Kenya Mission Trip

Many people have been emailing and asking if the Kenya Mission trip is still on for next week. And the answer is YES!

We are looking forward to going. I believe the violence and political unrest in the area will only make our ministry more effective.

We ask for your continued prayers as we make the final preparations.

Next week I will start a daily (hopefully) blog that will serve as a journal of the mission trip. Check back here for a running description of how God is working in our little area of Kenya.

Pastor Noel

Words for a New Year

Are you looking for some changes in your life for 2008? Let me suggest these...

Since we’ve been forgiven and saved by Christ, let’s focus this year on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Let heaven fill our thoughts. Let’s not just think about things down here on earth, because since Christ died, our life is hidden in Him. He is our real life. And one day we will live eternally in heaven with Him.

Let us throw off earthly things like sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Let’s quit being so greedy for the good things of this life (that is idolatry), let God’s anger come upon us. Let’s get rid of anger, rage, back stabbing, talking bad about people, and dirty language. Let’s covenant not to lie to each other. None of this stuff is consistent with our new nature. We should be becoming more like Christ each day as we learn more about Him. It doesn’t matter who you have been or what position of authority or wealth you have today. All that matter is that we are His, and He lives in us.

Since God chose us to be the holy people He loves, we should clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We should remember to make allowances for each other’s faults and forgive the person who hurts or offends us. Why should we forgive them? Because Christ forgave us and we deserved it less from Him than they do from us.

And most importantly, we should let love clothe everything we are and everything we do. It is love that will bind us together and safeguards our unity.

If we do all of this, we will have peace (which only comes from God).

We should also be thankful...

And we should let the words of Christ, live in our hearts, so we can be wise. We should study His word, teach His word, and give advice to others by sharing His word.

We should sing songs together... songs sung to God with thankful hearts.

And finally, we should make sure everything we do or say is done mindful of the fact that we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you think things would change if we all made that our New Year’s Resolution for 2008? What you’ve just read is my paraphrase this morning of Colossians 3:1-17. Open your Bible and read the verses for yourself. See if God shows you something you should commit to this next year.

Pastor Noel

Cold Rainy Night

What is there to do on a Monday night when it is cold and rainy? How about take gifts to people who have recently visited our church and share with them the love of Christ? That is exactly what several people did last night and guess what...

When I got home last night, I had an email from Amanda S., Jackie C., and Linda S....

They met a lady and her teenage daughter who had recently visited our church...

And they gave her a gift...

And they shared the gospel...

And they watched both of them make professions of faith in Jesus Christ!

How's that for a cold, dreary, rainy night?

Pastor Noel

Presidential Candidates

Over the next few months, I want to highlight the 'abortion views' of each of the leading candidates for president from both the Democratic and Republican parties.

I thought Mike Huckabee would be a good one to start with.

What's Going On?

Misc Stuff...

I drove to South Carolina for Thanksgiving. It was a long drive both ways but I got a lot done: I got the church budget proposal finalized on my laptop. (Donna drove while I was doing that.) And I listened to two audio books. The first was Crucial Conversations written by a bunch of people. Someone had given me this book a year ago and I had read part of it, but never finished it. Finally I got through it via the audio. It was pretty good. I also listened to the Confessions of St. Augustine. I think that book would be easier to follow on paper.

I also mapped out my Christmas messages in my head while driving through the mountains of West Virginia. I am going to do something that might get me in a little trouble, but I believe this will be good for our church and interesting to our community. I am going to title the series something like: Father Abraham, Prophet Mohamad, or Christ Jesus – Who Can Lead Us To God? I know that sounds like a long title and not very Christmassy. Maybe I can shorten it as I work on it this week. The Christmas tie in will come through as we get into the series. The first week we will focus on why Judaism is not the way to God. We will look at the Old Testament prophecies foretelling the coming of the Messiah, and how Jesus has to be the fulfillment of those prophecies. While we do this we will learn about the reliability of Scriptures and how that can impact our lives. The second week we will focus on Mohamad. What is Islam? What does the Bible say about Islam, Mohamad, and what led to the modern day division between Christianity and Islam? While we do this we will learn why violating God’s purpose and plan for our lives is so dangerous. The third week we will focus on Christianity and how the virgin birth of Christ makes possible the salvation of the world. This series will require a lot of studying, but I’m looking forward to it. It should give us a new twist on the standard Christmas messages.

Our newly designed web page is almost ready to be unveiled. Maybe by the end of the week...

All plans for our Kenya mission trip are falling into place. I met with a missions coordinator for work in the area last week. It is exciting to hear about some of the stuff that goes on in secret to spread the gospel. I am looking forward to the trip.

My football team, Auburn, beat their in state rival, Alabama, for the sixth time in a row yesterday!

Noel

God's Way May Be Best After All

If we can do something in church that draws a crowd, then it must be a good thing to do, right? Forget Bible study, Bible preaching, digging into the Word. Our goal should be to grow a crowd, right? If we can just get a lot of people in a building once or twice a week, the changed lives stuff will just take care of itself, right?

Bob Burney, host of a radio show on WFRD in Columbus recently wrote an eye opening article for Baptist Press. Every church leader should read this article. Here is an excerpt...

Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study's findings are in a new book titled "Reveal: Where Are You?," co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings "ground breaking," "earth shaking" and "mind blowing." And no wonder: It seems that the "experts" were wrong.

The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:

"Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn't helping people that much. Other things that we didn't put that much money into and didn't put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for."

If you simply want a crowd, the "seeker-sensitive" model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it's a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:

"We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders.' We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own."

You can read the full article here.

May our church always seek to grow and reach more people, but let our purpose be to connect those people to a meaningful, life-changing, and enduring relationship with God, and may we do that by preaching His Word and showing the love of Christ.

Pastor Noel

The Anatomy of A Changed Life

About nine o'clock last night I got a call at home from Greg Strausz. He and his wife, Lisa, had just gotten home from making a visit through our Connections Ministry. They had very good news! They had gotten to speak to a child that had made a decision for Christ at an event we had here at the church last Saturday night. And then they turned to the proud, teary eyed mom and talked with her about her relationship with Christ. After sharing the gospel with her, they asked if she would like to make this life changing decision. She said yes, and they helped her express her heart to the Lord.

I could tell from the phone call that Greg and Lisa were very excited that the Lord had used them in this way. I knew from experience the joy that must have been felt last night in the home they had visited. I look forward to seeing the eternally changed lives that will come out of what happened last night.

Later last night as I was telling Donna what happened, I thought about the 'process' that led to this family turning to Christ. I don't know all of the details, but let me share some of what I do know:

• --- Saturday, September 9, 2006 --- We hosted an appreciation lunch for first responders in the area. As a part of our five year remembrance of the attack of Islam on America (9/11), we invited police, fire squads, and rescue workers to join us for this special event. Many people from the church visited police and fire departments inviting men and women to attend, cooked barbecue all night long, set-up tables, decorated, prepared programs, and so forth. As it turns out this family that the Strausz's visited last night attended the event. In fact, Donna and I sat at their table, and I remember getting to meet them. I think this was the very first time they had attended anything at our church.

• --- Wednesday, October 31, 2007 --- Over a year later, we were hosting another event for the community, Kid's Fest. Again the church had worked very hard to prepare as nice an event for our community as possible. Many people sacrificed time and money to make the event happen. Some volunteers had been at the church literally all day setting up the family life center. That night I was walking around meeting new people and I spoke to this same lady. She reminded me that we had met at the 9/11 lunch. She expressed how impressed she was with the people of our church and what we did for the community. That same night somebody else invited her to the illusionist show we had Saturday.

• --- Saturday, November 3, 2007 --- Three days after the Kid's Fest, we had internationally acclaimed illusionist B. J. Harris come do a couple of free shows for the community. Again, a lot of work went into this. Volunteers called over two thousand people who were involved in our Upward Basketball program last year and invited them to the event, other volunteers worked with set-up, counseling, clean-up, etc. This lady and her son were present at the event. Her son made a profession of faith and indicated that on a decision card.

• --- Monday, November 5, 2007 --- Two days later, after a long Monday at work, a number of people gathered to receive some training on how to better share their faith. Afterwards we gave out some information on people who had recently visited an event or service here at church. Greg and Lisa were faithful to get the training. They were faithful to go. They were faithful to share. And a family was changed for all eternity!

So how did this happen? The Church!

Dozens of people were faithful to serve Christ through a number of events for over year, and through all of that, look what happened. Was it worth it? Yes, even if this were the only family changed, which they are not and will not be, it would definitely be worth it.

So to everyone around here who does so much, thank you!

Pastor Noel

The Height of Vanity

It is another 'Dancing with the Stars' family night at the Dear house... So I am aimlessly surfing the world wide web and engaging in the height of vanity otherwise known as 'googling my own name.'

Have you ever done that? It is interesting and sometimes scary what you can find. Here are some of the odd-er references to 'Noel Dear.'

link -- This is a record of a technical problem I had back in 1998 when I owned an internet service provider in Mississippi. That was over nine years ago. I guess some things don't ever get erased from the internet.

link -- This is an article a newspaper did on my views of worship. They really messed up what I said, but that's par for the course with that newspaper.

link -- This is an article that talks about my house burning down a few years ago.

link -- This site says I married a girl from Mississippi State University. If I would have known that before I got married I would have looked for someone from a school with a better football team.

I think every funeral or wedding I've done pops up if you go far enough into the search lists.

It's funny to see sites about people who share your name...

link -- Here is an article that is trying to determine if 'Pastor Noel' is gay. Obviously, he's talking about a different 'Pastor Noel.'

link -- This page has a classic picture of 'Pastor Noel' at the 'Chicken Barbeque.'

link -- Here is a video of 'Pastor Noel', only here Pastor Noel is a Mexican woman ventriloquist.

link -- Here is the real 'Pastor Noel' blog. In this blog I pretend to be a mountain climber. I bet you didn't know I climbed mountains in my spare time.

OK. I can't think of any kind of spiritual point or lesson to make from all of this, but I have successfully waisted enough time for 'Dancing with the Stars' to go off.

Noel

Look Mom... No Hands!

From our earliest childhood days, we tried to prove our independence, our strength, our toughness. As we grew from childhood to teendom, we fought with our parents to gain freedom and autonomy. As a society, we believe we have conquered nature and we reign supreme.

For most people today, the mindset is not that we don't believe there is a God, rather the mindset today is that we don't believe we need God.

Why would we need God anyway? We've got advanced medicine, unbelievable technology, powerful machines and engines. We can fly in airplanes; tunnel under mountains; split atoms; build skyscrapers; transplant hearts and lungs... Is there no limit to the awesome power and ability of man?

But this morning, as I read the news, I saw the pictures of the tragic fires sweeping across California. I read that over 700 homes were destroyed just yesterday and no relief is in sight.

A couple of pictures really caught my attention...

This is a photograph of a lady looking at the Santiago Canyon fire from atop the Quail Hill community. In the foreground of the picture, you see the power, might, and ingenuity of man. You see the buildings, the lights, signs of technology and achievement. In the background you see the approaching fire. Man may have great strength, but if the wind blows the wrong direction for too long, the whole city will may be destroyed in a matter of hours, and man will be helpless to do anything about it.

This photo tells a similar story...



It turns out, we may not be as independent as we thought. We may not have the strength and power to shrug off God and call Him a relic of history after all.

As I read the news and looked at the photographs, I thought of something I read in the Psalms...

Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him? Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow. (Psalm 144:3-4)

Maybe we do need the Lord! Maybe we need Him a lot more than we sometimes think. Maybe we can learn a lesson in the tragedy of the California fires.

Read this passage a line at a time and see if the Lord doesn't change your perspective and focus today...

He looks on the earth, and it trembles;

He touches the hills, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.

Psalm 104:32-34

Noel Dear

Middle School Gives Birth Control Pills to Students & Caviar to local Inmates

King Middle School in Portland, Maine has decided to give birth control pills along with other prophylactics to 11-13 year olds who request them. And they plan to do this without the permission or even the knowledge of the parents.

There is something terribly wrong with this and it's probably not what you are thinking. Some will look at this and cringe because 11 year old girls are being encouraged to have sex through the distribution of birth control pills. That should make us cringe, but it is not the fundamental problem here.

Some will express grave concern that potentially dangerous prescription medicine is being given to children without their parent's permission or knowledge. I would share your concern, but that is not the fundamental problem either.

The fundamental problem is that the purpose of the school is to TEACH academic subjects, not to PARENT the children. Handing out birth control pills in PEZ dispensers crosses the line and usurps the authority and responsibility of the parents.

The AP article says the school is doing this because of a surge in pregnancies among middle schoolers in the area. It is very unfortunate that this problem exists in Portland, and something should be done about it, but this is not the responsibility of the school. It has also been brought to my attention that certain inmates in correctional facilities in and around Portland are suffering from a shortage of beluga caviar. I wonder if the school feels a moral obligation to provide this much needed garnish.

You might ask, "How is there any comparison between helping children avoid becoming pregnant and encouraging the reformation of inmates with caviar?" Well, the biggest parallel is this: NEITHER ONE IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL. (And, as it turns out, one would be about as effective as the other.)

Two wrongs don't make a right.

It seems there are some 'wrong headed' parents in Portland. But that will not be remedied by adding 'wrong headed' schools.

Noel Dear

Don't Teach Your Kids To Spell

It's a family TV night. We're going back and forth between Dancing with the Stars and the Cleveland Indians game. Niether one is very exciting. I'm not a fan of professional baseball or professional dancing. I've never been so glad we didn't have picture in picture on our television. I don't think I could handle watching both at the same time.

Donna wanted to tell me something we just saw on tv was 'dumb.' The only problem is that we don't allow our kids to say that word. (I know that is a silly rule, but I just don't like to hear kids constantly say things and people are dumb.) So Donna, out of habit said, "That was d-u-m-b." Her comment was immediately followed by Emily's (our six year old), "Momma, I know how to spell and you just said a bad word."

Caught!

Emily is sitting with me, and I can see her little mind trying to process this contradiction. Is it wrong to say 'dumb'? Does mom really think it is wrong to say 'dumb'? Maybe what is right and wrong changes from time to time. Is this a classical case of situational ethics? Have I witnessed a paradigm shift in the ethical mores of my family? What is the epistemological foundation for banning the word 'dumb'?

O.K. Maybe she wasn't thinking all of that, but I do wonder how she processes this.

It might not be such a serious matter if Emily rebels one day and sows her oats by saying 'dumb' over and over and over, but I do wonder if we are sending the same kinds of signals with more important matters. I wonder what messages we're sending about the importance of prayer, the seriousness of gossip, and the value of loving the people God puts in our lives.

Something for all of us to think about.

Noel

Hannah's Poem

Here is a poem that my eight year old daughter wrote...

Seasons

Swiftly goes summer,
Soon it will be winter.
If we see the birds fly south,
Our breath will fly from our mouths.
Though it is a while 'till spring,
We still will joyfully sing.
Because fall is very close,
We get our fall clothes.
Even though it is cold,
The sun is as bright as gold.

Random Update

Here goes a random update of life and church...

We had a great day at church yesterday. I think we had a total of four people make professions of faith in either the morning or evening worship services. We again started the service with baptism, something we have done nearly every single Sunday of 2007.

This morning began the first morning of revival prayer, and we had a number of people praying during the 6:30 to 7:30 hour.

I'm taken my wife out on a date tonight. A big thanks to the Salyers for babysitting my kids.

Not much more to say; I will write again soon.

Pastor Noel Dear

Woe is me...

Do you ever have any of those 'woe is me' days? You know what I mean: Days when it seems like everything is too hard, nothing works out like it should, too many things to do and too little time to do them.

Do you ever have any of those days when you feel like it would be much easier to stop serving the Lord, stop fighting the battles, stop giving a rip, and just coast?

Do you ever have any of those days when it is much, much easier to gripe and complain than it is to be thankful and joyful?

If so, you may not want to read what I read in my devotion time this morning...

Hebrews 11:24-26 NIV By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

Stuck right in the middle of all of those 'by faith' verses in Hebrews 11 is this dart of conviction for all of us who have occasional 'woe is me' attitudes. I wonder if Moses ever thought about going back to the palace. I wonder if he considered walking like an Egyptian for a while. What would have been so wrong with that? Nothing, aside from the fact that God had called him to something different. Nothing, except that God had called him to something better. Maybe it was harder, sure, but it was God's plan and God's choice. And it was going to turn out to be a blessing for Moses if he had enough faith not to quit half way through.

O.K. Lord, I won't quit, I won't stop pushing forward. But you don't understand how hard it is sometimes...

Then I got to the bottom of the page in my Bible...

Hebrews 12:4 NIV In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Which put into perspective the two verses that preceded it...

Hebrews 12:2-3 NIV Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Wow! Maybe I should just keep my petty gripes and complaints to myself.

Now, as I step off my soap box...

We've had a pretty good week around here. Sunday was a very good day. We've had many comments on what we talked about in the message time on Sunday morning. I'll have more to say about how you can get plugged in this Sunday. (By this time next week, Pastor Shawn should have the sermon audio's up-to-date on the web page.)

At my house, we're back in the swing of school. As some of you may know, we homeschool, and so everyone has their role in this endeavor. My main role is Math teacher for Hannah. Last night after dinner we learned why square roots are called square roots. Hannah has such a heart for learning, she makes it fun to teach her. This morning at breakfast, we talked about why it is important to read your Bible every day. This homeschooling thing is one of the smartest decisions our family has ever made.

Today is a day of studying. I've got about an hour of paperwork/phone calls/emails to do, then nothing but studying. I enjoy these days.

Tomorrow, the Salyer Connect Group is coming over to my house to watch a movie in the back yard. Somehow I've got to figure out how to put a screen on my hill, secure a projector so a kid doesn't destroy it, and get sound. (I've considered just turning on the closed captioning and not worrying with an amplifier and speakers.) Where's Jeff Brooks when you need him?

Pastor Noel Dear

Has That Always Been There?

Do you ever read a passage of Scripture in your daily devotion times and think, "Has that always been there?" Perhaps it is a sign of early senility or maybe it is a case of seeing what you need to see when you need to see it, but it happens to me repeatedly. I try to read through the New Testament fairly often and I use a plan to keep track of it and make sure I don't leave anything out or skip anything before I begin again, but still, every few days I run across something I don't remember reading before. It happened today...

I was reading in Hebrews. In chapter six I came to the familiar first few verses about the once for all sacrifice of Christ, then I came to verses seven and eight...

Hebrews 6:7-8 NIV Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Has that always been there?

I am the land that drinks in the rain. The rain is the Word of God that I read, and hear, and study. The question is what kind of 'crop' is resulting from all of that rain on the land. Where I live, my front yard is 80% grass, but my back yard is 80% weeds. When the rain comes, in the front yard it yields grass, in the back yard, the same rain yields weeds.

These verses got me thinking about the 'output' and the 'yield' of my life. There is certainly no defiency in the rain. (God waters my life regularly with His perfect word.) But I wonder if my life is producing more savory herbs and fruit (I just looked it up, that is what the word for 'crops' in this verse means) or more thorns and thistles.

These verses go on to say God will bless the life of those who produce the good crop. I want to my life to fall into that category! I think it is time to make a list of what is coming out of my life, positive and negative. How and I influencing others? Is the fruit of my life and ministry sweet, life changing, and God honoring? Or is it thorny and thistley (I know it's not a word)?

This just might turn into a Sunday evening sermon.

Well, what else is going on in the world?

George and Stephanie Lambert (some friends of mine that many of you have been praying for) won the court battle to take permanent custody of some children that were growing up in a very bad situation. As it turned out, they didn't even have to go before the judge. The biological family gave in to their wishes and signed over custody just hours before the court hearing.

I'm finishing up Freedomnomics by John R. Lott. It is a great book. If you read Freakonomics last year when it was so popular, then you need to read Freedomnomics. Freakonomics attacked many of the things we as Christians hold dear and it made a pretty bold argument for more abortions AND it made it seem like there was indisputable proof that abortion was a good thing for America. Well the falacies are uncovered in Freedomnomics. It is very enlightening. The part I'm reading now talks about how women sufferage changed the moral fabric and the political landscape of our country. I'm all for women voting, but this is scary!

These books aren't Christian books, they are half social commentary and half history (and half math), but they speak to many contemporary issues. If you are interested in reading them, start with Freakonomics, but make yourself a commitment that if you read the 'Freak' book that you will definately read the 'Freedom' book. If you don't, then you will just be disillusioned.

Donna and I just celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary. We spent a couple days in Cleveland, just knocking around. If I weren't a preacher I would tell you she and I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while we were there. Some of it was interesting; much of it was boring. I didn't know who most of the people were. They had on display the costumes that these old 'rock stars' would wear in their concerts. Many of them looked like some of my little girl's dress up clothes... lacy... frilly... wierd. I saw the old albums and concert posters for the Platters. My dad played the saxophone with them for some of their studio recordings years ago. That was neat to see. I mean, it would have been neat to see if I weren't I preacher and I would have gone there.

Well, that should be enough blogging for August. :)

Noel

After three days of searching the river, no body was found :)