Dec
14
I Have a Man-Crush
Posted in: GeneralOn Brandon Boyd. Video below.
Dec
13
New Website for Harmony Greenville
Posted in: Church TechA little more useful and functional: able to be updated, coming events functionality soon, and a little ‘cleaner’ than the old site. Check it out here: HarmonyGreenville.Com, let us know what you think!
Dec
13
Huge News Coming In January
Posted in: General, Church Planting, Harmony ChurchWe had our location confirmed yesterday via email. I’m not going to reveal the exact spot just yet, but here’s clue #2 (clue #1 was in our newsletter - visit harmonygreenville.com to subscribe): it’s “the G-vegas home for live music”.So why not reveal it yet? Two major reasons, and a couple minor: First, our people don’t know yet. They find out before the internet does. Second, the details are still being worked out (will be in stone soon after the New Year break). Third, there’s no need to reveal it yet. Our first public meeting isn’t until the 27th. Fourth, still working out the ‘marketing’ side of things. Can’t wait to share it.
Dec
13
I Hope This Offends You
Posted in: General, Teaching, CultureDisclaimer: This doesn’t apply to everyone. If you agree, it doesn’t apply to you. If you disagree or are offended, take notes. 
Upon discovering that I’m a Christian, I often find it that people will try to offend me, by saying one thing or another. Then I look around, and see why. Offended Christians are hilarious. The recent movie, The Golden Compass, has a lot of believers in an uproar. I know a couple of years ago, The Da Vinci Code really bothered people. I also know that the Gospel of Judas ’scandal’ last year got under someone’s skin. I keep waiting for aliens to land and people to get all bothered about that too. Or ghosts to be proven. Or ‘old-earth’ to be proven. Or species evolution. (By the way, the Gospel allows for all of the above.) So why do I find it funny that people get offended at things as the above? Because that makes them instant hypocrites.
News Flash: If you affirm the Gospel, you believe the most offensive message ever to be heard on earth.
Don’t believe me? Check Romans 9:33 out. It quotes Isaiah, who is delivering the message of God:
Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.
The rock of offense is a Him. It’s Jesus. Jesus, who He is and what He did, is the most offensive message on Earth. The cross is not light. It’s extremely heavy. If you haven’t looked at what you believe, here you go:
If you affirm the Gospel, you believe that the all-powerful, infinite, all-creative God came to earth as a pathetic infant in the middle of nowhere (Fountain,NC)…without any sexual intercourse involved. You believe that the magnificent, beautiful God-baby lived for 30 years without a single blip on the radar….as a carpenter. You believe that this Carpenter went underwater, came up, and had a bird land on His shoulder, which signified Him being an instant minister. You affirm that God, at this moment, spoke aloud that this carpenter God-Baby was actually His son. More than that, this former Carpenter had the power to heal people and the wisdom to teach like no one before Him. You believe that the Bob-Vila-God-Man came to earth for one purpose: to die and raise Himself from the dead. He was nailed to a cross…for the sins of the world. This woodworking virgin-born God came to save, redeem, and restore the world: past, present, and future; human and natural. Without believing in the Cross and the Woodworker, one will be tortured forever. And if that’s not weird enough…the Woodworker rose from the dead after three days of being dead. And then He ascended into Heaven…Star-Trek style.
Now that’s offensive. And I believe every word and nuance of it. If you’re a Christian, remember what you believe. If you’re not a Christ-follower,go ahead…try to offend me. And good luck. But then, let me tell you a story…
Dec
12
Thoughts from The Reformed Pastor
Posted in: GeneralJust finished up The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter. I’ve really been pouring into over the past couple of weeks, and it has rocked my world. I’m going to read it again early next year. Here’s two main thoughts I brought out of it (I’ve already blogged about them, but it’s worth re-posting):
- The purpose of ministry: We are seeking to uphold the world, to save it from the curse of God, to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ’s death, to save ourselves and others from damnation, to overcome the devil, and demolish his Kingdom, to set up the Kingdom of Christ, and to attain and help others to the Kingdom of Glory. This is amazing to think about, and once we realize what we are really doing, our actions will no longer be mundane, but will take on true meaning, and we will, as Baxter points out, endure and not be lazy in our works.
- The necessity of repentance and passion: I am confident, brethren, that none of you do judgment approve of the libertine doctrine, that crieth down the necessity of confession, contrition, and humiliation, yea, and in order to the pardon of sin! Is it not a pity, then, that our hearts our not as orthodox as our heads?…..It is a sad thing that so many of us preach our hearers asleep; but it is sadder still, if we have studied and preached ourselves asleep, and have talked so long against hardness of heart, till our own has grown hardened under the noise of our own reproofs. Wow! That’s great stuff: let us not fall into the very hardening of the heart that we preach against.
Good stuff from the dead white guy.
Derek Brown
I'm a Christian/husband/church planter in Greenville, NC. I love my King, my wife, and my church (in that order). This blog is my place to put thoughts, encouragements, things that depress me, and an all-around mental dump-off for me. Hope you enjoy it...