Grace was said before the barbeque was served at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair | Photo from the Library of Congress
I’ve been following @ScottyWardSmith for some time on Twitter now and have enjoyed his thought provoking tweets.
He describes himself as: Pastor for Preaching and Worship at Christ Community Church. Husband, dad, granddad, big sinner with a bigger gospel, fisher of men and fish, photographer
As of the last month or so, he’s begun tweeting a really interesting “series” of tweets that offer “signs you’re growing in grace.”
I don’t remember exactly when Scott started sharing these, but I went back through the archives to Feb. 26th and found a lot of great nuggets – many I had missed the first time around. Continue reading Signs your growing in grace
I shared this over on Simplechurchipedia.com and thought it was worthy of a share here as well.
What comes to mind when you watch it?
I don’t like the statement, “I am not a pastor – but I am a minister” as someone puts it in the video… I know what they’re referring to – but personally I prefer to see them one in the same.
And prefer to believe that we’re all pastors and ministers to our spheres of influence.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all believers saw themselves as “Priests in the hood” who were actually living this out — being the Body of Christ to their sphere of influence?
Laurie and I have had a number of great vacations over the past 4 years – and I think we’re both looking forward to many more with (and maybe without) our two boys.
Just for kicks, I found a cool tutorial the other day that simulated the “toy-photography” (aka tilt-shift) niche via Photoshop and thought I’d create some “mini-vacations” for you to enjoy. Continue reading Mini-vacations
But as I’m reading and thinking and chewing I keep coming back to the question they asked Jesus.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
The wanted the insight, the inside scoop. They wanted a check list of things to follow and do to be sure they spent eternity on streets of gold instead of the fires of Gehenna.
And some days I wish Jesus had said, “You need to do this, this, this and this. And then if you can do all that, do this, this, this and that.”
Because check lists are easy. We can have a goal and a target. And they make things like knowing who’s-in and who’s-out a lot easier.
But instead of a checklist, Jesus responds, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
And so I’m left wondering… What if really is that simple?
