The day started off with a normal Sunday morning service. I got to sit with my family, which is odd and unfamiliar because I usually run the sound board. So, I got to participate in worship with my family, and it was good. Then my grandfather, whom is also my pastor, called me forward to have the church pray for me. This took my mind off of leaving, and it got me thinking about a million other things. At the end of service the emotions began to kick in a bit. I realized that it really was my last Sunday. It was a strange feeling.

Then I attended the last youth service before I move, and it was even more emotionally rendering. I have really developed great relationships with many from our youth group, and it brought a very sad feeling to realize that I will be moving away from them all. But, I got to speak my heart out to the for about ten minutes. I told them of my passion for God and how I wished it would be contagious towards them.

These two services have gotten me thinking of how important it is to really care about the people around you. I’m not sure how this applies to anything, but I realized today how much certain people mean to me, and I will have to make it a priority to continue to have relationships with these people, even though it will be long distance.

I plan on keeping my blog very updated. I will be writing about all that I do, and I will begin to video blog, since I got a great little camera for Christmas. I am truly excited about going, and I do hope that I will keep in touch even more so than I think I will.

 
Pope Benedict was accused of stoking homophobia today after a speech in which he declared that saving humanity from homosexuality was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. Read on for more of what the Pope said and what his predecessor John Paul II also had to say on the matter.

Pope Benedict on homosexuality -Times Online .

Earlier this week I had a conversation with a good friend who decided she may want to attend a different church. Through this conversation I found out that a strong reason to this was the fact that our church is truley lacking people in the young adult age range. I think that there could be some good reasoning to this, but I have to say this, if that is the only reason that you don’t feel like a church is right for you, then I don’t think that it is good enough.

I attend my church because it us a place that I come to praise Jesus. I serve there, and I truly enjoy the teaching and focus of the church. The church is not a social club. If the focus of going to church turns from praising God, finding a comfort zone in which you can socialize, then I really do think you have a larger issue than just your lack of friends.

I don’t think this issue is necessarily your salvation, but I think the issue is that you are focusing way too much on yourself and not enough on the reason you are even there. And if you are, and have always been there, with personal motives, then I would call into question your salvation.

Our church has tried multiple times to start a group that is focused on the young adults, but everytime they turn into a social club. People often say they want to study the bible with others, but I have honestly never seen it happen.

So really, if you find yourself wantig to switch your church because you don’t have enough friends wantig to do what you do, maybe it’s because that really isn’t what you do want to do… Any one have an opinion? I’d like to hear it.

Ice Breaker from Last Night

This last Sunday, September 14, 2008, I got the opportunity to speak to my churches youth and young adults about God’s grace. I wanted to speak about Grace, because I have learned of how great it is, and I wanted to share that with anyone who wanted to further their walk with Christ.

Through Grace I have gotten a much more complete understanding of who God really is. Romans 6:23 tells us that, “the wages of sin is death…” and even though Romans 3:23 says that, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” God still lets us live. He continues to poor out blessings on us every day, and he even, as Jesus Christ, died on the cross to forgive us of our sins.

I have attached the audio from last night. I hope that through it you can come to a greater and more realistic understanding of your salvation and who God is. I also have included a video I used from Mars Hill Church’s media library on John Newton.

Through studying this I obviously needed to use some books to help me out. So my first book I used as a reference was Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. Grudem has several chapters that really help you undersand God’s grace. As a second point of reference I used a book which I haven’t even finished. It is a biography on John Newton, and it is called John Newton: From Grace to Disgrace written by Jonathan Aitken. And lastly, I used a quote from the great book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller.

Enjoy!

To download or listen to the audio from my sermon on God’s Grace click the following link: God’s Grace presented by Joey Francis

I had my fill of both of the above, although the highlight, yeah right, was shoveling some dirt out of a dumpster into the back of a dump truck. That was pretty much horrible, but whatever it takes. After all, it’s all for Jesus, and it I will do whatever I can to see this building open up as soon as possible!

Gabriel and Ken	Pat Laying Carpet
The Carpet Coming Along	Lunch!
Tony and I Doctoring the Dumpster	Getting in the Dumpster
Carpet Crew