Advent simply means coming.  Before the birth of Christ people were waiting expectantly for the coming of the Messiah.  Similarly today we are waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ to go home to be with our Father God in Heaven for eternity.  Celebrating Advent is a joy because it reminds us of the gospel of Jesus Christ in that he came to this earth, humbling himself to the point of death on the cross (Philippians 2), rose from the grave, ascended to Heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.  Jesus will come back one day and we look forward to that with anticipation.

Celebrating Advent is a great way to have a family devotion or time of family worship. It is something where all members of the family can be involved from reading the Scripture for that day, singing Christmas carols, or getting something out of the Advent calendar.

There are many places you can find a schedule of Scriptures that correspond with the days leading up to Christmas and you can adapt the amount of Scripture you wish to read.  For example if you have young children with short attention spans you may only want to read 1-2 verses or passages to keep it shorter.

I cannot lead

If I will not follow.

I dare not command,

When I have not obeyed.

Self-will is only

A sacred oath made hollow.

Disobedience is only

A trust mislaid.

“‘Follow Me, And I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.”

Matthew 4:19-20

There are many answers that I came up with to the question “What is Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret?” Answers like he is a man of great faith, he obeyed God no matter what the call was, he was a great man of prayer, he believed wholeheartedly that God would provide if you obeyed his call.  All of these things are true of this great missionary to China.

Hudson Taylor’s secret is that God was first in his life.  God was first before the work, the needs of China, before his wife and kids, before his own experiences.  Because God was first in his life he was a great prayer warrior and had great faith and lived in complete obedience to God.

So yes, you are correct, there is nothing new about his ‘secret.’ We are all to put God first, completely first, in our lives and when we put Him first He changes us into servants of others, placing also others before ourselves.  Hudson Taylors life exemplifies these truths.

I strongly recommend reading Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor!

I was given the opportunity to review the newest album from The Good Shepherd Band, called Repeat the Sounding Joy Volume I.

The band is led by Jody Killingsworth who serves as Assistant Pastor for Music and Worship at ClearNote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. For the album, the band is joined by adult and children’s choirs and an orchestra of musicians from the Indiana Jacobs School of Music.

Every December the band holds a special evening service called the Good Shepherd Band Christmas Sing-A-Long. At this sing-a-long they put a contemporary spin on the traditional carols and Christmas songs. This Christmas album is the result of these services.

In 2009 I had the opportunity to meet The Good Shepherd Band when they came to lead worship and put on a concert at the first Feeding Shepherds Conference I hosted for youth pastors at Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary.  They are a wonderful group of guys who have a enormous passion for God.  That passion is heard and felt in all of their music.

I have thoroughly enjoyed their first two albums and their new Christmas album has not disappointed either.

Repeat the Sounding Joy is fun and exciting! They use a variety of instruments to add uniqueness to the songs.  What is so great about these songs is that they are not just fun, but they are also filled with Scripture and truths about Jesus Christ.

You will want to be listening to this album all during this Christmas season and many more! You can head over to their website to download it and check out their music video below.

I will say that I do appreciate my pastor.   I have been able to learn so much from him in just the 2 short years I have known him.  I am thankful for his leadership at RWC and his leadership in teaching me how to do ministry. His friendship is highly valuable to me. So thanks Pastor Marty for all that you do!

By the way, he is not short and he is a good preacher, teacher, leader, and pastor.

I can remember when I got my first cell phone.  I was almost 17 and got it because I was starting to drive and my parents wanted there to be a way for me to call them or get help if I needed it.  It was a simple phone.Phones aren’t so simple anymore.  Most people are walking around with phones that have screens and technology that allow you to watch t.v., videos, and other forms of media.

We look at a lot of screens today, mostly t.v. screens.  The American Academy of Pediatrics is meeting this week in Boston and one of their concerns is the amount of time children and teenagers are spending in front of screens.

The AAP  is now advising parents to restrict their young children and teenagers to less t.v.  Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,  wrote about this on his blog today, which you can read here.

As Christians we must be concerned about this. We must take note when groups, like the AAP, tell us to watch how much time we spend in front of the t.v. and how much time children and teenagers spend in front of the t.v.

Mohler says, “We must prepare our children and teenagers for life in a world filled with screens, and this will be no easy task. But it starts with parents exercising control and preventing the alarming levels of screen exposure this research reveals. This means that Christian parents must be concerned, not just with what content children are watching, but how much exposure they really experience.”

Like I said earlier, I am a fan of technology and I do like to watch t.v., especially sports, but there does need to be a limit on how much I watch.  Kids and teenagers need time with their parents more than a t.v.  There are also dangers that we must be aware of in the kinds of shows children and teenagers are allowed to watch, if they have their own t.v. in their rooms, and other things.

I was hoping to get comments from parents on this issue. So what do you think parents?  Ban the t.v. and technology or limit the use of it?  T.V. in the rooms of teenagers?  In your opinion how much time is good for children and teenagers to spend watching t.v.? Other thoughts?

Braxton Hunter, Evangelist and Apologist with Trinity Crusades for Christ, the ministry arm of Trinity College and Seminary, was our speaker.  He spoke on the theme of “How to Train your Youth to Defend their Faith.”  Braxton did an excellent job. In the first session he spoke on the story of Stephen in Acts 6, encouraging the youth leaders in the room to choose to defend the faith when they are faced with that very challenge and to teach the youth in their churches to do the same thing.  In the second session Braxton gave helpful resources to the youth leaders and some obstacles that we probably will run into when defending our faith.  I was extremely pleased with the turnout and the quality of the content that was presented at the conference.

I have three goals for these Feeding Shepherds Conferences:

1. To provide an opportunity for local youth pastors to receive quality training that is relevant to their ministry for free.
2. To provide an opportunity for local youth pastors to be encouraged and supported in their ministries.
3. To provide an opportunity for networking and relationship building to take place with youth pastors in the area.

I am happy to report that all three of these goals were accomplished at this year’s conference!  It was great to see networking between the youth pastors in attendance taking place and to hear them encouraging each other in their ministries.  Braxton did a great job encouraging them, challenging them to lead the way in defending the faith, and providing the youth pastors in attendance with helpful resources to do so.  I am thankful to all the youth pastors who gave up their Saturday morning to come out for the training event!  I am also extremely thankful for Braxton Hunter being able to be there and doing such an excellent job as the conference speaker this year!

The audio from the sessions Braxton spoke in are available for you to listen to and download here via the Trinity Crusades Radio Program:

Feeding Shepherds Conference 2011 – Session #1

Feeding Shepherds Conference 2011 – Session #2

This blog will be kept fresh and updated fairly regular but the best way to stay connected to things going on is on Twitter. You can follow me here.

You may have also noticed a change in the blog layout.  Han has a new blog where she will be posting things related to our family and her sewing business, Han Made Things.  You can also follow her on Twitter.

I am excited about this year’s theme.  Braxton Hunter will be leading in 2 sessions and teaching myself and other youth pastors on the importance of teaching youth to defend their faith.  One of the things I enjoy most is getting to network with local youth pastors and build relationships with them.

I love to read. I love books of all kinds; old books, new books, fiction, poetry, theology, books that provide practical help, the Bible, audio books, and paper books I can hold in my hand.  I love the smell of the pages as you flip through them and the exciting feeling that comes with opening a package from Amazon in the mail that has a new book in it.  I like  old books from great authors sitting on my shelf and new books from new authors.  One of my favorite activities is to sit down with a nice fresh brewed cup of coffee and read a good book.

I am thankful that my parents instilled in me from early on in my life the importance of reading.  But a lot of people don’t see the value in reading, or if they do, maybe they don’t see the value in reading a wide variety of genres.

Tony Reinke has a new book out called “Lit!” where he gives practical advice on reading and also shares the importance of reading and how reading is directly connected to the gospel. I have not read the book yet but I want to.  It is ironic that there are book out there that you can read on how to read.

Check out this video of Justin Taylor asking Tony some questions about the importance of reading.  The video is kind of long, equaling about 10 minutes, but it is well worth it.  One of my favorite parts in the video is at about the 9 minute mark where Tony explains how reading is directly connected to the gospel.

I hope you will take the time to read books of different genres.  If you want recommendations on good books to read from different genres let me know.

Parents I hope you will encourage your kids to read.  Kids, I know that reading seems un-fun most of the time but it is so important. The most important thing to spend time reading is your Bible.  After you do that don’t stop reading for the day. Pick up a good book that teaches Scripture or how to live out Scripture, or maybe a good work of fiction, or yes, maybe, even some poetry.