Skit Guys

I've been a long-time fan of a comedy duo called The Skit Guys.  They're a couple of youth ministry people that are quite entertaining. 

And they're trying to win the Doritos contest to be featured in the Doritos Superbowl Commercial or something like that.  These links take you to their videos.  I like the penguin one better.

http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/5586

http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/video/4855

Check it out!

Doug

FREE!!! IT'S FREE!

Just because it's free....

So, I'm sitting here, trying to simplify my digital organization scheme. Why? Well, let's inventory what I have had, and some of it I still have:

3 Separate Google accounts: 1 straight-up, 2 domain/Google Apps.

Between them, these are connected to: 6 email addresses (not counting that I'm the domain admin for the 2 Apps accounts, and so I get any non-addressed email to those domains); 13 blogs; 7 Google calendars; 1 Google Voice account; 3 Google Docs accounts; and a Google gears app on my computer that I don't know what it does.

I also have Facebook account that is the admin on both a fan page and an organization page for the church plus a group page for ministers in Drew county.

I am the only one that does anything with the church website, which is free, and has a blog, calendar, and all sorts of other stuff, and it's great, but it doesn't link to anything else.

Plus I need all of this to sync back to my laptop, my Blackberry, the desk computer at home, some of it to the church desktop, and all the websites really need to communicate.

And it's not working. So I'm deleting 60% of it. Why do I even have it in the first place? Simple: it was free! Well, the domain registrations were $20 a piece for 2 years, but the rest is free!!!! And shouldn't we take advantage of free? I mean, really, what's it going to hurt?

Oh, I also review books so I can get them free. I've done them for Zondervan, Thomas Nelson (I still owe you guys on David Jeremiah's Living with Confidence! It's a great book! My chaotic world has kept me from reviewing. I'll get it, Mr. Hyatt, I promise!!), WaterBrook/Multnomah, and somebody else (I'm not even sure who!!). Point taken.

I'm a bit of an abuser of free, apparently. There's so much free available that I'll use it all, whether I need it or not. And that's not exactly a good thing. It shows a selfishness that we don't need any more of in our nation and culture. We certainly don't need it in our churches. We've become increasingly hooked on free.

We treat the free as if, since it's free to us, the price doesn't have to be paid somewhere. Guess what? Someone's buying the bandwidth at Google and Facebook. The paper and ink aren't free for review copies. That potluck you get to eat Sunday, someone cooked it, prepped it, planned it, and made it happen. The freedom we have to be thankful for this November? That forgiveness of sins, guess what, that grace? Yeah, it's free. For you.

Let's stop abusing free. Take what you need, but do your best to need less. It's not that Google's going to run out of bits or that God will exhaust His graciousness, but really, just because it's free to you doesn't mean you need to take all you can.

And yes, I just put those two together, because how we handle trivial things like billion dollar companies impacts how we handle stuff that matters, like our relationship with the Almighty God of the universe.

Doug

November 17 Hour of Prayer Guideline

Calvary Baptist Church Prayer Hour:

1. Prayer for ourselves:

   1. That we stand rightly before God:

      1. 19Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Heb 10:19-22 (NASB)

2. Do we have unconfessed sin?

3. Are we harboring any resentment toward others?

4. Do we covet what others have?

5. Are we focused on God and not on the things we are doing for Him or what we are 'giving up' for Him by taking time to pray?

1. 1. That we open our hearts to Him, acknowledging our dependence on Him

2. Prayer for our families

   1. That our homes will be places of worship

   2. That our homes will be places of prayer

   3. That our homes will be places of discipleship

   4. That our homes will be places of outreach

3. Prayer for Calvary Baptist Church

   1. That this will be a house of prayer

   2. That this will be a church committed to the truth

   3. That this will be a church committed to reaching Monticello

   4. That this will be a church committed to reaching the world

   5. That we will engage all ages with God's truth

4. Prayer for Monticello, Arkansas and Drew County

   1. That all churches will focus on what matters: The Gospel of Jesus Christ

   2. That our communities will turn to Christ

5. Prayer for our nation:

   1. That the Gospel will be preached by all churches

   2. That our hearts will turn to God

6. Prayer for our world:

   1. That our fellow believers will be comforted in their suffering

   2. That our fellow believers will be bold in witness to Christ

   3. That we will work together to spread the Gospel to all people

What's going on here?

Okay, this isn't really a blog post, but a quick posting of where we are as a church.  I'd challenge any of you who are followers of Jesus to consider the situation, though.  Are you willing to give an hour of prayer for your church?

Dear Members of Calvary Baptist Church,

As we approach another season of Thanksgiving, it is easy to find the many things we have to be thankful for: God has been faithful through this past year; we continue to enjoy the freedom to worship Him, and we have seen some souls saved in the past 12 months. 

Yet we can also find many causes for concern.  First, people in Monticello and around the world step into eternity through death, and many go to eternal judgment.  Second, while we see a core of faithful members, Calvary Baptist Church does not draw in many new members. Finally, we can easily see that the moral, ethical, and financial      problems of our country have affected Monticello, and some of those challenges also challenge this church.

What can we do about it?  The answer is the same as it was for the disciples after the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must pray and seek His power.  Not in passing, not lightly, but crying out to God from the desperation

of our hearts.  From our desperation that people

not go to Hell.  From our desperation that our children

not falter from following Christ.  From our desperation that we, as a church of the Living God, not fail to

accomplish His purposes.

As your pastor, I am calling you to prayer.  Not because I don’t think you pray on your own.  Not because God does not hear your prayers when you pray alone.

Instead, it is because I believe we must come together to confess our need for Him.  We must come together to

demonstrate that nothing has a greater hold on us than

our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m calling on all of you who are physically able and not home-bound by young children to join me on Tuesday nights at 8 PM to pray.  Every Tuesday night, in the church sanctuary, we will gather with whomever will come to pray that our Heavenly Father will turn the tide of our hearts, of this church, of this city, and of this world.

If you are stuck-at-home on Tuesday nights, I issue the same call.  If you are willing to commit that hour, but can’t leave the house, write your name and phone number on this sheet and give it to me.  I’ll connect you with a prayer partner so that you can call and encourage each other in prayer on Tuesday nights.

It’s one hour.  It can be done, and it will move us to become the people God has called us to be.  The question is simply one of your willingness.

I’ll see you Tuesday night at 8.

Bro. Doug