Would you buy your son a stack of pornographic magazines?

How did this happen??

This is terrible but I can't resist posting this...someone forwarded this to me via email and most of the time I hate emails that have be endlessly forwarded but this one cracked me up!

Have you ever slapped your forehead and asked yourself, “Just how did this happen?”

Kayla Grace Earls

Born on May 17, 2010 at 4:18am. 6.157 pounds ~ 18 inches tall. After trying for over seven years to get pregnant God chose to bless us with a beautiful little girl for which we are extremely grateful to Him! What may seem to be impossible to man is possible with God!!

Apparently he was unaware of Calvinist doctrine...

I'm studying for a sermon for Sunday and reading some of the early church leaders letters. I was just reading a letter from Ignatius to Polycarp and came across this admonition from Ignatius to Polycarp:

I exhort thee in the grace wherewith thou art clothed to press forward in thy course and to exhort all men that they may be saved. (emphasis mine)

I couldn't help but think that apparently Ignatius was unaware of the Calvinist doctrine that only some men can be saved because only some people are part of God's elect. If only he would have had John MacArthur and John Piper around to straighten him out...

Merger?

I've been reading with interest Ken Schenck's posts this week about the possibility of "The Great Merger of Wesleyanism." According to Schenck a recent report of the meeting of the General Board of Administration of The Wesleyan Church included the following:

Approved a resolution authorizing the Board of General Superintendents to pursue further discussions with other like-minded holiness denominations regarding the possibility of creating a new holiness denomination for the 21st century.

Schenck has now written three posts about this possible merger (you can read them here, here, and here). What really got my attention this morning was what Schenck wrote in his third post:

This is my third post in relation to recent decisions of the General Board of Administration 1) to explore connection/merger with groups like the Nazarenes, Free Methodists, CCCU, Bible Methodists, etc... and 2) to peal off two general superintendents in preparation for such mergers/connections and to streamline for our own effectiveness in the meantime

He mentions Bible Methodists as a group with whom the Wesleyan General Board of Administration is exploring the possibilities of a connection/merger with. I wonder if there is any possibility of this ever happening? I was shocked to even see us mentioned in the list of possibilities to be honest...

If you are a Bible Methodist would you be in support of this or opposed to it? Obviously, without such an actual proposal being made it's hard to make such a call. Although knowing our history and how we separated from them in the first place I would have serious doubts of a reconnection ever happening. Perhaps if it was in name only (more or less) and we who are Bible Methodists were able to keep our own "convictions"...?

As part of the conservative holiness movement I wonder if we who are part of the CHM should consider a similar merger within our movement of all of our groups under one name...although the possibilities of this ever happening is probably just as slim as the Bible Methodist's joining the merger Schenck writes about. I'm afraid that within the CHM we probably have too many differing and strong views about non-essential issues to ever be willing to merge together. Sadly in some places non-essentials have become essentials...Not to mention the fact that within the CHM the very word "merger" leaves a bad taste in many of our people's mouths - if I'm not mistaken merger is a synonym for compromise, sin, and apostasy. ;-)

Here are the reasons Schenck gives for why groups like the Nazarenes, Free Methodists, CCCU, Bible Methodists should merge (he breaks these reasons down further here):
1. It would be silly not to!
2. Principle of Unity
3. Easier to Fix Things
4. Pooling of resources

So, what do you think? Should the Bible Methodist's consider such a merger with the Wesleyan's, Nazarenes, etc? Should the CHM consider such a merger within our own groups? Feel free to comment and share what you think....

Sunday morning at your local mega-church

If you have ever watched or attended most contemporary church services you will understand why this video is so funny and true because it describes most of them to the "T"!

Tag-Along Tuesday Thursday

So I'm a little behind this week...

Here's some links you might find interesting:

• The "Seeking Disciple" has some great thoughts on "Evangelism, Cults, and the Seeker Movement" over at the Arminian Today

• 7 Thoughts on Reading the Bible by J.C. Ryle

• A sad article about preachers who don't believe what the preach..."One pastor, a Methodist, said he no longer believes that God exists, but his church members do not know that he is an atheist. Most of them, he said, don't even believe Jesus literally rose from the dead or literally was born of a virgin...."

• Thom Rainer shares "Seven Characteristics of Highly Evangelistic Christians. God help me!

• Ed Stetzer talks about "Apostolic Harvest" Church Planting. I'm thinking on this one...

• Joe McKeever offers some thoughts on shepherding the stagnant flock

• And for a flash back to days gone by you can go play Super Mario Crossover :-)

If you live in Indiana...

...you need to vote for Don Bates Jr. I know him personally - he's a great conservative Christian man and would make a tremendous United States Senator!