Let My People Go 02/22/2012
 Asher Wiesenthal and Rosa Rapp were baptized in Salt Lake City, Utah. Some are calling their baptisms sacrilege and the church that baptized them is apologizing. What’s even stranger to some, is that Wiesenthal and Rapp are both Jewish and two weren’t even present for their own baptisms. In fact, they died several years ago as holocaust victims. So what’s going on? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) conducts what they call, proxy baptisms or baptism by proxy. It is an answer to the question of what happens to a person who dies before being baptized in the Mormon faith? According to Kathleen Flake, a Vanderbilt scholar who has studied the LDS faith, “Mormons believe that vicarious baptisms give the deceased, who exist in the afterlife as conscious spirits, a final chance to join the Mormon fold, and thus gain access to the Celestial Kingdom [the highest of the three heavenly kingdoms in heaven]” Flake adds that, “Mormons are encouraged to baptize at least four generations of forebears to seal the family together in the afterlife.” (The Washington Post online) Jewish leaders believe it sacrilege for the LDS Church to insist that Jews are not worthy enough to receive God’s blessing and that it would take intervention on part of the Mormons to enable a Jew to be heaven (at least the Celestial Kingdom). Michael Purdy, LDS spokesman, has voiced regret on behalf of his church stating that the names of Wiesenthal and Rapp were submitted by an individual member of the church and only names of family members should be submitted. In fact, in 1995 the Mormon church agreed to stop baptizing Jewish Holocaust victims. I myself do not follow the Mormon faith. I do not believe that I require baptism in order for my salvation. And I don’t know about the idea of being sealed together with my family in the afterlife. If I believed my salvation required baptism and I believed in baptism by proxy, I’d probably make sure a few family members’ names didn’t make the list. The holidays were bad enough. But an eternity? Someone’s name gotta come off that list. So what do you think? Would you be upset if you found out that one of your deceased relatives was baptized by proxy into a faith he/she or you didn’t believe in? Is what the Mormons did offensive or was it worthy of at least a, “thanks for thinking of us” acknowledgement? Is this worth going mad over? Add Comment The New "F" Word 04/27/2011
Dr. R. A. Vernon, founding pastor of ”The Word” Church in Akron, OH has declared a new “F” word for his church. He would like members of his congregation to go up to someone who has wronged them in some way and say “F” you. The “F” word he is talking about is Forgive. What do you think? Too edgy? Is it ok for a church pastor to be edgy? Are you entertained or offended? Sound Off! 03/25/2011
This video was uploaded to YouTube about a month ago: Here are a few quotes from the clip [with my interpretation] The noise… you are allowing to be called worship [Your music is invalid and God doesn’t like it] I’m not mad at you I’m just angry that you’re not listening to common sense. [I’m mad at you] You better watch out… [I have it in for you] [This church] think they have financial troubles now? Just wait until somebody that knows what they’re doing gets a hold of this. [I am hoping this church faces financial ruin because you are playing music I don’t like and playing it too loud.] It doesn’t have to be rock’n’roll music with quote Christian words unquote … it actually hurts the body. Why can’t you give something melodic and soft so we can come in and pray? [God doesn’t like your music. God likes my music. I think she also said Christian words hurt the body] Yes we’re praying for you but please do something about the music. I’ll give you one more week. [I’m (not we) praying that you will become less like the man God is developing you into and instead become more like me. And I’m praying my will be done in 7 days.] Thank you. [?] As a pastor, a video clip like this drives me mad. Not angry mad, but mad in the sense that I have so many emotions I don’t know what to feel. I get a knot in my stomach and I just want to hug the guy that got this voice mail. I believe I can wrap up everything I want to say with one question. If the caller understood that the purpose of worship was to reach out to a particular people and draw them in to experience the presence of God so they could be transformed and God glorified, would she have made a call like this? Jesus Does Not Have a Tail 03/14/2011
 It's either Jesus or a squirrel So I ended last week with my favorite church joke. You can read it here. I also said I would tell you later why I love it. Well, it’s later. I love that joke but it also drives me mad. I love that joke because it quite accurately represents what I’ve seen take place in churches every Sunday. That same joke drives me mad because it quite accurately represents what I’ve seen take place in churches every Sunday. Imagine if you went to school and the answer to every test question was the same? We’d all graduate with honors. (However, I am forced to believe that even some people would miss the boat and have to take summer school.) But even though the rest of us would all be graduates, we wouldn’t be very smart because we’d only know one thing. And quite frankly, knowing one word isn’t a skill that will take you a lot of places. Not even the “magic word” can get you through life. When a child assumes the answer to every question in Sunday school is “Jesus” or “God,” we’ve done something wrong. He/she hasn’t learned anything. They’ve only learned to say “Jesus” or “God.” Think about the joke. That pastor is describing something small, brown and furry with a bushy tail that climbs trees and hides nuts and a little girl thinks the answer is Jesus! Aaaarrrrghghh! When Sunday school started back in the late 1700’s it was to educate children who otherwise would not know how to read or write. The Church did a wonderful job of helping out society by providing a real education. The Bible was used as the text book so not only did children learn to read and write, they did so by reading the Bible and memorizing Scripture. They practiced their grammar skills by writing Bible verses. With the advent of public school systems, the Church was no longer needed to provide those skills. (Click here for a nice little article about the history of Sunday school.) Now we’re left with what we continue to call Sunday school but is very different from what it started out to be. Since most kids today learn how to read and write in some kind of school, be it public, private or home, what is Sunday school being used for at churches; a place to “tend” to our children for an hour a week or a place to grow and develop a child’s mind and spirit? Of course, many churches have a great education system to stimulate young children’s minds and promote their spiritual growth. But I have to admit, based on my experience growing up, my guess is there are more churches than not that unintentionally teach that Jesus has a tail and climbs trees. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t churches be taking advantage of what schools are doing? Shouldn’t kids be reading and writing about Jesus and other Biblical stories? Would it be wrong for churches to hand out homework assignments, have quizzes and a graduation system? Couldn’t those Sunday school graduates become qualified Sunday school teachers or other leaders in the Church? Do you think the Jesus/squirrel joke reflects the majority of churches today or am I the one who is nuts? Whatever your thoughts, share ‘em and tell me why. A Way, A Truth, A Life 02/25/2011
 Sometimes churches just amaze me. And by amaze I mean baffle. And by baffle I mean drive me crazy. And by drive me crazy I mean, “Hello, I’m the Mad Pastor.” I am a big believer that churches should have a mission and vision. How are you supposed to carry out your role in the Great Commission unless you’ve determined what it is? So I like to read other churches’ mission statements. Here’s a portion of one from a mainline denominational Christian church I’ve been to: “We do not presume to tell people what to think or believe. Ours is a community of free inquiry. We explore together our faith document, the Bible, and the Tradition that has been handed down to us, using our Reason along with personal Experience to determine what we believe and how we will act. There is room within this spiritual community for a wide variety of viewpoints on faith and life. Indeed, we believe that we are enriched by this variety.” Huh? I have no idea what this church believes in. Seems to me like anything goes. Believe Jesus is the Son of God and your savior? Then he is! Believe you have salvation because you did a good deed once? Bippity Bop - You’re saved! Believe you can finance your way into heaven? Good News! God accepts all denominations! (Get it? I made a funny!) As a pastor, every Sunday I stand behind the pulpit and I tell you what to think and believe. That is my job. It is your job to determine if you want to believe it. You don’t have to. I won’t make you. But that’s my job. A church without standards has nothing for which to aim. There can be no growth because there is no challenge. Anything goes. You will not have any spiritual depth because there is no standard of measurement. A healthy church cannot have “a wide variety of viewpoints on faith and life.” It needs to have one. Otherwise, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6) …unless you believe in something else. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t churches state up front what they believe and set standards and help people achieve them? Does that mean some people will disagree? Yes. But is that such a bad thing? What do you think? Gunning for Worship 02/23/2011
 You've heard of bring a friend to church day. You've heard of bring a side dish to church day. But have you ever heard of bring a gun to church day? Well now you can! The Rev. Jonathon Wilkins believes members of his church should be able to carry guns to worship in order to protect the congregation. Churches have been targets of crime ranging from cars being broken into and even shootings. In 2007 a gunman killed 4 people during a shooting spree at a mega church in Colorado. See story here. It was an armed security guard who shot and killed the suspect and saved many lives in the process. So, should congregants have the right to carry guns to church? Should they carry their guns to church? Should they shoot them in the air instead of shouting, "Amen"? And should I worry about the next time I say something in a sermon when someone packing heat disagrees with me? See story on Rev. Wilkins here. Old Time Religion 02/21/2011
As a preacher myself I like to listen to other sermons. Get a load of this one. I think it’s safe to say I’m a little less animated than this gentleman. Am I mad, or is the Gospel the same whether we whisper it or shout it? Is this kind of preaching effective? What would you do if you were invited by a friend to church and this was the message? Share a serious reaction and a funny one. What Would Jesus Eat? 02/13/2011
 What do hot dog wieners and ministry have in common? A friend of mine is an elder at his church. The board of elders was planning a church picnic. Everything sounds normal so far. That is until someone wanted to buy one particular brand of hot dog wieners and someone wanted to buy another. For ten minutes they debated on what brand to buy. My friend had to leave the meeting. Now I'm all for church picnics. Really, anything that offers food is pretty much a draw for me. And every event should be thought out and well planned. But is it possible to get too focused on the details and lose the purpose of the event ? How often have you focused so much on the details of something that you forgot the real purpose of what you are doing? Do you focus on your kids having the best and forget what they really want is to know you love them? Do you focus on looking good at work when the purpose of work is to provide for your family? Do you focus on getting an “A” at the cost of a relationship? And do we in the church focus on getting our own way only to forget to send God an invitation to the church picnic? What do hot dog wieners and ministry have in common? Nothing. You might think me mad for saying this but I think it's time we focused a little less on our wieners and a little more on the purpose of the church. Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting... 02/10/2011
 What do worship and fighting have in common? Well, apparently they are both present at Greater New Zion Baptist Church in Fletcher, NC. Turns out some people wanted their ousted pastor reinstated and some did not. Hands that were minutes earlier clasped in prayer were suddenly clenched in fists as people were giving each other a holy beat down. I wonder, did the choir keep singing? Was it like the scene in the Blues Brothers where Jake and Elwood just kept singing despite the chaos in front of them? Just a thought. Anyway.... Shouldn't we be inviting people to church instead of giving out tickets to it? Is this the way we should be acting? Now I realize that most of us don't fight in church, at least with our fists. But we do fight with our ideas. We put up walls, we shut out people we don't like, and we go to battle over ideas. How do you explain to a stranger that a fist fight broke out at your church and the cops had to come and break it up and then invite them to church? How do you invite someone to church when there aren't fistfights but battles over ministries and ideas? Am I going mad or shouldn't churches be a place to welcome the guest and honor God over all things, even when we think we have better ideas than "those people" in the other pews? For an article on Zion Baptist click here. No! Not That! 02/07/2011
 I had lunch with a group of pastors a few weeks ago. One was troubled and shared his concerns regarding another church. It seems this church's pastor quit and the congregation hired their youth director to replace him. The youth pastor made a lot of changes. One of which really seemed to concern my friend. What were the changes? The new, young pastor rearranged the stage area of the sanctuary. That wasn't the problem. He brought in new instruments and musicians. That wasn't the problem. The church was experiencing a growth spurt and new people were attending. That wasn't the problem. So what was the problem? What is the church going to do if this guy quits? That's the problem! Are you serious!? I just about passed out. The church is growing, people are coming. But we're not focused on the growth and the good work that the Holy Spirit is doing, we're focused on the time when the new pastor leaves. I suggested that if in case their new pastor moves on, the church should begin a search for a pastor of similar gifts and skills to carry out the new vision. I was told that I was simplifying it. Why are we focused on what can go wrong? Why are we afraid of success in the church? I almost suggested it would be better off for the church to hire someone without passion, drive or talent. That way the church wouldn't grow at all and there would be not problem replacing him or her when they leave. I think the church should work very hard at bringing their best for God. That means excellence in worship, music, education, the way the building looks, and the quality of staff. We are worshiping and representing God. Have I gone mad or should we not always give God our best? | 
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