just a child, but it left a mark of Canadian Hockey pride. We beat the Russians. This book took me back to childhood. It took me back to simpler time in hockey. Ken Dryden states that the best hockey was played during our childhoods. This was the time of the biggest stars. This book left me with chills at moments. It is a Canadian hockey fan’s delight.

The Morine’s have finally returned from Canada. It was a great trip. We accomplished all the goals for going. It was great to spend some time with the parents, and the parents enjoyed sending time with the grandchildren. Gabrielle was the center of attention for the entire time. It was nice to see brother and Durbee. They were in great cheer throughout the time together. Also, brother took a ton of great pictures of the kids. We saw the grandparents and some of the family members. It always shocks me of how nothing changes home. It always seems to be waiting for my return. When I fly into Halifax and drive down the city streets it seems like I never left. It is waiting for me. I imagine that heaven will be like this. Though we are in an earthly world, when we travel to heaven, it will be like we always lived there. It is also waiting for us. We also enjoyed the great food of Nova Scotia. We ate lobster twice, hadDonairs (most of you will not know what this is), whole clams, and no trip to home is complete without a stop at Tim Horton’s, well a few stops. Christmas was amazing. It think it was one of the best ever for the family. It has been a long time since we celebrated together. The preaching went well. It was great to see some of the faces that I have missed. My friend from church was also home. It was great to see her little boy. It will probably be another 3 years before I travel home again. I leave Nova Scotia with many precious memories, but with one bad cold. I picked up a Canadian bug. The trip was spiritually refreshing. A book named Divine Embrace was the treat of the week. It was an amazing book on spirituality. To all the people that I had contact with, thank you for being you, we sometimes look for the picture perfect moments in life, but all moments are special, if we allow ourselves to feel them.

When I was twenty years old, I left home to preach the Gospel. For the first four years, most years I only saw my family during the Christmas season. Christmas was a special time for me because of the joy of traveling home. The song “I’ll be home for Christmas” was dear to me. Since I have been married, we have never been to Nova Scotia for Christmas. It has been almost six years. But this year the Morine family is leaving out tomorrow to spend a week with my family. There is a great anticipation. The parents are overjoyed at the opportunity to experience Christmas with the grandchildren. Watching Gabrielle enjoy her gifts is a joy unknown for many. While we are home, I am going to preach for the Kentville church of Christ. This was the place of my first sermon. When I was converted at twenty, I started teaching a class and preaching in a matter of months. No one ever told me that I had the option to do nothing. I still get goosebumps from standing in the pulpit in this congregation and delivering a message from the Word. My mind is overwhelmed with the past of who I was, and the future of who Christ made me to be. Traveling home connects me to the story that God is weaving in my life. It is a reminder of the starting point of my life. It is my UR, it is my Bethlehem, it is my Tarsus, but only God knows where the journey will end and how the rest of the story will unfold. We travel back to Nova Scotia, not in the desire to go back, but as a reminder of how far God has taken me. Praise be to the Father of all glory, let all the Angels and man sing his praise. For God is good, His everlasting love is beyond compare. Few people can drink as deeply from this text as I have in my life.

Matthew 19:29 ” And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life.”

Mr. Erdman is a preacher. He gives a simple outline on how to prepare sermons through the week. The book was strong in slowing down the preaching preparation. I tend to develop a sermon in one day. Maybe this is done because I preach twice and teach twice, where Erdman seems to develop one sermon a week. His book also gives a lot of grace to the minister as he encourages us to try to fail. He implores to allow the Biblical text to be the highlight of the sermon and not the illustration. He makes a good point in stating that we are too concerned about making the great sermon or making the top delivery of the material. Instead we must focus on allowing the text to mold us. The book is good as a counteraction to the success mindset in the church. It is not the best book on preaching, it is more of a book on some of the poor practices within the Christian world when it comes to preaching. If you are looking for a book to help you develop sermons, this is not the book for you. If you are a perfectionists when it comes to sermons, this is the book for you.

This book was great because of the skills that were addressed. The skills were the methods to influence an organization or a person. It talked about the pointlessness of using verbal logic to promote meaningful change in people. This seemed to strike me because of the act of preaching every week. You certainly can use words to influence people, but these are the supporting acts to the major actions of influence. There are about six various methods or influences on that one can exert to influence positive change. A lot of the influencers are works that a good church would be using. They include modeling, social networks, and truth telling. The book is a must read for elders and preachers because of the advice on influencing. As workers in the church, we are to influence people to be more Christlike. A great read for ministry, from a book that deals with business.

Since the dad went to the Predators Game on Monday Night, Charity dressed the children up to show their support. These are the best looking Predator fans around. I am sure they would win Fan of the Game. Soon the children will be coming with me to the games.

There is a passion for ministry flowing through my heart. The message of Christ rings loudly in my ear. I never had the blessing of having a relationship with the Lord growing up in Nova Scotia. When I became a Christian, it completely changed my life. I left home, went to Brown Trail School of Preaching, and got involved in saving souls. Ministry is personal for me. It is more than just going to heaven, it is bigger than getting people to come to church, it is the consuming passion of my life. All that I have is through the relationship to Christ. All that I have become is through the precious love of the Lord. The Lord changed me through his love, grace, and merciful compassion. I want to help people to have a strong relationship with the Lord. Not to build the numbers, not to add to the contribution, but to give the gift of Life that only Christ can give. The abundant life that is found through faith. Everyday I am thank for the Lord to work through me, and this is the biggest shock of all, he can work through someone like me.

Growing up in Nova Scotia, Canada was a postmodern experience. Last night as I was reflecting on some of the experiences that happened at FHU, I realized what the problem was. Sometimes at school I am laughed at, make fun of, called out, and labeled a liberal. I started to realize the problem. Theologically I am in line with the conservative values in the church, but I am a functional postmodern. I mean by this that I believe that you can know truth, but the methodology I use in discovering truth is different than some with a modern mindset. At FHU I always get in trouble with the professors because in good postmodern fashion I reject authority. There is no part of me that desires to believe a truth just because a professor told me that it is true. Also, as the professors are arguing for this truth in a logical fashion, I am feeling through the truth. How does this feel is a legitimate concern to me. Does it seem fair, does it flow with the spirit of Christ? Finally, when it comes to some inferences from the Word, I seem to fight the logic of saying I am completely correct on this reasoning from the text. I see too much fallibility in myself to think that I can always reason perfectly. At FHU sometimes I feel that everyone thinks I am a liberal, but typically we agree on most doctrines, it is just that I take the back roads and the professors and some of the students are driving on the interstates. We both get to the same destination, I just take the postmodern route and some take the modern way.