doubt

All posts tagged doubt

No Better Time Than Now

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on September 13, 2015
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Now LaterHey I’m back behind the keyboard and it feels really good. The goal is to write smaller articles, more often, and give myself fewer excuses as to why I can’t write.  Not sure how often, I’ll be writing, but I can tell you that it feels good to be doing this again.

As a pastor, you get to hear why people choose to do their activities, who they dread spending the holidays with, etc.. You also get a lot of questions about why church members act the way they do. This often opens up a conversation about why that person has not been in church in weeks, months, or even years. Whether I am asking a student or an adult, the answers are a lot alike in their nature. I started a practice, just today in my student ministry. I noticed that we had several students who had just silently slipped away and had stopped coming to church. So, this morning, I decided that each Sunday morning after announcements, I would sit down in my office and text all of my students who were no longer coming. On day one, God started to move. Three of them showed up for church today, and I had a quality conversation with one that gave us both perspective on why people are leaving the church and not coming back.

In my conversation today, and coupled with similar conversations I have had in the past month, I learned two things: 1) People leave church for a variety of reasons and many times it was not something that happened at church or to them. It is usually personal, and often deals with basic life getting in the way and the person simply falling out of the habit of church. And 2) Even though the reasons for leaving were wide and varied, the reasons they don’t come back are almost all identical- they are afraid of being judged for being away for so long that it is too uncomfortable to come back. This is a reason and an answer that I have struggled with as I have prayed about it and asked for wisdom. The biggest reason that it is a struggle is the fact that to some degree, they are absolutely right and that is something that all of us who call Christ our Lord need to work on in our daily walk. Yet, after a month of thinking on this, having these conversations, and asking God to grant me wisdom on the matter, I have come to the conclusion that God wants me to deliver the truth- so here it is.

To all of my friends, family, acquaintances, and whoever reads this that is hesitant about returning to church: I understand that the reason you are so reluctant to return is the fear of being judged for being away for so long. Here is the truth- someone WILL do it. I’m sorry- that’s the truth, I wish there was a way around it, but there isn’t. We are always going to be faced with people who are going to forget that God’s Grace extends past them onto us. We are always going to come across people who have forgotten what all they have been forgiven for and they will direct their self-righteousness on us. It is going to happen…….BUT…………..(oh c’mon you knew there was going to be but in here)…………You also endure the same type of hypocritical person at your workplace too don’t you? You also endure the same type of hypocritical person at school don’t you? You also endure the same type of hypocritical person in your family don’t you?  I feel confident the answer is yes. However, we still go to work, we still go to school, and we still hang around and see family. Why then do we tolerate the minority of ignorance there, but not at church? You go to work because you need money, you go to school because you need an education, you see family because we need family- stands to reason that we should go to church because we need Jesus in our lives.

Let me encourage you to get back into church. I am willing to bet that the overwhelming response to your return will be that of excitement and rejoicing; much like I am willing to bet what judgment you will be getting from a select few will be minimal and if you think about it, inconsequential. Now is a great time to return to church and get reacquainted with your savior or better yet, establish a relationship with Him for the first time. I think that once you give it a chance, it will be the best thing you’ve done for yourself in a long time.  There is no better time than now. God is waiting and He is excited that you are coming home.

In Christ Alone,

Rev. Bro. Coach

 

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Take Time to EXPERIENCE God…

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on July 3, 2015
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impact2015It has been some time since I last wrote, and I greatly appreciate your understanding as I took a needed sabbatical from writing to pursue some important things. It was longer than I had hoped, but nevertheless, needed. I write to you today on location from Camp Linden in Tennessee where I am currently working IMPACT camp for the TBC (Tennessee Baptist Convention). This morning, nearly 400 students and leaders packed their vans, buses, and cars headed home from a week focusing on experiencing God. The verse for the camp this past week comes from Psalm 143:8 which says, “Let me experience your faithful love in the morning, for I trust You. Reveal to me the way I should go because I long for You.”  This Psalm of David is a cry- a plea- for God to pull him out of the darkness his lukewarm faith has plunged him into headlong. This got me thinking- how often do we take time to really EXPERIENCE our Heavenly Father?

This week, as I watched a congregation of 400 immerse themselves in the Word of God, worshiping our Lord, and experiencing not only His goodness, but most definitely His presence- I saw a group of teenagers and their adult leaders walk up to the mountaintop and commune with God.  I witnessed a surrender to God’s love, power, and plan that often brought me to my knees in humility before an amazing God.  I watched as 39 young people gave their lives to Christ and surrender to Him as Lord. In my 10th grade group, I saw 16 & 17 year old students- utterly broken- begin to fully rely on God as they laid their worry, stress, and doubts at the feet of the Father.  This week they experienced God- we ALL experienced God.

And how did this remarkable thing occur? I think it is simple, we took ourselves out of the forefront of our lives and put God where He belongs. You see, Camp Linden has almost 0% cell service. We didn’t have a camp of students who walked around checking timelines, news feeds, Instagram pics, or twitter feeds. Instead of drama, we had devotion. Instead of work, we had worship. Instead of posts, we had praise. The students took time to experience God. This wasn’t just a student thing either. On Thursday, we had a color war (similar to the color me rad races) where hundreds of pounds of colored powder was mixed and then thrown at each other in organized chaos. Before the students ever got to the field to play, adult sponsors were there mixing and preparing the powder. The adults began to throw powder at each other. They laughed, they ran, they played like 5 year olds on Christmas day.  They too were experiencing the awesome presence & fellowship that God desires for us. No emails were being sent, no offices were being called, no text messages were being answered- they experienced and for a brief moment in time- worry, stress, and doubt melted away for even the adults.

What is stopping you from taking time to EXPERIENCE God each day? Do we jump up first thing in the morning to open social media feeds instead of opening God’s Word and feeding ourselves? Have we allowed our schedule and our world to come before being in church AND serving? Have we taken the time to have a conversation with our creator? I am aware that life is short. That is why I urge you to invest in your eternity and your relationship with God the father. It is time well spent and you just might find yourself a little less stressed, a little less worried, and little less doubtful when we take time to experience His faithful love.

In Christ Alone,

Rev. Bro. Coach

You Don’t Have to Try

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on August 4, 2014
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First of all, let me thank all of you who follow this blog for faithfully waiting during my summer sabbatical from writing. Sometimes, it is good to get away from the keyboard and allow your creative juices to replenish themselves. During my hiatus, God truly blessed my life. We were fortunate enough to buy a new house, I got to spend 3 amazing weeks of ministry in various places, and in the process got to see 41 people give their life to Christ.  It has been a truly amazing summer. But, now here I sit, writing my first blog from my new office in my new house and tonight, I’m speaking particularly to my girls out there. As a father of two boys, you may think that I am oblivious to such matters as beauty and the self esteem issues that go on in a woman’s life. Let me assure, however, mamma raised me better and I have two beautiful Goddaughters that I treat as my own. So this topic is near and dear to my heart because I think of them when I talk about it.

Now I have been blessed to have a ridiculously awesome career. By day I teach my favorite school subject, history, and I also get to have the coolest job on the planet ministering to teenagers. I have also been blessed in the last couple of years to be a published writer (both a hobby and a passion). Now, while I truly love being the writer of a blog, I would not count self publication. I am actually a writer for a magazine called YLO (Youth Leaders Only) where I am given various Christian songs and I write bible studies for those songs. Youth Pastors all over the country subscribe and use these studies…it is pretty cool to think about.  One of the things that I get to do for YLO is I get to write Re-tunes. This is where they give me a secular song and I write a bible study for it. This latest edition, I was given the song Try, by Colbie Caillat. Not listening to secular music much, I hadn’t heard it. When I did, it hit me like a ton of bricks. self-esteem3

You see there is an increasing problem in our society today. The definition of beauty has been vastly distorted by the Godlessness of the world. The entertainment business has led the charge in giving women and men alike, unrealistic images of what true beauty is. These images, which are often enhanced by today’s computer editing software, paint a picture that is both demeaning of women and misleading to men. That is only half of the problem though. The other half of the problem is that we continually buy into this fairy tale land of what we are supposed to look like. We have abandoned the one source that truly defines beauty in favor of the world’s definition that is practically unattainable, and causes heartache, insecurity, and at the worst case…suicide.

In order to return to a true definition of beauty, we need to look no further than Genesis 1:27 which tells us, “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.” This one simple verse points back to the true and original source. This verse points to the One who created the definition of beauty when he created us all. God created the Earth and said, “it was good,” but when He created us, He said that it was “very good.” We need not look to the world to define our beauty.

The song, Try, echoes this false doctrine given to us by this world, a world not influenced by God, by the carnal urges of sinful man. The song points out that women should wear certain makeup, dress in ways that are revealing because that is what men want. The song talks about how girls are told that they need to look a certain way, be a certain size, and wear certain clothes. But, the song reminds women that they don’t need to try to please a world that doesn’t appreciate them for who they are. The song points out what many women forget and that is answering the question, do you like you? The God of all creation does not take time to make junk. This includes all of us. This includes even the guys who are feeling increasing pressure to have a certain look. We are told that God made us fearfully and wonderfully in Pslams 139:14. It is time that we start looking to the Father for the definition of our beauty instead of relying on a world where the cultural DNA promotes a skewed version of reality.

The world is a Godless place that constantly preys on our insecurities and our perceived deficiencies. However, we need to take heart in the fact that God does not take the time to make junk. We need to block out what the world tells us is the only way to look. Our focus should be on our Father’s definition of beauty, the way He created us. The only words we should ever concern ourselves with is when our Lord says, “Well done good and faithful servant.” God made you special. He made you who you are, how you are for a great purpose. Do not conform to this world and their thoughts and ways because you don’t have to try, God loves you just the way He made you.

In Christ Alone,
Rev. Bro Coach

Who Am I?

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on March 15, 2014
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who-am-i_nametagI have often felt that it is important in any person’s life to know who they are; to have an open and honest picture of the person they are and the person they are trying to be- without forgetting the person they once were.  So, while this post can only offer the encouragement for you to do a self examination of who you are, where you’ve been, and where you intend to go, I will attempt to do what I feel is necessary for anyone asking so much of someone, I will lead by example.

You could say that I was a baseball player and though many have played the game far better than I could have ever hoped to, I was decent enough. You could say that I was a high school and college athlete, an honor student at every level. You could say that I was a nerd and a bit of a geek, and you wouldn’t be that far off in saying so. You could say that as of about 7 years of age I was saved, though saying that I was a follower of Christ probably wouldn’t be accurate until about 22. Some will tell you that I was a womanizer, addicted to wrecking the lives of girls and they would show you the carnage that I left in my wake that stretched for miles, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

I am a pastor. That doesn’t mean that I am better, holier, or have a more direct line to God than anybody else. Because of what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and at that point, we all had equal access to our creator. Being a pastor doesn’t mean that I have it all together. I am constantly at war with my anger and have the ability to be manipulative and cut people out of my life as if they never existed- not skills I’m proud to possess, but nevertheless they are there. I am a man who struggles with self worth and the constant, nagging guilt of my past. I doubt myself…..a lot. 

I tell you my background so that you see the struggle I go through is not that dissimilar to yours. The problems you face on a daily basis are some of the same struggles I face along with countless other people.  I tell you of my struggles so that you don’t run away from God saying, “how could you,” but instead so that you may toward God saying “please help me.”  You see I share this so that I can tell you who I am in Christ.

I am a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, a husband, and a father. My life is a story of how God can and will call anyone to do His work. I get too passionate at times, work too much, and often speak on shear emotion; but, I love fiercely, honesty is my favorite virtue, and God’s word is what drives my thoughts. I am a person who wears his heart on his sleeve, says I love you all the time (and means it), and can sometimes come across as “smothering.” I am a man who once you ask me to be a part of your life, you get all of me, because I don’t know how to only give you part of myself and  I don’t do anything half way. I am a man who loves to write and gets inspired by words. I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed and  I want the world to know what God has done for me. I often ask God the very lyrics to songs such as:

“Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt?…”
and
“Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?”

Only to discover that the answer is given in the lyrics of another song like:

“In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;”

So, who am I you ask? I am sinner saved by grace. A sinner that should have rightfully been put to death for everything I have ever done, but here I am- a sinner, alive and well. Who am I? I am better than I deserve and I cling to one of the founding truths in my life:

“No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”
Now I ask, who are you?
In Christ Alone,
Rev. Bro Coach.
References:
Fellowship of the Unashamed by Dr. Bob Morehead
Who am I? lyrics and Music by Casting Crowns
In Christ Alone, Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend