Lostness in Kentucky

There's been a statistic we have been trumpeting hard for the past year in my church, Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Independence, KY (check us out... shameless plug... www.hickorygrove.net).  The stat is this:  85% of our county, Kenton County is completely unchurched.  And we are located in Independence, the thirst largest city by land mass in the state, and one of the fastest growing cities in the state.  This statistic alone has lit a fire under me, our staff, and our church.  We want to push the light of Jesus into that darkness and see that number shrink as we work hard to do whatever it takes to help every person within our reach take their next step (perhaps their first step) with Jesus Christ.  

And now, I've received an even greater impetus for our mission.  Jason Lowe, director of missions for the Pike Association and executive pastor for First Baptist Church in Pikeville, KY, just released a very sobering report on just how unchurched and LOST our fellow citizens of the Commonwealth actually are.  Give this a read, and then hit your knees in prayer, and THEN go invite and invest in the people you see in your city.  Let them see Jesus in you and you get them coming to your church, your small group, your next church event.  It's time we all band together to pierce the lostness with the answer of all answers:  Jesus Christ.  

Click here to read Jason Lowe's report!

Lovin' My Macbook!

It's been forever since I've blogged, so I want to dive back into it.  So for my first blogpost in a  while, I want to give my three cheers for the new Macbook I got for Christmas.  I held out for a LONG time.  Much like I held tightly to my Palm Treo and then my Blackberry before finally crossing over to the "dark side" and getting an iPhone thanks to the urging of my daughter Molly.  Once I started using that iPhone, I started feeling all sorts of regret that it took me this long to cross over.  Now that I have a Macbook, there are three things that really jump out to me that just shocked me...

1. Office for Mac actually runs BETTER on the Mac than it did on my HP G7.  It opens faster, the maintains formatting better.  That was the biggest reason for me holding out and sticking with my PC - the fact that I use Office more than anything else.  It just seemed to make sense that it's better to use a computer whose operating system CREATED the programs you use most.  So I was a little skeptical about my Microsoft Office experience on the Mac.  It did not disappoint.  It's faster and more efficient!
2. Making videos is WAY easier, faster, and AWESOMER!  Yeah, I made up that word because a new word HAD to be made up to express how in awe I am of the Macbook's ability to handle video rendering.  My HP G7, the best laptop I have ever owned, with it's 8GB of RAM and i5 processor, would literally rev up to a noisy tizzy and basically render doing anything else on the laptop impossible, all while rendering a 30 minute video I had created.  On the Macbook, videos are rendered seamlessly and simply.  This has been my favorite discovery about the Macbook.  If I had known, I would have gotten one a long time ago.
3. There really is an app for that.  I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to find free apps to do things like I was able to do on my PC.  I was wrong. Way wrong.  In fact, it seems the apps for the Mac work even faster and more effective.  From ClipGrap for getting those YouTube videos for off-line viewing, or FileZilla for uploading stuff via FTP, I have discovered an app for everything I did on the PC.

Those are my three cheers for the new Macbook. I have been keeping my HP G7 close by, just in case I have to revert back to it to more accurately create an office document or render a video the way I was always used to rendering a video.  Instead, the PC stayed closed and untouched.  I finally decided to reset it and wipe it clean to give it a fresh start.  Maybe it will be faster and useful for someone in my family or in my office.  But now that I've gone MAC, I won't turn BACK.

Shepherd elected Family Court Judge

I am so proud of my sister!!!

Shepherd elected Family Court Judge

Dr. Terry Fields Sermon on FRIENDSHIP: 06/25/06

06-25-06

Dr. Terry Fields

• Great service thus far.  We baptized three folks today:  Celia McMillan, Amber Porter, and David Schmauck.
• SERVANT sang one of their originals for special music today.

Proverbs

TODAY'S THEME IS FRIENDSHIP

• Bro. Terry gets his digs on Bro. Will for a while.
• Terry refers to the show "Friends" for a while.
• The older I get, outside my salvation and family, true friends are the most important things I have.
• God puts inside of us the desire to have true friends.
• Solomon talked a lot about friendships.  He is the wisest man that has ever lived.
• I've never heard a sermon or had a class on how to have friends.
• Solomon says that you shouldn't have very many friends.  He said it could be dangerous to have a lot of friends.

Proverbs 18:24 and more

• The first guy to win a million dollars from Regis Philbin found that he made a lot of friends fast.
• The longer you live, the more you value true friends.

1.  How to make a friend?

2.  How do you measure a friend?

3.  How do you minister to a friend?

1.  How do you make a friend?

• Proverbs 18:24b
• There is a friend that sticks closer than a friend.
• If you want to make a friend, first be a friend!  Be friendly!
• The friendliest people make the most friends and the best friends.
• Friendship is all about choices.
• What god are you going to serve?  You are going to serve someone.  The god of sex, wealth, etc.  Who are you going to serve.
• Who are you going to marry?
• Who are your true friends?

Proverbs 12:26

• A wise man is cautious in friendship.  You will become like your friends!!!
• Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
• Make friends!  Don't try to get people to be interested in you.
• Dale's principle:  "Get them talking about themselves."
• Just like Toby Keith sings.
• Study done in an Ivy League school.  He had them right the initials of folks in the class you do not like.  The folks who disliked most people were indeed the ones who were disliked most by others.
• Solomon says you should choose good friends.
• Those who know the Lord ought to have a few friends who do not know the Lord.
• Psalm 119:63
• Proverbs 12:26
• Students, the ones you hang out with are the very ones that can determine where you literally spend the rest of your life.  There are people in hell today because those people chose to hang out with the wrong crowd last night.
• David's son Amnon was rebellious and twisted.  2 Samuel 13 - Amnon had a sinister friend Jonidab.
• "It is better to be alone than to be in bad company."

2. How do you measure a friend?

• Prov. 18:24b - closer than a brother.
• We can have friends that are so much closer to us than a family.
• What causes this to happen?
• 1.  loyalty - like skin sticking to bone.
• that friend never lets your faults come between your friendship.
• We need to learn the art of overlooking people's faults.
• Bro. Terry talks about the fact that he has quirks and flaws as well as all of us.
• The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tell instead of his tongue.
• If you knew what your so-called friends said about you behind your back, it would be eye-opening.
• Prov. 16:28
• 2. lasting - it stands the test of time and trouble.
• Do you still have a friend from high school and college?  We tend to drift apart.
• We don't need fair-weather friends.
• Bro. Terry gives some cool definitions of a friend.
• A true friend is one who walks in your house when the whole world walks out.
• Chuck Colson's book "Born Again" - he sticks by his friend Mr. Nixon.
• 3.  loving
• How do you know how many friends you have?  Do just one thing:  MAKE A BIG, BIG MISTAKE!  You will then find out who your true friends are.
• Prov. 17:17
• Girls, don't have anything to do with a guy who dates you for what he gets out of it.
• A real friend wants what is best for you.

3.  How do you minister to a friend?

• What kind of friend are you willing to be?
• Prov. 27:9
• A real friend will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
• Prov. 27:6 - the wounds of a friend is better than the kisses of the enemy.
• Prov. 27:17 - friends sharpen one another.
• You don't sharpen iron with a stick of butter.
• God's family needs to stick together.  Beware of jumping churches and friends.  You are probably running from people who will tell you the truth.  Let iron sharpen you.

CLOSING

• Do you have a real friend?
• Do you know who that friend is that sticks closer than a brother?  Jesus!!!
• Bro. Terry says that today is speaking to two people:  first, those who have made Jesus their friend by faith; second, those who have never seen Jesus as their friend!
• Will you say yes to the best friend you'll ever know!?