Last Sunday we finished teaching through the whole book of Acts. It was an awesome book that took us 7 months and was very rewarding. But before we stepped into our next book I wanted take a little break, to kind of clean the expositional pallet. Over the last 2 weeks I had the congregation submit questions about faith and the Bible. I told them anything goes, everything from “did Adam and Eve have belly buttons” to “how do I know what my spiritual gifts are?”  The Questions I got formed the subjects I tackled this past Sunday.

And what questions they where! I learned quite of few things about my congregation by teaching through these questions. I learned what kinds of things they are dealing with and thinking about.

-Why are some verses omitted from the NIV?

-The Bible says we shouldn’t say bad things but some Christians curse, why?

- What does the Bible teach about other religions besides Christianity? Are other religions bad?

I learned that they had mostly practical questions.

- How do I know when to share my spiritual/religious beliefs and when to be silent?

- Most of my friends aren’t Christian, aren’t spiritual, or don’t believe what I/how I believe. How do I stand up to that?

- The Bible has a lot of rules, regulations & guidelines. They make sense but which ones do I follow?

I also learned that they had a lot of questions, so many in fact that though I had intended this to be a one Sunday event, it has now become a 2 part mini-series . I even had a few folks asking at the end of service if I was still accepting questions for next week.

I’ve received a lot of good feedback about this series so far, I think is was just what God wanted for our Church. I know that Christians in Spartanburg South Carolina aren’t the only people who wonder about these kinds of things. If one of those people is you, then I encourage you to take a few minutes and listen to part one of “That’s A Good Question” at Calvaryspartanburg.com

A few weeks ago my good friend Mark Mckee visited us at Calvary Spartanburg. Mark is a coffee roaster and coinsure of the highest degree, so naturally I like to hang out with him. He shared a little about what God was doing through his ministry, Passionate Harvest, and afterward I was able to do a short interview with him about PH. Hit the link below to hear my interview with Mark about Jesus, Missions, and Coffee.

Mark McKee Interview

http://passionateharvest.org

Brett Farve has announced his retirement 3 different times, only to return again the next season. As a result all the urgency and emotion has been drained out of his farewell(s). If he were to announce his retirement (again) tomorrow I doubt that anyone but the most hardcore of fans would care.

Paul’s farewell tour in Acts 20 is anything but trite and overplayed. His third missionary journey allowed him to look into the eyes of the church and people he loved and teach them one last time.

Our study through Acts chapter 20 has just gone live!

www.CalvarySpartanburg.com/teachings.html

Tomorrow my little girl has surgery. She has, what the doctor describes as, a minor lump on her neck. It could be one of two things, neither life threatening, but either way it will eventually need to be removed. While she is under they will also be correcting a posterior tongue tie.  They fixed this a bit at  birth, but it needs some more serious surgery to get her tongue released so she won’t lisp–right now her tongue can’t stick out past her bottom lip.  They will be doing the procedure tomorrow morning. There is little chance of anything going wrong, but the idea of the nurses wheeling my unconscious little Sophie away is difficult.

I would appreciate your prayers tomorrow morning, for Sophie, as well as Andrea and I.

In every fight movie, like “The Karate Kid” or “Rocky”, the hero has to train like crazy to get their self ready before the big fight. Part of that preparation process is cutting away the fat that slows them down and removing the distractions that take away their focus. Acts chapter 5 shows us that same preparation scene in the life of the early church. Satan throws some internal conflict at the church in an attempt to hinder the church in its upcoming prize fight with the Sanhedrin. Can the church get in shape in time?! Discover the exciting conclusion; our study through Acts chapter 5 has just gone live!

www.CalvarySpartanburg.com/teachings.html

It’s that time again, time for the “Y” study (if you are scratching your head over the name see the previous post). We’ll be continuing our study in James (1:9 if you want to read ahead) and eating, good for your soul/bad for your heart, Beacon drive-in breakfast.

Last time guys started trickling in a little before 8 am so we could get started right away. We had a great turn out, including a few guys from Costco where I also work, and by the time we started up we were using two tables.

If you’ve never been to the Beacon or just want to have a good biblical conversation with other men this Saturday is your time to do both. See you at 8am.

My friend, and fellow church planter, Kevin Miller is the pastor of Awaken church in Clarksville, TN. You’ve probably seen the destruction the flooding in and around Nashville caused last week. One of the casualties in this flood was the church building Awaken church uses. It was covered in about 8ft of water for a few days, and they are not sure how long it will be before the’re able to move back in, if ever.

One of the many ways you can help is by buying one these cool shirts. Kevin, who is a prolific graphic designer, made these so people who want to give to the rebuilding project could have a tangible and heart felt thank you.

If you are in the center of the venn diagram that is defined by having; $20, 2 minutes of free time, and the desire to help a new church continue spread the gospel in Clarksville TN. Then click the image above.

Thanks.