Soon to be Seminaryless

Well, my Master of Divinity degree will be officially completed on Friday, October 10th. That's right, that means that I will be graduated in about 11 days! I am excited about graduation. There are a few things that have me smiling:

1. I will get to spend more time with Kristal and James.

2. I will get to spend more time evangelizing, mentoring, and preaching.

3. I will get to read whatever the poop I want--and I wont have to regurgitate it verbatim on a test or suffer the consequences.

I have truly had a great seminary experience. You can bet your bottom dollar that I have about 15 posts in my head regarding seminary. I plan on writing quite a few posts regarding seminary (whether or not its biblical, its pitfalls, its strengths, some advice to those who are thinking about going to seminary, some advice to those who are already in seminary, and whole boat load about my own experience). Anyway, I hope these future posts will be interesting to the two of you out there who have always wondered what the life of a seminarian is like.

Because graduation is so near, I am pretty slammed with the homework and thus I will not be writing much in the next 11 days.

Please be praying for me as the Lord opens and closes doors regarding what my life will look like after I graduate. The Lord is doing some amazing things up here in New Hampshire. Please especially be praying for the church Kristal and I are presently members of--they are in the process of considering whether or not they want to bring me on board as their preaching/teaching pastor. Pray as they (and us as well) seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is our desire to do whatever it is that the Lord wills.

I leave you with the lyrics of a song by Robin Mark that has been an incredible encouragement to me over the past three years or so. Heck, I'll put a youtube video of Robin Mark playing the song at the bottom of the post--you can thank me later! The quality of the youtube video is pretty poor but it is all I could find so leave me alone (just kidding). Ok, the video is rather weird, so just listen to the music without watching the video. I have no clue who made the video but the images seem to have nothing to do with the song--oh well. On a serious note, the words of this song have been the prayer of our (Kristal and I) hearts as we face the unknown of where the Lord is going to take us. May you make these words the prayer of your life as well.

Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.

For it's only in Your will that I am free,
For it's only in Your will that I am free,
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be

New Moose A. Moose Song: "Can't Stop Rhyming Blues"

Well, I thought it was time to put up another one of Jamesy Poopy Pants' favorite songs by Moose A. Moose. This one is titled "Can't Stop Rhyming Blues." Enjoy!

Walter Marshall Update

Well, Water Marshall, the man from my church who had meningitis, was apparently sent home from the hospital on Saturday, which is good news. However, today at church I was told that he is starting to regress. Hopefully he will not have to go to the hospital again. Please be praying for full healing for Walter. Thanks for your prayers. I will update as soon as I have new information.

Prayer Request: Walter Marshall

A dear brother in our church, Walter Marshall, has been in the hospital with meningitis for over a day now. It seems that his condition is getting worse. At this point he is not able to swallow. This, obviously, is serious. They will be doing an MRI soon. Anyway, please take a moment to pray for Walter. Also, pray for strength and rest for Toni, Walter's wife, during this trial. Thank you for your prayers. I will update as soon as I hear more.

Jimmy

The Cleft Coffee: A Guest Post!

I have asked my good friend Chris McSmith to write an informative post about a coffee house ministry that he and his wife, Debi, have established. I have pasted his post below. I am excited about the work that Chris and Debi are undertaking. Please commit yourself to praying for Chris and Debi as they seek to "Impact the Nations" through their coffee house ministry!

The Cleft Coffee

Cleft Coffee-“Impacting the Nations one cup at a time!” We’re changing lives with coffee! Not only are lives changed by building relationships over a cup of coffee – Nations are being impacted with the Gospel because of people purchasing Cleft coffee.

Here’s what we’re doing. We’ve taken something that most people purchase on a regular basis – coffee – Amazing quality specialty coffee’s from all over the world – sell them at a premium price and then donate our profits to do ministry. 100% of our roaster’s profits are donated to feed malnourished infants 24/7 at the Rock Solid Infant Re-Nutrition Center in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. We’re feeding 300-400 youth below the age of 12 twice a week and also put on a medical clinic to reach out to all the surrounding communities of Matagalpa.

Ok-that’s cool-great things are being done and lives are being impacted overseas when people purchase Cleft coffee. But, what about here at home? We believe strongly that if we’re going to impact nations it begins by impacting across the street. As we reach across our streets and overseas, we want to help financially empower your local church and ministries to reach across the streets of your community. So often ministry requires funding that’s not always readily available. We’re here to help! We work hard to raise funds for your ministry! We’ve launched 2 opportunities for churches and ministries to raise funds that can help you reach out into your communities while also impacting nations with the Gospel.

1) E-Impact Fund-Raiser

Working for you 24/7!
~Our web specialist is available to assist your ministry with inserting our logo link on your website.
~Your ministry supporters click the logo link from your page – order coffee – that order is tagged to your ministry – you raise $2.00/lb for your ministry and do absolutely nothing.

2) Impact the Nations Fund-Raiser

PERFECT FOR YOUTH GROUPS!
Your ministry chooses a lead person whom we work with step by step to launch and run this simple Fund-Raiser.
~We choose which day of each month to order...ie. 2nd Sunday of each month.
~You place our coffee sign up sheet in designated place with a payment box.
~Announcements are made to remind people of when the order will be placed.
~Coffee arrives and names of those who purchased coffee are written on bags.
~Members pick-up coffee!
~You raise $2.50 for every pound sold!

The coffee we sell is of absolute quality! You’re sure to love them!

-Quality Beans- We source and select only the finest Arabica coffee beans, favored for their characteristic sweetness and robust, nuanced flavor.
-Quality Roast- Fresh roasted in small batches. Each batch of coffee is carefully crafted by our artisan roasters.
-Freshness- We roast our customer’s beans when the order is placed. We do not roast coffee and let our beans sit – waiting to be purchased. Our beans are in our customer’s hands 4 – 5 days after being roasted. Now that’s fresh coffee!

What we do, we do with integrity and upmost conviction to live and uphold God’s Word! We’re not a business using ministry-throwing the cross on our business card to farther a corporation. We are a ministry using sound business principles to help empower kingdom work! When someone purchases coffee from the grocery store or coffee house chain-the profits are growing a company-which is not a bad thing. However, when someone purchases coffee from the Cleft-our profits are empowering your ministry and being donated to do ministry around the world-and this is a great thing! Amazing quality coffee at a great price with an incomparable purpose!

We’re asking coffee lovers and people who have a heartbeat for ministry to make the commitment. When you buy coffee-buy Cleft coffee. Imagine this-every morning you wake up and sit to have your morning cup of coffee-you’re making a difference in the lives of uncountable children and families around the world. You’re impacting the Nations one cup at a time!

Take the first step and check us out at:

www.cleftcoffee.com

-Chris McSmith

The Cleft Coffee--A Ministry to the Glory of God!

Greetings faithful blog readers. I am going to do something that I have never done on my blog before: I am going to have a guest post! One of my good friends from Hannibal-LaGrange College (where I did my undergraduate work), Chris McSmith (my old roommate's brother), just recently started a coffee house ministry called The Cleft Coffee (click here to access his website). I have asked him to write a post for my blog so that y'all can both lift his ministry up in prayer, and check the ministry out for yourself and your own church. I am excited about the work that Chris and Debi (Chris' wife) have begun. I trust that you will find this ministry to be as Christ-honoring, useful, encouraging, and down right creative as I have.

You can expect to see the post written by Chris regarding his coffee house ministry, Lord willing, this coming Monday, Sept 8. Please be praying for Chris and Debi as they seek to "Impact the Nations" through their coffee house ministry.

Will the Clowns Continue to Fall: A Plea for the Unborn

We are all familiar with the famous “Shoot the Clowns” game present at every carnival across the country. The game is set up as such: A dozen clowns sit on a board just above eye level about 15 feet away. The participant is given some sort of a gun appropriate for shooting the clowns down. The goal is to knock as many clowns down in the allotted time as possible.

As soon as you knock one clown down you simply move to the next. As I consider the clown game I am reminded of America and her many injustices throughout her short history. Many consider America to be “God’s nation.”

“He’s got our back because we have been faithful to Him,” many say.

My purpose in writing this is not to make you think that America is the worst nation on the planet. No, we are not the worst nation on our planet. I love being an American. However, we are not a faultless nation.

The birth of America began with the slaughtering of the Indians. As soon as that clown was knocked down she moved to the blacks. This clown was knocked down less than 40 years ago. Within eight years of this clown being knocked down, America continued her killing rampage to unborn humans. The clowns continue to fall, one by one.

We advance our troops into Iraq to liberate her people (which does not upset me—although I can understand why it upsets many). Meanwhile, our own people are being massacred by the droves. We speak of Saddam Hussein as if he were the antichrist while our own leaders snuff out the lives of over 1 million unborn humans a year (that makes well over 40,000 million since 1972). Our mass graves are full of much smaller humans, yet they seem to be filling much faster than Hussein’s.

Is God going to send a foreign nation to our land to liberate our (unborn) people?

When will the American people learn? Do they not realize that 50 or 100 years down the road they will be saying the same thing about the killing of unborn humans that they have said about the mass killing of the Indians or Blacks? Is it all that different? When will we realize that future generations will consider us to be the infant murdering nation.

The great injustice of our “noble” settlers was that they drove the Indians off their land. They massacred them and stole their property. And why did they do it? Oh yeah, because they were savages—less than human. Such savages do not deserve the same rights that us white folk have.

After her bloody entry to this land, America simply moved her injustice to the blacks. Lynching, slavery, beating, and murder. And why? Because they are sub human, they don’t deserve the same rights that we have.

Although slavery ended in 1865, the injustice continued till 1965. With Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement things started looking up for the Blacks. The white man began to see his error. America spent a good eight years washing her hands from all her filth. But the hand washing ended quicker than it began. In 1972 (eight short years later), America decided that the killing spree would continue. This time it would not be the Indians or the Blacks that were considered less than human, it would be the unborn. For the same exact reasons the killing continues: the unborn are simply not as superior as we are—they deserve no rights.

The graves continue to fill because we think that we have the edge. We think that we are above every other form and race of life. We feel that our rights have been put at jeopardy by those who are different than we are.

Will the clowns continue to fall? If the abortion war ends, where will America move next? Which subhuman savage will stand in the way of our great freedom next?

We need to wake up to the great injustice taking place in our land. We Christians need to be a voice, an advocate for the unborn in the same way that Brainerd, Edwards, Wilberforce, King, and others were for the Indians and Blacks. It is the same battle with a different, helpless victim.

No doubt about it, I love my freedom. I thank God for it everyday. But while I am thanking God for my freedom, I am also thanking Him that I am now a full grown WASP and no longer a living human in the confines of my mother's womb. I thank Him that I am now safe from the perils of the womb.

Just a few concluding remarks in light of the above address:

1. I in no way take lightly the freedom that I enjoy as a result of those who have fought (and are still fighting) on my behalf. I thank each and every veteran who has put their life on the line for my freedom. My concern is that the freedom secured by our beloved veterans has not been meted out to all Americans. Too many veterans have died for the freedom of Americans for American infants to have no freedom. That is my point. I am not an unpatriotic person, but I also cannot let grave injustice go in the name of patriotism.

2. If you have ever had an abortion (or coaxed someone else to do so), I want you to know that the blood of Jesus Christ can cover any and every sin you have ever committed. If you are a Christian and have had an abortion in the past and it haunts you every day, I want you to know that your sin is no match for the grace and love of Jesus—he took your sin upon himself and received the penalty for it on your behalf—you have been set free. Those of you who do not know the saving power of Jesus Christ, please feel free to contact me to learn about the all sufficient power, love, and grace of Jesus Christ to cleanse you from all of your sin.

3. Lastly, I never want to undermine the horrid situations that some women have found themselves in. It is my contention that the church exists to help women in these situations. Maybe this post, more than anything, can be a call to the church to get busy helping struggling mothers.