For many years now, I must admit, there has been a secret I have kept.  It is a secret that could ruin my reputation.  This morning I admit that I watch Barney.  To clarify, it is not Barney Fife that I am talking about (although that is one of my favorite shows).  It is Barney, the big purple dinosaur.  Okay, I have that off my chest now and I hope you do not think less of me, but as parents we MUST do certain things we do not necessarily like.

We watched a little Barney with Josh, but Hannah simply adores the Big Purple Dinosaur.  She watches him, does the hand motions to the songs and tries to sing-along.  It is cute,  but it is Barney.  Sometimes I go to bed with the songs in  my head.  “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family, and a hug for you and a kiss from me to you, won’t you say you love me too.”

Now let’s look at the heart of this confession.  Since our children are 12 years apart, we have watched the evolution of Barney.  We watched him when he first came out, 10 to 12 years ago and we see a difference.  The dinosaur is the same, but the show has changed with the times.  The songs are different, the movie set is different, and there are  even some new characters.  He even has a cool interactive website.  They have changed with the times for the better.  Barney still sings the same I love you song but the rest of the show is fresh. 

If the children’s movie industry understands change, why doesn’t the church?  We don’t change our message, but we might need to change our methods to reach people.  The church needs a fresh approach to communicating the greatest message ever written.  We need the evolution of the church.  Now, I believe that evolution needs to resemble the characteristics of the early church, however, we need to be effective in the 21st century.  People have different needs today, how can we address them?  Some need more fellowship, others desire more teaching, yet others are needing specific ministries that will minister to their needs.  Our children’s and youth ministries need to be able to reach an IPOD and video game generation with the timeless message of Christ. 

What can we do in our church to address the needs of this generation?  How can we be more effective today?

Tropical Storm Edouard blew through yesterday and it was quite uneventful for us.  There was minimal area damage and even the rainfall was not the norm for a Tropical Storm.  We rested most of the day and then headed to Houston to pick up Hannah from her MiMi’s.

Our prayers are still with those who received damage from Edouard.  Don’t forget Bible study tonight.  We continue our look at the Sermon on the Mount.

Tropical Storm Edouard is passing through this morning.  The wind is blowing, the rain is falling and at times, the house creaks.  The beauty of this is that it is the perfect sleeping weather.  When a storm comes through our area, it entitles most of us to a free day off.  So today we do nothing but watch the rain.

What a crazy weekend!  Last night some powerful thunderstorms moved through right before church and knocked the power out in half the building. (I don’t know how it went out in half the building. But I am sitting in the dark and still able to plug in my computer)  We had an abbreviated service last night and went home to find out, from the news, that we are in a hurricane warning. 

It seems Tropical Storm Eduardo is headed for the Texas Coast.  They are predicting that it become a Category 1 Hurricane by morning.  When you live on the coast it seems inevitable, but who really likes the prediction of these storms.  Last year, we went to sleep with Tropical Storm Humberto, which was a low-grade TS, and we woke up with a Hurricane.  In 2005, we were hit head-on with Hurricane Rita which did immense damage to our area.  I feel like I might be bad luck for this area:)  They didn’t have a hurricane for the fifty years before I moved here.

Storms along the coast are a part of living on the coast.  Storms in the life of the believer are inevitable also.  Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we are exempt from hard times.  Life is sometimes hard and there are seasons in our life where it feels like the storms are brewing.  We have to bat down the hatches and endure the storms of life with the help of our Lord. 

When the storm winds blow in our lives, we have to rely and trust in the Lord.  We must place our hope and confidence in Him.  He has endured every storm imaginable to man.  The Bible says that He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities.  He was in all points tempted like we are.  Jesus understands when the storms brew in our lives and He challenges us to cast our cares upon Him for He cares for us.  Cast your cares on Him, He is able to sustain you.

P.S. Pray for the Texas/Louisiana coastal communities.

This morning as I walked into the back door of the church, I was greeted by someones vandalism.  What a way to start off Sunday Morning.  Sunday mornings are pretty jam packed already, there is not much time to erase someone’s idea of a practical joke.

As you can see someone thought it was a great way to spend Saturday night by painting the back door of our church.  There were two paintings; I covered up the vulgar one. 

I often wonder what goes through someone’s mind when it comes to desecratng a house of worship.  I was irritated but I was also saddened to know that the person who committed this was a sinner.  It is more than painting a church door, it is a person who is not right with God and if their life does not change, they will spend eternity separated from God.

Pray with me that whoever did this will feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and turn their heart to Christ.

I have been thinking lately on what the most effective method of church growth is.  The church world today has so many different “techniques” for building our church.  There are books that give us play by play action that will help us be the next Lakewood in less than 30 days.  Now I am being a little sarcastic but there is no shortage of methods for rapid growth. 

As I was thinking on this important subject, my mind has not changed to what I believe is the greatest of all ways for church growth.  One on One evangelism.  In this day of thinking bigger events bring bigger results, we have lost sight of the number one biblical method of church growth.  People inviting others to come to church.  People evangelizing those in their sphere of influence.  We have lost sight of this.

Big events generally garner a 1-3% return, but the church could double within a year if everyone just brought one person.  Imagine what the church could like like in a matter of 5 years.

Now let me share with you the sad truth.  Statistics show that we fail in this area.  It is said that 85% of Christians never invite anyone to church.  95% have never led anyone to Christ.  With statistics like these, we are in trouble.  Only 5% of Christians have led someone to Christ, and only 15% have invited someone to church.  This is a pity considering that this world is full of people destined for Eternal Hell.

There is the old saying, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk”  We should be saying, “Friends don’t let friends go to Hell.”  Let’s make a renewed effort to bring our friends and family to church.  Invite someone!  Also, ask God to give you opportunity to share your faith with others.  Who knows people might respond!

It has been one of those weeks this week.  I have been experiencing Sermon Block.  Writers have Writer’s Block so I guess preachers have something similar.  All week I have been toiling with my Sunday Morning message.  I would start.  Change it.  Start over. Throw it in the trash.  Pray.  Start over. Finally, I decided to preach on a different subject.  Then it began to come a little easier. 

Some weeks my brain works creatively.  Sermons just flow but other weeks it seems that I get stuck.  When I am in a series, I usually have at least one sermon out of the group that I just can’t get down.  I know what I am going to preach about, but I just can’t get it on paper.  I always skip that week’s sermon and come back to it.

I have often wondered if other preachers struggle with this.  Maybe you do not need to write your sermons, maybe you can just “wing” it.  But not Danny Cheney.  I like to write out my thoughts and try to memorize them.  I am just not gifted to go to the pulpit with Bible in hand and expect God to give it to me there.  I ask God to give it to me during the week so that I won’t be a nervous wreck on Sunday.

To my readers that are preachers, “What do you do to get through sermon block?  Are you a “wing it” kind of preacher or do you like to write out at least a portion of your sermon?  I would love to here from you (clik on the comments link below)

This morning I was changing out the memory card for my Blackberry Curve and I made a mistake.  If there is anything that proves the ignorance of simple people like me, it is technology.  I was upgrading from 1GB to 2GB so I was transferring my files to the other one.  It was to be an easy operation:)  I was going to cut and paste the pictures from one to the other.  Simple enough!

When I hit the cut button, on some priceless photos I had on my phone, it asked me if I wanted to delete them. Cutting is like deleting but you can paste it later to another file.  I hit yes to delete and it really deleted them.  For a moment I thought about getting mad at Bill Gates for creating these computers but then I remembered that Bill asked me if I wanted to actually delete them.  I told him yes and he deleted them.  Now I do not have the priceless photo of Hannah I wanted to show you this morning (this other picture will have to do).

There are alot of things in life that we would like to delete.  Bad memories, hardships we have endured, sins we have committed and the pain that we feel.  If it was only as simple as hitting a delete button.

The truth is, however, that God has a delete button to cover your sins.  When our sins are bought by the blood, Jesus asks do you want to delete permanently and God says yes.  As far as the east is from the west so far has your sins been removed.  Our bad memories and pains of the past are there to help us grow in life but there is a delete button that will take away heart-brokenness that you have felt.  The Psalmist said God binds up the broken hearted.

Next time, there is something you need to delete, ask God to take it away and He will perform a delete operation in your life.