Appearance or The Word?

Hello from the far away land of Rarelyposting. I know that I have to get back to regular posts to get my thoughts out of my head and into yours that read my site. Hope this gets you thinking.
I have been bouncing around different blog sites seeing what rabbit holes I can find to pass through to find something interesting or in this case disturbing to my ministerial sensibilities. I passed through a few sites of ministers, seeing there inner thoughts and amazed what they put out on the internet, hello its public record. Ok I linked to a site of a female minister in the New England area.
Her site (Beauty Tips for Ministers) is dedicated to in her own words “Beauty Tips for Ministers: Because you're in the public eye, and God knows you need to look good.” This site dishes about how other female ministers look (including hidden camera pictures), how they dress frumpy, how female ministers need to check there makeup after the sermon before they spend time in fellowship with their congregation, how hair styles of women ministers need to be the latest craze and other statements that would make me pull out my hair if I had some.
Those of you, who know me well, know my stance on female ministers, and those of you who read closely can gather where I stand. I have one question about this topic. Is God more concerned how a minister looks or how he (hint-hint) presents the word of salvation of his son to the world?” This goes for female ministers as well. Should those that are in the cause of supporting, and promoting women in the pulpit bash other female ministers on how they look. I don’t get this at all. They are making themselves petty, self centered, egotistical, and re-emphasizing our culture's sick obsession with appearance (a direct quote from the site).
I welcome this sites denigration of the cause of female ministers. This is how the liberal side is going to hang itself if given enough rope.

Lazy Parent

This posting comes on the tails of my former post. I had a discussion recently about the state of parenting in America. Our discussion turned to the fact that American parents are lazy. A friend of my wife has recently decided to become a nanny. This job description to me is strange and a bit stupid. We hire people to raise our students when they are not in school. They spend every last second with the offspring of people who are too busy to be a parent. One needs to examine the busyness of those hiring a care giver for a child. I know some families, through second hand sources, that the mother does not work and spends her free time at home. She fills her life with visits to the spa, beautician, and vacations away from the family. WHAT!!! This woman is lazy she does not work, has a house keeper, and someone to raise her children. I adopted two kittens in Michigan; I had to go through a rigorous examination process to see if I was fit to adopt animals. They required of me four references, and they checked the all. They required of me some financial information. I had to go through so much to keep an animal from being killed, and any lazy, incapable, self centered person can have a child.

Do you have enough room?

My ministry and bogging mentor over at Random Responses reminded me that I have not written in quite a while. So here it goes.

During the past Mother’s Day festivities with my in-laws I heard something that rather disturbed me. The northern New Jersey area is a truly diverse area. There are those areas that are extremely wealthy and those that are extremely poor. There is a housing development of multi-million homes going up across the street from my in-laws home church. One particular home in this development, and in particular the homes new owner, irks my Dutch frugalness. With six bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and a few half baths thrown in for good measure, the home is nearly complete. The roof is shingled, the siding is half way up, the windows are in place, and the sheet rock is hung and taped. The new owner of the home decided that the home is too small for his family and the acre and a half yard was just too small for his needs, so he has decided to rebuild. This nearly complete 2 million dollar home will be torn down, and a new 10 million dollar home will be built in its place.

My wife and I are currently looking to buy a home. We are struggling to find the means to make a monthly mortgage payment on a home that is more then a tenth of this monstrosity going up in Wyckoff NJ. Truly depressing is how there are so many people dying around the world, living ten to fifteen people to a one room hut, and there are those who can build extravagant huge homes for a family of four. It seems we need a reformation in New Jersey and I pray every day for one.

Slipping Away

One of the most difficult things of being in ministry is dividing the personal relationships with the church/ministry relationships. With a new marriage (4 months) my relationship is tender. I have not yet learned how to disconnect my drive to be a people pleaser. I know that I can’t serve too many masters, but I have been trying to doing it. I don’t know how much longer I can keep all the balls I am juggling up in the air. I remember sitting in my classes in college where they warned us of trying to keep all people happy is a nail in the coffin of a successful youth ministry. I said that would never happen to me, but I have let it creep into my life and “stuff” is slipping away from me and I’m not sure how to get it back.

Just a word on the ever present “new face” of preaching

Joel Osteen and his family were on a trip from their home in Houston Texas to the snowy, and rather over priced, wonder land of Vail Colorado. But there was a bump in the road. Before takeoff in Texas Joel’s wife had a dispute with one of the flight attendants. Either side refusing to give in the family was escorted off the plane. There is no word of what the dispute was but what could be so drastic that a family going on vacation needs to be escorted off a plane. This is just speculation on my part but could there be a problem of no up grade to first class. Living the life of luxury often times hardens the heart to the plight of the common man, something that Joel and his family will never have to face again. Also being pampered leads people to become babies, something that apparently happened to the Osteen family.
One good point to the story Joel has a new array of sermon points. If he could only tie this story into a scripture passage, oh wait he doesn’t use scripture in his sermons, my bad.

Just Think About It

In the continuing fight between the left and right on abortion the picture is just a different perspective that many in the "What is best for me" world don’t view, the baby.

Continuing Violence

During this week the Church is called to prayer for those persecuted for their faith. It is easy for us in America to gloss over the pain and suffering fellow Christians endure around the world. The Christian Persecution Blog has published a story from the Catholic World News.

Jakarta, Nov. 08 (AsiaNews) - New violence has flared in Indonesia, in the town where three girls from a Christian school were decapitated on October 29, the AsiaNews service reports.
Two more girls were shot in the head in the evening of November 8 in Poso, in central Sulawesi-- a province marred by months of bloodshed, as Muslims have clashed with Christians. The two girls are in critical condition in a local hospital.

It is time that we Christians make the rest of the country see the pain, suffering and turmoil our fellow brothers and sisters are facing. The main stream media will not.