Purity Celebration

This video is a special animation we created for part of our purity series we put on DVD.

Back in late September, we began a four-part series with the youth of The Fort where we taught them all about Biblical Purity. Each week had a special focus. We put all of these lessons together on DVD and presented it in a fast-paced style that was engaging and well-produced (if we do say so ourselves).

Week one's focus was purity in definition. We taught that youth what the Bible really says that purity is.

Week two's focus was purity in thought. This is where the real battle for purity is waged...in our thought life. We taught them how to take their thought life captive for Jesus.

Week three's focus was purity in dress. This is where the rubber begins to meet the road in the issue of purity. We tried to give practical steps for the youth in this issue without coming across like a Puritan. It is possible to be fashionable and still maintain purity of dress.

Week four's focus was purity in life. This was the culmination of all that we had learned and we tried to help the youth see how to practically take steps to live a life of purity. We also challenged them to be pure in all arenas of their life...even the virtual arenas of Facebook and Myspace and email and texts. Purity is for every aspect of our life.

Then after these four weeks of lessons, we held a special banquet that the ladies of the church prepared. And the leaders of the church, along with their wives, helped serve to the youth.

We had twenty-one participants in all. We had the young people dress up. And after the fancy meal (also had a few folks who spent a lot of time making the place we ate at and where we worshiped look fantastic) we then went into our auditorium for a special ceremony.

At this ceremony, each young person came forward and made a vow to live a life of purity. Here is the vow each young person took:

Acknowledging that God has made me in His image and made my body to be His temple and has graciously saved me from my sin, it is my desire to please Him.

From this day forward, I, ___________, vow before God and witnesses, in obedience to God’s Word, to keep myself chaste and pure, to give myself totally and only to the mate God is preparing for me.

May this pledge I made today, October 24, 2009, honor you, O God and bring glory to your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

After this, the parent's of the young person placed a purity ring on their finger. And then they signed a document that had the words of their vow on it (that had also been signed by me, the pastor, and the youth pastor).

I have to tell you, in all of the things I have done in ministry, this ranks in the top five coolest things I have ever done. It was truly a very special evening. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Local Elections and Rod Roberts Press Release...

This morning I attended a local preacher's meeting that was also attended by gubernatorial-hopeful, Rod Roberts. He handed me a press release that went out just this morning entitled, "Roberts Announces He Will Vote Not To Retain Three Iowa Supreme Court Justices." In this press release Roberts said, "We need to send a message to the Iowa Supreme Court that they are accountable to the people of Iowa. The problem with judicial activism is that it thwarts the will of the legislature and of the people of Iowa."

I'm proud of Rod for taking this stand. I believe him that he will do this. And I think it is in stark contrast to the front-runner, Branstad, who won't dare publicly come out against these justices because two of them he appointed to their positions on the court.

Also, tomorrow is election day for Mayoral races and city councils. Here is Des Moines, I took time to call every single person running for City Council...even for those running in Ward 1 where I can't vote for them. In every single case (except for Skip Moore), I asked the new candidates the same two questions. 1)If you had been on the council a few years back when the council voted to extend special protections for homosexuals, lesbians and transgendered individuals in the work place (even though there are already laws on the books protecting individuals from discrimination) how would you have voted? 2)What is your position on the issue of abortion?

Unfortunately, all the candidates, except for one, Halley Griess, all of the other candidates would have voted in favor of the ruling by the council AND were pro-death. Halley Griess though, stands out. He is a Christian man who seeks to do right. He believes strongly in the need for new leadership on the council.

He isn't of the same cut cloth like Christine Hensley (who should not even be called a Republican). He is willing to do what is right even when it is unpopular. If you are in Ward 1, get out tomorrow and vote for Halley Griess! He's someone we need to help get the Des Moines City Council back on track!

Appearance on Deace in the afternoon

Today I had the opportunity to appear on WHO Radio for Steve Deace's show: Deace in the afternoon. I was on from 5:00PM to 6:00PM. We discussed my meeting with former Governor Terry Branstad and my Blog Post about that meeting. HERE is a link to the Podcast of the show. Hopefully I didn't sound too dumb!

Meeting with former Governor Terry Branstad

This morning I had the opportunity to sit in a room with former Governor Terry Branstad along with about a half dozen others and learn his positions on issues. In the room with me were a couple of other pastors as well as Chuck Hurley with the Iowa Family Policy Center, Kim Lehman with the Iowa Right to Life, Jonathan Narcisse, Steve Scheffler with the Iowa Christian Alliance,and my buddy Shane Vanderhart who maintains the blog Caffeinated Thoughts.

What occurred at this meeting is exactly what I thought would occur. Terry Branstad said things we wanted to hear. He made some things clear to us. He is NOT running a campaign on social moral issues. His campaign is going to have one primary focus. Here's the focus: Culver is doing a lousy job, I can do better.

What Branstad hopes to accomplish in these back-room meetings with pastors and other socially conservative Iowans is to appease us in some way by saying something like this: "We're on the same team. I think the same way you do about these issues. Even if you don't hear me talk about them, they are important to me privately."

But that is NOT leadership. Definitely not the leadership we need. Here's Branstad's track record in Iowa with conservatives:

Under his leadership gambling became legal in this state. There really isn't a need to hold him accountable for the havoc this has reaked on the people of Iowa because as he said to us in that room, "What was I supposed to do? Over 70% of the people wanted it even though I was personally opposed to it."

Under his leadership the DHS allowed homosexual couples to adopt and provide foster care for children. He said he simply wasn't aware of that. Kind of like the Griswold's driving to Wally World in the movie Vacation when they fell asleep at the wheel.

Under his leadership he appointed two of the Iowa Supreme Court Justices who voted to redefine marriage in this state...an act of judicial tyranny.

I asked him if he would openly campaign against retaining those justices and speak out against their decision. He bristled at the thought. He said that privately he feels that way but he can not publicly do something like that. WEAK!

I told him that I was concerned about Doug Gross' influence in the campaign and his potential future administration. Doug Gross, in case you aren't aware, spent lots of money polling people in the state to try to prove that social issues need to be put on the back burner if Republicans are going to win elections. You can see an article about that Here.

Branstad just ignored my concerns and didn't even respond to them. All in all, if Branstad wins reelection, he will simply be a Republican version of Culver. He is a politician through and through.

The people in this state need to take a stand and not keep getting force-fed candidates who don't have a backbone. We need leadership. We need someone who will be a true champion of conservative values.

We need a strong stand on moral issues (not back-room meetings)! We need someone to fight those who have brought same-sex marriage to this state. Someone who will not be afraid to speak out against rogue justices who have ignored our state's constitution!

Basically what we need in gubernatorial leadership in Iowa is something that Terry Branstad is not able to deliver.

Ministry has changed...

Ministry has undergone lots of change in recent years. Some things are never going to change. Like helping people learn to love and live for God. That is at the heart and core of ministry.

But how that gets accomplished has changed. It used to be that a minister would simply be able to go to someone's home, knock on the door, be invited in and be able to talk to that person (or people) about the Lord. Nowadays, if you tried that, you are most likely a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon and you aren't received too kindly.

We live in the era of Facebook, Twitter and emails. Life seems more techno-centric than it was 30 years ago. People have come to rely on computers and mobile devices.

I have found that ministering in this era can be a challenge but you can still accomplish the same goal of helping people learn to love and live for God but you have to embrace new methods.

Using my account on Facebook I have been able to keep up with those that I minister to as well as encourage them in their walk with the Lord. On Facebook, I created a group on Facebook for our church members who are on Facebook to have another place of connection. Click HERE to see our church's Facebook Group Page.

From that group page, I have created special "events" that help promote and advertise various activities and sermon series we have at The Fort. I have also incorporated Twitter into this at another level of fostering more communication and connection with our church body online. We have a Twitter feed on the home page of our web site that we update to broadcast special announcements or updates.

All of these are tools. Some might argue that it contributes to the increasing isolationist direction of our culture, but I would say that we are building community on many levels. Not everyone is online. But many are.

We want to be a church that embraces all the methods we can to help people become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. We want to help people get into the Word of God.

Recently a woman was publicly executed in North Korea. Her crime? Distributing Bibles. It is noteworthy that a book most Americans take for granted and rarely read was worthy of death in a far corner of the world.

Anything I can do to get people more invested in reading the Word of God I will do!

Smallville and the coolest video ever...

A friend gave me the first two seasons of Smallville on DVD. I really haven't seen the show, to be honest, but we watched the first episode. The first of the first season ends with the song "Everything" by Lifehouse. That triggered my remembering this video. I don't think I have ever seen a more powerful skit than this one, honestly. Enjoy!

First Baptist Church

I performed a wedding the other day. It was a nice ceremony for a neat young couple. But I didn't perform the wedding ceremony in our church building. It was held at the First Baptist Church in Johnston, IA.

The church is pastored by Tim Bonney, a very nice man who has served in ministry in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. He has been at First Baptist in Johnston for approximately five years.

The reason I am blogging about First Baptist is because they are a very interesting church. They used to be located downtown in Des Moines, but they moved in 2002 to their current location. Their facility is breathtaking.

It has a strain-your-neck-high vaulted wood ceiling which is amazing. The stone walls are gorgeous. The open airy feel of the facility leaves you feeling like you are in a house of worship.

But here was the odd thing for me...they are overtly traditional. In every way they pride themselves in not being a contemporary congregation. There is a grand piano and a pipe organ on the stage and behind their baptistry there is a beautiful wooden cross and above that a fabulous round stained-glass window.

But there is no projection system. The audio set up is only average. There is nothing in the facility that says "2002!" Other than it looks new.

They do currently have a contemporary service that meets at the church. I was told by their sound man that it is a smaller gathering and they do not meet in their sanctuary, the contemporary service meets out off of the foyer area.

This church of approximately 200 people like the way they do church. They are proud of their style and that is who they are. And hear me clearly, there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact, too many churches spend their time with a psychological disorder always trying to be the mega-church that they aren't. So it is okay, in my book, to embrace who it is that you really are as a church.

But, having said all of that, I do know that I dream about who The Fort is all the time! I want us to be different than we are. I believe that we are capable of being so much more. I have begged God, I have shed tears before the Lord over showing me what it is to do so that we can grow as a church. I desire for us to reach as many people on the South Side of Des Moines as we can for Jesus Christ.

I do not desire to uphold traditions. I do not desire to build beautiful buildings. I do not desire to have any of that. What I desire is for one more opportunity to preach about Jesus Christ to another lost man or woman. That is my heart.

I know God's Word is true. I know it can change lives forever. I desire to see that life change happen at The Fort! One of the only ways it can happen is when our people begin to invite their family, friends, neighbors and co-workers with them to church.

A great opportunity to do that will be our upcoming Warrior series that starts on September 20th. This will be a sermon series directed at the men. Far too long men have settled for less than God's best in their life because they believe that deep spirituality is too feminine. It isn't. It is actually brutal and bloody. And we want to show the men in our church that being a man of God is a call to the heart of a Warrior!

So do your part, invite someone to join you. Beg someone to come. Barter with them. Bribe them. I don't care but do something. Because people's eternities are at stake!