How to Go to Hell
COLUMBUS, OH — Mixed feelings. That’s the best way to describe how people feel about a controversial church sign that was seen in Blacklick this past week. For 24 hours, the message board outside Havens Corners Church, 6696 Havens Corner Rd., read, “I kissed a girl and I liked it, then I went to Hell.” [...]
The Crew
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about this group of people… The crew. It has now been over four years since I stood with them as leader of the volunteer ministry they participated in. Some were techies, some weren’t. But no matter. Most importantlym, all were friends. In the ensuing years, many have moved on to [...]
Website Update
Coming September 20, the new Mountaintopchurch.com. It has been a loooooong time coming, but we’ve worked through most of the details and are nearing a launch. Having completed the design phase, the new website has been turned over to us and we are populating the information now. Its going to revolutionize our online presence and [...]
Dead at 15
I did not know him, or his family, yet I can’t get him out of my mind. Curtis Geesamen. A 15-year-old kid who, as many us once did during our summers, joined his church and others for a week-long youth camp focused on fun and spiritual renewal. During a simple game Curtis suffered blunt head [...]
The Sermon That Changed My Life
The year was 1995. O.J. Simpson was on trial, eBay was founded, and I was closing out my high school career. As a part of a local barbershop group in my hometown, named Twice, I had the opportunity to travel a lot. Our group performed for senior events, lodge parties, the occasional school function, and [...]
Goodbye, Dottie Rambo
Christian Music lost one of its most prolific and loved songwriters on Mother’s Day. In fact, other than possibly Fanny Crosby, no other songwriter has done more for Christian music. You may not know Dottie, but if you’ve around long you’ve heard (and loved) her music. Writing over 2,500 songs in her lifetime, she was [...]
A Sad Wake-Up Call
“Pastor: Minister in Sex Sting Resigns” … you read a news headline like that and you never think that it is going to be your church. The byline kept hitting closer and closer to home: Dallas-area, Megachurch, Baptist. Could it be? OMG. IT IS PRESTONWOOD! That is exactly what went through my mind. My next [...]
Department of Redundancy Department
Church signs have always been a bit humorous to me. And as technology progresses worldwide, I think they simply keep getting worse. I’m not sure who designs these things, but the sign companies need to invest in real graphic designers. News Flash: You’re giving the church a bad name… er, face. But until today, I’d [...]
Church Trailer Thief
Talk about not just doing church, but being the church…. One weekend in early March, Kinetic Church (a church plant in Charlotte, NC) had their church trailer stolen, it contained about 75% of the entire church’s belongings; leaving the church with virtually nothing. As a result, Kinetic Church created five billboards and multiple web banners [...]
Lessons Learned
It’s been a few weeks since I lost my pastor and mentor. And oddly, both Sally and I both are still reeling from it. We can’t get it out of our mind and have had a difficult time figuring out why. My hunch is that there are some lessons that need to be taken from [...]
Here's to you, Mr. Robertson
Jesus loves you more than you could know. Oh. Oh. Oh. Dr. E.G. Robertson has been a part of my life since before I had life. He was Pastor of my home church (Connersville Baptist Temple) the year I was born. In fact, he had officiated my parents wedding five years earlier. Though God’s plan [...]
the Bradford Pears
A hauntingly beautiful drive… That is what I get to enjoy on my way to work one week a year because of a simple tree named the Bradford Pear, a tree that lines the last stretch of the journey between the outside world and my working world. For years these sentries have stood towering over [...]
3 Years
Three years since I left the setting Texas sun in my rearview mirror and met the next day’s sunrise in a new place, Alabama… where a new job, and new home, awaited. Three Years. Is it possible that it is has been that long ago?
Luther (and Friends) on Worship
Martin Luther, Reformation Leader: “The organ in the worship service is a sign of Baal.” Realencyklopadie Fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, Bd, 14, s.433 cited in Instrumental Music and New Testament Worship, James D. Bales, p. 130. Thomas Aquinas, Catholic Theologian; 13th century: “Our church does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to [...]
EPILOGUE – Colorado Expedition
It’s been a month since we left families, friends, jobs, and reasonable sanity behind to travel to the mountains with hopes of finding ourselves… and our God. Divine destiny met us there. Little did we know what God had in store for us, but as did Abram-of-old we took the first step and set out [...]
THE CHARACTERS – Colorado Expedition
Such were the exploits of these mighty men, wild of heart and gentle in spirit. Yeah are not their works recorded in the chronicles of the faith and guarded by the angels of heaven forever and ever? Yet so that you may know that God is a rewarder of them that believe in him and [...]
THE STORY – Colorado Expedition
In the sixth year of the reign of Bush the younger, five years after the great towers fell and two years after the great leader Reagan died, a band of fourteen men from the city of Birmingham in the region of Alabama gathered together. Now these men were devout followers of the Way and they [...]
DAY SEVEN – Colorado Expedition
It’s nearly impossible to believe that for all intents and purposes, the week is over. Now, we begin the long journey home. We awoke to as we have most other mornings this week, much earlier than we had wanted to and more chipper than we’d expected. Maybe it’s the mountains, our spirit, or the load [...]
DAY SIX – Colorado Expedition
TENT | DESERT OASIS CAMPGROUND | Dawn Yesterday was a long long day. The original plan had been to do climbing and rappelling on some of the rock faces around Como Lake. But Randy, a diabetic, has become progressively worse in his sick condition. He has not been able to keep down food or fluids [...]
DAY FOUR – Colorado Expedition
SUMMIT | BLANCA PEAK | High Noon Elevation :: 14,345ft. Here I sit on top of the world. From Blanca Peak I can see for hundreds (if not thousands) of miles. The climb here was horrific, and that is being gracious. Only but for the grace of God did I make it. All the way [...]
DAY THREE – Colorado Expedition
CENTRAL CAMP | BAIL-OUT POINT at 10,400ft. | MOUNT BLANCA | Dawn We are up and eating. My coffee is black, my stomach is full, and my mind is as clear as the morning mountain air. I am beginning to understand why Christ always went to the wilderness during so many tough ministry and life [...]
DAY TWO – Colorado Expedition
TENT | BAIL-OUT POINT at 10,400ft. | MOUNT BLANCA | Dusk The sound of rushing water in the distance is nearly deafening. The only thing louder was the silence before reached this point on the mountain. Stillness reigns supreme. The Mountain. Words nor pictures can do it justice. After a full day of climbing it’s [...]
DAY ONE – Colorado Expedition
ATLANTA, GA | 4:30a Leaving my love was the hardest. John Eldredge would call her “my Beauty,” and with that I would wholeheartedly concur. I’ve been blessed beyond measure to have obtained a Godly wife possessing both outer and inner beauty. She is, amazingly, simply radiant. Beyond the gift of my salvation she is by [...]
COLORADO – The Preface
I’ve just returned from leading an 8-day trip in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Myself and 13 other men from Mountaintop Community Church set out into the great unknown for a week of mountain climbing and spiritual direction based around John Eldredge’s bestseller, Wild at Heart. The Colorado Wilderness held challenges and experiences that likes [...]