Heaven or Hell??

Today I went to visit a man in the hospital who may not make it through the week. I went to pray for him but most importantly I went to see where he was spiritually. I asked about his spiritual beliefs and if he had a relationship with Christ. Then I asked if he died did he think he would go to heaven? His response was "Yes I hope so". I said "don't you want to know for sure?". It's always surprising to me that many people will leave their eternity up for chance. Even when they are days away from death, all they cling to is a hope that they will go to Heaven.

It's not about being a good person, it's not about going to church a certain number of times, there's only one way and that's through Jesus Christ. It's through repentance, faith, belief, and the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. What about you would you go to heaven if you died tonight? Do you hope Heaven, or do you know for sure. I would love to talk with you if you have any doubts, give me a call.

First Words

This morning my daughter woke up earlier than usual, perhaps she's still not used to the timechange. When she wakes up early, it makes it a little more difficult for me to get ready, have my quiet time, and eat breakfast while trying to take care of her as well. So today instead of reading my Bible, writing, and praying in peace, she was climbing all over me, messing with the pages and disrupting my time with God. It was pretty frustrating for sure. Then she pointed to my Bible and I asked her "Can you say Bible?" after a couple of practices she eventually said "Ba-Ble" This was her 5th word now after Dadda, Momma, Hi, and Ball and it was by far the most exciting for sure. I then asked her if she could say "Eschatology" but that didn't work quite as well. Maybe she'll get that one in Grad School.

It was a great reminder to me this morning of how important it is to teach our children about God and how exciting it is to see them grasp something that means so much. Honestly her saying "Bible" was more exciting than her saying Dadda, because of how much my heart longs for her to have a love for God's word. May we never grow tired of begging God to do a great work in the lives of our children. Hopefully now I won't be irritated when my time with God is disrupted but I will be intentional about helping my daughter see how Awesome and Amazing our Lord is.

Doing Ministry with No Money

If you're a Youth Pastor, Pastor, or work in any church position have you dealt with a budget cut, spending freeze, staff layoff, salary cut or loss of your entire ministry budget? If you have, you are not alone. Over the past couple of years churches all across America have had to make hard choices when it comes to finances. It's been tough for everyone, but this doesn't mean we should stop doing ministry.

In Acts 3 Peter and John are approached by a beggar needing help. I love how Peter says "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ."

We have to remember that we have something greater than money to give to People and we don't have to have money to reach people. The early church didn't have a lot rescources but they reached people for Christ like crazy because of their passion, faithfulness, and zeal. We have to remain passionate and get back to the basics of reaching people.

So lets stop making excuses like "well if I had a bigger budget we could reach more people." or "well if I had a better building I could reach more people." We just have to start reaching people for Christ, we are running out of time and the consequences are eternal. Praise God for what we do have and lets make a difference.

A few tips for tight budgets:
1. More is not always better. Plan fewer events for the year but focus on making them better. Sometimes youth ministries try to do stuff non-stop and then have low quality events. You'll save money and have better quality events when you don't do as much.
2. Be the Speaker at Events. One of the most expensive things about ministry can be bringing in a guest speaker or band. Save money by doing the speaking yourself and get a local band.
3. This may be the time to bring things closer to home. Don't go so far for camp or a mission trip this year, there is plenty to be done right where your are.
4. Don't waste money, really think through and pray through what you're spending money on. Make sure it's spent to make an eternal impact.